Odd Names In The News

Odd Names In The News

Odd names in the news - In case you missed it, music power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z just welcomed a baby girl and, like many celebs before them, named her something unusual. Between that and a strangely named Wisconsin man making the news lately, we compiled a list of some of the more unique names to make the news.

man call 911 fight a cop

man call 911 fight a cop

man call 911 fight a cop - Man allegedly makes strange 911 call, An Illinois man was arrested after he allegedly called 911 and said he wanted to fight a cop. When officers got to his home, they say he began pushing and shoving them, and he was taken to jail.

America's happiest workplaces

America's Happiest Workplaces

America's Happiest Workplaces - A 2012 survey by a job-information website suggests that employees want policies and programs that help them advance their careers.

gang members arrested facebook

Gang members arrested facebook

Gang members arrested facebook - Suspects bragged about crimes on FB? Police arrested rival gang members connected to three slayings, based on what they were saying about the cases on Twitter and Facebook. The two gangs often had shoot-outs that led to the slayings. According to police, the gang members then bragged about the shootings on the social media sites.

Possum NYC subway

Possum NYC subway

Possum NYC subway - Possum causes NYC subway evacuation, Riding a New York City subway at 4 a.m. is bound to involve some strange sights. For passengers who spotted a wild possum there last week, it meant the end of the line, as the train was reportedly evacuated while animal-control officers tried to wrangle the critter.

Ron Paul hot air balloon traffic

Ron Paul hot air balloon traffic

Ron Paul balloon halts traffic, Supporters of Ron Paul  inflated a hot air balloon and let it hover on the edge of a busy highway. As traffic came to a grinding halt and backed up for miles, officials cited the Paul fans and told them to deflate the balloon

Air Jordan Shoe Collection Stolen

Air Jordan Shoe Collection Stolen

Air Jordan Shoe Collection Stolen - Man loses entire Air Jordan collection, A North Carolina man reported that his $10,000 collection of Nike Air Jordan shoes was stolen from his home. The man says he had been collecting the shoes since he was in middle school. He also says all of his baseball hats that matched the shoes were taken as well.

Govan School Transgender

Govan School Transgender

High School Teenager “Trapped In A Boy’s Body” Kicked Out Of School For Rockin’ Girly Gear To Class
Govan School Transgender - School 'expels' teen for dressing like girl, Seventeen-year-old Jaime Love is a boy who says he identifies more as a girl. His notoriously rough school, however, could apparently not abide the teen coming to class dressed in a skirt, tights, hair extensions and makeup; and this week school officials reportedly "expelled" the boy.

Wu-Tang Clan FBI

Wu-Tang Clan FBI

Wu-Tang Clan FBI - Wu Tang Clan: shadow-boxing with GZA. Report: FBI snooped Wu-Tang Clan, Like countless other ‘90s-era rap groups, The Wu-Tang Clan’s lyrics are chock full of references to guns, drugs and murder. An old FBI file recently unearthed, however, shows that the FBI took the group at its word and was investigating one member nd the group as a whole for crimes often associated with the Italian Mafia.

Almost mythological in scope, the Wu-Tang Clan are a collaboration of nine MCs: RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, U-God, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, with Cappadonna replacing the late legendary Ol’ Dirty Bastard in 2007.

The clan rarely appear with a line-up of all nine members live, and for this tour it appears as though RZA, GZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah and Inspectah Dek will be in attendance; nonetheless, it’s hard to believe these hip hop revolutionaries are finally making it to Australia, for the first time.

A founding member of Wu-Tang, GZA (Gary Grice, also known as The Genius) is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed members of the clan, his solo material highly revered by Wu fans – particularly his 1995 album Liquid Swords which he has recently been performing in its entirety in special solo dates around the country. GZA has moved in hip hop circles since it formed out of the primordial ooze of block parties in New York’s the Bronx. GZA was closely associated with the golden age of New York hip hop throughout the 1980s, before forming Wu-Tang with his cousins Ol’ Dirty Bastard and RZA in the early ‘90s.

Referring to these early days, GZA suddenly erupts into a quote from his 2002 song AutoBio “I was born, with the mic in my hand / Then I took it from Brooklyn, to the S.I. land / I pulled up on the block, got off the truck, it was the first of pit stops / The era of the spinnin’ top, around the birth of hip hop / That was somethin’, I had identified with / So I, made it my point to exploit this fly gift / then Myself and RZA, made trips to the B.X / A mass of ferocious MCs the talent of T-Rex / Giants in every ways, rap flows for every day / We knew we would get a reward with a price to pay / The basic training was beyond entertainin’ / Just the cadence of the verbal expressions, self explainin’.”

Living in Staten Island, New York, a young GZA would travel to The Bronx to hang out with his cousins, who were more “advanced” with the latest hip-hop trends.

“It was around ’76, about two years after the birth of it I think,” he explains. “Just think about it, that was 33 / 32 years ago! We had just started learning how to breakdance [in Staten Island], and my cousins who lived in the Bronx didn’t do it anymore. They were like ‘I don’t break anymore’, like it had already played out.”

Apparently their reason for abandoning this aspect of the hip hp culture was that they couldn’t use it to dance with girls. As GZA points out, luckily others in the Bronx kept breakdancing.

These early days were followed by the 1980s Golden Age of hip hop, based primarily in New York City around artists like Public Enemy, Run DMC, Eric B and Rakim – Rakim’s vocal stylings in particular were a profound influence on a young GZA.
“Some say the golden age was the ‘90s,” GZA counters, “I would say the ‘80s: ’85 to ’88, anywhere between ’85 and ’89, strongest point ’86 to ’88. I mean forget it!”

When GZA refers to hip-hop’s Golden Age he speaks almost exclusively about the east coast.
“I mean, that’s where I was living, I don’t really remember too many of the west coast rappers. I mean N.W.A of course,” he grins, “they were doing their thing and they were strongly represented, but I think they came a couple of years after.

Ice T was around in the ‘80s, but I don’t really know too much. I mean, lyrically Ice T was a developed artist, and respect to him, but I think lyrically and style-wise there is kind of no comparison [to east coast]. Take some song and compare that Microphone Fiend or Follow The Leader [both by Eric B. and Rakim, 1988], I mean I’m just going lyrically – I’m dealing with style, delivery and flow.”

Finally we get to Wu-Tang, and their position as revolutionaries in the evolution of hip-hop.
“I think we changed it,” GZA says simply. “We revolutionised it, Wu Tang as a group. I mean you have people come in certain eras that just do something for hip-hop that no one’s done: Rakim has done it. [Big Daddy] Kane has done it. Public Enemy has done it. Run DMC has done it. Run DMC is one of the greatest groups ever for me as far as production, musically.”

Despite a love for Run DMC, GZA says they weren’t great lyricists, as much as pioneers in the way they worked together, taking from what they did on the streets and managing to transform it to record.
“They had that street block party vibe, and aside from that they were the first to really take hip-hop to the next plateau. Run DMC were like the first hip-hop mega rap stars. I mean, you had Kurtis Blow and you had Melle Mel – Blow was the first rapper to be known, and the first to get on a major label – but Run were the first rappers to be in Rolling Stone magazine; they broke a lot of barriers.”

It seems the barriers broken by Run DMC allowed for Wu-Tang to build upon this tradition of east coast hip-hop and transform it into their own distinctive style with their 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36-Chambers), described by many as one of the most influential hip-hop albums of all time; paving the way for people like Biggie and Jay-Z.

GZA says he’s only now seeing this influence on a historical scale.
“Wu has two generations of fans. I run into kids who say ‘my mum’s raised me on Wu-Tang’,” he says proudly. He recently spoke to some kids while in Rhode Island on a solo tour, who told him that Liquid Swords was their favourite album of all time.

“I’m like ‘how old are you?’” Turns out the kids were fifteen years old. “‘You weren’t even born when I dropped it! You were in the womb’,” he laughs. “To me that’s a blessing. I’m having fun. I’m comfortable, I’ve raised children who love hip-hop, put them in school and bought them the best of things with something I did as a hobby.”

GZA stresses that he never got into hip-hop to make money.
“I never looked at it like that, I just liked to write and put rhymes together, it was just something I did, and it got to a point and it was like ‘yo, we can get money for this?’”

There’s been recent lyrical hostility between GZA and notoriously rich hip-hop artist 50 Cent. Conversing with fans at shows in London and New York in late 2007, GZA stated that Fifty had “a lot of money, but he ain’t got no lyrics”. When the statement found its way onto internet sites such as youtube, 50 Cent dissed GZA in the press, calling him “grandpa”. GZA responded by recording the track ‘Paper Plate’ on his latest album Pro Tools, implying Fifty’s lyrics are as disposable as a paper plate.

“He has shit to say,” argues GZA. “Rap is looked at as a young thing [by many] and people like Oprah Winfrey, who don’t care for rap, look at it as an immature thing, I think mainly because of the lyrical content. Also,” he continues, “a lot of rappers act childish and immature. It’s kind of ridiculous. I would judge an MC, rapper, or artist according to his lyrics and according to his flow, his delivery and what he’s rapping about; not according to his age. I don’t look my age, but you’ve got rappers twelve years younger than me and they look older than me. I’m not talking specifically about him – we probably look the same age!” he laughs. “I’m like eleven years older than this dude, but he’s calling me grandpa… How are you going to become too old for something you love to do?”

With that in mind, at the age of forty-three GZA shows no sign of calling it a day.
“I can deliver in a perfect pitch – I can deliver with a perfect flow. My writing is stronger than it’s ever been,” he nods. “I’m writing screenplays and graphic novels because I’m tired of putting so much work into songs and they don’t really see the light of day. [Wu-Tang] don’t have the machine that we used to have. I’m not on Geffen records, I’m not on MCA, I’m not on TV everyday, but I’m still fortunate enough to come out [to places like Australia]. Even with Wu-Tang, this dude who talks all the stupid shit – I won’t say his name – even with his hundreds of million dollars he’ll never have what Wu has.”

GZA believes that, with age, his lyrics are better than ever too. “My pen is stronger than ever, and I don’t use profanity,” the rapper points out. “That’s what rappers need to know what to do, they need to know how to tell that inner city story from the hood, know how to talk about ‘the guy that got shot’, ‘the girl that got raped’, ‘the guy that’s slinging drugs’ in a different way, where you can pull someone into the story with a vivid tale. That’s the difference between me and the average rapper that is running around thinking that it’s all good to be hard, and you’ve got to be gangsta because hip-hop has been made into some other shit.

“The difference is, their story would be: ‘I was chillin’ on the block / And I’m rolling with my glock / I’ll bash your brains out / I’m slinging crack / I’m making two-hundred thou’ a night.’”

The average rapper describes everything in a completely literal way and leaves nothing to the imagination. GZA contrasts this with version, saying it would be more like “I come from a place where they say death comes too soon / In the hood where the boys dance to a different tune / Every night and every day at hotels of foul play / That turns fatal in this hostile land of AKs / On any date if not wait they’re pumping rounds / The reminder it’s a murderous stomping ground.”

It’s obviously with a heavy heart that GZA sees much of mainstream hip-hop as taking a regression lyrically, where “lyrically songs from the ‘80s are slaying songs that we’re hearing now on radio.” At least with Wu Tang still around, there’s still some hope.

Tila Tequila Judaism

Tila Tequila Judaism

Tila Tequila Judaism, Tila Tequila: 'I want to be Jewish', Reality-show personality Tila Tequila says that over time she has “become more and more fascinated with Kabbalah.” So what’s a religiously unfulfilled party girl to do? Why become Jewish, of course! The pint-sized star says she’s now planning to covert to Judaism

Weird Car Accidents

Weird Car Accidents

Weird Car Accidents - Weird vehicle mishaps, Cars in swimming pools? A truck spilling live chickens? A police officer driving up a utility pole? Yes, all of these have happened. Scroll through to see some of the Weird vehicle mishaps in recent times.

Controversial Beauty Queens

Controversial Beauty Queens

Controversial Beauty Queens - Beauty queen scandals, Carrie Prejean married an NFL player after her 2009 flap. We recall other pageant drama.

Tebow shirtless

Tim Tebow Shirtless Pictures

Tebow shirtless - Shirtless Tebow ad turns heads, Want a winning advertising strategy? Start with underwear, add a shirtless Tim Tebow, then watch the orders fly off the shelves. This business strategy is brought to you by Jockey, which got the Denver Broncos quarterback to strip to his skivvies in this ad, which is turning heads all over the Internet.

Boy breakfast iguana

Boy breakfast iguana

Boy breakfast iguana - Boy eats cereal with giant iguana, A new viral video on the Internet shows a young boy having breakfast with his pet iguana. In the video, the iguana is seen chomping away on a bowl of cereal. Although the boy's dad tries to make conversation, the two seem far more interested in their breakfasts.

Jazz Mascot Cake

Jazz Mascot Cake

Jazz Mascot Cake - NBA mascot drops cake on fans, Mascot Drops Birthday Cake Off Balcony at Utah Jazz Game Several fans who were at Tuesday’s Utah Jazz/Cleveland Cavaliers game are probably glad that a fan above them didn’t get a heavier birthday present than he got. That’s because “Bear” the Jazz mascot fumbled the cake he was giving the lucky fan and it fell from the upper deck on to the crowd below.
One thing mascots are great at is making us laugh. One thing they are not so great at is balancing a birthday cake with their furry hands.

The Utah Jazz’s mascot, Jazz Bear, reinforced that notion during Tuesday night’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, as he presented a birthday cake to one longtime Jazz season-ticket holder, but was unable to maintain his grasp on it, dropping it onto the fans seated in the lower bowl below him.

Thankfully, the fans that found themselves beneath that downpour of deliciousness had a good sense of humor regarding the entire incident, as no one felt the need to attack Jazz Bear. Although, their lack of retaliation may have been out of fear after seeing what Bear did to the last fan that challenged him.

You can watch the birthday cake shower in the video below.

Amish Beard Assault

Amish Beard Assault

Amish Beard Assault - Men accused of Amish beard assaults, Ohio Amish leader: Beard-cutting religious matter For religious reasons, men of Amish faith don’t shave their beards. So when a splinter group of Amish men from Ohio led by 66-year-old Samuel Mullet allegedly began assaulting their fellow practitioners by cutting off their beards, the tight-knit community was rocked. Now 12 of those men are facing hate-crime charges.

Dwarf paralyzed Martin Henderson rugby

Dwarf paralyzed Martin Henderson rugby 

Dwarf paralyzed Martin Henderson rugby - Dwarf paralyzed in drunken rugby toss, Martin Henderson, a 37-year-old man with dwarfism, was celebrating his birthday in Somerset, England, recently when a hooded rugby fan allegedly picked him up and tossed him through the air.

Brandi Favre sued

Brandi Favre sued

Brandi Favre sued, Brandi Favre being sued by neighbors, Brandi Favre, the sister of former NFL quarterback Brett Favre , is being accused of destroying her neighbor's home with meth fumes (get details about her arrest). A couple filed a lawsuit claiming "widespread meth contamination" was detected at their home and the whole place needed to be cleaned.

Superstitions and their origins

Superstitions and their origins

Origins of Spooky Superstitions

Many have been wincing at their calendars all week in anticipation of this dreaded day — Friday the 13th. Why the fear? Stevie Wonder warned against believing in things you don’t understand . So, we looked at the theories behind the menacing date, as well as other popular “bad luck” harbingers.

Teen wears sign

Amanda Wears Mercura NYC for Teen Vogue December/ January 2011-12