I have to admit as a lawyer I was suspicious. I know that the vast majority of artists who sign with major labels never have any success. It seemed odd to me that Warner would obligate itself to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a 14 year old who in all likelihood would never earn the company a dime.
Still, the original article had quotes from real people who claimed the contract existed and that Warner paid out on it. So I bought into it.
Fortunately, others did not buy into it. From exposés at Techdirt and Slate we learn that Shante has been lying about being a real PhD for quite a while. Heck, even the original writer of the story, Walter Dawkins, refuses to talk on the record about it. I wonder what he’s hiding?
In a nutshell, Warner denies ever directly having a contract with Shante. It admits that she was signed to a subsidiary of Warner, but that that contract contains no such education for life clause.
The original attorney who drafted that contract states that he would never have put such a clause in a contract.
There is no evidence that Shante ever attended Cornell University.
She did take one semester of classes at Marymount Manhattan College, but never graduated.
After being confronted with evidence that she never obtained a PhD, she claimed to have earned her masters.
After being confronted with evidence that she never obtained her masters, she claimed to have earn her bachelors.
After being confronted with evidence that she never obtained her bachelors, she claimed she earned it under a different name. (I’ve never been to a school where I got to pick my own name. I was forced to use whatever name was tied to my social security number. Mmm…)
We also learn that she’s been calling herself a “doctor” for quite a while. Here’s a link to an old interview with VH1 where she claimed to have earned her doctorate and made Warner pay for it.
Being a Dr. (Ph.D.) aint all it’s cracked up to be.
I never thought I would see rap and bullshit used in the same sentence…oh wait!
“For some reason I was reminded our fearless President Obama never released his school records, not even Harvard’s”
You mean you once again shift a completely unrelated story to the topic of your Obama hatred? Yeah, we never saw that coming.
#4. Alfred1 is DU’s official broken record…record…record…record…record…record
#2 Alfred1
Consider yourself vomited upon.
No apology will be forthcoming.
#7. “All of the bailout money went to the very rich and powerful…nothing trickled down to me at all.”
As long as you can credit the Bush Admin and the Republicans with some of that, I have no problem with that statement. If not, you are truly just a mouth-breathing tool.
Haw-Haw!
The filter took out my false Nelson Muntz tags. That’s just gaye.
# 8 Alfred1,
That’s a hoot, I think we all wish you where honest about yourself (self declared religious, instead you demonstrate yourself as an always ardently angry blog troll) then rapper Roxanne Shante.
SN,
The story post here is refreshingly a case of truth in journalism. We need more of it, not just a simple redaction.
OK,
Wasnt there something about another person, IN GOVERNMENT, that LIED on his resume’??
Havent there been MANY others, including in many corps? Where the personell dept DIDNT look up references even AFTER people joined a company??
And the ONLY reason this was ever brought UP was to ridicule someone??
#14
yea, I have the same thought as well. She’s a bitch.
he won’t even release his records while at Harvard so we can see for our self just what kind of scholar he is.
at least he has an academic record unlike some of the people who commented here…
You racist a holes are hoot LOL I the idiot who brought Obama into this the best.
# 2 Alfred1,
“For some reason I was reminded”
Let me help you with that, you have a Spirit of blind hate.
#3 – I never thought I would see rap and bullshit used in the same sentence…oh wait!
‘rap’ is 3/4 bullshit. Just add the ‘c’.
Clue 1: Maybe it’s me but she doesn’t speak like she had the money’s worth of the education, much less the ability to defend a thesis.
She is just a rapper struggling to build her street creds.
Well, I was also taken in. I thought the rational was reasonable if not common: Pay the artist nothing but make a promise contingent something she was not likely to do. Sounds pretty scumbaggy to me.
More interesting is that this welfare mother did latch onto the idea of education as being a valuable thing. That is half the battle. The other half–actually doing it.
I think Alfred1 ((HEY ALFIE!!!!!!)) contribution at #2 is entirely relevant and on the money. It “should be” illegal to run for public office and not post your bona fides. Birth Certificate, Aides Test Results, Paternity Suits, “everything.”
You know, Alfie ((((HEY ALFIE!!!!!)) is a lot like dogshit. Uniformly disgusting and not to be brought indoors. Still, the careful observer will spot those corn kernels every once in a while, and if hungry enough, can pick those ideas out for whatever residual food value they have.
I’m with you Alfie!! (((HEY ALIFIE!!!!! Whats it all about?))
In the world of entertainment, there’s a history of calling oneself “doctor”. For example in rap music there are TWO Dr. Dre’s who, to my knowledge, are not, in fact, doctors of any kind. All I know is that the less-famous one has a chum named Ed Lover while the more famous one does not. In sports, one Julius Irving has been known to go by the pseudonym of “Dr. J”.
Clearly, she is going by this tradition…
#27 Alfred1
More vomit.
No apology.
I hear she is being well received by the republican party and is going to running on the republican ticket.
She meets all the republican requirements.
She can lie with a straight face.
She believes the ends justify the means.
She will bring in the needed minority votes.
She is young and will likely be long in office.
She is an entertainer just like Reagan was.
Once again, Alfred1 hijacks a thread and makes it about Obama. Why do people keep falling for this? Just ignore his rabid and myopic posts please and the blog will be come a better place, the skies will clear and all manner of furry woodland creatures will return.
Looks like you’d better stick to posts about the incredibleness of big boobies.
Racist!
Just imagining it ought to be good enough.
Anyone wish it was against the law to Lie??
2/3 of USA would be in jail..