Florida Sentinel Bulletin

“Riddick” is seeing light at the box office.

The sci-fi thriller starring Vin Diesel as an intergalactic criminal with built-in night vision debuted in first place with $18.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Riddick” is the third installment in the series, following the $11.6 million debut of 2000’s “Pitch Black” and the $24.3 million launch of 2004’s “The Chronicles of Riddick.”

“Riddick,” which finds the alien anti-hero stranded and pursued by bounty hunters on a hostile world, served as a passion project for Diesel and series writer-director David Twohy. After the studio originally passed on funding a third chapter, the pair acquired the rights to the character from Universal and independently secured their own film financing.

“Riddick” also fared well internationally, bringing in an additional $7.4 million in 22 markets such as the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.

“Lee Daniels’ The Butler” fell to second place with $8.9 million in its fourth weekend at the box office, bringing its total domestic haul to $91.9 million. The Spanish-language comedy “Instructions Not Included” earned third place in its expanded second weekend with $8.1 million, giving it a total of $20.1 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters.

Drake easily has the most sought after LP with Nothing Was The Same. As fans eagerly await its release, MTV delivers another portion from their sit down with the Toronto rapper at this year’s OVO Fest.

Drizzy candidly spoke on what fans should expect from his third studio project and any full body of work he creates. “My biggest thing is…if you wanna listen to Drake music for the rest of your life — I welcome it, I want you to listen to it, I want you to be a part of it — just don’t ever be surprised when I’m singing or using melody,” he said.

“I’m doing that on this album. This album is not some straight rap album, I’ll never do a straight rap album. That’s not how I came into this and that’s never what I’ll do. I make songs for the people.”

The MC continued, “I have aspirations to be Marvin Gaye in the back of my head.”

Sheryl Underwood offended many with her comments criticizing natural hair on “The Talk” recently, and the comedian sat down for an interview with Curly Nikki to clear up her statement. She reportedly said natural hair was “nasty.”

She apologized for the remark, saying “I made a mistake and I’m sorry.” She also claimed that she was misunderstood and she loves being black.

On being misunderstood:

“Everyday after the show, I look at the footage as a way to continue to strive to be better… to express myself better. I play everything back so I can watch, learn and improve. When that segment played back, I knew that it would be misunderstood.”

PHILADELPHIA  — Hop-hop star A$AP Rocky is facing an allegation of assault during the Made in America festival in Philadelphia.

The district attorney’s office says a concertgoer claimed the 24-year-old Harlem-bred rapper, whose given name is Rakim Mayers, slapped her Saturday as he walked through the crowd of dancing fans tried to wave some of them away. The name of the woman who filed the criminal complaint wasn’t released.

The private criminal complaint states the rapper landed an open-palm slap square on the woman’s face, giving her whiplash.

NBC and MSNBC news anchor/reporter Tamron Hall is about to take on another role as the face of “Deadline: Crime with Tamron Hall.”

The new show aired, Sunday, on Investigation Discovery and features Hall along with a team of correspondents who have extensive knowledge of law enforcement. “I think the show is consistent with a lot of what you see on Discovery (ID), and they are just intrigued and really pulled in by real life drama and real life crime.”

For Hall, the show is hitting really close to home. Her older sister was murdered in 2004 and her case is still listed as unsolved.

A couple of weeks ago, 2 Chainz was arrested after his tour bus was in a standoff with authorities in Oklahoma City.

Details are emerging about what cops found on the bus; a cache of weapons that included two handguns and a plethora of drug paraphernalia.

According to the search report, police confiscated the following: metal marijuana grinders coered in residue, marijuana pipes, Rx meds (Hydrocodone and Flexeril), rolling papers, scales, a semi-auto Sig Sauer SP2340 pistol, a Mossberg model 500 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, and a semi-auto Glock pistol. No charges have been filed.

Lupe Fiasco is being sued by “drug kingpin” Charles Patton’s soon to be ex-wife, who claims the MC hid millions of dollars on his behalf.

Patton is the infamous Chilly Patton, Fiasco’s mentor and business partner who in 2007 was sentenced to 44 years in prison after being convicted of drug charges.

According to the suit, Patton’s estranged wife believes Fiasco conspired with the drug kingpin to move more than $9M into various bank accounts in an effort to block her from making a play on the cash in their ongoing divorce.