VL Mike was the seventh murder in just four days in New Orleans. Shot dead by an unidentified man in broad daylight, the Chopper City Boyz rapper was 32.
DMX has been arrested after his house in Arizona was searched. Police arrested the “Year of the Dog” artist after drugs and weapons were found, along with dead animal carcasses and 13 distressed pitbulls.
Suge Knight was knocked unconscious and hospitalized after a brawl in an LA night club. Not a good year for Knight, the Death Row Records founder later on filed for bankruptcy and was forced to sell his label for $24 million.
Mass Appeal Magazine calls it a day with the print edition, despite having more than 50 successful issues over 12 years. They will continue to update online content and organize events.
Rick Ross’ Trilla album was named the first album of 2008 to reach Gold status. After only one week at the top, the album reached just under 200,000 copies, going straight to #1. The fast sales are said to be a result of the heavy airplay his single “The Boss” received.
Polow da Don was named the Songwriter of the Year in recognition of his work on Fergie’s “Glamorous”, The Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons” and Mary J. Blige’s “Runaway Love”.
After dispute over the handling of his last album Back by Thug Demand, Trick Daddy leaves Slip-N-Slide Records signing himself to own label Dunk Ryder Records.
Shakir Stewart has been promoted from Senior VP to Executive VP of Dem Jam Records where he will have the power to guide producers and acquire and develop new talents.
DMX was arrested for the third time in only two months. On this occasion, he was found driving without a valid driving license when only the previous month, he had his license suspended.
The Game has yet again played hide and seek with his album L.A.X pushing its release date from July 8 to July 15 and then again to July 22. Fans wonder if they will ever see the “final” album by the rapper, but he then declared he plans on doing a fourth album entitled D.O.C (Diary of Compton).
Lil Wayne’s album Tha Carter III has sold over a million copies in only its first week on sale – the first person to do so since 50 Cent’s The Massacre album in 2005. Thanks to the extensive airtime single Lollipop received, it went straight to #1, staying there for five non-consecutive weeks.
FemaleFirst - Karen Asbury