American Black and Different Kitchen do a much better job of reporting the daily news, but I figured I do my part since I saw some items while surfing the net.

I'm in shock by this news:

• Pretty Bad Boy rapper Loon -- who released a forgettable self-titled rap CD last year -- along with two other men were arrested and booked on attempted murder charges over the weekend in Los Angeles. According to authorities, the men were taken into custody after allegedly stabbing a security guard who refused to let them enter an event for Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. Loon has since posted bail and was released. (From mtv.com)

What was Loon trying to do raise his gangsta quotient up?

• Lil' Flip is about to "flip it" in court ::

Southern rhyme-spitter Lil Flip has launched his own record label called Clover G Records and has disassociated himself with Sucka Free Records despite being under contract with the Sony Music-distributed indie label. According to reports, Flip and Sucka Free CEO Duane "Hump" Hobbs had a falling out over money. "Flip has gotten so greedy behind money," Duane told AllHipHop.com. "Flip has burned a lot of bridges in the South, thinking he's Tupac, acting all big headed. It's crazy."
Duane plans to take Lil Flip to court, if they don't resolve their differences. "I told Sony and Flip 'I got a label deal, not an artist deal.' I hope it doesn't go that far. The only way we gonna [let Lil Flip] off Sucka Free is if Sony buys me out." (From AllHipHop)

• The National Hip-Hop Political Convention will be held at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J. on June 16-18. (From AllHipHop )

• Janet Jackson exposes her breast . . . then she gets an award ::
Titillating songbird Janet Jackson was bestowed on Friday the Behind the Bench humanitarian honor for her various charitable contributions. Behind the Bench is an organization consisting mostly of NBA players' wives. Miss Jackson attended the annual fundraising event in Beverly Hills, Calif. No nipple was exposed.
(From AP/Launch)

• A Def Gig?
New Island/Def Jam CEO L.A. Reid says he's up to challenge of running the music industry's top label ::

"Finally, yeah, in a lot of ways I am starting all the way from scratch. But we're talking about Island/Def Jam -- Ludacris, Jay-Z, Melissa Etheridge, Mariah Carey, Hoobastank, Sum 41. I'm walking into a couple of amazing companies here with amazing rosters.

"What I personally built [with LaFace Records and Arista], yes, that's gone. But that's exciting. My run with Arista and LaFace was like 15 years. It's good for me to be faced with new challenges. I've got a fresh slate and a blank canvas. I rather like this position I'm in."
(From ajc.com/Atlanta Constitution-Journal)

• Please remember :: Hip-hop culture is worldwide . . . hip-hop is even in Kenya.
Rap duo Gidi Gidi and Maji Maji are blowing up in South Africa
(From Tonight)

• Detroit Pistons player Corliss Williamson has become a hip-hop entrepreneur, opening a shop that caters to clientele who want the latest clothing from rap stars Nelly, Eve and P. Diddy.
(From The Commercial Appeal)

• Before there was Kayne West, there was Common (formerly known as Common Sense) who is still hip-hop's most profound lyricist out of Chicago. Writer Stephen Hicks remembers Common's classic 1995 sophomore CD Ressurrection. The album's centerpiece was the hip-hop ode "I Used To Love H.E.R." Stephen reflects on Common's lyrically ingenuity on his near-classic album.
(From Fredericksburg.com)

• Speaking of music writing, music journalist/editor/hip-hop enthusiast Oliver "O-Dub" Wang talks about the values of a music critic ::

"I recently had lunch with Ann Powers, former New York Times music critic and arguably one of the most important female rock critics of the last 15 years, along with Greil Marcus, the undisputed godfather of modern rock criticism and the topic came up as to why both of them became music writers.

"Their response surprised me and I've thought of it often since then. I'm paraphrasing here so apologies to Ann and Greil if I get this wrong but both became critics because there was something about a song or album or artist that got under their skin and they needed to find a way to talk about it. When they began to write about music they weren't do it for the artist. They weren't doing it for the consumer. They weren't doing it for an editor or a magazine or a paycheck. They did it for themselves - to see what they could come up with that would adequately articulate what was in their heads and hearts about music.

"Ultimately, I think if you are true to that goal, then it doesn't matter if you've heard one album or a thousand. It doesn't even matter if anyone but yourself reads what you have to write - if a writer can accomplish the goal of really getting out what they want to say about music, that's an achievement in and of itself.

"There's no checklist you can run through [to] insure that what you write will be good or valuable. Ultimately, that's for history to decide, not us." (From Urban Smarts)