Page 15 - Florida Sentinel 8-27-19

Entertainment
Aretha Franklin Was Running Around With Almost $1 Million In Uncashed Checks
Aretha Franklin’s fi- nancial situation is a source of endless wonders. She left multiple wills—one hidden in her couch! The purse that she almost always had by her side in public (even when per- forming) was said to contain wads of cash. For decades, fi- nancial matters held up the release of the documentary Amazing Grace (whose con- tents Franklin had no issue with)—it finally came out last year, a few months after she died. And now, there is news that the greatest singer of all time had $1 million in un- cashed checks before she died.
Aretha Franklin had al- most of $1 million in un- cashed checks in her possession at the time of her death, according to newly filed court papers. The checks
ARETHA FRANKLIN
were discovered during an inventory of Franklin’s pos- sessions, adding a new twist to the battle over the Queen of Soul’s estate.
An inventory following her death found that Franklin had a check for
$702,711.90 from Sound Ex- change and Screen Writers Guild as well as uncashed checks to her publishing company, Springtime Pub- lishing, from EMI, BMI, Car- lin Music and Feel Good Films in the amount of $285,944.27. In total, $988,656.17 in uncashed checks were found.
The papers were filed as part of the ongoing process of divvying up Franklin’s as- sets, which has been compli- cated by unrest between Franklin’s four surviving sons and the personal repre- sentative of her estate, Sab- rina Owens (cousin of Aretha Franklin’s son Ke- calf Franklin). Initially after Aretha’s death, no will was found and it was as- sumed that she didn’t leave one.
Akon Weighs In On Jay-Z's NFL Deal: We Can't Be Jealous, Somebody Has To Lead
Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter's entertainment and social justice partner- ship with the National Foot- ball League has sparked what seems like an endless conversation. NFL players, media personalities, Hip Hop artists, and social media users around the world have all voiced their respective opinions about the subject. During an interview with All- HipHop's Chuck Creek- mur, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Akon weighed in on the controver- sial deal. The "Locked Up" hitmaker explained why he thinks Hov's new pact with the league could be the cata- lyst to put other likeminded individuals in positions of power.
"So the move that Jay's making to be a part of the NFL does two things, I think it does two things for us. One, it puts one of us inside. Cause you can't make no changes unless you're in- side," said Akon. "Now granted he's going to be like a Democrat in the Republi-
AKON
can house, but at least there's a voice, and one voice even- tually will turn into two, three, four, five, and so on. It's still going to take time for changes to be made."
He added, "Now we've got somebody in there that we didn't actually lean on to say 'bro.' And he knows is- sues. Jay's not stupid. N*gga ain't get this far by not knowing what's going on, and he knows it will probably be some potential backlash, but that backlash is worth it for the voice of everybody. Because in the long run, at
JAY-Z
least now we got an anchor." One of the main discus- sions to emerge centered around supporters of alleged blackballed former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and supporters of Jay-Z arguing over whether the Roc Na- tion/NFL alliance was meant to sideline Kaepernick's actions to combat racial op- pression. In response to the "Jay-Z vs Kaepernick" de- bate, Akon reinforced the message of Jay's "Family Feud" song: "Nobody wins
when the family feuds."
‘Ballers’ To End With
Season 5 On HBO; Dwayne
Johnson Thanks Fans
HBO’s sports comedy Ballers starring Dwayne Johnson will end after its fifth season, which kicks off Sunday on HBO.
Johnson announced the news in a thank-you post to fans on Instagram. “My heart is full of gratitude to all of you for rockin’ with us every sea- son,” Johnson wrote.
Created by showrunner
Stephen Levinson, Ballers explores the glamorous and often cutthroat world of pro football through a group of past and present players striv- ing to stay in the game. It stars Johnson as ex-superstar Spencer Strasmore, who has reinvented himself as a fi-
DWAYNE JOHNSON
nancial manager for today’s players.
Drake Sued For Stealing Beats For 'In My Feelings' And 'Nice For What'
DRAKE AND BIG FREEDIA
Drake and Big Freedia have a New Orleans musician in his feelings ... according to a new lawsuit, he says the rap- pers straight-up jacked his beats and passed them off as their own.
Samuel Nicholas III -- who goes by Sam Skully -- is suing the rappers claiming they used his beat for their hit collab, "In My Feelings." He also claims Drake stole an- other one of his beats for his wildly successful track, "Nice For What"
According to the docs, Sam Skully claims Drake and Big Freedia sampled a portion of his 2000 track, "Roll Call," but they never asked for permis- sion and never forked over any dough.
In the docs, Sam Skully claims he published the beat on a CD he released in New Orleans way back in 2000, but says he didn't know his work had been stolen until years later ... when Drake and Big Freedia released songs that started climbing the charts.
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