Snoop Dogg meets Mike Brown's family and supporters at a "No Guns Allowed: Fallout from Ferguson" anti-gun violence breakfast in Atlanta during BET Hip-Hop Awards weekend. Moderated by the Executive Director of the League of Young Voters, Dr. Robert "Biko" Baker, the conversation focused on gun
Who better to mentor fatherless young men than Paula Deen? After being exiled for over a year following revelations that the butter-slinging chef routinely used racist language around her staff and even wanted black waiters at her party to act like slaves, Deen is now beginning her comeback tour. She announced this past June that she is launching her own online network, and thanks to Steve Harvey she is also going to be working with young men being raised by single mothers at Steve Harvey’s National Mentoring Camp.
TMZ journalist Van Lathan opens up about his job at TMZ as a content creator, and reveals that he broke a story about NYC strip clubs beefing up their hot girl quota during the 2014 Super Bowl. Lathan explains that he likes to keep things fun with his job at TMZ, but divulges on the not so fun aspects, like reporting on NFL stars like Jonathan Dwyer allegedly head-butting his longtime girlfriend.
Wu-Tang Clan mastermind RZA has dropped exciting knowledge about the pioneering rap group's upcoming reunion LP, A Better Tomorrow. In a recent Billboard interview, the rapper-producer assured fans that "the entire 10 Clan members" (Wu affiliate Cappadonna is now a permanent member) will appear on the album, which he says will be released in time for the Black Friday shopping frenzy. In keeping with the group's other forward-thinking release methods, A Better Tomorrow will also be available on a limited-edition, 3,000-copy run of a portable speaker dubbed Boombot Rex, which will feature eight album tracks, two non-LP instrumentals and the exclusive track "Big Horn B." The Bluetooth-powered device features the group's distinctive "W" logo.
"It's a record to me that merges the way music was made in the classic essence, in an analog way," RZA said of the release, "as well as merging what's going down the digital way. . . And the album has a small concept in a sense: Musically, it travels from a guy who is going through difficulties, tries to find himself, gets involved with some violence, some troubles, but then realizes that it's best sometimes to walk away from the past and all the bad times and maybe work on making his life better, and making a better tomorrow."
The highly awaited LP, which marks Wu-Tang's 20th anniversary, came to fruition in a unique way for RZA. He started working on music at his home studio in Los Angeles followed by the home of musical collaborator Adrian Younge, using "old Sixties equipment." The producer then headed to Memphis, where he "recorded a lot of songs with the same guys who played on a lot of Isaac Hayes music and all the Stax, Hi, Willie Mitchell records." RZA also recorded at various studios in Europe before he "brought it all the way back to 36 Chambers East, which is where we recorded most of Wu-Tang Forever."
That elaborate process spanned multiple countries and 18 months. "So this record has traveled," he says. "It's been in different studios, different musicians have touched it."
Teaming with portable speaker company Boombotix for the limited-edition Boombot Rex made sense to RZA since he values the intimacy and accessibility of a "tangible item, like your old Walkman or your old cassette, or your old record."
Of course, RZA is known to treat albums like holy relics. Back in March, he revealed that Wu-Tang's Cher-featuring "secret album," the 31-track double LP The Wu – Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, would be sold as a single copy to the highest bidder after touring the world's museums, galleries and festivals.
Stand up comedy by Martin Lawrence, filmed in the Majestic Theater in New York City. Martin Lawrence talks about everything from racism, to relationships, to his childhood.
Jeremiah, a troubled young male, tries to deal with the cards he's been dealt with in life. He makes a decision to help his struggling mother, which ultimately leads to his demise.
J. Lo was looking fine as ever, though she was obviously weary from a day of doing endless press. Still, Jenny from the block was as cool as a cucumber when we briefly spoke to her about the challenges of making a video like the "Booty (Remix)" because, believe it or not, looking that good ain't easy. Plus, we even found time to talk about what her best movie is, and her pick might surprise you. But come on, we all know it's Selena. Right? Check out the video above.
Health officials in Texas are now saying that the man who has been diagnosed with the Ebola virus came into contact with as many as 80 people. This represents a major leap from the previous estimate of possible exposures, which had the number pegged at 18.
Additionally, four members of the man’s family have been functionally placed on house arrest for the next two weeks due to their possible exposure as well.
42-year-old Thomas Eric Duncan had traveled to Liberia last month, and last week began showing symptoms consistent with Ebola. He was actually sent home from a Dallas-area hospital on September 26 and remained there (still sick) for two days before his nephew called the Centers for Disease Control and alerted them to his uncle’s illness.
According to his nephew, Duncan is “still in pain. He's doing all right. He's a fighter. I think our prayers, all together, will help him pull through.”
A white Ohio mom is suing a sperm bank for sending her vials from a black donor, saying her biracial 2-year-old daughter will be stigmatized by her family and the "intolerant" town where they live and has to travel to get her hair done.
Jennifer Cramblett thought she was being inseminated with a white man's sperm in 2011 and only discovered after she was pregnant that the Midwest Sperm Bank sent the wrong batch, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
The child, Payton, is now 2 years old and already experiencing prejudice in Uniontown, where 98 percent of the residents are white, court papers say.
"I am happy that I have a healthy child," Cramblett told NBC News. "But I'm not going to let them get away with not being held accountable."
Cramlett's lawyer, Thomas Intili, told NBC News his client "lives in an all-white community in eastern Ohio. She did not encounter any African-American people until she entered college. Not all her friends and family members are racially sensitive."
As an example of the difficulties the family faces, the suit cited hair care for the toddler.
"Getting a young daughter's hair cut is not particularly stressful for most mothers, but to Jennifer it is not a routine matter, because Payton has hair typical of an African American girl," the suit says. "To get a decent cut, Jennifer must travel to a black neighborhood, far from where she lives, where she is obviously different in appearance, and not overtly welcome."
"I don't want her to ever feel like she's an outcast," Cramblett told NBC News.
Midwest Sperm Bank — which touts "the highest standards of quality control" on its website — declined to comment.
The suit says that when Midwest took her phone order for vials for Donor No. 380, someone in the office misread the handwritten number as 330 and sent that donor's sperm to the fertility clinic.
After she got pregnant, Cramblett called to order eight more vials that her partner, Amanda, would use to try to get pregnant with a sibling for Payton.
It was during that conversation that she learned the bank had previously sent No. 330 to her doctor, who then confirmed that donor had been used.
"Jennifer was crying, confused and upset. All of the thought, care and planning that she and Amanda had undertaken to control their baby's parentage had been rendered meaningless. In an instant, Jennifer's excitement and anticipation of her pregnancy was replaced with anger, disappointment and fear," the court papers say.
Intili said the sperm bank quickly cut off contact with Cramblett and sent her only an apology and a refund check for six vials.
"I was floored," Cramblett said Wednesday. "I couldn't believe somebody just had the lack of compassion that they had."
Cramblett said she wants to move somewhere with more cultural diversity and good schools. Her suit does not specify damages, but Intili said she needs enough money to leave Uniontown.
"Many people could have already had this happen to them," she told NBC News. "It's disheartening, and I would never want somebody else to be scared to go through this process."
Intili said: "They've made the one mistake a sperm bank can't make. It's not like she was ordering pizza."
BOYZ N THE HOOD is the critically acclaimed story of three friends growing up in a South Central Los Angeles neighborhood, and of street life where friendship, pain, danger and love combine to form reality.
20 years after the dimwits set out on their first adventure, they head out in search of one of their long lost children in the hope of gaining a new kidney.
From producer Guillermo del Toro and director Jorge Gutierrez comes an animated comedy with a unique visual style. THE BOOK OF LIFE is the journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears. Rich with a fresh take on pop music favorites, THE BOOK OF LIFE encourages us to celebrate the past while looking forward to the future.
