As you may have heard, Kanye West announced at the American Music Awards that he wants to be the next Elvis. Then West had to take it even further. "When I said the statement, 'I want to be Elvis,' I really should have thought that out more because that statement was actually really incorrect," West told E! News' Ryan Seacrest Tuesday. "Actually, the true statement was 'I want to be better than Elvis.' " So does West have what it takes to get anywhere near Elvis' stratosphere? We talked to some industry insiders to find out... "Kanye is one of the biggest hip-hop stars in the world right now," says Emil Wilbekin, editor-in-chief of urban lifestyle magazine Giant. "But I do believe he has delusions of grandeur."
Wilbekin goes on to say, "I think Kanye is hugely self-absorbed, and I think that he thinks he could be bigger than Elvis. Kanye is very much concerned with how big he could be, how much music he can make and how many awards he could win."It's that oversize ego that's propelled him to the top of his game, says Hillary Crosley, R&B/hip-hop correspondent for Billboard. "People find it so amusing that he takes it so seriously," Crosley says. "If he didn't have the ego, he wouldn't make it as far as he has."Cory Cooper, a noted Elvis historian, says he's impressed with West's goals, but he needs a reality check.
Jennifer, thanks for this group! What fun! I am totally new here, and am having fun browsing. Check out my site, and visit my shops. Add me as your friend!
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving...I sure did!
At age sixteen, Ice Cube developed an interest in hip hop music, and began writing raps.
In 1987 Cube and Dr. Dre released the EP My Posse, under the alias CIA and the county police. After the collaboration, Cube showed Eazy-E the lyrics to "Boyz-n-the-Hood".[5] Eazy-E, although initially rejecting the lyrics, eventually recorded the song for N.W.A. and the Posse, the debut album for the group N.W.A (short for Niggaz With Attitude) that included him, Cube, Dre, and other rappers MC Ren and DJ Yella.
By this point Cube was a full-time member of N.W.A along with Dr. Dre and (to a lesser extent) MC Ren. Cube wrote Dr. Dre and Eazy-E's rhymes for the group's landmark album, Straight Outta Compton, released in 1988.
Since Cube wrote the lyrics to approximately half of both Straight Outta Compton, and Eazy-E's solo album, Eazy-Duz-It.
Cube recorded his debut solo album in New York City, with his group Da Lench Mob, and the Bomb Squad (Public Enemy's production team). AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted was released in 1990 and was an instant hit. This was followed by a critically acclaimed role as 'Doughboy' in John Singleton's hood-based drama, Boyz N the Hood. The film began the rapper's increasing tendency to star in action movies as time went on. In the same year as AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Cube released the acclaimed EP, Kill At Will. Kill At Will sold well becoming the first hip hop EP to go both Gold and Platinum.
His 1991 follow-up, Death Certificate was regarded as more focused, yet even more controversial. Cube then toured with Lollapalooza in 1992, which widened his fan base.
Cube released The Predator in November 1992, which had been recorded amidst the LA uprising of 1992. The Predator debuted at number one on both the pop and R&B charts, the first album in history to do so. Singles from The Predator included "It Was a Good Day" and the "Check Yo Self" remix, and the songs had a two part music video. The album remains Cube's most successful release, with over three million copies sold in the US. Lethal Injection which was released in the end of 1993 and represented Cube's first attempt at imitating the G-Funk sound of Dr. Dre's The Chronic. He had more successful hits from Lethal Injection, including "Really Doe", "Bop Gun (One Nation)", "You Know How We Do It" & "What Can I Do?".
In 1995, Cube had reunited with former N.W.A member Dr. Dre, who was now part of Death Row Records, in their duet "Natural Born Killaz".[5] In 1998, Cube released his long-awaited solo album, War & Peace Volume 1. The delayed second part, War & Peace Volume 2, was released in 2000. The albums featured appearances from Westside Connection as well as a reunion with fellow N.W.A members, Dr. Dre and MC Ren. In 2000, Cube also joined Dr. Dre, Eminem & Snoop Dogg on the Up In Smoke Tour.[9]
In 2006, Ice Cube released his seventh solo album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, on his Da Lench Mob Records label, debuting at number four on the Billboard Charts and selling 144,000 units in the first week.[10] The album featured production from Lil Jon and Scott Storch, who produced the lead single "Why We Thugs".
He released his eighth studio album, Raw Footage, on August 19th 2008. It features the controversial single "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It". Westside Connection
In 1994, Cube formed Westside Connection with Mack 10 and WC, and together they released an album called Bow Down. Most of the album was used to engage in the war of words between the East and West Coasts of the 90s. The album's eponymous single reached number twenty-one on the singles charts, and the album itself was certified Platinum by the end of 1996. After a seven-year hiatus, Westside Connection returned with their second effort Terrorist Threats in 2003. The album fared well critically. "Gangsta Nation" was the only single released from the album, which featured Nate Dogg and was a radio hit. After a rift occurred between Cube and Mack 10, Westside Connection disbanded.
On July 15, 2008, it was reported that Westside Connection were to re-unite with west coast rapper The Game replacing Mack 10.
In 1993, Cube also worked with Tupac Shakur on his album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., appearing on the track "Last Words" with Ice T. He also did a song with Dr. Dre for the first time since he left N.W.A: "Natural Born Killaz", for the Murder Was The Case soundtrack, and also contributed to the Office Space soundtrack. Cube appeared on the song "Children of the Korn" by the band Korn, and lent his voice to British DJ Paul Oakenfold's solo debut album, Bunkka, on the track "Get Em Up".
Following his role as 'Doughboy' in Boyz n the Hood, in 1992 he starred alongside Ice-T, and Bill Paxton in Walter Hill's action film, Trespass, and then in The Glass Shield.
John Singleton had encouraged Cube to try his hand at screenwriting, telling him, "if you can write a record, you can write a movie."[12] With this encouragement, Ice Cube wrote the screenplay for what became the 1995 comedy Friday, in which he also starred, alongside then-upcoming comedian Chris Tucker. Friday became a hit, earning $28 million worldwide on a $3.5 million budget.
That year he also starred in his second collaboration with John Singleton, Higher Learning, as world-weary university student, "Fudge"; a role for which he earned award nominations.
He had a supporting role in 1997's Anaconda. He wrote, executive produced, and made his directorial debut in The Players Club in 1998, and in 1999, starred alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in the critically acclaimed Three Kings. In 2000, he wrote and appeared in the Friday sequel Next Friday. In 2002, Ice Cube starred in the commercially successful movie Barbershop, as well as All About the Benjamins and the third film in the Friday trilogy, Friday after Next (which he again wrote). In 2004, he appeared in Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and Torque. In 2005, Ice Cube starred in the action movie XXX: State of the Union and then acted in the 2005 comedy, Are We There Yet?, co-starring Nia Long.
In 2004, his hit singles "Check Yo Self", "It Was a Good Day" and affiliated song "Guerrillas in tha Mist" with Da Lench Mob appeared on popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas playing on fictional radio stations.
In late 2005, Ice Cube and Emmy Award winning film maker R. J. Cutler, teamed up to create the six-part documentary series titled Black. White., which was broadcast on cable network FX. In May 2006 Ice Cube accused Oprah Winfrey of not welcoming rappers on her show, and specifically, for not inviting him to the show when the rest of the cast of films that he participated in were invited.Cube's other movie projects include Teacher of the Year, released in 2007,and The Extractors, released in 2008. Cube has also completed Are We Done Yet?, the sequel to 2005's successful Are We There Yet?.
In October 2006, Ice Cube was an honoree at VH1's Annual Hip Hop Honors. Ice Cube was honored by Xzibit, Lil Jon and W.C. from the Westside Connection, all hitting the stage to perform some of Cube's classic tracks, and Ice Cube also performed "Why We Thugs" and "Go To Church" from his latest album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, where the strong N.Y.C crowd were greeted with Cube's vintage Cali sound.
After launching his new come-back album Laugh Now, Cry Later, Ice Cube has been touring across the world, to promote the new album. The tour is known as "Straight Outta Compton Tour", and accompanying him along the way is his fellow friend and rapper WC from the Westside Connection.
Recently, Ice Cube has also collaborated with Tech N9ne on the song "Blackboy" that appears on Tech N9ne's July 2008 album Killer.
Ice Cube released his eighth studio LP, titled Raw Footage, on August 19, 2008. It featured the street single Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It and Do Ya Thang. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and Top Rap Albums Chart, and at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart.
My friend Tracy sent me this incredible list of Holiday treats. You click on one you want to prepare and it goes right to its recipe! NICE! I'm gonna kick my scale's butt this Christmas season! ha ha
It was announced yesterday that the Bucs will play a regular season game at Wembley Stadium in England next year against the Patriots (nice team to play in the country we BEAT in the Revolution by the way...lol). The Bucs will be the "home team" which means we have to GIVE UP a home game at Ray Jay!!
Am I the ONLY ONE that finds this bullsh*t?! Let them do a preseason game there or an off-schedule exhibition game or something but don't take away a HOME GAME that we could GO TO!!!! Come on man....
New Delhi - Muslim organizations in Mumbai have refused to bury the bodies of nine terrorists who were killed during the attack on India's financial hub, news reports said Tuesday. According to Muslim tradition, unclaimed bodies are buried at the nearest graveyard after three days.
But religious organizations in Mumbai have said they will not open their cemeteries for interring the slain terrorists.
"The killing of innocents is against Islam. They are bringing shame to the 25 crore (1 crore equals 10 million) Muslims in India. These men are not Muslims. There is no place for them in our hearts and our cemeteries," Hamid Abdul Razzak, president of the Dawat-i-Islami organization. was quoted as saying.
A representative of the influential Jama Masjid trust which runs the Badakabrastan graveyard in the heart of Mumbai said it would not bury the gunmen because they were not true followers of Islam.
Ibrahim Tai, president of the Muslim council Trust, a forum of several organizations, agreed with the decisions to refuse the burials.
"As per Islamic tenets, killing of innocent persons is not permitted whatever may be the cause. What these terrorists have done is anti-Islam and shames all followers of Islam," Tai was quoted as saying by IANS news agency.
Tai said he had written to the Mumbai police and Maharashtra state government saying the authorities could dispose of the bodies in any manner, but not to inter them on Indian land or Indian waters.
Ten heavily armed gunmen split into groups and killed 188 people in a series of attacks across south Mumbai beginning late Wednesday. Their targets included two luxury hotels, the city's main train station, a hospital and a Jewish centre.
Over three days, Indian security forces killed nine of the terrorists and captured the other one, who is in custody.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the terrorists belong to a militant Islamic group based in Pakistan.
More than 300 people were injured as the gunmen fired their automatic weapons and lobbed grenades indiscriminately.
The victims included 40 Muslims, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.
Under interrogation, the captured terrorist reportedly said the group was indoctrinated with images of atrocities committed against Muslims in India.
During the attacks and the siege of two hotels and the Jewish centre, one of the militants allegedly called a local television channel and said they were avenging abuses against Muslims in India-controlled Kashmir.
The bodies of the nine terrorists are being kept in a morgue in Mumbai.
If you didn't know it, my birthday was Saturday. All my friends wanted to do something and this year I wanted to be low key. I usually have a big party but this year I wanted to chill. It wasn't because I was sad for getting older, I just wanted something different. I didn't want to wake up with a hangover. So I thought about what I wanted to do. I thought and thought and this is what I came up with. I wanted to go to the beach, fly my kite and some a cigar, a double fuente, Opus X. This is the best cigar you can buy. So Saturday around noon I was picked up by a close friend and driven to the beach. I was planning on going by myself but I thought a ride would be great. The weather was awesome and the beach wasn't packed. One problem though, there was no wind at the beach. My kite went up for about 5 min and then came crashing down. It almost hit someone so I decided to stop while I was ahead. To me there is something relaxing about going to the beach and watching my kite fly really really high. It's not everyone's thing but I enjoyed it. It makes you feel like a kid again. I think sometimes as adults, you have to do things that bring the child in you, out. Stuff like that makes life more rewarding.
What are some things that you do to bring out that inner child?
Yes, it's true. Even the fabulous get depressed. In a recent interview with Contact Music, Beyonce addmited that she got depressed during her Destiny Child days. Apparently, the girls of Destiny Child blamed her for all the changes and troubles. Beyonce reported "for a couple of years when I was 19 I suffered depression." Destiny Child ultimately ended with Beyonce, Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland. We all know what happened next!
December 2, 2008 Universal Feelings Everything is Relative
Every day we hear stories of personal suffering and loss that far exceed our own. When we compare our situations to those of people living in war-torn countries or those who have lost their homes and livelihoods to natural disasters, it is tempting to minimize our own experiences of suffering. We may feel that we don't have a right to be upset about the breakup of a relationship, for example, because at least we have food to eat and a roof over our heads.
While awareness of the pain of others in the world can be a valuable way to keep our own struggles in perspective, it is not a legitimate reason to disregard our own pain. Disparaging your feelings as being less important than other people's emotions leads to denial and repression. Over time, an unwillingness to experience your own feelings leads to numbness. It is as if our internal systems become clogged with our unexpressed emotions. This in no way helps other people who are suffering in the world. In fact, it may do just the opposite because when we devalue our own sorrow, we become impervious to the sorrow in others.
Fully experiencing our own hurt is the gateway to compassion toward other human beings. Feelings of loss, abandonment, loneliness, and fear are universal, and, in that sense, all feelings are created equal. Regardless of what leads us to feel the way we do, our comprehension of what it means to be human is deepened by our own experiences. Our personal lives provide us with the material we need to become fully conscious. If we reject our emotions because we think our experiences are not dramatic or important enough, we are missing out on our own humanity. We honor and value the human condition when we fully inhabit our bodies so we can experience and feel life fully. Accepting our emotions and allowing ourselves to feel them connects us to all human beings. Then, when we hear the stories of other people's suffering, our hearts can resonate with understanding and compassion-for all of us.
Britney is Back, ya'll!! Today is her 27th bday (December 2nd), and it's also the release date for her new album Circus. Let's hope it does well. The first single Womanizer is already a hit, and after all of the Britney Tabloid DRAMA, I'm wishing this chick much success. She's lookin' fly these days, too. You Go Brit! They are even saying her long ago Ex-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake might make an appearance at her bday party in NYC at club TenJune. Awww.
Everybody is showing love to the President elect and the new first family. They will be gracing January issue of Essence magazine, and of course Barbara Walters has named Barack Obama as her "Most Fascinating Person of 2008"!! I am so excited about how this election has impacted our country! For real, it kind of gives our generation a new hope. What do you think?
Beyonce and her hubby Jay-Z looked quite dashing at the premiere of her new movie Cadillac Records! I am looooooving that dress! Beyonce is killin' the game right now! The movie, where she plays singer Etta James, hits theaters this Friday.
I am working on a body like this...it might be too late, though! LOL!
Sasha Fierce takes over the cover of Giant Magazine
It was about the simplest of stories too: but they are often the ones that turn out to be a facade behind which all is smoke.
The story was an important anniversary: 30 years since a bunch of hungry and recalcitrant farmers decided to abandon the commune system which had reduced the Chinese countryside to penury and reallotted land to themselves to farm. The anniversary was November 24, which was when the piece appeared, and after a rather hectic week of travel in China and to London I am now in a position to reveal the deep and serious underlying problem with it.
November 24? Well, up to a point, Lord Copper.
The pact the farmers signed promised that they would look after each others' families if any were jailed for disobeying what was still Communist Party policy. In the event, the experiment was allowed to continue by local Party bosses, and gradually became the model for the "household responsibility system" which was the start of economic reform and opening.
The results of that we see all around us, which is why, while the official launch of "Gaige Kaifang" is celebrated in December, the date of the Party Congress which approved the idea, the adventurousness of the villagers of Xiaogang in Anhui is marked on the date of the pact, November 24.
And which is also why I ventured to the village and published my piece on Monday last week.
Er, but...
When I went to the village, a problem became immediately apparent. In the new museum dedicated to the villagers, there is a large copy of the thumb-printed piece of paper that the 21* villagers signed hanging on the wall.
At the top are the unmistakeable characters 12yue - December.
Well, so we asked at the front desk - December or November 24? November 24, definitely, said one man; it says December - what more do you need to ask, said the woman at the desk. We pointed out that November 24 was the official date: the woman hummed a bit, and came up with the perfect compromise - December according to the lunar calendar.
We were partially satisfied with that explanation, but at the old museum - more a collection of old photographs and documents, really - there was a timeline on the wall. It gave the date as December 16 - and there was no doubt that this was the western, not the lunar calendar, being used. Intriguingly, the date was on a sticky strip plastered on top of what appeared to be a previous date - but we couldn't see what that was.
The attendant at this museum claimed not to have noticed the discrepancy at all.
At this point we grew alarmed, and did what all journalists do when alarmed: collude. I rang another journalist who had reported on Xiaogang who, it turned out, had spotted the same conflict. On inquiry with the local government (closed on a Sunday), they had been informed that 12yue did indeed refer to the lunar year, but that the farmers themselves had never been quite sure, when the whole thing became famous, what date they had signed the thing, and so it had been worked out from associated bits of information. November 24 was the only possible date they could have had their get-together.
Satisfied - and anyway, what alternative was there? - I went ahead and published.
Except, except, something nagged. 12yue, you see, could not be referring to the lunar calendar if the western calendar date was November - the lunar calendar, starting on lunar new year, is approximately a month behind, not ahead, of the western (Gregorian) calendar. A quick check on the useful conversion website tells us that November 24 was in fact 10yue in 1978, not 12yue.
Time to go back to square one: and that means internet search engines.
My glamorous assistant thus found a long, anonymous article which addressed this very topic: Chinese readers can see it here, on the People's Daily's famous Strong State bulletin board, though I think it was copied over there from somewhere else. I cannot vouch for its accuracy, but it makes depressing reading.
The desk woman, it seems, may have been right. 12yue did refer to the lunar calendar - and the western calendar date may have thus been January 1979. Over the years, the date was gradually reremembered earlier. The fact that an alternative village came forward to claim to have been the originator of the household responsibility system may have had something to do with it.
At the end of the day it doesn't really matter, does it? The fact is, it happened (nobody disputes that), and it was copied, and dates are irrelevant. So maybe it doesn't matter that we have a formal date that we all agree to follow, even if it's not the right one. But since the "correct" date may have been after the actual launch of reform and opening in Beijing, it may mean that Xiaogang village wasn't quite so out on a limb as we all believe. So much for heroes.
*21? Yes, that's what everyone says, except those who say 18. If you count the signatures, there are 21. But one of those is repeated - at the bottom of the letter, and then in the list of names of those signing. So 20. Two more, it has since been alleged, refused to sign, and had their names thumb-printed for them.
MADRID.- Cuando en el futuro los primeros astronautas pisen Marte y establezca una colonia humana en el planeta rojo, podrán obtener agua de los inmensos glaciares que existen bajo su superficie. Esto es lo que se deduce del espectacular hallazgo que acaba de publicar un equipo de científicos estadounidenses en la revista Science.
La sonda Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) de la NASA ha detectado glaciares que cubren una superficie de decenas de miles de kilómetros cuadrados y se extienden desde las montañas marcianas con un espesor en algunos casos de unos 800 metros.
"Se trata de un descubrimiento muy importante porque no sólo constata la existencia de agua en Marte sino que cubre la necesidad del líquido elemento que tendrán las futuras misiones interplanetarias", asegura Ali Safaeinili, científico del Laboratorio de Propulsión a Chorro (JPL) de la NASA.
"El hallazgo también es importante porque el agua de esos glaciares se encuentra en latitudes bajas del planeta, lejos de los polos, y en algunos casos a sólo unos tres metros de profundidad", indicó.
Debido a que el agua es uno de los ingredientes esenciales de la vida tal como la conocemos en la Tierra, la existencia de grandes reservas del líquido congelado es un signo alentador para los científicos que buscan vida más allá de nuestro planeta, según señala el estudio publicado por 'Science'.
Los primeros indicios de agua en Marte fueron detectados hace cuatro años por los vehículos 'Spirit' y 'Opportunity' y confirmados después por el 'Phoenix', un tercer vehículo de la NASA.
"Sin duda estos glaciares representan la mayor reserva de agua en Marte en regiones no polares. Sólo uno de los que examinamos es tres veces más extenso que la ciudad de Los Ángeles (California)...y hay muchos más", indica John Holt, de la Escuela de Geociencias de la Universidad de Texas y autor del informe.
Además "son una ventana a un clima que fue muy diferente a lo que es hoy Marte", agrega Holt.
Pruebas múltiples
El descubrimiento logrado por el radar de la sonda MRO despejó un misterio que había surgido en la década de 1970 cuando las sondas Viking de la NASA detectaron faldas ondulantes que provenían de las montañas. Una teoría indicaba que se trataba de flujos de rocas lubricadas por el hielo. Sin embargo, Holt indicó que se parecían mucho a los enormes glaciares detectados también bajo la roca en la Antártida y para cuyo estudio se había utilizado el radar.
"Y en la Tierra, esas masas de hielo oculto en la Antártida preservan el registro de antiguos organismos y la historia del pasado climático", explica James Head, científico de la Universidad de Brown.
La solución del rompecabezas fue proporcionada por el radar de la sonda de la NASA, el cual indicó que esas configuraciones topográficas contienen enormes cantidades de hielo.
Según el informe de 'Science', las pruebas de la presencia de agua congelada son múltiples. Los ecos del radar recibidos por el orbitador pasan a través del material y rebotan desde una superficie interior más profunda sin una pérdida importante de su fuerza, como ocurre cuando hay agua con una capa relativamente delgada que la cubre.
Por otra parte, la velocidad de las ondas de radio que atraviesan la capa se ajusta a una composición de agua congelada, indicó el informe.
Los glaciares en los que se centró el estudio están ubicados en la región de la cuenca de Hellas, en el hemisferio sur marciano, pero el radar también detectó formaciones similares en el hemisferio norte.
"Existe un volumen todavía mayor de agua congelada en los depósitos del norte", aseguró Jeffrey Plaut, científico de JPL.
Holt explicó que la presencia de glaciares en latitudes bajas de ambos hemisferios se explicaría por un cambio que sufrió en algún momento el eje de rotación de Marte, el cual empujó el agua de los polos a esos lugares.
Looks like someone forgot to shave! Check out this picture of Beyonce at the Cadillac Records movie premiere. It looks like she hasn't shaved her pits in days....it's curling up!!!!!!
