N-dubz

Former N-Dubz rapper Dappy has defended his use of the n-word, after including it in the lyrics to a new track he’s released.

The star can be heard using the controversial word, which many find offensive despite the argument that ‘reclaiming’ the term empowers rather than degrades the traditional target of the word, in the introduction to a new freestyle track called ‘Tarzan’, on a new EP he released on Christmas Day.

“If the word means black to you then you're racist,” he wrote in a tweet on Tuesday afternoon (December 29th). The 28 year old, who is of Greek-Cypriot descent, added “We took that word and made it our own to p*** off the racists.”

Continue reading: Dappy Defends Use Of Controversial Language On New Track

The assault cases in the entertainment business just keep coming. After Chris Brown, Justin Bieber and most recently, Wiz Khalifa, have all faced assault charges, the unfortunate trend is apparently moving across the pond. Former N-Dubz member Dappy has been fined £800 for slapping a man outside Chicago’s in Clemsford after an event back in February. According to BBC News Dappy, 27, faced trial at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court under his real name Dino Costas Contostavlos. Mr Contostavlos was also told to pay a victim surcharge of £80 and costs of £930. He is only the latest to go down in a disturbing series of high profile cases of violence.

Dappy is in abundant, if not very flattering company these days.

At the beginning of the year, former pop sweetheart Justin Bieber was charged with assault after allegedly getting in a brawl with a Toronto limo driver. The incident took place in December 2013.

Continue reading: Violent Pop Culture - Dappy's Case Just The Latest In A Series Of Assault Charges In 2014

The former N-Dubz rapper Dappy could face up to three years in jail, after he was found guilty of assault and affray at Guildford Crown Court. Dappy found himself facing charges after he got himself embroiled in a brawl at a petrol station, when he asked some women to get in his car and they refused. He was accused of spitting at and insulting the women and of assaulting the men that stepped in to defend them.

“Not guilty For spitting at the Females but Guilty for defending my self from the 3 Males!!!! #ThisAintRight,” the ‘No Regrets’ singer tweeted yesterday, after hearing the verdict. A couple of hours later, clearly feeling vindicated, he added “U see... I told u I never Spat at No Girl!!!!! ‪#ThisAintRight.” Hmmm, that doesn’t exactly make up for the fact that you got into a fight with the men, though Dappy and reportedly left them with “severe facial injuries.” You are in no way off the hook.

The maximum sentence for Dappy’s crime stands at three years in jail. He denied the allegations that were made against him but also admitted that he was drunk at the time of the incident, which took place in February 2012. 

Continue reading: Still Got No Regrets? Dappy Faces Up To Three Years In Jail For Petrol Station Assault

The N-Dubz rapper who found fame alongside his cousin, X Factor judge Tulisa Constostavlos, in 2009, has been found guilty of assault and affray for an incident at a Surrey petrol station last February.

Dappy was accused of spitting at two girls after he was rejected having tried to chat them up. After this a fight ensued along with his own pals, two of whom joined him in court today, also accused under the same circumstances. Kieran Vassell was also found guilty while Kalonji Stewart was, for some reason, not. As MTV UK reports they have been let out on unconditional bail and will be sentenced on February 15th. 

Dappy's track record isn't great and his latest bad behaviour is preceded by a lifetime of breaking the rules, from constant truancy at school, leading to his expulsion, to being accused child abuse, and of assaulting the mother of his two children. However, despite the evidence this time around, Dappy was really not happy with the verdict and both he and TOWIE's Kirk Norcross took to Twitter to air their grievances.

Continue reading: Does Dappy Still Have 'No Regrets'? Rapper Found Guilty Of Assault And Affray

Dappy exits the courts

Dappy has been found guilty of affray in light of the court case that's been going on over an incident involving him and two women at a petrol station in Guildford, Surrey. The story goes that Dappy asked the two women if they wanted to come back with him, after bumping into them at the garage in the evening. When the women rejected his advance, he repotedly spat at them, the incident spiralling into a fight between Dappy, some of his pals, and some men who happened to be nearby. 

Continue reading: Dappy Found Guilty Of Affray In Garage Court Case

It’s not looking good for Dappy, who has been charged with affray, two counts of common assault and one of assault by beating in connection with a fight at a garage in Guildford, Surrey, in the early hours on February 28 last year.

However, the N-Dubz man is insisting his innocence in court, telling the jury that he thinks that the two women on the prosecutor’s side are trying to stitch him up. According to the Daily Mail, Dappy told the prosecuting lawyer “How am I going to get anywhere by spitting at girls. I have been broke for 18 years of my life, I am financially stable, I am grateful for it, I have done nothing to those girls.” However, having said that the two had disrespected him, he was challenged “This is what happens when girls disrespect Dappy?” to which he replied “Come on sir, really? The girls think it’s funny, in that they are trying to stitch me up.”

The incident allegedly occurred after Dappy had asked the two if they wanted to come back with him after bumping into them at the garage. When they said know he is supposed to have spat at them, the incident setting in motion a chain of events that led to a fight between him, his friends and some nearby men.

Dappy, that most unlovable scamp from British group N-Dubz, has decided to plead not guilty to four charges of assault and affray at Guildford Crown court. As you will remember from various reports in the earlier in the week, the, err, he’s a rapper we guess (though we can’t rightly remember much of what he’s done musically), was accused of instigating a brawl after spitting in two women’s faces. Pretty unpleasant if it turns out to be true.

The Guardian reports that the charges levelled against Dappy – real name Costadinos Contostavlos – are that he was alleged to have approached two 18 year-old women in February last year and asked them to come with him; when they refused a fight apparently broke out between the star and his pals, with some other men who were presumably loitering about nearby.

"What very quickly became apparent was [that] however interested Mr Contostavlos might have been in the girls, they were not interested in him," prosecutor Brian Stork said on Tuesday (January 8, 2013). "So his attitude changed, and from being polite and inviting he became rude. He called the girls 'slags'. He described one of them as 'ugly'. And then as a result of one of the girls calling him 'boring', he [spat at them]." Dappy could faces up to six months in prison if convicted.

Continue reading: Dappy's Decision To Plead Not Guilty In Assault Case Could Prove Dippy

It’s a mixed bag for UK albums, as the release schedule starts to slow in preparation for the big race for the Christmas sales market. This week, Jake Bugg toppled Mumford & Sons from what looked to be a pretty comfortable reign at the top of the albums chart. But can he stay there for a second week or do any of this week’s releases have what to takes to shift him?

The strongest competition for Jake will be coming from across the pond, in the shape of the fourth studio album from Taylor Swift entitled Red.

She performed on the X Factor results show here last weekend and her last album, 2010’s Speak Now reached number six. Her profile has increased considerably since then, though – thanks in no small part to her contribution to the Hunger Games soundtrack. If anyone can shift Bugg from the top spot, we reckon it’s Taylor.

Continue reading: UK Album Releases, October 22, 2012: Taylor Swift, Swedish House Mafia, Dappy, Kate Rusby