It is that time again where I round up some of the music news stories that entered the public domain over the last week. This week sees news stories regarding Nelly, T.I, Lady Gaga and a few others but first I will start with a rather sad piece about Fantasia.
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Fantasia
Controversy doesn’t seem to be that easy to dust off your shoulder if you’re Fantasia Barrino. True it may be that she has recovered from the demons that plagued her mind when she took to those drastic measures of attempting to end her life but that hasn’t stopped new reports circulating which suggest her problems around that dark time may have been worse than first reported.
Her situation was documented on her reality TV series Fantasia For Real however it appears that not everything had been brought to the public’s attention until now. Thanks to RadarOnline
Fantasia Barrino has admitted she got pregnant by her married lover Antwaun Cook and had an abortion around the time of her failed suicide attempt, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.The American Idol winner made the sensational confession in a North Carolina court on Monday during Cook’s divorce proceeding with his ex-wife Paula.
Facing questions before a Mecklenburg County Court judge, the famous singer, 26, was pressed on whether she knew Cook was living with Paula when they embarked on their illicit affair.
The Idol season three winner has acknowledged she dated Cook “off and on for about 11 months” but said she believed he had separated from his wife.
In court, lawyers for the scorned wife pressed Fantasia about a hotel rendezvous that took place just a few days after meeting one another.
“Paula’s lawyer is arguing that they got the room because she knew he was still married,” one onlooker – who was inside the court – told RadarOnline.com.
There were no reporters in the courtroom and witnesses were asked to leave as Fantasia took the stand.
But multiple sources, including a Cook family source, confirmed Fantasia’s explosive testimony to RadarOnline.com.
Fantasia became the center of a celebrity cheating scandal when she famously got the name “Cook” tattooed on her collarbone in honor of Antwaun.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Fantasia – who is still dating Antwaun – attempted to kill herself in August by taking an overdose of aspirin after reading a court complaint filed by Paula naming her as a home wrecker.
“It just became heavy for me, so I just wanted to be away from the noise,” Fantasia said in a television interview.
Paula is now considering suing Fantasia over the unique Alienation of Affection law.
Alienation of Affection is a law still recognized by only seven states – one of which is North Carolina – where an abandoned spouse can file lawsuit against the party responsible for the failure of their marriage, typically the adulterous spouse’s lover.Fantasia and Paula recently failed to settle their differences through private mediation after a marathon 12-hour session on November 1.
“Paula is not doing too well, having to hear all this in court and replay it all over, she’s emotionally torn,” one source close to the woman told RadarOnline.com.
Soon after this story broke more revelations appeared confirming that the news was indeed true. Thanks once again to RadarOnline, peep a transcript of an interchange between Fantasia and lawyers.
Here are key parts of the court proceedings Monday, including Fantasia admitting to the abortion:
Lawyer: “See if you recognize this as being a letter you wrote to Mr. Cook on May 10th 2010″ (inaudible)
(inaudible) Fantasia reads the letter to the court. “I want you. I pray every night that I can be in your life forever, be your friend, lover, prayer partner, wife and MOTHER OF YOUR CHILDREN. As long as I can have you I will be the happiest girl in the world.” (inaudible)
Lawyer: “Ms Barrino, when you wrote this letter, you said you wanted to be the mother of his children, is this right?”
Fantasia: “Uh huh.”Lawyer: “Were you pregnant with his child when you wrote this letter?”
Fantasia: “No, no.”Lawyer: “Is it true at one point you told him you had an abortion?”
Fantasia’s Lawyer: Objection!(ARGUMENTS BETWEEN LAWYERS)
Lawyer: “Ms Barrino, isn’t it true that you told Mr. Cook that you had aborted his child?”
Fantasia: “When I wrote this letter I was speaking in future references. Like, one day, I would love to be all of these things that I wrote. I was not pregnant with his child.”Lawyer: “But did you tell Mr. Cook you aborted his child?”
Fantasia: “I did, yeah.”Lawyer: “When did you tell Mr. Cook you had aborted his child?
Fantasia: “I’m not sure.”Lawyer: “When did you abort his child?”
Fantasia: “It hasn’t been too long ago.”Lawyer: “What’s not too long ago?
Fantasia: “I’m not sure.”Lawyer: “I’m sorry?”
Fantasia: “I’m not sure. Probably when all this other stuff was happening.”Lawyer: “Is it your testimony that this summer?”
Fantasia: “I’m not really sure.”Lawyer: “How close in proximity was it to Mr. Cook leaving? In June 2010.”
Fantasia: “It was right after he left his home.”Lawyer: “Mrs. Cook contends that she separated from Mr. Cook in June 16th 2010. How close in proximity to her date of separation did you contend that you aborted his child?”
Fantasia: “I’m not sure. Probably August when the other stuff happened.”
It goes without saying that Fantasia is undoubtedly a huge talent and it would be a real shame if occurrences in her personal life begin to overshadow her immense talent especially considering that her most recent album Back To Me (critically acclaimed) is definitely a good solid piece of work.
Lady Gaga
Its always good to be confident in what you do especially if you’re a music artist but there is a thin line between confidence and arrogance and I think Lady Gaga has taken a mighty hop skip and jump over that line. She has claimed that her forthcoming album Born This Way will be the greatest album of the decade, hmmmm? Tooting your own horn is an understatement.
“I promise to you, I’ll never let you down,” said GaGa, choking through tears. “And not for nothing: the album’s finished and it’s fucking really good… I promise to give you the greatest album of this decade, just for you.”
Gaga has captured the imagination of the industry with her outrageous outfits and her catchy pop songs FACT! But that does not warrant such self righteousness and self indulgence does it? I don’t think so anyway.
“The funny thing is that some people have reduced freedom to a brand. They think that it’s trendy now to be free. They think it’s trendy to be excited about your identity. When in truth, there is nothing trendy about Born this Way.Born this Way is a spirit and it is this connection that we all share. It is something so much deeper than a wig, or lipstick, or an outfit, or a fucking meat dress. Born this Way is about what keeps us up at night and makes us afraid.”
It will be interesting to see if this album will live up to the enormous amount of success that she herself has claimed it will achieve. Fame and Fame Monster were good for what they were but I didn’t get that “Oh this music has changed my” life type of vibe she is suggesting we will feel after hearing her new material so I am not really that excited to be honest. Source
Nelly
If the sales figures or singles were anything to go by then nobody would argue if you were to say that Nelly is currently riding high however this is not the case at all. Having recently secured double Platinum status with the lead single ‘Just A Dream’ taken from his sixth album studio album 5.0 unfortunately the album did not go onto emulate the success of the single only selling 63,000 units in the first week.
Expressing his frustrations the Grammy winner took to his Twitter account to vent. His frustration clearly is directed at his label Universal Motown and he is not even trying to hide the fact that he is pissed. I guess after being used to seeing your albums place higher in the chart the #10 spot just doesn’t cut the mustard. Check what he had to say below.
A record deal is a 50/50 partnership!As a artist its your job to provide the record company with music that they (record company) can sell!
Thing about the partnership is thati n the public eye the responsibility is not 50/50! The artist is always the 1who catches 90% of the blame. When a artist doesn’t deliver sufficient material they(artist) gets its budget cut for next album or worse dropped from the label!
So not only is the label ur partner but also disciplinarian and 90% of the time the one who decides if the partnership continues!
No doubt wen a artist doesn’t deliver a song that does crack top of the charts or even top10 the label is quick to say artist didn’t deliver.
So intern the artist must bare the brunt of that failure and take responsibility and consequences as handed out by his or her label!!
So whose fault is it when a artist gives the label not only a #1 hit but there first top40 #1 in label history! Sell 2mill n singles n 2.5month? Who should be held responsible wen a artist has a history for selling records so its not like a new artist n no1 knows his r her name?
Benefit of the doubt: Maybe no1 is checking for the artist anymore? Well if that was true then how do u explain selling 2mill singles n 2.5month?
I careless about haters u cant hate on#1song n 2.5mill n singles!but the fact is that some1 need to holdup there end of the partnership!
If the music wasn’t good how do u get to #1 and 2.5mill!!but if folks say they didn’t even no wen the album came out?????
If u only ship 200thound of an album how many are u f#cking tryen to sell??the artist does control that nor does he or she control marketing
“”5.0″”Every1 luvs da album n say its crazy!So wen u hear folks say they didnt no it was out r there were hardly any n the store!WTF?
I must say that I agree with everything he had to say. Only servicing 200,000 units to stores is a recipe for disaster especially when trying to gain the #1 slot on the chart. Just think Eminem and Drake both sold well over double the amount of units Nelly’s label put out in the first week, ridiculous!
Bei Maejor
Taking a quick break from full on music news I’d like to present Bei Maejor’s follow up to his successful mixtape Upside Down. If you guys haven’t heard of this guy then you need to get to know because I predict a bright future. He is a talent singer/songwriter stroke rapper and producer, basically he does it all, he even mixes and masters his own tracks. Literally he does everything.
Having only just come across him via Diggy Simmons and Chris Brown & Tyga’s mixtapes I have been interested in hearing some material of his own. Now I’m giving you guys the chance to listened as well. This is his latest mixtape titled Hit Me Up; Upside Down 2.
Download Hit Me Up; Upside Down 2 here
Lil Kim
Back to the music news. Last week I mentioned that Nicki Minaj had finally gone on record to discuss the speculated beef between her and Lil Kim, well speculate no more because this has most definitely been clarified as beef from Lil Kim’s point of view following the release of her latest diss track ‘Black Friday’.
The track sees Kim taking shots at both Nicki Minaj and Drake along with the whole Young Money crew and surprisingly a snide little dig at Diddy.
Granted it is great to hear some new ish from the Queen Bee but I stand firmly in Nicki’s corner, it may be because I’m persuaded by that body of hers but seriously where has Kim been. Nobody was talking about Kim before Nicki blew up so I think she actually should be thanking my baby for keeping her name alive in a time where nobody was checking for her. When you speak about Kim you will inevitably bring Nicki’s name in to the equation and vice versa so they are in fact helping each other.
Instead of focusing her energy into making a 6 minute diss track I suggest that she turn her attentions to making a full length album because at the moment I don’t think she has a leg to stand on.
P.S. although I feel Minaj has been quite dignified in the way she has handled all this beefing talk I pray pray pray that she makes a response and completed rips Kim to pieces. Roman Zolanski time to enter the booth!
T.I
Before heading to jail for the second time in the short space of 3 years T.I sat down with VIBE Magazine where he discussed his recent drug issues.
I’ve heard you mention how the good that you’ve done is easily forgotten. Do you feel that you’ve been treated unfairly?
If I place my value in the way humans treat me, then maybe. But they’re human, man―they can’t help themselves. They do that to people they know personally. So how can I expect them to treat me, only knowing me through television? They did that to Jesus. They did that to Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali. They did it to every great person you could possibly think of. When it was all good, they was with them. When things got bad, then they was against them.But in this case things didn’t “get bad.” It’s something you did.
Let me just say this: [he sits up on the couch] If you look at a guy who came up, no pops in the house, moms on welfare, food stamps; started selling dope when he was 12, 13 years old, came up handling guns, being in shoot-outs; started going to jail when he was 15. In all of this chaos and this mischief and lawlessness, the person who was just in jail for machine guns and silencers turns his life around. And now you want to crucify him ―for what? Three pills. I mean, of course it’s wrong and unacceptable and inexcusable. No problem. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s rather petty. It’s rather petty to hold someone’s feet to the fire for something so small when they have overcame things that were so big. All that could have been going wrong―if I was riding with more guns, or if I had gotten into a shoot-out and killed somebody, then I could see that. But just think about it. I’ve gotten it down to this much.How did you get a drug habit?
I had a lot of work done to my teeth. Oral surgery, extractions, six, seven, eight root canals. Between January to February. As soon as I got out, I had a lot of stuff done. In the joint, you eat shit that is unhealthy for you. I had fillings that fell out and stuff that had to get dealt with. Of course for the pain they gave me oxycontin and hydrocodone. And, mind you, on October 13, 2007, I had cut off everything―weed, alcohol. Then I get these pills and I start taking them for the pain at first. And then I’m like, Wait―this shit makes me feel good. And it’s legal. After the pain went away, I kept taking it. I had like five, six prescriptions. So I had, like 80 pills. Everybody else might have a drink or smoke a blunt, I took a pain pill. Times when I had 18-, 20-hour days, I’d take a pain pill. And eventually I developed―I guess―the beginning stages of dependence.Have you talked to Eminem about addiction?
Sure. We got a record together, and we talked a lot. I asked him how he knew he was an addict. Basically if you put yourself in harm’s way… if you risk that, you’ve got to assume that there is something fundamentally wrong with your thought process
Though he did indeed speak very openly and honestly his justification and reasoning behind his feelings of being mistreated are quite unjust. He claims to be turning his life around by not carrying guns and getting into shoot outs which of course is true (for the moment) but yet he still finds himself heading back to jail. Entering your latest stint in jail for a minor offense compared to the offense you committed for your last time in jail may be considered progress but by no means should be seen as turning your life around. If this is T.I when he says he has turned his life around I can only imagine what he’d be like when everything is going well for him and he couldn’t be happier, community service instead of jail I wonder?
Good rapper but his judgement seems to be way out of sync. Sorry!
Keri Hilson
As I am writing this post on this grey Sunday afternoon a little ray of sunshine appears in the form of the new music video from Keri Hilson and I must say this is most definitely one for the boys. ‘The Way You Love Me’ features Rick Ross with cameos from Faith Evans, Jojo and Dawn Richard (of Dirty Money & Danity Kane fame)
I don’t think anyone has seen Ms Keri baby like this before. This for sure cannot be played during the day its almost softcore porn lol. Not that I’m complaining. It’s funny though because it was only a few weeks ago that I saw Kerri featured in a few Sesame Street skits and now I see this, parallels apart.
About DJB
DJB is the name and Yin&Yang is the game. I've been playing this game from almost the birth of Y&Y and haven't got bored yet. Infact i'd say i'm just getting started. For more info regarding myself head over to the Meet The Family page, if not then just tweet me @imDJB.