The NBA will be cancelling at least two more weeks of its season, according to a person familiar with the league's plans.
The source told the Daily News that the announcement will be made by the league on Tuesday.
With talks broken off between the owners and players, and the two sides far apart on major "system" issues, the cancellations are expected to total at least 102 more games, through Nov. 28. No further talks are in the works.
The league made its first cancellations, totalling 100 games and running from the Nov. 1 season opener through Nov. 14, on Oct. 10. Commissioner David Stern had said last week on WFAN that he thought that the leagueâs showcase Christmas Day games would be cancelled if a deal had not been reached by last Tuesday.
But even with the impasse at the bargaining table, the feeling is that the league still thinks it can get a deal and save its traditional Christmas games. Included in that is the Knicks-Boston game at the Garden. Locked-out NBA players say they want to return to the bargaining table, but that they are not going to accept the ownersâ precondition of accepting a 50-50 split to be able to resume talks.
"I will call them to see if they want to get back together," Billy Hunter said on Bill Simmons' ESPN podcast Monday. "But if they still say they'll only meet if I accept their 50-50 (proposal), to me that's a non-starter. I can't agree to meet if I donât know what is going to happen on the other issues. That is intolerable."
Owners and players have not talked since they left their last round of negotiations dug in on various "system" issues dealing with a new harder salary cap favored by owners and the preservation of the soft cap favored by players.
During the last session, owners rejected the playersâ demands on the critical issue of "give-backs." For taking less of the split of $4 billion, and lowering their demands to 52.5% of the revenue, players wanted to use that to trade for more favorable features in the system.
"What we told the players is that we could not trade one for the other," said NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver, after owners raised their offer on the split to 50-50. According to commissioner David Stern, it will take a month to put the new collective bargaining agreement in writing, conduct free agency for upwards of 150 players, and run a short training camp and an abbreviated preseason schedule. In the best-case scenario, Stern has said, it might be able to cut the start-up period to 28 days. Stern received a lot of publicity last week for saying that Christmas Day games would be lost if the two sides didnât reach a deal as they met under the guidance of federal mediator George Cohen.
Stern missed the final session with Cohen due to the flu and has not commented since on the lack of progress or how many more games will be lost.
The dancehall artist faces yet another murder charge.
Constant Spring Criminal Investigation Branch detectives have charged Vybz Kartel and Kiro Jones with the murder of Clive "Lizard" Williams.
Police say Williams was murdered on August 16, 2011, in Havendale, St. Andrew, according to go-jamaica.com.
Arrangements are being made for Kartel, real name Adidjah Palmer, to be brought before courts.
This is Kartel's second murder charge this month. Just weeks ago, he was charged with murder, illegal possession of a firearm, and conspiracy to murder.
Those charges are the result of allegations that on July 11, Kartel and other men conspired to murder Barrington "Bossie" Burton, who was killed when standing with friends in Gregory Park.
Watch a news report below, announcing the charges stemming from the Burton death:
The Virginia Beach emcee details his upcoming EP, goes in-depth about his freestyle, as well as promising more work with Odd Future coming.
With the way things are going right now for Pusha T, people would be wise to take note from the title of his recent freestyle over Drake’s “Dreams Money Can Buy” , "Don't Fuck With Me" . It’s clear the Virginia Beach rapper also has things in artistic perspective; whereas his time with Clipse was spent building a lyrical repertoire that honed in on the P’s and Q’s of street life, Pusha T is expanding his brand of rap into different avenues.
This versatility is present on his upcoming project Fear Of God II: Let Us Pray, with Pusha’s collaborations ranging from Tyler, The Creator to Kevin Cossom to Juicy J, all the while bolstering a solo career that’s being aided by Hip Hop elites like Kanye West and Pharrell Williams. Hell hath no fury like a reinvigorated Thornton brother.
HipHopDX jumped on the phone with Pusha T last Thursday (October 20) to uncover the process behind Fear Of God II: Let Us Pray (Due November 8 on G.O.O.D. Music/Decon/Re-Up Gang Records) and its features, as well as what longtime fans can expect to hear on his solo debut due out early next year. Fully aware of the online aftermath caused by his freestyle “Don’t Fuck With Me,” Pusha Ton also clarifies the motivation behind the record and if in fact someone did catch his lyrical crosshairs.
Photo by Jason Goldwatch
HipHopDX: To start off, I think you’d agree with me in saying that Hip Hop in 2011 is not exactly what it was when you and Malice began in the late nineties and early 2000s. But with that said, how does Pusha T hook up with British Pop star Pixie Lott? I never saw that collaboration coming.
Pusha T: I think Pixie [Lott] was doing something a little edgier at the time for her new album, and they reached out. Pixie is large, like super-major, and it was just one of those things where I was like, damn, I’m definitely going to venture out and try my hand at it. I felt like we came up with something good and it was definitely fitting for her demographic.Pusha T Breaks Down Fear Of God II: Let Us Pray's Purpose In Retail
DX: Fear Of God II: Let Us Pray is close to a repackaged version of the mixtape that you put out earlier this year. I felt like with the first version, it had a few freestyles with you going in over different people’s beats, whereas Let Us Pray feels more complete with the tracks you included like “Changing Of The Guard” and “What Dreams Are Made Of.” So was that the original plan, to sort of switch it up and put it out in a retail format?
Pusha T: No, what really happened was I put out the original, but I kept making records. And I get a bit antsy, like me and the whole structural way of doing shit, I’m not with it. I get excited when I make records and I want to put them out and everyone was sort of fighting me on it. That’s why when shit leaks, everyone gets a little bit upset with me because they’re like, “Why did you do that?” But, in all honesty, to me it’s all about the fans and them getting the music. So this was really a chance to put everything together and make sure that we weren’t frivolously leaking records, where it’s like you can catch it on this website but not on that website. You could tangibly just go grab it, the whole body of work done in this little time period.
Fear Of God is sort of like my coming out party. People rarely see me collaborate or seen Clipse collaborate so much with different artists. I wanted to show people that I do have alliances in this game. Lyrically, it’s still street Hip Hop, but at the same time it’s something a little different than what people know me for.
DX: You were talking about it being a bit different, and aside from your dedicated fan base, I felt like there was more here for the casual fan to enjoy or get into. You have the club record “Feeling Myself” with Kevin Cossom, you have the introspective “Everything That Glitters,” and of course you got the street-laced tracks like “Amen,” “So Obvious” and “I Still Wanna.” So would you say this project was about expanding your fan base? Was that something you were conscious of in the booth at the time?
Pusha T: Not really, man. A lot of those records you see getting done are a product of me and just where I am in life right now. I’m always out. I’m always in the club now; I’m always seeing what’s going on. I’m such a fan of so many things that are going on in music, and then damn, a record like “Amen” presents itself. It’s like, how can I not take it? Or a record like “Feeling Myself” with Kevin Cossom, that’s one of the first times that I didn’t feel compromised in doing a "girl record."
For example, you have a record like “Ma, I Don’t Love Her” off Lord Willin’, and as much as I was into that record back then, I sort of attacked it as a "girl song." I know some people don’t like the record at all, and it’s a preference thing. Of course, a lot of girls do like it. But on this “Feeling Myself” record it was one of those things where I really honed in on making one of those records without treating it like ‘one of those records.’ There wasn’t anything cheap about it, lyrically it’s still cocky. Now, it’s like one of my favorite records to perform, and people wouldn’t think that with my background.
The Roc Nation rapper says that songs that didn't make his debut will make his second LP.
J. Cole most recently released his debut Cole World: The Sideline Story, but heâs already on to the next one. During an interview with Hot 106âs Rise & Grind morning show (via HHNM), the âWork Outâ rapper revealed that heâs begun work on the project and that it will also include songs that didnât make his debut.
âI donât know how many, but I got songs that didnât make the last album that are automatically going to make this one,â he said, revealing the release date. âJune. End of June, maybe June.â
In the meantime, Cole is working the new LP, which has spawned the singles âWork Outâ and âCanât Get Enoughâ featuring Trey Songz. He also confirms that the next single will be âNobodyâs Perfectâ featuring Missy Elliott.
YO! Now that Jimmy Henchmen is in jail, HELL HAS BROKEN LOOSE! Rumors are all over the place and I am getting one of epic proportionsâ¦.thatâs sadly wack. I am getting word that Jimmy Henchmanâs daughter just got beat up by a dude mad over Tupac. This apparently happened in Las Vegas at Drakeâs bday party at Tao in the parking garage. She was getting into an argument with this guy who was a super Pac fan over his murder and dude just took off on her. According to my sources, this could have easily been caught on tape. The sad thing is sheâs paying for the ALLEGED sins of the father. She didnât have anything to do with that. Jimmy is in jail! Hereâs Dee Dee Rosemond, the only daughter that I know Jimmy has. Hoping this didnât happen!
Atlanta rapper Lil Scrappy has addressed recent reports that he was stabbed last week.
The news turned out to be a rehashing of the same story involving Lil Scrappy being involved in an altercation with his sisterâs boyfriend in 2009.
âThey said a ni**a stabbed. I got stabbed three years ago,â Lil Scrappy said. âI got into a situation where a ni**a jumped on my sister. I hit him up, beat the f**k out of him. He stabbed me. It wasnât my knife, thatâs why I got charged for having a gun. I brought the tool to the fight. I donât go to a fight no where with a knife, that aint just gonna do it for me.â
Lil Scrappy recently dropped his new single âHelicopterâ featuring 2 Chainz & Twista, from his upcoming album The Grustle.
The Atlanta rapper recently released his mixtape âThe Merlo Jonez EP,â his alias, with DJ Smallz.
âIt done flooded the mixtape sites. Even to the haters that act like they donât wanna see me and these sucka duck niggas that wanna keep me out the game, slowly but surely.â
