In his legendary track “If I Ruled The World” featuring Lauryn Hill, Nas spelled out what the perfect world would be like, if he had his say. The first aspect he wanted to change was the hassle of  cops harassing smokers in the street. Though weed is slowly becoming accepted in this society, we are still far away from Nas’ vision of utopia.

Unless you have some newsy neighbors, smoking in your own spot is the best route, but sometimes, blazing outdoors is an optimal situation. Maybe you want to feel some sun rays while you blow, or you may not want your crib smelling like tree. If you’re smoking a blunt or a joint, the cops will probably harass. Using a bong or pipe in public would draw even more attention to you. What other options are there?

There’s one option that has been around for years, but is underutilized by the stoner community. The proper name is the pocket cigarette injector machine. It allows you to create your own full cigarette in a quick series of actions. It is traditionally used for tobacco, and save cigarette smokers money. You go to a tobacco outlet and get a plastic pocket injector for under $10, a bag of loose tobacco or menthol and a box of cigarette tubes.  You load the tobacco into the injector, attached the cigarette tube, close it and pull. In seconds you have a cigarette that costs a fraction of what regular cigarettes cost.

Weed smokers can use this to be more conspicuous when smoking out in public. Just replace the loose tobacco with weed. To work best, the weed should be ground down in a grinder so that it’s fine. It will smoke just the same. Yeah, the smell of the tree is something you can never really get around, but police will look right past you. For all they know, you’re just out smoking a cigarette while some pothead is hiding.

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In American Gangster folklore a lot of drug crews have been lionized in hip-hop’s lyrical lore but The Supreme Team has reigned as overlords of the drug underworld since their early 1980s inception and their relevance in pop culture stills holds true today almost 25 years after their formation and entrance into the drug game. For those of you who are not hip here is a breakdown of the team that Nas, 50 Cent and other rappers have paid homage to.

Who? What has become known as the Supreme Team was a crew organized in the early 80s in the vicinity of the Baisley Park Houses, a public housing project in Jamaica Queens, New York by a group of teenagers, who were members of a quasi-religious sect known as the Five Percenters. The “Peace Gods” as they were known for greeting each other with the words, Peace God, evolved into the Supreme Team. A drug organization that recruited both Latinos and blacks, which enabled them to bypass larger local dealers like Fat Cat and plug directly into Colombian cocaine distributors due to their Latino members.

What? Under Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, the team’s founder, leader and namesake, and his nephew Gerald “Prince” Miller as his second in command, The Supreme Team became one of the most polarizing crews and stories in the golden age of hip-hop. From their 1980s crack era heyday to Supreme’s affiliation with Irv Gotti’s Murder Inc in the 1990s and early 2000s their crew’s name has stayed relevant in the rap world. Under Supreme and Prince, the gang concentrated its criminal efforts on the widespread gang concentrated its criminal efforts on the widespread distribution of crack cocaine. At its 1987 peak, the Supreme Team’s receipts exceeded $200,000 a day and the gang regularly committed acts of violence to maintain its stronghold on the areas drug trade. Eventually Supreme was convicted by the feds of a continuing criminal enterprise, the kingpin charge and imprisoned. Prince soon followed after he was found guilty at his own RICO Act trial.

Where? The Supreme team has gone down in street legend, the lyrical lore of hip-hop and gangsta rap as one of the most vicious crews to ever emerge on the streets ofNew York City. Under the red brick towers of Baisley Projects, an around the clock crack cocaine trade that operated more like a corporation than a drug outfit prospered, selling 25,000 crack vials a week. The Southside ofJamaicaQueens became both ground zero for crack and hip-hop, the fertile crescent of a culture that went international. Supreme played a pivotal role as he used to book early acts like Curtis Blow, LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys, paying them a $1000 a night to play at his lavish gangster parties. In turn the rappers copied his style, swagger and trends.

When? When the crack era jumped off in the 1980s many street legends were born in a hail of gunfire. The murder rates were at an all time high and crack cocaine became an epidemic in the inner city. Long before P.Diddy and Jay-Z took hip-hop global, The Supreme Team epitomized the essence of the era, swagger jacking the spirit of hip-hop. Business minded and ruthless dudes seized the opportunities afforded them and the Supreme Team became synonymous with the definition of the new era black gangster. They were the insidious young black males and millionaire crack dealers all rolled into one that terrified America and led to Hollywood movies like Menace II Society, Juice and Boyz ‘N the Hood.

How? Their mythical and iconic status inspired hip-hop culture and rap superstars like 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Biggie, Nas and Ja Rule. Born at the same time as crack, hip-hop was heavily influenced by the drug crews that controlledNew York’s streets. The resulting folklore had a big impact on the rap artists growing up under their umbrella. Their crime exploits were well known. Team members devised a variety of ways to avoid law enforcement attention including communicating in coded languages and numerical systems. They also deployed lookouts and rooftop sentinels on the top of Baisley Projects. The sophistication of the gangs operations enabled it to survive the periodic targeting of various members for prosecution by the NYPD and the Queens County District Attorney’s Office. Their legend and images were adopted by gangsta rappers to great commercial success.

Why? Drugs, murder, kidnappings, shootings, more drugs and more murder were the rule of the day. They called it “The Game,” but it was a vicious attempt to come up by any means necessary. In the late-80s, the mindset was “get mine or be mine,” and nobody embodied this attitude better than the Supreme Team. They took their cue from Scarface and ran with it times ten. American culture loves its bad guys and the legendary figures of the drug game were the province of myth and hearsay until hip-hop artists romanticized their exploits in verse. TheQueens underworld has long captured the imagination of the public with the fusion of ghetto and prison culture unique to gangsta rap. The Supreme Team is just the latest in a long line of outlaw heroes immortalized in popular culture.

Legend? The Supreme Team became Robin Hood-type figures, very central to the core of rap’s lyrical lore. Their legend has impacted the beat, vibe, style and rhythm of the music and culture. They transformed Queens into a “nightlife Mecca” where drug lords reigned king and the burgeoning hip-hop generation took note, turning their 80s exploits into the bling-bling proliferation that came to define rap in the 90s. Hollywood movies like New Jack City and Get Rich or Die Tryin’ have characters based on Supreme and its been alleged that Supreme had 50 Cent shot and Jam Master Jay from Run DMC murdered. Going from drug baron to federal prisoner to hip-hop maestro to life in prison, Supreme was involved in hip-hop and the crack trade since day one.

Conclusion? The Supreme Team has been romanticized and glorified in hip-hop, but the truth of the matter is that most of their members are currently in prison for life or have spent decades of their prime years behind bars. The team and its infamous leaders, Supreme and Prince, have been profiled on BET’s American Gangster series, in Ethan Brown’s Queens Reigns Supreme and Seth Ferranti’s Street Legends Vol.1 and in street magazines like Don Diva, As Is and F.E.D.S. Currently Prince is serving 7 life sentences at USP Allenwood inPennsylvania and Supreme is serving life at USP Lee inVirginia. Their tale is one of turns, twists and fate, but their influence and relevance has left a lasting impression. The drug game influenced the style and swagger of street culture, hip-hop and gangsta rap and made the Supreme Team icons in the annals of gangster lore.

This was originally posted on www.gorillaconvict.com. Go there to check out all of Seth Ferranti’s writings and check out his book on The Supreme Team today.

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For all dons (and aspiring dons) it is inevitable that problems will arise as we journey to the pinnacle of manhood. There are numerous ways that we could choose to deal with them,   and each choice would have its own result. No method is perfect,  however, we have found a formula that is pretty successful.  Here are the 7 steps to problem-solving.

1.)  Identify the problem.  It is important to properly identify the problem. For one, if you don’t acknowledge there is a problem, then you will not be able to solve it. Secondly, if you fail to identify the right problem, then you will not come up with the right solution.

2.) Assess the situation. After you have identified the problem, examine it closely to determine the root cause of the problem. MAKE SURE YOU GET TO THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM.

3.) Create Alternative Solutions. After you have identified the root cause of the problem, create a list of different possible remedies to the problem. Highlight different strengths and weaknesses of each possible solution.

4.)  Make a Choice. After you have carefully weighed the options of each potential solution, choose the best solution based on the most strengths versus weaknesses.

5.) Implement the Choice. This is possibly the most important step, as so many people fail to complete the follow through. Unless you consciously implement the choice, then the choice remains inactive and useless.

6.)  Evaluate the Results. After the choice is implemented, monitor the results of the choice over a period of time. Don’t be too quick to pull the plug. Give the choice time to take effect. However, know when to pull the plug. Don’t waste precious time and assets “throwing good money  after bad money.”

7.)  Restart at #2 (if necessary.) After you have given your choice time to take effect, if the problem has not been resolved, then start at step #2. Go through the steps all over again. Each time, you will learn a valuable lesson that will assist you in the steps.  Eventually, you will arrive at a solution.

The ability to solve problems is what separates great leaders from everyone else. The game of life is more akin to checkers, not chess. Just as in chess, the winner is the person who is able to solve the most problems over the course of the game. Just as in chess, the person who is able to solve the most problems effectively in life will be successful. The ability to utilize these 7 steps are what will separate the dons from everyone else. This is important to us because this . . .is our corner.

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In season 2 of the HBO series, ‘The Wire,’ West Side kingpin Avon Barksdale grew irked of prison guard Dwight Tilghman for harassing his muscle, Wee-Bey, the killer of killer of one of Tilghman’s relatives. After Tilghman refused to  talk to Avon. Avon knew that Tilghman was smuggling heroin into the prison, so he made arrangements for Butchie (Tilghman’s supplier) to spike the next package. After inmates fell out from the tainted dope, an investigation was launched and Avon dropped a dime on Tilghman, getting him arrested.

Though the background information is not available, something similar happened to a corrections officer at Hall County Jail in Georgia. In February, C.O. Austin Herring was booked on federal charges for smuggling cocaine in February and was arraigned last week. To be specific, he was charged with accepting bribes and conspiring to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

Herring paid $500 on two occasions to transport packages he was told contain cocaine from Mexico to an inmate. Neither time did Herring tamper with the package. If he had, he would have known that there was no contraband in either package. The inmate taking the packs was working in cooperation with authorities. After Herring delivered the packages, they were taken straight to investigators. He was participating in a collaborative investigation conducted by the Hall County sheriff’s office, FBI and North Georgia Major Offenders Task Force.

“This former corrections officer allegedly accepted bribes on two occasions to smuggle what he believed to be cocaine into the Hall County Jail,” said acting U.S. attorney John Horn. “We are committed to doing what we can to eradicate drugs and other contraband from jails.”

[AJC]

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Justin Bieber’s name and trouble is not a surprise nowadays. Some people question the company he keeps. They suggest that the pop star has the wrong people around him. One of those people is Young Money rapper, Lil’ Twist. In March 2013, Twist smashed up Bieber’s Fisker Karma in a hit-and-run accident. In the same month, he got nailed for an alcohol-fueled rager at Bieber’s home while he was not there.

That could all be seen as light work. Lil’ Twist is a much hotter water these days. Now, there the LAPD has a warrant out for Lil’ Twist, stemming from an incident involving Disney star, Kyle Massey in November.Apparently, Twist and some friends were over Massey’s house and were asked to leave. Reports indicate that Twist left, but returned with his friends. They forced their way into the house hitting Massey with brass knuckles and pulling his pants down. They also, allegedly, stole Massey’s cell phone and wallet.

At the moment, Lil’ Twist and his cronies face the charges of making criminal threats, burglary, grand theft, battery and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. If convicted of these charges, Twist could be sitting behind the wall for 25 years.

From the looks of things, Justin Bieber appears to be trying to straighten his life out. That may mean having to leave guys like Lil’ Twist behind. If you’re trying to make moves, you can’t have people around you who are getting into serious trouble. That’s just no good for a pop star.

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Don Diva Magazine told you about the dangers of prescription drugs in ISSUE 39.

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The day of a an agent in the United States Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has got to be more interesting than most. It seems like a lot of people try to get themselves and contraband across the border from Mexico to the United States, even though the legal implications could be very serious. In a more recent CBP bust, a 16-year-old was nailed trying to smuggle more than a hundred pounds of weed across the border.

The unnamed teenager, from Glendale, Arizona, was driving the Volkswagon sedan with two adult passengers, aged 23 and 24. They were halted on their trip back at the Port of Lukesville, Arizona border crossing when a narcotics detection dog picked something up in their vehicle. Customs agents searched the car and found 12 packages of marijuana, totaling 185 pounds of weed. The seizure was said to be worth around $92,000. The three wannabe smugglers were transported to immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

Though medicinal marijuana is legal in the trio’s home state of Arizona, it is still illegal for recreational use, therefore hard to get a hold of legally. The ladies were clearly working for the plug, if they were not the plug themselves. It’s hard to believe that anybody would include a child on this mission. Possibly, they felt that the presence of a youngster would make them less hot. Regardless, trying to get weed or any other illegal substance across the border. It is never a good idea to try that. These young women are probably facing some significant time.

[DAILY MAIL]

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A U.S. District judge on Monday called the actions of a former hip-hop mogul James Rosemond “heinous” and “vile” as she sentenced him to life in prison plus 20 years in a murder-for-hire plot.

Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the sentence Tuesday for James Rosemond.  

Rosemond, who had been the chief executive officer of New York-based Car Entertainment, was convicted by a Manhattan federal jury in December for his role in ordering a crew of men to kill an associate of the rap group known as G-Unit. The charges stemmed from the 2009 shooting death of Lowell Fletcher.

Prosecutors said the killing was payback for an assault on Rosemond’s son.

Rosemond’s lawyer argued the witnesses against him were unreliable.

Rosemond was already serving a life sentence for smuggling cocaine.

James “Jimmy the Henchman” Rosemond has represented artists such as The Game and Sean Kingston. He is also behind such hits as Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop.”

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In today’s society,  there  appears to be a fascination  with money like never  before.  To be sure , currency has  always been important in any society.  However,  today, the chase for money is at an all-time high in our  society.  From T.V to  music to books, everything is centered around money.  Who  has it? Who doesn’t have it?  How to get it.  How to keep it. Money.  Money . Money. As Dons (or aspiring  dons), we like to think deeper.  So let’s talk,  all about the money.

Money, as we know it, is based on the gold standard (up until around 1930.) It is an instrument of commerce. Instrument. Translation : a tool. Like any tool, we can use it to benefit us or hinder us. For example, a hammer can be used to pin down a nail, but it is virtually useless to change a tire properly. Using this example, how many of us are using our money properly? For the most part, our insatiable appetite for money is rooted in acquiring things that hold no real value. We have a warped sense of using money as a tool. We focus on acquiring things that depreciate,  rather than appreciate.  For us, “we don’t lease, we buy the whole car. . .”   as if this makes us a don.   In reality,  buying a car flat out is so un-don-like. No? Ok, let’s do the math.

Let’s take a $100,000 Mercedes-Benz.  You got it like that, so you buy it straight out. Bam! 100K.  Now, what you probably don’t know is the oil change on that vehicle is about $130, 3-4 times a year. The Airmatic suspension that renders potholes nonexistent cost about $1,500 per wheel when it goes out, around the 60K mileage mark (not to mention all the other flashy gadgetry that makes a Benz a Benz.) For the bonus, if you were to take that same car back a few months later,  you may get – at best – $85, 000 if you sold it back to the dealer. . . Now,  let’s take that same car,  and do a 30-month lease. After plopping about $5,000 down,  you may be able to get that same car for $1,000 a month.  That’s $35,000 you spent to get that same car.  It still looks fly, it still rides the same, and  you can still customize it. And guess what? All that pricey maintenance? The dealer is going to take care of it for you (in most cases.)  Who will know (or even care) that you leased it, instead of bought it out right, besides the haters who couldn’t afford to do either? Besides, no one would be privy to that info anyway because a real don doesn’t allow anyone in their business. Right? At the conclusion of the lease agreement,  in most cases,  you will have an option to buy, if you really like the car.  However,  by then, you would probably want something new anyway.  So you turn that one in, and lease something else. What about the $65,000 that you saved by leasing instead of buying?  *In my Dame Dash voice* Do you know how many times you could have flipped that 65K over the terms of that lease agreement (and looked fly while doing it?)

All jokes aside, I believe this is the gist of what Dame Dash was striving to convey  (although he fractured at least two of the 48 Laws of Power in the process.) We have to become more financially responsible. The rule doesn’t apply to just cars. It applies to jewelry, homes,  and just about anything we spend money on recklessly  (probably besides a woman.) We are so caught up on keeping up with what we see on T.V. that we fail to realize it’s all an illusion. We have to shift our perspective on all things that we covet, start thinking like a boss instead of the worker.  We have to stop doing it for the gram and learn how to do it for the fam. We have to learn the difference between the guns and the butter,  or assets versus liabilities. In short, an asset is anything that pays you. A liability is anything you pay for. If we internalize that one philosophy,  we will change the way we view money.

One of my favorite shows is Shark Tank. Watching Shark Tank helps me appreciate the value of a dollar. Some of the things we spend money on to shine for a season, could finance a business that would allow us to shine for a lifetime!

In closing, money is a tool. Let’s learn how to make our money work for us. That is real don sh&t! And this. . . is our corner.

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Darryl Martin Anderson was listed as “Public Enemy No. 1″ by Baltimore police. He got this title after shooting several outside of a house in the city. He was sentenced to life plus 35 years last week in Baltimore County for a separate murder, but the previously mentioned shooting buried him even further.

Anderson was one of two gunmen summoned by Tierra Fallin, a woman who believed that someone at the house spoke ill of the father of her children. Fallin went and got Anderson and another unidentified man and returned the house. Yelling, “Air this bitch out!” and “Do what y’all do!” Shots were fired and three out of the eight people on the porch were hit. Gennie Shird, 20, was killed. Cierra Williams was critically struck in the head, but has recovered. Michelle Hitchens, 51, was hit in the arm, which appeared non-threatening. However, she developed embolism later and died.

Anderson stood trial with Fallin. Though many in the court room pleaded with the judge on Fallin’s behalf, noting that she the mother of four young children with no priors. The judge wasn’t hearing it though. Both Fallin and Anderson were convicted of two counts of second-degree murder, six counts of attempted murder, and murder conspiracy charges. They were sentenced to life plus 240 years. For Anderson, that is two consecutive life sentences with an additional 275, including his prior sentence for the killing of Derrick Gamble at a Baltimore area bar.

Before exiting the court room, Anderson, who had been described as a “perfect gentleman” in the court, thanked Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn before exiting the court room. However, before being led away to the rest of his life in incarceration, he flipped off the State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby with a smile, saying “Fuck you, Ms. Mosby.”

[BALTIMORE SUN]

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It just keeps going on and on. In Georgia, yet another unarmed Black man was killed by police in a situation that seemed avoidable.

Police from the Cobb County and Smyrna departments went to serve Nick Thomas a warrant for a probation violation. They claim that when Thomas saw them, he attempted to flee in his Maserati and they fired on him out of fear for their own lives. Sgt. Ed Cason with the Smyrna Police Department said, “When you go to serve a suspect who knows that he is wanted, he is unpredictable and we have to react based on his actions. That’s what we did today.”

Thomas’s parents, who were on the scene of the shooting, identified him and say that the police killed him unnecessarily. “He was a lovable guy,” said mother Felicia Thomas. “He was just a lovable guy. He would do anything for everybody. He was just loved cars. He loved his family. He just had a baby.  His baby is not even 5 months old.”

Huey Thomas, father of Nick Thomas, said, “I guess now, I just want to understand what happened, because I hear so often and here it is now.  I’m a professional, my wife is a professional and we have a kid that’s dead.”

The account of Brittany Eustache, a customer in the Goodyear at the time, supports claims that the police were excessive. “The car was not moving when they began to shoot at him. The car had been stopped. He hit a curb. He couldn’t go any further,” she said. When asked if Thomas made any aggressive moves, Eustache replied,“None, none at all. They immediately opened fire on [him].”

Thomas was working at the store to pay off fines associated with a traffic warrant, according to his parents. Investigators are trying to figure how many of the six responding officers fired at Nick Thomas.

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In a time when it would seem that more needs to be done to protect civilians from the police, the state of Arizona has taken a step towards protecting police officers even more than they are. The state legislature passed a bill that would forbid any state agency from divulging the names of police officers who shoot and kill or serious injure civilians.

If passed into law, government officials and law enforcement agencies would be barred from releasing the name of the shooting officer for 60 days following the incident. Even if that officer has a disciplinary record, or is being disciplined for the shooting in question, his or her name still would not be able to be released to the public for 60 days.

The decision is clearly influenced by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson’s shooting of teenager Mike Brown. Arizona legislators claim that aim of the bill is to insulate police officers from harassment by the public. The lawmakers fear that protesters would bring the demonstration to the officer’s doorstep.

Those in opposition to the bill feel that withholding a police officer’s name after a shooting will just rile protesters up even more. They also note that there is already a provision in Arizona law that allows police departments to suppress sensitive information, such as home addresses, should the safety of that officer’s safety be in jeopardy.

The bill to protect the identity of police passed through both Republican-dominated  houses quickly. It is now awaiting the signature of Governor Doug Ducey for ratification.

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The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that since July 1987, there have been 17 cases of what is called “fetus abduction.” A fetus abduction is an occurrence where one person attacks a pregnant woman to remove the fetus from her body. One of those occurred on March 18th of this year. The victim is 26-year-old Michelle Wilkins of Colorado, who is one of only two of the 17 women to experience this type of attack to survive.

A Craigslist ad for baby clothes is what brought Wilkins to the home of 34-year-old Dynel Lane. Wilkins had moved to Colorado to teach pottery classes and was eight months pregnant. When the pregnant woman got to the home, Lane beat and stabbed her. She went on to remove the unborn fetus from Wilkins’s body.

According to the Associated Press, Lane was arrested at an area hospital after she told her husband she had a miscarriage. Prosecutors plan to charge her today. Wilkins was released from the hospital a week after the attack and is facing a long, pricey road to full recovery. The baby girl she carried in her womb, and planned to name Aurora, did not survive the attack. Caring individuals donated to an online fundraising campaign and raised $45,000 to help Wilkins during this rough time.

Charges against Lane may be tricky, though. It all depends on how the fetus died. Under Colorado law, prosecutors must prove that the baby was alive outside of Wilkins’s body. Otherwise, there is no way to charge Lane with murder. This should add fuel to the national issue of whether or not a fetus is a human being by legal standards. Two cases of fetuses being violently killed failed to be tried as homicide in Colorado.

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