06 Jan 06
Another shooting plagued the hip-hop community over the New Year’s holiday weekend. Eminem protégé, Obie Trice was shot early New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2006 in the Detroit metro area, according to The Detroit News. Trice and his girlfriend were traveling in his SUV along the Lodge Freeway when, at approximately 1:10 am, someone in another vehicle shot through his back window, grazing his head.
According to reports, the incident may have been a result of road rage.
Trice’s unidentified girlfriend apparently grabbed the attention of a police officer and Trice was immediately treated at the Providence Hospital in Southfield, MI. Obie was not seriously injured and released shortly afterwards.
Michigan State Police investigators told the Detroit News that they have yet to nail down a lead. “We have no suspects, and we don't have any information on the other vehicle,” Michigan State Police Sgt. Mario Gonzalez told The News. “We're hoping that someone who saw what happened can provide us with information.”
GUCCI MANE FREE OF CHARGES
Gucci Mane’s murder charges were dropped Friday, Dec. 30, after prosecutors declared that there was enough not enough evidence to try him, according to the Associated Press.
Gucci Mane, born Radric Davis, was accused of shooting Henry Lee Clark, a rapper from Macon, GA, this past May after five men, including Clark, stormed the apartment where Davis was visiting a female friend. Reportedly, one of the men threatened to kill Mane, punched him in the mouth and pistol-whipped Davis’s friend. Gunfire followed and Clark fled the scene towards nearby woods where he was later found dead. Gucci claimed self-defense.
It was rumored that the shooting was related to a beef Gucci got into with Young Jeezy, who was featured on his debut single, “So Icy.” His debut album, Trap House, was released the same day as the up and coming rapper posted $100,000 bond in his murder case.
Currently, Gucci is in an Atlanta jail where he is serving six months for assaulting promoter Troy Buffor with a pool cue this past June. He was also sentenced to 6 1/2 years probation and will pay the approximately $3,000 medical bill for Buffor. His attorney told the Associated Press that he should be released this month.
CIARA DENOUNCES CRUNK CROWN
Grammy-nominated Ciara denounced her “Princess of Crunk&B” crown for the New Year, according to The New York Post.
“My music is energy music, not Crunk&B,” she told The Post. “With a little mix of hip-hop and a little soul.”
She said her sound is more “R&B Pop” than Crunk.
“My first single, ‘Goodies,’ was Crunk&B, but that's the only song on my album that is Crunk&B,” she said. “I think that it’s sad that people want to classify me. That's not my whole sound.”
Ciara was recently nominated for four Grammy Awards, two for her debut album, Goodies, including Best New Artist, and two for her work on Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control.”
PIMP C OUT ON PROBATION
The “Free Pimp C” campaign came to a close for 2006 as Pimp C, born Chad Butler, was released from his Texas jail this past Friday (Dec. 30) after serving approximately half of his 8-year sentence for pleading no contest to aggravated assault.
Butler was imprisoned in 2002 after falling behind on community service requirements he held from his assault charge, stemming from an incident where the Underground Kingz rapper brandished a gun while arguing with a woman at a mall.
He will have to remain on parole until December 2009.
Pimp C appears on his partner Bun B’s Trill album which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Rap charts this past October. Bun is reportedly exited to get his other half back and is ready to work on their next UGK release.
“The [next UGK] album is probably going to be one of the most anticipated projects in rap,” Bun B told Soundslam.com, “I just think that as a group there's going to be a lot more things that we can take advantage of.”
MO’ MONEY, MO’ PROBLEMS FOR THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G.
It seems like mo’ money, mo’ problems for Biggie even years after his death. Now, Biggie’s estate, Bad Boy, and Universal face a publishing lawsuit just after the Bad Boy release, Duets: The Final Chapter debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 last week, selling 437,649 copies in its first week.
Publishing company Bridgeport Music Inc. and Westbound Records claim copyright infringement for allegedly using unauthorized samples for the songs “Ready to Die,” “Machine Gun Funk” and “Gimme the Loot” on Biggie’s 1994 quadruple platinum debut, Ready to Die.
Universal and Bad Boy attorney, Jay Bowen, contends that Bad Boy did have permission to use “Up For The Down Stroke” by the Horny Horns for “Machine Gun Funk” and “Singing In The Morning,” by the Ohio Players because it is not federally protected. “Singing in The Morning” sample can be heard on “Ready to Die” and “Gimme the Loot.”
According to Soundslam.com, Bridgeport Music, Inc. and Westbound Records have filed 477 copy infringement lawsuits since 2001 in an attempt to protect their large catalogue of 1970’s era funk music.
The trial is slated to begin March 2006.
First appeared on BET
