KARDINAL AND THE CLIPSE - 'SET IT OFF' VIDEO:



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RICK ROSS = BIG FRAUD, AND PIG COP!!!

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0721081rickross1.html

Screw Rick Ross
Despite denials, records show rap star worked as corrections officer

JULY 21--Apparently desperate to distance himself from any affiliation with law enforcement, the rapper Rick Ross has recently denounced as fake photos purporting to show him in a former career as a Florida prison guard. But Department of Corrections (DoC) records show that Ross, whose raps detail the Miami gangster lifestyle and his supposed days trafficking cocaine, did, in fact, work as a correctional officer for 18 months. Ross (real name: William Leonard Roberts) was appointed a prison guard in December 1995 at a salary of $22,913.54, according to the below personnel record, which was provided to TSG by Jo Ellyn Rackleff, a DoC spokesperson. The rapper's social security number is identical to that of the jail guard. According to the official document, Ross was earning $25,794.34 when he left the department in June 1997. After graduating from the DoC training academy, Ross was assigned to the South Florida Reception Center in Dade County (the lockup is one of three statewide that serves as an intake facility for new prisoners). When a photo of a uniform-clad Ross surfaced last week on MediaTakeOut.com, the 32-year-old performer claimed that unnamed "online hackers" put "my face when I was a teenager in high school on other peoples' body. If this shit was real don't you think they would have more specifics, like dates and everything?" He added, "Fake pictures are created by the fake, meant to entertain the fake." The photo, which you can find here, shows a 19-year-old Ross at a DoC ceremony (he was part of the department's 60th graduating class). He is pictured shaking hands with Marta Villacorta, who then headed the South Florida Reception Center. Villacorta, now the department's South Florida regional director, was identified by Rackleff, who examined the photo Ross claims was Photoshopped. In a recent videotaped interview, Ross replied, "No, that's not true" when asked if he had worked as a prison guard. He claimed that the phony story was being circulated by detractors upset by his success in the rap world, where, "I came out of nowhere and just took over the streets."

Rick Ross Reaffirms Gangster Past In New Freestyle, Despite Report That He Worked As Prison Guard
TheSmokingGun.com has posted documents claiming Ross graduated from D.O.C. academy in 1995.

By Shaheem Reid

While his only response thus far is a freestyle sent to MTV News saying he's "laughing at [the] blogs," Rick Ross is apparently standing by his denial that he previously worked as a prison guard — in the wake of documents posted on the TheSmokingGun.com that purportedly expose the MC's past employment as an officer for the Florida Department of Corrections.

The Smoking Gun's report claims that in 1995, at the age of 19, Ross (born William Leonard Roberts) started a career as a prison guard, earning a salary of $22,913.54. He reportedly held the position for 18 months. The rapper's Social Security number is the same as the one listed for the jail guard on documents giving to the site by D.O.C. spokesperson Jo Ellyn Rackleff. A photo of what looks likes a younger Ross in full uniform was also posted on the Web site and is said to have been taken at his graduation from the D.O.C. academy.

A few days ago, a videotaped interview of Ross was leaked to the Internet where a male voice confronted Mr. "M.I. Yayo" about what until then had been loose rumors and urban-legend-type talk among some music industry insiders.

"It's no truth to it," Ross flatly denied in the video.

Early Tuesday morning (July 22), someone going by the name "Mr. 305" released a video claiming that he in fact was in possession of more photos from Ross' alleged security-guard days. The trailer included what appeared to be a D.O.C. class picture featuring a man who looks like Ross dressed in full prison-guard garb.

Neither Ross nor his rep were able to be reached for comment about the accusations. Late Monday night, however, a source within his camp told MTV News that he planned to respond with a song. Around 1 a.m., we received two new freestyles from Ross, though he barely touched on the controversy. Over Snoop Dogg's "Life of da Party," he rhymed, "B----, I'm the boss and I'm laughing at your blogs." Later he went on to brag, "I'm the glue in the streets, meaning I can get you stuck/ The world knows where the f--- I'm from/ Sell rock, 20 chains and I never lost one .../ Heavy on the block, never on the Net."

The other freestyle is over the instrumental to Alicia Keys' "Teenage Love Affair" and doesn't mention the rumors, but talks about hanging out with a close female friend.

After over a decade of having his music relegated to the underground scene in Florida, Ross finally broke through in 2006 with the monster street banger "Hustlin'." The song turned into a club anthem, easily making him a household name in the hip-hop community. That year, Ross released his debut LP, Port of Miami, which was filled with tales of his transition into a cartel kingpin. The record was #1 on the Billboard albums chart in its first week of release. While records such as "Hustlin'," "Push It" and "Blow" were undeniable, the key to Ross' success and strong following were that the fans believed that he lived all, or at least most, of what he rapped. This year, Ross' second LP, Trilla, also bowed in the #1 spot, fueled by his hit "The Boss," featuring T-Pain. Ross' current single is "Here I Am" with Nelly. During his last sit-down with MTV News, the Miami native said he was hoping to release another album later this year called Deeper Than Rap.

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CORMEGA IS ALWAYS A GOOD LOOK WHEN PEOPLE NEED REMINDING WHO'S REAL IN RAP:



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PASTOR MA$E IS FOR REAL!!!


IS THAT YOU BETHA?!?!?!?! GODDDD! from Sickamore on Vimeo.

PEACE TO SICKAMORE!

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MAC DRE'S MURDERS STILL CAUSE REPERCUSSIONS:

Rap music figure convicted in Las Vegas slaying
14 hours ago
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A jury found a 37-year-old San Francisco rap music figure guilty in the slaying of a Kansas City rival in what authorities called a West Coast versus Midwest rap war.

Andre "Mac Minister" Dow faces life in prison after being convicted Monday of first-degree murder in the May 2005 killings of 24-year-old Anthony "Fat Tone" Watkins of Kansas City, and Watkins' friend, 22-year-old Jermaine Akins.

Dow is a promoter who has appeared on rap albums, made headlines several years ago when he brawled with another rapper at a nationally televised Source Awards show.

Police called the Las Vegas slayings revenge for the November 2004 drive-by slaying in Kansas City of 34-year-old California rapper Andre "Mac Dre" Hicks.

Another aspiring rap promoter, 29-year-old Jason Mathis, also has been charged with murder and is awaiting trial.

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KARDINAL OFFISHALL'S NEW MIXTAPE WITH CLINTON SPARKS - 'LIMITED TIME ONLY'


http://dontgetgassed.com/2008/06/12/limited-time-only-mixtape/

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IS RAKIM REALLY ABOUT TO RELEASE THE 'SEVENTH SEAL'? HE MISSED 7/7/2007, SO ANYTHING GOES NOW...

After a brief stint on Aftermath Records that saw his highly anticipated collaborative album with Dr. Dre permanently shelved, it would be easy to assume Rakim picked up that nasty habit of only releasing a new album every six years. While most us of were scrambling to hear the limited amount of leaked material from Oh My God via the Internet, Ra promised what he felt was a less compromised sound via his own label.

With Hip Hop’s Digital Age in full effect, Rakim Allah has the arduous task of proving he can continue to evolve and adapt. During a brief encounter backstage at Rock The Bells, Ra explained the delay with The Seventh Seal and the process of seeing sounds.

HipHopDX: What’s going on with The Seventh Seal?
Rakim: You can expect that two to three months from now. I’m going hard on that and I’ve got some surprises on there. I’m really ready to just let the world hear it.

DX: You listened to jazz and played saxophone as a child. How did that influence your style and your ear for music?
R: I think it let me see music a little more and let me see more colors. My moms and my pops loved music. Coming up being around jazz and the Motown sound, and letting that soak in [helped]. I played the sax and the drums a little bit and that just helped me see the music a little more.

DX: You have such an extensive catalog, but you’re still creating music. As much as you respect your classics, is there ever a point where you want people to pay more attention to the newer material?
R: The old stuff is what got me here though. That’s like my foundation. I love that for what it is, and that’s what makes people understand me. They need that to know what I’m about to do next. So, in no way do I shrug my shoulders at the old stuff. That’s my legacy.

DX: With the industry the way it is with low sales and all the downloading, what would you consider a success for this project?
R: Well I have my own label [Ra Records] now, so I want to be a success in terms of sales. But, more importantly, I have to keep my integrity and hit that Rakim standard. If I can hit that standard I’m cool. I was never a big-selling artist. I was sort of underground my whole career, but eventually my albums touched platinum. So I still consider myself underground. Like I said, I just want to reach that Rakim standard and have everybody understand that I’m still that dude. If people see that I’ve progressed with it and I’m mature with it, then that’s my success.

DX: You’ve worked with some of the best producers out and you are rumored to have a very discriminating ear. What does a producer need to bring to put you in that zone?
R: You know what’s difficult for me? I hear music differently, so a lot of times I won’t pick the beats that are the norm. I don’t pick what people expect a rapper to rap on. I pick the more intricate beats, where as soon as I hear them I can see something—a title or a mood.

That’s what influenced me so much about jazz. A lot of jazz records didn’t have words, but as soon as you played them it put you right in the mood. You could almost see the smoky bar and the jazz players around you. So, when I can see the music before I even start to write to it, that’s the direction I tend to lean toward. A lot of times it’s not the big million dollar seller or the club banger. It’s really just something I can mess with to make people say, “Okay, that’s that Rakim classic thing right there.” So, yeah it’s a little difficult picking beats with me.

Rakim's latest effort, The Archive, Live Lost and Found, has been distributed via Koch and is currently available in retail and digital formats.

WWW.HIPHOPDX.COM

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NOT THAT I CARE ABOUT NUMBERS, BUT IT'S STILL GOOD TO SEE THIS DEBUT AT #1:

Fueled by both controversy and critical praise, Nas' latest album Untitled is headed for the number one spot this week.

According to Billboard, the rap legend is projected to not only land in the top spot, but has sold approximately 113,000 units as of Friday (July 18) - better than the majority of first week sales in Hip Hop this year.

By comparison, this puts Nas just slightly behind Rick Ross' Trilla, a March release which managed 116,000 by Friday. Whether the Queensbridge rapper's album will topple Ross' 198,000 mark by the end of the week remains to be seen.

Nas' last number one album was the December 2006 release Hip-Hop Is Dead, which sold 354,000 copies during Christmas week.

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I'M HURTING STILL. BAD.
BUT I'M GOING TO PUT UP MY ROCK THE BELLS STUFF TODAY. STAY TUNED!
LOVE,
ADHIMUSIC MINDBENDER SUPREME