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R&B singer/songwriter Ne-Yo, who last month released his new album Year of the Gentleman, is planning a movie based on his life story. says he's currently working on a film that is based on his life story.

The hitmaker who has been involved in the movie-making process and will star in the film, compares the project to Eminem's 2002 biopic "8 Mile," which was based on the Detroit rapper's own rise to fame.

"We are putting together the film right now as we speak, as a matter of fact," Ne-Yo tells Rap-up.com. "The name of the movie is 'Venice Beach' and basically it's going to be my '8 Mile,' loosely based on my life, but not really."

Ne-Yo previously tested his acting skills with an appearance in 2007's "Stomp the Yard."

Internet radio services are breathing a sigh of relief after the Senate approved a bill on Tuesday that would allow them to renegotiate a royalty rate that Web broadcasters say is too high. By law, Web sites like Pandora.com and Live365.com have to pay the performers and owners of the recordings they broadcast, and have been in a tug-of-war with record companies over the size of these payments. (Songwriters and music publishers are paid a royalty by radio stations and Web broadcasters; Web broadcasters also pay the performer.) Under the terms of the Webcaster Settlement Act, which was passed by the House on Saturday and now goes to President Bush for his signature, Web broadcasters have until Feb. 15 to negotiate with SoundExchange, the agency that collects and distributes the royalty. Under the current rate set by federal statute last year, said Tim Westergren, one of Pandora’s founders, his site has had to pay 70 percent of its gross revenue for this performance royalty, and will have to shut down if it is not reduced.

Mini-mogul Lil' Romeo has been forced to buy a cheap bicycle for college after his expensive ones have been repeatedly stolen. Lil' Romeo, real name Percy Miller Jr., is a freshman basketball player at the University of Southern California, where he has been on campus for five weeks and has already had three high-end bikes stolen, according to Eurweb.com Now, the 19-year-old has a few tips to pass along to his peers. He tells People.com, "Lock your bike! Now, I just have a little $5 bike that hopefully no one will want." The famous son of rap mogul Percy Miller, formerly known as Master P, says he much more protective when it comes to securing his pricey diamond chains and other jewelry, and prefers to leave them at home in New Orleans. Lil' Romeo adds, "I don't bring anything expensive to the dorms. I just sleep with my earrings on." Despite the bike thefts, the Trojan point guard says he appreciates his new independence. "I love college life," he says. "It's like a vacation." [source]

BET network has confirmed plans to cancel its long-running Hip-Hop series Rap City by the end of this month. Created by broadcasting veteran Alvin Jones in 1989, the video series chronicled Hip-Hop’s growing video music market, competing directly with Yo! MTV Raps. The fledgling series was able to distinguish itself from its larger MTVcompetitor by not just focusing on mainstream rappers, but alsochampioning videos and interviews from underground and up and comingartists. Originally hosted by "The Mayor of Rap City" Chris Thomas for its first several years, Rap City’s"golden age" was 1994-1999, when the program was hosted by the colorfuland knowledgeable duo of Joe Clair and Leslie Segar AKA Big Lez. In 1999, the two hour slot was repackaged as Rap City: Tha Basement and christened with new host Big Tigger. Tigger’s run birthed the popular Freestyle Booth session,where MCs would feature their best rhymes or freestyles following theirinterviews. After completing their verses, many times with Tigger joining in, the MC(s) would traditionally sign the booth’s wall. These freestyle sessions produced memorable performances fromartists such as Ludacris, The Roots, Killer Mike, Chamillionaire,Jay-Z, Jadakiss, Obie Trice, Xzibit, Cassidy and numerous others. Since Tigger’s 2005 departure, the show failed to establish aconcise direction, running through a myriad of hosts and focusing oncommercial artists, which failed to showcase Hip-Hop’s diversetalent pool as done years before. Consequently, the show was reduced to a one hour time slot as ratings suffered. The final Rap City episode will air on October 29, making it the longest running Hip-Hop program at 19 years. The show is scheduled to be replaced by The Deal, an hour long video series hosted by DJ Diamond Kutz on November 10, according to AllHipHop.com.[source]

Filed Under: What in de FOOK did you THINK Would Happen?

While enjoying a delicious pork steak, egg and cheese biscuit laced with butter, reggae star Sean Kingston's $500,000 chain was stolen from the mail... OK he was not eating that but he did something equally stupid.... he had his sister FedEx a diamond encrusted link chain with a crayon box medallion, from Los Angeles to a jeweler in New York. The authorities were alerted about the missing bling when the shipped package arrived at the jeweler's shop empty, (LOL, I can't stop laughing, at least they delivered the package) according to TMZ.com. Kingston's sister reportedly only insured the extravagant parcel for just $500 (I'm currently banging my head into the wall) The incident is currently under police investigation in Los Angeles. The pop icon is best known for his Summer 2007 hit "Beautiful Girls". (Just look for the Fed Ex employee who took an immediate vacation to Brazil).

(after watching the video on today's blog, this may not be a bad idea). State Representative John LaBruzzo of Metairie, Louisiana said many of his constituents are tired of paying for children from poor families and that is why he is considering proposing legislation that would pay women on government assistance $1,000 if they choose to be sterilized. "You have these people who are just fed up with working their buns off to try to provide for their own family and being forced by the government to provide for others’ families who just want to have unlimited kids," ("unlimited" that's funny like it's a baby buffet) he said. LaBruzzo said he is studying voluntary sterilization for women whose sole financial support comes from the government in the form of welfare or other public assistance. His idea would be to give the women $1,000 if they had their tubes tied. His proposal has come under harsh criticism by some civil rights groups (of course and as usual). The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) called it a misguided and mean-spirited attempt to eliminate poverty by eliminating the poor (Um, hello, is this REALLY such a bad idea?). LaBruzzo said his office has been flooded with emails, many supporting his position (I have to say, I support it, some people don't NEED to have kids). "We have more in favor, saying, ‘good job, keep it going.’" he said. "Of course we have a lot saying you’re going in the wrong direction." LaBruzzo said that in addition to the sterilization of women, he would consider vasectomies for welfare dads and tax incentives for higher income families with children in private schools.

Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) weighed in on the Arbitron Portable People Meter radio-measurement-system rollout in eight markets, saying that he thinks the rollout should be delayed until the system is accredited by the Media Research Center. The MRC was created by Congress to vet media-ratings systems, although seeking its accreditation is voluntary, not mandatory. In a letter to Arbitron president Stephen Morris, Sen Obama and Sen Richard Durbin (D-IL) said they were concerned that the meters -- which are replacing paper diaries in radio-audience measurement -- were undercounting minorities.

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Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, who died in a 2002 car accident, second solo album will finally see the light of day. The long-awaited 12-track album, Eye-Legacy, will hit stores November 11, according to XXLmag.com. It features previously unreleased vocals from the TLC rapper and collaborations with Chamillionaire, Lil' Mama, Bobby Valentino and Missy Elliott, who appears on the first single, "Let's Just Do It." The LP is being released through Mass Appeal Entertainment, in conjunction with the Lopes family. It will also feature songs from Lopes' 2001 solo debut, Supernova, which was never released in the U.S. A duet with late rapper Tupac Shakur called "Legendary" will also appear on the disc, according to Urban Network.com. "We hope people understand the message in Lisa's music and appreciate her as not just a member of TLC, but as a solo artist as well," the Lopes family said in a statement. "This album is Left Eye's musical gift to her fans and adds to the beauty of her legacy." A percentage of the proceeds from the album sales will go to the Lisa Lopes Foundation and her orphanage in Honduras, according to Urban Network. In April 2002, Lopes was vacationing in the Central American country when the SUV she was driving flipped over. Lopes was the only fatality among the eight passengers in the vehicle. She was 30.[source]

Lisa Left Eye Lopez