Rapper Lil Boosie was acquitted of first-degree murder charges today (May 11), by and East Baton Rouge, Louisiana jury.
The rapper was accused of paying a 16-year-old named “Marlo” Michael Louding to shoot and a man named Terry Boyd for $2800.
Prosecutors claimed that Lil Boosie’s lyrics contained hidden admissions, while the defense stated that the rapper was simply playing up a negative image for his hip-hop persona.
The defense relied on the jury to make their decision, without calling a single witness in the case, leaving the burden of proof upon the prosecution.
The anonymous jury deliberated for a little over an hour, before they returned the not guilty verdict.
Six days before Lil’ Boosie goes to trial for first-degree muder, a Louisana judge ruled on Tuesday (April 24) that a select few of the rapper’s lyrics can be used against him.
Boosie, born Torrence Hatch, is accused of hiring Michael Louding, aka Marlo Mike, to kill Terry Boyd in 2009. Though he initially denied having any connection to Lil’ Boosie, Louding later admitted his involvement in Boyd’s murder to Baton Rouge authorities.
During the pre-trial hearing, detective Alvin Howard testified to confirm Louding’s confession. According toNBC 33 TV , Louding, who is accused of six different murders in Baton Rouge, told detectives that Lil Boosie paid him $2,800 to commit the murder. But the facts of the crime were not the central focus of the hearing. Boosie’s lyrics were.
His song, “187,” in particular, is under a lot of scrutiny. Lil’ Boosie recorded the controversial track with BG, another Louisiana rapper who has had his fair share of legal trouble. “Any n___a who ever tried to play me, they dead now,” Boosie raps in his first verse. The prosecution specifically noted the use of “187,” “murk,” and “cake” as slang terms commonly used to describe murder and money.
Although the song can not be played in its entirety, nor can any verse be read line by line, Judge Mike Erwin ruled that those three specific words can be used as evidence against Boosie.
Lil’ Boosie is currently incarcerated in Angola, the largest correctional facility in the country. A vast majority of the inmates are serving life sentences. His lawyers are actively working to have their client transferred to East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
Earlier today (April 26), Chicago-bred, California-raised MC Paypa released his new mixtape, Henny On the Rocks 2: The Bottle, for free online.
Henny On the Rocks 2: The Bottle features 11 tracks and boasts guest appearances from the likes of Raekwon, JD Era, Shontelle, Naledge, Chip Tha Ripper, Theory Ole, Nick D’s, and Emilio Rojas.
The S.R.C./Universal lyricist drops his new project just six months after the first Henny On the Rocks was released, which featured Chris Brown,Marcus Manchild, Ya Boy, Malik Yusef, and Nipsey Hussle.
About the project and his creative state of mind while recording, Paypa told AllHipHop.com, “H.O.T.R. 2 was really easy for me to put together, because I knew where I wanted to go. I had so much bottled up, hence the name “The Bottle” – so much stuff that I wanted to say and wanted to talk about and get off my chest.
“There were things that bothered me and I just went in and elaborated on all of it.” Paypa continued, “I had a lot of time to think while I was out on the road and on tour and that was a huge learning experience for me. The last year has been such a year of growth and development and I just wanted to pour it all out.”
Paypa also revealed how he decides who he wants to work with on a song: “It all starts with the music for me, man. I go in the studio and just pick a beat and figure out what the beat is saying and how I want to approach it, and I come up with the record. Then I sit back and figure out who would sound good on it.”
“I choose to collaborate with people that I’m fans of and admire their work,” Paypa said. “I’ve got Emilio Rojas on this tape who is an up and coming MC who’s absolutely incredible. Raekwon’s on there who is an absolute legend, and who I’m just lucky to have the opportunity to have on my mixtape.”
After turning down the opportunity to sign with Tech N9ne’s Strange Music imprint earlier this year to build his own Funk Volume brand, 26-year-old Los Angeles rapper Hopsin has only one thing on his mind: finishing his third album, Knock Madness, and getting it into his fans hands as soon as possible.
A recent photo making its way across the Internet shows Hopsin in the studio with producer and drummer Travis Barker, most famously known for his work with the Punk-Rock group, Blink 182.
About the collaboration, Hopsin said, 
“He hit me up on Twitter; he saw the “Hop Madness” video and told me he thought it was dope, and basically wanted to say that if I was down to collab, he would be interested as well and that’s really it. We exchanged numbers, and I hit him up two weeks later, and we got it going.
“I told him I had never had anything with live drums on it, so I told him what kind of patterns I was looking for and that I wanted something different.” Hopsin continued, “So we went in and laid some dope stuff down, and then I played some piano and strings over it and that was it. Travis was open to hearing what I wanted and how I wanted it done, and if I didn’t like something, he would fix and change it how I wanted. It was just a real cool experience; just me and him working on a track.”
When asked where exactly their collaboration would end up and if the two would work together again in the future, Hopsin said, “It’s more likely going to be something for my album. I have to put vocals on there ‘cause I didn’t come up with the concept yet but yeah, if the song turns out good and all that then I’m definitely going to be interested in putting it on my album.”
“I’m sure there will be future work as well if everybody loves the track and all that and it does well,” he added.
Hopsin then shed some light on a tweet he sent out last week mentioning his interest in working with rapper/actor, Childish Gambino. “I just threw it out there just so people knew. But yeah, I don’t know whether he likes my style or not, or if he’s even heard of me, but I just put it out there. I didn’t actually try and reach out to him in a legit, professional matter; I did it in a Hollywood way I guess. [laughter]
“If in the future he lets me know that he likes me or style or something, then I’d definitely be interested. The thing is, he’s cool and creative and is the kind of person who needs to be in the Rap game, even if he’s not on the same type of stuff.”
Knock Madness is Hopsin’s official introduction to many who may have seen him alongside Don Trip, Kid Ink, French Montana, and Machine Gun Kelly on the 2012 XXL Freshman Class cover. Hopsin says he’s fine with however the fans discover him, as long as they give him a chance.
VALLEJO — It’s been eight years since her rapper son Mac Dre was shot to death leaving a Kansas City club, and Wanda Salvatto said Wednesday she is still searching for peace.
The posthumous popularity of Mac Dre — born Andre Hicks — has skyrocketed since he was slain Nov. 1, 2004. This has been both a blessing and curse for his mother, whom fans affectionately call “Mac Wanda.” The Vallejo resident has spent the past eight years trying to legitimize his career and his legacy.
She was shocked Wednesday when relatives and friends began calling her saying that newspapers and television were reporting that 25 people associated with Thizz Entertainment arrested last week had 
been charged with multiple counts of drug trafficking.
Since his death, Salvatto became owner and CEO of Thizz Entertainment, registering her corporation with the state and managing Mac Dre’s music catalog, which includes 25 albums and countless cameos on other artists’ tracks. The rappers caught up in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s four-year investigation were part of an offshoot label, Thizz Nation, she said.
“Thizz Entertainment is actually me. There are no artists signed to the label,” said Salvatto, who was not charged, or even mentioned, by federal authorities in their investigation.
“I worked very hard to clean up and maintain a legitimate label and business for my son. I don’t want to confuse what we do with our fans.”
City Hall Records, which has distributed independent recordings since 1973 in San Rafael, is an investor in Thizz Entertainment.
“It’s a real business. It’s no gangster thing,” Walter Zelnick, vice president of purchasing, said of Thizz Entertainment. City Hall also distributes on behalf of Thizz Nation. Zelnick said Thizz Nation is run by Simon Curtis “Kilo Kurt” Nelson, a former partner of Mac Dre, and not by Michael Lott, who federal agents allege assisted in running the record label along with a large drug distribution network.
A DEA spokeswoman said the agency stands by the sworn court documents it produced that led to U.S. Attorney charges implicating Thizz Entertainment. The documents also detail Mac Dre’s criminal history, his efforts to start the label and his death.
“He’s not dealing drugs from his grave. They need to let him rest, regardless of what happened when he’s a teenager,” his mother said.
“Mac Dre’s been dead for eight years, but he has a mother left, nieces left, a daughter,” she said. “We relive the death all over again.”
She acknowledged the term “thizz” is associated with the drug Ecstasy, but that her label has moved beyond that.
“It may have had roots in drugs, but there are no drugs involved anymore. I have nothing to do with drugs,” Salvatto said. “When he died he was on the right track. He was living a legitimate life.”
The timing of the federal busts was unfortunate as well, Salvatto said, because she had plans for rereleasing portions of her son’s catalog and “tons of unpublished stuff.”
“At some point, I wanted to do more with the catalog, but I was waiting for the right time,” she said. “I wanted to do it around now, but now this happened.”
Her son, born in Oakland and raised in Vallejo, still has legions of fans, particularly in the Bay Area.
“Generations of people watched him grow up with his rap music and his life’s trials and tribulations,” she said. “Young kids can relate to that because they go through that, too.”
Sometimes fans were too passionate. In 2006, two years after Mac Dre’s death, his 50-pound granite tombstone was stolen from an Oakland cemetery, likely by a rabid fan, the family said.
Many in the rap game attach themselves to the term “thizz” to make a name for themselves and ride Mac Dre’s coattails, said Black Dog Bone, editor of Vallejo-based Murder Dog magazine, which chronicles the rap scene.
“They want to get on the bandwagon,” said Bone, who said he does not know any of the artists charged in the drug probe. “I get calls from people from the South saying they’re with ‘thizz.’ ”
“Mac Dre, after he died, he became a legend. He was doing stuff that no one else was doing. He was a genius. … He’s probably the biggest influence in music in the Bay Area.”
Employees at the record label of the late Bay Area rapper Mac Dre have been arrested for involvement in a nationwide ecstasy ring.
Police nabbed more than 25 people affiliated with Thizz Entertainment in a mass sting connected to a multi-million dollar operation. Although it is unclear how the police were tipped off about the behind-the-scenes dealings of the company, the name of the label should’ve been a hint. The term “thizz” literally means to take ecstasy or to be under the influence of ecstasy and the founder of the label, the Bay Area’s Mac Dre, is responsible for popularizing the “hyphy movement” in Northern California, which promoted “thizzing.”
The DEA seized more than 45,000 ecstasy pills, four pounds of crack, a half a pound of heroin and $200,000 in suspected drug money. Police said the profit from the drug sales were used to finance the label.
“This is another example of partnership that exists between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Vallejo Police Department to improve the safety of our community and reduce the level of violence associated with drug dealing,” Vallejo Police Chief Robert Nichelini said in a statement released yesterday (April 24).
“We appreciate the efforts of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California in coordinating the investigation and prosecuting the persons involved in such a complex and dangerous criminal enterprise,” Chief Nichelini said.
Mac Dre was shot and killed in 2004 allegedly by a rival rapper. He was featured in an episode of American Gangster for his alleged association with the Romper Room Gang, a group which robbed banks and pizza parlors, but Dre claimed no association with the crew despite referencing “romper room” repeatedly in his lyrics.
Drake recently invoked the memory of Mac Dre by sampling one of his beats for his recent hit “The Motto.”
Rap veteran Rampage is planning a return to the Hip-Hop arena, via a new deal with Gracie Productions/TVT Records.
Rampage, who was once a member of Busta Rhymes’ Flipmode Squad, signed the deal yesterday and is working on an album of all new material.
“The family is growing,” Gracie Records’ President/CEO Dorian Washington said in an interview
. “We love Hip-Hop. Gracie Records supports real Hip-Hop. We sign OG’s of this game. We still give out deals at conferences, you got a hot record go to the right conference. Everybody counted this one out and my man just got on.”
Gracie Productions has released projects by Slaughterhouse, Jacki-O, Royce da 5’9 and others.
Rampage has been based in Phoenix, Arizona over the past few years, where he has been running his company Deep Freeze Entertainment.
He released his debut album Scouts Honor…By Way of Blood in 1997 and his last official album Have You Seen? dropped back in 2006.
During his career, Rampage has worked with a number of artists, including Craig Mack, Notorious B.I.G., Alicia Keys, and his cousin, Busta Rhymes.
Def Jam Recordings and Nas have officially announced a July 17 release for the rapper’s tenth studio album, Life Is Good.
In a recent interview with MTV, Nas spoke on the ideas behind the music itself and some of the unexpected collaborations that he was involved with during the recording process. “A lot of the tra
cks have been my ideas – like I would take an idea from one of the guys that I’m working with, and try and put it together with a different sound that I had in my head with someone else and just try to get people to collaborate that really aren’t used to working together and to get something different from me.”
It’s been four years since Nas’ last album, Untitled, which received mostly positive reviews. Untitled included the singles “Hero” featuring Keri Hilson and “Make the World Go Round.”
The first single from Life Is Good, ”Nasty,” hit airwaves last August and sparked the much-talked about notion that Nas would be releasing his new album before the end of the calendar year, which came and went.
Nas’ next single, “Daughters,” which was produced by No I.D. will be released on May 1, four days after the visual for his current single, “The Don,” hits the ‘Net.
“This album is, of course, it’s been a long time, it’s been five years since I released a [solo] studio album, so this record is everything,” he told MTV. “This is everything that I’ve got to say…I guess you got to live a little, sometimes not all the time, but you’ve got to live a little and you put that in your music and it’s coming from my life.”
Life Is Good will be released on July 17, 2012.
An unreleased track featuring late singer/songwriter Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes has been released on the Internet, on the eve of the 10-year anniversary of her death.
The TLC member was killed in a tragic car crash in the Honduras on April 25, 2002.
In honor of her death, a previously unreleased song titled “Fantasies” featuring Bootleg of the Dayton Family has been released. The track was released by Block
Starz Music, a German label that was recently acquired by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.
“The word anniversary means a celebration,” TLC group member Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins told AllHipHop.com in a statement. “For us her death will never be a celebration, it’s still something that hurts.”
The song “Fantasies,” which is being sold via iTunes, will be donated to the Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes Foundation.
“Lisa is our sister. You never get over losing a family member,” Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas added. “We love her and we miss her and that isn’t ever going to change.”
In related news T-Boz and Chilli are producing a new biopic on the rise of TLC for VH1.
The untitled film is being written by Kate Lanier, who wrote the critically acclaimed bio-pic “What’s Love Got to Do With,” about soul legend Tina Turner. “This project is truly a dream come true for us,” added Chilli.
A portion of the proceeds from “Fantasies” will go to the Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes Foundation.
Curren$y ran into trouble with the law yesterday evening (April 23) in Dallas, Texas.
The rapper was in town to perform at the House of Blues, as part of the “Stoned Immaculate” tour with Smoke DZA, Young Roddy, Fiend, Styles P. and others.
But Curren$y almost missed his headlining slot in Dallas, after he and an associate were detained by police, apparently for smoking marijuana.
“Locked the CEO up, and I’m da CEO f**k,” Curren$y tweeted. “Ni**az was jus chiefin and bumpin dat new fiend s**t….Then some strangers came thru wit these bracelets that made my arms hurt…”
After watching the opening acts, fans were relieved to see that Curren$y made the show, when he hit the performed around 12:35 PM central time.
Curren$y walked out on stage at House of Blues, smoking what appeared to be a joint, before addressing the crowd.
“Thanks for all those #freeSpitta tweets – shit fuck it let’s go…Y’all know all the lyrics. I see the Jet hats and the gear, and I don’t smell no cheap s**t either!”
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