Michael Winans Jr. was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in a financial scam.
The member of the Winans gospel family was convicted for running a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of $8 million and left hundreds broke.
The 30-year-old is gospel royalty, the grandson of Mom and Pop Winans, and the son of Michael Sr., who was a member of The Winans gospel quartet. Uncle Marvin Winans gave the eulogy at hte funural of Whitney Houston.
The Detroit-based scheme involved investing in Saudi oil bonds, and Winans used friends to involve more investors before stiffing them for their money. It was not dissimilar to the Ponzi scheme run by Bernie Madoff, in that early investors were paid off and then used as bait to attract other investors. Winans then used the money from later investors for himself.
"I want to apologize to everyone.
These were decisions that were negligent and irresponsible," said Winans.
Redman previewed “Lookin’ Fly Too” a few months ago.
Today, he released the full version directed and edited by Rome York. It features longtime collaborator Method Man and New Jersey rapper Ready Roc. Currently,
Meth and Red are working on their Blackout 3 album, but this single should be the first off Redman’s Muddy Waters II.
MC Hammer was arrested for obstruction yesterday, but claims that it was actually a case of racial profiling.
According to TMZ, the "U Can't Touch This" rapper says he was arrested for obstructing an officer in the performance of their duties and resisting and officer. He claimed that the officer pulled out his gun and asked, "Are you on parole or probation?" He was booked and released from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California.
Taking to Twitter, Hammer detailed what he says actually went down. "Chubby elvis looking dude was tapping on my car window, I rolled down the window and he said 'Are you on parole or probation?'" he wrote. "While I was handing him my ID he reached in my car and tried to pull me out the car but forgot he was on a steady donut diet. ..
It was comical to me until he pulled out his guns, blew his whistle and yelled for help (MallCop) !!! But make no mistake he's dangerous .. only thing more dangerous than a scared man with a gun, is a scared man with an agenda, a gun and a badge.
I was citied for obstruction smh. You have to know me to understand I was laughing when he was grunting and pulling on me
I had just left the weight room .. I will now answer his question, contrary to his personal beliefs, all people of color are not on parole or probation fat boy !!!"
Hammer was most recently in the news for failing to pay $780,000 in back taxes and was being sued by the government to recoup losses. The lawsuit was filed in December 2011.
Santa Rita police are yet to comment on the matter.
It looks like the estate of the slain Tupac Shakur will be placed under new management.
In a recent report from Billboard, Tupac's mother Afeni Shakur announced that Jampol Artist Management will be taking over the management duties of her late son's estate.
It was also revealed that Jampol will be working with Tom Whalley, the label executive who first signed Tupac to Interscope Records, to release previously unheard music.
"I believe it is our responsibility to make sure that Tupac's entire body of work is made available for his fans," said Afeni Shakur in a statement.
"My son left many incomplete pieces and even more unfinished ideas. Using the blueprints he gave us, I am committed to fulfilling this duty...[we] will find innovative ways to continue to keep his music, his message, and his legacy alive."
Jampol founder and president Jeffery Jampol echoed Afeni's statement, saying that, "It's our responsibility - and our privilege - to ensure that new generations of fans experience the power of Tupac's music, his ideas and his storytelling,"
In addition to Tupac, Jampol currently manages the likes of the Doors, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Peter Tosh and Henry Mancini. Jeffery Jampol himself also advises in the management of the late Michael Jackson's estate.
Earlier today, DX spoke to Tupac's personal videographer Gobi M. Rahimi about the rapper's final days before his death in 1996. Rahimi alleged that Suge Knight may have falsified reports of getting shot on the night of Shakur's death.
On Saturday February 9th, 2013 Detroit Yancey Media Group will host the second installment of Dilla Day Detroit, a worldwide celebration of the life and music of the late James ‘J Dilla’ Yancey, live from his hometown.
This now two-day event will feature live performances from internationally acclaimed artists and musicians, as well as an open youth music expo on Sunday, February 10th, offering beat-making and other music workshops for youth taught by local and international artists and producers who worked closely with J Dilla over the course of his career.
A significant portion of the proceeds from Dilla Day Detroit will be directly donated to the re-formed J Dilla Foundation, resuming programming in late 2013.
A native of Detroit’s Conant Gardens, James ‘J Dilla’ Yancey succumbed to Lupus in the year 2006 at the age of 32. After his unfortunate passing, the Detroit Free Press, MTV.com, Source Magazine, Los Angeles Times and countless others published articles which hailed his short career of 12 years as one of the most prolific in the history of Hip-Hop.
From his work on chart topping singles for Common, The Roots, Erykah Badu, A Tribe Called Quest, Janet Jackson and more to his own genre-redefining solo releases, J Dilla’s work touched all.
This year’s Dilla Day Detroit performers will showcase J Dilla’s influences in Hip-Hop (Royce Da 5’9″, Talib Kweli, Frank & Dank, Illa J) neo-soul (B. Williams Experiment) to classical orchestral arrangements (Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – Suite for Ma Dukes).
Representing J Dilla’s influence on the DJ community, American Hip-Hop & dance music legend, DJ Spinna will perform alongside the foremost advocates for Detroit Hip-Hop, DJ House Shoes and 5E Gallery founder, DJ Sicari. Renowned Beat Junkie and Stones Throw Records artist, J-Rocc will also be performing a special guest DJ set. The concert will be hosted by Yo-Yo and Grap Luva. Special guests from , Fuse TV’s Crate Diggers, Bread-Breakers TV and more will be in attendance.
In celebration of Dilla Day 2013, an exciting partnership has been formed between Yancey Media Group / Ruff Draft Records and Delicious Vinyl Records. This partnership brings J Dilla recordings from lost rough draft tapes now in the hands of Mrs.
Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey and YMG Catalog Curator, Frank Nitt, to your fingertips with the release of these never before heard recordings as “The Lost Scrolls” series.
“The Lost Scrolls” v.1 will be released on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 [NOW AVAILABLE] via FatBeats.com.
Please visit dilladaydetroit.com to stream samplings from these new releases and learn more about Dilla Day Detroit 2013. Official, limited edition J Dilla merchandise, from music to Tshirts will be for sale, some at discount prices, on-site.
The Yancey Media Group is an authorized and registered music publishing, licensing and merchandising entity built to honor J Dilla within his family’s image and likeness.
A portion of all Yancey Media Group proceeds are donated to the Michigan-based 501[c]3 non-profit works of the J Dilla Foundation, including a significant portion of the ticket sales proceeds from Dilla Day Detroit.
Time and money heals all wounds. Mobb Deep have seemingly hashed things out and return from their indefinite hiatus with a scheduled return at Paid Dues Festival 2013.
TMZ reports, in addition to joining the Paid Dues all star lineup on March 30th the legendary Queens duo will embark on an international tour in celebration of their 20th anniversary in April.
The 20th anniversary tour will begin a year after Havoc’s infamous Twitter diatribe on Prodigy shocked Hip-Hop at large last April. Havoc categorically denied being behind the inflammatory tweets (Twitter hackers), took a picture with Prodigy at a Knicks game and then told us he wrote the original tweets.
Havoc told us while he admits Twitter was “the wrong thing to do at the time” the defaming claims were truthful. Some of those claims included Prodigy engaging in homosexual activity while incarcerated and being overall “fake.”
There is no word on any planned album releases or recording session. Prodigy recently released the single “Give Em Hell” from his forthcoming album Albert Einstein which is entirely produced by Alchemist.
Havoc is planning on releasing his new album 13 independently through Nature Sounds this year.
These times are changing and changing fast. These days you have rappers wearing dresses or even lipstick.
Maybe oppose, but they don’t go around killing the people! a report from out of Milwaukee where they did just that. Killed a transgender rapper! Now, the details are kinda murky.
Some claim it was a women, but the murderers are charging they killed a man. they are saying that the gender of the person didn’t have anything to do with the death
Ebony Young, also known as Evan Young aka Yung LT, came up missing on New Year’s Day and they are now looking for her body in a landfill. If you look at the vid at the end of the page, Yung LT ended up looking a bit different than the picture above.
Apparently, Young was killed as a part of a gang initiation from a young 19-year-old. Here are key parts of the report.
Five men were charged Wednesday in the death of a Milwaukee rapper who went missing on New Year’s Day and turned out to be the victim of a gruesome gang homicide, complaints say.
Investigators were searching for the victim’s body Wednesday at an area landfill.
The missing rapper is identified in the criminal complaint as Ebony Young, a female. The victim had previously been identified as Evon Young, 22, also known as Yung LT, during the public plea for information about his whereabouts.
One of the defendants charged Wednesday told investigators he believed Young was a male, and other witnesses all referred to Young as a male. The charges, in two separate complaints, do not suggest in any way that Young’s transgendered status played any role in the defendants’ motivation for the attack. According to the complaints:
Young’s roommate, Billy R. Griffin, 26, had initially told police that Young got into a car with someone on Jan. 1 and never returned. But in the complaint, he admits that Stewart, 27, Mcalister, 19, Ron Joseph Allen, 37, and Devin Lattrez Seaberry, 23, members of a street gang, had come to his house and said Young could not be trusted.
They told Griffin he would be readmitted to the gang if he killed Young.
Instead, the complaints say, the others took Young to the basement, choked Young with a chain and taped a plastic bag over Young’s head while Mcalister held a gun.
After Young passed out, the group beat Young with tools. Griffin said he couldn’t take watching and returned upstairs but later heard the others say they wanted to make sure Young was dead, then three gunshots.
The group later cleaned his basement with bleach, he told police, rolled Young’s body up in a sheet and took it to Stewart’s car, then to a trash bin at 8100 N. 84th St.
When police later went to that scene, they found a chain, some burned clothing and evidence a fire had been set in the garbage container.
Stewart told police that the confrontation at Young’s house began with an argument over whether Young had assisted someone else in burglarizing the residence. Stewart told police that Young eventually admitted that role to Griffin.
Stewart also admitted to police that he tried to get Griffin to kill Young before the group took on the task, and that after the suffocation, strangulation and beating, Mcalister shot Young three times with a .22-caliber handgun.Crazy.
One dude is smiling. Killing somebody is crazy, but killing them like they are accused of doing is just insane.
