PHOTO: CONTACT MUSIC

Tameka’s starting to piss me off again. I’ve done a pretty good job over the past month or so not calling her by her famed alias “Man-eka,” but that’s about to end … now. I used to be a diehard Usher fan, and while I haven’t been fond of the way he’s been acting since meeting his new husband/baby-daddy, I’ve still managed to anticipate this upcoming album. Because let’s face it, the man can make some good music! Confessions, anyone? But back to the matter at hand…

According to recent reports, Man-eka has “ordered him” to focus on their impending parenthood instead of his musical career. Gossip column PageSix claims that “she has banned” Usher from making his big comeback – which was scheduled for next month, November ‘07 – until long after Usher Raymond XXV is born. Here’s what an anonymous source is saying:

Usher only listens to Tameka now, and she wants all Usher’s focus to be on her and the baby. The album had been in the works for over a year… now it looks like it’s never going to happen.

Ordered? Banned? WTF?! What kind of “man” is he? I guess we all know who wears the pants in this relationship. The twat can’t be THAT good, can it?!

As if losing all credibility and possibly his career wasn’t enough, in addition to receiving some jail time (length unknown at the moment), Mr. Michael Vick, who was charged on several counts of “animal cruelty” has to pay a hefty price, to the tune of $20,000,000. Yeah, I could’ve said $20 million, but I had to add the zeros to add to the effect. No matter how rich you are, $20 million is a lot of damn money!

The disgraced quarterback lost the first round in his financial battle with the Atlanta Falcons when an arbitrator ruled Tuesday that Vick should repay most of the bonus money he got while secretly bankrolling the long-running operation. The case is far from over. The NFL Players Association said it will appeal the ruling by Stephen B. Burbank, a University of Pennsylvania law professor and special master who oversaw last week’s arbitration hearing in Philadelphia. The Falcons argued that Vick, who pleaded guilty to federal dogfighting charges, knew he was in violation of the contract when he signed a 10-year, $130 million deal in December 2004. The team said he used proceeds from the contract to fund his illicit activities and sought the repayment of $19,970,000 in bonuses he was paid over the last three years.

Any money the Falcons recover from Vick would be credited to its future salary cap, a huge step in recovering from the loss of the team’s franchise player. Atlanta (1-4) is off to a dismal start with Joey Harrington at quarterback. “We are certainly pleased with today’s ruling,” the Falcons said in a statement. “It is the first step in a process that our club has undertaken in an attempt to recoup significant salary cap space that will allow us to continue to build our football team today and in future years.” In a highly technical, nine-page ruling, Burbank said the Falcons were entitled to $3.75 million of the $7.5 million bonus that Vick was paid after signing the deal in 2004, $13.5 million of the $22.5 million in roster, reporting and playing bonuses he was paid in 2005 and 2006, and $2.72 million of the $7 million roster, reporting and playing bonus that he received this year.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Poor guy. And y’all know how frivolous these celebrities are with their money, so I would definitely be surprised if homeboy actually had every cent of the $20 million. Anyhow, he’s scheduled to be sentenced on December 10th. How long do you think he’ll get? A year? 5 years? 10? 20???

Yesterday TMZ put out a story saying that Bobby Brown had a HEART ATTACK SCARE and recorded a “death bed video” and err-thang! . . . Well according to Bobby-B himself, that’s totally not the case. The “King of R&B” (according to Whitney Houston) spoke with Lee Bailey of Eurweb exclusively about the “incident.” Apparently he was just in for a pre-tour checkup. Way to go TMZ!

A healthy-sounding Bobby Brown spoke exclusively with EUR’s Lee Bailey Wednesday to deny published reports that he was taken to two Los Angeles hospitals Tuesday night with severe chest pains that were later diagnosed as a mild heart attack. “I heard that I had a heart attack earlier, but I didn’t,” Brown told Bailey during a phone call Wednesday afternoon. Reports on TMZ.com, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Associated Press cited confirmation from Brown’s Atlanta-based lawyer, Phaedra Parks, who said Wednesday: “This morning they did diagnose him as suffering from a mild heart attack … they attributed (it) to stress and diet.”

However, the 38-year-old singer said he went to the hospital for a simple pre-tour check-up – “I gotta make sure my vitals and everything is straight” – and next thing he knew, folks were reporting that he had suffered a heart attack. “That’s what happens when you’re Bobby Brown,” he joked. “I just had some procedures done. The doc cleared me and said, you know, [go] do what I do.” As for his lawyer Parks’ confirmation to various outlets regarding the supposed heart attack, Brown says: “She got bad information from somewhere else, and that just goes to show that people need to talk to each other more often in order to make things right.” CONTINUE READING

DJ WEBSTAR, DJ UNK, AND JUELZ SANTANA //ALL PHOTOS BY JOHNNY NUNEZ FOR WIRE IMAGE

Here’s some more photos of the “over-the-weekend” festivities from this year’s VH1 Hip-Hop Honors. These are photos from the celebrity basketball tournament. I would love to see a video of this! Mathew Knowles? Playing bball? … Peep the rest after the cut.

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DJ Beverly Bond honored fellow women of color with the “Black Girls Rock!” Awards held during VH1 Hip-Hop Honors Weekend. Co-hosted by actresses Gabrielle Union and Regina King, this year’s honorees included Essence magazine Editorial Director Susan L. Taylor (”Social Humanitarian Award”), Rutgers University Women’s Basketball Team (”Monument Award”), Universal/Motown President Silvia Rhone (”Corporate Award”) and Missy Elliott (”Creative Visionary Award”), among others. Check out the rest of the pics after the cut . . . CONTINUE READING

JUDGE GREG MATHIS, MEKHI PHIFER, DON CHEADLE, AND LARENZ TATE
ALL PHOTOS BY ARNOLD TURNER FOR WIRE IMAGE

Mekhi Phifer and his wife Oni are expecting their first child together pretty soon, and to celebrate, Mekhi threw her a little party / baby shower at a private residence in LA. Folks like Larenz Tate (and his wife and kid), Don Cheadle, Judge Craig Mathis (and his wife), and more showed up to celebrate. Check out the rest of the flicks after the cut!

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THIS WEEK’S TOPICS: Superhead goes at it with Jamie Foxx – Britney Spears new music video & loses her kids – Police brutality video – Kids mock the Jena 6 and more!!

Newlyweds, and we USE THAT TERM LOOSELY, Usher & Tameka Foster-Raymond, are set to cover the next issue of Essence Magazine. E! News were on the set of the couple’s exclusive photoshoot and got in on all of the action.

Haha I don’t know about y’all but to me, Usher appears to be a little annoyed by Tameka’s actions. But I could be wrong … and I’m probably not. If these two were to come out with a reality show, my black behind would tune in (on time) every, single, week. And don’t act like you wouldn’t cause you know you would =). Peep the other video after the cut. Shout-outs to my homie Erika over at USHERFOREVER.COM for the vids! CONTINUE READING

PHOTO: WIRE IMAGE

DIDDY MIGHT HAVE TO PAY UP SOME SERIOIUS $$$ » Sean “Diddy” Combs has been hit with a lawsuit from a former associate who claims the mogul owes him more than $19 million for music by the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. According to the Associated Press, James Sabatino, a former consultant for Diddy’s Bad Boy Entertainment Inc., says he flew B.I.G. to Miami in 1994 to perform at a concert and record some music. Sabatino says the rapper recorded about 17 minutes of vocals, and the session was also captured on about 90 minutes of video footage. Although a contract was never signed, Sabatino says there was an understanding that he owned Biggie’s tracks as well as the video footage because he purchased both the rapper’s flight and studio session, the lawsuit states.

Diddy gave Sabatino a check for $25,000 and promised the rest of the money would follow in 60 days, according to the lawsuit. Sabatino was later incarcerated on unrelated charges but still tried to collect the balance of his fee from Diddy. He was repeatedly told it was coming soon, according to the lawsuit, which seeks both actual and punitive damages. Sabatino says in the filing that he felt pressured not to talk about the dispute because Diddy had been questioned by police about the rapper’s death. The mogul apparently told police he did not feel Sabatino was involved in the slaying, but Sabatino says he feared Diddy would change his story and implicate him even if it was not true, reports AP. CONTINUE READING

Dayummmm homie! After tons of tests and accusations, Marion Jones (famous for winning 5 Olympic medals at the Sydney Olympics in 2000) has admitted to using steroids. She will be stripped of her winnings (medals included) and has made a decision to quit track and field. Below is a statement from Ms. Jones herself:

Making these false statements to federal agents was an incredibly stupid thing for me to do, and I am responsible fully for my actions. I have no one to blame but myself for what I’ve done. To you, my fans, including my young supporters, the United States Track & Field Association, my closest friends, my attorneys, and the most classy family a person could ever hope for, mainly my mother, my husband, my children, my brother and his family, my uncle and the rest of my extended family, I want you to know that I have been dishonest, and you the have the right to be angry with me.

I have let them down. I have let my country down. And I have let myself down. I recognize that by saying that I’m deeply sorry, it might not be enough and sufficient to address the pain and the hurt that I have caused you. Therefore, I want to ask for your forgiveness for my actions, and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I have asked Almighty God for my forgiveness. Having said this and because of my actions, I am retiring from the sport of track and field, a sport that I deeply love. I promise that these events will be used to make the lives of many people improve. That by making the wrong choices and bad decisions can be disastrous. I want to thank you all for your time.