Busta Rhymes Posts Bail For Assault Charges

Busta Rhymes posted bail and was released Thursday after being arraigned on misdemeanor assault charges that say the hip-hop star beat a man last month in a dispute over money.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Neil Ross set Rhymes' bail at $3,500 for two third-degree assault and two lesser charges and set his next court date for Feb. 20. The judge also signed an order for Rhymes to stay away from the accuser.

The victim, a court complaint says, is Edward Hatchett, 39, Rhymes' former driver. The complaint says the 34-year-old rapper beat him "with a closed fist about the head and neck," knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the ribs and torso.

Styles P Hurt in Road Rage Accident

Yonkers MC Styles P broke his leg in a road rage incident in Greenburgh over the weekend, according to authorities.

The 32-year-old told police his 2003 Mercedes-Benz was cut off by a truck on Saw Mill River Road on Saturday afternoon.
He said he then cut off the truck, got out and threw napkins at the window.

As he was getting back in his car, Styles told police that truck rammed him.

The rapper's left leg was broken and he was taken to Westchester Medical Center for treatment.

The driver, 50-year-old John Henson, was charged with second-degree assault.

He told police he was not aware he had cut off Styles' car and that he was "in fear for his safety" when Styles got back into his car after throwing the napkins, according to a police report.

Henson is due back in Town Court on Jan. 2.

Spike Lee to direct James Brown movie

Director Spike Lee has signed on to shoot a movie about James Brown, the late "Godfather of Soul," Daily Variety reported on Wednesday.

Daily Variety said Brown played an active role in the project's development, and granted access to his music rights.

"Like everybody, I was surprised and saddened that James Brown died," Daily Variety quoted Grazer as saying. "Having known him well, and after spending lots of time with him and researching his life, it's somehow not surprising that he died on Christmas Day. He was the ultimate showman, all the way to the end."

Lee, the director of "Malcolm X," was most recently in theaters with the thriller "Inside Man," which Grazer produced.

Nas Scores his Third Number 1 Billboard Spot

According to Billboard.com, Nas scored his third No. 1 on The Billboard 200 this week with his eighth studio set, "Hip Hop Is Dead." The Def Jam effort moved 355,000 copies last week in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The rapper’s last effort, "Street’s Disciple," peaked at No. 5 on the chart. Nas’ two other sets to take the summit were 1999’s "I Am… The Autobiography" and 1996’s "It Was Written."

Macy's Pulls Sean John Hooded Jackets Over Use of Dog Fur

Macy's has pulled from its shelves and its Web site two styles of Sean John hooded jackets, originally advertised as featuring faux fur, after an investigation by the nation's largest animal protection organization concluded that the garments were actually made from a certain species of dog called "raccoon dog."

"First these jackets were falsely advertised as faux fur, and then it turned out that the fur came from a type of dog," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.

Pacelle added that the issue is an "industry-wide problem" and its investigation demonstrated that retailers and designers "aren't paying close enough attention to the fur trim they are selling." He added that the issue is especially problematic when "the fur is sourced from China where domestic dogs and cats and raccoon dogs are killed in gruesome ways."

Raccoon dogs — which are not domestic animals — are indigenous to Asia, including eastern Siberia and Japan, and have been raised in large numbers because their fur closely resembles raccoon, Pacelle said.

Orlando Veras, a spokesman at Macy's, a division of Federated Department Stores Inc. (FD), confirmed Friday that the retailer had removed the jackets, releasing a statement saying that it has a "long-standing policy against the selling of any dog or cat fur." He continued, "This policy is clearly communicated to all suppliers."

The Sean John jackets — one a snorkel style, the other a classic version — had been labeled "raccoon fur," but were advertised as faux fur, Pacelle said.

In a statement by Sean "Diddy" Combs released by his publicist Hampton Carney, the designer said: "I was completely unaware of the nature of this material, but as soon as we were alerted, the garments were pulled off the Macy's floor and Web site. I have instructed our outerwear licensee to cease the production of any garments using this material immediately."

Macy's removal of the coats comes on the heels of other tests conducted by the Humane Society of the United States on a range of fur-trimmed jackets from retailers such as Burlington Coat Factory, Bloomingdale's, J.C. Penney and Saks Fifth Avenue as well as from designers and clothing lines such as Baby Phat, Andrew Marc, MaxMara and Calvin Klein. Those tests revealed that most of the jackets labeled as "raccoon" or coyote" from China in fact contained fur from raccoon dogs.

Of the 10 garments tested by the Humane Society, nine tested positive as raccoon dog fur and were mislabeled, a violation of federal law.

The Humane Society is also calling upon Congress to amend the Dog and Cat Protection Act — which bans the sale of dog or cat fur in the United States — to include raccoon dog, since the organization says these dogs are so "inhumanely" killed and their species are similar to domesticated dogs.