2nd Annual Source Awards, 1995 - Snoop Doggy Dogg, Suge Knight & Death Row vs. (then) Puff Daddy, Biggie & Bad Boy @ Theatre at Madison Square Garden

July 16th, 2008 - SNOOP DOGG live at CONEY ISLAND, BROOKLYN, NY Performing BIGGIE’s “HYPNOTIZE” 

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Dear Mr. A & R.

Dase Daimons, sign this guy NOW!  Check out his myspace for his, “hey Delilah remix…” it’s FUCKING CRAZY!  Part of The Breakfast Klub.

Chicago Da BheatMaker. Hiz Name Pretty Much Sums up his whole Deal.  Chicago iz definitely 1 of the HOTTEST young Producers cookin’ up joints right now, period.

You can add this to the list of artists we told you about first, that go on to be a huge success.
Myspace

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Rapper/producer Dr. Dre filed a lawsuit in bankruptcy court against defunct label Death Row Records over who owns the rights to the 1992 album “The Chronic.”

Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, alleges in the suit that he owns the copyrights to the album, which features hits such as “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang.” And he isn’t taking kindly to the possibility that Death Row and the court-appointed bankruptcy administrator will try to sell the rights.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, asserts that Dr. Dre created, produced and was the principal performer on all master recordings for “The Chronic.”

Sometime around the fall of 1992, Dr. Dre granted Death Row a license to distribute the album in exchange for payment of royalties. The album was released on the Death Row label in November of that year.

Around March 1996, Dr. Dre agreed to relinquish his 50 percent ownership interest in Death Row Records, as specified in a written agreement. Also under that 1996 agreement, Dr. Dre agreed to hand over copyrights to the album on the condition he continue receiving royalties.

KEEP READING

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You can be the next actor. You just have to eat some more steak and drink Welches Grape. Sign up at R U BIG?

The story of “heart throb never, black and ugly as ever” rapper the Notorious B.I.G. will finally grace the silver screen. Notorious will focus on the private life of the Brooklyn icon, but Fox Searchlight Pictures is still scrambling to fill the part of the lyrical legend. So producers of the biopic, which has been in development for seven years, have decided to seek out an unknown actor to portray Biggie Smalls on the big screen. “As it relates to the individual Christopher Wallace — his looks, his stature, what he represented, the swagger, the sensibility of the man — all those elements are very difficult to find, no matter where you go,” said Big’s former manager Wayne Barrow.

Producers briefly considered Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker for the role, but the actor is twice as old as Biggie was at his career’s height. And unlike Todd Haynes’ unconventional take on the life of Bob Dylan (where Cate Blanchett takes a turn portraying the singer-songwriter), Notorious filmmakers don’t seem interested in any creative casting (sorry, Mo’Nique).

Actors can submit audition tapes to www.biggiecasting.com beginning Sunday. And here’s a bit of advice from Big’s mom, Voletta Wallace: “I don’t want you to just imitate him. I want to see his swagger, his style, his energy and smile come through.”

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Kanye West’s album cover was leaked about 2 weeks ago. But it was really the wrong album artwork. Don’t believe everything you hear and see people.

Honestly, I don’t like either one of them. The teddy bear theme is a little childish for me. He is still hooked on that school thing, why? It may be time that he graduates from that whole theme.

Who do you have your money on winning the September 11 battle between Kanye and 50 Cent? You can actually create an account on bodog.com and place bets on who will win the compeition. This is funny, it is a big deal. This competition is one of the more exciting things that has happend in rap for a minute. View the picture below, or go to THIS link and place your bets! I for one will not be.

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Fifty possibly feeling the pressure of the September 11 competition…

“50 Cent erupted at the G-Unit offices in New York Thursday night after his collaboration with Robin Thicke leaked in both song and video form, a source told MTV News.

On Thursday morning, G-Unit Records unveiled a new song from 50’s September 11 LP, Curtis: a neighborhood knocker named “We on Some Sh–” that features Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. But by nightfall, mayhem apparently ensued when not only another Curtis song leaked online — “Follow My Lead,” his collaboration with Robin Thicke — but its accompanying video as well.

According to the source, “Follow My Lead” wasn’t supposed to be released until further down the line in Curtis’ run, especially since 50 has videos for “I Get Money” and “Ayo Technology” already in rotation (see “50 Cent Suits Up For ‘Ayo Technology’ Clip With Justin Timberlake, Timbaland”).

Needless to say, 50 didn’t take the news too kindly, causing quite a stir at the G-Unit offices, according to both the source and the web site of radio personality/journalist MissInfo. 50 reportedly erupted, ripping out a plasma TV, throwing his cell phone through a glass window and saying that he was going on vacation.

50 talked about his frustration over the way Interscope handled his Curtis project with DJ Kay Slay on New York’s Hot 97 in an interview that aired late Thursday night.

“The process has been ill for me this go-around,” he said. “I usually have to start a project myself, as far as Interscope. I got to lead. On the first album, ‘Wanksta’ just took off before ‘In Da Club’ came about. When we got to The Massacre, I leaked ‘Disco Inferno’ and they caught up with ‘Candy Shop.’ This album, I threw ‘Straight to the Bank’ out there and ‘Amusement Park’ was the joint they were supposed to assist me with going after. But when that came, it grew at the same pace that ‘Straight to the Bank’ grew. And I was like, ‘Yo, it don’t feel like it’s a difference in the support for the actual record.’”

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“Superstar rappers Kanye West and 50 Cent will go head-to-head on September 11, the day both artists’ sophomore albums land in stores.

While fans of both rappers have relished in the friendly rivalry that seems to be brewing between the pair over the release date, 50 Cent has actually accepted a challenge to debate Kanye West on live TV.

50 Cent appeared on BET’s 106 & Park countdown show on Friday to promote his upcoming album Curtis.

During the show, he accepted an offer from hosts Terrance J. and Rocsi to engage Kanye West in a presidential style “debate” to decide who has the best album, weeks before their albums hit stores.

The rivalry started when West’s release date for his Def Jam/Universal release Graduation was shifted from September 18 to September 11.

Conversely, 50 Cent’s album Interscope/Universal album Curtis was moved from September 4 to September 11.

“I accept the challenge,” 50 Cent told millions of viewers on Friday (August 3). “Kanye, he’s not going to want to show up. Just don’t be asking me if I am a conscious rapper. I know exactly what I am saying - so I am conscious.”

If Kanye were to accept the challenge posed by the hosts, the two colorful, outspoken rappers would appear live on the show to debate who has the better produced album.

50 Cent’s sophomore album The Massacre sold over 1 million copies during its first week in stores, while West’s second album Late Registration moved 860,000 units its first week on the shelves.

While 50 Cent claimed that Def Jam President Jay-Z would cave in and switch Kanye’s release date, Jay-Z himself shot the notion down and welcomed the competition.

Popular gambling website Bodog.com recently began taking bets on which artist will sell more during the first week, if they hit stores on September 11 as planned.

Fans have wagered that 50 Cent’s Curtis will outsell West’s Graduation (180 to 140), while Curtis is also the favorite to top Billboard’s Top 200 album chart.”

VIA

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“Eminem’s music publisher filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Apple Computer Inc. on Monday, alleging the computer giant violated copyrights by allowing unauthorized downloads of the Detroit rapper’s songs onto iPods.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit is the latest move by Eminem’s music publishers to aggressively protect the rights to his music.

A top California entertainment lawyer, Owen Sloane of Berger Kahn, said the Eminem lawsuit is likely a sign of more to come in the music industry as artists and those with the rights to their compositions fight for a bigger share of revenues from the burgeoning music download industry.

A “burning issue” in the music industry today is whether the rights record labels hold to sell a recording artist’s CDs include the rights to authorize music downloads, or whether further permission is needed from the music publishers who hold the copyrights to the lyrics and sheet music.”

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Big ups PoloGrounds!  This video is crazy!!!

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“Lil Wayne was arraigned late Monday on a felony charge of gun-possession in connection with his arrest Sunday night following his first headlining New York show.

According to attorney Stacey Richman, Wayne (born Dwayne Carter Jr.) was released Monday evening on $70,000 bond and will appear in court again in November on the charge, which carries a minimum prison sentence of three and a half years (see “Lil Wayne Arrested On Gun-Possession Charge In New York”). Richman said the arrest — and another one just hours before of Ja Rule on similar gun-possession charges (see “Ja Rule Arrested, Charged With Weapons Possession”) — was puzzling to her.

“He [Wayne] was in the bus in his boxer shorts with a number of other people,” Richman told MTV News. “Unless his boxer shorts had a pocket for this gun, I don’t understand how he had it on him.”

Though some reports have quoted prosecutors describing a scenario in which Wayne tossed a bag containing the .40-caliber pistol as police entered the bus, Richman said her numerous witness interviews have not confirmed that version of events.

Several hip-hop artists who joined Lil Wayne onstage Sunday night had run-ins with the police and Beacon Theatre security outside the venue prior to the show (see “Kanye West, Ja Rule, Juelz Santana Jump Onstage For Lil Wayne’s First-Ever NYC Solo Show”).

Richman’s father and legal partner, famed hip-hop attorney Murray Richman, claimed the arrest was a result of an action by New York’s police-detective “hip-hop squad,” which “staked out the [tour] bus.” Murray Richman added that the .40-caliber gun police found in the bus was in the same area in which Wayne was changing clothes and was a legally registered handgun, but did not belong to the rapper. More puzzling to the attorneys is why the other 12 to 20 people on the bus were not arrested along with Wayne, given New York laws that require that everyone in a vehicle with an unclaimed gun be charged if that vehicle is searched by police.

The other person arrested in the incident along with Wayne was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession, given a desk-appearance ticket and released. Prosecutors claim that as police closed in on the bus — which they said they approached after smelling marijuana — the man charged with marijuana possession allegedly flushed 7 ounces of the substance down the bus’ toilet, according to Jennifer Kushner, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. The marijuana was retrieved and introduced into evidence.

A New York Police Department spokesperson would not comment on the Richmans’ assertions, citing the ongoing investigation. The prosecutor’s office would also not comment further on the Richmans’ allegations that the incident was selective policing by the “hip-hop squad” of the NYPD or explain why the other people on the bus were not brought in on the same gun charge as Wayne.”

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