(Akiit.com) Atlanta police say the rapper Slim Dunkin was gunned down Friday evening in a city music studio as he was preparing to record a video.

Police Maj. Keith Meadows said the rapper, whose real name is Mario Hamilton, was fatally shot in the chest after getting into an argument with another individual. He was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Meadows told The Associated Press late Friday that police have not been able to identify the shooter. He said investigators have been interviewing those who were inside the studio. He said as many as 20 people were inside the small office-type building at the time of the shooting, which took place around 5:30 p.m., but they were in different places.

Police have not recovered the handgun that was used. Investigators remained at the scene late Friday evening.

“Right now we’re just trying to….identify who may have seen what, really just trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together,” Meadows said. “It seems everybody witnessed something very different. We’re just trying to go back and make sense of everything.”

Slim Dunkin had appeared on a number of songs with the rapper Waka Flocka Flame. The website Mtv.com reported that the Brick Squad Monopoly rapper was on a solo track and had recently released a 20-track mix tape that featured Gucci Mane, Roscoe Dash and Pastor Troy.
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(Akiit.com) The First Amendment guarantees the right to “peaceably” assemble. Unfortunately, that right seems to be in some type of Orwellian limbo at the moment. Eighteen cities participated in a conference call about the Occupy movement before they simultaneously cracked down on occupations in their cities, according Oakland Mayor Jean Quan.

Given that this mass eviction was a national, coordinated effort, the Occupy movement must respond in its own coordinated fashion.

I’ve got a suggestion for the people in this movement who are facing foreclosure from their permanent homes, rather than eviction from those tents and tarps that are increasingly banned: Occupy the bank that originally loaned you the money for your house.

Let’s say your bank has just notified you that you are about to be homeless.

If you’re like millions of other Americans, your foreclosure is directly related to the fact that your bank packaged and sold hundreds, or even thousands, of risky mortgages that Wall Street geniuses then repackaged and treated like a Las Vegas roulette wheel. When you visit your bank to see what’s going on, you’re informed that your bank no longer has your mortgage. Even stranger, your bank doesn’t know who does.
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(Akiit.com) Adele scored six Grammy nominations on Wednesday, including for record, song and album of the year, but the owner of the 2011′s best-selling album with “21″ wasn’t the night’s top nominee – and that wasn’t the evening’s only surprise.

Kanye West came away with a leading seven nominations, including a bid for song of the year for his all-star song “All of the Lights.” However, the album from which it came – “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” heralded by many critics as the best album of 2010 – was not in the best album category, and all of his other nominations were relegated to the rap fields.

Other notable omissions in the top categories included country phenomenon Taylor Swift and veteran crooner Tony Bennett.

Bruno Mars and the Foo Fighters tied Adele with six nominations each, including in the album of the year category. Lil Wayne had five nods and critical-darling folky act Bon Iver scored four nominations, with two in the prestigious record and song of the year categories. But dubstep star Skrillex may have been the night’s biggest surprise, getting five nominations, including a bid for best new artist.

“It feels incredible. Me and these guys, we locked ourselves in the studio not too far from here and worked on this album, especially ‘Grenade,’” Mars said after the nominations were announced. “That’s the song we worked the hardest on. That’s like our trophy right there. Of all the songs we’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of this year, we were most proud of that one.”

The nominations were announced after the Recording Academy’s fourth annual live concert special, which aired on CBS from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The hour-long event featured key nominees like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and The Band Perry.

Even though Adele didn’t get the lion’s share of nominations, she got them where it counted: Her “21,” the mournful post-breakup album that produced smash hits like the torch ballad “Someone Like You,” was nominated for album of the year. The searing groove “Rolling in the Deep,” which spent seven weeks at No. 1 this past summer, got nominations for both record and song of the year. Only Mars got nominations in all three categories as well.

Other nominees in the Record of the Year category included Bon Iver’s ballad “Holocene;” Mars’ ballad “Grenade;” Mumford & Sons’ “The Cave” and Katy Perry’s inspirational anthem “Firework.” For Song of the Year, which honors the writers of the tune, contenders included “The Cave,” “Grenade,” “Holocene” and Lady Gaga’s “You and I.”

The best album category was as noteworthy for who was excluded as it was for who was nominated. Lady Gaga garnered her third straight nod in the category for “Born This Way,” while veteran rockers the Foo Fighters were nominated for “Wasting Light,” along with Mars’ debut album, “Doo-Wops & Hooligans,” and Rihanna’s steamy dance album “Loud.”
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(Akiit.com) Justin Beiber was just 14 years old when he was discovered. With his adorable smile, humble attitude and “mop” styled hair adored by young girl’s everywhere, he was to become “the next big thing.” Well, for the last two years, Justin has won the hearts of children, tweens, teens, young people and many more up the age ladder.

While most other teenagers were gaming, toiling over which outfit to wear to school to keep their “cool” status and hoping that the girl or boy they like, likes them back, Justin has been singularly focused for the last two years on work. Hard work. It was just in 2009 that his debut single, “One Time” was released worldwide. The single hit its height in the top ten in Canada. The release of My World, followed in the fall of 2009, and was ultimately certified platinum in the United States. He’s been on fire ever since.

It is clear from the teenage female fans that it is Beiber or bust. While he has been criticized for his popularity, he is highly regarded by many and considered a “teen idol.” I have to admit that his boyish face and seemingly humble disposition makes him hard not to like. The ultimate confession is that I have his music on my iPod (don’t judge me).

Justin’s gift of himself and visibility to his fans is appearing to backfire. With each teenage girl believing that they could one day play the supporting role in Justin’s life, it was a blow to their hearts and egos when he was recently seen walking and kissing Selena Gomez, who is two years his senior. The fans took their pain to the ether and let loose posting death threats and other hurtful messages about Selena on Twitter and other blog sites.
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(Akiit.com) Someone didn’t give Hammer the memo. Last week an occult specialist firmly and finally put to rest all those rumors about Jay-Z and the Illuminati. But that didn’t stop Hammertime from releasing a diss track and video against Jay-Z, accusing him of devil worship.

It’s likely an act of evil when Hammer is reviving himself from the clutches of irrelevance to “battle” Jay-Z, of all people. Nevertheless Hammer has held a grudge against Hova since Jay mentioned him in a track with Kanye West released last month. “Hammer went broke, so you know I’m more focused/I lost 30 mil’, so I spent another 30/’Cause unlike Hammer, 30 million can’t hurt me,” Jay-Z rapped on the song “So Appalled.” Hammer’s financial problems are not only well documented, he has spoken publicly about the bad financial choices that aided in his career’s demise. And yet something about Jay-Z’s verse rubbed him the wrong way.

So MC Hammer did what most broken hearts do these days — log on to Twitter and vent. Hammer released a fury of tweets against Jay-Z, thereafter referring to the rapper as #hellboy. Hammer’s line of assault caters to a rumor that’s been circulating about Hov for a few years now — that he’s a member of secret societies like the Illuminati and Freemasons.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when these rumors about Jay-Z being a member of the Illuminati started. The secret organization that may or may not actually exist is believed to be made up of powerful individuals who are controlling the world and worship the devil, and blah blah blah…it’s the type of stuff conspiracy theorists eat up. Rapper Prodigy began to champion the “Jay-Z is illuminati” rumor back in 2008, and it’s hung around the dark recesses of the Internet since then.

But Jay-Z added fire to the flame when he released his video for “On to the Next One” earlier this year. The odd and disturbing imagery of skulls and masked women dancing wildly confirmed it for some viewers — Jay-Z is illuminati!

Or he’s just really crafty at manipulating rumors to stir up a little publicity. Though Jay himself has denied allegations of devil worship and Illuminati membership, it took an occult specialist to finally get folk to believe that Jay is not a member. “I don’t think he’s an occultist, but I do think he is probably a genius in terms of using imagery,” author and expert Mitch Horowitz told BigThink.com.
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