By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
When record executive Mark Pitts heard "Sure Thing," a song Miguel wrote for possible inclusion on an album by Usher, Pitts felt there was something special about the young songwriter. Then he heard "Quickie," another song from Miguel, and Pitts knew he had to meet the man behind these infectious R&B jams.
A slight smile finally brightened Jim Haslett's hardened countenance after midnight Monday morning. His wife, Beth, and daughter, Kelsey, walked alongside him up the ramp that leads from the Washington Redskins' locker room out of FedEx Field.
Music fans took a big hit earlier this year when Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-Go, died in May. But the District's homegrown sound lost another ardent figure on Monday.
Best group: Kanye West and Jay-Z
The BET Awards didn't begin with a bang but an extended bleep, as the censor police worked overtime during a performance by Kanye West's G.O.O.D Music group, Nicki Minaj and Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee's parody of Jay-Z and West's hit song "... In Paris."
Lil Wayne was feeling inspirational while making an appearance at South By Southwest. Snoop Dogg admitted he was too high to notice he was performing on a stage six stories tall that looked like a vending machine. And rumors that Eminem would make a surprise appearance continued to swirl around 6th Street.
People aboard a party bus shot at after leaving a Northeast strip club last week were earlier involved in a fight at the club — the latest in a series of incidents there that include a stripper being hit in the face with a champagne bottle during a tussle between a patron and the entourage of rapper Lil' Wayne, according to police reports.
iTunes' top 10 selling singles and albums of the week ending Dec. 27, 2010:
"Coach Haslett, Wale," he said, reintroducing himself. "Great job."
"Oh yeah, the rapper!"
