Hard Knock Life

Hard Knock Life

In case you were wondering what everybody’s favourite hip hop star’s been up to lately, submerged as I am in the minutiae of the United States v. Conrad Black et al., I can tell you this much: looking for a blessed relief from courthouse hostilities, I spent Saturday night watching Floyd Mayweather beat the crap out of Oscar De La Hoya. I noticed Fitty Cent was rappin’ for Mayweather as he led him to the ring. In other news from the ’hood, R. Kelly has retained Black’s co-counsel Edward Genson to defend him against child pornography charges, and the next morning, perusing page 14 of the New York Times’ Sunday Style section, I was drawn to a photograph of former Hollinger International board member Marie-Josée Kravis chillin’ ’n’ stylin’ with Jay-Z the night after her final day of testimony.

The photo was taken at a dinner sponsored by the Robin Hood Foundation (an anti-poverty fundraising outfit that also counts Kravis as one of its board members) to raise money for the Javits Center. Times scribe Bill Cunningham reports that “Dinner was prepared by Jean-Claude Nédélec of Glorious Foods, aided by six sous chefs and 60 cooks; 800 waiters served the 4,247 guests. Jamie Niven auctioned six extravagant packages, including a trip to Beijing for the Olympics, which Judy Carson won for $2.2 million.” And as Conrad’s good friend Snoop Dogg might say, that is fo shizzle, my nizzle!