Florida Sentinel Bulletin

KINGSTON, JAMAICA — One of Jamaica’s most popular deejays has been charged with murder.

A police statement issued Monday evening says dancehall star Vybz Kartel was charged with murder, conspiracy to murder and illegal possession of a firearm.

Police accuse the rapper, whose real name is Adijah Palmer, of conspiring with others to kill a 27-year-old promoter who was slain on a street corner earlier this year.

Kartel’s defense attorney, Tom Tavares-Finson, could not be reached about the allegations. The 35-year-old Kartel was initially arrested Friday for marijuana possession.

Known for sexually explicit and violent lyrics, Kartel has previously been arrested on charges including assault and illegal gun possession. Those charges were later dropped.

According to UK website Daily Mail, Kanye West has been in London spending major euros.

Reports state that the rapper dropped £14,000 (which equals about $22,000 U.S. dollars) in a fabric shop in East London on materials for his upcoming women’s clothing line, which he premiered during Fashion Week last week.

Owner of London Trimmings, Ashraf Loonat, was shocked when the star walked in but said he was very down to earth.

“He turned up unexpectedly at first,” said Loonat. “He was very polite, interested in what we had to say.”

LOS ANGELES — An executive for the maker of a medical device used by Michael Jackson’s doctor to monitor the singer told jurors on Friday that the equipment was not adequate for the continuous monitoring of patients.

The $275 fingertip device that monitors the pulse and blood oxygen levels was recovered after Jackson’s death and was being used by Dr. Conrad Murray while he was giving the singer doses of the surgical anesthetic propofol.

Prosecutors called Nonin Medical executive Bob Johnson to try to show that Murray lacked enough equipment to care for the singer during the treatments. Propofol is normally administered in hospital settings.

Johnson said the model that Murray used had no audible alarm and was not intended to be used for the continuous monitoring of patients.

NEW YORK — On Thursday night, Jay-Z hosted a carnival at the Hudson River Park pier for his Shawn Carter Foundation. But it wasn’t all Ferris wheels and funnel cakes. The event was called Making the Ordinary Extraordinary, and it sought to raise funds for college scholarships.

MTV News caught up with Mr. Carter at the event, where he said the evening was about having fun while raising money for a good cause. Jay said two of the worst things in life are a waste of talent and a person who applies him- or herself but is unable to advance due to financial hardship. He hoped this foundation would help ease such burdens and assist people in recognizing their potential.

Although the ongoing NBA Lockout has basketball fans nervous that they won’t be able to get their hoops fix, it seems they will, at the very least, still be able to see some of their favorite stars over the coming weeks and months. Whether it is playing at a local park or college in a summer league game or even appearing in your living room, professional basketball players have been turning up all over the place lately.

On Wednesday night, Carmelo Anthony will appear in an episode of Law & Order: SVU playing himself. Fellow All-Star Chris Bosh will also be making an appearance. In addition to his cameo on the hit crime show, Carmelo is also planning on making an appearance with the woman who played Carmela in the Sopranos when he joins Edie Falco on Nurse Jackie.

Last October, Brian Bradley, a young aspiring rapper from Brooklyn released a video revealing his frustration with men catcalling and eyeballing his mother. Days after hitting the web his song, entitled Stop Looking at My Mom, became a viral sensation, racking up over 200,000 views on YouTube.

This week on The X-Factor, the 14-year-old Bradley hit the stage with hopes of wowing the celebrity judge panel with his original song and winning a chance to compete for the record deal of a lifetime.

He started out the performance by giving Simon Cowell a lot of attitude and trying to pick a fight, but that was all part of the act leading up to his rap.

After he performed the teen rapper not only received the coveted “yes” from all four judges, but even surprised the industry veterans of the panel.

“You are arrogant, obnoxious, and argumentative but, you are one of the most talented young people I have ever heard,” Simon Cowell said following the performance.

L.A. Reid found Bradley impressive too, telling the teen he is the “luckiest guy”. “Wow. Wow. I used to run this label called def jam, all the years I was there, i was looking for you and you never walked in,’ said Reid. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world that you walked into my life today.”

Rapper Common is now officially a New York Times best seller after fans turned out in droves to buy his book.

Common released his autobiography, One Day, It’ll All Make Sense, to rave reviews this month.

The judge presiding over the Michael Jackson wrongful death case against Dr. Conrad Murray has barred some key testimony and evidence about the singer’s personal life.

Jackson’s child molestation case and his debt will not be mentioned during the case, amongst other details and testimonies by people close to Jackson, reports TheDailyBeast.com.

There will be no intensive digging into Jackson’s past financial woes, as that would be a “salacious … battle of the accountants,” according to the judge. The jury will not get to see estate documents showing the entertainer was more than $400 million in debt when he died, nor the multimillion-dollar contract Jackson signed with AEG–Concerts West for a series of up to 50 comeback concerts in London.

If Sly Stone ever decides to take his show on the road and tour again, at least he won’t have to walk far to the van.

The Sly & the Family Stone frontman, known for such hits in the late ’60s and early ’70s as Dance to the Music, Everyday People and Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), is currently homeless, and living in a van in Los Angeles’ rough-and-tumble Crenshaw district, according to a report co-written by Stone documentarian William Alkema for the New York Post.

According to the article, as little as four years ago, the 68-year-old musician — born Sylvester Stewart — lived in a lavish Napa Valley home complete with a vineyard, and had several cars.

But in recent years, a drug habit (Stone has been arrested multiple times for cocaine possession) and fiscal difficulties (last year he sued his former manager, Jerry Goldstein, for $50 million, claiming that Goldstein had defrauded him) led Stone into his current situation. Not that he appears to mind.

“I like my small camper,” Stone tells the Post. “I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in one place. I must keep moving.”

And despite it all, he’s still recording music, on a laptop computer in his van — and with reportedly hundreds of songs currently in the can, the musician is hoping that today’s hit-makers will reach out and help him stage a comeback.

“I see all the guys playing those old songs,” Stone says. “Let these guys know, like Lady Gaga, let me come in, just let me come in and pay me if you like it.”

It might be a while before Stone gets another crack at the stage. His live performances have been exceedingly rare over the past two decades, and when he has taken the stage, the results have tended toward the shambolic — such as his brief, bizarre appearance at last year’s Coachella Music and Arts Festival.