Having "Bodyguard for Busta Rhymes" on one's resume may be more than a career killer. One of the rapper's former body guards was found dead in the back of a Lincoln Navigator in Queens Wednesday. 35-year-old Jermaine Williams of the Bronx had been shot multiple times--at least once in the head--and wrapped in a blanket before being placed in the SUV. Williams had not worked for Rhymes in eight years, since he was fired from......

In exchange for guilty pleas on a number of charges including assault of a fan, assault of his chauffer, driving with a suspended license and DUI, rap star Busta Rhymes avoided jail time and was sentenced yesterday to 10 days of community service. Sadly, we’ll be denied the publicity circus that swirled around Boy George and Naomi Campbell during their very public community services; Rhymes will have the privilege of choosing his own method......

timely, by jakedobkin at flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unconscious baby on Ralph Ave. in Brooklyn, a construction accident on Bedford Ave. and Crown St. in Brooklyn, and a found grenade at 54th Ave. and Junction Blvd. in Queens. Dave Chappelle made an unannounced appearance at a comedy club, where Radar learned he "took the stage at approximately 12:30 a.m. and didn't leave until club management turned off the lights at 4:20......

Through some strange stroke of Manhattan Supreme Court scheduling, Ja Rule, Remy Ma, Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes all appeared in court yesterday (at different times) to face various charges. Ja Rule and Lil Wayne faced gun possession charges from separate incidents on July 22. The pair, who collaborated on a song "Uh Oh," also shared the same attorney, Stacey Richman. Richman said that Lil Wayne couldn't be guilty, because when his tour bus......

Lawmakers are looking to toughen laws around tinted windows on automobiles. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum pointed out that police officer Russel Timoshenko was fatally shot when he approached a stolen SUV with tinted windows. And current State Senator Eric Adams (a retired police captain and a founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care) summed it up, "The criminal element does not use tinted windows to protect themselves from dangerous UV rays. They use......

Just when we thought we couldn't possibly hear about more troubles for Busta Rhymes, he's now facing four separate trials in New York for past incidents. E Online recaps the rapper's rap sheet: "The first assault complaint was filed last summer by a 19-year-old man, who claims he was roughed up by the entertainer after spitting on Rhymes' SUV. The second complaint came from a 39-year-old man, reportedly Busta's former driver, who says he was......

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg traveled back to his Massachusetts roots and gave the commencement speech at Tufts University. Bloomberg, who grew up in Medford, name checked various haunts in the hood, tried to seem with it by mentioning Busta Rhymes, Ali G, and Salma Hayek, and reminded kids to call their mother. He also discussed free speech, in what the Sun called a nod to the Minutemen incident at Columbia: The fourth lesson is, in......

Yesterday WNBC.com's Josh Einiger was covering Busta Rhymes Manhattan criminal court appearance and ended up becoming a news story himself. When Rhymes arrived, all the reporters crowded around and pushed microphones in his face, hoping he'd say something about the charges. "Basically I was bumped by another reporter and my microphone accidentally hit him right in the nose," Einiger later recalled. "He stopped walking and glared at me." After an awkward silence, Einiger said he......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: falling debris this afternoon on West 46th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, an unstable building on Troutman St. in Brooklyn, and a dead body in the water off Manhattan's Battery. Reasoning it's not far and not hard to reach by water, Mayor Bloomberg thinks commuters will be happy to hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach on a ferry service from downtown Manhattan. A report from the Times Square......

It's a tabloid Saturday jackpot as a Los Angeles County judge sentenced "celebrity" Paris Hilton to 45 days in jail. Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer agreed with prosecutors who felt that Hilton's driving with a suspended license (she was busted for DUI on September 7, 2006, ordered to go to alcohol education this past February, and then was pulled over yet again in late February) deserved jail and sentenced the infamous sometimes New Yorker......

Earlier this morning police pulled over one Trevor Smith (aka Busta Rhymes) on 51st Street and 11th Avenue for driving while impaired. We stopped carving notches on his rap sheet a few misdemeanors ago, but you can check out this backlog of posts for a guide to his run-ins with the law. How did this one go down? Officers noticed his 2006 GMC Yukon Denali driving down the street with "excessively tinted windows," and when......

After previews of the segment last week, The Rap Up shares video of Anderson Cooper's chat with Cam'ron on 60 Minutes to discuss the "no snitching" rule prevalent in the rap community. Tupac, Notorious B.I.G. and Jam Master Jay are all examples of murders that have gone unsolved. More recently, Busta Rhymes bodyguard, Israel Ramirez, was shot and killed at a video shoot; out of the 25 people believed to be present during the crime......

Get ready for this Sundays 60 Minutes, because there's an intriguing segment: Anderson Cooper interview rapper Cam'ron about the hip-hop community's code of silence when it comes to crimes. In fact, here's an excerpt of their exchange from CBS News:"If I knew the serial killer was living next door to me?" Giles responds to a hypothetical question posed by Cooper. "I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him — but I'd probably move. But I'm......

Ronald "Tinard" Washington has been named as a suspect in the killing of Jason Mizell (aka Jam Master Jay). Though an arrest in the case isn't expected anytime soon, this is the first publicly announced suspect to be made in this case - something Jay's family members are happy about. Washington has been on the investigators radar since the October 2002 shooting which took place inside Jay's Queens recording studio. At that time, he told......

The Reverend Al Sharpton held a press conference criticizing violence in the hip-hop community. The press conference was prompted by the alleged assault on the 14-year-old child of a rap music management company headed by G-Unit rapper Tony Yayo; apparently seeing the child wear a Czar Entertainment shirt on 25th Street sent him over the edge. While Russell Simmons dropped out of the press conference, Sharpton was joined by the boy's mother Cynthia Reed, the......

Remember that insane Asian-bashing in Queens last year? The perps just got sentenced-- 3 years in jail for one, 5 years on probation for the other. Happy ending? Jennifer Chow, a 30-year old Harlem resident, got mugged and put in a headlock in October. She went to get her injuries checked out, and the CAT scan revealed cancer in her thyroid gland-- which the doctors were then able to cure. Eric Brown is famous......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: An unusual odor in the Bronx, two pedestrians struck (one in Manhattan, a fatal one in the Bronx), and three alarm fire at a tire yard in Brooklyn The Department of Education will reinstate 17 bus routes, finally realizing that giving 5-year-olds MetroCards is a very mean lesson We're so with East Village Idiot on this one: Dear Two Girls Who Work in My Building, Why did you feel......

Busta Rhymes has been busted plenty of times recently. Now he's considering a plea deal for his latest offenses, attacking his driver and assaulting a fan in Gramercy Park last summer. The plea deal would keep the rapper out of jail (he rejected an earlier deal which included six months jail time) and instead serve him with some community service at non-profit organization. It would also have him speaking to youth there about the perils......

Brett Gelman's favorite jam back in the day was Eric B. for President. It's okay for me to make that reference Gelman, along with comedian Jon Daly , makes up the hip-hop duo Cracked Out. He also performs improv as part of Death by Roo Roo , is a member of the sketch group The The Brighter Side , and appears at venues ranging from Rififi to Comix. He's busy, is what I'm trying......

Busta Rhymes surrendered to police last night for for beating his ex-driver. He was charged with assault in the third degree (a misdemeanor). He was expected to be held over night, but was only at the 1st Precinct station house from 7:30 to 11:30 pm. His ex-driver, Eddie Hatchett, says he was attacked in Busta's 84 West Broadway office while trying to collect 19 days worth of pay. An argument began and Busta attacked him.......

New Year's mayhem on the Gothamist Newsmap: fourteen shootings and three stabbings since midnight. Panoramas.dk continues their annual tradition of creating a 360-degree shot at the center of Times Square just after midnight. Now with more Ryan Seacrest! Interesting subculture of the day: hardcore underground videogamers in the West Village. Signature tagline: "You got pwned!" Congrats, Park Slope-- you're one of America's top eco-neighborhoods. Sadly, Bozeman, Montana edged you out for third place! "Warning:......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: another scaffold collapse, a fatal fire in the Bronx, and an animal rescue uptown. Will Smith's Legend has been driving Washington Square Park area residents insane: "I haven't slept for three weeks." The NTSB is saying that wind was responsible for the Cory Lidle plane crash. The NYPD wants to install video surveillance at all 344 city housing projects to deter crime. The ACLU wants privacy safeguards. Busta Rhymes......

Foxy Brown was sentenced to three years probation for attacking employees of Bloomie Nails back in 2005. You may recall that in August Brown pleaded guilty to the assault, but then tried to take it back. Brown continued to plead her innocence, claiming her original lawyer had "rushed" and "coerced" her. The NY Times had a funny exchange between Brown (real name: Inga Marchand) and the judge:Ms. Marchand, 27, said she pleaded guilty only......

Busta Rhymes, also known as Trevor Smith, is in trouble with the law again. Since Rhymes refused to cooperate with the police regarding the shooting death of his bodyguard on the set of his music video for the song "Touch It {Remix}" earlier in the year the NYPD has been looking for an excuse to bring him in for questioning. They found that reason last week when a concert-goer was allegedly assaulted after spitting......

Breaking Beverage News: Rap star, entrepreneur and Beyonce's boyfriend Jay-Z is boycotting Cristal champagne after some remarks Cristal management made about the rap world. Jay-Z is going to stop drinking Cristal in his personal life (note to all musicians about to appear on Cribs - get the Cristal out of the fridge!) and remove it from the bars of all 40/40 club locations. Here's a summary of what caused the boycott from the AP:In a......

That's what the NYPD is complaining about - the complete lack of cooperation from Busta Rhymes in the investigation of his bodyguard's murder during a video shoot two weeks ago. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly implied that Rhymes (aka Trevor Smith) was withholding information about the shooting of Israel Ramirez. There have been conflicting accounts as to where Rhymes was during the incident - he told detectives he was on set, but he reportedly told others......

The latest news in the fatal shooting during a rap video shoot in Brooklyn is that Busta Rhymes may have witnessed his bodyguard's death. Police Commissioner Kelly announced as much yesterday, and other police sources are saying that Rhymes (born Trevor Smith) may have been playing "peacemaker" between some other rappers. Rhymes had been shooting a video for his song, "Touch It {Remix)," and there were a number of music stars on hand to do......

During an overnight video shooting for a new Busta Rhymes video in Brooklyn, a security guard was shot and killed outside the studio. The victim, Israel Ramirez, a 29 year old from Brooklyn (and raised Morningside Heights), is reported to be Busta's new guard as well as a "longtime member" of the entourage, but police think he was shot because of another fight that erupted on the shoot - not because he was Busta's jewelry......

Busta Rhymes's bodyguard allegedly punched a fan looking for an autograph earlier this week. The Post reports that Melvin Smith "approached" Rhymes with an "outstretched palm for a handshake" while at a downtown deli, but Rhymes' bodyguard got into the middle of things and then, you guessed it, an argument "ensued." The police confirmed that Smith was treated by NYU Downtown Hospital for four stitches to close a gash. This is kind of crazy, but......

The chauffeur of P. Diddy (then Puff Daddy) revealed that after he, P. Diddy, and another Diddy/Daddy associate were arrested after the 1999 club shooting, he and the bodyguard (not Diddy) all smoked pot and drank cognac. Chauffer Wendel Fenderson is trying to sue Diddy for $3 million, claiming post-traumatic stress after Diddy demanded he speed away from cops. Fenderson is also alleging that he was scared of Diddy and his posse, though Fenderson's admission......