Interview Jay-Z Speaks With Poppy Harlow Of CNN

Rapper Jay-Z revealed his support of same-sex marriage in an interview with CNN. Coming on the heels of President Barack Obama becoming the first sitting U.S. President to voice his support for marriage equality, Jay said that he believes its 'the right thing' for America.

“I’ve always thought it as something that was still, um, holding the country back,” Jay-Z told CNN's Poppy Harlow. “What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That’s their business.” [It] is no different than discriminating against blacks. It’s discrimination, plain and simple.”

“No different than discriminating against blacks. It’s discrimination plain and simple,” he added. “It’s really not about votes, it’s about people.”

M.I.A. Vs. Anderson Cooper

Controversial hip hop star M.I.A. lashed out at CNN's Anderson Cooper via Twitter yesterday (March 15.) The Sri Lankan-born/Britain-based emcee accused Cooper of attacking her wrongfully, and unleashed a string of tweets reprimanding the reporter.

"@AndersonCooper called me a terrorist for speaking out , and expressed support for the SLgov when this was happening," she tweeted. "Someone should make @AndersonCooper watch it / film it and show the world what happens when respected journos get it wrong #killingfields"

"@andersoncooper YOU CALLED ME A LADY TAMIL TIGER when i talked about tamil civilians dying, and u printed a retraction," she continued. "@andersoncooper in 2009 u linked to a article that was written about me with false info. there was a rebuttal on ur 360 site."

Cooper denied knowing anything about accusing M.I.A. of being a terrorist. "@miauniverse, you are mistaken. I never called you a terrorist. I don't even know who you are other than the lady who sang at superbowl," he responded. "@miauniverse. by the way, I defended your finger pointing at the superbowl, so check your facts. I've no idea what youre tweeting about."

"@miauniverse you've gone from saying "I wrote", "I called you," to saying my cnn show blog had a link to an article. Big difference," he clarified. "@miauniverse we link to many articles with different viewpoints, and we gave you an opportunity to respond."

"@miauniverse I can understand your frustration if someone wrote untrue things about you, and I'm glad you were able to respond," added Cooper. "@miauniverse ....and the brutal war in SL has not gotten enough coverage in the US, and I know that very upsetting."

M.I.A. gave her final stance on the controversy by responding with, "@andersoncooper p.s thank you for defending my finger , please watch Channel4 #killingfields by @jonsnowC4. Im glad u understand but please watch #killingfields because this is what i was trying to say."

Janet Jackson On Whitney Houston:

Pop superstar Janet Jackson talked to CNN's Anderson Cooper about the sudden death of fellow diva Whitney Houston. Jackson shared her memories of interacting with Whitney over the years and offered some advice to Houston's teenage daughter Bobbi Kristina in her time of mourning.

"It's very, very devastating and I pray for her and her family, even Bobby. I mean, he's going through so much," Janet said. "They are all going through so much. The mother, it's very sad."

"She was known as the voice. When she would open her mouth and this instrument would come out you would obviously understand why," Janet continued. "She was such a sweet sweet soul. Especially back in the early 80s and early 90s is when I connected with Whitney the most. It doesn't matter if we were doing an awards show. We would always take the time out to find one another. Either she'd come to my dressing room to say hey and I'd be in makeup or I'd find her in her dressing room to say hey, we always found time to talk to one another. She was such a sweet soul."

"It's a very very tough time. Even though it’s still a loss. I lost my brother, she lost her mother. There's still a difference, even though there's a still a loss to a family, I don't know what that's like being so young," she said. "It was hard for me. It was very very difficult for me. I didn't want to accept it, it's very difficult. You have to come to terms at some point, you have to actually give it up to God and it sounds so mean but you have to move on you can't hold onto that because it can be very devastating. Sometimes therapy is the best thing."

"You figure out a way to move on. It's always right here," Janet said about coping with the loss of a loved one. "There's never a day, not one day has gone by where I don't think about my brother and my other brothers and sisters say the same thing."

D.C. monuments 'stable' after 5.9 magnitude quake, official says

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 struck near Washington, D.C., the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia. Did you feel it? Send CNN an iReport.

Update 3:04 p.m. ET: All national monuments and parks in Washington are "stable but closed" following Tuesday's earthquake, a United States Park Police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser said. A couple of minor injuries and some minor structural damage have been reported in Washington, following Tuesday's earthquake, according to Schlosser.

Part of the central tower of the National Cathedral, the highest point in Washington, D.C., was damaged, according to spokesman Richard Weinberg. "It looks like three of the pinnacles have broken off the central tower," Weinberg told CNN.

Update 3:02 p.m. ET: Amtrak is reporting service disruptions between Washington and Baltimore because of the earthquake, the company reported on Twitter.

Aftershocks are a concern, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones told CNN. "People should be expecting (them), especially over the next hour or two," she said.

The quake was felt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City and on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where President Barack Obama is vacationing. It's unknown if the president felt the quake.

The Pentagon has been evacuated, CNN's Barbara Starr reports. "When the building began shaking rather violently, hundreds of people began streaming out," she said, because many people thought that the building was under attack. Starr was standing in the Pentagon's press office when the roof started to shake.

Cell phone service has been disrupted in New York City, CNN learned within minutes of the quake.

Updated 2:47 p.m. ET: A "considerable amount" of water from a water pipe has flooded two corridors of the Pentagon, according to an announcement in the building. People who work in those areas are being asked to stay in their offices while workers try to repair the damage.

The National Cathedral in Washington is damaged, CNN has confirmed.

And Dominion Generation, which operates the North Anna nuclear power station in central Virginia a few miles from the epicenter of the earthquake, is trying to reach operational staff at the plant, according to a company spokesman. Landlines to the plant appear to be down.

Shortly after the quake struck, traders in the New York Stock Exchange also felt the quake and shouted to each other, "Keep trading!" CNN's business correspondent Alison Kosik reported from the floor at 2:20 p.m. E.T.

Twitter traffic suggests the quake was felt all over the East Coast.

In Philadelphia, HunterPence3 tweeted, "Wow Earthquake just shook the entire locker room!"

In Cleveland, "tribeinsider" wrote "I'm no expert but i think we just had an earthquake here."

And even in Toronto, Canada, tweets said that the shaking could be felt for minutes.

Pete Krech, who works at a business in Fredericksburg, Virginia, likened the sensation to being on a jolting amusement ride. "I was receiving a supply truck," said Krech, store manager at Mattress Warehouse of Fredericksburg, south of Washington. "I felt a vibration under my feet."

Brendan Wein, a sales representative at Hoffman Nursery in Roxboro, North Carolina, said he thought there was a helicopter flying above his work building.  "I was literally shaking in my chair," he said.

CNN iReporter Jeff Yapalater said he was in his backyard in New York's Long Island when the earthquake hit. "Suddenly I felt this light swaying of the Earth. I'd never felt that before, so I thought maybe I was experiencing vertigo for a moment, and it lasted maybe 30 seconds ... We're feeling this really far away!" he wrote.


Source

Sean Kingston To Make Full Recovery

Singer Sean Kingston is likely to make a full recovery after being involved in a serious jet-ski accident in Miami during Urban Week. Kingston and a female passenger were rushed to the hospital following an accident involving the water vehicle and a bridge.

Kingston is expected to make a full recovery within six weeks. According to CNN, Kingston suffered 'a broken jaw, fractured wrist and water in his lungs.' A publicist for Epic Records said that he was “critical but stable condition” in the ICU of a Miami hospital.

Cover Rolling Stone LiL Wayne

Lil Wayne has graced the cover of Rolling Stone for the umpteenth time and he's offering us intel on what went down while he served time in New York's Riker's island. Somehow this story involves Uno, prisoner taking the fall for his mistakes, and having serious beef with LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. 

“I’d bust a nigga’s ass at Uno, We gamble for phone time. I’d take nigga’s commissary: Lemme get them cookies, lemme get them chips, get that soup.”

Eventually his cellmates stopped inviting him to games. “They’d be like, ‘Oh, we thought you were asleep,’” Wayne says. “Like you can’t look inside my cell and see that I’m right there! We ain’t got no doors!”

When Wayne sat court-side at a recent Miami Heat/New Orleans Hornets game he was upset that Lebron James and Dwayne Wade never came over to talk to him. “Them niggas never speak to a nigga,” he says. “They don’t chuck me the deuce or nothing. Nigga spent all that money on them fucking tickets… Come holla at me. We sit right by them little bitch-ass niggas. At least come ask me why I’m not rooting for you.”

Source

Philly rappers take a stand against school violence

Philly rappers Freeway, left, and Young Chris are performing at a high school that has taken a stand against racial violence

By Sarah Hoye, CNN

Philadelphia (CNN) -- It's pretty clear from his hard-hitting lyrics that Philadelphia rapper Freeway is no stranger to street life.

He lost a cousin and close friend to gun violence. He's also had his own run-ins with the law, having served jail time for drug possession.

His experiences haven't left him jaded, though. When the devout Muslim heard about a violent uprising at South Philadelphia High School last year, he got involved.

"I'm from where they're from," said Freeway, whose real name is Leslie Pridgen. "I can talk about those experiences [on the street], but I am a businessman now. I wouldn't take nothing back. It's shaped me as a man."

On December 3, 2009, as many as 30 Asian immigrant students were attacked throughout the school day, several of whom were sent to the hospital.

Racial violence spurs students to take a stand

Since then, Freeway has been working with nonviolence campaigns at several high schools in Philadelphia. In October, he traveled around the city aboard MTV's "Get Schooled" bus with Grammy winner Common and Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry fame. The goal was to inspire students to stay in school and raise awareness about staggering dropout rates.

Freeway, along with his fellow Philadelphia rapper Young Chris, will be performing Thursday at South Philly High.

"Who better to talk than people who grew up in Philly and did something positive with life? I was subject to the same things they were," said Freeway, who originally signed with Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records, and is now with Rhymesayers Entertainment.

"I'm going to speak from the heart, but it's up to them to make the choice."

Who better to talk than people who grew up in Philly and did something positive with life?

--Rap artist Freeway

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Young Chris, born Christopher Ries, said he was also "shocked and disappointed" when he heard about last year's incident at South Philly High. He says he's participating in the rally to encourage the students to keep the momentum.

"Whether we want to believe it or not, they look at us as mentors," he said.

The event is part of the Project Succeed Campaign unveiled by state Rep. Kenyatta Johnson, D-Philadelphia, in October.

Event organizers wanted a concert for the student rally but had concerns about booking rap artists.

Rhymes laced with drug and gang references, and verses peppered with the "n-word," left them skeptical, according to Johnson's spokeswoman, Shalimar Blakely.

They voiced their concerns with the managers for Freeway and Young Chris, and Blakely said she was encouraged not to hold all the lyrics against the performers.

"They may speak about violence and their experience in the streets, but this is what these kids relate to," Blakely said. "The reality is violence is not the thing to do. And they're coming to tell them that."

CNN SOURCE

Rapper T.I. talks man down from hotel roof in Atlanta