R. KELLY REVEALS ALL IN BET SPECIAL!

R. KELLY opened up about his acquittal on child pornography charges in a U.S. TV special on Tuesday (16Sep08). The R&B star was cleared in June (08) of 14 charges, including videotaping himself having sex with a girl as young as 13 years old. He faced 15 years in prison if convicted. Kelly sat down with broadcaster and journalist Toure in Philadephia, Pennsylvania to discuss the case and the effect it had on his life and career as part of an interview with U.S. TV network BET.



We all know he did it but what took prosecutors six years to do their job when the victim is now an adult. Good for Kelly! Bad for society.

BREAKING NEWS: RAPPER DA BRAT SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN PRISON!!!

UPDATE: TMZ has the video of the courtroom.

There goes my girl! It's tough in Georgia. Rapper DA BRAT has been sentenced to three years in prison for striking a waitress with a rum bottle at a nightclub last year (07). A Superior Court Judge ruled on Friday (22Aug08) the hip-hop hitmaker - real name Shawntae Harris - will also serve seven years probation and 200 hours of community service for the incident in addition to her jail time. Harris, 34, was involved in the altercation at a Halloween party at Studio 72 nightclub in Atlanta, Georgia, on 31 October 2007.

The pair were reported by police to have gotten into an altercation prior to the assault - resulting in the victim's hospitalisation and permanent facial scarring. Harris entered a guilty plea to aggravated assault in the case. According to reports, the rapper pleaded to her weeping family as she was led out of the courtroom, saying: "I love y'all." Harris was previously convicted in 2000 for misdemeanor reckless conduct. We hear she will only serve 12 months out of it.

I know both the victim and Shawntae well. The victim was an Atlanta Falcon cheerleader and her face was really messed up. We all have a lesson to learn about this. All our female rappers are sending bad messages to our girls!!! Ladies! Ladies, can you all be like Queen Latifah and be a role model?

Remy Ma: 8 years
Da Brat: 3 years
L'il Kim: 1 year (released)
Foxy Brown: 1 Year (released)
Eve: In and out?

More at MTV.Com

LOPEZ WON'T TESTIFY IN COMBS SHOOTING LAWSUIT.

LATEST: JENNIFER LOPEZ will not be forced to testify in a lawsuit filed against her ex SEAN 'DIDDY' COMBS over his involvement in a 1999 New York club shooting. The singer/actress was dating the hip-hop mogul at the time of the incident, and was present at the now-defunct Club New York when shots were fired in the venue on 27 December 1999, injuring two people. Combs' rap protege Shyne, real name Jamal Barrow, is currently serving a 10-year jail term after he was found guilty of assault, reckless endangerment and gun possession in the trial following the shooting. The rap heavyweight was arrested for various charges including weapons violations, but was acquitted of all counts.

Combs and Shyne are currently fighting a $130 million civil suit filed by victim Natania Reuben, who was shot in the face during the incident. Lopez - who was not called as a witness in the 2001 criminal trial - was subpoenaed by Reuben's attorneys in June (08), and was due to give her deposition on Tuesday (05Aug08). But according to website TMZ.com, Lopez had "nothing to contribute" to the case, and her deposition was cancelled indefinitely - news which has been confirmed by Reuben's lawyer.The Latina split from Combs shortly after the shooting trial

SUGE KNIGHT FORCED INMATE TO GIVE FALSE TESTIMONY?

Imprisoned former R&B singer WAYMOND 'SUAVE' ANDERSON has accused rap mogul MARION 'SUGE' KNIGHT of forcing him to give false evidence in a 2007 civil lawsuit filed by NOTORIOUS B.I.G.'s family. B.I.G. - real name Christopher Wallace - was shot dead in 1997 in Los Angeles and his murder has never been solved. Anderson, who once implicated a Los Angeles police officer in B.I.G.'s death, took to the stand in an L.A. court on Thursday (31Jul08), when he retracted his previous testimony, alleging Knight had threatened him to lie to the court over the cop's involvement in the case.

He claims former Los Angeles Times reporter Chuck Philips passed him written messages from Knight, that had been wrapped in plastic, while he was behind bars at California's Corcoran State Prison, where Anderson is serving a life sentence for murder. Anderson was in court on Thursday for a hearing examining evidence that he claims will prove his innocence in the 1993 murder he is convicted of committing. But Anderson's accusations have been dismissed by Philips, who was fired from the L.A. Times last month (Jul08). Philips has previously written numerous articles on Anderson's case, suggesting he might be innocent.

Of the allegations, Philips says, "That never happened. I'm flabbergasted by this whole thing. This is the ultimate betrayal." Earlier this year (08), Phillips' story about the 1994 shooting of Wallace's rap rival Tupac Shakur left editors and publishers with red faces after his sources proved to be inaccurate. His January (08) article suggested Sean `Diddy' Combs and rap music heavyweight Jimmy `Henchman' Rosemond were involved in a plan to ambush Shakur at a New York Recording studio in 1994. But an investigation revealed the report had been based on faked documents and Philips was subsequently 'let go'.

MAC MINISTER GETS LIFE WITH NO POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE BUT DOESN'T GIVE A FOCK!

Following his conviction last week for first-degree murder in the slayings of Anthony “Fat Tone” Watkins and Jermaine “Cowboy” Atkins, Bay Area rapper Andre “Mac Minister” Dow has been sentenced today (July 31) to life without the possibility of parole. Co-defendant Jason Mathis, who prosecutors accuse of conspiring and carrying out the slayings with Mac, was also sentenced to life without parole.

Kansas City natives Fat Tone and Cowboy were murdered by AK-47s in a remote construction area on the outskirts of Las Vegas in 2005. They were lured to the town with a promise by an unidentified party that they would get a chance to network with Snoop Dogg’s camp for a possible record deal. The murders are thought to be in retaliation for the 2004 killing of popular Bay artist Mac Dre.

While cleared by police, Fat Tone is widely thought to be responsible. Mathis was defiant at the sentencing, stating he felt no remorse for the brutal murders since he is innocent. He also promised to appeal the verdict. “I’m not going to put on no façade for nobody. I’m not going to do no 40 years,” Mathis vowed to the court. “You give me life without parole, my mentality is gonna be like f**k it, excuse me. You give me 40 to life, my mentality is gonna be the exact same way.”

The families of Anthony “Fat Tone” Watkins and Jermaine “Cowboy” Atkins have not released a statement regarding the convictions at press time.

Live by the gun.....Die by the gun......This is officially OVER with that track "Fuck The Law"!

Source: AHH

DMX: QUOTE OF THE DAY: UUUR.....RHYME OF THE DAY.

“If and when you ever fall down, get back up … Drop something, stop fretting, pick that … back up, stand for something or fall for everything, wait for the right pitch or miss with every swing,”........DMX rapping to Reporters after his latest court proceedings.

AKON'S TRIAL DELAYED!

LATEST: R&B star AKON's court hearing for alleged misdemeanour endangerment and harassment charges has been delayed. The Smack That hitmaker pleaded not guilty to charges of endangering the welfare of a minor and second-degree harassment in December (07). He was accused of the charges following an incident while performing in New York in June (07).

It is alleged a fan threw an object at the star, which encouraged him to retaliate. Akon - real name Aliuane Badara Thiam - was due in court on Wednesday (16Jul08) but it has now been delayed until August (08). The alleged victim's mother, Patricia Smith called the hearing "pretty typical," adding of the latest setback: "People can just hang in there long enough until the case goes in their favour." Akon could face one year and 15 days in jail if convicted.

"Smack that" says the fan's mom, but is this the latest thing now? Even Amy grabbed a fan after he pulled her hair. Never bother the artist on stage! That's their time!

THREESOME PARTICIPANT WITH R.KELLY SPEAKS....

Lisa Van Allen, star witness from the infamous R Kelly trial, was interviewed by Atlanta radio V-103's Ryan Cameron recently. The young woman who claims she had several sexual encounters with Kelly while she was under age expressed her outrage at the verdict. She talked about being young and naive, R Kelly's sly manipulation tactics and the infamous duffel bag of porn. What's she outraged about? She enjoyed herself! SEE THE VIDEO NOW.

R. Kelly acquitted of all child porn counts!

I told you this case was a joke from day one! How can you try someone with child porn a whole six years later? The verdict came six years after the R&B superstar was first charged with videotaping himself having sex with a young girl. Prosecutors had said she was as young as 13 at the time. The Grammy award-winning singer dabbed his face with a handkerchief and hugged each of his four attorneys after the verdict was read.

The singer had faced 15 years in prison if convicted. Minutes later, surrounded by bodyguards, he left the courthouse without comment. Dozens of fans screamed and cheered as he climbed into a waiting SUV. Both Kelly and the now 23-year-old alleged victim had denied they were the ones appearing on the tape, which was played for the jury at the beginning and end of the trial. I guess the spirit of Aaliyah was looking down on him.

R. KELLY OPTS NOT TO TESTIFY!

LATEST: Troubled R&B star R. KELLY won't testify in his own defence as his child pornography trial winds to a close. After the defence team rested on Monday (09Jun08) after quizzing 12 witnesses over two days, the jury was sent home early. The trial commenced in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday (10Jun08) with Judge Vincent Gaughan urging Kelly to reconsider his decision not to testify. But the R&B singer simply leaned forward and, uttering his first words during the two-week trial, said, "I decided not to testify." Prosecutors are scheduled to call two rebuttal witnesses on Tuesday. Closing arguments are expected to be delivered at the end of the week (ends13Jun08).

Kelly is accused of videotaping himself having sex with a 13-year-old girl a decade ago. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, insisting the man in the video is not him. The underage girl, who is now 23, claims she is not the victim in the footage. This has been disputed by friends and family members of the unnamed female. Members of the jury will get the chance to have a second look at the sex tape once they begin deliberating after Kelly's defence team lost a bid to bar the jurors from reviewing the graphic video, insisting the viewing would sway the panel.

MUST BE NICE: Ne-YO ordered to perform a concert as community service?

R&B star Ne-Yo plead guilty to driving without a license and no contest to a reckless driving charge yesterday in Georgia. The Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter was sentenced to 24 hours of community service and ordered to perform a concert for the local Boys & Girls Club.

Ne-Yo was also fined $1,000 and will be required to take a defensive driving class. Ne-Yo was taken to jail on February 19th after he was pulled over in a 55 mph zone after being clocked at 105 mph in his 06′ Range Rover. He is on tour here tonight with Alicia Keys in Vancouver and they head to Toronto on Thursday. Tune in to him on the JJ and Melanie show Thursday morning the 5th of June 2008. He's a very cool guy as I hear from my pals in ATL.

AMY WINEHOUSE'S LATE APPEARANCE FOR HUSBAND'S TRIAL!

AMY WINEHOUSE made a brief appearance at her husband BLAKE FIELDER-CIVIL's trial in London on Monday (02Jun08) - after turning up four hours late. (OOO, Amy!)Fielder-Civil's trial on charges of perverting the course of justice relating to a previous charge of grievous bodily harm kicked off on Monday at the capital's Snaresbrook Crown Court. Winehouse turned up at the courthouse just after 2pm (GMT) to support her spouse, who has been behind bars at London's Pentonville Prison since November (07).

Wearing a spotted blue shirtdress and cream Christian Louboutin heels, the Rehab singer sat alone in the court's empty front row and constantly blew kisses and mouthed "I love you" to her beau, who was sat behind a glass wall. But after sitting through less than two hours of opening statements, Winehouse got up to leave, before turning to Fielder-Civil's direction and saying, "I love you, you're fit (gorgeous)", as she walked out of the courtroom.

Meanwhile she has been warned for flirting in court. The troubled singer, who was attending husband Blake Fielder-Civil's pre-trial hearing for grievous bodily harm (GBH) and attempting to pervert the course of justice, mouthed words to Blake for over an hour before being ordered to stop by officials. Amy - who was wearing a short blue dress - was clearly seen silently saying "I love you" and was blowing kisses to her husband. The 24-year-old star played with her hair and a silver chain around her neck and at one point patted the empty seat next to her and mouthed "come sit here next to me," to Blake.

As I said earlier, When she was told to stop, she stood and declared "you're fit" to Blake before walking out of Snaresbrook Crown Court, East London. The hearing continued after she left. As she left, Amy responded to inquires as to how her husband was looking by saying: "Gorgeous as f**k, haven't you seen him?" Blake denies causing GBH with intent to pub landlord James King, of the White House, Risley Hall, Derbyshire, and a further charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice. James Kennedy, 19, of Hatfield, Hertfordshire is also accused in the case. The case continues.

R KELLY 'OFFERED WOMAN $250,000 FOR SEX TAPE'

LATEST: R. KELLY has been accused of offering a woman $250,000 to potentially cover-up damning footage of him having sex with an underage girl. The troubled R&B star stands accused of videotaping himself having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He has pleaded not guilty to all 14 counts of child pornography. On Monday (2Jun08), Lisa Van Allen told jurors she first had sex with Kelly and the alleged victim in front of a camera in 1998. Van Allen claims the incident took place in the same Illinois home where prosecutors say the sex tape at the centre of the case also was made.

She told jurors she cried throughout a second sexual encounter in 1999 with Kelly and the alleged victim, whom she believed to be 16. In her testimony, Van Allen claims Kelly last year (07) offered her the money to recover a tape of one of his sexual encounters. She claims she was later given just $20,000 after one of Kelly's associates collected the tape from a hotel in Chicago.
Van Allen also testified that Kelly carried a duffel bag containing his homemade sex tapes everywhere he went. She told the court, "Wherever he was at, the bag would follow him." However, defence attorneys accused her of trying to extort the singer. They will open their case on Wednesday (4Jun08).

Atlanta’s Rapper T.I.’s community service becomes MTV series.

Rodney Ho of the AJC reports: BET a couple of years ago filmed a popular series focused on rapper Lil Kim before she went to prison for perjury and conspiracy with the classy title “Countdown to Lockdown.”

Now MTV is doing a similar “Countdown to Lockdown” with Atlanta’s T.I., according to Variety magazine. Currently, the rap star is doing 1,000 hours of community service before he enters prison next year for possessing firearms as a convicted felon and possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers.

MTV, which has already gotten footage of T.I. leaving house arrest earlier this year, plans to film some of his community service this summer and the release of his next album this fall. The network expects to air the show next year.

“Hopefully the mistakes I’ve made will be a lesson to today’s youth and they won’t go down that same path,” T.I. told Variety.

Judge says Chicago Sun-Times reporter must testify at R. Kelly trial!

A Chicago Sun-Times reporter must testify at R. Kelly's child pornography trial. Judge Vincent Gaughan made that ruling Friday. The defence wants to call Jim DeRogatis to ask how he got a sex tape in 2002 that's now the centre of the trial. The judge rejected arguments from a lawyer for the Sun-Times that DeRogatis's actions should be privileged under the U.S. First Amendment. The singer has pleaded not guilty to child pornography charges. The trial resumes Monday.

SEX TAPE IN R. KELLY TRIAL 'NOT A FAKE', CLAIMS FORENSIC EXPERT.

LATEST: A forensic expert has verified the legitimacy of a sex tape at the center of singer R. KELLY's child pornography trial, insisting it was not a fake. The troubled R&B star is accused of videotaping himself having sex with a 13-year-old girl and is currently standing trial on 14 counts of child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Kelly's defence team has previously claimed the singer could have been digitally "morphed" into the video footage using special effects. But, during his testimony at a Chicago, Illinois court on Thursday (29May08), FBI forensic video expert George Skaluae told the jury that after examining the film, he found it to show "real people in a real environment".

Skaluae went on to tell the court that he had previously been asked to look at the tape, after it had been retrieved by the Chicago Police Department in 2002. He explained that he'd found the tape to be "a copy, several generations away from the original". A number of hidden "switch points" indicated the tape had been duplicated at least three times, resulting in the deteriorated quality, he said. Skaluae added that it would have been "very difficult and time consuming" for someone to digitally alter the tape to show Kelly in the footage. He told the court: "If it is not done well then it is going to be detectable.

"Sometimes we look at effects in movies and laugh and say, 'That doesn't look too good'. Those may have taken months or years." Kelly has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of child pornography and maintains the man in the tape is not him. The alleged victim, now 23, has also denied she is the girl in the footage.
The trial continues.

R. KELLY TRIAL ADJOURNED AS PHONE WITNESS COMES FORWARD!!!

Troubled R&B star R. KELLY's child pornography trial has taken a strange twist thanks to a phone call. One of the singer's lawyers prompted Judge Vincent Gaughan to adjourn the case on Wednesday (28May08) after coming forward with a new witness he claimed could potentially impeach someone else's testimony. The attorney, Sam Adam, told Judge Gaughan that the new witness was flying to Chicago, Illinois and the defense team needed time to depose the man, who had phoned in vital information.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of child pornography for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He maintains the man on the tape is not him, and the alleged victim, now 23, has denied she is the girl in the footage. Previous to the decision to adjourn the trial, the court heard from a high school basketball coach, who once trained the alleged girl on the sex tape. The coach, Jacques Conway, identified his former player by the distinctive cross worn by the female participant on the graphic video. This phone in crap sickens me!

PORNOTRIAL: R.Kelly's former employee KNEW THE VICTIM!

LATEST: R. KELLY's former personal assistant has identified the star as the man in the sex tape at the centre of his child pornography trial - and admitted she knows the alleged underage victim. Lindsey Perryman told the jury at the Chicago, Illinois courthouse on Tuesday (27May08) that she was "110 per cent" sure Kelly appeared in the tape. She also identified the girl in the video, insisting she was between 13 and 14 years old at the time the explicit footage was recorded. Perryman claims the alleged victim regularly visited Kelly at his recording studio, and on one occasion turned up with a pillow and an overnight bag. She told the court: "I did not want to believe it was Mr Kelly (in the tape).

"I think so highly of him and his family, they have been so good to me. He treated me and the people who worked for him well." However, Bennie Edwards Jr., a relative of the alleged victim, confessed he was unable to identify the people in the video. He said: "It favoured Mr Kelly, but you only saw the bottom half of a goatee." Asked if he could identify the female as his family member, he replied: "No. It's not her character." Kelly stands accused of videotaping himself having sex with a 13-year-old girl, and could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty. He denies the charges. The trial continues.

This stuff is giving me the chills and think it should be dismissed! It took so long to start....10 whole years and the girl is 23 now! Waste of precious time. There are more pedophiles to catch online right now!

Woman arrested at R.Kelly trial!

R. KELLY's trial for child pornography charges was briefly disrupted on Thursday (22May08) when a fan snuck into the Chicago, Illinois courthouse and yelled at jurors to free the troubled singer. The Bump N' Grind hitmaker currently stands accused of videotaping himself having sex with a 13-year-old girl, and could face up to 15 years behind bars if he is found guilty. But proceedings were briefly delayed when Debra Triplett managed to gain access to a freight elevator reserved for the jurors in the courthouse.

The woman then waited for the jury members to exit the elevator, at which point she began to shout "Free R. Kelly!" repeatedly, until she was arrested by police. She was brought before Judge Vincent Gaughan - the judge presiding over Kelly's case - who found her to be in contempt of court. Gaughan set bail at $50,000) and Triplett is due back in court for a hearing on 25 June (08), reports MTV.com. The video is here at MyVoiceDC Thanks to Lamar Tyler of Fox-5 DC for the tip.

Here is the Boondocks take on the R.Kelly Child Porn trial!

Caution: Discretionary language advised.