Ya Heard: Berg cancels show after altercation

Dennis Winn/Columnist
Published: August 28, 2008

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."

-- Paul Boese

The boy Yung Berg—real name Christian Ward—was given a pretty good beatdown while visit-ing Detroit last weekend to perform at a local radio station's Summer Jam.

Apparently, Berg decided to make an appearance at a Detroit nightclub called Plan B, which hap-pens to be co-owned by rhyme-slinger Trick Trick, who happens to be not so fond of the rising star.

While at the club, Berg was assaulted by a group of men and robbed of his jewelry. Hours later, pictures began to surface on the web showing an unidentified man wearing Berg's familiar diamond Transformer chain. The bloodied and bruised Berg decided to cancel his performance the following day.

Word on the street is YB got served for making some negative remarks about Detroit rappers during a previous visit to the "D." While Trick Trick maintains innocence, he did make some quite interesting statements when he spoke to allhiphop.com.

"First of all, I ain't no jack [dude]. I don't need to jack [anybody] to get what I gotta get," Trick said. "I earn mine. I don't need that piece of a [explicit] alumi-num foil chain the [girl] had on no way."

Wow! Trick is giving Berg the business! He continued to speak as he explained the events sur-rounding the confrontation.

"My lil' [homies] got him. The label called and told me he wasn't coming, so I wasn't expecting him. So there was no need for me to tell the lil' homies that 'Aye, [Berg is] straight,' because he wasn't coming," he explained. "I saved that [man's] life. He would probably be dead right now or in a coma if I hadn't ran over there and pushed the lil' homies back so they could quit stomping [him]."

As much as I don't support Yung Berg, I have to stick up for the kid on this one. First off, as big, mean and street credible as Trick Trick might be, he is still a sorrier rapper than YB. Second, whoever jumped Berg should all be ashamed of themselves; it only would have taken a one--on-one fight to get the same result. All them dudes on little Berg … they get no stripes for that.

DA BRAT GETS THREE YEARS

What in the world is going on? It seems like female emcees going to jail is the new trend in hip-hop. Last week, Da Brat was sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of seri-ously injuring a woman at an Atlanta nightclub in 2007.

The incident happened when the victim, Shayla Stevens, a club hostess, bumped into Da Brat. After words were exchanged, Stevens was hit with a bottle and suffered deep lacerations to her cheeks and forehead. At the time of the altercation, Stevens was an Atlanta Falcons cheerleader and aspiring model.

In addition to the jail time, the Chicago-born lyricist must serve seven years probation and com-plete 200 hours of community service.

Da Brat narrowly escaped jail time in 2001 when she was accused of using a firearm to assault another Georgia woman. However, Da Brat plead guilty to a lesser charge before the case went to trial.

I mean, yo! We've had Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, Remy Ma, and even Martha Stewart all thrown in jail in recent memory. The irony is now, the men are running around with elaborate jewelry, man purses and contacts! What's really good people?

HIP-HOP TRAGEDY

Going from bad to worse, the pioneering hip-hop producer Dr. Dre lost son Andre Young Jr. when he passed away at the age of 20. As of press time the exact cause of death is unknown. Young reportedly hung out with friends on the night of Aug. 22 and returned home at approximately 5:30 a.m. Saturday. When his mother attempted to awake him at 10:30 a.m., he was nonresponsive. Paramedics were called and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A close source to the Young family released the following statement:  "Dr. Dre is mourning the loss of his son Andre Young Jr. Please respect his family's grief and privacy at this time."

Sadly, this is not the first time Dre has lost a loved one at a young age. He lost a brother early in his career to street violence during the late '80s.Our condolensces go out to the Young family.

HIP-HOP TRIVIA

Prior to Jay-Z recording his own rendition of Tupac Shakur's "Bonnie & Clyde" track, who was the other multi-platinum artist to record and release a "Bonnie & Clyde" track on his debut album?

Be the fifth person to send me an e-mail with the correct answer and receive two free AMC movie tickets courtesy of the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger. Love is love, real rec-ognize real; for everyone else, read a book … until next week, peace!

Dennis Winn can be reached at 703-200-4928 or .