Tina Charles

WNBA's Connecticut Sun  – No. 31
Center
Born	(1988-12-05) December 5, 1988 (age 23) Jamaica, New York
Nationality	American
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight	198 lb (90 kg)
College	Connecticut
Draft	1st overall, 2010 Connecticut Sun
Profile	WNBA Info Page
WNBA Teams
Connecticut Sun (2010–present)
Non-WNBA Teams
Galatasaray Medical Park (2011-2012) Wisła Can-Pack Kraków (2012-present)[1]
Awards and Honors
WNBA Rookie of the Year (2010) 1× WNBA All-Star (2011) 2006 USA Today National Player of the Year 2006 McDonald's National Player of the Year 2006 Gatorade National Player of the Year 2006 WBCA National Player of the Year 2006 EA Sports National Player of the Year 2010 John R. Wooden Award winner 2009 NCAA Championship 2010 NCAA Championship

Tina Charles (born December 5, 1988)^[2] is an American women's basketball player with the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association and the Galatasaray Medical Park of the TWBL. Originally from Jamaica, New York, Charles was drafted 1st overall in the 2010 WNBA Draft. In 2009 and 2010, she and teammate Maya Moore led the Connecticut Huskies to two undefeated national championships.

High school[link]

Charles played basketball at Christ the King High School in Middle Village, New York. After averaging 26.5 points, 14.8 rebounds and 5.2 blocked shots per game her senior year, she was named WBCA National Player of the Year, “Miss Basketball” for New York state, and was selected as a McDonald’s All-American and tabbed New York City Player of the Year by Newsday, the Daily News and the New York Post.^[3] Charles was the leading scorer on the Christ the King team that won 57 consecutive games, leading to a USA Today #1 ranking in the country after an undefeated season in 2006.^[4] Charles was named a WBCA All-American.^[5] She participated in the 2006 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored fifteen points and had twelve rebounds.^[6] Charles was named the MVP of the Red team.^[7] During high school, Charles also played on the AAU club basketball team the New York Gazelles.

College[link]

In 2009, Charles led the UConn Huskies to a national title as a junior.^[8] She was named Final Four MOP and one of the 10 players on the State Farm All-America team during Final Four weekend.^[8] Charles made a comment to ESPN during a post-championship interview, in regards to the tradition of sports champions who visit the White House after their title game victories. She said, "Barack Obama, we will be here soon!" and after the 2010 championship she made a comment, "President Barack Obama, we're back!"

On February 13, 2010, before the game vs. St. John's, Charles became the 12th UConn Women's basketball player to be recognized in the Huskies of Honor and was the 2nd player to be honored while still a player. The first was Renee Montgomery the year before.

On March 1, 2010, during a game against Notre Dame, Charles broke two UConn records on the same night. Her fifth rebound made her the all-time leading rebounder at UConn, surpassing Rebecca Lobo's fifteen year-old record of 1268. Lobo was present working as a commentator for ESPN, and interviewed Charles after the game. Additionally, Charles started the night in third place in career scoring, behind Kerry Bascom and Nykesha Sales. Sales had scored 2,178 points and Bascom 2,177 in their careers. During the game, Charles surpassed both to become the leading scorer in UConn history.^[9]

Commemorative Ball for 1000 points

Charles was named the Big East Conference Player of the Year for 2010.^[10]

Charles is majoring in psychology with a minor in criminal justice. She anticipates working in corrections at the close of her basketball career. In 2010, she is spending six hours a week as an intern at Bergin Correctional Institution, helping prisoners adjust back to life in society.^[11]

WNBA[link]

Charles was the overall #1 pick in the 2010 WNBA draft, selected by the Connecticut Sun.^[12]

Charles was named the 2010 WNBA Rookie of the Year. In her first season, she set all-time league records for rebounds, with 398, and double-double with 22. (both scoring and rebounds in double digits).^[13]

On 2 September 2011, Tina Charles had 10 points, 10 assists and 16 rebounds for the first triple-double in Connecticut Sun history, and only the fifth such accomplishment in WNBA history. Charles had eight assist at halftime, and was taken out of the game with nine, because the lead over the opponent was so large. The coach did put her back in the game in the fourth quarter, and she earned an assist on a pass to Jessica Moore, leading to the triple double.^[14] However, subsequent review by the league resulted in a change, as three of the assist should not have been credited to Charles, so she ended the game with seven assists, not ten.^[15]

USA Basketball[link]

Charles was invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp in the fall of 2009, one of only three college players invited to the training camp.^[16] The team selected to play for the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Olympics is usually chosen from these participants.^[16][17]

On October 5, 2009, Charles was selected to be one of the USA National Team members to travel to the 2009 Ekaterinburg International Invitational. She was the only college player on the team.^[18] Charles contributed to the USA Basketball win at the Ekaterinburg Tournament. She had double-digit scoring in all three games, with the second game, against Euroleasing Sopron, her best result, scoring 15 points in only 13 minutes of play.^[19]

Charles was named the USA Basketball 2009 Female Athlete Of The Year, for her contributions to the Gold Medal earned at the 2009 USA Women's World University Games, the Gold Medal earned at the 2009 Ekaterinburg International Invitational, and the undefeated collegiate season leading to a National Championship.^[20]

Charles was named as one of the National team members to represent the USA Basketball team in the WNBA versus USA Basketball.^[21] This game replaces the normal WNBA All-Star game with WNBA All-Stars versus USA Basketball, as part of the preparation for the FIBA World Championship for Women to be held in the Czech Republic during September and October 2010.^[22]

Charles was one of 21 finalists for the U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball Team Roster. The 20 professional women's basketball payers, plus one collegiate player (Brittney Griner), were selected by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee to compete for the final roster which will represent the USA at the 2012 Olympics in London.^[23]

WNBA career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

Postseason[link]

Awards and honors[link]

• 2006 USA Today National Player of the Year^[2]
• 2006 McDonald's National Player of the Year^[2]
• 2006 Parade Magazine National Player of the Year^[2]
• 2006 Gatorade National Player of the Year^[2]
• 2006 WBCA National Player of the Year^[2]
• 2006 EA Sports National Player of the Year^[2]
• 2006 Miss New York Basketball^[2]
• 2009 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year^[20]
• 2010 All-BIG EAST First Team (unanimous)^[24]
• 2010 Big East Player of the Year^[10]
• 2010 AP All-America First Team^[25]
• 2010 U.S. Basketball Writers Association's Player of the Year.^[26]
• 2010 State Farm Coaches' All-America Team^[27]
• 2010 #1 selection in 2010 WNBA draft^[12]
• 2010 John R. Wooden Award winner^[28]
• 2010 WNBA Rookie of the Year^[13]
• 2010 All-WNBA Second Team^[29]

University of Connecticut statistics[link]

See also[link]

• List of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball players with 1000 points
• List of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball players with 1000 rebounds

References[link]

Tina Charles may refer to:

• Tina Charles (singer) (born 1954), English singer
• Tina Charles (basketball) (born 1988), American basketball player

See also[link]

• Charles (surname)

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

M.O.P.
Hamburg/Germany 2001
Background information
Also known as	Mash Out Posse, The Marxmen
Origin	Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York
Genres	East Coast hip hop, hardcore hip hop
Labels	First Family, E1 Music, Babygrande Records
Associated acts	Gang Starr Foundation, Fat Joe, Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, Big Noyd, Kool G Rap, Snowgoons, Cormega, AZ, Teflon, DR Period, Busta Rhymes
Members
Lil' Fame (aka Fizzy Womack, Slap) Billy Danze (aka Danzinie, William Berkowitz)

Lil' Fame

Billy Danze

M.O.P., short for Mash Out Posse, is an American hip hop duo. The duo, composed of Billy Danze and Lil' Fame, is known for the aggressive delivery typically employed by both emcees.^[1][2] Although they maintain a strong underground following, they are mainly known for the song "Ante Up," released on 2000's Warriorz, and for which they have had mainstream success.^[1][2] The group has frequently collaborated with DJ Premier. Fame sometimes produces under the moniker Fizzy Womack, and has produced a significant amount of tracks on all M.O.P. releases since 1996's Firing Squad, as well as work for other artists including Big Noyd, Kool G Rap, Teflon and Wu-Tang Clan.^[3]

Biography[link]

Early career[link]

Lil' Fame (Jamal Grinnage)^[4] and Billy Danze (Eric Murray)^[4] grew up together in the neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn and formed a gang called Mash Out People.^[2] With a desire to express themselves through rap, they formed a hip-hop group named after their gang. Originally, Fame was the DJ of the group. With encouragement from his older brother, Fame began to write his own rhymes.^[5]

Hamburg/Germany 1999

After contributing to the 1992 compilation The Hill That's Real, M.O.P. debuted in 1993 with the single "How About Some Hardcore?", which appeared on the soundtrack for the film House Party 3.^[6] The underground success of the single, promoted by a low-budget video from then-unknown director Hype Williams, led to their debut album To the Death.^[5] It was released in 1994 on the small label Select Records, almost fully produced by DR Period.

In 1996, M.O.P. released their second effort, Firing Squad. Hoping for better promotion, they signed with Relativity Records. Changing record labels and production duties to include Gang Starr's DJ Premier and Lil' Fame himself, the group still kept their energetic style, and gained a slightly larger following this time round. In 1998 M.O.P. released the Handle Ur Bizness EP, which was soon followed by the album First Family 4 Life. Working with the same formula, again with a heavy percentage of the record produced by DJ Premier and Lil' Fame, the album featured guest appearances by Guru of Gang Starr, Treach of Naughty by Nature, OC of Diggin' in the Crates Crew and Jay-Z. The album had the dubious distinction of being the most stolen album from New York City's HMV stores in 1998.^[6]

Rise to fame[link]

M.O.P.'s fanbase was loyal but remained rather small until 2000, when they released Warriorz, this time on Loud Records. Mainstream radio began playing the first single, "Ante Up", produced by DR Period, with whom they had not worked with since their debut. The single was a hit and propelled the album to #25 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[7] The follow-up single, the self-produced "Cold As Ice" (which featured a sample from "Cold As Ice" by Foreigner), also received radio airplay,^[5] although almost half of the song's lyrics had to be censored for the radio version. It was used in the UK on a TV advert for Ice White toothpaste. Both "Ante Up" and "Cold as Ice" reached the top ten on the UK Singles Chart peaking at #7 and #4 respectively.^[8]

In 2001, a remix of "Ante Up" was released featuring Busta Rhymes, Remy Ma, and Teflon, which was also very well received.^[5] That same year, they collaborated on a song titled "Life is Good" with the pop group LFO. The song reached #40 on Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart.^[9] Both singles continued the Posse's long-awaited mainstream success.

In 2002, Loud Records folded, leaving the group stranded. In 2003, Loud's parent label Sony/Columbia issued a greatest hits album titled 10 Years and Gunnin. M.O.P. later joined Jay-Z and Damon Dash's Roc-A-Fella Records.^[5] Their first recording for the label was a guest appearance on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse; they were set to release their album titled Ghetto Warfare, but the eagerly anticipated album was shelved. Two other albums were recorded: one titled The Last Generation, the other titled Kill Nigga Die Slo Bluckka Bluckka Bloaoow Blood Sweat Tears and We Out.^[10] A Dash-produced track "It's That Simple" with Spice Girl Victoria Beckham was created, and received a premiere on radio stations in July 2003. This generated mixed reviews and further criticism, with the feeling being that Beckham was far from convincing as an urban act.

During this waiting period, the group kept busy by releasing a slew of mixtapes and appearing on soundtracks to films such as Bad Boys II. They also contributed two songs ("Ground Zero" and "Put it in the Air") to the popular game NFL Street 2, and another ("Fire") to Fight Night 2004 - another video game. They also contributed Ante Up to the third installment of the popular Midnight Club video game series. Also in 2004, M.O.P. joined the successful rap rock band Linkin Park on the second stage of the Projekt Revolution Tour.^[3]

The group also released a mixtape called Marxmen Cinema (under the name The Marxmen), as well as a self-titled rap rock album (under the name Mash Out Posse) recorded as a collaboration with heavy metal group Shiner Massive.^[6] In 2004, Damon Dash sold his share of Roc-A-Fella to new Def Jam president, Jay-Z, and kept M.O.P. on his new label, Dame Dash Music Group. The group was left feeling uncomfortable with the situation. They announced their departure from Roc-A-Fella and Dame Dash in May 2005.^[10]

Recent events[link]

In June 2005, M.O.P. officially announced their signing with 50 Cent's G-Unit Records, around the same time as Queens rap duo Mobb Deep. 50 Cent is a big fan of the group, and has stated his plans to gain the group more mainstream success. The duo completed a song with 50 Cent which was featured on the Get Rich or Die Tryin' soundtrack entitled "When Death Becomes You." Months after the signing, M.O.P. released a compilation album entitled M.O.P. Salutes the St. Marxmen, consisting of several tracks recorded while the group was signed to Roc-A-Fella. In July 2006, M.O.P released the long-shelved Ghetto Warfare.

As of February 2008, M.O.P left G-Unit Records due to creative differences.^[11] Billy and Fame plan to release their next album as M.O.P., The Foundation, in 2009 on E1 Music. The album will feature production from DJ Premier, Statik Selektah, The Alchemist, and Jake One, and guest appearances from Heltah Skeltah, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, Beanie Sigel, Styles P and Redman.^[12] The first single from the album, "Blow the Horns" featuring Busta Rhymes, and another track called "Street Life," which is a collaboration with dancehall artist Demarco, have already been released on the internet. Also, according to one of Billy Danze's recent Facebook statuses, the album is complete and is now awaiting release.

On October 14, 2008, M.O.P filed suit in a New York Federal Court against the WWE and John Cena. The group claims that Cena and the WWE stole parts of their song "Ante Up" for Cena's theme song "The Time is Now". The theme song is also featured as the first track on Cena's album You Can't See Me. M.O.P. is seeking the destruction of the song and asking for $150,000 in damages. The lawsuit has since been dropped, it is unknown if a settlement was reached outside of court.^[4]

In June 2009, with extensive production from Lil' Fame (as Fizzy Womack) and a historic guest-list (Masta Ace, Kool G Rap, Sadat X), the RZA-executive produced "Wu-Tang Chamber Music" debuted in the Top 50 within its first week. M.O.P. themselves appeared on the album cut "Ill Figures" alongside Raekwon and Kool G Rap.

Lil' Fame also produced & executive produced the 2011 Wu-Tang Clan Compilation Legendary Weapons alongside Noah Rubin & Andrew Kelley.

In June 2011, the duo appeared, rapping in Swedish on the chorus, on Swedish rapper Ken Ring's single "Plocka Han".

Recently, M.O.P have announced a collaboration album with the German production team, Snowgoons. The album, which is named Sparta, released in November. On October 24, 2011, M.O.P released their first single from the upcoming album, "Get Yours".^[13]

The group also plans to release another M.O.P. album in 2012 (the album they were working on before starting the Sparta album)^[14] as well as solo albums from Billy Danze titled, Behind Gates and Lil Fame titled, The Fame and the Glory. As well Lil Fame is working on a collaborative album with Termanology to be released in 2012.DJ Premier stated that he will work with M.O.P. on a collaborative album soon.^[15]

1999

Discography[link]

References[link]