Joseph Best This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. RANTS & RAVES

   hiphoprants.blogspot.com/2003_ - [Cached]

   Published on: 9/6/2004   Last Visited: 8/5/2005

   Joseph Best was active at his church. Now he and a woman said to be his wife are facing attempted murder charges. Police said that Cynthia Powell, 36, drove the car from which Joseph Best, 32, fired into a group of girls.
   ...
   Joseph Best used to sing and play drums for his church choir. He also committed armed robberies. After a seven-year stretch in prison, Best rejoined Fellowship Evangelistic Church in West Philadelphia. He had not been attending regularly in recent months, his mother recalled. But Best vowed to her, "Mama, I'm going to make sure I go this Sunday." He did.
   
   Later that day, a snowball incident outside the church grew into a street fight involving Best's daughter and her half-sister. Best, 32, returned later that afternoon with a woman identified by police as his wife and opened fire, police said.
   ...
   Best has also been charged with attempted murder and related offenses.
   ...
   Best, whose last known address was the 2900 block of North 26th Street, was arrested Monday at a motel in Bensalem. His mother said he called her collect from jail. "He said, 'Mama, I had promised you I would never put you through this again,' " said the 59-year-old North Philadelphia woman, who asked that she not be named. She reported that her son said: "I don't know what happened. I just somehow lost it." She said he did not specifically say he fired the gun. She withheld judgment of her son, but, she added, "I'm not saying he didn't."
   ...
   In 1992, Best was found guilty of two counts of felony robbery for stickups he committed the year before. He was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison. In court records for that case, the minister of Fellowship Evangelistic, the Rev. Frank McCrae, co-signed an undated letter on Best's behalf, describing how Best sang in the choir, played drums, and served as an usher. "Joseph still serves faithfully in the church as the Sunday School Dept. Secretary, and drummer of the church. I have known Joseph Best to be a fine, respectable young man who has never given me one bit of trouble since I have known him," the letter said. The armed robbery cases were not Best's first brushes with the law. According to court records, he was convicted twice in 1990 on theft charges after driving stolen cars. Best, a graduate of Dobbins Vocational High School, was sentenced to probation in both cases. He also used aliases in those cases, calling himself Joseph Singletary and Joseph Smith. He entered the state prison system for the 1991 robberies on April 10, 1992, and was paroled from the prison at Graterford on Sept. 20, 1999, state records show.
   
   Best played drums for the Graterford choir, his mother said. He taught himself to play as a child. "It was a gift from the Lord," she said. His only sibling, an older sister, died of cancer, his mother said. Best rejoined the church upon his release from prison and was active until the last nine months or so, she said. posted by Calvin at 7:37 PM
   
   50 Cent may not be Number 1 on the Billboard 200, that honor goes to R. Kelly, but his single "In Da Club" is still number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Additionally, "In Da Club" is No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks chart, and the 50 Cent shine doesn't stop there. His 8 Mile soundtrack single, Wanksta, is number 14 on the Hot 100, and number 8 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, where he currently has six songs representing.

2. 2. Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/26/2003 | Woman charged in shooting of girl

   www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/52 - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/26/2003   Last Visited: 2/26/2003

   Joseph Best was active at his church. Now he and a woman said to be his wife are facing attempted murder charges.
   ...
   Police said that Cynthia Powell, 36, drove the car from which Joseph Best, 32, fired into a group of girls. A bullet hit Ebony Smith, 10, in the head.
   ...
   Police said that Cynthia Powell, 36, drove the car from which Joseph Best, 32, fired into a group of girls.
   ...
   Joseph Best used to sing and play drums for his church choir.
   
   He also committed armed robberies.
   
   After a seven-year stretch in prison, Best rejoined Fellowship Evangelistic Church in West Philadelphia. He had not been attending regularly in recent months, his mother recalled. But Best vowed to her, "Mama, I'm going to make sure I go this Sunday."
   
   He did.
   
   Later that day, a snowball incident outside the church grew into a street fight involving Best's daughter and her half-sister. Best, 32, returned later that afternoon with a woman identified by police as his wife and opened fire, police said.
   ...
   Best has also been charged with attempted murder and related offenses.
   
   ...
   Best, whose last known address was the 2900 block of North 26th Street, was arrested Monday at a motel in Bensalem. His mother said he called her collect from jail.
   
   "He said, 'Mama, I had promised you I would never put you through this again,' " said the 59-year-old North Philadelphia woman, who asked that she not be named.
   
   She reported that her son said: "I don't know what happened. I just somehow lost it."
   
   She said he did not specifically say he fired the gun. She withheld judgment of her son, but, she added, "I'm not saying he didn't."
   
   ...
   In 1992, Best was found guilty of two counts of felony robbery for stickups he committed the year before. He was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison.
   
   In court records for that case, the minister of Fellowship Evangelistic, the Rev. Frank McCrae, co-signed an undated letter on Best's behalf, describing how Best sang in the choir, played drums, and served as an usher.
   
   "Joseph still serves faithfully in the church as the Sunday School Dept. Secretary, and drummer of the church. I have known Joseph Best to be a fine, respectable young man who has never given me one bit of trouble since I have known him," the letter said.
   
   The armed robbery cases were not Best's first brushes with the law.
   
   According to court records, he was convicted twice in 1990 on theft charges after driving stolen cars. Best, a graduate of Dobbins Vocational High School, was sentenced to probation in both cases. He also used aliases in those cases, calling himself Joseph Singletary and Joseph Smith.
   
   He entered the state prison system for the 1991 robberies on April 10, 1992, and was paroled from the prison at Graterford on Sept. 20, 1999, state records show.
   
   Best played drums for the Graterford choir, his mother said. He taught himself to play as a child.
   
   "It was a gift from the Lord," she said.
   
   His only sibling, an older sister, died of cancer, his mother said.
   
   Best rejoined the church upon his release from prison and was active until the last nine months or so, she said.
   
   Sometimes he would oversleep, as he did more than two weeks ago, she said. A week later, Best was stuck in Baltimore because of the snowstorm that struck most of the Northeast, but he showed up as promised Sunday, she said.
   
   Accounts differ on what occurred outside the two-story church at 5219 W. Jefferson St. There was an initial incident in which some boys threw snowballs at Best's daughter, Jasmyne, 11, and maybe at her 18-year-old half-sister, Powell's daughter. The half-sister got into a fight with some nearby girls. Adults in the church, including Best, intervened. Police said they broke it up.
   
   Later that afternoon, Best, riding in the passenger seat of the Chrysler, drove by a group of girls near the church and opened fire, police said.
   
   That night, Best and Powell rented a room at the Lincoln Motel, said Capt. Charles Bloom of the Homicide Division.
   ...
   Shortly before 11:30 a.m., Best and Powell were arrested by Philadelphia and Bensalem police as the couple left their room.