'Suge' Knight arrested in Vegas drug, assault case

By KEN RITTER, Associated Press Writer


LAS VEGAS - Rap music mogul Marion "Suge" Knight was jailed Wednesday on assault and drug charges after he was accused of beating his girlfriend while brandishing a knife, police said.



Knight, 43, the founder of bankrupt Death Row Records in Los Angeles, was arrested about 6:40 a.m. on a busy street near the Las Vegas Strip. Police responding to a domestic violence call found Knight standing over his longtime girlfriend with the knife in his hand.

"He did not stab her," said Officer Jacinto Rivera, a department spokesman.

Police did not release the identity of the woman, who told officers she was Knight's girlfriend of three years.The woman was treated at a hospital for minor injuries, according to Rivera.

Knight was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Clark County jail on felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a controlled substance, and misdemeanor charges of possession of dangerous drugs without a prescription and domestic violence.

Knight had the drugs Ecstasy and hydrocodone when he was arrested, police said.

Lawyers David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, who are representing Knight, said they wanted to gather information about the arrest and talk with Knight before commenting.

Rivera said Knight would be held at the jail for at least 12 hours on the domestic violence charge.

It was not immediately clear if Knight would appear in person when a judge was scheduled to review his arrest Thursday morning.

Police said Knight and the woman argued in the car while Knight was driving before he allegedly punched her in the head.

"The victim purposely grabbed the steering wheel and caused the vehicle to hit the curb," police said in a statement. Police said the woman tried to run away, but Knight caught her.

Knight has a history of legal problems and was with Tupac Shakur when the rapper was gunned down in Las Vegas in 1996.

Knight was convicted of assault in 1992 and placed on probation, then jailed for five years in 1996 for violating that probation.

He was returned to jail in 2003 for again violating parole for punching a parking attendant at a Hollywood nightclub. He was released the next year.

Knight was wounded during a shooting at a party in a Miami nightclub in August 2005.

His former record company was auctioned in June for $24 million to New York-based Global Music Group Inc.

Daniel McCarthy, a lawyer handling a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing for Knight and the record company, said Wednesday that the sale is pending.

Death Row Records was known for releasing seminal gangster rap albums by Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and sold tens of millions of albums in the heyday of early 1990s rap.

In 2006, a federal judge ordered a bankruptcy trustee takeover of Death Row Records, saying the label had undergone gross mismanagement. Knight's decision to file for bankruptcy protection staved off a move by the court to appoint someone to take control of the record label and his assets.

PART 2 "INTERVIEW WITH THE GAME...

SONY/BMG'S NEW LABEL

Sony/BMG has launched a new Hip-Hop label called Battery Records.

Heading the imprint will be Neil Levine, most recently the head of Capitol Music Group's urban division. Levine now assumes the title of Senior Vice President and General Manager of Battery Records, reporting to recently appointed BMG COO Ivan Gavin. Levine's rap roots trace back over twenty years, when he formed Round The Globe Music, a marketing and promotions company aimed at championing the then-fledgling art form. He then spun that into founding Penalty Records.

Says Neil: "I'm thrilled to be re-united with [BMG COO] Ivan Gavin and to work with CEO Barry Weiss, the best record man in the business. I 'm also excited to be part of a winning team with Tom Carrabba [EVP & GM, Zomba Label Group] and Tom Corson [EVP & GM, RCA Music Group]."

Battery Records shares New York offices with Sony/BMG's RED Marketing Group. The synergy between RED and Battery Records allows Levine and his staff to move within Sony/BMG's ranks for talent. Battery's first crop of artists will be: Sunny Valentine from Texas, Sir Will from Atlanta, and Nashville's Lil' Goonie, signed to Jive/Zomba.

Battery will also welcome established artists still viable in the marketplace and who seek new situations that include non-traditional deal models. These models, intended to revitalize the flagging music industry and promote across multiple platforms, include: touring/ merchandising arrangements and DVD releases. Other tasks under the Battery banner include releasing material from the BMG catalogue, and overseeing the early-stage development of certain acts signed to labels such as RCA's J Records or Zomba's Jive Records.

"This will provide a broader platform and offer a greater margin of success for our evolving urban artists and new artists in general," said Tom Carrabba, Zomba Label Group's executive vice president and general manager.

DAMON DASH GOES INTO FORECLOSURE

Reports say that two of Damon Dash's Manhattan apartments have gone into foreclosure after the Roc-A-Fella co-founder failed to pay the mortgages

According to iht.com, the bank holding the mortgages says in a court filing that Dash and his wife Rachel Roy owe $7.3 million on the two properties.

Their monthly payments were listed as being $78,500 by Eastern Savings Bank.

Representatives for Damon Dash have yet to comment on the court filing

OMARION INKS DEAL WITH TIMBALAND'S LABEL

R&B star Omarion recently finalized a new record deal with Timbaland's Mosley Music Group.

In a recent interview with MTV.com, Omarion talked about the label switch and the rumors that he had been dropped by Sony.

"I asked to be released," he said of the rumors that Sony dropped him. "A release is different from a drop. When an artist is dropped, usually they haven't brought any revenue to the company. As you know, I've been with that company for a long time, roughly over six years. Throughout B2K and my solo albums, revenue was still brought in. An artist like me could never get dropped. How did I get dropped and I still ended up in a great situation? Usually when you hear 'drop,' it means, 'Oh, he's over.' It's a wrap. It's unfortunate that stuff like that gets put out there. Everybody likes to associate — especially me being such a cool dude — with negative things. Are you kidding me?"

Omarion also talks about the beginning stages of working with Timbaland on the new album.

"We're just picking each other's brains to see what can be done differently," Omarion said of working with Timbaland. "My energetic style and aggressiveness when I perform, I don't think that's necessarily been captured [for the length of] an album. I always felt like I had joints like 'Touch,' even 'Entourage,' where it's upbeat. But it hasn't been captured in an album. All these crazy new dances, all these different things I wanna do. When I look at my peers in the game, they capture the true essence of who they are. I kinda felt like throughout my career, I had just blots of that."

Omarion goes on to say that no release date for his first album with Timbaland's label has been decided on and the only producer he has worked with so far other than his label boss is Pharrell.

NEW,,,HOT VIDEO...'IM BETTER THAN YOU'...PRODUCED BY KINGSMEN

KINGSMEN MEDIA GROUP SHOOTS A VIDEO FOR THE NEW HIT SONG 'IM BETTER THAN YOU' BY LOS -N- TONE BEATZ. VIDEO WORK BY 'STEAL'-KINGSMEN!!!


LOS -N- TONE BEATZ

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH 'THE GAME'....PART 1

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO FOOTAGE OF INTERVIEW WITH "THE GAME' @ UNIVERSAL OFFICE IN ATLANTA. GAME TALKS ABOUT HIS NEW ALBUM(LAX) WORKING WITH NAS,COMMON AND DJ TOOMP. (PART 1)

MASTER P CHANGES HIS NAME.....

After close to fifteen years in the game, rapper Master P has decided to officially abandon the name under which he attained success.



With over 75 million records sold worldwide, the five-time Grammy Award winner will now go by P. Miller in an effort to expand on his equally impressive achievements as a businessman.



“I’m changing my name because Master P is who I used to be,” the No Limit Entertainment CEO explains. “I call it my childhood, and P. Miller marks my manhood. There’s a lot of people out there who are afraid to grow up and change, but I’m not and P. Miller is the evolution of me, Percy Miller, the entrepreneur, the businessman.”



With a net worth valued at an estimated $500 million, Miller has achieved quite a bit of mainstream attention in recent years, most notably since appearing before the United States Congress in 2007 to address the widely publicized criticism of Hip-Hop lyrics and culture.



Soon after, he and his son Romeo launched Take A Stand Records as a profanity-free record label.



In July, Miller made history by inking a deal with retail giant Wal-Mart to distribute his affordable P. Miller Designs clothing line in stores nationwide, thus becoming the discount chain’s first African-American Hip-Hop supplier.



“I’ve branched out into so many different arenas, but all that gets overshadowed because I come from the Hip-Hop industry,” says the multi-platinum artist, who’s maintained his relevance with a new generation of fans by being the driving force behind his son’s run at superstardom. “People grow mentally and spiritually through life experiences, but when you come from Hip-Hop, it’s almost impossible to get past the stereotypes associated with it.”



Throughout his illustrious career, Miller has also used his success to support and motivate others through two charitable organizations, P. Miller Youth Centers and the P. Miller Food Foundation, and the 2007 release of Guaranteed Success, a semi-autobiographical guide to wealth building and business.



In support of the book, Miller embarked on tour with Donald Trump, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki, working with The Learning Annex to teach the importance of financial literacy.

JAY Z SELL 40/40 CLUB FOR MILLIONS!!!!!

JAY Z is reportedly in negotiations to sell a stake of his Las Vegas 40/40 night club for an estimated $44 million.

According to The New York Post, the Brooklyn rapper wants to offer a 50% stake of his popular nightspot to the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.

The company owns the Palazzo Resort Casino where the Las Vegas 40/40 is located.

An insider revealed to The Post that the deal will help expand the 40/40 franchise. Jay-Z has other 40/40 nightclubs located in New York and Atlantic City.

“That will make the 40/40 club in Vegas the largest sports booking operation,” said the insider. “People can gamble both at the tables and on games. The Sands will also have the right to open 40/40 clubs in London and across Europe.”

In related news, Jay-Z is currently working on his eleventh album titled Blueprint 3. The rapper gave fans a taste of what to expect from the project with a performance of a new song called “Jocking Jay-Z" at Madison Square Garden last week. [Watch Jay-Z Perform "Jocking Jay-Z"]

REALITY OR FAKE....MONICA'S NEW SHOW:THE SINGLE

(STEAL-MONICA...BACKSTAGE @ BIRTHDAY BASH)

LAST NIGHT WE ALL SAW THE SINGLE...MONICA'S REALITY SHOW,BUT WAS IT REAL OR FAKE. I WAS BACKSTAGE @ THE BIRTHDAY BASH AND I DIDNT SEE ANY KIND OF FUSS GOING ON ABOUT HER AND ROCKO. THEY WERE ALL SMILES. HERES WHAT SOHH POSTED ABOUT THE SHOW>


Monica’s new reality show aired on Peachtree TV last night and y’all already know I got some ish to say about it. I’m gonna say what all y’all thinking SOHH lets get into it.

Monica: The Single was at first advertised as a coming of age reality show giving the fans an insight into the life of the some what reclusive soul singer as she goes through the motions of creating a new album while also juggling motherhood and dating a rapper. But after watching the reality show I feel bamboozled! First off this ain’t Monica’s television show this project belongs to B.Cox.

There I was perched in front of the television about to meet the chief [read between the lines] when I suddenly realized exactly what I was watching. And while I admit that I was disappointed that we won’t be able to get that birds eyes view of Monica and Rocko’s life for a few weeks there were other issues that I had about the show that must be expressed

Gyant’s Disappointments:

The script: Contrary to popular belief reality television isn’t as real as producers would like you to believe. There are a lot of scripted incidences that take place and that was extremely evident while watching the show.

From the rolling of B.Cox eyes as Monica chastised him demanding that he create her a great song. To the urgent need to get Rocko his jewelry for his HOT 107.9 Bash performance. Now y’all already know that I was there that night and I remember running into Monica. I even got a picture with her and I do not recall a Monica/Rocko uproar developing backstage at all.

The balleralert.com plug: I mean hell why couldn’t y’all shout out SOHH.com, Adonis? Did y'all know that Kenny Burns sister runs Balleralert? Is that a good look, Kenny?

Monica’s reckless driving skills: Did anyone realize that Monica was caught on camera driving her SUV trying to text on her Sidekick while Lil Rock sat in the background? Call me an ass, but I hate to see people on their phones while they operate motor vehicles ESPECIALLY while their children look on.

And I know y’all saw one of music’s most beautiful voices drive up on the sidewalk trying to get to Phillps Arena. That was not a good look. Y’all know I’m telling the truth.

All in all the show was interesting. I really wish that we would’ve had the chance to really try and get a better feel for who Monica “the woman” is. But look, at the end of the day Monica seems to be in much happier place and if she likes it then I love it.

Maybe we’ll get the chance to see her and Rocko show that hood love on a BET reality show one day.

Sidebar, how dope does that song sound? That’s the Monica I’ve been waiting for.

LIL JON FREE AGENT.....SIGNS NEW DEAL

NEW YORK -- Lil Jon, who was in musical limbo after his longtime record label TVT Records went bankrupt earlier this year, has reached an agreement that frees him from his TVT obligations while entering into a new venture with digital entertainment company The Orchard, which is purchasing TVT's assets.

Lil Jon will work with the Orchard's Brand Entertainment Group to develop "lifestyle-oriented marketing and promotion programs," as well as serve as a consultant for some of Orchard's artists, labels, and branding opportunities, according to a joint statement from both parties.

As part of the deal, Lil Jon withdrew his objections to TVT's sale to Orchard. In return, Orchard released Lil Jon from any contractual obligations left over from TVT and allowed him the rights to the master recordings of his upcoming album, "Crunk Rock." The Orchard also will digitally issue Lil Jon's back catalog, for which he will provide new material, according to the statement.

That means Lil Jon is still free to sign to another label as an artist.

"It's about time I get what's owed to me from the situation I was stuck in," Lil Jon said in a statement to The Associated Press. "It's unfortunate things have turned out the way they did, but artists deserve to be compensated fairly by their labels for the work they do, and that wasn't happenin'. In my case. I'm happy to finally be a free man and make a new start!"

According to Orchard, it has purchased most of TVT's assets, except for a few that are being challenged, for between $4.5 million and $6 million.

Lil Jon, together with his cohorts the East Side Boyz, has sold millions of records and helped fuel the crunk music wave a few years ago. His hits include "Get Low," and he's produced smashes like Usher's "Yeah" and Ciara's "Goodies." The Atlanta-based musician also has his Crunk!!! Energy Drink and a wine line.

VIDEO FOOTAGE OF LIL JON:

LIL JON/BME...CITRUS CRUNK LAUNCH PARTY

BRONNER BROS...EXCLUSIVE ...HAIR SHOW 2008

I HEARD ABOUT THE BIGGEST PRIVATE OWNED AFRICAN AMERICA COMPANY (BRONNER BROS) WAS HAVING THEIR INTERNATIONAL HAIR SHOW IN ATLANTA. WHILE THEY SAID NO VIDEO ACESS FOR ANY MEDIA AFTER A CALL TO TONI-MATEO OF PR-FRANCHIZE I WAS SET. TONI CALLED HIS HOMEBOY JOHN BLASSINGAME ON THE THREE WAY AND I WAS IN. CHECK SOME VIDO COVERAGE OF THIS EVENT.

PENTHOUSE FUNDRAISER FOR OPRAH'S O'AMBASSADOR AND MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION!!!!

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Courtesy oF: CEO Toni-Mateo oF PR-Franchize, Inc.

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PAUL WALL'S FRIEND FOUND DEAD

(KINGSMEN -N- PALL WALL)


ACCORDING TO HOUSTON CHRONICLE PAUL WALL'S FRIEND, EMMANUEL HOBBS,WAS KILLED.According to the Houston Chronicle, Hobbs, 23, was shot dead and three others were injured after a gunfight erupted yesterday in Southwest Houston. Hobbs’ body was found lying on a driveway at about 11:15 a.m. Thursday morning. Details of the shooting are still unclear as detectives investigating the scene said they didn’t know the motives for the shootings.

“We’re trying to piece together what happened here,” Houston Police Department Sgt. C.E. Elliot told the Chronicle.

The other three wounded men who fled the scene checked themselves in at area hospitals, where they were later questioned. Detectives found several shell casings; indicating more than one weapon was used.

The site of the gunfight was among a mixture of homes, light industrial business and overgrown lots.

Hobbs uncle, Elton Childs, said his nephew lived and worked on Houston’s east side, far away from the location where he was slain.

“I don’t know why he would be here,” Childs told the Chronicle. “It’s very painful right now. I loved my nephew