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North Carolina Case Challenges Racial Bias in Sentencing

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Attorneys of Marcus Robinson say that prosecutors disqualified a disproportionate number of Black jurors during their client’s trial.


A judge has denied a bid by prosecutors to further delay the start of the first hearing under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act that was set to begin Monday.

Over the past six months, prosecutors have been granted delays, and on Monday morning, Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks denied a request for eight more weeks.

The act allows inmates sentenced to death to argue that race was a factor in their sentencing. If their argument wins, their death sentences will be converted to life in prison.

Monday’s scheduled hearing involved Marcus Robinson, an African-American inmate sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of Erik Torblom. His attorneys say that during Robinson’s trial, prosecutors disqualified a disproportionate number of Black jurors.

"It's to the credit of the state of North Carolina that we're willing to take a very open, searching look at potential race discrimination against African-Americans," Ken Rose, a staff attorney at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, told a local newspaper.

In North Carolina there are 159 people on Death Row; 31 were sentenced by all-white juries.

A few months ago, the Equal Justice Initiative filed a lawsuit claiming that for years, an Alabama District Attorney purposely prohibited qualified African-Americans from serving on juries in serious felony cases, especially those considering the death penalty. Additionally, inmates across the country are arguing for new trials, using similar reasoning.

News: Flavor Flav Gets Clocked By Daughter, Mug Shot Emerges

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Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav caught the wrong end of his daughter this past weekend with reports claiming he was involved in a Las Vegas family brawl which resulted in an arrest.
A mug shot of Flav’s 19 year-old daughter has also hit the Internet.
TMZ has obtained Flavor Flav’s daughter’s mug shot … taken moments after the 19-year-old was arrested for battery stemming from an altercation at the rapper’s Las Vegas home. As we first reported, cops arrested Dazayna Drayton early Sunday morning following a family spat. Sources tell TMZ … Flav tried to break it up and got hit by his daughter for his troubles. It’s unclear whether it was on purpose or by accident. Law enforcement tells us … Drayton has since been released from custody. (TMZ)
Last year, Flavor Flav’s former Iowa fried chicken restaurant partner Nick Cimino cited the rapper for questionable business practices.
“I started this,” Cimino said. “I put together everything from the menu to the color of the building to the sign. I did everything. What Flav’s doing, he’s a fraud. He doesn’t want to be hurt with the other ventures he’s doing and he wants to become a millionaire off my dime, off my ideas…I came up with the idea and now he wants to run without me? That’s fine, but people got to know it wasn’t Flavor Flav’s idea.” (Baltimore Sun)
In late April, Flav said the restaurant’s mismanagement forced him to part ways.
“Let me be straight up with you, I went inside there on April 2 and I found potato salad that expired on February 28,” Flav told gossip site TMZ. “And it’s then when I realized I can’t do business with this man and I really hope no one ate those potatoes.” The restaurant, which opened next to a KFC in January, has had problems greater than spoiled potato salad. (New York Daily News)
Outside of family woes and fast food restaurants, Flav has made a name for himself on the small screen.
Now back on top, the rapper released his debut solo album, Flavor Flav, in 2006 and suffered the jabs of Katt Williams, Patton Oswalt, Lisa Lampanelli and others when “The ComedyCentral Roast of Flavor Flav” aired in 2007. A year later he became a featured actor on the myNetworkTV sitcom “Under One Roof.”

Fat Joe - Ride For My Haiti (Official Video)

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Fat Joe - Ride For My Haiti (Official Video)Fat Joe - Ride For My Haiti (Official Video)Fat Joe - Ride For My Haiti (Official Video)

umia Abu-Jamal Moved Into General Prison Population

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Black Panther activist and former death-row political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been held captive in solitary confinement within the Pennsylvania penitentiary system for the past three decades, has now been moved into the general prison population.

Susan McNaughton, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Abu-Jamal was moved Friday from the housing unit at the Mahanoy state prison in Frackville, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.

As previously reported by Hip-Hop Wired, the Supreme Court in October declared his death-sentence to be ‘unconstitutional,' then in December the district attorney conceded, announcing they'd no longer pursue to legally lynch Abu-Jamal – automatically relegating him to a sentence of ‘life in prison without parole.'

The fight is still not over though as he still needs a new trial after being railroaded by the Philadelphia judicial system for the past 30 years after being "framed"  for killing a policeman.

Spike Lee Says Hollywood Knows Nothing About Black People

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Spike Lee Says Hollywood Knows Nothing About Black People


It doesn't take much to spark Spike Lee into a rant. Last night Lee premiered his latest film, Red Hook Summer, at the Sundance Film Festival 2012 and verbally skewered Hollywood because it "knows nothing about Black people."

According to reports, the underwhelming screening left audience members discordant about the independent film while others simply walked out. But what set Lee off was the post-screening Q&A from the audience that sparked a series of rants defending his audacious film, which he says is the latest in his “chronicles of Brooklyn.”

At first, Lee advised audience members if they were to “go out and talk about it, please tell ‘em this is not a motherf*cking sequel to Do the Right Thing, or Mookie's Return.” Soon after came the provoke.

“You did it, you spent your own money, right,” famous audience member and film peer Chris Rock asked. “What would you have done differently if you'd actually gotten a bunch of studio money… Would you have blown up lots of s—?” As the audience laughed, Spike retaliated.

“We never went to the studios with this film. I told you! I TOLD YOU! … I bought a camera and said we're gonna do this motherf*cking film ourselves.”

Lee went on to explain why he opted to film independently as opposed to the traditional big studio route. “I didn't need a motherf*cking studio telling me something about [the neighborhood of] Red Hook! They know nothing about black people! Nothing! And they're gonna give me notes about what a 13-year-old black boy and girl do in Red Hook? F*ck no!”

Spike recounted the 12 day filming schedule of his 1986 film She's Gotta Have It and argued about the lack of support from Universal Studios to film the sequel to his film Inside Man. “We had to do it OURSELVES!,” Spike shouted.
At the end of the rant, Spike apologized. "Sorry for that motherf*cking tirade."



Aretha Franklin Calls off Wedding

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Aretha Franklin has announced that she is calling off her wedding to long time friend Willie Wilkerson. Earlier this month the Queen of Soul announced that she would get married this summer after being together for 25 years.

However, the couple is calling off the union because they think they're moving too fast. Interesting...25 years is moving to fast?? Aretha's rep released a statement which read: Will and I have decided we were moving a little too fast, and that that were a number of things that had not been thought through thoroughly. There will be no wedding at this time. 

We will not comment on it any further because of the very personal and sensitive nature of it.

We appreciate all of the many well wishes from friends. Sounds like cold feet to us but we hope the pair remains happy, married or not.

DMX To Release Two Albums Of Unreleased Music In 2012

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Dark Man X's previously announced LP "Undisputed" will actually be an album's worth of unreleased material.

DMX is set to release two albums of unreleased material in 2012.

 According to a press release from RTTNews.com (via HHNM), Seven Arts Entertainment Inc. has purchased David Michery’s music assets. Under the agreement, Seven Arts will release the previously announced Undisputed, one of the two albums acquired, during the second quarter of 2012 through Fontana Distribution. Following the acquisition, Michery will be appointed CEO of Seven Arts Music.

DMXd previously announced Undisputed’s release date as March 26th, though it is unclear if that date still stands.
 
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Today is Raekwon's 42nd birthday and to help celebrate the Wu Tang Clan member's day of birth, we've put together some of Rae's most classic videos. Since entering the game in the early 90's, Rae and the Wu have been putting out nothing but monumental music. From Only Built For Cuban Linx to OB4CL2, Rae the Chef definitely gives Staten Island something to be proud of. Get into Rae's classics below: