James "Jimmy
Henchmen" Rosemond was recently found guilty of beating a Washington D.C.
disc jockey during an appearance with The Game, who Henchmen manages.
A jury found Henchmen
guilty of assaulting on-air personality Xzulu "The Big Lipped Bandit"
at 93.9 WKYS-FM in Lanham, Maryland.
“We respect
the jury’s verdict but we do not agree with their decision,” said
Rosemond’s attorney Scott Srebnick. “We intend to pursue appropriate post
trial remedies in this case and look forward to the opportunity to provide our
side of the story at the disposition before the Honorable Judge McKee in April.”
The Game and an
entourage of 20-plus people appeared on Xzulu’s radio show on Jan. 21, 2005,
weeks before the rapper’s G-Unit/Aftermath debut, The
Documentary, topped Billboard’s Top 200 album chart.
During an interview,
Xzulu allegedly made an off-color remark about Henchmen’s cell-phone headset.
Police said a group
of men, including The Game, confronted the DJ shortly afterwards and kicked
and beat him, sending him to an area hospital with serious internal injuries.
On Feb. 14, 2005,
The Game was formally charged with assault and battery.
Prince George’s
County Police started an investigation immediately after the incident was reported
and issued an arrest warrant for Henchmen on misdemeanor assault charges.
"The story
that’s leaking out there is pretty much true," Xzulu
told AllHipHop.com shortly after the incident. "I was hospitalized
with multiple injuries. The person that did it was very recognizable, along
with his people. It definitely happened, and it happened over some nonsense.
Nonsense. I’m 35, not 25, and we’re all brothers in this game. But we learn
some things as we go along. I think it’s a shame that we are acting so primitive,
on both sides. Here you have a brother that is so talented. I think he has one
of the dopest albums to come out in a long time, and I think people make bad
decisions. I think that night he made a bad decision."
Radio One, which
owns WKYS, reportedly stopped playing Game’s singles on their various stations
nationwide, in protest of the assault.
In April 2005,
another man came forward and said that he was assaulted as well. Kwasi Jones
filed a $280 million dollar civil-assault case against The Game, G-Unit, Shady
Records, and Aftermath Entertainment.
Jones also sued
the labels for being negligent, after a remix of "Hate It or Love It,"
(featuring 50 Cent), which originally appeared on The Documentary, featured
the Game rapping "I’m rap’s MVP/Don’t make me remind y’all what happened
in D.C."
Jones appeared
on the television show, "Celebrity Justice," after the remix was released
and said the song hindered his ability to recover from the beating. "I’m
still trying to get over the situation and the song doesn’t help," Jones
told "Celebrity Justice."
When the video
premiered on BET, Game told the network: "To all the people at Radio One,
I’m being sincere; we’re sorry about what happened in D.C. It’ll never happen
again."
During the trial,
various witnesses identified Henchmen as Xzulu’s assailant. He faces up to ten
years in prison when he is sentenced April 3.
Sources told AllHipHop.com
charges against The Game were dropped.
