Though XXL magazine featured Shyne on its cover briefly before he began his 10-year sentence three years ago, the Brooklyn rapper has now turned his back on the mag. According to SOHH.com sources, XXL approached Shyne to feature him on its September cover. Word is that Shyne declined to appear in the mag and is now featured on the September issue of Vibe magazine instead.

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Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Beyonce's father, Matthew Knowles, was looking to sign De La Soul. Apparently he has succeeded. Knowles is heading Sanctuary Urban Records Group through a venture with his own Music World imprint. At De La's listening session earlier this week, Knowles revealed that Sanctuary doubled as label and management company. The management side is presently representing artists like Jadakiss and Mary J. Blige while the label plans to release efforts from R&B singer Glenn Lewis and Wu Tang Clan in the coming months.

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Bill Cosby continues to address what he perceives as trouble in the African-American community and had some harsh words for Hip-Hop music.

Cosby addressed a college conference in South Carolina and said Hip-Hop music glorified the wrong things.

The 67 year-old said that rap demeans women, embraces profanity and celebrates criminal behavior.

“Our children are glorifying the wrong things,” Cosby told the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, an organization that represents over 100 black colleges nationwide.

"It’s a sign when college students who score more than 1,200 on their SAT’s walk around with baggy pants like they do in prison," Cosby said. “These children are telling us something with this behavior. We’re not paying attention. We’re not parenting.”

Cosby urged educators to encourage students to reach out to blacks with broken homes and violent pasts to help them rise above impoverished conditions.

Cosby's comments come as the anniversary of the landmark 1954 decision Brown vs. Board of Education comes in September.

The Brown vs. Board of Education was a milestone because the United States Supreme Court ruled that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

The decision denied the legal basis for segregation in Kansas and 20 other states with segregated classrooms and changed race relations in the United States.

Cosby urged African-American's to not focus events that are transpiring worldwide and to instead focus on what is happening at home.

"Go across the street into the projects," he said. "These are people who need to see another picture, a brighter picture."

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Federal authorities have indicted Big Hutch (AKA Gregory 'Hutch' Hutchinson) for conspiracy to traffic one thousand pounds of marijuana in a case pursued by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Hutchinson begins serving his sentence on July 28. Hutchinson says, 'I was driving, and federal marshals pulled me over, and picked me up. They told me I had been indicted for drug trafficking. Hutch, who is a member of the rap group Above The Law, recently released his second solo album, Live From The Ghetto.
He first came into prominence when his group was signed by the late Eazy-E to his Ruthless Records label. Hutchinson has just issued a statement, saying, 'My advice to my friends and associates is that if you are with one or more individuals, and you ever suspect that something unusual is going on, just jump up and say, 'I don't know what is going on here, but I have an important appointment, and leave immediately. Otherwise, if your suspicion is correct and the deal goes down bad, one of those individuals will make a plea bargain with the government and say that you were present, and knew all about the deal and the drugs. That person's statement as to what you said or did may be hearsay, but it will be admissible under the co-conspirator hearsay rule in a federal prosecution.'
His attorney, Peter Kelley, said, 'It has been a pleasure representing Hutch in this matter, and it's really unfortunate he found himself in this position. A music video for Hutch's single 'Lyrical Murder' has just been released through West World/Activate Entertainment.

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A 15-year-old boy was injured in an ATV accident at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch Thursday afternoon.

The teen was riding an all-terrain vehicle around Jackson's ranch when it flipped over close to the singer's house, according to the Santa Barbara News Press.

A security guard called paramedics to the scene, who airlifted the boy out of the ranch. He was later taken by ambulance to the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where he was listed in good condition.

No info was released on the teen's identity.

Jackson is accused of child molestation and conspiracy to kidnapping. He has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $3 million bail.

There was no immediate word whether Jackson was home when the accident took place.

The Gloved One was last spotted in public on Tuesday, shopping for toys at a Texas mall.

According to eyewitnesses, Jackson sampled a pretzel, signed autographs and bought toys and stuffed animals at a mall in Houston. His reps say he was in town on business to meet with a lawyer about a music contract issue.

Earlier the same day, prosecutors outlined their case against the pop star in a Santa Barbara courtroom, saying Jackson seduced his young accuser and then kept the boy and his family captive until they publicly said Jackson didn't do anything wrong.

Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss stated that Jackson turned Neverland Ranch "into an enormous resort and amusement park literally designed to entice and attack children."

Jackson's defense team described the prosecution's case as "ridiculous" and demanded dismissal of all charges.

Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville said he would take the matters into consideration and in the meantime pushed the trial's start date back to Jan. 31, 2005, to give the defense time to prepare.

Jackson, who didn't need to attend the hearing, seems to have been racking up the air miles recently. The self-proclaimed King of Pop was also spotted in Miami recently where he was purportedly squiring a local actress who'll serve as a surrogate birth mom to quadruplets.

His reps have denied the baby story and refused "to further comment on stories of this nature."

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Detroit
has been luring global fans within recent time to focus on more than just the 8 Mile and its most successful rapper, Eminem. Although the city’s musical history will always lie with the accomplishments of the Motown era pushing soul music in the forefront, Detroit’s current shinning stars aren’t too keen on carrying out tradition by synchronizing soulful dance-steps, all dressed in silky satin suits and wing-tipped shoes. Born in Southfield, Michigan, rapper PARADIME is one of the most loved sons of Detroit’s hip hop soil, and is the furthest cat away from singing any high notes. Instead, as his name ironically suggests, the Irish-green, microphone fiend arrogantly negates himself from being any sort of paradigm, unless of course out-drinking partners and bar brawling suddenly became a practice for the community to aspire towards.

Replacing Uncle Kracker as Kid Rock’s DJ on tour, PARADIME is the man instilling the hip-hop sense of the show, having also lent his writing skills to both artists in the past. And now he’s concentrating on his latest LP titled, 11 Steps Down featuring Kid Rock, D-12, Tash (of Tha Alkaholiks), Uncle Kracker, Guilty Simpson and Trick Trick. It’s his third release on his fully operated Beats At Will record label – an imprint far from just a 2-Way Pager and e-mail address company. Again, just like the significance of his name, the album’s title has a somewhat intoxicating twist to it. There were ‘11 steps down’ to his cousin’s basement where in the early 1990’s he first began to lay down his recordings, but today, already with two albums under his coat, PARADIME thinks it’s even more fitting to use such an old title to describe his current lifestyle. “It became a double meaning because in an alcohol rehabilitation program, it’s a 12-step program. The first step is admitting you’re an alcoholic,” he laughs. “So I’m still 11-steps down on a 12-step program.”



Humorous, witty and bluntly honest, PARADIME’s life to the listener is sort of harmless and always entertaining from the outside looking in. He might just be that artist that edges you on towards the bar, the babes, but hopefully not the DUI or getting your butt kicked! Similar to watching Brad Pitt’s character portrayal of ‘Mickey the Gypsy’ in the movie Snatch, it seems as if ever since PARADIME was little, he’d develop into such a personality. “I was a smart ass in school, I’m an Irish, Catholic kid, my family drinks,” he admits. “It’s in my nature to be a sort of a bar brawler! There’s a sense of humor to everything that I do. It could be the deepest, ruthless, wildest song, but I’m probably gonna say something smartass or funny in it too.”



In 1999, PARADIME dropped his debut Paragraphs LP, focusing on introducing his skills to world, then in 2001 came his Vices LP, taking you on a ‘wild on’ tour of what he felt most comfortable expressing. In 2004, PARADIME himself, Mike E. Clark, Sicknotes, Wayne Gerad and AMF, are handling the solid production spinning and swinging on 11 Steps Down. With songs like the auto-biographical “Mr. Dime,” the alcohol heavy & title track “11 Steps Down”, “Prescription Pills” and “No Good 4 U” –– he’s offering a much more mature approach than demonstrating just his skills in rhyming or his outrageous antics of being out on the town. “I got more of a business mind, and I got the other feelings of the first two albums on this one,” he confidently states. “I got the shit more appealing to audiences, without changing what I’m doing because I’m more conscious of what I’m doing and how it works.” Other stand out tracks include; “Round Here”, “Hypno n Henny” and “No More” a tribute to friends and family lost along the way in life’s journey.


Detroit hip hop, already put on the map by cats like Slum Village, Jay Dee, Eminem, D-12, Obie Trice, Royce Da 5’9 and Phat Cat, is now ready with the release of

11 Steps Down to unleash yet another one of their beloved local emcees. Not just only hailing from Detroit, PARADIME was one of those emcees that proved himself, and his love for the scene gave him nothing but love in return. “I was up at the Hip Hop Shop, and all those old school battles - the ones 8 Mile glamorized the shit out of. It’s a big community, either you in or you’re not. It’s like a fraternity, and I got a good position where all of these cats are down to help me out. Any enemies that I got, nobody’s ever heard of. Everybody that matters is on my team out here.”



With a label name like Beats At Will, you know the manpower and decisions behind the music must incorporate some real hip-hop culture. Just recently signing Guilty Simpson to his label, PARADIME has no shame with his association to Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker and their rock n’ roll image, admitting that dwelling in the city, he’s a hip hop artist to the core and somewhat of a hip hop junkie. After years of flunking out of school with a flagpole, he’s finally found his serious love as head of his label by day, emceeing by night and still being the full-time DJ on tour with Kid Rock. Add in a few brews – make that more than a few – and PARADIME thinks he’s already reached heaven. “If I got a PARADIME show today, then I got a Kid Rock show the next day, then I gotta run home and be in the studio with Guilty Simpson, it’s a blast to me - just like a F@#%$ field trip!”

PARADIME’s 11 STEPS DOWN will be in-stores this Tuesday, August 3rd!

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A federal judge ordered Thursday that a doctor for civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks explain why Parks cannot testify in a lawsuit she brought against a rap group that used her name without permission.
Parks' lawsuit claims the 1998 song "Rosa Parks" by OutKast constituted false advertising and infringed on her trademark rights. The Detroit resident alleges OutKast and record company BMG exploited her name for commercial purposes.


Lawyers for the defense have asked to interview Parks to explain claims that she suffered emotional and mental distress because of the song. But Parks' lawyers said the 91-year-old woman suffers from an unspecified medical condition and her doctor does not recommend that she testify.


U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald A. Scheer said during a Thursday hearing that Parks' doctor must release records relating to her medical condition and explain why she cannot be questioned by the defense.


Scheer also excluded OutKast from the lawsuit — leaving only BMG as a defendant — because the individual members were not named in the suit, and the group's name was incorrect.


The civil rights hero wants her name removed from future versions of the record. She also is seeking unspecified damages.


OutKast has argued that the song is neither false advertising nor a violation of Parks' trademark rights and is protected by the First Amendment.


Only the title of the song, which is about the entertainment industry, refers to Parks by name. The song's chorus is: "Ah-ha, hush that fuss. Everybody move to the back of the bus."


Parks made history in 1955 when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., city bus. Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system by blacks and led to court rulings desegregating public transportation nationwide.


Parks lost the first round of the OutKast lawsuit in federal court, but a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati reinstated part of the lawsuit last year. Her claims of defamation and interfering with an ongoing business relationship have been thrown out.


A jury trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 10.