Hills' Pratt on Rap Bona Fides: 'I'm the White Jay-Z'

Ex-rapper's renovation show will run on DIY Network

(NEWSER) - Stop, collaborate, and set your DVRs. Ice is back with a second season of "The Vanilla Ice Project," a show on the DIY Network that stars the 44-year-old rapper as he renovates a run-down mansion in Palm Beach County, Florida. Returning on the heels of a hit first season, the peculiar home improvement show will run 13 episodes beginning tomorrow, reports AP . More»

Class takes sociological view of rapper's work

(NEWSER) - He’s already a hip-hop superstar, a big-shot exec, and married to Beyonce; now, Jay-Z is also the subject of elite academic discourse. Georgetown students are flocking to a sociology course on hip-hop and Jay-Z’s rise, taught by author and radio host Michael Eric Dyson. “Sociology of Hip-Hop—Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z,” as the class is called, seeks “the intellectual, theological, philosophical predicate for Jay-Z’s argument.” More»

We need to get these people mental health

(NEWSER) - The suicide of Real Housewives hubby Russell Armstrong ought to make us think twice about reality TV, which has become “the soft-bellied, 21st century American TV version of a gladiatorial contest,” writes Matt Zoller Seitz on Salon . “As your parents may have warned you, it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. People are getting hurt.” We don’t know for sure why Armstrong killed himself, but it’s hard to imagine being on a show like Housewives helped. More»

Hits head performing complex move

(NEWSER) - Dancing on a reality TV show, an Argentine model attempted a flip over her partner’s back, landed on her face, and was knocked out, Cleo reports. Rocio Guirao Diaz was performing on a show that pairs celebrities with unknowns looking to “dance for a dream.” She was quickly taken to the hospital, where she awoke with neck and nose injuries. More»

Once reality royalty, now they're forced to eat 'tacos and burritos'

(NEWSER) - The famewhoring and ridiculous antics of Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag finally backfired, leaving them broke and forced to live rent-free at Spencer's parents' house. (Although, it is a Santa Barbara beach house, so don't feel too sorry for them.) They explain to the Daily Beast how it all went wrong:

• They thought that living a fake life in front of the cameras (for example: Through it all, they never actually broke up ) would pay off for them in the long run, but it turns out "you can be too famous," Spencer says. "Reality TV is not a career." His antics for the camera made him so widely detested he can't find a job, and is considering going back to school. Heidi has been appearing on a reality competition show.
• Spencer says they never truly had any money, because they spent it as quickly as they got it. A whopping $2 million went toward hiring writers, producers, and engineers for Heidi's failed music endeavor .
• "I probably spent a million dollars on suits and fancy clothes,” Spencer says. “My whole million-dollar wardrobe—I would never wear that again. They’re props. Everything we were doing, we were buying props."