Rick Ross's Jail Time

Rapper's screw history detailed in Department of Corrections file

JULY 28--We don't mean to pile on the beleaguered gangster rapper (and former prison guard) Rick Ross, but a Freedom of Information request has turned up additional documents chronicling the performer's penal career. More...

Robber Turned Rapper Shares Spotlight with Big Mac Chant Winner

Jul 31, 2008 6:05 AM, PROMO Xtra, By Brian Quinton

McDonald’s “Big Mac Chant Off,” looking for the best user performance of the classic “Two all-beef patties” jingle, has found its winner. But one of the runners-up is grabbing some of the headlines around the promotion: for having held up a McDonald’s back in 1994.

Launched on June 16 and timed to cap the 40th anniversary celebration of the Big Mac, the contest asked users to perform their own version of the famous Big Mac ingredient list and to post the results to a contest page on the MySpace social network.

A team of professional judges winnowed the 1,000 entries received by July 16 down to five finalists. Visitors to the MySpace page were then permitted to vote for their selection from among that final five. (Promo Xtra, June 20, 2008)

The winner with 47% of the 12,000 popular votes was Jason Harper, a former corporate executive from Boynton Beach, FL, who founded a music company. His remix of the Big Mac jingle will be featured in a national TV spot for McDonald’s that will launch July 31.

But the announcement of the five finalists drew most attention for Tamien Bain and his hip hop-flavored submission. Bain, who has produced a rap album under the name “Baing the Locksmith,” revealed that he served 12 years in prison for holding up a Miami-area McDonald’s restaurant at gunpoint on Memorial Day 1994.

Bain was 14 at the time of the crime, but was charged as an adult under strict sentencing guidelines then prevalent in Miami-Dade County. He served his full term.

Press reports quote him as saying that he told contest officials about his past involvement with McDonald’s and added that it was his prison time that turned his attention to music, leading to his contest entry.

Bain solicited votes for his contest entry on his own MySpace profile page, but came in fourth with 8% of the popular ballot.

Kent Voetberg, marketing director for McDonald’s Corp., says that Bain’s “interesting” background never posed any impediment to his contest eligibility.

“We found out about this gentleman’s history and decided that he met the requirements of the MySpace promotion,” Voetberg says. “When we found out that his history was ‘unique’ with our brand, we decided that based on the social networking component for this campaign, we wanted to be inclusive of all.”

All five finalists’ entries in the “Big Mac Chant-Off” are still available on the campaign’s MySpace page. Harper’s winning remix is available as a ringtone download.

Omarosa vs. Wendy Williams

Wendy Williams and Omarosa are no strangers to controversy. You'll want to look at the cat fight between the two.

Playstation 2 component incites African war

Console war reaches past the couch and into the Congo, claims report.
By Ben Silverman

Has the video game industry dug up its very own blood diamond?

According to a report by activist site Toward Freedom, for the past decade the search for a rare metal necessary in the manufacturing of Sony's Playstation 2 game console has fueled a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At the center of the conflict is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan. After processing, coltan turns into a powder called tantalum, which is used extensively in a wealth of western electronic devices including cell phones, computers and, of course, game consoles.

Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country's coltan mines.

"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King.

So where's the connection to Sony? According to Toward Freedom, during the 2000 launch of the PS2, the electronics giant was having trouble meeting consumer demand. To pump out more units, Sony required a significant increase in the production of electric capacitors, which are primarily made with tantalum. This helped drive the world price of the powder from $49/pound to a whopping $275/pound, resulting in the frenzied scouring of the Congolese hills known for being ripe with coltan.

Sony has since sworn off using tantalum acquired from the Congo, claiming that current builds of the PS2, PSP and PS3 consoles are sourced from a variety of mines in several different countries.

But according to researcher David Barouski, they're hardly off the hook.

"SONY's PlayStation 2 launch...was a big part of the huge increase in demand for coltan that began in early 1999," he explained. "SONY and other companies like it, have the benefit of plausible deniability, because the coltan ore trades hands so many times from when it is mined to when SONY gets a processed product, that a company often has no idea where the original coltan ore came from, and frankly don't care to know. But statistical analysis shows it to be nearly inconceivable that SONY made all its PlayStations without using Congolese coltan."

Currently, the Playstation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all-time, having sold through over 140 million units.

Tyler Perry Is At It Again

Have a sneak preview of Tyler Perry's upcoming movie - "Family That Preys".



It looks like a really good film with an all star cast that is likely to appeal to a broader audience.

The larger the budget, the more A list stars Tyler draws into his productions. We were floored to see Kathy Bates in the trailer!

Just Call Him Daddy

We recommend that you subscribe to the email service Urban Daddy. These daily messages will bring you exclusive style tips, invitations and perks to make you flyer than you already are. Urban Daddy offers geo-specific updates for NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas and a National edition.

Check out the Nightlife section to find the hottest spots to hit while you're feeling a good buzz from that shot of Patron or visit the Style section to search for luxe shops to modernize your wardrobe like Tom Ford's store in NYC.

Natalie Cole says she has hepatitis C

07/16/2008 6:26 AM, AP
Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole has been diagnosed with hepatitis C, her publicist said in a statement Wednesday.

Hepatitis C is a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood. The statement said the disease was revealed during a routine examination and was likely caused by her drug use years ago.

"I've been so fortunate to have learned so much from my past experiences," said Cole. "I am embraced by the love and support of my family and friends; I am committed to my belief in myself and in my abiding faith to meet this challenge with a heartfelt optimism and determination. This is how I intend to deal with this current challenge in my life."

Dr. Graham Woolf, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA/Cedars Sinai Medical Center, said that Cole has had a "terrific response to her medication and is now virus negative."

"This gives her an increased chance of cure," he said. "But, she has also suffered significant side effects from the anti-viral medicine, which is the only FDA authorized treatment for hepatitis C. Her side effects include fatigue, muscle aches and dehydration but she is recovering from these."

Cole, 58, the daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, has sold millions of records over her long career. She is due to release "Still Unforgettable," the follow-up to 1991's Grammy-winning, multi-platinum CD "Unforgettable ... With Love," on which she remade some of her father's classics, in September.

Gucci TV

On Tuesday, July 8th, Gucci offered its full length cruise 2009 fashion show live from Rome online. The video will be available July 14th on their website at Gucci.com.

Are You Ready for Commitment?

Guys are you being pressured into commitment? Are you wondering if you are the relationship type? Well, Yahoo! can help you. Take a look at the 10 signs that show you are ready for commitment.

We're very interested in hearing your feedback on these signs. Are they really true?

Hollywood Splits

Will Madonna and Guy Ritchie's marriage end in divorce? Will A-Rod and Cynthia split? A-Rods wife is rumored to be seeing Lenny Kravitz.

What do you think will happen? Inquiring minds want to know!