Lil Wayne Will Be Released From Jail But Not Before Getting a Few More Prison Guards in Trouble

Young Money Mogul Lil wayne will be getting out of jail soon. Before his release however, another Prison guard has been suspended for hanging out with Young Weezy the Lollipop kid. It is not certain what has been going on in Jail while he has been encarcerated, but it would appear they have been quite leniant. Have the CO’s and guards been paid off ? Are they star struck hoping to be mentioned in a future release? Either way, Lil Wayne will be back on the streets in a week, and then the market will be once again be even more saturated with Lil Wayne tracks than it already is.

Apparently another prison guard at Rikers Island has been disciplined for making an unauthorized visit to see superstar rapper Lil Wayne, who is finishing a one year sentence for having a handgun on his tour bus in 2007.

According to the New York Daily News, Captain Raphael Collazzo was suspended without pay for 10 days for visiting the rapper for over 45 minutes, while he was in his isolation cell for having headphones and a charger for an MP3 player.

Capt. Collazzo, a 20-year-veteran, is not expected to be disciplined any further. He also denied breaking any rules during the unexplained visit.

He is at least the third guard at Rikers Island to get into trouble for visiting with Lil Wayne.

In April of 2010, Amelia Negron was fired for allegedly making an impromptu visit to the rapper’s cell. ( A booty call perhaps? Who knows?

In September, Captain LaTanya Brown was accused of visiting the rapper, in addition to giving him preferential treatment by letting him stay in his cell while other inmates were on the recreation yard.

Lil Wayne is expected to be released from prison next week.

Mexico City Shooting Aimed at New Police Headquarters

Mexico Shootin Aimed Directly at The Police

MEXICO CITY — The entire police force of a small northern Mexican town quit after gunmen attacked their recently inaugurated headquarters, according to local reports on Wednesday.

Los Ramones Mayor Santos Salinas said nobody was injured in Monday night's attack, during which gunmen fired more than 1,000 bullets at the building's facade, according to Noroeste newspaper's website. Six grenades, of which three detonated, were also flung at the building, the newspaper reported.

"Fortunately, those who were inside the building threw themselves on the ground and nobody was hurt," Salinas told the newspaper.

All 14 members of the force reportedly resigned Tuesday. Nobody answered the phones at Salinas' offices, according to The Associated Press.

The new police headquarters had been inaugurated three days earlier.

Los Ramones is in Nuevo Leon, a state torn by fighting between the Gulf and Zetas drug gangs. Police stations in small northeastern Mexican towns are frequently attacked, and several mayors have been assassinated.

Mexico's ill-equipped municipal forces often quit after cartel attacks. President Felipe Calderon has proposed eliminating Mexico's municipal forces and replacing them with one force per state.

According to Salinas, at 9:30 p.m. on Monday unknown assailants arrived at the police station and launched a 20-minute attack, Noroeste reported. Police backup arrived shortly after.

While the mayor had not received threats leading up to the attack, police earlier noticed suspicious men driving luxury pickups in the area, the newspaper reported. Fearing a strike, policemen lined up their patrol cars in front of the building in order to create a barricade, the newspaper added.

It was the second attack in less than a week against police installations in the state of Nuevo Leon. On Oct. 19, two grenades were thrown at a police shelter in the town of Sabinas Hidalgo, Noroeste reported.

The Associated Press reported.

DMC DJ Battles are now going Digital

The DMC DJ Battle Competitions that were strictly vinyl for decades are now allowing digital media into the mix. This opens the door for many DJs but also is a sad sight as it eliminates certain skills that used to be required including a light record hand and record control, plus the creativity to find those few words, samples and phrases hidden within a record. Things will indeed be very different. Hopefully with the things that will e disappearing from the competition well also see a huge influx of creativity and imagination. No doubt actual mixing will come back into the equation and some creative use of digital equipment and software as a new medium for the DJs to paint their musical canvas' with. 

For more info on the actual changes check the post below originally posted on www.Skratchworks.com

Posted by Gizmo on October 19, 2010
at www.Skratchworks.com 

Last night was the DMC 2010 world finals. From said finals came a few texts, but the one shown above - despite denials from DMC a couple of weeks ago - will come as zero surprise to anyone. It seems that Tony Prince announced that with the help of Rane and Serato, DMC will go digital - entirely digital too if the text is to be believed. Serato have also confirmed this with an official if slightly vague news item too.

Obviously, with Tony dropping this bomb late at night, and right before a booze laden afterparty means that the likelihood of getting further details in a hurry is slim. So I fired off the following questions to DMC HQ:

1. Are Technics out of the picture now?
2. Are Rane/Serato the only DVS sponsors?
3. Will you allow other DVSs to be used or will this be Serato only?
4. Will DJs be allowed to use all the tools available to them in the software or is it strictly for loading tracks without looping or cue points?
5. Is this really entirely digital with no real vinyl allowed?

My take right now is that sponsorship has been agreed, but the exact details of how this will pan out through the competition have yet to be thrashed out. 

Are Technics out of the picture now? Well I'd say that along with the continuing near certain demise of the long time favourite brand, then the answer is yes. It's been touch and go for a couple of years now, but I'd say that the DMC finals has just changed hands.

Will it be Serato only? Well I hope not. No offence to Serato because I love those guys - I'm thinking purely from a fairness point of view. Not everyone uses Scratch Live and I'm 100% against enforced usage of any particular type of technology. If DJs want to turn up with their own particular brand of DVS software then they should be allowed to do that. Yes of course I understand the needs and objectives of sponsors, but my own objective is the future of the battle scene. 

Personally, I think this news is great. This move simply cuts out the whole expensive making customs part for the battle DJ. Hmmm… but this alone isn't going to make the battle anymore exciting or encourage further creativity. I see no point in doing half measures - the entire menu of software options including loops, hot cues and effects needs to be allowed too. Perhaps then we could get back to some clever and creative mixing rather than juggling unknown custom beats and never really knowing if the DJ is actually performing or if all the action is pre-made on custom vinyls.

I really hope that the no analogue part is untrue. It's one thing moving forward to the place where everyone else has been for years, but to slam the door closed on the heritage than founded the entire DJ scene is plain wrong. 

UPDATE: This just in from Serato: "I can confirm that we endorse and support the use of real vinyl."

Early days yet and some careful thought needs to go into making the integration of DVS systems into DMC a success. Looking forward to seeing how this pans out. 

UPDATE 2: Official DMC statement follows:

DMC, the preeminent showcase for DJ talent around the world, are pleased to announce that Serato and Rane have come on board as major sponsors of the DMC World DJ Championships, a collaboration which DMC believes will take DJ creativity to an entirely new level with the ability to use Serato’s Scratch Live.

In order to balance traditional mixing and the popularity of digital vinyl playback, DMC have confirmed that from 2011 the 26 year old event will, like the DMC DJ TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP, permit the use of the software based system Serato Scratch Live in addition to traditional vinyl.

THE BATTLE FOR WORLD SUPREMACY will continue to support pure turntablism, two decks, vinyl and individual flair and creativity. DMC also plan an ON-LINE WORLD DJ CHAMPIONSHIP which will embrace visual mixing, the potential for which was seen at this year’s WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS with performances by DJs Woody and Shiftee.

DMCWORLDTV has established itself as the premier portal for DJ performances and now DMC has plans to launch DMC RADIO, a revolutionary channel featuring DJs covering every genre of dance & hip-hop music transmitting from a variety of servers around the world.

Sally Mclintock (DMC’s World Championship Manager): “We’ve been overwhelmed by the number of DJs who want to use Serato Scratch Live in their 6minute sets and we believe the creative landscape has now been widened. We’re very excited and really pleased to have the full support from Serato and Rane”.

Tony Prince (DMC Founder): “ I know the DJs will take up this new creative challenge and bring their art to a level no one can presently imagine. Expanding the DJ’s creative potential is what DMC has always encouraged and why we are the only World Championship in music that has lasted a quarter of a century, and I just can’t wait to see where the DJs take us with Serato supporting their musical creativity and inspiration in the years ahead. Whilst the DMC Championships will continue to discover the best turntablists in the world and the best DJ teams, we’re about to produce the next generation of DJs, the DJs of a new breed. We’re movin’ on up as we have done for 26 years creating new superstar DJs and my message to the next generation is to unharness their creative ability, check out the new possibilities of using Serato Scratch Live and get ready for the 2011 championships”!

Sam Gribben (Serato Audio Research, General Manager): “DMC is responsible for fostering the culture of competitive turntablism and Serato are honoured to become a major sponsor of this iconic and prestigious event. Preserving the art of vinyl DJing, whilst introducing new technologies for future world champions is a key Serato philosophy. We look forward to a long relationship with DMC, ensuring that competitive DJing continues to moveforward into new realms.”

Dean Standing (RANE CORPORATION, Director of Sales):“We’re excited to expand our involvement with DMC and be a part of the evolution of the preeminent DJ battle competition. We look forward to watching DJs use digital vinyl emulation systems such as Serato Scratch Live to further push the limits of their craft

Soooo... this simply confirms that Scratch Live is being allowed. The implication is that this will allow all sorts of creative opportunities, but doesn't actually state if there are any limitations or not. As I've stated previously, if SSL is simply a replacement for customs, then we can expect to see little in the way of a difference from what we already have. If however the full arsenal of SSL tools is available then we're in for some fun. 

But what about other DVS systems? It's going to be hard enough ensuring that the switchover from DJ to DJ is smooth without multiple DVS usage. Even the S-120 battle at BPM ran into a handful of issues with different versions of SSL and SL boxes. The logistics of handling audio interfaces and SL boxes needs careful planning. 

It does seem however that while this announcement is very much about the official sponsorship from Rane and Serato, other DVS systems (let's be honest here - Traktor Scratch Pro) are still very much in the picture - it's just a matter of working out how this technically can be handled in a live environment. 

How about NI put on their own battle and the winner goes head to head with DMC's for the first real world crown? Just saying...

Honestly, I could write an epic post on how I'd move things forward. This is a start but there's so much more that could be done. 

The King of Crunk Lil Jon Slings Pizzas For Charity in Greenwich Village New York

Lil Jon The King of Crunk Slings Pizza For Charity on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice

Crunk King, Lil Jon is currently a contestant in the fourth season of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice. While performing a task on the show the Crunk music pioneer was spotted standing on the hood of a van imploring pedestrians to come into Famous Famiglia pizzeria in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood.

Video Footage of Lil Jon on The Hood of The Van

The Alabama born rapper/producer wasn’t just trying to sell the most pie. He was also trying to raise money for an unknown charity by getting onlookers to buy as many slices as possible. Jon retweeted a comment from DJ Reach stating that Reach coughed up $150 bucks for a slice. Jon will be filming “Celebrity Apprentice” for the next several weeks with the program scheduled to begin airing in March of 2011.

Lil Jon’s most recent album, Crunk Rock, was released this past June. The record featured appearances by Waka Flocka Flame, R. Kelly, LMFAO, Ying Yang Twinz, The Game, and several others.

Founding Roc-A-Fella Records Member Kareem Biggs Burke Arrested For Alleged Marijuana Drug Ring Involvement

Founding Roc-A-Fella Records member Kareem "Biggs" Burke was arrested today (October 15th) with 42 other people in a ring that allegedly controlled the marijuana market in New York City. According to The New York Daily News, Burke has been a part of the ring since 1992. Federal prosecutors claim that Burke was part of a network that was headed up by Geovanny (Manny) Rodriguez Perez aka "Shorty." Police accused Shorty's network of growing the pot down south, shipping it up north in tractor trailers and returning the proceeds to South Florida, according to Jim Hayes, a special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations For Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Police arrested Burke at his home in North Bergen, N.J. In addition to Burke, an advertising executive for High Times named Matthew Stang was arrested in an 18 month operation, which was dubbed "Operation Green Venom." Agents confiscated $1 million in drug profits and 177 pounds of marijuana from the suspects as well. "This isn't just a group that controlled one block, one neighborhood," Hayes said. "They dominated the wholesale marijuana market in New York for 20 years." Kareem "Biggs" Burke and the others face 10 years to life in prison for allegedly distributing over 1,000 kilos of the drug.

Southern Rapper T.I. Sentenced to 11 Months in Jail

T.I. is heading back to prison, after a federal judge revoked the rapper's probation and sentenced the rap star to 11 months in prison for possessing drugs in September in Los Angeles. T.I. appeared in court today (October 15th) for a hearing that started at 2:00PM, flanked by his team of lawyers that included Ed Garland, Steve Sadow, Don Samuel, Janice Capek, Kristen Wright and Dwight Thomas. The courtroom was packed, as he stood before Judge Charles Pannell Jr. Prosecutors chastised the Grammy Award winning rapper for violating the terms of his federal probation for attempting to purchase machine guns and silencers in October of 2007 and wanted to send him away for two years. During the hearing, a small fire broke out on the side of the courthouse, causing a stir, but the proceedings continued. The rapper's defense attorneys argued that drugs in his system were the result of a root canal and T.I. admitted to using the drugs, after he had dental surgery. The rapper asked the judge to sentence him to rehab for a drug addiction, but he was sentenced to the 11 months in prison, instead.