News: Lil Wayne Felony Trial Bans Cameras, Judge Rules In Rapper's Favor

Written by Cyrus Langhorne
Sat, 09 May 2009 10:00:00

An Arizona judge has ruled against the media's usage of cameras during an upcoming trial for Lil Wayne, who faces multiple drug and weapons charges from an arrest last year.

The decision to ban cameras was made yesterday (May 8) afternoon.

Ruling on media requests to have photographers in the courtroom, Superior Court Judge Mark Wayne Reeves concluded that media interest in the case is prompted not by the facts but by the celebrity status of Lil Wayne, who faces drug and weapons charges. The rap star's rights to a fair trial outweigh the media's desire to film or photograph trial proceedings, Reeves said.

Reporters will be able to attend and report on the trial. (Yuma Sun)

Weezy's attorneys were recently denied a request to have his case pushed back to the Grand Jury last month.

In their motion, which was based on the misconduct with weapons charge, attorneys James Tilson and Natman Schaye argued the Grand Jury was not given all the elements involved in the alleged offense, and that led to an errorneous finding of probable cause. Superior Court Judge Mark Wayne Reeves, who is presiding over the case, said he based his decision on having read the Grand Jury transcripts as to what the factual basis of the offense was, the statutes the offense fell under and that there is a different standard of finding of probable cause between a trial jury and a Grand Jury. (SOHH)

Weezy was originally arrested January 2008 on multiple felony charges.

The latest legal entanglement for the rapper came when a search of his tour bus at a border checkpoint near Dateland, Arizona, uncovered nearly 4 ounces of marijuana, more more than 1 ounce of cocaine, 41 grams of ecstasy, drug paraphernalia, $22,000 in cash and a .40-caliber pistol that was registered to Wayne in Florida, where he has a concealed-weapons permit. Wayne was released from a Yuma County jail after posting $10,185 in bail. (MTV)

His lawyer previously requested the case be sent back late last year.

The rapper's attorney, James Tilson, is requesting the case be sent back to a grand jury in order to have a new finding in the case. Tilson alleges the grand jury threw in additional charges the county attorney's office were unaware of. There is also a request to have training records of the canine dog, which alerted authorities to narcotics on Weezy's tour bus last winter leading to his arrest. (Associated Press)

News: Nick Cannon Responds To Eminem Diss, "He Is A Natural Born Racist In Disguise"

Written by Cyrus Langhorne
Fri, 08 May 2009 22:30:00

Nick Cannon has responded to Eminem's recent attack on him and his wife Mariah Carey by offering to end the rapper's career if their differences are not settled in a timely manner.
Responding to a reference heard on Em's new track "Bagpipes From Baghdad," Cannon dished out his feelings.

"At first I thought it was old material that had been dug up from when dude "fantasized" about having a pretend fling with Mariah," Cannon wrote via his blog. "So as I further examine the track, I hear dude cross the line. He begins to call my wife out of her name! Now as y'all know, I don't take that type of nonsense lightly. So on some grown man sh*t I'm instantly like, I got to get at this Lame...Let's not forget about Eminem's amateur mixtape rants of calling African Americans N*gger and how he hates "Black B*tches." How did we let him get away with that in the first place?! He is a natural born racist in disguise...So I'm putting this out there now. Marshall Mathers, you need to holler at me on some grown man sh*t. Man to man, let's meet up and deal with this like adults...So Miss Marshall, I'm going to make you wish you never spoke my name and regret the ungodly things you said about my wife. This is going to be fun! It's however you want it! Just remember, you did this to yourself! Your legacy has now been tainted from this day forth! You will now be known as the rapper who lost to Corny-a** Nick Cannon!!!" (Nick Cannon's Blog)

Em's recently leaked track opens up name-checking Mariah.

"Oh, it's music to my ears," he said in the song's intro. "How can I describe the way I feel? F*cking great man. Okay, let me see. How can I begin, locked in Mariah's wine cellar/All I had for lunch was bread wine, more bread wine than Cap 'n Crunch/Red wine for breakfast and for brunch/And to soak it up in-between snack crackers to munch/Mariah whatever happened to us/Why did we ever have to break-up/Well all I asked her was for a glass of punch/You see I never really asked for much/I can imagine what's going through your mind after such a nasty break-up with that laughing hump/Nick Cannon, you better back the f*ck up/I'm not playing." ("Bagpipes From Baghdad")

Despite Cannon's claims of Em fabricating his relationship with Mariah, Slim previously discussed the details of their break-up around 2006.

"Yes, me and Mariah did have a relationship for about a good six, seven months," Eminem said recently on his Shade 45 channel. "[But] it didn't work. I wasn't really into what she was into; our personalities collided. She's a diva, and I'm a little more regular, I guess." (Shade 45)
Aside from Em, the Nick star recently addressed Internet disses from bloggers.

"I guess she ain't really realize I was a real n*gga," Cannon said in an interview. "On my site, as a comment to me, like, 'Nick, you need to do this with your and eff like this' and I was like yo, there's a line that you cross...I take respect real seriously and when you cross what I feel like you're offending my personal space, I wanna give you the full opportunity to say whatever you need to say to my face directly. So wherever you at, I'ma let you know when I'm in that area so you can come and tell me...Anybody else who got some reckless sh*t to say on the Internet, I will give you my phone number. We can exchange. If you really feel that bad about it, if you really have those harsh personal feelings against me, lets deal with it." (YouTube)