Welcome to Week #2 of The Bootleg. It’s gonna be a crazy weekend as the better half and me are off to Sacramento, Cali for a wedding. I’m hoping I can shake the likely hangover in time to fly home and catch the final episode of Oz on Sunday night. The final season started out very crappy, but it’s picked up steam nicely in the last three weeks.
There’s a lot to cover this week, so let’s get into all the news goodness, shall we?
U2’s Bono in Contention for Nobel Peace Prize?
Oddly enough, I just finished watching The Simpsons rerun featuring a cameo from Bono and his band mates. It’s the one where Homer runs for Sanitation Commissioner. Anyways, it’s nice to see a celebrity who is actually sincere in his charitable efforts get rewarded for them. His work promoting awareness of the crisis situation in Northern Ireland and raising funds to combat the AIDS epidemic in Africa is certainly commendable. His primary competition will reportedly come from the outgoing Illinois governor who commuted a few hundred inmates from Death Row to life sentences, France’s anti-war president and, of course, Pope John Paul II.
Grammy Tag Teams
Your one Grammy reference for the day. Everyone’s favorite angry White rapper is scheduled to perform with the neo-conscious darlings of hip hop. It looks like Eminem will team with The Roots for his Grammy performance. Also on the live show, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl and Elvis Costello will reportedly perform Clash’s London Calling. Finally, in what was surely a move designed to annoy millions, not only will Nsync reunite for the evening, but they’ll also pay tribute to the Bee Gees by performing a medley of their hits. You’ve been warned.
Snoop Dogg Out as Huggy Bear?
OK, this gets complicated, so try to follow along. There’s a rumor making the Hollywood circles that rapper/porn star Snoop Dogg may not get the movie role he was born to play. The 70s buddy-cop TV show, Starsky and Hutch is headed to the big screen with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in the title roles. Snoop was slated to play pimp/informant Huggy Bear. Allegedly, the movie’s producers have doubts that Snoop can carry the role. Apparently, it’s a real stretch from the wholesome milk n’ cookies image of Mr. Dogg. Or maybe they saw him, uh, “act” in Bones and The Wash. Snoop has vowed to get this role and win the producers over. More on this breaking story as events warrant.
Jay-Z Inks Deal to Promote Heineken
Following in the footsteps of Dr. Dre and Coors Light, Missy Elliott and Vanilla Coke and girlfriend Beyonce Knowles and Pepsi, Jay-Z has signed on to shill for that funny tasting beer in the green bottle. I guess rappers have come a long way from the days of selling malt liquor. His first commercial is scheduled to air during the Grammys on Sunday night. Hey, as an aside, can anyone tell me how Jay-Z’s ugly ass managed to score Beyonce? Just wondering.
Suge Knight and R. Kelly Pledge to Help Victims
Now, I’m the last person to question the motives of anyone who graciously offers a helping hand to someone in their time of need, but come on! Out here on the West Coast, Uncle Suge, currently back in jail on probation violation, offered to pay the funeral costs for a 57-year-old grandmother who was an unintended victim of a gang shooting. In Chicago, embattled R&B star R. Kelly offered to help out his hometown brothers and sisters who lost loved ones in the tragic nightclub incident last weekend that led to 21 deaths.
Both men need all the good press they can drum up since there is a very strong possibility that both could be doing jail time this year. Of course, as all of us who have violated our probation or (allegedly) videotaped ourselves having sex with an under aged groupie know exactly what to do.
If you’re Suge, you have your crumbling record label issue a syrupy press release that highlights all the charitable good deeds you’ve done. Just make sure you gloss over all of your run-ins with the law. It would be easier to accept this gesture as sincere, instead of grandstanding, if Suge wasn’t the man who was rumored to release a videotape of “Celebrity Beatdowns” and an explicit sex tape of J-Lo.
Say what you will about R. Kelly, but the man has balls. As he stares down the barrel of a March 7 trial date for his (alleged) sexual assault of a minor, he’s still pumping out music. Hell, he’s even taken it a step farther with a soon-to-be-published children’s book!
It’s great that Messrs. Knight and Kelly want to help the victim’s families through these tragedies with monetary assistance. However, when their generosity is disseminated to various news organizations and reduced to empty “I just HAD to do something for the family” sound bites, then one must wonder what’s in it for the two men holding the purse strings. If you want to help them out, fine, give till it hurts. Just don’t expect me to believe it’s out of the goodness of your hearts.
More Beatles on DVD
Those clean-cut boys from England, who just happen to be able to sing a little, are making their mark in the digital age. The good people at the Ed Sullivan website are offering up a boatload of Beatles performances from the old Ed Sullivan Show on DVD. Now, word is that in March the mid-90s jam sessions that produced the Anthology material will be made available on DVD, as well. Remember when they claimed (via misquote) that they were bigger than Jesus?
Ice Cube Lashes out at Samuel L. Jackson and Jesse Jackson
Rapper/actor O’Shea (Ice Cube) Jackson is causing a mild stir with his latest single. In it, he responds to criticism from actor Samuel L. Jackson and Reverend Jesse Jackson. Specifically, Cube responds to Samuel L. for his digs at rappers who try to act and Cube rebuts Jesse for his stand against the infamous “Rosa Parks” scene in Barbershop.
Samuel L. Jackson was reportedly none-too-pleased with the performance or attitude of rapper Busta Rhymes during the filming of 2000’s Shaft. While, the good Reverend was aghast at the scene in Cube’s movie, Barbershop, where one character rants on civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.
On the song, entitled Lights Out and co-starring WC and Mack 10, Cube spits “You can tell Samuel L. I’m’a keep acting,” and compares himself to Yoda (a shot at Samuel’s Mace Windu Star Wars character). Cube digs up some familiar barbs at Jesse with lyrics like, “You can even tell that muthaf—in’ Jesse Jackson/ Pay your child support/ Keep your payments up/ Put a rubber on.”
The single is part of a joint compilation album executive produced by Mack 10’s Hoo Bangin Records and the internationally known (and huge fans of my rap reviews) Baby Ree Entertainment.
At one time, Cube was one of the most relevant voices in rap. He dropped some classics in the early 90s, however his recent work has been seriously lacking…or have you not heard War and Peace? Samuel L. Jackson’s highlights from last year were hosting the ESPY Awards and Formula 51. Reverend Jesse is still Reverend Jesse. What if there was a pissing contest and no one cared?
Only in rap music, kids.
411 Fun Facts (Series One) Collect ‘Em All!
Sure, you’ve read this far, but do we really know each other?
#1: I was in attendance at ‘The Q’ when Rickey Henderson broke the runs scored record and a few days later when he recorded hit number 3,000!
#2: Last weekend, I bought 3 DVDs: Brown Sugar, Undercover Brother and Dave!
#4: CDs in my collection that I’m most ashamed of: Deion Sanders (Prime Time), my four or five No Limit albums and anything WWF!
We’re just a month from Baseball’s Opening Day, so start planning those “sick days” now!
