DMX Literally Lands in Jail
DMX is making a point of getting to know the bars everywhere he goes.
The beleaguered rapper was arrested for the third time in two weeks Wednesday when he landed in Phoenix and deplaned right into the cold embrace of an outstanding warrant issued when he, among other things, missed a court hearing.
DMX was flying in from Florida, where he was busted twice last weekon June 23 for driving with an invalid license and then four days later for allegedly trying to purchase marijuana and cocaine from an undercover cop.
Today’s bust at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix was for the skipped court appearance, which pertained to his pending animal-cruelty and drug-possession case, and his run-ins with the cops last week, which violated the terms of his bail.
It’s possible that the Cradle 2 the Grave star may have pressed his luck one too many times. His lawyer said today that his client could have to remain locked up until his next court datewhich might not come for months.
“He was supposed to be in court today in Arizona, but he was picked up as soon as he arrived,” DMX’s attorney, Murray Richman, told MTV News. “The arrest was a result of him being arrested in Florida. That arrest violated the strict conditions of his $7,500 bond in Arizona, which stated that he could not be arrested while on bail.”
DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, pleaded not guilty in May to 11 counts of animal cruelty and drug possession for allegedly mistreating a number of pit bulls found at his Arizona home and having marijuana around the house when the cops showed up to search his property.
“I believed that we had a good, viable defense in that case,” Richman said, “but I’m sorry to say that Earl played into their hands when he got arrested for driving without a license and for being in a drug-prone area, which violated the terms of his bail.”
Doug Jones To Play Elven King In The Hobbit?
It is common for directors to cast their actor friends in their movies. Peter Jackson has Andy Serkis, Tim Burton has Johnny Depp and Guillermo del Toro has Doug Jones, so it is no surprise to here that del Toro is looking for a role Doug would be well suited for in The Hobbit.
“There’s been lots of speculation. I wouldn’t want to ruin anything. Guillermo creates things with me in mind and he’s got a better image of what I can do than I do,” the man otherwise known as the Silver Surfer and Abe Sapien told MTV News, a wicked and knowing smile across his face. “However, there might be an elf king, father of Legolas kind of character that I would love.”
That would be King Thranduil, king of the Silvan elves in the northern part of Mirkwood, where Bilbo and his company of dwarves spent a large portion of their time towards the end of the novel. Known simply as the ElvenKing throughout “The Hobbit,” Thranduil gets into it pretty fiercely with Thorin over the Arkenstone, a fight that isn’t resolved until, well, until his son Legolas and Gloin’s son Gimli become friends during the events of “Lord of the Rings.”
I’m pretty sure everyone knows that the script for The Hobbit hasn’t even been written yet, so nothing is certain. However, the doesn’t stop people from talking about things.
Nas Album Brings the N-Bomb
Nas won't just be dropping a new album on Dec. 11, he'll also be dropping an N-bomb.
After Def Jam denied reports that the rapper was planning to name his next album Nigga, Nas has ratcheted up the controversy by saying that he would instead use the epithet's correct spelling for the title of the disc, which he confirmed will be released on Dec. 11.
"[People] shouldn't trip off the title. The songs are crazier than the title," he told MTV News.
But trip off is exactly what several key civil rights players did.
"The title using the N-word is morally offensive and socially distasteful. Nas has the right to degrade and denigrate in the name of free speech, but there is no honor in it," said the Reverend Jesse Jackson in a statement.
"Radio and television stations have no obligation to play it, and self-respecting people have no obligation to buy it. I wish he would use his talents to lift up and inspire, not degrade."
Earlier this week, Fox News' Website published a story quoting an insider for Nas' label, Def Jam, dismissing remarks Nas made during a recent concert. The hip-hop star told the crowd at New York City's Roseland Ballroom of his plans to use Nigga as the title.
"There is no album release by Nas on the release schedule at this point," the label source told Fox News. "And they would be unlikely to release an album with that title. How would that look at Wal-Mart?"
The big-box chain notoriously refuses to stock albums featuring any kind of profanity.
However, the "Hate Me Now" purveyor told MTV News that he didn't "know where that [Fox News report] came from and neither does Def Jam."
The label did not return calls Friday.
Holed up in a Manhattan studio where's he's about two weeks from completing the album, Nas also blasted his critics, claiming the title is intended to deprive the epithet of its awful connotations.
"I wanna make the word easy on muthaf—as' ears," he told MTV News. "You see how white boys ain't mad at 'cracker' 'cause it don't have the same [sting] as 'n—er'? I want 'n—er' to have less meaning [than] 'cracker.' With all the bulls–t that's going on in the world, racism is at its peak. I wanna do the s–t that's not being done. I wanna be the artist who ain't out. I wanna make the music I wanna hear."
In July, the NAACP held a mock funeral to bury the N-word from public discourse. The organization's brain trust feels that casual uses of the derogatory nickname can have the adverse effect of popularizing its use.
Not so, says Nas.
"Whether you in the NAACP or you Jesse Jackson, I respect all of them," he continued. "Right now, we're on a whole new movement. We're taking power from that word."
A representative for the NAACP was unavailable for comment.
Nas says he will unleash the first single from the new recording after the release of a Greatest Hits album, hitting stores on Nov. 6.
Megan Fox Says She Will Transform In Transformers 2!
Forget Optimus Prime and the rest of the tin cans! It’s Megan Fox who will be stepping up and transforming in Transformers 2. The actress who recently said ‘I’d rather have sex all the time than leave the house.’ spoke to MTV about the sequel.
…returning cast members will now get a chance to go further with their characters than they did in the original. Shia LaBeouf will be in college (and taught by Rainn Wilson). But forget transforming robots or finals angst, Megan Fox smiled, the real transformation is yet to come.
“In this one I transform from a girl into a woman,” she laughed.
I don’t entirely know what that means but I guess we will find out.
Right, I’ll be honest here. That wasn’t the main Transformers news, I just wanted a reason to post a picture of Megan Fox. The real main news is that director Michael Bay has said that Transformers 2 will not just be a movie that leads onto Transformers 3. We have had sequels in the past such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest, that are entertaining movies in there own right but they are just bridges for the inevitable third movie.
Because it’s friggin “lame,” “Transformers” director Michael Bay insisted to us at the MTV Movie Awards, telling MTV News that the second go-round with Optimus Prime would be entirely self-contained.
“You know how those sequels they do the second one so you go see the third one? [”Transformers 2”] is it,” he said, indicating that “2” would be its own story free from the duel shackles of set-up or resolution. “First one was just introducing, setting up stuff, so we can go a lot farther. Let’s just say [this] is not a lame sequel.”
“The robots are going to surprise a lot of people because we go with a lot of different levels,” he teased.