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Monday, January 14, 2013

DIDDY'S $23,000,000 BEVERLY HILLS DREAM HOME COMES TO LIFE?

Bad Boy Records CEO Diddy may be a New Yorker by heart, but the music mogul reportedly has his eyes on a $23 million Beverly Hills, California mansion.

According to reports, Puffy and renowned film producer Jerry Bruckheimer are both interested in the same luxury California crib.

real estate war could be brewing between a Bad Boy founder and a "Bad Boys" producer ... 'cause TMZ has learned Diddy is in the market for the same $23 million Bev Hills mansion that Jerry Bruckheimer is hoping to buy. Our real estate sources tells us ... Diddy is on the hunt for a brand new pad in certain upscale parts of L.A. ... and one of the homes on his radar is the famous 19,590-square-foot "Harry Cohn" estate in Beverly Hills. In fact, Diddy was photographed at the estate just a few days ago. Problem is ... Jerry Bruckheimer is also interested in the pad ... and as we previously reported, he put a $23 million offer on the house earlier this month. (TMZ)

If things do not pan out, Diddy may consider other suitable fancy spots in the area.

Bruckheimer is supposed to close on the house on January 17, but if Diddy decides he HAS to have it, he can still swoop in with a higher bid up until the last minute. But Jerry shouldn't panic just yet ... sources tell us Diddy probably won't make an offer because he was only planning on dropping $15 mil during this particular real estate venture (even gazillionaires got a budget). Meantime, sources tell us ... Diddy's been checking out a bunch of other swanky homes with real estate agent Kurt Rappaport -- including a $19 million crib in Bel Air ... with 10 bdrms, 11 baths, staff quarters, media room, wine cellar, sauna ... the works. It's unclear if he's planning to make an offer on that home ... but he could if he wanted to ... because he's really, really rich. (TMZ)

Back in November, the music mogul landed a Top 20 spot on Frobes' Highest-Paid Musicians of 2012 list.

10. Toby Keith ($55 million) 12. Rihanna ($53 million) 13. Lady Gaga ($52 million) 14. Foo Fighters ($47 million) 15. Diddy ($45 million) 15. Katy Perry ($45 million) 17. Kenny Chesney ($44 million) 18. Beyonce ($40 million) 19. Red Hot Chili Peppers ($39 million) 20. Jay-Z ($38 million) 21. Coldplay ($37 million) 22. Adele ($35 million) 22. Kanye West ($35 million) 24. Michael Buble ($34 million) 25. Sade ($33 million) (Forbes)

A couple months prior, Puff fell just short of topping the financial publication's "Hip Hop Cash Kings" rundown.

With $110 million in pretax earnings, Dr. Dre is this year's Hip-Hop Cash King--despite the fact that his long-awaited album, Detox, remains on the shelf. He's not the only one on the list who banks the bulk of his bucks outside the recording studio. Diddy ranks No. 2 with $45 million, thanks mostly to a share of profits from Diageo's Ciroc vodka; Jay-Z ranks third with $38 million, pulling in more than half his annual earnings from ventures including ownership stakes in cosmetics company Carol's Daughter, the Brookyln Nets and a joint venture with battery maker Duracell. (Forbes)

Hackers Sentenced for Stealing Unreleased Material From Michael Jackson, Other Sony Artists

British court sentenced two hackers to 100 hours of community service on Friday for stealing a treasure trove of unreleased music - including Michael Jackson tracks - from the U.S. servers of Sony Music Entertainment.

Officials said that music aficionados James Marks, 27, and James McCormick, 26, used their home computers to access Sony's servers and scour them for Jackson-related material. The pair downloaded nearly 8,000 files, including completed or partial tracks, artwork, and videos relating to Jackson and other unspecified Sony artists.

The precise nature of the unreleased material hasn't been made clear - Sony refused to comment on the case. A statement from Britain's Serious and Organized Crime Agency identified some of the material as stems, which are audio tracks that can be used in mixes and overdubs.

Marks and McCormick -who met online - were arrested in May 2011 after Sony alerted U.K. law enforcement to the breach. Chat logs recovered from their computers showed that they planned to sell or trade some of the files.

The theft could have been damaging for Sony had the music been released to the Web. The company has a seven-year deal, worth up to $250 million, to sell unreleased recordings by Jackson, who died in 2009 at the age of 50.

Marks and McCormick initially pleaded their innocence in public, releasing a statement saying that they "would never do anything to harm the legacy that is Michael Jackson's music." But the pair later pleaded guilty to two counts of "unauthorized access to computer material" in September.

Their community service order was handed down at central England's Leicester Crown Court on Friday.

NAS "DOIN ALRIGHT" AFTER BEING HOSPITALIZED IN NEW YORK

Nas was reportedly hospitalized on Friday morning after falling ill with vertigo, the motion-based illness with symptoms of dizziness, vomiting and nausea.

The Life Is Good rapper was expected to make an appearance on Live! With Kelly & Michael that morning, but the hosts said he was forced to cancel the taping after the vertigo symptoms kicked in following his flight into town. Nas resurfaced hours later on Twitter to relieve fans of any worry.

Fellow NYC rapper Talib Kweli sent the 39-year-old well wishes. "Nas salute to you, one of our greatest, truest inspirations. We need you out here..." Kweli tweeted.

SLICK RICK BOUNCES BACK, SHAKES OFF BROOKLYN BACKLASH & BOOING

Rap veteran Slick Rick proved he does not sweat the small stuff recently, returning to Brooklyn, New York just months after getting booed at a local Nets basketball game.

Rick the Ruler returned to the New York borough to celebrate his birthday at Brooklyn Bowl.

With a full band and DJ, the London native tore though the best of his songs receiving a wild reception from those in attendance. Suddenly, after the performance, he was greeted on stage with a birthday cake and a celebration broke out. Amber Rose, Raekwon, Talib Kweli, Special Ed, Biz Markie, Chubb Rock, MC Lyte, MTV's Sway and others recorded video birthday shout-outs that were played over the venue's many television screens. (AHH)

The hip-hop veteran also spoke on receiving the birthday bash love.

"Last night was an incredible night for me as well as the Golden Era of Hip-Hop. It is always great to see and perform for my fans, but to share my birthday with them at the Brooklyn Bowl was out of this world," the rapper exclaimed. This was the third year the rapper celebrated his birthday at Brooklyn Bowl. "The highlight of the night was the Birthday Shout Out Video from my peers. I was shocked and honored by all the kind words and stories about my career. To sum it up, I am blessed, and humbled by all the love for all of the years." (AHH)

Back in late November, Slick caught heat from Brooklyn Nets fans over his halftime performance.

The New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets finally got around to playing that game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn that was canceled in the wake of hurricane Sandy. For halftime entertainment the Nets brought in Slick Rick to delight the masses. It apparently did not go so well for Mr. Rick--Slick Rick is actually trending on Twitter because it was apparently so bad. (Dead Spin)

Maybach Music Group's Rick Ross even stepped up to scold the disgruntled fans.

"Fck y'all Salute Slick Rick the Ruler," Ross tweeted November 26th. (Rick Ross' Twitter)

Justin Timberlake's New Song 'Suit & Tie' Hits The Web

After six and a half years of waiting for new Justin Timberlake solo material, "Suit & Tie," a new single featuring Jay-Z, has arrived.

The song is also available on iTunes; listen to it below:

The song is available on iTunes; it is also streaming on the new Myspace (of which Timberlake is a part owner) at new.myspace.com.

The song was written by Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Shawn Carter, Jerome "J-ROC" Harmon and James Flauntleroy and produced by Timbaland, Timberlake and Harmon. The song is the first release from Timberlake's forthcoming album, "The 20/20 Experience," due out this year on RCA Records.

"Let me show you a few things about love," JT croons after the horn-tinged style salute kicks into high gear and Timbaland's shiny collection of percussion effectively congeals on the track. "Suit & Tie" is a sleek, wholly assured dance number with several start-stop components arranged in a way that's reminiscent of the first "Justified" single, "Like I Love You." And like that track, Timberlake's falsetto is buttressed by a late-game rap verse, this time from Jay-Z, who supports "tuxedoes for no reason," as we all do.

In an open letter on his website, Timberlake writes that he "quietly started working" on "The 20/20 Experience" in June.

"The inspiration for this really came out of the blue and to be honest, I didn't expect anything out of it," he says. "I just went into the studio and started playing around with some sounds and songs. It was probably the best time I've had in my career... Just creating with no rules and/or end goal in mind and really enjoying the process."

"Suit & Tie" was teased by a video released on Thursday (Jan. 10) in which Timberlake declared that he was "ready" to return to music. "I'm the one that sits and is obsessive about it before you even get to hear it," he says in the minute-long video. "As close as I get to it, I don't think I can physically torture myself that much, year in and year out, and expect it to fulfill me the way that it does and the way that it is right now."

"Suit & Tie" was teased by a video released last week in which Timberlake declared that he was "ready" to return to music. The pop superstar has spent the time between the September 2006 release of his sophomore album "FutureSex/LoveSounds" dabbling in acting, exploring business ventures and appearing on songs by artists like Madonna, Timbaland and Ciara.

QUENTIN TARANTINO WINS 2013 GOLDEN GLOBE FOR BEST SCREENPLAY

When Quentin Tarantino accepted the Golden Globe for Best Original Screenplay at the 70th Golden Globes, he thanked several groups. The brain behind cult classics like Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction thanked Django Unchained's "magnificent actors," as well as his "group of friends," who as he's writing the script reads each scene to as he goes on.

Django stars Kerry Washington, Leonardo Dicaprio and Jamie Foxx grace VIBE current cover. In an unpublished outtake from the interview, Dicaprio described one of these writing sessions.

"The thing that made [Dicaprio's character Calvin Candie] click for me was some of the conversations I had with Quentin during the writing process about things like phrenology, because I wanted him to be able to have a sort of scientific approach to how he operated. And phrenolgoy, at the time, was a bogus study of the skull and human emotions and feelings, where they came from. A lot of the plantation owners and scientists used that at the time to promote the idea of slavery staying as it was, and it was a completely made up bullshit science. That sort of thing elevated the character. He bought into his own bullsit. He was so encompassed in this world that he actually had a scientific plausible explanation for doing what he did, and that led to a whole bunch of sequences we have in the movie. But a lot of the time, for me, it was about cutting out anything that I have experienced in my life and my own viewpoints and, basically, coming to the set and trying to become a completely different human being."

"Once your in it, taking something from the page to three-dimensional, it changes and it evolves," adds Washington about how Tarantino's screenplay transformed them into character. "I’ve heard that that doesn’t happen as much with other films as it did with this one. But yeah, it evolves. The film kinda lived in all of us and the ending changed because the middle changed."

"I remember our first meeting, our first read through and some of my questions were about the amount of violence, the amount of racism, the explicit use of certain language," adds Dicaprio. "It was hard for me to wrap my head around it. My first initial response was, "Do we need to go this far?" Quentin pushes the envelope. You know, much like Inglorious Bastards was about World War II, a heightened depiction or retelling of that time, this was his retelling of this era."

This was Tarantino's second win at the Golden Globes for Best Original Screenplay. He also won in 1996 for co-writing Pulp Fiction. For the full list of winners head here.

SHYNE ASKS PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR HUGE JAY-Z FAVOR

Former Bad Boy Records rapper Shyne has unloaded a public campaign to get President Barack Obama's attention, asking the head of state to help fight local and global problems.

In a series of "Dear Obama" tweets, Shyne Po pleaded for the president to take action and even asked if he would consider leaning on rap mogul Jay-Z for a favor.

"Dear @BarackObama there has to be something the former US senator from Chicago can do for his former constituents! The genocide must stop," he tweeted Sunday (January 13).

"Dear @BarackObama u must declare a state of emergency in Chicago! One of those bodies could've been you as a teenager! U now have the power"

"At least 18 murdered in Chicago within the first 10 days of the year -- RT http://rt.com/usa/news/18-chicago-year-murder-812/ ... @barackobama do something now!"

"Dear @BarackObama call Jay-z to fly his private plane Down to Chicago & u fly yours the same way u called in the stars to win Ohio#help"

"@barackobama I forgot u weren't & impoverished inner city kid! U grew up in Kansas & Hawaii! U only play the ghetto card come election time!"

"My comrades in Chiraq need opportunity! They need education & hope! @barackobama declare a war on poverty! Declare a war on lackof education" (Shyne's Twitter)

Last fall, the deported New York emcee questioned President Obama for not helping speed up his return to the United States.

Shyne has spent time in Belize, Paris and Jerusalem, but he has been unable to come back to the U.S., where he grew up and made a name for himself as a rap star. Po says Obama is well aware of his dilemma, noting that he and the POTUS share a mutual friend, Harvard Law professor Charles J. Ogletree. "He knows who I am, he knows what's happenin'," the rapper said of Obama. "He's always talkin' about he listens to hip-hop and his daughter listens to hip-hop. He knows who Shyne is, he knows I'm deported." (MTV)

Despite his circumstance, the ex-convicted felon promised to be back sooner than later.

Whether he gets Barack's help or not, the "That's Gangsta" MC maintains that he should be returning to the U.S. shortly. "I should be in America in a couple of months. We working to try and get this visa," he said. "Obama is playing games, he frontin', he better do the right thing." (MTV)

Recently, OutKast's Big Boi defended his decision not to rock with the Republican or Democrat parties.

"Yes, I'm a Libertarian. I'm liberty, justice for all, liberty for all. I'm really pro-people, pro-freedom, and, you know, this is all about positivity. Like, you know, I have nothing against the president at all, you know, he's a nice guy, but, it's just, you know, the things that they're standing on right now just didn't agree with me. Anything that benefits the public and not just big banking, that's what I'm with." (Huff Post Live)