Dave Chappelle

turns 36 today

Roxanne Shante gets her PhD on Warner Music's Dime

It's time for Hip Hop history class y'all. Before there was a Salt N Pepa, MC Lyte or a Queen Latifah there was Roxanne Shante, who shot to fame after she recorded an answer track to UTFO's classic rap Roxanne Roxanne. [<--please report to Youtube for further research] Roxanne Shante signed a recording contract with Warner Music when she was 14 and you know what happened next: she got stiffed on her royality checks and ripped off by lawyers, managers and label execs. Still, Rox was able to enforce a forgotten clause in her orginal contract where Warner had agreed to pay for her education for life. In 2001 Roxanne earned a Ph.D in psychology from Cornell University and forced Warner to stick to their agreement by threatning to go public with the story after they initally balked at paying her $217,000 tution.

The Pending Divorce

seems to be agreeing with him. More pictures of Usher sans the wife or kids frolicking in St. Tropez here

New Jay Z featuring Drake

Wives? What Wives?

Usher and Snoop spotted partying like two single guys in St. Tropez over the weekend. More party pictures here

Vanessa Williams Naked on Ebay

The photographer who took those naked pictures of Vanessa Williams that caused her to forfeit the 1984 Miss America crown must be on hard times because Photographer Guy put the negatives from that shoot up for sale on Ebay. The starting bid is $200,000.00. Click here to see Vanessa's pictures from back in the day and here to bid on the negatives.

Adventures in Divorce Court

David Alan Grier's wife of two years, Christine Kim, filed for divorce last month and is seeking sole custody of their 1 year old daughter, child and spousal support. David wants shared custody and has requested the court deny any spousal support at all. The case is pending.

The Real Reason Julius Went Off

Norman Oosterbroek, the owner of the protection agency that employs Beyonce' bodyguard Julius be Boer, [Norm is that big white guy who's usually one step behind Jay Z] says what you couldn't hear on the video showing Jules' confrontation with Croatian papparazzi that was that the Croatian paps were calling them niggers. The full version of the video is below.

The Carters did not to cut their vacation short and were still in Croatia yesterday. Julius paid a $100-something dollar fine for disorderly conduct and inital assault charges against him were dropped.

High Five Singer Shot Five Times

There's a joke in that title but now's not the time to tell it. Treston Irby, one of the guys from 90s group High Five was shot five times outside a New Haven, CT nightclub last week. If you go by the official story from the New Haven Register [click here], Treston was an innocent bystander who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But if you go by the comment section of The Register [click here], you get the idea that Treston was the target and he knows why.

They Say

Ashanti and Nelly broke up because 'Shani was ready to do the Jay Z and Beyonce and Nelly still just wants to do the Puffy. <--not saying Nelly got a bunch of kids and baby mamas, just that he doesn't want to be attached.

Actor Antwon Tanner Pled Guilty

in Brooklyn federal court today to illegally selling Social Security numbers for $10,000. Antwon got caught in a federal sting after selling 16 Social Security numbers to undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Sentencing is set for November 20.

Antwon Tanner has appeared on tv shows One Tree Hill, NYPD Blue, CSI, Boston Public and along side Samuel Jackson in the film Coach Carter.

Has it Been 16 Years Already?

more pictures of Whitney and Bobbi Kris here

Tameka Foster Accused of Plagiarism

A week or two ago Usher's soon to be ex-wife Tameka Raymond wrote a piece for The Huffington Post offering her view on the age old dark skin light skin debate called 'She's Pretty for a Dark Skin Girl' [click here to read it]. So how come author Aisha Curry swears Tameka's essay is a total rip off of her book, 'Pretty for a Black Girl'? I didn't read Tameka's article or Aisha's interview with Aol Black Voices' Jawn Murray, but you can. Click here

Tyrese Divorce Final

The divorce between Tyrese Gibson and his British bride of ten months has been settled and despite signing a pre-nup that said she would get nothing if they parted, Tyrese's ex-wife Norma Mitchell will receive a lump sum of $65,000 plus $6,230 a month in child support. The couple will share custody of their two year old daughter Shayla.