Hip-Hop star 50 Cent has denied reports that he will go head-to-head with Roc-A-Fella boss Jay-Z on September 11. Jay-Z is slated to release his highly anticipated album The Blueprint 3 on September 11, the same date he dropped the first Blueprint album, which landed in stores on September 11, 2001. It was widely reported this week that Jay-Z, who ranked #1 on Forbes richest rapper list ($35 million) would face off against the #2 earner 50 Cent ($20 million). 50 Cent has confirmed that his album Before I Self Destruct will be in stores on September 29.
Pharrell Williams has been sued by a band that claims the hit rapper/singer/producer stole one of its tunes and used it for The Clipse. TMZ.com reports the band Geggy Tah filed a federal lawsuit against Pharrell, accusing him of using their 1996 song “Whoever You Are” for The Clipse’s single “All I Wanna Do (Feel Like Me).” According to the lawsuit, the track was produced by Pharrell in 1997 but wasn’t released until 2007.
Atlanta investigators arrested one of the last major players in the Black Mafia Family, who had been on the run since 2007. Police arrested Vernon Marcus Coleman aka “Wu” at an apartment in North Atlanta on Thursday (July 16). BMF was a large, multi-state drug gang that moved thousands of pounds of cocaine to numerous United States cities, raking in over $200 million dollars. In November and December of 2007, founding members and brothers Terry “Southwest T” Flenory and Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory were sentenced to 20 and 30 years in federal prison, respectively.