Courtesy of Allthatsfab.com

By Sherri L. Smith, BlackWeb20.com

We follow our favorite celebrities’ social networking streams with greedy abandon, anxiously waiting for every new bit of info we can get to validate why they’re so great. From Grammy-winner Chrisette Michele (@epiphanygirl) taking a trip down memory lane, “Remember when u dialed 911 on ur beeper If it was an emergency. And remember swooshy pants and 54 elevens?” to Roots drummer Questlove (@questlove) adamantly disagreeing with NYMag.com’s best NY fried chicken list, “that’s a lie! that’s a cotdamn lie!!!” http://nymag.com/restaurant….,” it can be a fun diversion from the doldrums of everyday life. So what happens when the your favorite celebrities aren’t behind the keyboard furiously sharing every detail of their privileged lives? Read the rest of this entry »

By Sherri L. Smith, BlackWeb20.com

Hip hop is big business. Everyone’s getting fat off of the proverbial teat that is hip hop. Despite all this money floating around, the genre is still underserved when it comes to equipment. Beatmakers have been forced to make lemonade out of lemons, having to adapt hardware and software to their needs. Thankfully, this will no longer be a problem thanks to the Beat Kangz.

The Beat Kangz is a three man production team that has earned countless awards for their stellar work producing tracks for countless independent and big name artists including The Roots and KRS-One. They also create beats for ad and media agencies. But aside from being music geniuses, the Kangz are huge techies. Read the rest of this entry »

The plastic surgeon who performed enhancement on Kanye West’s mom a day before she died has given up his medical license.  Although Jan Adams wasn’t held legally responsible for Donda West’s fatal complications, he has drawn other fire. “A series of complaints were filed against Mr. Adams, but he chose to surrender his license instead of contest them,” California Medical Board spokeswoman Candis Cohen said in a statement. More.

Mr. West Headed To The Big House?

Kanye facing a two-year sentence? After being arrested last September for an airport incident, Kanye and road manager, Don C, have been charged with battery and more! Read.
 

Rihanna’s Mentor is By Her Side
Despite the negative press, Rihanna’s mentor declares the singer is doing just fine. Read more, here!  

Common rocks the café!
Common takes over Universal City’s Hard Rock Café. See photos, here!

Super Bowl – On Location
Super Bowl weekend was full of festivities. We recap all the events from the past weekend right here.

Ex-Bad Boy Airs Out Diddy In New Book
BET.com sat down with former Bad Boy recording artist Mark Curry to discuss his upcoming book. Check out a teaser of the interview.

Kanye to Publish Glow In The Dark Book
Kanye West announced that he will release a book entitled Kanye West Glow In The Dark that chronicles his critically acclaimed “Glow In The Dark” tour.  Check it out.

Kanye West Denies Rumors of Porn Possibility
Kanye West won’t do bi-sexual scenes. Regardless of where the rumor began, Kanye West wants you to know it’s not true. He’s not planning to go the “Superhead” route and parlay his hop career into an adult film gig. West doesn’t know exactly who’s responsible for spreading the word, but he says hackers got into one of his Web spots and spread a number of lies. “I read some s–t claiming I said I’m down to do porn and some bi-sexual porn!…Welcome to Kanye West’s world!” At his Kanyeuniversity blog, the multi-platinum rapper rants on about his frequently mentioned belief that haters and critics are trying to bring him down. “Let me be great!” he writes. West was recently among the stars who performed at inauguration festivities in Washington for President Barack Obama. Among other topics, he mentions the appearance, all the while wondering what he’s done to attract detractors who’d make up terrible rumors about him.
 Urban Ball Cancelled for Lack of Sales
Ludacris gig goes bust in D.C. It’s a good thing that rapper Ludacris doesn’t lack much in the credit card department. The performer was set to host and perform at the “Urban Ball” this week in D.C. with Cedric the Entertainer, T-Pain, Fantasia and Monica among the celebs to appear. But the $350 price tag was apparently more than many guests were willing to pay: The event was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. Word has it that Luda was also stuck with the bill for his hotel room at the Marriott Wardman Park, where the bash was to take place after losing his comp credit.
 

 Dr. Jan Adams, the plastic surgeon who operated on rapper Kanye West’s mother before she died, will spend the next year in jail on a drunken-driving rap. Last year, Adams pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor DUI charge. When Adams was arrested in late June, police said he was driving the wrong way on Interstate 680 (between Sacramento and San Francisco) and that his blood alcohol level was .20 percent. Read the rest here.

Rapper’s cousin worked on fatal procedure. A relative of Kanye West is being investigated in connection with the death last year of the rapper’s mom. Stephan Scoggins, 46, reportedly supervised Dr. Donda West’s post-surgical care following her tummy tuck and cosmetic operation. But Scoggins, West’s nephew and Kanye’s cousin, is said to have left her home alone while he attended a baby shower. Subpoenas have been issued by the California Consumer Affairs Department to determine whether Scoggins is in any way responsible for West’s fate due to post-operative complications. Get more on Kanye West including music, news, photos and video here.

Jimmy Iovine Blames Eminem For Detox Delay          

Detox is delayed again and there’s only one person to blame for Dr. Dre not completing the album – Eminem. Read more.

The Kanye West Experience

With 808’s & Heartbreak being released, BET.com brings you everything Kanye related. All the photos, videos and news that you need in one place!

Rapper is “super-devastated” by mom’s death. Could the frustration of grief over his mom’s death be behind Kanye West’s recent clashes with photographers? Maybe it’s a coincidence, but just days after People magazine published West’s first public comments on losing his parent, the rapper is explaining his second arrest in three months. Kanye was questioned by police in England, but not charged this past weekend after a cameraman claimed the rapper shoved his camera into his face, causing a cut. West took to his blog to write about the incident outside Newcastle’s Tup Tup Club: “I put my hand up to the camera in self-defense! …My security yelled, ‘Get the camera off him!’ I guess, in all the commotion, the camera scraped his nose.” West barely escaped felony charges in September when he and an assistant were caught on video destroying another photographer’s equipment at an airport. Instead, West was issued a misdemeanor. He further blogs, “When will there be a law passed that simply enforces that someone has to ask to take a photograph of you?” People quoted West as saying that his mother’s death, due to cosmetic surgery complications last year, left him “super-devastated. I didn’t do any interviews after my mom passed,” he tells the mag. “I wasn’t ready to speak about [it]. Now I’d rather talk it through than commit suicide. …I feel like I moved to California, then my mom moved to California, and she did stuff she wouldn’t have done if we’d stayed in Chicago. If I’d never made it in the music business, it never would’ve happened.”

Ex-millionaire label head’s financial woes continue. Former Roc-a-Fella Records boss Damon Dash doesn’t have “a pot to p–s in,” says a lawyer who recently sued him. “They’re broke,” Jason Gabbard says of Dash and his wife, following a suit over $148,505 in unpaid fees. The lawyer tells The New York Daily News that Dash owed a fashion firm the cash before the suit was settled. Earlier this year, the entertainment entrepreneur’s New York home was reported in foreclosure, and just this month his Chevy Tahoe was seized after he reportedly stopped paying the $714.99 monthly lease. If that’s not enough, Dash faces an outstanding debt of $2.1 million in New York state taxes and at least three other pending suits and unpaid tabs.