50 CENT,JAY-Z TOPS FORBES ALONG WITH OTHERS

While Jay-Z topped Forbes.com’s inaugural Hip-Hop Cash Kings list of the top-earning people in the business last year, in 2008 he cedes the throne to Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who raked in $150 million over the past 12 months–almost twice what Jay-Z made.

Fitty banked $100 million after taxes on one deal alone when his stake in VitaminWater’s parent, Glacéau, was bought by Coca-Cola as part of a $4.1 billion deal. The rapper’s business empire also includes the G-Unit clothing line and record label, plus films, videogames and platinum albums, including last year’s “Curtis.”

Also in the works is a partnership with South African mining billionaire Partrice Motsepe that would bring the rapper an equity stake in the mine–and 50 Cent-branded platinum to the world.

For the second year in a row, Sean “Diddy” Combs finished third on the list with $35 million from his revenue streams, including his clothing line Sean John, record label Bad Boy, premium vodka Ciroc and two reality-TV shows.

Kanye West clocks in at No. 4 with $30 million, while Andre “Dr. Dre” Young earned $15 million last year – based solely on his catalog of hits spanning two decades.

Tupac, who died 10 years ago, also made about $15 million, according to Forbes.

OBAMA AND BIDEN

The race for the White House entered a new, decisive phase yesterday as Barack Obama introduced Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, a seasoned Washington veteran, as his running mate, describing him as ready to “step in and be president”.

Obama described Biden as a “statesman with sound judgment who doesn’t have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong”.

In a declaration of war, Republicans swiftly moved to kick Biden by pointing to his criticisms of Obama, their disagreements over the Iraq war and his reputation for verbosity.
As chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, Biden has the experience to play the role of wise counsellor to Obama, 47, and the ability to take the fight to John McCain, the Republican nominee, over the war in Iraq and the battle against terrorism.

Obama presented Biden, 65, as a scrappy “working-class kid” who is as at home in a bar as on Capitol Hill, telling the story of his stutter as a boy, the tragedy of losing his wife and young daughter in a car crash and his familiarity with economic hardship.

He added: “That’s the kind of fighter I want on my side.” The crowd cheered and waved newly minted Obama-Biden placards.

He described Obama as a “clear-eyed pragmatist” with “steel in his spine” and said he had earned his respect on the campaign trail.

With Obama and McCain neck and neck in the polls, the election is likely to get personal. Republican activists are already mooting “Obama Bin Biden” bumper stickers.

JERMAINE DUPRI’S CAFE CLOSES AND OWES EMPLOYEES?

Jermaine Dupri closed the doors of his healthy self-serve restaurant Café Dupri indefinitely, according to a sign on the door.

After three years in the Buckhead section of Atlanta, and within weeks of greivance from workers that paychecks were bouncing. The music tycoon holds the country’s ailing economy accountable for a slump in profits over the years.

“The economy has changed dramatically and people just aren’t eating out as much anymore,” Dupri told AllHipHop.com. “People are cutting back everywhere and a lot of companies, including Café Dupri, are feeling the affect. For the past two months business at the Café has been down and if the business isn’t making money, I feel its a smart move to shut it down. Bottom line: if it doesn’t make money, it doesn’t make sense.”

Meanwhile, café workers are saying their paychecks have been rejected at local check cashing businesses. According to WSB-TV, workers arriving to work last week found a sign on the door that read “thanks for patronizing Café Dupri. We have closed indefinitely.”

According to the workers, Dupri’s mother, Cecelia Mauldin, acted as CEO of Café Dupri. She issued warnings numerous times to employees positioning that payroll funds were not available.

According to Allhiphop.com, a notice dated Aug. 11 directed the workers to go to “a Sun Trust bank and cash your check. The cash flow will not be in the bank until Tuesday after 12. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Mauldin refutes that the workers were stiffed out of their paychecks, and said it was a business decision to close down Café Dupri.

SHAQ LOVE AFFAIR UNCOVERED! HOLD ON SHAUNA!

Even though Shaquille and Shauna O’Neal have reportedly called off their divorce proceedings, a new report could influence that decision.

TMZ is reporting that an Atlanta based hip hop artist named Mary Jane is maintaining  that the young NBA legend has been harassing her with heavy breathing over the phone.

The woman, whose real name is Alexis Miller, says it’s gotten so appalling to the point that she went to the authorities and received a restraining order against the Phoenix Suns center.

Miller asserts they had an affair and that when it ended, Shaq threatened he’d destroy her career if she told anyone.

According to court documents O’Neal inscribed her one email that reads:

“I dnt no who the fuk u think u dealin wit u will neva be heard from one phone call is all I gotta make no try me. Sho me.”

O’Neal is scheduled to appear before a judge on Sept. 4.

TMZ is also reporting that the woman’s lawyer, L. David Wolfe, said that Miller has known O’Neal for 18 months and that he sent her manifold emails that are grounds for her to be  worried.

MLK, JR’S KIDS SPAR OVER PARENTS ASSETS

The brood of Martin Luther King Jr. persist in legal hurly-burly over the direction of the King Center for Nonviolent Change, founded by their late mother, Coretta Scott King.

Dexter King, the center’s chairman, filed a lawsuit Monday against his brother and sister, Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, accusing them of both instituting foundations in direct competition with The King Center, reports the Associated Press.

The lawsuit also conditions that King III used the center without consent to convent with then-presidential candidate John Edwards in January 2008.

In July, King III and Bernice King sued their brother in an effort to force him to release the books of their father’s estate.

DR. DRE’S SON FOUND DEAD

The Los Angeles County Coroner reported today that the son of hip hop record producer and rapper Dr. Dre has died. Andre Young Jr. was found dead at his home in Woodland Hills on Saturday morning.

Young was out the preceding night and returned home around 5:30 A.M., according to Assistant Chief Ed Winter. His mother went to check on him in his bedroom around 10 A.M., found him unresponsive, and called 911. He was 20 years of age.

The cause of death is pending completion of a toxicology report.

MY PRAYERS GO OUT TO DRE, MANA J AND THE REST OF DRE’S FAMILY.