Chris Brown and Rihanna

Chris Brown has admitted his relationship with Rihanna is "growing".

Chris has opened up about his blossoming romance with the 'Umbrella' singer, revealing his mother Joyce has bonded with 20-year-old Rihanna.

Chris said: "Our relationship is growing. We started off as friends and we're getting a little bit closer now. My mom is real cool about it all. They both have light skin with green eyes, so.

"But I don't want to let down all my girlfriends, so all the ladies out there, I still love y'all!"

The 19-year-old singer - who was spotted kissing Rihanna in a fast food restaurant last month - dismissed claims they were "friends with benefits", insisting that would make their relationship sound "cheap".

Chris also says he hopes to emulate his heroes Prince and Michael Jackson by experimenting with a different musical direction for his new album 'Graffiti'.

He added to US radio show host Russ Parr: "I wanted to change it up and really be different. Like my style nowadays, I don't try to be typical urban. I want to be like how Prince and Michael and Stevie Wonder were. They can cross over to any genre of music."

Mavado

Mavado is again facing problems in regards to his lyrics. This time around it's from a prominent radio Disk Jockey, in Dominica, who has become a Christian. He has raised concerns as to whether Mavado should be allowed to perform at a show scheduled to be held in July. 

There was an article published in Dominica addressing Mavado's lyrics and how negatively his blasphemous message has influenced the youths. 

One of the writer's major concerns was why Mavado has to sing songs with lyrics suggesting he is above God. A typical example he explains is the popular church song entitled I am under the Rock. In this song he changes around the words to convey his message, the song now named "On the Rock." He explains that the song was originally written in relations to 1 Corinthians 10:4 which states that the children of Israel "Drank water from the Spiritual Rock that accompanied them, and that Rock was Christ." He has concluded that many countries refer to "crack/cocaine" as "rock" thus interpreting the song to mean "I am on crack."

In another Biblical reference the writer refers to the fourth line of the same song which goes "My name is so excellent." This he believes is blasphemous as Almighty God is the only one whose name is excellent. In Matt.12:32 the bible clearly states that "anyone who speaks blasphemously against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven."

The other Mavado song he made reference to was the popular hymn "Amazing Grace" to which he has added his own lyrics converting it to a gun tune. The chorus of his rendition states: "Amazing grace, shot fly tru face, the bwoy dem a trace, shoot up dem base, have the K'' (AK47 assault rifle) dem in case, dem try fi escape, none cyaa escape, when me gun blaze." He explains that because of this and Mavado being so influential, the Minister of National Security in Dominica has been discussing implementing harsher penalties for the possession of illegal firearm and ammunition. If they are trying to do this "isn't it contradictory to bring in an artistes who sings about the same thing we are trying to put a stop to?"  he asked. 

Dominica isn't the only country that has taken actions against Mavado. Disk Jockeys in Trinidad and Tobago have stopped playing Mavado's lyrics on their radio stations as they blamed his lyrics for a stabbing incident that took place. Guyana and Barbados have also taken actions against him. 

"This type of action does not do anything to cease Mavado's momentum and popularity, if anything, it just adds to his legend." This was a statement made Jones-Griffiths, Mavado's manager in the Jamaican Star. The writer feels that artistes are using their violent lyrics to influence youths to perform deviant behaviours and are simply using the media as a tool launch their career and make them more popular. What he can't seem to understand is how the government claims that thay want to lower the level of deviant behaviour in the country and still allow songs that glorify and encourage crime, drugs and violence to be aired daily?

Two men wheeled a dead man through the streets in an office chair to a check-cashing store and tried to cash his Social Security check before being arrested on fraud charges, police said.

David J. Dalaia and James O'Hare pushed Virgilio Cintron's body from the Manhattan apartment that O'Hare and Cintron shared to Pay-O-Matic, about a block away, spokesman Paul Browne said witnesses told police.

"The witnesses saw the two pushing the chair with Cintron flopping from side to side and the two individuals propping him up and keeping him from flopping from side to side," Browne said.

The men left Cintron's body outside the store, went inside and tried to cash his $355 check, Browne said. The store's clerk, who knew Cintron, asked the men where he was, and O'Hare told the clerk they would go and get him, Browne said.

A police detective who was having lunch at a restaurant next to the check-cashing store noticed a crowd forming around Cintron's body, and "it's immediately apparent to him that Cintron is dead," Browne said.

The detective called uniformed New York Police Department officers at a nearby precinct. Emergency medical technicians arrived as O'Hare and Dalaia were preparing to wheel Cintron's body into the check-cashing store, Browne said. Police arrested Dalaia and O'Hare there, he said.

Cintron's body was taken to a hospital morgue. The medical examiner's office told police it appeared Cintron, 66, had died of natural causes within the previous 24 hours, Browne said.

"He was deceased in the apartment when he was removed by these two," Browne said.

Dalaia and O'Hare, both 65, were being held by police and faced check fraud charges, Browne said.

A call to a telephone number listed for Cintron at the apartment he shared with O'Hare went unanswered Tuesday evening. Police said they didn't have an address for Dalaia or attorney information for him or O'Hare.

November 26th, 2007 / By Ray Eazy