Bark + Bite

Rob Fusari wants a bigger slice of Lady Gaga's pie

Rob Fusari is turning out to be one bitter grapefruit. And a bit of a bleating goat. Last month, he complained about Beyonce and the Knowles clan in an interview with Billboard, saying that the family strong-armed Beyonce onto songwriting credits. In that same interview, he acknowledged that his relationship with Lady Gaga, a former friend, collaborator and lover, had soured. But he still hoped to work with her again in the future! Naturally, the best way to smooth things over with someone is to sue them for $30.5 million, right?

In an article from the Associated Press, Rob Fusari alleges that he deserves a bigger cut of Lady Gaga's wealth because he claims that he came up with her stagename and electro-pop sound. Yeah, whatever. The sticky part though is the fact that the two of them apparently formed an LLC with the sole purpose of promoting Gaga's career. Crap. What, are up and coming artists going to have to sign pre-nup agreements with producers now, so they don't come back later when they make it big and try to take half of everything? SOURCE: Billboard.com

Keri Hilson burns bridges on the Internetz again

Keri Hilson has pissed off the Internetz again. (This was the first incident.) In brief summary, Keri's people reached out to a popular YouTuber by the name of Mr. Chi City for an interview on YouTube. He initially declined, but they called him and put Keri Hilson on the phone. He alleges that Keri PERSONALLY reassured him that the interview would be fun, so Mr. Chi City was persuaded and agreed to the interview. Then, a few days before the interview, Keri's management team calls and wants to know EXACTLY what questions he'll be asking. Needless to say, the questions aren't flattering. Her management team bristles, but doesn't cancel the interview, Mr. Chi City alleges. Rather, they say he should go out and buy 10 Keri Hilson cds, which they will reimburse him for, that she'll sign during the interview, which he can then give away on YouTube to his viewers. Well, the interview doesn't happen and Mr. Chi City is now striking back, TRASHING Keri Hilson for being stuck up, snooby and leaving him with $160 worth of Keri Hilson cds. Watch. It's 9 minutes long but well worth the wait.

Admittedly, Mr. Chi City is HILARIOUS. But all of these people going on and trashing Keri Hilson after admittedly getting giddy about the opportunity to meet and talk with her are doing a little double talk. If she's really such a worthless, talentless hack, you shouldn't have bothered with the interview in the first place. But there's no denying Keri Hilson and her people need to do much better. This was a marketing FAIL. You don't burn bridges with people in new media, because if you do, you'll get caught out there on YouTube. Today's little guy on the web can easily be tomorrow biggest thing in the media. Step your game up, Ms. Keri.

The N word debate shakes 'The View'

Once again, Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck are sparring live on TV. I don't watch "The View," but I feel like I do since these ladies are constantly in the news for some cat fight they're getting into live on air.

This latest brouhaha was over the n word -- not "nun," "nigga," stupid -- and whether or not blacks and whites live in different worlds.

Click here to view the video at The Huffington Post.

I rarely agree with Elisabeth but I'm with her on this one. Black folks : There is no justification for using the n word with one another. Period. End of story. Stop telling yourselves that lie that you're "changing" the meaning of the word. Stop lying to yourselves, attempting to rationalize the n word as a "term of endearment." And stop using the n word in the public space, in pop culture, and getting upset if a white person uses it in the exact same way. Remember how y'all got mad at J.Lo for using the n word in her "I'm Real" song with Ja Rule?

Bottom line: Whoopi was out of pocket and Sherri Shepherd, well, that idiot is hopeless. Sherri argued that because her family used the word, that means that she is entitled to use the word. So if her family had a tradition of stealing money from the bank, Shepherd would probably feel entitled to do that too. Whoopi's citation of her mother not being able to vote is a perpetual problem in our discussion of race. Contrary to what Whoopi says, her mother's inability to vote in the PAST, is not evidence that blacks and whites do not live in the same world in the PRESENT. We go to school together, we work together and hell, we even live together. Some people even go so far as to (gasp!) DATE people of the other race. So yes, Whoopi, we do live in the same world.

All of that does not negate the fact that there is still racism, prejudice and struggles that are unique to the black experience in America. But the fact that  we might have different experiences doesn't mean we live on Jupiter.

Why do black folks feel obligated to defend the n word like a dog guarding the last piece of meat in its food dish? NIGGA is not a crown. At least it's certainly not one I'm interested in wearing. I've never been a nigga and I see no plus, no advantage to being called a nigga.

Elisabeth, I got your back on this one.

Dame Dash says that Beckham was jealous of his swag

Somebody give Dame Dash a reality check. This fool thinks that he is so amazing, so awesome and so attractive that he made David Beckham jealous. He claims that when he was working on Victoria "Posh" Beckham's "music" career (Thank God that didn't pan out) that David became jealous of Dame's relationship with Victoria. Yes, I'm quite sure David was jealous of Jay-Z's pot-bellied, loser sidekick. Dame Dash is nobody today and he was nobody yesterday. He's just trying to get mileage out of the publicity he knows his statements will attract because of the Beckhams popularity in the US right now.

Then again, this blog post is only helping to feed that....Dammnit! Dame Dash wins again.

Ne-Yo unleashes the video for his "A Milli" freestyle

You see what y'all did? By downloading Ne-Yo's "A Milli" freestyle on itunes, you've fueled Ne-Yo's rapper aspirations. Now this fool is gonna be trying to freestyle on any song he can and before you know it,  he'll be claiming to be the male Lauryn Hill. Watch.

The freestyle itself is pretty wack, in my opinion. And Ne-Yo tries to play it off as if he's NOT taking shots at Chris Brown, but anytime an artist says "This isn't directed toward anyone in particular" you can bet it's directed at someone in particular. Ne-Yo just wants to throw Chris Brown under the bus but still collect checks and break bread with C. Breezy's boo, Rihanna.

Note to Ne-Yo: Stroking the brim of your hat and squinting your eyes might work when you're singing, but it looks awful when you're "rapping." And couldn't they have mixed the vocals on this track down to a professional level? It sounds so damn bootleg.

Quincy Jones throws youngin's and bling-bling under the bus

Damn, homie. This hasn't been a good week for the youngin's. First, Ice-T threw Soulja Boy under the bus calling him the downfall of Hip hop, and now, ye ol' Quincy Jones is talking down about the era of bling-bling music. Quincy, who is being honored with a humanitarian award at the BET awards tonight, said, "I was fortunate to come into music when it was not about the bling-bling or the Benjamins." Watch the AP interview below.

Burn. He's not wrong, in that the current music scene is full of materialism and vacant lyrics, but still, he's kind of coming off as a little bitter. I mean, "Thriller" is the jam, but was it really THAT profound lyrically?