A demonstration in which activists barricaded themselves inside a South Side mental health clinic to protest the city’s plan to close the facility ended early Friday when police arrested 23 protesters.

The activists had locked themselves inside the Woodlawn Mental Health Clinic at 6337 S. Woodlawn Ave. Twelve of the protesters were charged with criminal trespassing while 10 were released without charges, police said. As of late Friday afternoon, only one of the protesters was still in custody, because of an outstanding warrant, police said.

One protester was charged with obstructing a police officer, a misdemeanor, after police said he lay down in front of a police vehicle in an alley near the clinic.

Members of the Mental Health Movement, the coalition of community organizations that organized the rally, held a press conference Friday morning to defend their actions.

“What we did was a clear statement,” said Ronold Jackson, who was among those arrested. “Rahm Emanuel, are you listening? If you are, not everyone else is.”

The outpatient clinic is one of six the city is closing as part of a plan to consolidate the work of 12 city-run facilities into six and build more active partnerships with private mental health organizations, city officials said. The Woodlawn clinic is scheduled to close April 30.

Woodlawn patients will be transferred either to another city-run center or a private mental health clinic within a four-mile radius of their current facility, according to the mayor’s office.

“The fact remains, all who depend on the city for services will continue to have access to quality care and with these reforms, the city is expanding access to mental health services and increasing support for the uninsured,” the commissioner of the city’s Department of Public Health, Bechara Choucair, said in a statement.

Activists with the Mental Health Movement said they will continue to press city officials to hold a public hearing to examine the impact of closing the clinics, a spokesman said.

“What we have heard anecdotally is that people are falling through the cracks,” said Toussaint Losier, a Mental Health Movement spokesman. The group will also host a community health clinic outside the center tomorrow, Losier said.

George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., has been charged with second-degree murder in the 17-year-old’s death. Zimmerman has been transferred to Seminole County jail, according to news reports, and is being held without bail.

“Just moments ago we spoke by phone with Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton,” Angela Corey, the special prosecutor investigating the case, said at a news conference in Jacksonville. “Three weeks ago our prosecution team promised those sweet parents we would get answers to all of their questions, no matter where our quest for the truth led us. And it is that search for justice for Trayvon that has brought us to this night.”

“We did not come to this decision lightly,” she said, declining to discuss specifics of the investigation. “We do not prosecute by pressure or petition … We’re law enforcement. We enforce the law.”

Zimmerman turned himself in and is in police custody in Florida, Corey said, but would not disclose where he is being held.

According to CNN, Zimmerman left the state of Florida, but returned when he learned he would be charged. Zimmerman will now be transferred to the Seminole County Jail, Corey said.

The announcement comes a day after Zimmerman’s attorneys said that they were dropping the case because their client had stopped communicating with them. (On Sunday, Zimmerman launched a website seeking donations for his legal and living expenses.) According to Corey, Zimmerman retained a new attorney “within the last hour.”

That attorney, Mark O’Mara, said Zimmerman would plead not guilty, and hoped the judge would consider a bond.

“He is troubled by everything that has happened,” O’Mara said. “Truly, it must be frightening to not be able to go into a 7-Eleven or a store. It would trouble any of us.”

O’Mara said that because of the “high emotions” involved in the case, Zimmerman would likely be held in protective custody.

O’Mara was a TV analyst during the Casey Anthony trial.

Zimmerman told police he was attacked by Martin and was acting in self-defense.

Earlier this week, Corey announced the case would not go to a grand jury.

“There’s been an overwhelming amount of publicity,” Corey said, expressing concern about damage to a potential jury pool. “It’s regrettable that so many facts got released and misconstrued.”

“Forty-five days ago, Trayvon Martin was murdered,” Rev. Al Sharpton said at a separate press conference in Washington, flanked by Martin’s parents. “No arrest was made. The chief of police announced after his review of the evidence there would be no arrest. His parents refused to leave it there.”

“Tonight,” Sharpton continued, “Maybe America can come together and say only the facts should matter, when dealing with a loss of life.

“This is not a night for celebration,” he added. “This is a night that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

“It’s about justice, justice, justice,” Ben Crump, the Martin family’s attorney, said. “If we just stand our ground, we can make a difference.”

Martin’s parents spoke briefly at the press conference.

“We simply wanted an arrest, and we got it,” Fulton said. “Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus … A heart has no color. It’s not white, it’s not black—it’s red. And I just want to thank you from my heart to your heart.”

“We will continue to walk by faith,” Tracy Martin said. “And we will march and march and march until the right thing is done.”

It looks like YMCMB may have signed another veteran emcee to their roster. We are hearing

that Chicago rapper Twista may have signed a label deal with YMCMB for his GMG label. Our

sources are telling us that there was a major bidding war going on between YMCMB and Def

Jam over Twista, but it looks like YMCMB may have won.  Today, Twista added more fuel to

the rumor when he tweeted a photo of himself in a YMCMB hoodie, an accessory only given

to YMCMB artists. Twista is putting the finishing touches on his upcoming album, The Dark

Horse, and we are hearing that it may be his best work yet. Stay tuned for an announcement

from YMCMB on their new signee!

Trayvon Martin’s parents will ask the U.S. Justice Department to review a local Florida prosecutor’s interactions with police investigating the teen’s shooting death, the family’s lawyer said.

The Justice Department launched an investigation into Martin’s death on March 19, but the family is now asking it to look for possible interference by State’s Attorney Norm Wolfinger’s office with Sanford, Florida, Police Detective Chris Serino, attorney Ben Crump said.

The Martin family will send a formal request to the Justice Department Monday, Crump told CNN Sunday.

Martin, 17, was fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, 28, after Zimmerman called police to report him as a “suspicious” person on the evening of February 26.

Police cited Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which allows people to use deadly force anywhere they feel a reasonable threat of death or serious injury, for not immediately arresting Zimmerman.

Authorities have said Zimmerman was not immediately charged because there were no grounds, at the outset, to disprove his account that he’d acted to protect himself. Martin’s family and supporters say Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, racially profiled the teen, who was black, and ignored a police dispatcher’s directive not to follow him.

The killing sparked nationwide protests, including a march Saturday by civil rights luminaries, carrying “Justice for Trayvon” signs in a marching to the Sanford police headquarters.

The Sanford police department has come under intense scrutiny for its actions following the shooting, and protesters renewed their call for the firing of police Chief Bill Lee, who stepped aside temporarily this month amid criticism.

The local prosecutor also stepped aside. Gov. Rick Scott appointed a special investigator to decide if Zimmerman should be charged, cleared or if the case should be sent to the grand jury.

Bryan “Birdman” Williams has spent the last two decades building Cash Money Records, the label he and his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams founded in 1991, into one of the most powerful teams in hip-hop history.

His YMCMB imprint, stacked with Drake, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, and a gang of other successful artists, keeps racking up No. 1s, largely thanks to the #1 Stunna’s relentless drive and work ethic.

The 43-year-old mogul, who’s know

n for his flashy lifestyle, could be kicking his feet up, but instead he keeps doing 12-hour studio sessions daily as he plots to make Cash Money the music industry’s first billion-dollar brand. In fact, he says he has never taken a vacation.

That’s why we had to get with him for our Shotcaller Interview in our 10th Anniversary Issue. But the magazine version barely scratched the surface. Read on for the raw uncut as Birdman tells us how he discovered Nicki Minaj, why he didn’t get involved in the Drake/Common beef, and whether or not he plans on signing Rick Ross to Cash Money…

What is the difference between the music business today and 10 years ago?

Time changes time. Everything about the game changed from 10 years ago to now. You never had none of the things that we have now, like the Internet. So many different ways for us to make money now in music. And it’s so digital. We’re a digital-driven brand, we’re an Internet brand.

We global nowadays. 15 years ago, when we first jumped on the scene with Universal, we had gotten too big as artists to be independent. But I still look at us as an indie company because we’re self-contained, we’re self owned. We came in the game self-contained, we probably the last independent label that lasted as long as it did. We our own bosses, run our own ship.

For years we did it all off our own money. [The Universal deal] was a risk from day one, but I refuse to let somebody take something that we work hard for and just take half of it. I couldn’t see myself doing that.

What do you see happening in the future of the music business?

It’s gonna keep getting bigger. Music is spreading into all TVs, networks, and sports. It’s gonna keep expanding. There gonna be quicker ways to become a millionaire. People gonna be playing with millions off of music.

It’s more prosperous, we have so much technology. You don’t have to be an artist if you got some different type of technology—you can make money in a lot of different ways.

I’ll also say we’ll be the first billion-dollar brand of music, that’s our goal. We never had a billionaire brand in music, the closest thing we had was Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson sold 750 million records. I think we’re gonna set the tone for other youngsters to make more money and see that a billion dollars can be accomplished.

How many records has Cash Money sold so far?

We sold 150 million so far. Our track record runs deep. We’ve been the most dominant force of 2011, we gonna be the most dominant force of 2012. We have 16 releases in the first six months of this year. Our goal, as a brand, is to put out 100 albums a year. So I’m trying to figure out how we gonna reach that…

100 albums a year?

We gonna do 16 in the first six months and we gonna try this year to try to put out at least 30 this year. Next year, we’ll try to put out 50. We just gonna keep growing. To have 100 active acts is a lot. It ain’t just rappers, it’s different artists in different parts of the country: rap, pop, country, gospel—its everything.

What was the hardest lesson for you to learn?

Staffing and being able to run your machine. For years, I was so dependant on Universal to do things but the way we work and the way we drop records—they don’t work like that. It’s hard to with with a label because they’re not used to a brand like us who will just drop a record in the morning and work it [the rest of the day].

We had to have our own staffing to do our own things in conjunction with their staffing so they can get the feel of what we do. Its more understandable now that we’ve been working together for a long time. Now they allow us to do what we wanna do, how we wanna do it.

What is your proudest moment?

My proudest moment was watching my son [Lil Wayne] emerge. I’m proud of all our accomplishments, but when I see my son do what he do, that shit means the world to me.

I saw the emergence from Tha Carter. At that time, that’s when all the bullshit happened, when everybody was leaving [the label]. Honestly, I was like “It’s on you Wayne. I’m done with it.”

I knew however far this shit was going to go, it would have to be on Wayne. So I just gave it all to him, “It’s your turnhomie. It’s your world. We’re going to follow your lead. Whatever you want to do is what we’re going to do.”

Wayne was always around grown folks at a young age, so he learned a lot young. When the time came I just gave it to him, he was ready. He was so fucking excited, he was eager for it. He didn’t even have to think about it. He showed me how bad he wanted it and he’s still showing me.

That was right around the time we did the Like Father, Like Son album. That was something he wanted to do like, “Let’s bring it back like this with me and you.” It’s been his movement ever since.

Right, at the time your sister had just died and people like Mannie Fresh and Juvenile were leaving the label. What was your mindset like at the time?

I don’t know where my mind was. My sister had just died; I was going through something personal. I was still focused and into it because I’m a hustler. This was at the height of my career [and I said to Wayne], “It’s all about you.” That was probably the smartest move I’ve ever made in my life.

My sister hurt. That’s pain. The business of niggas leaving and all of that that was something I had to deal with, livewith, suck up and G up. All that was motivation because my sister loved us and loved the music. She was a motivation for me more than them niggas was because when they left, I knew we were goingto do what we got to do anyway.

I let all my negatives turn into positives; I use them as motivation. It made me go harder. I never laid down to the losses and the gains. Some losses can bend you over because you’re human and the shit hurts; you can ball up. I did the opposite: I G’d up and went harder.

Me and my son, we buckled down. We looked around and realized it was just us. I didn’t wanna lose [Juvenile and Mannie Fresh] but I guess losing them was a gift and a curse because it really made us go harder and see life differently.

It was about letting Wayne do what he wanted to do. I always felt he was the most talented of everybody and whatever we was gonna do, it was gonna be on shorty. The new talent we bring it was all gonna be surrounded around Wayne.

Did you ever have any self-doubt?

[When I was] young I was doubtful about life after losing so much at a young age. But losing in this game can’t compare to the losses that I already had lost in life so we just kept it moving.

We from New Orleans, growing up there comes with losing family and friends. We never second-guessedoursleves. We see something we wanna do, we’ll do it. I never felt there was something I couldn’t do, I always felt there was motivation for us to do it.