Diddy Files $2.5million Lawsuit Against Landlord

Rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has reportedly filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against a New York City landlord over damages relating to his popular Sean John clothing retail store.






According to reports, the claims go as far back as 2006.



According to a lawsuit filed in New York, Diddy’s company — Christian Casey LLC — leased a portion of a ground floor building on Fifth Avenue in NYC for its flagship clothing store. Diddy lawyers claim sometime in 2006 the building owners put up sidewalk scaffolding and just left it there — sending Sean John sales down the toilet — down nearly 50%. They claim the scaffolding “substantially obstructed the view of the clothing and furnishings displayed in the ground floor windows.” Team Diddy is suing for $2.5 mil in damages.



Soulja Boy Tell Em found himself having landlord issues and owing nearly $10,000 in unpaid bills earlier this year, which he later responded to via a flashy video.



“Got d*mn breaking news shawty,” Soulja Boy said with a camera focused on his jewelery. “Man they said Bugs Bunny died today shawty, they said I stole all the carrots from that n*gga shawty. He couldn’t eat bruh, look at all this sh*t. N*gga talking about 200 on a Soulja Boy chain, 150 on The World Is Yours [chain], 20 stacks on every ring, 50 stacks on every watch, 250 on the Lambo [pendant], 150 on the S.O.D. [chain], I don’t even know how much the Louis cost, I don’t know how much the Gucci cost, I don’t know how much that Louis cost, n*ggas wanna put my plaques on the wall, man. Gang, gang gang, S.O.D. n*gga. So much jewelery n*gga, show ‘em the S.O.D. chain. Then I f*ck around and open the, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. They took me to jail, I told my n*gga, ‘Yo, just go to my crib and just get one of these out, bruh and come get me outta jail bruh.’”



Besides legal woes, Diddy is helping people celebrate New Year’s Eve with free public transportation in New York City and Las Vegas. After a successful run last year, the music mogul has teamed up with Ciroc Vodka for another Safe Rides program, which provides transportation in New York for those hammered after celebrating New Years Eve. For the first time, the program is being offered in Las Vegas.



The Bad Boy Records executive also spoke on the importance of featuring Vegas and the Big Apple this year.



“New York stands as the world’s icon for a New Year’s Eve celebration and Las Vegas is the biggest party destination in the country,” Combs said in a statement. “By bringing this program to both of these great cities we will continue to show the rest of the country that a sophisticated holiday celebration doesn’t end when the ball drops, but when everyone gets home safely.” (NBC New York)



No further details have been offered regarding Diddy’s lawsuit.

Plies Brother Denies Arrest, ‘Enemies Contacted Police’

Plies Brother Denies Arrest, ‘Enemies Contacted Police’Ronelle “Big Gates” Levatte, manager/brother of rapper Plies, has responded to rumors that his younger brother was incarcerated after a show in Atlanta last week.






According to reports, Plies born Algernod Washington, was allegedly arrested by federal agents after a performance at the Hot 107.9’s Jingle Bash.



The show, which took place on December 26th, featured performances by Lil Wayne, Keri Hilson, Soulja Boy and Trey Songz.



In a recent statement to AllHipHop, Big Gates, also founder and co-owner of Plies’ label Big Gates Records, claimed an unknown person called the police on Plies prior to his performance.



“Enemies of my little brother Plies contacted police in a failed attempt to have him arrested prior to his performance in Atlanta,” Big Gates told AllHipHop.com. “Plies was not detained Nor arrested.”



Big Gates said that Plies is not in the custody of federal agents.



The rapper recently shot a video for “Medicine” featuring Keri Hilson in addition to preparing material for his upcoming album, Goon Affiliated, which is due in stores in Spring 2010.

ghly Anticipated ‘Raymond Vs. Raymond’ Album Leaks Online Months Early

It seems that Lil Wayne’s Rebirth is setting the tone for a string of very early big-name album leaks. Among the latest casualties is Usher, whose album Raymond Vs. Raymond began appearing online midday Sunday the 27th, according to data from BigChampagne.






Like Rebirth, the album’s release date has played a questionable game of hopscotch. Originally set to be released in “early 2010,” it was then set back to December 21st, and then to “TBD” status.



Now, conflicting information surrounds the release date in the digital retail world. Best Buy, Tower, f.y.e., CD Universe, and others are offering pre-orders for a February 16th release date. So is Barnes and Noble, yet the album is absent from Borders’ site. Walmart.com also has a pre-order option – but for February 2nd, Amazon for March 1st (keep a close eye on those pre-orders guys!). Adding to the mystery is it’s complete absence on iTunes at the time of writing.

Lifestyle: ‘Avatar’ No. 1 again, surpasses $1 billion at world box office

Thanks to astronomic word-of-mouth, inflated 3-D ticket prices, and consecutive holiday weekends that began on a Friday, “Avatar” continued its seemingly unstoppable climb to the Hallelujah Mountains of U.S. and global box office.






According to estimates from Hollywood.com Box Office, James Cameron’s sci-fi opus grossed $68.3 million over New Years weekend, a tiny 10 percent drop from Christmas weekend for a $352.1 million domestic total — easily the biggest third weekend in the U.S. ever (2002’s “Spider-Man” had held the record with $45 million).



Much more impressively, in just 17 days, “Avatar” has surpassed $1 billion in the global box office. To put that in perspective, it took “The Dark Knight” pretty much its entire theatrical run just to make it to that milestone. (Another landmark: $66.4 million of “Avatar’s” worldwide total is from IMAX theaters, a record for the mega-screen format.)



“Avatar” wasn’t the only film to ring in the new year with serious box-office bounty, either. “Sherlock Holmes” sleuthed out an elementary $38.4 million for second place, a 41 percent drop for $140 million total.



Hot on its heels, “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” chirped to $36.6 million, dropping just 25 percent for $157 million total and third place. (So what will the inevitable third film be called? The Second Squeakquel? The Threakquel?)



“It’s Complicated” fell a bite-sized 15 percent, cooking up $18.7 million for fourth place and $59.1 million total.



And in fifth place, “The Blind Side” actually improved upon its total last week, rising 8 percent for $12.7 million and $209.1 million total. (As EW noted yesterday, this means star Sandra Bullock is the only actress ever to have a film marketed on her star power alone pass $200 million in U.S. box office.)



In fact, with no major debuts to steal away fresh audiences, it was simply a fabulous weekend to be in movie theaters, period. “Up in the Air” pitched down an imperceptible 3 percent with $11.3 million and $45 million total.



“The Princess and the Frog” hopped up 11 percent with $10 million and $86 million total. Even certified turkey “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” was up 4 percent, bringing in $5.2 million for a (still woeful) $25.6 million total.



Overall, the top ten box office was up 70 percent from last year, when “Marley and Me” was barking its way into filmgoers’ hearts.

Lil Wayne’e ‘Rebirth’ Delayed Until June; Rapper Lands On Top 50 Grossing Tours

Lil Wayne’s often delayed album Rebirth has been given another release date, according to Wal-Mart’s website.

Rebirth’s release date has been pushed back at least six times over the past two years, with the last reported date being February 1.

Fans of Lil Wayne who hoped they would enjoy the album prior to his February deadline to report to jail, will now have to wait until the summer as the album is slated to hit stores June 22.

Lil Wayne is due to start his one-year prison sentence for a gun possession charge in New York on February 9 2010.

In related news, Lil Wayne landed at #26 on Pollstar’s list of Top 50 grossing tours of 2009, topping artists like Beyonce, Toby Keith and Kiss, by raking in a total of $32.1 million dollars.

Rock group U2 topped the list with $123 million earned, followed by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band which earned a total of $94 million.

Bow Wow Apologizes for Driving Drunk on New Years

Don’t drink and tweet. Newly signed Young Money rapper Bow Wow made the gossip pages today for some questionable Twitter messages during his New Year’s night out on the town in Miami.

According to New York’s Daily News, the young rap vet took to his Twitter account early New Year’s morning to announce that he was driving drunk around Miami with Akon and Chris Brown.

“Face numb im whippin the lambo,” he wrote. “Tispy as fuck.” Adding, “Im fucked up!!! Ohhhh damn. Y i drive the lambo. Chris might have to drive after next spot.”

Bow Weezie has since erased the criminally threatening messages, posting an admission of guilt to his followers. “Apologize for that tweet,” he said. “it was stupid and immature. not a way i want to kick my #2010 year off. i got too much good stuff lined up. my bad.”

The Ohio-born rapper has not been hit with any charges.

Details in Shawty Redd Murder Case Emerge

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Details in Shawty Redd Murder Case Emerge

4 January 2010 No Comment

A detective on the first-degree murder case of producer Shawty Redd has revealed that only one gun was found in the New Year’s day shooting that took the life of a 35-year-old Detroit man.





Shawty Redd, born Demetrius Stewart, was involved in an altercation at his mansion in Atlanta in the early hours of New Year’s Day.



According to reports, Shawty Redd shot and killed the man as the two argued for unknown reasons.



A detective with the Henry County police department confirmed that only one gun was found in the shooting – the one used to kill Damon Martin, of Detroit – and that no weapons were drawn on the hit making producer.



The detective also confirmed that Shawty Redd was the only other person in the house with the man at the time of the shooting.



Shawty Redd is currently being held without bond on first-degree murder.



According to reports, the producer is cooperating with detectives. A bond hearing is slated for January 12.