Unsurprisingly, BET felt the heat after a wack ass awards show that included a tasteless finale by Young Money. In a recent story granted to allhiphop.com, the network offered an apology and a representative released an official statement that reads:

“We value and appreciate the feedback from our viewers and have edited Young Money’s performance for all BET Awards ’09 encore presentations.”

Thankfully, a day after releasing a confusing, controversial video that had heads turning once again, Drake stepped up to the plate and offered his own apologies to fans and viewers who took in the degrading performance. It read:

“That…was a terrible idea that I’ll never do to myself again. But I was being pressed from different areas to perform, and I think what really happened at the BET Awards is with the passing of Mike, the climate really changed, as far as the award show goes.

“I don’t think it called for us to perform ‘Every Girl’ and ‘Always Strapped,’ and I think it was an award show filled with tributes and music and these genuine heartfelt speeches. And to sort of climax out of a very tongue-n-cheek point, and then people misconstruing Wayne’s daughters and her friends coming out on stage — it was just timed very poorly and it definitely wasn’t planned like that, but with that being said, it is what is. I believe in Wayne and myself and it’s nothing we can’t bounce back from. To anyone who was offended, my personal apologies, it wasn’t intended to offend anybody.”

The terms of his deal have yet to be finalized, but it is official as of last night. Ron Artest is a Los Angeles Laker. Out with the new and in with the old, the Lakers lost Trevor Ariza to the Houston Rockets and gained a wily veteran in Artest.

At 24 years old, the athletic swingman was key in the Lakers Western Conference Finals run and the 2008-2009 Finals, helping the franchise capture its 15th title in 30 attempts.

Artest’s arrival assures the Lakers of another post presence, three point threat and playmaker. Perhaps more than anything, it will add more toughness to a squad that was often referred to as ’soft’ this past year.

Lakers’ fans were understandably upset at losing Ariza, who grew with the team in the past two seasons, but the team was unwilling to pay him more than the mid level exception of $5.6 million per year.

Artest, whose salary was close to $8 million last year in Houston, accepted the ‘exception,’ emphasizing he’d made enough money during his tenure in the League and is more interested in winning a championship than making a few more million a year.

Artest will be a Laker for the next three years.

CNN released a video clip of Michael Jackson’s rehearsal footage for his farewell tour, scheduled to begin this July. In it he performs “They Don’t Care About Us” and looks to be extremely ginger for a 50-year-old man. This footage will undoubtedly raise more eyebrows surrounding his sudden death only a day after this particular scene was filmed. Reports indicate CNN has access to over 100 hours of footage of MJ rehearsing, so it’s entirely possible more videos will surface.

If 50 Cent’s forthcoming album doesn’t exceed his expectations it’s because he’s entirely caught up with shit he shouldn’t be. Seems he has so much time on his hands he arranged to fly in a KID that bashed him for whoring himself to the industry. The Canadian youth, who commonly referred to the rapper as “Fiddy” also accused the G Unit Commander In Chief of taking advantage of his fans by lending himself and his image to products unbecoming of a “gangsta.”

In the end the poor kid is converted and humiliated even though he seems to have no idea he’s being embarrassed… Where the hell are his parents and why did they allow him to accept this offer?

If this video is any indication of Kanye West’s brilliance as a Director, he’s about as smart as a bag of potatoes. Given the abundance of T&A (mostly “T”), “Best I Ever Had” leaves the viewer wondering if there is an X rated version. Good if you’re a prepubescent teen or, simply horny, but other than the idea of satisfying hormonal needs/desires, there isn’t much to it.

The GAME first denounced the beef with 50 Cent in the MJ tribute, “Better On The Other Side,” then made it official during this exclusive interview with MTV. He admits to having bipolar tendencies and allows that tomorrow his mind may change, but to the day, Jayceon Taylor has no issues with 50 Cent or G Unit. In fact, he suggests that had they all remained the powerful force they were when he, 50, Eminem and Dr. Dre were working together regularly, Detox would have dropped long ago and they’d all have fatter pockets. In effect, he apologizes to all parties involved, including Jimmy Iovine.

Mike would be proud GAME. Don’t wig out and dissapoint him… regardless of how Curtis reacts.

The link between Michael Jackson’s death and VIBE’s pending demise, is obvious and sad all the same. Born in 1993 per the genius and forward thinking mind of Quincy Jones, VIBE has suffered in recent years. Albeit due to poor sales, a casualty most major urban magazines have succumbed to, they fell in line as the New Media market rages on. Vying to stay alive with catchy cover cut lines and magnanimous subjects to boot, the truth is, the buying public simply wasn’t buying.

There was once a time when urban magazines were something like the Bible to the people who subscribed to them. In fact, people from all across the globe will tell you to your face they have piles upon piles of issues of VIBE stacked in their closets. They bought two of the issue with TLC – one to rip out the pages for decoration and another to preserve for a time like this.

They remembered Luther and Aaliyah, just as soon as they celebrated the misguided genius of 2pac… The infamous image of Death Row is still sketched in their minds and they celebrated the inevitable inauguration of Barack Obama through one media outlet.

(continue reading…)