Rapper Kanye West is facing up to 30 months in jail after being charged for a scuffle he had with a paparazzo last year:

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Superstar US rapper Kanye West has been charged with assault, theft and vandalism related to a September 2008 incident involving paparazzi at Los Angeles’ LAX airport, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

The 31-year-old Grammy-award-winning musician could face up to 30 months in prison.

West was arrested on September 11 after the airport altercation in which West and his manager Don Crawley “confronted, and engaged in an altercation with, two photographers,” the LA attorney’s office said in a statement.

Crawley, 33, was also charged on two counts of battery, two counts of theft and two counts of vandalism, and faces a possible five years in prison.

The incident was caught on video tape, widely viewed on the Internet, which shows West and Crawley wrestling camera equipment from photographers and smashing it on the ground.

The two men are set for arraignment in Los Angeles on April 14.

The incident took place early in the morning as West prepared to board an airplane, while paparazzi tried to photograph and film him.

Reports at the time found the camera equipment was valued at over 10,000 dollars. Police arrested West as he tried to board his plane. {Source}

Filed Under: Christina Milian, The Dream

Filed Under: The Dream

Filed Under: Mariah Carey, The Dream

Filed Under: Kanye West, The Dream

Filed Under: The Dream

Hit-maker Polow Da Don spoke with MTV.com recently about working on Ciara’s forthcoming ‘Fantasy Ride’ LP. During the interview, the ‘Promise’ producer made an interesting comparison about himself and Ciara and the late Aaliyah and Timbaland:

Ciara’s upcoming album, Fantasy Ride, may feature a slew of hitmaking producers, including Tricky Stewart (Rihanna’s “Umbrella”), Danjahandz (Britney Spears’ “Gimme More”) and Missy Elliott (Jazmine Sullivan’s “Need U Bad”). But according to Polow Da Don, only he and CiCi have something special enough to become the new Aaliyah and Timbaland.

“We both came up and were raised in the same camp,” Polow explained to MTV News. “We’ve known each other for a long time. We actually just have this natural chemistry that I don’t even have with some of my own artists.

“I understand her and I understand what she should be doing,” the producer added.

“And one thing people do say about when I work with Ciara is that I make her sound better than ever,” he continued. “I make her sound like a vocalist versus the other stuff she may do that’s more performance, where she can get on the dance floor. It’s kind of the same thing with Aaliyah. She may not have been the best singer, but her voice was so unique and her sound — she had her own lane, and I think Ciara is like that same thing.”

I’m sure this one will have tongues wagging…

Your thoughts?

Filed Under: Mariah Carey, The Dream

Hmm. Not as bad as I thought, yet still left a lot to be desired. On the one hand, it’s great to see her sing with a clear, polished tone; however ‘The Voice’ was largely absent from this overly safe performance – showing itself sporadically between the ‘talky’ majority. Still, watching this offers hope that Whitney could very well crank out a successful well-sung ‘Studio LP’ (See: Mariah Carey). Whether her unmatched live vocal ability returns to past glories will be interesting to see. Whitney’s much-anticipated new album is tentatively slated for a November release.

What do you think of the performance?

Filed Under: The Dream

Word has it that Pop superstar Janet Jackson will be joining forces with Ciara for the video for the ‘Feedback’ remix. Said to be set for shooting next week, the news comes amid ‘Feedback’s’ resurgence on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; The song jumped a whopping 35 places this week from #54-#19. Def Jam are also re-sending the track out to radio outlets.

Filed Under: Mariah Carey, The Dream