Author Alleges that Tyler Perrys Success Tied to Drug Money

by Minority Fortune

Tyler Perry may be one of the highest paid man in Hollywood, but author Melvin Childs claims he only achieved his success due to ties with drug dealers and shady promoters. Tyler has professed from the onset of his fame that he has gotten to where he is today with hard work, persistence, and faith. Yet, Childs claims that it simply wasn’t the case. These allegations haven’t been addressed by Tyler, and it would be hard to produce evidence to reveal or deny them. One thing Melvin doesn’t do is deny Tyler’s hard work ethic and talent.

Excerpts from the book Never Would Have Made It follow from the Grio*:

Was I just a promoter when you came to me for a loan because you didn’t have the money to pay your cast? Was I just a promoter when you called me to borrow money to buy food or when I personally paid for the hotel you were living in while you were supposedly homeless? Maybe I was and if that’s the case, then so be it. But guess what? Regardless of what he wants to call me, I was there. And because I was there, I also have a story to tell.

There are so many different possibilities with this story. Also, it has to be taken into account that there are different versions of the truth by each individual involved. However, the previous passage does point to a man who feels betrayed by Tyler’s success and lack of acknowledgment of his contributing role in Tyler’s accomplishments. This doesn’t mean that his allegations are warranted.

Let’s look at the various scenarios:

Melvin sucks: Melvin could be the [click to continue…]

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New Report Reveals Less than Third of Wyclef Relief Funds Went to Haiti

by Minority Fortune

Depending on which facts you look at, the past two years could be considered rough for musician Wyclef. During the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Wyclef stepped up to the plate for his native homeland and requested $5 contributions. Those contributions added up to an impressive multi-million dollar sum. Things were looking bright for Wyclef’s charitable organization Yele and Haiti both…that is, until the media began combing through financial books, finding horrendous inconsistencies that contrasted the pledged allegiance to come to Haiti’s rescue at whatever cost [See our earlier Wyclef article]. New reports have come forth to reveal that less than one-third of the charitable proceeds actually went to Haitian causes. What a shame!

A snippet of the Yahoo News article follows below:

According to the exclusive report, Jean’s charity, Yele Haiti, doled out millions in questionable contracts — in fact, $1 million was paid to a Florida firm that doesn’t seem to exist.

The Post also reported that a company called P&A Construction — which is run by Warnel Pierre, Jean’s brother-in-law — received $353,983 from the group.

 

On the other side of it all, if you look in depth at Yele’s spending, Wyclef has reaped lucrative financial rewards over these past two years: a little money to a mistress; a few big stacks to contracted companies that were discovered to be actually Wycleff’s own businesses. It’s a true testament that greed can bring out the ugliest behaviors in man.

Why We’re Disgusted with Wyclef Jean [click to continue…]

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Rapper OGK Acts a Fool with 500 Grand

by Minority Fortune

This video left us absolutely speechless after watching it. Southern rapper OGK gets on camera to not only boast about his $500,000 in earnings, but he begins tossing it around like fertilizer on the ground. Can anyone in the world make sense of this video? We think not! So we’ll just tell you all the reasons that it doesn’t make sense.


The Four Financial Principles Broken in This Video

First: That $500,000 you’re going HAM over is extra money in interest that you won’t be earning because you’re too busy playing childish games, carrying money around in a bag under your armpit. Instead of focusing on the next benchmark, you’re on camera celebrating the $500,000 that will honestly be history before the next full moon. So you’re already limiting your earning potential by leaving money around.

Second: Pick up your taxes that you WILL be paying to the IRS off the floor. You are probably paid as a contractor and will need to pay your fair share of taxes of the money earned to Uncle Sam. Apparently, your “baby mama’s” money is in there too. So, you need to at least pick up half that money and go pay your bills, as the courts and the IRS will be [click to continue…]

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The Heavy D Fund Controversy

by Minority Fortune

Rap legend Heavy D passed away at the age of 44, and it was one of the most unexpected incidents to have occurred. There has been an outpouring of condolences and support towards the rapper, and it’s understandable. Heavy D appeared to be a standup guy with Grade A character. After his passing, a few websites are reporting that the family, or some sole person within the family, created a “fund” for “Xea Myers, Heavy D’s daughter”. This doesn’t sit with us too well.

Generally, funds are dedicated to causes near and dear to the departed’s heart. Unless dire circumstances led to the family being unable to support themselves, it doesn’t make much sense considering the fact that Heavy D probably amassed many millions throughout his career. The one person that should be taken care of, without a doubt, within the estate should be his daughter. However, we don’t know who in the family created this fund. We imagine that it must be someone close to the daughter. There’s many unknown facts, so we don’t dare to speculate.

Post Death Entitlement

This unfortunate event brings up a very important issue that we felt the need to address: entitlement. Sometimes the most traumatic events occur after a loved one has passed away because the family has to act a fool over the assets. James Brown and Michael Jackson’s families [click to continue…]

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Post image for Rockawear Pulls Jay Zs Controversial Occupy All Streets Tshirts

Rockawear Pulls Jay Zs Controversial Occupy All Streets Tshirts

by Minority Fortune

The Occupy Movement has garnered a reaction from almost everyone around the world. Hippies and the like grabbed a few necessities and headed on down to their local parks to have their voices heard. The one percent and Fox News simply roll their eyes and claim there’s no validity to the movement. There’s the in between that aren’t quite sure where they should stand. There’s the indifferent. Then there are the supporters of either the ninety-nine percent or the one percent. If you’re Jay Z, however, you grab a Rockawear t-shirt that reads “Occupy All Streets” and slap a $22 price tag on it, where the proceeds will in no way benefit the movement that it references. Brilliance? Maybe not so much!

Jay Z should have conducted a simple research study or sought out a focus group before executing on this idea. It was simply in poor taste. After the Tea Party opportunity passed him by, he must have decided that he wouldn’t let another chance to ride the fame off of a movement pass him by. He was obviously, “watching the throne”, his own throne that is. Who references a movement yet donates zero proceeds to the cause or an Occupy-Movement-approved cause?

Unexpectedly for Jay Z, [click to continue…]

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Post image for Terrell Owens Child Support Crisis Proves Why Contraceptives Are An Investment

Terrell Owens Child Support Crisis Proves Why Contraceptives Are An Investment

by Minority Fortune

Children truly are a blessing, but they’re not free. While it may be a free process to make them (or so we hope), that’s where the line is drawn. Why so many individuals forget this thought for a few minutes or hours of glory just completely baffles us. Then there’s Terrell Owens and the women who procreated with him that leave us completely speechless at their careless behavior.

We hate that we even have to make a post with advice that should be so obvious, but single parent households and child support has completely taken over in this country. This mindset doesn’t discriminate as it permeates hardly wealthy homes and the wealthy elite alike. If you find a man or woman that you’re feeling and feel like “getting it in” but don’t want a permanent, life-altering consequence resulting from it, then WRAP IT UP! What happens after that will be a result of your actions.

Contraceptives aren’t just an investment against endless financial and time sacrifices, they can be an investment towards your health. STDs and HIV are rampant in the minority community. One person affected is one person too many. Medical care for these health conditions can be endless money guzzlers. You would think this reason alone would have people acting responsibly.

Terrell Owens is the perfect example of all things dumb at the moment, as his four nights of “mind-blowing fun” have left him with four mind-blowing monthly child support check obligations. TMZ breaks down his payments owed to each woman:

Baby Mama #1, Monique Reynolds
T.O. and Monique have an 11-year-old son together. According to the papers, he paid $20,000/month in support until last year, when it was reduced to $11,202. He also gave her $100,000 to buy a house.

Baby Mama #2, Kimberly Floyd [click to continue…]

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Post image for Laptop finder sues Producer Ryan Leslie for Million Dollar Reward

Laptop finder sues Producer Ryan Leslie for Million Dollar Reward

by Minority Fortune

Talk about writing a check that your butt can’t cash! Hip hop producer/ singer Ryan Leslie lost his laptop in October of 2010. In a desperate attempt to retrieve his missing laptop, he offered a million dollar reward. At some point, the person who found the laptop returned it to Ryan but never received the reward money. Surprise, surprise.

Apparently, offering big bucks for something that 1) should have been backed up at all times (ever heard of Carbonite?) 2) been generously insured 3) nowhere near the million dollar reward cost 4) cannot realistically be paid out is all the rage (See: Rocko ‘s lost laptop post). So it’s no surprise that this large sum was never accounted for, but the German finder Armin Augstein [click to continue…]

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Post image for Do You Think Like a Hardly Wealthy Person?

Do You Think Like a Hardly Wealthy Person?

by Minority Fortune

The biggest flaw of a hardly wealthy person is that they take their earnings at face value. If someone has a salary of $60,000, that doesn’t equate to a person having $60,000 of income. Yet, a hardly wealthy person would think just that. If this was your salary, what would say your monthly spending limit should be?

Breaking it Down

First of all, you can kiss 25% of your income good-bye to federal taxes. This doesn’t include the 8-10% gone to Social Security, Medicaid, State, and Local taxes. Conservatively, this leaves you with $40,200. That’s $3,350 at your disposal on a monthly basis. While it’s ideal that your debt and bills, including rent, only take up a third of your income, we’re well aware that this isn’t the case for many. So, let’s take away half of that. At least 10% should go towards savings, while another 10% should go towards investments (we’re currently a fan of directly buying metals, mainly silver, not stocks). Most Americans have a myriad of monthly personal expenses like hair stylists, barbers, nail technicians, masseuses, gym memberships, etc. that also add up quickly, and sometimes exceed income, causing the credit cards to come out. We haven’t begun talking about staples like food yet.

Let’s break it down according to monthly income:

$3,350
- $1,675 for bills, debt, and housing
- $168 for savings
- $168 for investments
=$1,339

This leaves $1,339 for food, transportation, personal expenses, and whatever needs an individual or family may need. The average hardly wealthy person goes shopping every weekend, spending several hundreds on clothing items, meaning an estimated $800 is gone before food, transportation, and personal expenses are even factored in. Let’s put that in perspective for a hardly wealthy person’s expenses. We call this the “Next Paycheck Syndrome”.

Next Paycheck Syndrome [click to continue…]

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