The man who claims responsibility for finding and developing Grammy-nominated R&B singer Chrisette Michelle is suing Island D
ef Jam for management rights to the songstress.
Douglas "Biggs" Ellison has filed a $20 million dollar lawsuit against the label, claiming that Def Jam and Shalik Berry (A&R), in cahoots with Chrisette's parents, tried to unlawfully weasel the artist out of her exclusive contracts with Ellison's production company, Four Kings Productions, Inc.
The lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court claims that Michelle's parents waited just long enough for Four Kings' hard work to pay off before stepping in and claiming the profits, according to a Four Kings press release.
"As soon as the artist's mother saw that Chrisette was receiving money, all a direct result of the efforts of the production company under its contracts with the artist, Lynette Payne quit her job as a teacher and, in willful disregard of the artist's contractual obligations to Four Kings, usurped management functions regarding her daughter's newly found success, in an effort to keep the money in the family," Ellison asserts in the lawsuit.
Ellison said he met with the Paynes and Berry in Def Jam's New York office and they tried to get him to release Michele from her contract with his company.
"Mr. Payne knew about his wife's attempts to take over management of their daughter's suddenly burgeoning career, and hoped that his role in trying to take over management of the artist could be kept in the background," Ellison's lawsuit states.
He further alleges that Def Jam, Berry and the Paynes made business decisions that essentially cut him out of receiving any monies from the sales of Michele's debut release, I AM. Ellison had already entered into a contract with Island Def Jam in September of 2005 and completed several songs that appeared on that album.
Michele filed a lawsuit against Ellison in July 2007, kicking off the court battle with claims that the production company honcho embezzled money from her and harassed her. Though she later withdrew that claim, Ellison said his reputation was scarred when the news hit the media.
Ellison also counter sued Michele for breach of contract in a previously filed lawsuit.
Michele was recently nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance for her song "If I Had My Way," featured on I AM.
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Lil' Wayne will be appearing on video today (Jan. 23), but it won't be to shoot the visuals to his latest rap track.The New Orleans rapper will be broadcast into a courtroom in Yuma County, Ariz. via the Yuma County Detention Center following his arrest on drug charges last night (Jan. 22).
Carol Hudson, chief clerk at the Yuma County Justice Court, told SOHH that the hip-hop star - real name Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. - was scheduled to appear in court via video feed at 10 a.m. MST. The video court appearance is standard procedure for all detainees.
At the video hearing, the judge will either set a bond or release Weezy.
According to TMZ, the rapper was hauled into jail on three felony counts: possession of dangerous drugs, possession of narcotics and possession of drug paraphernalia. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was reportedly involved in the arrest.
The Yuma Sun reports that Wayne was arrested following a vehicle search by the Border Patrol on Interstate 8 near Dateland, which uncovered illegal drugs belonging to the rapper, including 105 grams of marijuana, 29 grams of cocaine and an unspecified amount of ecstacy.
Two other members of Wayne's entourage were arrested following the search, which occurred around 11:30 p.m. last night (Jan. 22).
A security control officer at the Yuma County Detention Center who asked to remain anonymous told SOHH the rapper was brought to the detention center around 6:40 a.m. this morning (Jan. 23), but could not give out other details pertaining to the arrest.
This latest mishap is hardly the first run-in with the law for Weezy. In the summer of 2006, he was arrested for drug possession in Atlanta, and the following summer he was arrested on gun charges in New York. This past October, he was again arrested on drug charges following a concert date in Boise, Idaho.
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Third times a charm for rapper Busta Rhymes. The Flipmode Squad honcho twice rejected plea deals from the prosecution in assault and driving cases that would've put the performer away for a year. Instead, he walked away from Manhattan Criminal Court a free man this morning (Jan. 23).
Busta (born Trevor Smith) pled guilty to all counts, including two assault charges and a DUI, but he won't be doing any time. He'll serve three years probation for the two assault charges, concurrently. He'll only have to do a year behind bars if he violates his probation, according to TMZ.
Busta's attorney, Scott Leemon told SOHH exclusively that his client pled out "So he could put all the stuff from the last year and a half behind him and look at the future and not the past and get back to doing what everyone loves about him, entertaining."
The DUI will cost him a $750 fine and he'll also have to participate in a drunk driving program. For driving with a suspended license, the fourth charge, Bussa Bus will have to sit in the passenger's seat for six months, giving up his license.
The assault charges stemmed from two separate incidents. In 2006, Busta pounded 20-year-old fan Roberto Lebron after he spit on the rapper's car. That same year, he beat up his driver Eddie Hatchett in an argument over back pay.
Both victims in those cases were granted orders of protection from the rapper.
The prosecution had offered Bust a plea deal that would've covered all four charges with one year behind bars. Busta rejected that deal in May of 2007 and rejected the same deal, offered a second time, in July.
It wasn't the prosecution that changed its mind today.
"This was not a prosecutor's change," Leemon explained. "This was a decision made by the judge and what happened is that we had submitted a letter to the judge detailing why we believed probation appropriate and after reviewing that letter the judge made a court offer of probation."
He went on to say, "[Busta's] in good spirits and he's glad to finally put this behind him."
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Erykah Badu's new LP, "New Amerykah" drops February 26th, 2008. & includes the single "Honey", produced by 9th Wonder.
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Dropping on April 15th on Duck Down Records, 9th Wonder will reteam with Buckshot for "The Formula", which is the follow-up to 2006's "Chemistry". The album cover, as seen above, presents a "real life version" of the first album's comic book inspired artwork. The first single is called "Go All Out".
Also set for a spring release, but no specific date is given yet, is the long-awaited release of 9th Wonder and Jean Grae's Jeanius LP. This album was originally scheduled to drop in 2004, but was shelved after an early internet leak. The release will finally make it's way to an official release, courtesy of Talib Kweli's Blacksmith Entertainment imprint, via Warner Music. The cover art is inspired by Black Sheep's A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing LP, and the first single from the LP is "Love Thirst"
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