A New York City law firm says Prince owes more than $700,000 in legal fees for services that included helping to settle financial obligations to his former wife.
The firm is suing the “Purple Rain” singer in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler says in a lawsuit filed Tuesday the musician failed to pay it for handling cases in Ireland, California and New York. The law firm also says it wasn’t paid for representing him in his divorce. It says he has paid $125,000.
A telephone call to Prince’s Paisley Park Enterprises Inc. in Minnesota went unanswered Tuesday night.
The 52-year-old singer is best known for 1980s hits such as “When Doves Cry” and “1999.” His full name is Prince Rogers Nelson.
It appears some Twitter beef just reared its ugly head and this time it involes R&B stars Rihanna and Ciara. The two spent this evening taking shots at each other via their Twitter accounts. Apparently, it started this evening when Ciara, a guest on the E! show Fashion Police, spoke on a recent run-in with Rihanna and said the “What’s My Name” singer wasn’t very pleasant. RiRi returned the slight via Twitter by tweeting, “My bad ci, did I 4get to tip u? #howrudeofme.” Ciara responded quickly, tweeting, ” Trust me Rhianna (sic) u dont want to see me on or off the stage.” The beef was brief: Both singers have apologized to each other over Twitter. Love has been restored. At least Ciara finds humor in it all. I can’t tell if Rihanna is being sarcastic, so we’ll have to see how this turns out. Check out the tweets and video from the Fashion Police below.
Beyonce graces the March issue of L’Officiel Paris, but it’s a controversial photo of the superstar inside the French fashion magazine that’s getting the most attention.
The glossy is celebrating its 90th anniversary, and Beyonce marks the occasion with an homage to Nigerian musician and humanitarian Fela Kuti; Beyonce’s husband, Jay-Z, is a producer on the acclaimed Broadway musical “Fela!,” based on the icon’s life, music and courageous defiance against government corruption. In a statement (via Jezebel), L’Officiel describes the Feli-inspired photo of Beyonce — sporting blackface, tribal paint and a dress designed by her mom — as a “return to her African roots, as you can see on the picture, on which her face was voluntarily darkened.”
Not everyone is a fan of the editorial vision and tribute to Kuti; the image simultaneously inspires and provokes. Writes Jezebel’s Dodai Stewart: “It’s fun to play with fashion and makeup, and fashion has a history of provocation and pushing boundaries. But when you paint your face darker in order to look more ‘African,’ aren’t you reducing an entire continent, full of different nations, tribes, cultures and histories, into one brown color?”
“It’s one thing to feel moved by Fela Kuti, and quite another to treat blackness as a fashion accessory, like a pair of glittery heels you put on because it looks cool,” Stewart adds.
Charing Ball, a writer at the Atlanta Post, blasts the fashion industry’s recent obsession with blackface as an accepted form of racism passed off as art. “Blackface is not fashion forward or edgy and, in my opinion, it is just flat-out offensive,” writes Ball, incriminating Beyonce in perpetuating the offense.
Blackface has been particularly trendy among European fashion titles; in October 2009, French Vogue featured a white model in blackface a year after the Italian edition of Vogue ran a much-hyped issue with all-black models as a response to the lack of diversity within the industry.
Meanwhile, Beyonce and other black stars have had their skin lightened on the cover of glossy women’s mags and in advertisements; see Beyonce’s 2008 L’Oreal ad compared with a real photo of the singer. See also: Actress Gabby Sidibe’s 2010 Elle magazine cover wherein her dark skin appeared several tones lighter.
“The message we’re getting from the fashionistas,” Stewart writes, “is that it’s bad to actually have dark skin, but totally cool to pretend you have it.”
Beyonce will no doubt maintain a diplomatic stance on the photoshoot. But, for once — for once! — it would be refreshing to hear her speak her mind and have a stance on something beyond her music.
MARS HILL, N.C. – The daughter of Malcolm X was being held in a North Carolina jail and could be extradited to New York to face charges on several outstanding warrants, authorities said Monday.
Malikah Shabazz was arrested Friday night after authorities responded to a call to a Mars Hill home, said Chief Deputy Michael Garrison of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators found that the 45-year-old had several outstanding warrants from Queens, N.Y., that include charges for grand larceny, forgery and identity theft.
Garrison and her lawyer, Sean Devereux, said Shabazz is the daughter of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X, who is also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. She was born months after Malcolm X was assassinated exactly 46 years ago Monday.
Shabazz is scheduled to appear for an extradition hearing Tuesday.
Devereux said the warrants appear to be from 2009 but that she was never served with the papers. Her attorneys are not sure about the circumstances of the charges. He said prosecutors in New York have known her most recent address in South Carolina, where she owned a home and had a driver’s license.
“The notion that she fled New York is really not the case,” Devereux said.
Devereux said Shabazz is not fighting extradition and is eager to go to New York and deal with the matter. She’s mostly concerned about her 13-year-old daughter, who was in the custody of the local Department of Social Services, Devereux said.
Shabazz is being held at a jail in neighboring Haywood County because Madison County does not have facilities to hold women.
Devereux said she recently moved to the mountains of North Carolina to find a peaceful place to live. Authorities came to the house Friday night as social workers investigated a call that a child was not attending school, he said, noting that Shabazz’s daughter is home-schooled.
Shabazz is not facing charges in North Carolina, Garrison said.
These guys are hilarious and off the chain and I swear this guy has Obama’s look, gestures and voice down to a T. Check out this parody “Extra Juicy”. I know the President has to have seen these spoofs and I wonder if he thinks they are funny… Only in America could we get away with such frivolous mockery.
TAMPA, Fla. — Grammy-winning reggae singer Buju Banton was convicted Tuesday of conspiring to set up a cocaine deal in 2009, a verdict that elicited anguish and disbelief among supporters in a crowded courtroom and from other artists in his native Jamaica.
A federal jury deliberated for 11 hours over two days on the fate of Banton, who won a Grammy last week for best reggae album for his work entitled “Before the Dawn.” He was found guilty of three of four charges, and his attorney said he’s facing at least 15 years in prison.
The 37-year-old Banton, whose given name is Mark Myrie, remains wildly popular in Jamaica, and the trial – his second over the drug accusations – was packed with supporters that included other well-known reggae artists. The first trial ended in a mistrial last year after the jury deadlocked.
The tall, dreadlocked singer didn’t react when a clerk read the verdict on Tuesday. He stood, hugged his attorneys, then turned around and blew kisses to his supporters in the courtroom and told them: “Thank you.” A woman yelled out “We love you, Buju!” as U.S. marshals led him away.
“Obviously we are all upset and disappointed and emotional,” said Banton’s attorney, David Markus of Miami. “The only person who seems to be OK is Buju. He told us he was happy that he fought, knowing he was innocent.”
Markus said he plans to appeal the conviction and will file a motion to try to get Banton out of jail on bond in the meantime.
Banton was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense and using a telephone to facilitate a drug trafficking offense. He was acquitted of attempted possession with the intent to distribute cocaine.
No date has been set for his sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney James Preston argued during trial that Banton portrayed himself as a broker of drug deals in several conversations with a confidential informant. Preston said Banton thought he was getting involved in a “no-risk” deal in which he would introduce a friend to a confidential informant, and then later collect money from drug transactions.
Prosecutors acknowledge that Banton did not put any money into the drug deal, nor did he ever profit from it. Markus said his client is “a big talker” who admitted to trying to impress the confidential informant but wasn’t involved in any drug deal.
Much of the case hinged on meetings and phone calls that were video- and audiotaped by the informant, who was working with the Drug Enforcement Administration – and who made $50,000 in commission after the bust.
In one video, Banton could be seen tasting cocaine in a Sarasota warehouse on Dec. 8, 2009 – but he was not present during the actual drug deal on Dec. 10 that led two others to be arrested. Those two men later pleaded guilty.
Banton testified that that the informant badgered him after they met on a trans-Atlantic flight in July 2009 and insisted that they meet to set up a cocaine purchase. He said he was so uninterested in the informant’s proposals that after they met twice, Banton didn’t return the man’s phone calls for months.
In Banton’s native Jamaica, radio stations played his songs nonstop Tuesday, especially “Untold Stories” and “Not an Easy Road.”
Rapper Tony Rebel, a close friend who recorded with Banton, called it a sad day for young people who looked up to him.
The verdict marks “the saddest day for reggae and dancehall,” rapper Michael “Power Man” Davy said, adding he was “sad as a Rastaman and a Jamaican.”
Singer Junior Reid called it a conspiracy against reggae artists.
“With Buju gone, a big piece of reggae get chop off,” he said.
Singer Fantasia was so upset that she wasn’t invited to take part in the tribute to Aretha Franklin on the Feb. 13 Grammy show that she stayed home, even though she won an R&B Grammy herself.
“They were honoring someone who was my idol and there is no way I could have sat there and not got the happy feet and wanting to jump on the mic because she is my favorite,” Fantasia told BET.
That, er, attitude has led to a little talking-to from the Queen of Soul, via her publicist.
In a statement, Franklin said:
“I was sorry to hear that Fantasia was upset because she did not get the opportunity to participate in my Grammy tribute this year,” Franklin said today. “I recall that in the past, Fantasia participated in both my MusicCares Person of the Year Tribute and my United Negro College Fund Tribute. Fantasia is still young in the business and although we all love and appreciate her, she must understand that in this business of show business she will not always get to participate in everything she would like participate in. I’m sure it was not an intentional omission. I will see Fantasia over the summer here in Detroit.”
Nicki Minaj is the big beautiful kid on the playground in one of the fashionable photos from her cover shoot for BlackBook magazine, on sale now…Check out the photo shoot and an excerpt from the interview below:
“I’ve always wanted fame,” she says, idly stirring her cocktail with a plastic swizzle stick. “But when I achieved fame, I started realizing that it wasn’t as important as being great at what you do, or being critically acclaimed. Still, I never wish I wasn’t famous.” Like anyone, though, she has her limits, which were tested overseas when a group of zealous female fans showed up outside the hotel room of Minaj’s makeup artist in the middle of the night. “Seven girls banged on her door and they were like, ‘Take us to Nicki!”
“My mother can’t grasp the magnitude of my success,” says Minaj, who was born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad and raised in the working-class neighborhood of South Jamaica, Queens. “She couldn’t tell Beyoncé from Alicia Keys, and when I try to explain the far-fetched things I’m doing, she’d rather talk about having to call the plumber.”
Lil Kim has said in a recent interview that she would be willing to collaborate with Young Money’s Nicki Minaj, but only if the price was right.
Lil Kim sees herself as a businesswoman and when it comes to making money, she’s on top of her game.
She told Rap-Up: “At the end of the day, I’m a boss. I was a hustler before I was an entertainer. What I mean by that is I love music – love, love, love music. I love entertaining, I love being in the industry, but the truth of the matter is if music and the industry didn’t bring me money, this would not be my first occupation.
“I also am a businesswoman and I know that living life, you have to eat. If the industry was designed where you didn’t make money from it, it was just music to produce, I would still do it, but it wouldn’t be my first occupation.”
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