Proof’s Murder Was Self-Defense

Yesterday, prosecutors in D12 rapper Proof’s murder case have ruled that Mario Etheridge, who was working security at Detroit’s CCC club, acted in self-defense.
Apparently he was protecting his cousin Keith Bender, who was also shot, when he first fired twice into the ceiling before aiming at Proof.
This Friday Etheridge faces charges for carrying a concealed [...]

The Chef Cooking Follow Up

News from wutangcorp.com is that Raekwon is releasing a sequel to the 1995 classic Only Built 4 Cuban Linx through Dr Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment. The site states that, although there is no official release date, both Busta Rhymes and RZA will executive produce the record in conjunction with both Aftermath and Wu-Tang productions or Wu [...]

Kanye West Testifies

In an ironic legal twist, Kanye was asked to testify during the copyright infringement case for the 2003 Ludacris track, Stand Up.
The lawsuit stems from allegations by New Jersey group I.O.F; their tune, Straight Like That and, basically, the use of the phrase “like that”.
After asking West to perform the first few lines of the [...]

New Naughty By Nature

Kay gee was reunited this month with Treach and Vin Rock during a performance at B.B. King’s Blues Club in New York. After leaving the group in 1999 to launch his Divine Mill label, Naughty By Nature’s original producer has rejoined to record a new album.
Responsible for production on their award-winning releases, 19 Naughty III [...]

Beastie Boys DVD Doco

June 25 sees the release of the concert documentary, Awesome! I F*ckin’ Shot That!, where the Beastie Boys held a show at Madison Square Garden and gave 50 audience members hand-held Hi8 cameras.
The movie also includes footage from six of the Beastie’s friends with DV cameras and two high-quality tour video cameras.
The DVD, from THINKFilm, [...]

UK Bans Snoop

After the incident last month at Heathrow Airport, Snoop is no longer permitted in the UK. He and five other men were arrested for participating in a 30-man brawl in the business lounge which led to the cancellation of his Johannesburg gig as part of South Africa’s Freedom Day.
Information suggests it’s Snoop’s criminal record in [...]

Song of the Year: Candy Shop?

50 Cent has been awarded songwriter of the year at the 23rd annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards in Los Angeles. This is the award show for composers, authors and publishers. 50 won for his work on Disco Inferno, Hate It of Love It, How We Do, Just A Lil Bit and, of course, Candy Shop.
The [...]

Dj Quik @ House Of Blues

DJ Quik’s live offering, Greatest Hits Live at The House of Blues is set for release next week, June 6. Eager West Coast fans would have also read about Quik’s troubles within his own company, Baby Ree/P3 Entertainment, on his website:

”There have been many different things that this company has done without my approval, selling [...]

More News on Sigel Shooting

According to HipHopGame.com, police sources have confirmed a different story as to Beanie Sigel’s shooting last week:
The rapper partied with friends inside the Z-Bar, on Spring Garden Street near Front, in Northern Liberties - walking around the club wearing his gaudy chain, watch and bracelet.He left the club with at least one friend about 3:30 [...]

Debut for Lupe Fiasco Pushed Back

Much hyped lyricist Lupe Fiasco has been forced to record new tracks for his upcoming debut due to an unfinished leak on the net.
“My project wasn’t completed, there’s all a lot of other things I had
orchestrated and arranged for the album,” said Lupe. “The leak kind of
takes away from the experience I had planned for [...]

Dark Man “The Dog” X

Approaching the August release of the Year Of The Dog LP, DMX is considering a name change.

“It’s just the whole Dark Man thing,” DMX told MTV. “Because if you look at it, from a spiritual point of view, the Bible teaches us that we can speak things into existence. … And Dark Man, you [...]

New Busta LP Leaked

The Big Bang, Busta Rhymes’ latest full-length, has leaked onto the internet in it’s entirety.
According to an Interscope rep, the leaked version contains 18 songs with some incorrect track titles, whereas the official will have 15.
That’s not saying much to persuade users to not download the release, even after it’s release date push to late [...]

Black Thought & Danger Mouse

Hot off the ultra-successful colab with Cee-Lo, Danger Mouse is set to release an LP with Philly rapper, Black Thought.
“I guess you get the gist of what he’s doing with the Gnarls Barkley and with the Doom record. It’s nothing like those two records, but in the same realm. We don’t have a working [...]

Oprah Doesn’t Care about HipHop

“I listen to some hip-hop… You know, I’ve been accused of not liking hip-hop and that’s just not true. I got a little 50 on my iPod. I really do. Love ‘In Da Club.’ … Love that, and you know, love Jay-Z, love Kanye, love Mary J.”
Oprah says this but her [...]

Girlfriend Sued

SOHH reports the latest rap copyright enfringements to come up. This time against uber-producers The Neptunes and uber-knobs N’Sync over the track Girlfriend.
Ben Freeman, who helmed R&B group TRB (Three Real Brothers) contends that he registered the song “Be My Girlfriend” with the Library of Congress, Office of Copyright in September 27, 1995. *NSYNC released [...]