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A certain amount of celebrity glow has long been a part of both political parties’ gatherings. But thanks in part to the youthful charisma of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive nominee, the Democratic convention, which begins on Monday in Denver, is shaping up as an unlikely hot spot for the music world, with multiplatinum rappers, indie-rock scenesters, D.J.’s and Jennifer Lopez arriving by the van- and private planeload to perform, rally or schmooze with the political elite. “It’s the Sundance Film Festival for politicos,” said Laura Dawn, the cultural director of MoveOn.org, who also happens to sing with Moby... Kanye...

An educator for 31 years, she was her superstar son's inspiration A publicist for Donda West told the BCC the former Chicago educator and mother of hip-hop superstar Kanye West died "as the result of complications from a cosmetic surgical procedure." The publicist, Patricia Green, gave no more details. Donda West died Saturday in a Los Angeles hospital. She was 58. A spokesman for the rapper released a one-sentence statement: "The family respectfully asks for privacy during this time of grief." An educator for 31 years, Donda West started her teaching career in the 1970s at Morris Brown College in...

MTV has recently rolled out "Think MTV", a new community interaction site oriented toward student activism. Imagine "Facebook" with a social-activism orientation. Exploring the site quickly reveals that MTV's notion of social activism has a decided liberal tint. The home page lists a dozen major areas for potential activism. Click on "Politics" and -- what do you know! -- the first photo that pops up is one of John Edwards looking pensively toward the future. Three videos on political themes are displayed. The only one by a named author is by . . . Kanye West. Other celebrities involved with...

50 Cent believes his new album will outsell Kanye West's upcoming disc, and he's betting his solo career on it. Both 50 Cent and West have albums due out Sept. 11. 50 Cent, who has sold better than West, has been riled by forecasts that sales of West's "Graduation" could rival those for his "Curtis" CD. "Let's raise the stakes," the 31-year-old rapper told hip-hop Web site SOHH.com in an interview posted Friday. "If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I'll no longer write music. I'll write music and work with my other artists, but...

Rap Star In Gore Climate Concert Lineup Flies Dinner Across The Atlantic Posted by Lynn Davidson on March 5, 2007 - 11:04.How is Al Gore going to explain this one? Multi-platinum-selling rapper Kanye West, who infamously said during the Katrina telethon, "George Bush doesn't care about black people" has something else to explain. The AP reports that Kanye asked a restaurant in Cardiff, Wales to fly a chef and a meal across the Atlantic ocean to a Manhattan business meeting this Wednesday for about $4000 "plus travel and accomodation for the restaurant's head chef"  and the addition of lots of Earth-killing greenhouse gases. OK, that...

Evel Knievel has sued Kanye West, taking issue with a music video in which the rapper takes on the persona of "Evel Kanyevel" and tries to jump a rocket-powered motorcycle over a canyon. Knievel, whose real name is Robert Craig Knievel, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Tampa on Monday claiming infringement on his trademark name and likeness. He also claims the "vulgar and offensive" images depicted in the video damage his reputation. "That video that Kanye West put out is the most worthless piece of crap I've ever seen in my life, and he uses my image to...

51 minutes ago TAMPA, Fla. - Evel Knievel has sued Kanye West, taking issue with a video in which the rapper takes on the persona of "Evel Kanyevel" and jumps a motorcycle over a canyon. Knievel, whose real name is Robert Craig Knievel, filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday claiming infringement on his trademark name and likeness. He also claims the "vulgar and offensive" images depicted in the video damage his reputation. "That video that Kanye West put out is the most worthless piece of crap I've ever seen in my life, and he uses my image to catapult...

Kanye West's charge last year that "George Bush doesn't care about black people" got a lot of attention. Liberals loved it and used Mr. West's words to slam the president for his failure to respond effectively to the flooding that killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of (mostly black) people in the Gulf Coast. If you read liberal opinion magazines and Web sites that touch on the full range of political and social issues, however, one can amend Mr. West's statement to read: "White liberals don't care about black opinionators."

Cocky rap star KANYE WEST is calling for a revised edition of THE BIBLE, because he thinks he should be a character in it. The JESUS WALKS hitmaker, who picked up three Grammy Awards last night (08FEB06), feels sure he'd be "a griot" (West African storyteller) in a modern Bible. He says, "I bring up historical subjects in a way that makes kids want to learn about them. I'm an inspirational speaker. "I changed the sound of music more than one time... For all those reasons, I'd be a part of the Bible. I'm definitely in the history books already."...

Kanye West’s song, Jesus Walks won him a Grammy award in 2005. In his song, he spouts his faith in Jesus, peppering his theme that ‘Jesus walks with everyone’ throughout his lyrics. Now, we have Kanye posing as Jesus on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. Is Kanye motivated by a devout need to bring Jesus back to the people? Is he trying to revive faith in Jesus in our youth? Not likely. Kanye West is out to sell his music, out to make as much money as he possibly can and build his own wealth.

NEW YORK - Kanye West, with a crown of thorns atop his head, poses as Jesus Christ on the cover of the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone. The outspoken rapper defends his brash attitude inside the magazine's pages, on newsstands Friday. He is also pictured posing as Muhammad Ali. "In America, they want you to accomplish these great feats, to pull off these David Copperfield-type stunts," he says. "You want me to be great, but you don't ever want me to say I'm great?" West also says his hit song "Gold Digger" was the best song last year and that...

NEW YORK — Kanye West, with a crown of thorns atop his head, poses as Jesus Christ on the cover of the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone. The outspoken rapper defends his brash attitude inside the magazine's pages, on newsstands Friday. He is also pictured posing as Muhammad Ali.snip "If I was more complacent and I let things slide, my life would be easier, but you all wouldn't be as entertained," he says. "My misery is your pleasure."

2005 UNHINGED: THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES By Michelle Malkin   ·   December 26, 2005 09:03 AM Here are a few of the crackpot sights and ridiculous sounds that made 2005 a year to remember (many thanks to Ian Schwartz at The Political Teen for his indispensable video blogging): Video clips... 10. Spike Lee: Tinfoil hat-wearing levee expert 9. CNBC mugs Bernie Goldberg 8. Union thugs unhinged 7. Chris Matthews unhinged 6. MoveOn.org's homage to "American" troops 5. Liberal tolerance: "We have to exterminate white people." 4. Liberal math: George Washington = Terrorist 3. Philosopher-rapper Kanye West's telethon tirade: "George Bush doesn't...

The Living Things might be the most controversial band you never heard of - yet. Forget Green Day’s Bush-bashing, or Kanye West’s post-Katrina assault on the president. The Berlin brothers, who make up the core of Living Things, go much further. They were arrested at the Republican National Convention. Their show sometimes includes skits in which women wearing Bush and Cheney masks and dominatrix outfits simulate sex onstage. Before each show they ritually set fire to a photo of the president before urinating on it. These attention-getting efforts have earned the Living Things enemies, death threats and a few post-show...

Remember when Kanye West said Bush hates black people? I'm sure he's gonna get nominated for some Grammys. The only way people can hear US talking not WEST is if we boycott his music. How could we notice the Dixie Chicks statement and NOT Kanye West? Let's treat him the way we did the Dixie Chicks!

NEW YORK - Rap feuds aren't usually about differing opinions on President Bush. However, that appears to be the case between 50 Cent and Kanye West. 50 says he disagrees with West's infamous statement that " George Bush doesn't care about black people," proclaimed during a September telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims. "I think people responded to it the best way they can," 50 told ContactMusic.com. "What Kanye West was saying, I don't know where that came from." Instead, 50 said, "The New Orleans disaster was meant to happen. It was an act of God." It wouldn't be the first...

CHAMPAIGN-URBANA -- The most revealing of several vignettes in Kanye West's new live show finds the Chicago-reared rapper dropping to his knees in mock depression as the video screen behind him scrolls some of the criticisms tossed his way. "He was hot when he began, now he's wack. ... His new album is as bloated as West's ego. ... He can't rap." West doesn't stay down for long; a minute later, he's back on his feet, tearing through one of the most confident tracks from his second album: "High off the ground, instead of a skyscraper / Too low, thinkin'...

The 1st Amendment has been getting a workout in recent weeks on two college campuses--the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--where students are learning that free speech is a messy business. The two cases, one involving a columnist at North Carolina and the other a political cartoonist at Florida, have inflamed minority groups--Muslims and blacks, respectively--provoking protests and debate. That's the good news insofar as protest and debate are the currency of free speech. <SNIP> Exhibit A is Jillian Bandes, a former columnist for North Carolina's The Daily Tar Heel. Her column, which was...

This is from my blog at alanskorski.blogspot.com Though I have been a fan of SNL for decades, even during the unfunny years, I am very disappointed to hear that this weekends musical guest will be Kanye West, the singer who blamed George Bush's "racism" for the delay in getting help to hurricane Katrina victims. You can call 212-664-4444 to lodge your complaint. Please tell your friends!

Kanye West is a racist. Not that this should come as a newsflash to anyone who has ever listened to his music. West's new album Late Registration just debuted at number one on the billboard charts, selling 860,000 copies in its first week. But the press has largely given the hip hop star a pass for his outrageous comments during an NBC telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims. As most Americans now know, the hugely successful rapper claimed that the government was sending troops to New Orleans not to help those in need but to "shoot us" and accused President Bush...

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton just might have found herself a new "Sister Souljah" in Kanye West. After all, it was Team Clinton who, so many years ago, taught the Democrat party how to win back disaffected white, blue-collar voters, while maintaining its vice-like grip on nine out of ten black voters. A dirty secret within the Democrat party, the history of the Democrat race-based voting strategy is an important one, riddled with critical implications for 2008...

White Devils Strike New Orleans By Ben Johnson FrontPageMagazine.com | September 15, 2005 Weeks after leftists began claiming President Bush’s environmental policies and budget cuts caused Hurricane Katrina’s devastation – and that Bush did not dispatch federal aid workers to Louisiana more quickly because of the victims’ skin color – the Left’s politics of perpetual demonization have reached their logical conclusion: one seasoned race-baiter has accused the president of ordering one of New Orleans’ levees dynamited to kill black people. “I heard from a very reliable source, who saw a 25-foot deep crater under the levee breach,” said Louis Farrakhan,...

Stand Up to Them, Mr. President: Nominate Another Scalia by Patrick J. Buchanan Posted Sep 9, 2005 We are about to find out what George W. Bush is made of. For he is approaching the greatest crisis of his presidency. Nine days after 9-11, Bush gave the most powerful speech of his career and rallied a nation. Today, he sits atop a government whose agencies -- FEMA and Homeland Security -- are synonyms for bumbling in the worst disaster in American history. Democrats sense Bush may be assaulted with impunity. He can't or won't fight back. Thus, Hillary hits four...

Mr. West should have stayed in college. At very least he may have learned about dignity, discernment and solemnity. Kanye is an opportunistic 2-bit punk. I laughed out loud when the little boy began to tremble as he struggled to put together one coherent sentence during his Red Cross rant. Leave the politics to the politicians. Entertainers need to know that when they wander off track they risk offending half of their audience. The thinking half anyway.

FOXBOROUGH -- Green Day played a long set when it headlined in front of 40,000-plus fans at Gillette Stadium last Saturday. Last night, the group did just one song and it was a safe choice: ''Boulevard of Broken Dreams," though it wasn't perhaps the most cheerful track to spice a pre-game show featuring the unveiling of another championship banner for the New England Patriots. It also was curious to see Green Day wedged into a small, hideaway end-zone stage (Elton John was put on the same stage at last year's pre-game show but at least was allowed to do two...

The NFL provided a curious platform for a number of screed-issuing entertainers to celebrate the launch of a uniquely American institution last night, starting with the Bush-bashing, conspiracy-addled Kanye West. His political commentary apparently passes as evidence of a powerful intellect to the milquetoast editors of Time magazine, only too happy to put West on the cover of their dated publication before his race-baiting appearance on an NBC telethon intended to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. "George Bush doesn't care about black people," West said, which probably was not a smart thing to say to viewers being solicited to...

Kanye West was right: George Bush doesn't care about black people. Unfortunately, West was so focused on reading the teleprompter, he forgot to read one of the words. George Bush doesn't care specifically about black people. How did this become a race issue, instead of a tragedy that affects all Americans? As happens so often these days, it became a race issue because members of that race - and sympathetic media representatives and activists - made it a race issue. Contrary to West's opinion newspapers aren't referring to black scavengers as "looting" and white scavengers as "looking for food." One...

FOXBOROUGH -- Green Day played a long set when it headlined in front of 40,000-plus fans at Gillette Stadium last Saturday. Last night, the group did just one song and it was a safe choice: ''Boulevard of Broken Dreams," though it wasn't perhaps the most cheerful track to spice a pre-game show featuring the unveiling of another championship banner for the New England Patriots. (snip)Maroon 5 came off vapidly (doing just one song, ''Harder to Breathe"), while West did one tune, ''Heard 'Em Say." Yet it was disconcerting to hear his name booed loudly by Patriots fans who evidently didn't...

The chart topping hip hop rapper star who used a network hurricane fundraiser to charge "George Bush doesn't care about black people" was loudly and lustily booed during last night's NFL kickoff show. The appearance of Kanye West, who was beamed into the Boston stadium via remote from Los Angeles, received a strongly negative response from the crowd. "The boos were thunderous and lasted for much of his number," reports the BOSTON GLOBE. Developing...

First of all, the lyrics say it all: "Blue Monday" written and arranged by Alexis Dean pka Skillbill copyright 2005 Chorus: Blue Monday I can’t stand the rain It’s a shame it came I can’t imagine your pain Blue Monday Things will never be the same But some way we got to maintain Blue Monday 1st verse A tragedy that we don’t understand let’s help our fellow man you see them reaching out their hands who saw it coming "damn" I never saw it coming "slam" but we’re all Americans Katrina got my country looking like a foreign land I...

LOS ANGELES - Rap mogul Jay-Z is standing behind Kanye West, who went off-script to declare that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” during his appearance in last Friday’s NBC telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims. “I’m backing Kanye 100 percent,” Jay-Z told Billboard by phone from London. “This is America. You should be able to say what you want to say. We have freedom of speech.”

One of the few truly unique hip-hop artists to revel atop the commercial side of the industry during the early 2000s, Kanye West spent most of his time producing flavorful hits for Jay-Z and other top-tier rappers, yet he eventually seized the opportunity to launch his own rapping career as well. Granted, West himself wasn't a phenomenal rapper, but he had a lot going for him. For one, he was witty, coming up with off-the-wall lyrics like "She's got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson/Got a dark-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson" that were smart and funny at the...

As Kanye West’s scathing comments about the media, the government, and the president’s handling of Hurricane Katrina become old news, rappers and other figures are still reacting to his unscripted NBC rant. Jesse Jackson praised Kanye’s sentiments on Larry King Live, and Jay-Z and Rhymefest have both recently spoke on the rapper’s remarks. “I’m backing Kanye 100%,” Jay-Z told Billboard. “What’s going on? Why were people so slow to react? I don’t understand it.” Another one of Kanye’s comrades and fellow Chi-town rapper, Rhymefest, had some harsh words regarding the handling of the disaster as it relates to blacks. “Black...

The NFL, under fire from conservatives for cozying up to the Rolling Stones, is standing by Kanye West and will keep the rabid rapper on the bill for tomorrow night's Patriots-Raiders ``NFL Kickoff'' concert. ``Did we ever consider dumping him, no,'' League spokesguy Brian McCarthy told the Track. ``We are working with the Rolling Stones, Kanye West and Green Day for their entertainment value, not for their political views.'' Still, good ol' gridiron fans might be excused if they think the bill is a tad blue-state centric, what with the Stones and their ``Sweet Neo Con'' controversy and West, who...

Kanye West's first week sales are expected to reach the 900,000 mark following the super producer's off-the-cuff rant about the president during MSNBC's recent Concert for Hurricane Relief. Last Thursday, early reports indicated that West's Late Registration was poised to scan between 800,000 to 850,000 units in its first week. But today, reports show that Late Registration is headed towards 900,000 units sold, after Kanye's scathing remarks about the president were broadcasted to millions during the MSNBC telethon and later re-broadcasted across the internet and news media. Kanye's sales spike is being attributed to support for the Chicago rapper/producer after...

Kanye's Rant Doesn't Slow His New Album Rapper Kanye West's blurt-out on Friday night's telethon is still reverberating. But one thing's for sure: His new album, "Late Registration," was already set to debut at No. 1 today on the charts. He's thought to have sold upward of a whopping 900,000 copies in his opening week. I'm told that West was serious, by the way, when he uttered those now famous words: "George Bush doesn't care about black people." He didn't just blurt it out anxiously. It was intentional. The word is that West has revved up friends like Jamie Foxx,...

The US Network NBC which aired the Concert for Hurricane Relief, has said that rapper Kanye West departed from the script when he blasted President Goerge W. Bush.West was not there to perform, but while he was on stage he was supposed to read from the script as it appeared on the teleprompter. West deviated from the script and said, 'If you see a black family it's looting but if it's a white family they are looking for food...We realize a lot of people who could help are at war fighting, but now they have been given permission to go...

Question One: How badly has the federal government botched the rescue and recovery operations? With a straight face Sunday morning, Tim Russert asked Homeland Security’s Director Chertoff whether he or other high-ranking members at HS were thinking of resigning over what has happened, or not happened, in New Orleans. Chertoff dodged the question (ineffectively, by the way) but may have been right to say, “No, actually, but it’s just occurring to me how much time I’m wasting talking to you when I could be out directing the continuing efforts.” Still, when President Bush (normally a rose-colored-glasses kind of guy) says...

Kanye West is way off base. During an NBC network fund-raiser Friday to help Hurricane Katrina victims, West, a hip-hop artist, let loose with an incredibly destructive diatribe. Among other crass comments, West said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." .....West certainly was not the only one to throw down the race card. Some other blacks also accused the federal government of neglecting New Orleans because it has a black majority and rampant poverty. The racial friction is unwarranted and counterproductive. I'm no fan of President George W. Bush, but here's a fact that can't be denied: He was...

Context is required to understand Kanye West's latest outburst -- criticizing President Bush on national TV during telethon Kanye West's outspoken criticism of President Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina has become one of the most controversial statements by a popular musician since Sinead O'Connor tore up a picture of the pope on "Saturday Night Live" in 1992. Like that incident, in which the Irish singer actually was making a complicated critique of the Catholic Church based on the teachings of the Rastafarian religion, the Chicago-born rapper's unscripted comments on live TV were no ill-considered outburst -- and they can't be...

West and Mike Myers had been paired up to appear about halfway through the show. Their assignment: Take turns reading a script describing the breach in the levees around New Orleans. Myers: The landscape of the city has changed dramatically, tragically and perhaps irreversibly. There is now over 25 feet of water where there was once city streets and thriving neighborhoods. (Myers throws to West, who looked extremely nervous in his super-preppy designer rugby shirt and white pants, which is not like the arrogant West and which, in retrospect, should have been a tip-off.) West: I hate the way they...

During a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina relief, Kanye West deviated from the prepared script and said some controversial stuff on live TV before they cut off the cameras --------> http://media.skoopy.com/vids/vid_00747.wmv

Kanye West tells Radar Magzine that he was known as ‘pee boy’ when he was a kid because he couldn’t control his bladder. "I remember one time peeing on myself on the way to a banquet. I had this nice rayon shirt on and these linen shorts, because I'd always be dressed really good. Pee across the front of your shorts - it f***s up your entire outfit."

AS we enter the celebrity telethon phase of the Katrina tragedy, NBC's "A Concert for Hurricane Relief" stands as a blueprint for its own kind of institutional failure. By censoring Grammy-winning rapper Kanye West's remarks critical of President Bush during its West Coast feed of the program Friday night, the network violated the most moving and essential moment in an otherwise sterile, self-serving corporate broadcast. "It would be most unfortunate," the network said in a statement defending its action, "if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in...

He's the guy who made the song "Jesus Walks."

Kanye West criticizes Bush on TV benefit show CTV.ca News StaffHip-hop star Kanye West added his voice to those from the U.S. African-American community who see race as a reason for the poor emergency response to the disaster in New Orleans."(U.S. President) George Bush doesn't care about black people," he declared Friday night on a benefit concert broadcast on NBC -- before the camera cut away from him.West also said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."His voice trembling with emotion, West said: "I hate the way they portray...

Did anyone/everyone catch the remarks made by rap artist Kanye West criticizing President Bush and Americans in general during Friday's Hurricane Relief Concert on NBC? (quotes follow)

It began, fittingly enough, with jazz from New Orleans natives Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis. But "A Concert for Hurricane Relief," a heartfelt and dignified benefit aired on NBC and other networks last night (Sept. 2), took an unexpected turn thanks to the outspoken rapper Kanye West. Appearing two-thirds through the program, he claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible." The show, simulcast from New York on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, was aired live to the East...

<p>As we enter the celebrity telethon phase of the Katrina tragedy, NBC's "A Concert for Hurricane Relief" stands as a blueprint for its own kind of institutional failure.</p> <p>By censoring Grammy-winning rapper Kanye West's remarks critical of President Bush during its West Coast feed of the program Friday night, the network violated the most moving and essential moment in an otherwise sterile, self-serving corporate broadcast.</p>