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Los Angeles prosecutors have declined to file a felony drug charge against T.I. stemming from his arrest last month on the Sunset Strip.

According to a charge evaluation worksheet released Monday, deputies found four ecstasy pills on the 30-year-old rapper from Atlanta.

T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., was on supervised release after serving 10 months in prison for federal weapons charges when he was arrested Sept. 1. A Georgia judge earlier this month sentenced him to another 11 months in prison for breaking his federal parole with the latest arrest.

As a condition of his release earlier this year, Harris was ordered not to commit another federal, state or local crime while on supervised release, or to illegally possess a controlled substance. He was also told to take at least three drug tests after his release and to participate in a drug and alcohol treatment program.

The deputy district attorney in LA who rejected the case cited the sentence and the small amount of drugs found as reasons drug charges aren't being pursued.

"The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office's decision to reject TI's case was the right thing to do under the circumstances," Harris' attorney, Steve Sadow, wrote in an e-mail. He commended the office for "exercising its discretion to reject prosecution in light of the legal and factual issues involved."

The Grammy Award-winning rapper is expected to begin his prison term on Nov. 1.

NEW YORK – James Earl Jones had two questions he needed answered before agreeing to join the Broadway production of "Driving Miss Daisy."

He called up the director, David Esbjornson.

"I said, 'OK, am I going to have to dye my hair a little blacker?'"

"Nope," said the director.

Pleased, Jones asked his second question: "I said, 'OK. Do I have to lose much weight?'

"Nope," replied the director again.

And that was that.

"He wanted me," Jones says, still somewhat surprised.

It's really not hard to wonder why. Jones, who is joined by Vanessa Redgrave and Boyd Gaines, has helped turn "Driving Miss Daisy" into the top grossing play on Broadway with advance ticket sales of over $4 million.

Backstage at the Golden Theatre, Jones sits on a sofa with playwright Alfred Uhry, who says he had long resisted taking his Pulitzer Prize-winning play to Broadway, never finding the perfect mix of actors. This time, he did.

"I always felt that there's no point in doing this unless it's really going to be done as close to perfectly as possible," says Uhry. "These people are alchemists. They can turn into other people."

Set in Atlanta against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, "Driving Miss Daisy" centers on an elderly white Jewish widow and her deepening friendship with her African-American chauffeur over a quarter of a century.

Two-time Tony Award winner Jones, who turns 80 in January, says he's always wanted to tackle the play, despite the immense popularity of an Oscar-winning film version starring Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy.

"Seeing how wonderful Morgan Freeman was didn't deter my desire to do it. That's the epitome — it is — and I'm so happy that it's on film so that everybody can see it and most everybody has seen it," says Jones.

"My feeling is that with great plays — and this is one — there's an obligation for society to do them every generation. No matter who's done them before. That's why we do Shakespeare over and over."

Uhry, who based the chauffeur character of Hoke Colburn on his grandmother's own driver, says both Jones and Freeman, who was in his early 40s when he played Hoke, have brought different shadings to the role.

"As good as Morgan was, the part wasn't written for him," says Uhry. "The part was pretty much based on an actual person so it's not Morgan's part. I asked Morgan a year and a half ago, I said, 'What do you think?' He thought a minute, then he said, 'Jimmy can do it.'"

The new production is helped by the fact that James is originally from Mississippi and knows the dialect. "He gets the music in his ears and in his mouth. And Vanessa is getting more and more Georgia by the day," says Uhry.

Redgrave, it turns out, is just the latest British-born woman to play Miss Daisy, following Wendy Hiller, who played her in London; Joan Plowright, who played her on TV; and Tandy. There's one big difference with Redgrave, Uhry says: "She's a lot more beautiful than my grandmother ever dreamed of being."

The three actors — Gaines has the smaller of the three roles, playing Miss Daisy's son — each bring an astonishing amount of theater cred to the stage. Between the three, they have seven Tony Awards, four Emmys and an Oscar.

"You need equal wattage," says Uhry with a laugh.

The playwright has made few changes to his script to accommodate the new actors. "It was written 25 years ago about things 25 years before that so it was already a period piece. Now it's a double-period piece."

Even

Hot off its win as Best Web Series at the Mid-Atlantic Black Film Festival, the highly anticipated hip-hop web series makes its online debut on Koldcast.TV, the premier Web TV network.

New York, NY (PRWEB) October 25, 2010

RHYME ANIMAL (http://www.rhymeanimal.tv) makes its home at Koldcast.TV -- the premier destination for high quality web-based programming. Following a successful festival run, which included the Independent Television Festival, the New York Television Festival and ended with winning “Best Web Series” at the Mid-Atlantic Black Film Festival earlier this month, the acclaimed series settles down to make its home at the on-demand next-generation television network (Monday October 25th, 2010).

“Dirty. Edgy. Aggressive. Rhyme Animal is one of the most exciting series I’ve seen to date. With stellar acting, twisted storylines and an unbelievable soundtrack, it will leave you hungry for more,” raves Marti Resteghini, VP of Licensing for KoldCast TV.

To view the series go to: http://www.koldcast.tv/#/show:rhyme_animal

RHYME ANIMAL -- an ambitious hip-hop DJ rides the coattails of an up-and-coming rapper. One problem: the rapper might also be a cannibalistic serial killer.

The series features Craig “muMs” Grant (as SHIVA the cannibal hip-hop M.C. ) well known for his role as Arnold “Poet” Jackson of HBO’s OZ and a seasoned live hip-hop and poetry performer in his own right. And, Al Thompson (DJ JUDAH), whose long list of screen credits includes The Royal Tenenbaums and A Season on the Brink -- The Bobby Knight Story. As of late, Al has become somewhat of a web television phenomenon producing and starring in shows like Johnny B. Homeless and Lenox Avenue.

SYNOPSIS: JUDAH (Al Thompson) is NYC’s illest hip-hop DJ, dropping beats like bombs over Brooklyn. But his dreams of being an A-List music producer are crushed when he is fired by his longtime boss, the dime-store diva, HEAVEN (played to a devilish pitch by the divine Bridget Barkan). Soon after, a dark figure re-emerges from his past and offers him a different path to success: SHIVA (Craig “muMs” Grant), the enigmatic rapper is brilliant, powerful, lyrically genius.

Judah is mesmerized by Shiva. His lyrics are dark, prophetic, yet strangely familiar…like a sinister lullaby sung to him as a boy just before sleep swallowed him in some horrific nightmare.

Backed by beats from Judah, Shiva dominates the NYC freestyle scene, driving their nemesis (the fading diva Heaven) into a competitive fury. Once again, the gods of hip-hop smile upon him and Judah’s dreams of wealth, women, and renown are revived. Record label execs and other seedy players appear offering the duo loads of money and the spoils of stardom.

So why is guilt gnawing at Judah’s stomach? Why is it every time he looks at Shiva he sees a dark secret blazing in his eyes? Is it because as the twosome’s celebrity rises, so does the body count of the dangerous and ambitious characters that stand in the way of their success?

As a sinister climax with Heaven nears, Judah is forced to ask: Are Shiva’s cannibalistic lyrics just an act -- or is he really a serial killer?

“RHYME ANIMAL tells the tale of a man’s obsession with material success and the dark choices he is forced to make to get there. We had a lot of fun playing with the themes of consumerism and ambition, and using our love of hip-hop as a backdrop to tell a story that is fun to watch but has greater meaning if you choose to go there.” Jorge Rivera, Creator

Fo

A concert promoter who planned to host a "Welcome Back Party" to celebrate the release of T.I. from jail is not accepting the rapper's excuse that he couldn't attend because he was under home confinement.

Carl Davis has filed a lawsuit in Alabama District Court claiming he lost his life savings when he agreed to put up money for a Birmingham comeback performance by T.I. (a.k.a. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr.), who was in prison on a weapons charge.

According to the complaint, Davis allegedly entered into an agreement for T.I.'s performance with Jervon Morgan, who represented himself as T.I.'s first cousin, liaison and agent.

Morgan is then said to have introduced Davis to Jason Geter, the CEO of Grand Hustle LLC, who presented a written agreement whereby the concert promoter would pay $50,000 to a bank account controlled by T.I.

Davis says he made the payments even though the defendants, including T.I., Morgan, and Geter, "concealed the fact from Davis that artist T.I. was on probation, on three years of supervised release and under home confinement as a condition of his plea agreement."

Davis also says that he didn't know that T.I .told a radio station that he wouldn't be performing at the Welcome Back Party that was to be held on May 28.

Up until the last second, Davis thought he had a concert, but he says that word of T.I.'s no-show, plus his financial investment, led him to experience heavy stress, suffer chest pains, nausea, emotional distress and hospitalization.

He's now suing on several counts including misrepresentation, promissory fraud, conspiracy, unjust enrichment, and breach of contract. He's demanding unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – A concert promoter who planned to host a "Welcome Back Party" to celebrate the release of T.I. from jail is not accepting the rapper's excuse that he couldn't attend because he was under home confinement.

Carl Davis has filed a lawsuit in Alabama District Court claiming he lost his life savings when he agreed to put up money for a Birmingham comeback performance by T.I. (a.k.a. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr.), who was in prison on a weapons charge.

According to the complaint, Davis allegedly entered into an agreement for T.I.'s performance with Jervon Morgan, who represented himself as T.I.'s first cousin, liaison and agent.

Morgan is then said to have introduced Davis to Jason Geter, the CEO of Grand Hustle LLC, who presented a written agreement whereby the concert promoter would pay $50,000 to a bank account controlled by T.I.

Davis says he made the payments even though the defendants, including T.I., Morgan, and Geter, "concealed the fact from Davis that artist T.I. was on probation, on three years of supervised release and under home confinement as a condition of his plea agreement."

Davis also says that he didn't know that T.I .told a radio station that he wouldn't be performing at the Welcome Back Party that was to be held on May 28.

Up until the last second, Davis thought he had a concert, but he says that word of T.I.'s no-show, plus his financial investment, led him to experience heavy stress, suffer chest pains, nausea, emotional distress and hospitalization.

He's now suing on several counts including misrepresentation, promissory fraud, conspiracy, unjust enrichment, and breach of contract. He's demanding unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A music video for Afrikaans rap group Die Antwoord from South Africa was among the winners of the worldwide video art competition "You Tube Play" unveiled on Thursday at the Guggenheim museum.

The top 25 videos from emerging video artists around the world were shown for the first time Thursday night on a large screen at New York's Guggenheim, which created the contest with video-sharing website YouTube. It was aimed at showcasing innovative online video artists.

Varying from animated line drawings to cartoons, the top 25 videos were created by 39 artists from 14 countries.

Rising hip-hop group Die Antwoord's "Zef Side," by video artist Sean Metelerkamp, was among those picked. It features slow-motion shots and deadpan interviews of the group that is made up of frontman Ninja, blonde singer Yo-Landi Vi$$er and DJ Hi-Tek, who only started performing more than a year ago.

Other winning videos included "Birds on the Wires" from Jarbas Agnelli of Sao Paulo, Brazil, featuring instrumental music and shots of birds perched on wires resembling a bar of music, and the brief "Seaweed," showing a man stretching his arms, from London-based Remi Weekes and Luke White.

The exhibition serves as a sign of older art institutions such as The Guggenheim giving a nod to the growing power of the Internet and YouTube to distribute art globally, as well as the growing influence of video in all forms of entertainment, from the art world to theater and books.

"In the last two decades, the moving image has been fully absorbed into critical contemporary-art practices," Richard Armstrong, the museum's director, said in a statement.

He said the exhibit celebrated online video as an art form "and the Internet's power to catalyze and disseminate new forms of digital media."

The chosen video artists included nine from the United States, two from Canada, two from England and two from South Africa. Winners were chosen from more than 23,000 submissions originating in 91 countries.

The videos can be seen at youtube.com/play and will be shown at New York's Guggenheim from October 22 to 24 while similar events are being held at other Guggenheim locations.

The jury for "YouTube Play. A Biennial of Creative Video", included artist Laurie Anderson, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, U.S. musicians Animal Collective and Japanese visual artist Takashi Murakami.

Originally only 20 videos were going to be picked but the number was increased to 25 due to the high quality of submissions, YouTube and the Guggenheim said in a statement.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

CHICAGO – Hip-hop artist Che "RhymeFest" Smith says his latest ambition is to join the city council in Chicago.

The 33-year-old rapper, best known for co-writing the Grammy-winning song "Jesus Walks" with his friend Kanye West, announced Thursday that he is running for alderman on the city's South Side.

Smith says he hopes to lead a renaissance in a community that's dotted with empty lots and boarded-up businesses and plagued by unemployment and crime.

He says he wants to make it easier for people to invest in the community and expand businesses, which would spur the hiring of local residents. He did not give specifics.

Smith says West supports his candidacy — but did not promise that the producer-turned-rapper would hit the campaign trail.

NEW YORK – After 23,358 submissions and countless double-clicks, the results are in for YouTube's "biennial of creative video."

On Thursday night, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Google Inc.-owned video website presented "YouTube Play," an exhibit of 25 videos selected by a jury including the filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and the music group Animal Collective.

The videos, which are gathered online at YouTube.com/play and will be on view at the Guggenheim through Sunday, display a curious collision of mediums. The exhibit is an attempt to curate an essentially unmanageable library of content: Some two billion videos are watched daily on YouTube.

Though the exhibit can only be dwarfed by that endless, roaring stream, it still manages to convey the exciting artistic possibilities of online video — so often considered the domain of bedroom vloggers and kittens.

More than anything, the selected videos show a fractured, Internet-altered reality, where it's often difficult to tell what's real and what's not.

In "Noteboek," created by Dutch video artist Evelien Lohbeck, an opened book reveals not pages of text but an animated computer notebook. A hand manipulates a hand-drawn Web browser and goes — where else? — to YouTube. A video is played, revealing yet another layer of artifice: an illustrated guitar, picked by real hands.

The video "Bathtub IV," by Australian Keith Loutit, uses tilt-shift photography to film a helicopter rescue service in Wales. In the funny focus of tilt-shift, an ocean rescue doesn't look real — and most of the comments the video has elicited on YouTube remark on its fake appearance.

The same question of authenticity permeates the South African hip-hop group Die Antwoord, whose 2009 video for "Zef Side" amounts to the kind of bizarre, modern art project that Andy Warhol would have loved. The trio (Ninja, Yo-Landi Vi$$er and DJ Hi-Tek) are fully formed personalities, and one can't stop wondering, "Are these guys for real?"

Media reality takes a more ominous tone in "Auspice," a video by Bryce Kretschmann of Newark, N.J. It shows talking heads from Fox News in a blurry super-slow motion with foreboding choral music playing.

More frightening still is "Post Newtonianism," by Josh Bricker of Torrance, Calif. His video is two-sided, with one half the screen playing footage from cameras mounted on American military aircraft during the Gulf War and the Iraq War. The other side of the screen is footage from the video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare." The similarity is creepy to say the least.

Other videos meld mediums.

In "Man with a Movie Camera: The Global Remake," Canadian Perry Bard organized people around the world to contribute footage to give a modern take to Dziga Vertov's famous 1929 silent film, "Man with a Movie Camera." Both versions play next to each other in the "YouTube Play" edition.

"Wonderland Mafia," by Lindsay Scoggins of Tampa, Fla., fuses rap and cartoon. The Disney film "Alice in Wonderland" has been mashed-up with the hip-hop of Three 6 Mafia. Scoggins says the video "is meant to illustrate a disjointed amalgamation of the media one encounters in adulthood (versus) childhood."

"This Aborted Earth: The Quest Begins," by filmmakers Michael Banowetz and Noah Sodano, is an even odder mix. It takes black-and-white engravings from the 19th and early 20th century and animates them in a way similar to Terry Gilliam's "Monty Python" cartoons. The result is a surreal reflection on long-ago times.

Playfulness may be what YouTube videos do best.

"Le Syndrom

With his remix of Kanye West's "Monster" riding at the top of the iTunes Music Audio Podcast Charts, Quarter to Infinity Entertainment announces release of a new mixtape by Drew32 entitled "Sunrise on Your Dreams" available for free download at http://www.drew32.com and from various mixtape and blog sites.

Detroit, MI (PRWEB) October 21, 2010

Quarter to Infinity Entertainment, LLC (QTI) has announced the release of a hot, new mixtape by 18 year-old hip hop recording artist and producer Drew32. Building on the success of his highly acclaimed release of “Take the World: Who is Drew32 Vol. 2?” mixtape co-hosted by DJ Pauly D of Jersey Shore and released earlier this year (achieving over 20,000 digital downloads) Drew32 has put together a new collection that displays his growing lyrical and production genius.

Drew32’s manger, Mark Hicks confidently predicts, “I’m sure listeners will love this mixtape too...Drew32 continues to step up his game and definitely goes harder on a number of these tracks." Hicks has good reason to boast about his artist whose remake of Kanye West’s “Monster” featuring Jay-Z, has achieved over 50,000 plays since its debut as an iTunes Music Audio Podcast on September 6, 2010. Hicks remarks that “Drew32’s ‘Monster’ remix has been in the top 10 on the iTunes Music Audio Podcast Charts since its release and has been charting at No. 1 throughout most of October. That’s unbelievably impressive for an indie artist.” Drew32’s “Monster” remix and his new single, “Get it Started” (currently being spun on Michigan hit radio stations) are included in the 14 tracks of “Sunrise on Your Dreams."

“Sunrise on Your Dreams” is available for free download at http://www.drew32.com and from various mixtape delivery and blog sites, including the “Drew32 New Music Podcast” which also ranks as one of the top iTunes Music Audio Podcast destinations.

About DREW32:

Drew32 is an 18 year old hip hop recording artist and producer from Troy, MI. Drew32 has been creating his own beats, writing his own material and performing live from the age 14. Drew32 first gained national popularity after his music video, “Beyond Me” was added to FuseTV and Comcast on Demand in February 2010. His subsequent release of the “Take the World: Who is Drew32 Vol. 2?” mixtape, co-hosted by DJ Pauly D, further catapulted Drew32’s fame by being featured in the New York Post; CNN; USA Today; rapbasement.com and many more online sites which reached international audiences.

About QUARTER TO INFINITY ENTERTAINMENT, LLC:

Quarter to Infinity Entertainment, LLC (QTI) is a music production company headquartered in Troy, MI. QTI’s product line is rooted in the company’s passion for hip hop and world music.

For Further Information please contact: Mark Hicks (917) 740-3628 quarter2infinitypress(at)gmail(dot)com

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Pete ParksQuarter To Infinity Entertainment313 999 5179Email Information

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The mother of pop star Beyonce on Thursday shot down a report her daughter is pregnant, saying that if all the baby bump rumors about the singer were true over the years, she should have five or six grandchildren.

"No, no it's not true. Not right now," Tina Knowles said when asked about the report by talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

One day earlier, Us Weekly magazine published a story saying the "Single Ladies" singer, 29, and her husband, producer and rapper Jay-Z, were expecting their first child.

The Us Weekly story is published in the magazine's November 1 issue, and on Thursday an Us Weekly spokeswoman told Reuters, "we stand by our reporting."

But Tina Knowles would beg to differ. She said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" that "with all the rumors by now I should have five or six grandchildren."

In fact, pregnancy rumors have long swirled around the popular singer and her husband, who have been married for more than two years. A spokesman for Beyonce said he never comments on speculation about her private life.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)