• Common's got some balls to be practicing with Serena. [CL]

• Boris Kodjoe needs your help! [NB]

• Guess what! Targeted marketing of high calorie food and beverages to blacks contributes to the obesity problem in the black community! We totally needed a study to tell us that. [QSR]

• Now this is real Hollywood love right here. [Bossip]

• Bow Wow and Game prove they have nothing better to do. [AHH]

In the midst of getting into familial brawls at funerals and making criminal threats at the basketball court, the Game was putting together and releasing an album. LAX debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 238,382. And our Solange — all grown up — lands at a respectable No. 9 with 49,000 sold. If it sounds like a low number, consider this: Her debut album in 2003 sold 19,000.

CONTINUED »

• Maybe the Game needs some help? [Jossip]

• Rihanna wears jewelry. On her fingers. [Sun]

• Kwame Kilpatrick's lying, philandering ways may have helped ruined mama's political career. [JJP]

• A new lawsuit highlights a rift between blacks and gays in the DNC. [N&V]

• Who doesn't have a reality show these days? [CL]

It would take the most naive of hip hop listeners to believe every word that comes out of a rapper's mouth. Exaggeration is one of the elements of their craft. But it's always amusing to see an rapper's past directly contradict some part of a his lyrical persona. Take Dr. Dre, for instance. You might not have known that before he adopted an austere wardrobe and a permanent scowl for N.W.A., he was a member of the glittery World Class Wreckin' Cru. After the jump, check out a few rappers who know what happens when an icky thing called "reality" encroaches upon their music personas.

CONTINUED »

REV. AL: SHOW ME THE MONEY? Al Sharpton is denying allegations that he demanded $500,000 from Dr. Dre in exchange for brokering a peace deal between the Game and 50 Cent. According to Bruce Williams, alleged Dre confidant and author of the book Rollin' With Dre, Sharpton said that if the producer didn't pony up the National Action Network would march in protest of his music. "The National Action Network and Reverend Al Sharpton were not involved with and did not attend a press conference held by Hip-Hop artists The Game and 50 Cent to announce their truce and donation to charities," a representative for Reverend Sharpton said in a statement." At no point has Reverend Al Sharpton or an authorized representative of National Action Network met with Dr. Dre."

• Would you like for your kids to be schooled by Will Smith? [CB]

• Mya surely regrets ever getting herself involved with those G-Unit brats. [NB]

• Floyd Mayweather wants to quit boxing, which is new that interests boxing fans, I guess. He also wants to beat up Reggie Bush for "taking" Kim Kardashian. He also needs to get a life. [SR]

• When you release a really bad album that doesn't do well, try to just blame it on jail and your label. That's the route Foxy Brown is taking, anyway. [Bossip]

• Suge Knight's nemesis is really flirting with death, isn't he? [RWS]

• It's dangerous to be O.J. Simpson's significant other. But we knew that. [D-Listed]

• David Paterson is officially the governor of New York. Good riddance, Spitzer. [NYT]

• It makes me sad that kids today don't know what the real Real World was like. Look these fools. [MG]

• LeBron James is the first black guy to grace the cover of Vogue, but the imagery could have been a bit less stereotypical, right? [Racialicious]

• New music from Rihanna. I bet it's Chris Brown's new favorite song. Awwww…. [SR]

• The Game don't stop.

• Rihanna loves her butt. Chris Brown probably does, too. Unless their relationship is all fake. [People]

• The Williams sisters of golf. They already look like they're trying to come up with names for their future fashion lines. [Jezebel]

• February is over, but black history doesn't stop! [BV]

• Surely Kim Kardashian had no idea the cameras were snapping away behind her. That homeless guy got lucky, though. [Bossip]

• The Game checked into jail. I'm sure the other inmates will be so nice to him! [MTV]

• The Game claims the LAPD stole $44,000 from him. [TMZ]

• Buffalo firefighters allege racism because black firefighters were promoted over them. We all know how historically easy black firefighters have it. [WKBW]

• Four black Chicagoans who were allegedly tortured by Chicago PD officers will split a $20 million settlement. [CST]

• Oh, Karl Rove. Shut the hell up. [AAS]

• This would matter a whole lot more if Ron Paul had a chance of winning the Republican nomination. [TYT]

2007 was the year of the celebrity screw up. And we're talking celebrities of all colors, ages, and levels of fame. For Stereohyped's purposes, I'm going to stick with the ones of a certain hue — and there are more than enough to list without getting into the Paris Hiltons and Keifer Sutherlands and Lindsay Lohans of the world. From DUIs to drugs to assaults to illegal weapons, there are far too many* young (and not so young) famous (and not very famous) people whose mugshots belong on the 2007 Hall of Shame.
*I'm sure I'm missing a few!

CONTINUED »

It's been a bit of a video-heavy day, as it is, so I had to choose between posting this video of Kanye West drunk off his ass at Wendy Williams and the above video of the Game leaving court (in a button-down shirt, this time!). Both show popular rap stars pretty much acting like complete idiots, but I decided to spare Kanye West the direct embarrassment, because, well, he can blame it on alcohol. Also he gets credit not facing numerous criminal charges and for being the "number one human being in music."

So, the Game it is. Be warned — you might lose a few brain cells. Or find Jesus.

[TMZ]

• Like the Game yesterday, Snoop got out of his weapons possession charges with a slap on the wrist. And Australia thought they were criminals! [E!]

• Republicans are pretty pissed at the candidates who won't go to Tavis Smiley's debate, too. [EUR]

• Five hundred people silently protested BET's portrayal of women outside network head Debra Lee's house recently. In response, she stood on her lawn and did the Beyonce booty bounce. [AP]

• Laura Bush is like, "Look! I have African American art! It's colorful!" [WP]

• George Bush claims that the GOP has a lot to show for itself re: blacks. I wonder if he's talking about his wife's painting. [BS]