The occasion of Prince’s death immediately sparked two parallel discussions. The primary conversation was of course about the life and career of Prince. The second was about how much the public can—and should—trust TMZ, the outlet who, as they often do, first reported this shocking death of a beloved celebrity.
Earlier this month, Georgia prosecutors indicted PeeWee Roscoe, tour manager for Young Thug, in a shooting that hit two Lil Wayne tour buses April 26. The Cobb County district attorney strongly implied that Young Thug or Cash Money label boss Bryan “Birdman” Williams ordered the shooting in an attempt to settle their ongoing dispute with Lil Wayne, although neither has been charged. Now Birdman has claimed he wasn’t involved, and challenged the evidence that ties him to the attack.
Lil Wayne’s feud with his former label boss and adoptive father, Bryan “Birdman” Williams, is so serious that, rather than waiting to fight it out in court, Birdman and his new protege Young Thug tried to have Weezy killed in a Blood gang assassination, an indictment filed in a Georgia court implies. Although Birdman and Thugga aren’t facing charges, the case against the alleged shooter—Young Thug’s tour manager Jimmy “PeeWee Roscoe” Winfrey—suggests he was trying to take Lil Wayne out on their behalf.
While Lil Wayne waits for the interminable legal battle over Tha Carter V to wrap up, he’s killing time by showing up hours late to concerts, having his tour bus shot at by rival Blood factions, and participating in charitable activities. Like this “Stop the Violence” celebrity basketball game, where he nearly incited a brawl by spitting on the ref, according to TMZ.
Here's a story where everyone is bad and wrong: Lil Wayne showed up like 3 hours late to a show in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday night. Fans were understandably pissed that the headliner didn't go on until 3:30 a.m., but some of them handled it less punchably than this gentleman, who held up scrolling messages on his Apple Internet Phone in the direction of the stage.
Lil Wayne really can't catch a break this week. On top of his ongoing battle with Cash Money Records over the release of his next album, he's apparently been the victim of a persistent troll: someone falsely reported a mass shooting at his home and booked him an unwanted appointment with a prostitute. At times like these, at least he can still get on stage and everything'll be alright for an hour or so.
A SWAT team surrounded Lil Wayne's Miami Beach mansion yesterday after a 911 caller claimed to have shot four people there. The call turned out to be a swatting hoax, a fake report of a crime too serious for law enforcement to ignore, even if they know it's likely fake. And in this case, there's a good chance the operator knew.
A call to police claiming that a shooting had taken place at Lil Wayne's Miami Beach home was a hoax, and no such shooting took place, according to local law enforcement. A SWAT team responded to the rapper's home after the call this afternoon.
Yesterday it was announced that Taylor Swift sold 1.3 million copies of her new album 1989, meaning that she moved more records in one week than any other artist has of any new album in the entirety of the past 10 months. This was appropriately being noted as a historic feat before it was even confirmed, but it is not the most impressive capitalist achievement the music industry has seen in 2014. That, instead, would be everything Drake has done this year.
A decade or so ago, the NYPD copped to having a so-called "Hip-Hop Police" force that kept tabs on all the rich and famous black men just itching to commit all types of heinous crimes in New York City. That force still reportedly exists, but now it keeps its eye on people like Drake and Chris Brown.
Rapper Lil Wayne famously told Katie Couric, "I'm a gangster, Miss Katie," during a 2009 interview and the two have been good friends ever since, or so she wants us to believe. He was the first guest on today's Season 2 premiere of her daytime talk show, Katie. "Weezy and I look like an odd couple, right?" she asked all the moms who'd come to watch them talk.
Hiring "controversial" rappers to be your brand ambassadors can be a blessing and a curse. Mountain Dew, the extreme corn-syrup beverage, is learning a peculiar fact about these spokespeople: They tend to generate controversy.
Proving that even at his worst, he is among the best, impish rapper Lil Wayne appeared on L.A.'s Power 106 to discuss his new album, I Am Not a Human Being II, and not dying. Wayne added his voice to the chorus disappointed by his new set of songs — Human Being II has received mixed reviews and is one of the most tepidly received releases in the critical darling's oeuvre.
A few days ago, a remix of Autotuned warbler Future's "Karate Chop" made its way onto the Internet. Metaphorical extraordinaire Lil Wayne guests on the track and in his own Autotuned warble, delivers the line, "Beat that pussy up like Emmett Till."
