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PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – A ruling by Haiti's electoral council that disqualified hip-hop star Wyclef Jean from running for the presidency is final and cannot be appealed, a council lawyer said on Tuesday.

The Haitian-born and U.S.-based singer-songwriter said on Sunday he would appeal against the provisional electoral council's decision on Friday which rejected his candidacy for the November 28 election in the poorest state in the Americas.

Council officials said Jean, who left his homeland with his family at the age of 9 to live in the United States, did not meet residency requirements.

The 40-year-old musical celebrity has an enthusiastic youth following in Haiti and the dispute over his candidacy has raised some fears of tensions that could disrupt the country's rebuilding after a devastating earthquake in January.

But apart from some small pro-Jean protests, the capital Port-au-Prince has remained largely calm and quiet.

Jean initially accepted the ruling and asked supporters to do the same. He has since launched a barrage of accusations via Twitter, Facebook and statements to U.S. media against the council, calling it corrupt and politically motivated.

Samuel Pierre of the council's legal department told Reuters that, under article 191 of Haiti's electoral law, rulings by the election authority's disputes tribunal are definitive and cannot be appealed.

"Therefore there is absolutely no possibility for Wyclef Jean to be added to the list of candidates approved to run in the next presidential elections," Pierre said. "So it's over."

Jean was one of 15 candidates disqualified from running to succeed President Rene Preval, who cannot stand again after serving two terms. A total of 19 candidates -- including two former prime ministers, a former minister and a former first lady -- were approved to run in the presidential election.

Electoral officials said Jean failed to meet a requirement that presidential candidates maintain five consecutive years of residency in Haiti prior to running.

The singer insists he presented documents to electoral authorities that demonstrate his five years of residency.

"I have spent half my life in Haiti going back and forth," he told MSNBC in an interview on Tuesday.

"The electoral council is very corrupted," he added, saying potential political rivals feared his presidential bid.

"WASTE OF TIME"

Jean has said some of the approved candidates failed to meet the residency requirement but were accepted nevertheless.

Pierre said the electoral council was aware some rejected candidates believed they could appeal against the rulings.

"This is a waste of time because, when it comes to electoral matters, the electoral council is the Supreme Court, meaning there is nowhere else to go," he said.

Pierre said the council had not received any formal appeal from Jean or his lawyers, although they may have gone to another legal body.

Jean says his celebrity status would make him an ideal "global president" who could attract aid and investment to Haiti after the earthquake, which killed up to 300,000 people and crippled the underdeveloped Caribbean state's economy.

United Nations and Haitian police have stepped up joint patrols in the rubble-strewn streets of the capital, where more than 1.5 million people are still living in fragile tent and tarpaulin cities at the peak of the 2010 hurricane season.

Th

Fantasia

NEW YORK - "American Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino said she intended to take her own life when she overdosed on aspirin and sleeping pills two weeks ago, according to a TV interview released on Monday.

"I didn't have any fight in me. I didn't care about anything. I just wanted out," the "American Idol" winner, 26, told U.S. cable channel VH1 in an interview to be aired on Tuesday. Celebrity magazine website People.com ran advance excerpts on Monday.

The R&B singer, who won the TV singing contest in 2004, took an overdose after being named in divorce papers filed by the wife of her long-time boyfriend and was overwhelmed by media attention.

"I just sat in the closet and looked at the mirror and took all the pills in the bottle," Fantasia said in the interview. "I wanted to go to sleep and just be at peace. I knew exactly what I was doing. You can't accidentally take a whole bottle of pills."

She thanked the nurse that helped her after her overdose, saying she had been "a blessing."

Fantasia was taken to a North Carolina hospital after overdosing and released several days later. She issued a statement saying she was "heartbroken" over the relationship and sorry for any pain she had caused.

She releases her third album, Back to Me, on Tuesday.


Source: Reuter

LOS ANGELES – Sylvester Stallone's "The Expendables" fought off an onslaught of newcomers to finish on top of the weekend box office again.

Lionsgate's "The Expendables" remained No. 1 for a second straight weekend with $16.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Directed by and starring Stallone, the action romp about mercenaries aiming to overthrow a dictator raised its total to $64.9 million.

Five new wide releases debuted to crowd the market, but none managed to pack in huge audiences and knock off "The Expendables."

"Given all that competition in the marketplace, I don't think there was any guarantee we would hold this strong, but we did," said David Spitz, head of distribution for Lionsgate.

Leading the newcomers was 20th Century Fox's "Twilight" spoof "Vampires Suck" with $12.2 million, raising its total to $18.6 million since it opened Wednesday. The movie mocks the blockbuster franchise with a parody about a moody schoolgirl in a love triangle with a vampire and a werewolf.

"Vampires Suck" was in a photo finish for the No. 2 spot with another holdover, Julia Roberts' drama "Eat Pray Love." The Sony film about a divorced woman traveling the world in search of fulfillment pulled in $12 million to lift its total to $47.1 million.

The Warner Bros. comedy "Lottery Ticket," featuring rapper Bow Wow as a young man besieged by neighbors after he wins a $370 million jackpot, opened in fourth place with $11.1 million.

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg's cop comedy "The Other Guys" held up well in its third weekend, with the Sony release taking in $10.1 million and boosting its total to $88.2 million.

"The Other Guys" was in a tossup for No. 5 with the Weinstein Co. horror remake "Piranha 3D," which opened with $10 million. Inspired by the low-budget 1978 "Piranha," the update is set at a lake where spring-break partiers are consumed by prehistoric man-eating fish.

Universal's sequel "Nanny McPhee Returns," with Emma Thompson back as the homely title character whipping a wartime family into shape, opened at No. 7 with $8.3 million. The first film, 2006's "Nanny McPhee," debuted in fewer theaters but managed to pull in $14.5 million over opening weekend.

Bringing up the rear among new wide releases at No. 8 was Jennifer Aniston's single-mom comedy "The Switch," which debuted with $8.1 million. The Disney release features Aniston as a woman whose drunken friend (Jason Bateman) switches her sperm specimen at a party to celebrate her artificial insemination.

Surprisingly, the overall box office was down only slightly compared with the same weekend last year, when "Inglourious Basterds" fired up the normally quiet late summer with a $38.1 million opening and "District 9" held up well with an $18.2 million second weekend.

Revenues this weekend came in at $125 million, down just 1.7 percent from the same weekend a year ago, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

"It was the collective strength of these five newcomers, plus the holdovers," said Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com. "Inglourious Basterds" and "District 9" were "so unusually strong for August that it should have made the comparison tough for this year. But the industry threw everything they had at the wall this weekend and tried to see what would stick."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Expendables," $16.5 million.

2. "Vampires Suck," $12.2 million.

3. "Eat Pray Love

NEW YORK - Emmy-winning CBS News correspondent Harold Dow, who helped shape the documentary program "48 Hours" and covered the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst and the Sept. 11 attacks, has died. He was 62.

Dow died suddenly Saturday morning in New Jersey, network spokeswoman Louise Bashi said. He lived in Upper Saddle River, N.J., but it wasn't immediately clear if he'd been at home.

Dow had been a correspondent for "48 Hours" since 1990. His nearly 40 years with the network also included reporting for "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather" and "CBS News Sunday Morning."

A "48 Hours" report on runaways earned him a George Foster Peabody Award. He also won five Emmys, for work including coverage of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and of American troops' movement into Bosnia in 1996.

"Insatiably curious, he was happiest when he was on the road deep into a story," Susan Zirinsky, executive producer of "48 Hours Mystery," said in a statement. "It was his humanity, which was felt by everyone he encountered, even in his toughest interviews, that truly defined the greatness of his work. He was the most selfless man I have known."

Dow landed an exclusive interview with kidnapping victim Hearst in December 1976, and he had the first network interview with O.J. Simpson following the 1994 killing of his ex-wife. He barely escaped one of the falling twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, the network said.

Dow was a contributor to "48 Hours on Crack Street," the 1986 documentary that led to the creation of the weekly "48 Hours." Before that, he had been a co-anchor on "CBS News Nightwatch" and a correspondent and reporter at the CBS News Los Angeles bureau. He started his career with the network as a broadcast associate in 1972.

As a co-anchor and talk-show host for KETV in Omaha, Neb., he was the first African-American television reporter in that city.

He is survived by his wife, Kathy, and their three children.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Haiti's electoral commission said Friday that Wyclef Jean cannot run for president of this Caribbean nation, ending his outsider's bid to lead a country struggling to recover from the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Jean, who faced a challenge to his candidacy in the Nov. 28 elections because he has not lived in Haiti for the past five years as required, issued a statement urging his supporters to remain calm and respond "peacefully and responsibly to the disappointment."

"Though I disagree with the ruling, I respectfully accept the committee's final decision, and I urge my supporters to do the same," he said.

The electoral commission approved 19 candidates and rejected 15, spokesman Richardson Dumel told journalists late Friday, without providing justification for the decisions.

While rejecting Jean, the board approved two leading presidential candidates, former Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis and Yvon Neptune, who was the last prime minister under ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and has been active in helping to coordinate reconstruction efforts.

Also allowed to run are: Jude Celestin, head of the government's primary construction firm and the candidate supported by President Rene Preval, and Michel Martelly, a well-known Haitian singer known as "Sweet Mickey."

The electoral commission rejected the candidacy of US Ambassador Raymond Joseph, who is Jean's uncle. Preval is barred running for re-election in the Nov. 28 election under the Constitution.

Jean had apparently been aware which way the decision would go. The 40-year-old entertainer had been in a hotel near the electoral commission office but left abruptly without speaking to journalists about an hour before the announcement. He issued his statement later.

Dozens of police and UN peacekeepers in riot gear were stationed outside the electoral council office, but there were no signs of protests or unrest.

One thing is already certain: The singer brought sizzle to the election, attracting fresh attention to a country still devastated by the Jan. 12 earthquake.

"His candidacy certainly did shake things up," said Laurent Dubois, a Haiti historian and professor at Duke University. "But it's still a very important election whether Wyclef is in it or not."

The decision had already been delayed once because of uncertainty over candidate qualifications.

Jean, who gained famed as a member of the hip-hop musical group Fugees before building a solo career, had no political organization, not much of a following beyond his fans of his music and only a vague platform, casting himself as an advocate of Haiti's struggling youth and saying he will ask reconstruction donors to help the country's dysfunctional education system.

He also has faced persistent criticism over alleged financial mismanagement at the charity he founded, Yele Haiti.

On the other hand, he has generated global attention to a race in which almost no one outside Haiti could even name any of the candidates.

"If he hadn't been involved, today, no one would be talking about candidates in the Haitian presidential election," said Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University in Houston.

The singer's fame and wealth instantly made him a formidable candidate in the desperately poor Caribbean nation he left as a boy — though some Haitians questione

Diggy Simmons from the MTV hit reality show Run’s House on the front cover.

New York, NY (PRWEB) August 20, 2010 -- Kolie Crutcher, publisher & CEO of GET MONEY Magazine, has announced today that the new unreleased issue will be a double-sided edition with hip-hop royalty Diggy Simmons from the MTV hit reality show Run’s House on the front cover.

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PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti hip-hop star Wyclef Jean is not on the list of approved candidates who satisfy legal requirements to run in the country's November 28 presidential election, an electoral official said on Thursday.

The presidential bid by the 40-year-old singer-songwriter and international celebrity had triggered widespread enthusiasm in his poor, earthquake-ravaged Caribbean homeland. But it had been challenged on the grounds he did not fully meet the requirements, including a key one on Haitian residency.

"He is not on the list as I speak," the electoral official, a member of the country's provisional electoral council who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.

He said the electoral disputes bureau entrusted with settling challenges to candidates had ruled that Jean did not meet several legal requirements, but he gave no more details.

The provisional electoral council was due to formally publish on Friday the full list of approved candidates to run in the election to choose a successor to President Rene Preval, who cannot seek re-election after two terms in office.

Jean, who left Haiti with his family to live in New York at the age of 9 and launched his music career in the United States, was among 34 contenders for the Haitian presidency who filed their documents with the council this month.

Contacted by Reuters, Jean declined to make any immediate comment, saying he had not been officially notified of any decision and would try to confirm the information.

Earlier, he met President Preval. A photo of them meeting, both smiling, was posted by Jean on his Twitter account.

On Tuesday, the provisional electoral council said it was postponing until Friday its announcement of the final list.

That sparked feverish expectation that has raised fears of political tensions and possible violence in the volatile Caribbean country.

Jean's jump into politics galvanized the Haitian political scene, triggering enthusiasm among the country's restless, widely unemployed youth, who see him as a refreshing symbol of home-grown hope, and alarm among the traditional Haitian political elite who seemed to feel threatened by him.

Slogans scrawled in Creole on city walls reading: "Youth supports Youth" and "Wyclef means change" testified to his support among the young, and youth and Creole musical groups had already declared their backing for his candidacy.

FEAR OF POSSIBLE VIOLENT PROTESTS

Haiti, the poorest state in the Americas, is still struggling to recover from a magnitude 7 earthquake that struck the teeming capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding area on January 12, killing up to 300,000 people and dealing a crippling blow to the already underdeveloped economy.

The electoral council member told Reuters he had heard reports that some candidates might be preparing to stir up violent protests if their candidacies were rejected.

"I've even been told that they have already bought and distributed machetes. ... It's up to security officials to assume their responsibilities," he added.

"But we are doing our job and we will continue to assume our responsibilities regardless of what people do or say," the electoral official said.

U.N. and Haitian police have stepped up joint patrols in the still rubble-strewn streets of the capital, in

NEW YORK (Reuters) – For more than a decade the number of women rappers signed to major American record labels has been in steady decline, leading hip-hop industry experts to ask, where have all the female rappers gone?

The 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of women rap stars such as Queen Latifah, Salt-n-Pepa, Foxy Brown, Lil' Kim and Missy Elliot, but in recent years few acts have broken into the big time. The decline has been so pronounced that in 2005, the Grammys eliminated the best female rap categories from their annual music industry awards.

That drop is explored in the documentary, "My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women in Hip-Hop."

The hour-long film, to be aired on Black Entertainment Television (BET) on August 30, traces the history of women MCs from The Sequence's 1979 hit "Funk You Up" to Nicki Minaj, one of the few breakout successes of the 2000s and arguably the most visible woman in rap today.

Along the way, documentary explores several reasons why the decline has occurred.

One theory is that the emergence of sexually provocative women like Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim in the late 1990s brought pressure on other female MCs to follow suit -- something that did not always mesh with the tough, streetwise images those other rappers had already cultivated.

"You look at people like Da Brat and how their images changed and you really see the conundrum these women were in, now that this sexual thing took precedent," the documentary's producer and director Ava DuVernay, told Reuters.

WANTED: FRESH VOICES

Another explanation was offered by Sylvia Rhone, president of Universal Motown Records, who signed Missy Elliot. She said women rappers have failed to adapt to changing tastes in hip hop, which has seen the recent rise of singers who blend genres and whose images do not conform to hip hop stereotypes.

"Our fresh voices are B.o.B., Kid Cudi and Drake. Where are the female artists influenced by that? Where's that left-of-center person," Rhone said.

Others in the documentary note that with just a handful of female rappers reaching superstardom, labels see signing women as less financially lucrative than men.

Nikki D, the first female rapper signed to Def Jam, says she has heard record executives say directly that they would not sign female rappers "because they don't sell."

Ironically, the debate comes as Minaj's "Your Love," tops Billboard's rap chart. But Minaj is an exception, experts say.

It has been seven years since a woman held the No. 1 spot on a rap chart -- Lil Kim's 2003 hit "Magic Stick" featuring 50 Cent. Missy Elliot's 2002 single "Work It" was the last song by a woman with no featured guest to hold that position.

The success of international women stars in hip-hop also has been inconsistent.

French rapper Diam's "Dans Ma Bulle," was the top-selling album in France in 2006. British rapper and singer M.I.A. has enjoyed success on both sides of the Atlantic. But in the United States, much-hyped British rapper Lady Sovereign has failed to replicate the success of her debut "Public Warning."

Duvernay said she jumped at the chance to make the documentary because she was a rapper signed to a major label development deal in the early 1990s.

"I was very passionate about this and very protective of the story because in a lot of ways it was mine," she said.

(Editing by Mark Egan

Hip-Hop Pioneer Spyder D relaunches his first label with Thompkins Media Group as Motown Alumni Association President Billy Wilson introduces rap impressario to marketing guru TC Thompkins.

(PRWEB) August 20, 2010 -- In 1980, a vinyl 12" single with a simple green label and plain white sleeve released a rap song called "Big Apple Rappin'". The label was named "Newtroit" Records, after the cities New York and Detroit, and it was the first label owned and operated by a rap artist. The label's first pressing was funded by Doris Hughes, the artist/producers Mother.

The artist on Big Apple Rappin' was none other than Hollis, Queens, New York's own Richmond Hill High School basketball star Spyder (Duane Hughes), who earned the nickname "Spyder" on the basketball playgrounds while emulating the spin move of his basketball idol, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe.

After Newtroit's initial pressing and subsequent release, which sold through it's first couple of thousand units fairly quickly, Spyder and then co-executive producer Tito Lewis was offered a distribution deal by Larchwood Music Co., which owned the pressing plant he originally ordered the first 1,000 copies from. The single went on to become one of the top 12" singles of that year, and is listed in Ego Trip's Book of Lists as one of the top rap singles of the eighties.

Thirty years later, the label celebrates a renaissance with a new distribution deal through Thompkins Media Group, who utilizes the MRI, Sony Red distribution network. Thompkins Media Group, which is headed up by industry veteran and marketing guru TC Thompkins, has a long track record of marketing hit records, including the "Off The Wall" and "Thriller" albums by Michael Jackson.

The new Newtroit's first signees include an independent label from Detroit, (Northend Records), headed up by Morris "MoBizzy" Snyder, and boasts artists that represent the ongoing talent pool that was established years ago during the Berry Gordy Motown years. In fact, one such artist, simply known as "Ruff", is the grandson of Motown Legend David Ruffin, and has a single called "Girls, Girls, Girls" with backing vocals by David Ruffin, Jr.

"The Ruffin family has adopted me, and treats me like one of their own. When my mother recently passed, Sandra Ruffin reached out to console me immediately. That's family", says Spyder. "That's what we are building here, a musical family. My Mom would be extremely proud of this moment".

"I have high hopes for Ruff, Ms. Shelly K, (an outstanding R&B stylist), and Doughnut, aka Bobby Seales, who, in my estimation, is a new millennium Biggie!"

Says Northend CEO Morris Snider, "We are excited to finally have the opportunity to showcase the talent that we have in the North End of Detroit! All we ever needed was that chance to let the masses here and see who we are".

New York Hip-Hop female pioneer Sparky D heads up a strong Holy Hip-Hop contingent with her touching autobiographical "Secrets". A Holy Hip-Hop coalition is being formed at the label, with talented artists K Day (aka The Gift) from Charlotte and Blac Lite and Jus B & OP Diggy from Atlanta to headline with Sparky D, among others.

"We are also currently negotiating with funk legends Grady Thomas and Fuzzy Haskins of the original Parliament on doing all new music with guests appearances by some of today's new crop of stars, as well as trying to reunite the original band with George Clinton. They are legends and huge influences on so many of today's artists, it'

Weekly Events at Symphony Space in NYC Offer Smart and Diverse Family Entertainment. Highlights Include “Fresh Sounds Showcase” Performances by Rising Kids’ Artists and Engaging Theater and Dance Performers from across the United States. Visit http://www.symphonyspace.org/justkidding

New York, NY (PRWEB), August 23, 2010 -- Symphony Space’s Just Kidding series (http://www.secretagent23skidoo.com/) kicks off in October with a cornucopia of family-friendly performances. Every Saturday from October through May, Symphony Space continues their tradition of offering New York families ground-breaking programming from around the country. This year, the Upper West Side cultural mecca will host more than 28 family-centric performances and 62 films during a season that is as diverse as it is unique to New York.

Since “Just Kidding” programming began in the 1990s with performances by Tom Chapin and other family music stars, Symphony Space has launched the New York careers of such artists as Ralph’s World and the Sippy Cups as well as solidifying the fan base for a number of artists including Dan Zanes. This season, favorite artists Elizabeth Mitchell, Gustafer Yellowgold, Randy Kaplan and Justin Roberts return to Symphony Space, and a host of intriguing performers will make their New York debut.

New this year at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre is the Fresh Sounds Showcase featuring innovative artists from the burgeoning independent family music genre, with tickets at the value price of just $10. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, a nationally acclaimed family-friendly hip hop artist, performs on October 16th; NPR-acclaimed indie rock band Lunch Money performs on January 29th; and Washington DC’s favorite kid music group Rocknoceros arrives on April 2nd. Also new this season are Farmer Jason, offering alt.country tunes; Recess Monkey, a Seattle based trio of teachers who offer hilarious kindie rock; and the Sugar Free Allstars, who bring their funky, dance-happy tunes to the Leonard Nimoy Thalia.

“There are a lot of great kids’ acts from around the country whose ability to perform outside of their own region is reliant upon national exposure on Nick Jr. and other TV shows.” says Darren Critz, Director of Performing Arts Programs, who scoured the country looking for diverse and unusual performers. “Our goal this season is to remove this hurdle and bring these groups here for New York audiences to discover and enjoy. This family season will combine these brand new artists in music, dance and theatre, representing over 25 percent of the 50 states, with some of the most well-known artists in the industry.”

Critz curated the Just Kidding series carefully to ensure that each performance would bring something special and unique to New York’s discerning family audiences. The season’s talent ranges from trapeze artists to Native American dancers, Latin American music to traditional folksingers. “We put a lot of consideration into developing a season that will provide a wealth of educational and entertaining experiences for kids and parents,” notes Cynthia Elliott, Executive Director of Symphony Space.

In addition to the music, dance and theatrical shows, Just Kidding offers showings of more than 62 films appropriate for children of various age levels. Symphony Space’s Thalia Kids’ Book Club series presents lively discussions between children’s book authors and their fans on selected Sundays. Each event includes a creative writing project, a free-wheeling discussion and a book signing.

October 2010 Just Kidding Performances October’s lineup includes nationally acclaimed family music artists, zany sketch comedy and breath-taking acrobatics as well