Opinion & Commentary

Letters from the issue of June 3, 2010

Uncle Luke pioneered Southern rap

North Miami and Houston join forces for the sake of a brand new mixtape that mixes the flavors of two distinct artists. On one hand there’s Layce, a multifaceted rapper/producer/engineer and overall good businessman who’s representing Miami. Then on the other, you have Chingo Bling, a very animated, marketing-savvy rapper…

According to our tireless reviewer Esther Park, this year’s Best of the Best concert was even more intense than the last. With so many big-name artists scheduled to perform every year, there are always unexpected changes, pleasant surprises, and, it seems, a crazy sprint through the final leg of the…

Ah, Hialeah, Hialeah. You truly are the city of progress. One of my new friends on Facebook is Hialeah Cares, an unknown identity in the vast cyberverse of anonymity who has riled up Mayor Julio Robaina’s most vociferous critics. The back and forth has been quite entertaining. The wall post…

First it was Hamas. Now the Gaza-bound, blockade-defying flotilla was helping Al-Qaeda too.So claims Israel’s Consul General to Florida and Puerto Rico, Ofer Bavly. “The so-called peace activists on board the flotilla with ties to Al-Qaeda and other terror organizations were interested in creating a media circus,” Bavly railed in…

We know Jersey Shore is a show that trades heavily on stereotypes, but did one of the cast members really have to go down the tired trail of becoming a coke addict while living in Miami? How cliché.RadarOnline reports one of the castmates evaded producers and went on a few cocaine…

It hasn’t even aired yet, but it seems like we can add the Basketball Wives reunion special to the hall of fame of insanely dramatic recap specials. This might be the first where an cast member actually got arrested.Throughout the season, the girls all agreed on only one thing: Sandra, an alleged groupie…

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke prepares to be honored by VH1 and explains why Miami-Dade County is the birthplace of Southern hip-hop…

From blood-stained guajiros to litigious ex-convicts to shameful rappers to slithering billionaires, this week proved that moronic behavior knows no boundaries of class or race. In South Florida, pea-sized brains can be found in all sorts of heads. 5. Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who forgot to pay his sex offender bill…

As we reported in a January investigation, toxic Chinese drywall is forcing thousands around Florida to make an impossible choice between abandoning brand new homes or exposing their families to dangerous fumes. The state continues to drag its feet, protecting politically connected builders. The federal government still hasn’t decided how…

One of our favorite local music events last year was the So Raw Festival, a two-day summer jam that showcased some of the best local and international lo-fi, garage, and straight-up rock and roll around. Oh, and did we mention the promoters graciously included free booze with the low, low…

Miami is not a communist country

Religious Ties No faith: What does Jonathan James’s religion have to do with the events (“Hack Pack,” Tim Elfrink, May 20)? Why are none of the other accused perpetrators’ religion mentioned? Is Tim Elfrink embarrassed that Albert Gonzalez, Christopher Scott, and Stephen Watt are Catholic? Of the four individuals this…

Nothing makes a bleary, rain-drenched Wednesday afternoon a little more bearable quite like some good ol’ schadenfreude. So Riptide is grateful to 77-year-old Mauricio Cohen Assor and his 46-year-old son, Leon Cohen Levy, for stepping up to the plate. Assor and Levy — French nationals born in Algeria and Morocco,…

Basketball Wives, VH1’s baller status answer to Bravo’s Real Housewives, is coming back for a second season. The press release says that a few new wives, girlfriends, groupies and exes will be added to the roster for the next go around (have they tried calling Siohvaughn Wade yet?).Filming will begin…

The state of this year’s Best Of The Best Concert remains somewhat tentative still, due to Jamaica’s ongoing declared state of emergency. Still, concert organizers have said the show is still set to go as planned, and it’s undeniable that the bill features a veritable who’s-who of Caribbean and urban…

Joseph Mitrani was given the job of overseeing construction of a new training facility for the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. Mitrani was instrumental in making sure the project was completed on time and under budget, according to department spokeswoman Elizabeth Calzadilla-Fiallo. Score one for government efficiency, right? Err, not really.Fire…

Chef Cooks Your Meal At Fleming’s: A Limited Time Offer! As reported by Short Order yesterday, Ricardo Wilson, the new chef/partner at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Coral Gables, is a vegetarian who thinks that “most chefs are fat and lazy”. Some may be disturbed by a steakhouse…

Longtime Slip-N-Slide signee Duece Poppi has been around the multi-platinum label through all of its phases, from the Trick and Trina golden days, all the way up to its current roster of diverse artists. Bouncing back from Miami and Atlanta, Duece Poppi has established himself as an industry heavyweight. Even…

Claudia Davant claims her estranged husband and state Sen. Alex Diax de la Portilla has repeatedly stalked her since she filed for divorce five months ago. And the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating some of her complaints.Tallahassee Circuit Judge Dawn Caloca-Johnson granted Davant’s request for a temporary restraining…