The hip-hop drama “Platinum” has not been renewed for the fall season, representatives for UPN confirmed with AllHipHop.com. After starting with near record-breaking ratings, the show’s Nielson status plummeted.

“Its not coming back next year,” a rep for UPN said, “The ratings were the same as ‘Haunted’ was when we cancelled it last year.”

"Platinum" was a hip-hop family saga based on two brothers, Jackson and Grady Ellis (Jason George and rapper Sticky Fingaz of Onyx), who ran an independent record company.

The Sophia Coppola-produced show was a huge success initially, garnering it extremely high reviews and generated significant controversy for its content. Even mogul Russell Simmons spoke out in support of the realism of the plot.



The show delved primarily into the seedy underbelly of the music industry, something that Naji Ali of Project Islamic H.O.P.E. said was the curse of the show.

“If they were true to making a real hip-hop show, they wouldn’t have focused on the negative,” Ali told AllHipHop.com. “We are vindicated.” When the show debuted Ali and his organization proposed a boycott of the show if the creators didn’t attempt to change the content.

While the boycott never happened, Ali said he followed the Nielson ratings closely and watched the show’s viewership decline steadily. But, he maintains that he isn’t pleased ‘Platinum’ is off the air.

“Hip-Hop loses. We had a chance to have a national voice with ‘Platinum,’” he said. “I am disappointed but we are vindicated.”

While many may not be aware of “Platinum’s” passing, there are some fans of the show that are saddened at the cancellation.

“They just left us hanging with the ending. The should have pushed it like they did in the beginning instead of leaving it out there,” one fan said. “It needs to get put on cable anyway. It was too raw for primetime. I still watched it every week.”

Rapper Eve will pop up next season with her sitcom “Opposite Sex,” but the Ruff Ryder isn’t a replacement for ‘Platinum,’ the rep stated.
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Just as Joe Budden’s success has soared with his single “Pump It Up,” “Focus” and his upcoming self-titled set on Def Jam Records, the rapper has hit a sudden obstacle, he charges.

“I’m having voice problems. I have a polyp on my right vocal cord,” Budden told AllHipHop.com. “I’m not even supposed to rap.” A polyp is a non-cancerous tumor that protrudes from the lining of an organ..

Budden said a doctor has recommended that he stop spitting his popular rhymes to allow his throat time to repair and, still, he may have to go under a surgeon’s knife to mend the damage.

“I might have to get surgery to get my voice back. I got some swelling going on back there. It just comes from a lot of acid. I drink a lot of acidy sh*t. You’ll never see me without a beverage,” he said. “Even now, my voice is a whole lot deeper than normal. You can hear something is going on.”
The New Jersey-bred, Harlem-born rapper said the relentless schedule of interviews, touring and other promotional outlets has put a tremendous strain on his gravely voice.

“I was doing shows and Def Jam got behind the [album] project. There was so much I was doing, I was doing the dot come sh*t, photo shoots, in-stores…I was doing so much and during the shows, I would come out rapping and in the middle of the show, my voice would disappear. It would just go away completely. It was very embarrassing,” he said.

“When that continued and continued and continued happening, it was time to see what the fuck was wrong. Matter of fact, when it was time to wrap this album up and I couldn’t record, it was time to go to a doctor.”

At press time, there was no update on the 22-year-old’s status, but he continues to push his Def Jam debut, which is scheduled to come out in June.
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Monday, June 2nd is a big day for media conglomerate Clear Channel Communications. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to vote next month on new media-ownership rules which would likely break the company's stronghold on certain radio markets nationwide.

Clear Channel, which operates 1,225 radio stations and 39 television stations in the United States, could see its reach in the radio sector shortened if the FCC's new rules require it sell some of its stations. In 1996, the FCC passed the Telecommunications Act which eased restrictions on radio ownership in hopes that it would aid the struggling industry.

Several years since, profit margins are unquestionably healthy for several companies, but deregulation has caused many to question the legislation's role on decreased competition.

Clear Channel is one company that has clearly thrived under the new deregulation. Before 1996, the company owned and/or operated less than 100 radio stations across the country.

Since then, the company has accelerated its growth by acquiring radio stations in various markets and purchasing sizable interests in companies which own and operate multiple outlets across the globe.

The FCC, headed by Michael K. Powell (son of Secretary of State Colin Powell), is expected to conduct a five commissioner vote on the matter during their biennial review next month.

Two of the commissioners, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein have requested that the June 2nd meeting be delayed to allow for the gathering of more information.

In a public statement, however, Republican commissioner Kathleen Abernathy "respectfully opposed" their requests stating, "We have compiled a thorough and comprehensive record in this proceeding, which includes over 18,000 comments, 12 studies and testimony from a number of broadcast ownership hearings. We have provided notice of the rules we are reviewing, and the comments in the record reflect an understanding of these issues. I am satisfied that we have the information and the input we need to make a sound, judicially sustainable decision that will benefit the public interest."

For more information about Clear Channel and the Federal Communications Commission, visit www.clearchannel.com and www.fcc.gov, respectfully
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Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam is slated to tour internationally this summer, kicking off in the United Kingdom in August.

"The original cast is slated to go," Executive Producer Stan Lathan told Playbill. "We're going to go to Edinburgh in August and probably to London right after that, then there's the U.S. tour."

Black Ice, Staceyann Chin, Steve Colman, Mayda Del Valle, Suheir Hammad, Georgi Me, Lemon, Poetri and Beau Sia will all be featured on the international tour.

Poems from the stage show will also be featured in a book that will hit shelves in August.