Uncle Sam & Hip Hop

Everyone dreams about what they would do once they hit it big. It’s like a childhood dream talking about all the cars and the huge house you would buy. The last thing anyone thinks about is breaking off Uncle Sam his share of your newly acquired wealth. To the ordinary person it seems too crazy to find out many celebrities do not pay their taxes but it happens more often than you think. Most of it is coming to light because our country is facing huge budget deficits and these figures are used as examples on the government cracking down on tax “evaders”. 

 

We all don’t see how hard it can be to pay your taxes but we fail to acknowledge that we have our taxes deducted from our checks every pay period. Most rappers come from having nothing to being inundated with cash. Last thing they think of is to put aside some of that money for taxes due. All they are receiving is Net Income and many artists fail to hire an accountant to make sure their finances are on the up and up.

 

More recently hip hop artist have been in the news about their tax debt. This month Mase was reported to owe $125,000 in back taxes. Before Heavy D passed away he was reported to have owed $44,000 to the IRS. One of the biggest offenders was Nas who reportedly owed $6 million in taxes, which included a $339,005 lien on his property for back taxes in 2010. Bow Wow owed a total of $126,086 to the government for taxes from 2006, 2008 and 2010. But it’s not all bad news; Lil Wayne at one point owed $1.1 million but was able to clear this up after successful albums and tour. 

 

So the lesson you need to learn is if you hit it big, before you buy the new car and the big houses…Hire a good accountant and lawyer!

Make that paper everyone but remember to break off Uncle Sam’s cut!

Peace!

-Migs

@ThaRealMigs

Miguel – Art Dealer Chic Volume 2 REVIEW

Miguel – Art Dealer Chic Volume 2 (4 out of 5)

Similar to Kanye West’s “G.O.O.D. music Fridays”, Miguel is building up momentum for his upcoming album release by releasing EPs at the end of every month. Last month he released Volume 1 of this “Art Dealer Chic” series, this month he delivers Volume 2. For fans, Miguel delivers three offerings of ear candy, in the form of “Arch N Point”, “All”, & “Broads”.  A creative track, “Broads” leaves the beat open for any artist to rap over with Miguel providing the hook. That will soon have many uploading their own versions of the track.

Unlike most major artist that release EPs prior to a major release that are mostly filled with B sides and cutting room floor tracks, Miguel gives us high quality tracks that do not disappoint. If for some reason these are cutting room floor tracks then it just lets you know what he has in store for his next album. I recommend you all listen to it.

-Migs

@ThaRealMigs

I got his back in 2012

It’s that time again everyone!

Presidential elections, this time it will be more important than ever. Do we keep the current president or replace him with the GOP’s candidate Mitt Romney? I for one will be joining many and digging my heels to say I got President Obama’s back for 2012. Let’s not forget everyone, many of the mistakes that have gone wrong with our country were happening with the last administration and Obama picked up a ball that was already in play. A quick recap, in 2008 record numbers of job losses were getting reported as Bush exited and Obama took office. How quick we forget! Also, both the auto industry and the banks needed to be bailed out. All of this was happening prior to Obama and let’s not forget two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Progress is slow and we fooled ourselves into thinking it would change so quickly. We placed GOP in control of our congress and they have used their positions for political gain rather than what is best for our country. Now I don’t think one party should have total control but the GOP has stopped progression of many bills that could cut our budget and raise taxes on wealthy Americans. It’s time to change and stop being naive. Why should we offer incentives to business prior to seeing them hire? That is putting the cart before the horse. If corporations want tax cuts there should be stipulations that are placed that state, “you must first hire x number of people in order to receive x amount of a tax incentive”. We can no longer afford to offer incentives and hope that corporation hire rather than pocket the extra profits. 

 

Investments must be made in education; our future depends on our children getting the best education in the world. It’s time we go back to the golden years where the best of the best came from America. Also, if immigrants come into the country to get education they should have the opportunity to gain citizenship. Why not keep these bright minds in our country? Remember there are a lot of immigrants that came here and created great things. 

 

Finally, America is safer due to his choices in office. Let’s recap; Obama gave the order to go into Pakistan without prior approval to go after Osama Bin Laden. This mission, if failed, would have been used by the opposing party as their example to push their agenda. The mission was not a failure and resulted in the elimination of this horrible man that killed so many people. Everyone was so quick to brush is off and say he deserved no credit, yes the military deserves a huge portion of the credit but it was his order that made it so. Which he would be hung by if failed. Also, Obama helped us get rid of another monster in Libya. Muammar Gaddafi was removed from power and killed by the people he oppressed for so many years. The administration went to war the right way, getting United Nation approval and not taking the burden of the mission unlike Bush with the two wars he initiated. 

Join me in 2012 in re-electing President Barack Obama and let him finish the job he was first elected to do.

Thanks everyone!

-Migs

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@ThaRealMigs

Mystikal Heads Back To Prison For A Three-Month Bid

It seems some people just don’t learn their lessons. On April 17^th news broke out that Louisiana rapper Mystikal would be returning to prison for a three-month bid on account of a probation violation. He was sentenced to this length of time because he was arrested in February on a misdemeanor charge of domestic abuse battery. 

Now let’s  head back down memory lane, Mystikal was released from state prison in 2010 after serving a six-year term for sexual battery and extortion. Upon release from prison he seemed to be eager to get back on the scene and learned his lesson from the events that lead to his incarceration, having left at the top of his career. After a huge blow to his image for going down for such an awful crime, you would think any person would try to keep themselves out of trouble. 

But here is the fact, most do not learn their lessons and continue down the same path. I am a huge Mystikal fan; I remember listening to his music as a middle schooler, so it disappoints me when he can’t stay out of trouble. For someone that was locked up so long you think they would do anything they could not to lose their freedom again. He is not the only one though; let’s take a look DMX whose legal issues include animal cruelty, reckless driving, unlicensed driving, drug possession, and identity falsification. His legal woes while a public figure have stemmed from 1998 to present.  

Now let’s hope I am wrong, and both these examples clean up their acts. I am a fan of both and look forward to seeing them return to the top.  And if they are listening, they have many people looking up to them. It's up to public figures to start setting good examples.

Both have major comeback albums coming soon and are very talented. Mystikal is currently working on his Cash Money debut titled Original  and DMX is working on his album Undisputed. Both albums should be out this year.

Until then everyone, WATCH YA SELF! (pun intended)

-Migs 

@ThaRealMigs