Professor X of X-Clan has died in a New York-area hospital after a bout with meningitis, sources close to the situation told AllHipHop.com.

As a member of X-Clan, Professor X gained notoriety for his catch phrases "Vainglorious" and dissed fools by calling them "sissies."

Additionally, Professor X, whose real name was Lumumba Carson, was the son of the late Civil Rights pioneer Sonny Carson, who produced The Education of Sonny Carson.

He also founded the grassroots organization BlackWatch.

Meningitis is a byproduct of bacterial or viral infections that overcome the body's natural immune system.

The aggressive entities can be transmitted from other people through sneezing, coughing, kissing, infected blood, or contaminated water or food.

In August 2004, Professor X, auctioned off his time on eBay for a night on the town in New York City.

X-Clan released a pair of critically acclaimed albums, To the East, Blackwards (1990) and Xodus (1992), but soon after the Brooklyn-based collective disbanded.

In December 2005, X-Clan announced a comeback, but it was unclear if Professor X was party to the reunion.

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A new group of detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's robbery-homicide division have been assigned to investigate the murder of the late Notorious B.I.G.

When questioned how the city lost a costly lawsuit alleging LAPD involvement in the case, assistant city attorney Don Vincent told (LA) City Council public safety members Thursday (March 16) that the new group would take over the case.

Despite the formation of a new team, Vincent added that there was no evidence that police played any role in the slaying.

"They are investigating it, following up on the leads," he said.

The new investigation is the latest development in the continuing saga of B.I.G.'s unsolved murder. The rapper, born Christopher Wallace, was killed March 9, 1997 after a record industry party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

In the years following, Biggie's mother, Volleta Wallace, his sister and his widow, singer Faith Evans, filed a suit alleging that LAPD Officer David A. Mack orchestrated Wallace's killing on behalf of Death Row Records chief Marion "Suge" Knight, and that department brass covered it up.

Last summer, authorities discovered previously undisclosed statements from an informant who said another LAPD officer, Rafael Perez, had confessed to participating with Mack in the killing.

Despite claims by city lawyers that the statement was unreliable, the transcript of it had been misplaced inadvertently, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled the evidence was concealed deliberately, declared a mistrial and later ordered the city to pay a $1.1-million sanction to the Wallace family.

The transcript, which was found in LAPD detective Steven Katz's desk, revealed that an informant in prison with Perez told the LAPD in 2000 and 2001 that Perez acknowledged working for Death Row Records on the night of the murder and that he placed a call to Mack shortly before Biggie was gunned down.

Various allegations poured in concerning the case, including one that former LAPD Police Chief Bernard Parks may have had a personal interest in covering up the murder and the police corruption. Parks has denied any involvement or any notion of a cover up.

Sloppy detective work was the reason for the city's loss, according to councilman Dennis Zine, who added that the sanction was "a tremendous amount of money and it's not over yet." "I've got some real serious questions about how this goes down, and what the Police Department has done," he said.

A retrial for the case is expected later this year.

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