Philadelphia rapper Cassidy is in critical condition, after an accident last night (Oct. 4) in New Jersey injured him and four passengers.

Cassidy, born Barry Reese, suffered the most severe the injuries.

While details are sketchy, the rapper was reportedly leaving New Jersey for a recording studio, when a truck swerved into oncoming traffic and crashed into Cassidy's side of the SUV he was riding in.

"He was the only one that suffered critical injuries," a representative for Cassidy's label Sony/BMG told AllHipHop.com. "[He suffered] a fractured skull and broken bones on the left side of his face."

Four other passengers in the vehicle also suffered injuries, but the severity was not known at press time.

Cassidy is being held at an undisclosed hospital in the New York City area.

The rapper rose to fame with the release of his first solo single 2004's "Hotel," which featured R. Kelly. The single was taken from his debut Split Personality, which landed at No. 2 on Billboard's Top 200 upon its release in March of 2004.

In June of 2005, just as Cassidy was preparing his sophomore album I'm a Hustla, he was arrested and charged with the murder of a 22-year-old man Desmond Hawkins, after a shootout behind his Philadelphia row home in April.

During Cassidy's trial, a key prosecution witness recanted his statements about witnessing the rapper firing a gun and claimed police told him what to say.

In Jan. 2006, Cassidy was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault and possession of an instrument of crime.

Police said they found ammunition in Cassidy's house which matched shell casings recovered from the crime scene.

Cassidy was released from prison in March of 2006, after serving eight months behind bars. The rapper was working on his third album for Swizz Beatz' Full Surface label, which is distributed by J Records.

Shortly after his release, the rapper told AllHipHop.com that he had learned from his experiences over the past year and was on a much different course.

"I’m more patient, humble," Cassidy told AllHipHop.com in March 2006. "I’ve got a better relationship with God and my family. I know my real friends. I just learned so much from it. I was able to clear my mind up – not drink and smoke and party and not deal with the business every day. I was able to think – get my priorities together. I came to the conclusion of where I wanna go and the type of artist I wanna be."

Cassidy was recently featured on the Swizz Beatz' produced song "One Day," which was produced in conjunction with the International Peace Concert.

Cassidy was to perform the song with Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Chris Brown, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Lyfe Jennings during the International Peace Concert, which airs live from the Coliseum in Rome, Italy on December 9th.

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According to WuTangCorp.com, Raekwon has confirmed he will be dropping Only Build for Cuban Linx II under the Aftermath label.

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Part II will be released on Aftermath Records, not on the Wu Music Group as originally scheduled.

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R. Kelly's legal woes continue to mount as the Chicago bred crooner has been accused of assaulting and stealing songwriting royalties from a former employee.

According to The Chicago Tribune, Henry "Love" Vaughn, who claims to have been a "mentor and guide" to Kelly since he was a teenager , filed a lawsuit on Wednesday (October 4th) claiming Kelly and others dragged him to the basement of Kelly's home in Olympia Fields on Feb. 19th, and "Kelly repeatedly struck him about the face and body with his fists."

Vaughn's suit also claims Kelly reneged on an oral agreement to pay him one-half of the money he earned from a song that was ultimately titled "Step in the Name of Love."

Vaughn alleges he provided Kelly with the "concept" for the song by suggesting that they create a song for the dance known as "Steppin".

Allan Mayer, a spokesman for Kelly, responded to the suit via a statement calling Vaughn a "hanger-on" who was trying to extort money from Kelly.

"Kelly has written more than 2,000 songs without ever using a co-writer. The lawsuit is a pathetic collection of half-truths, distortions, and outright lies," Mayer said, " To suggest that he needed Mr. Vaughn's help to write a song-or that he offered him any portion of his songwriting royalties-is ludicrous."

Mayer also revealed that police already investigated the assault allegations and found "there was nothing to them".

Olympia Fields police confirmed yesterday that they investigated the alleged assault and battery but would not discuss the incident.

"All I can tell you is that we didn't file any charges in the case," Cmdr. James Keith told the Tribune. "Beyond that, I can't really say anything."

Vaughn's suit seeks unspecified damages for assault, false imprisonment, breach of contract and other claims.

Kelly is currently awaiting trial on child-pornography charges for allegedly making a video showing himself having sex with a14-year-old girl. He has pleaded not guilty