Beyoncé Reopens ‘B’Day’ 20 Years Later With Selena, Celia Cruz and Unreleased Music

Beyoncé poses with an alligator in an image from the “B’Day” era photographed by Max Vadukul. The image is part of the album’s 20th-anniversary rollout, which includes a 31-track digital deluxe edition, previously unreleased material and newly remastered videos. (Max Vadukul/Parkwood Entertainment)

Beyoncé marked her 25th birthday with the worldwide release of "B'Day."

Twenty years later, she is celebrating her 45th by opening the vault.

The superstar released an expanded 20th-anniversary edition of her second solo album Friday, turning what could have been a routine remaster into a 31-track revisit of one of the most aggressive records of her early solo career.

"B'Day (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)" brings together the original album, B-sides and previously unreleased material while adding new recordings that connect Beyoncé's Texas roots to Selena and reach into Afro-Cuban music through Celia Cruz.

The biggest surprise is “Irreemplazable (Como La Flor),” a new posthumous pairing that combines Beyoncé's Spanish-language “Irreplaceable” with Selena's “Como La Flor.”

 

According to Parkwood Entertainment, Selena's estate approved the use of her music for the recording. Beyoncé has said she grew up hearing Selena on the radio in Houston and credits her as an inspiration for "Irreemplazable," the Spanish-language EP Beyoncé released in 2007.

The connection is more than convenient anniversary packaging.

Beyoncé and Selena were both Texas-born performers who crossed musical and cultural boundaries on their way to international stardom. Beyoncé even recalled briefly meeting Selena at The Galleria in Houston before Selena's 1995 death, a story she discussed years later while reflecting on the singer's influence.

The anniversary edition makes that connection musical.

It also gives “Get Me Bodied” a new life.

“Cuerpo (Tumbao),” featuring Colombian star Maluma, reworks the "B'Day" favorite while sampling Celia Cruz's “La Negra Tiene Tumbao.” Parkwood said Beyoncé chose the Cruz connection in part because of her admiration for the Cuban singer's pride in her African culture and her refusal to bend in the face of racism, colorism and narrow standards of beauty.

For an album turning 20, those additions push "B'Day" outward rather than simply asking listeners to remember it.

The original was released worldwide Sept. 4, 2006, on Beyoncé's 25th birthday, with its U.S. release following a day later. It arrived three years after "Dangerously in Love" established Beyoncé as a solo superstar and while the final chapter of Destiny's Child was still fresh.

She made it quickly.

Beyoncé recorded the core of "B'Day" during an intense two-week studio stretch, working with producers including Swizz Beatz, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Rich Harrison and the Neptunes.

Two decades later, Beyoncé says the urgency was intentional.

“I wanted the album to be big, percussive, hard, up-tempo, and energized, and it was important to me that we used live instrumentation,” she recalled in a statement accompanying the anniversary release.

At a moment when hip-hop was increasingly driving popular music, Beyoncé said she wanted to preserve the bridges, melodies and harmonies she considered fundamental to R&B while finding a way to make those traditions coexist with hard drums, sampling and 808s.

 

You can hear that tension throughout "B'Day."

“Déjà Vu,” featuring Jay-Z, opens with live bass and builds into horns and percussion. “Ring the Alarm” turns relationship fury into something nearly militaristic. “Get Me Bodied” is built for movement. “Freakum Dress” makes getting dressed sound like retaliation.

Then there is “Irreplaceable,” the comparatively restrained breakup song that became one of the biggest records of Beyoncé's career.

The anniversary edition doesn't try to smooth those differences out.

Instead, it makes the album bigger.

“Morning Dew (Donk),” which Beyoncé officially released July 4 after the song leaked in 2023, is included. Beyoncé subsequently released a separate remix featuring Jay-Z in August.

The expanded set includes “Can I Watch You,” produced by Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams, along with “Lost Yo Mind,” “Creole” and “Back Up.”

“My First Time” reaches even further back. The song was originally recorded for Beyoncé's 2003 solo debut, "Dangerously in Love," but did not make that album's final track list.

The digital deluxe also gathers music from elsewhere around the "B'Day" era and its subsequent expanded releases, including “Check on It,” “Beautiful Liar” with Shakira and earlier Spanish-language recordings.

Altogether, the digital deluxe runs 31 tracks and just under two hours.

The physical rollout is substantial, too. A four-LP deluxe edition is pressed on 180-gram Bayou Blue vinyl and includes a 60-page commemorative booklet and two double-sided art prints. A standard anniversary edition is also available on vinyl and CD; the standard two-LP edition includes a 16-page booklet with never-before-seen imagery.

Beyoncé has also returned to the visual side of the project.

Parkwood describes "B'Day" as essentially an early visual album, anticipating the approach that would later become central to Beyoncé's work. Videos originally captured on 35mm have been remastered, recolored and finished in 4K, including the Sophie Muller-directed video for “Déjà Vu,” released Friday in its upgraded form.

The anniversary project also includes previously unseen photographs shot in New Orleans, where Beyoncé's family has deep Louisiana roots and where the city was rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina when "B'Day" was made.

That context makes the anniversary particularly fitting.

The Beyoncé who recorded "B'Day" was already famous, but she was still defining what a Beyoncé album could be without Destiny's Child attached to it.

Twenty years later, there is little left to prove on that front.

Instead of simply polishing an old blockbuster for its anniversary, she has gone back inside it — restoring its visuals, emptying out parts of the vault and connecting a 2006 album to musical traditions that stretched far beyond it.

"B'Day" arrived worldwide on Beyoncé's 25th birthday.

At 45, she has given it another one.

Lizzo’s Touring Company Wins Dismissal of Former Wardrobe Worker’s Remaining Claims

Lizzo appears in an Instagram video posted Tuesday after a federal judge dismissed the remaining claims against her touring company in a lawsuit brought by former wardrobe worker Asha Daniels. Lizzo, who had been dismissed as an individual defendant in 2024, said she was “relieved” by the ruling. (Lizzo/Instagram)

Lizzo has scored another major legal victory, but one of the most important distinctions in the singer's long-running court battles remains easy to miss.

A federal judge has thrown out the remaining claims brought by former tour wardrobe worker Asha Daniels against Lizzo's touring company and other defendants, ending the case at the trial-court level nearly three years after Daniels sued.

U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha granted summary judgment Tuesday to Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. and the remaining defendants.

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Lizzo, whose legal name is Melissa Jefferson, had already been dismissed as an individual defendant in the case in December 2024.

Daniels worked in wardrobe during the European leg of Lizzo's “Special” tour in 2023. She later sued alleging sexual and racial harassment, disability discrimination and other mistreatment.

The judge concluded that the evidence Daniels presented did not establish several of her claims under the legal standards required to send them to trial.

Among other findings, the court concluded that Daniels had not shown conduct demonstrating generalized hostility toward women or that men and women were treated differently in a way that supported her Title VII claims.

The court also rejected her racial-discrimination and disability claims.

Lizzo celebrated the ruling Tuesday on social media.

She said she was relieved by the outcome and maintained that the allegations against her and her company were unfounded.

Daniels' attorney disputed that interpretation of the case, arguing that the court improperly evaluated evidence that should have been considered by a jury and indicating that Daniels is considering her next steps.

The ruling is significant, but it does not end all of the litigation surrounding Lizzo's workplace.

Daniels' case is separate from the lawsuit filed in 2023 by former dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez.

That lawsuit generated widespread attention with allegations involving sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. Lizzo has denied the allegations.

Some claims in the dancers' case have been dismissed, but the litigation has not been completely resolved.

That distinction is particularly important because the two cases were filed within weeks of each other and have frequently been conflated in coverage of the allegations surrounding Lizzo.

Tuesday's decision concerns Daniels and her work with the wardrobe department.

For that case, at least at the federal trial-court level, there will be no jury trial on the remaining claims.

Nearly three years after Daniels sued, the remaining defendants have won summary judgment.

Dame Dash’s Life Story Is Going Up for Auction to Pay His Creditors

Damon “Dame” Dash, left, and Singa B pose for a photo in 2019. Dash, the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder, is facing the court-approved auction of his life-story rights, name, image and likeness and more than 100 hours of archival material as part of his bankruptcy case. (Photo courtesy of Singa B/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Dame Dash spent decades insisting on ownership.

Now a bankruptcy court is preparing to sell the rights to tell his story.

A Florida bankruptcy judge has approved plans to auction a package of assets tied to the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder that includes rights to his life story, name, image and likeness, along with more than 100 hours of video footage, photographs and memorabilia.

The opening bid: $37,000.

The money won't go to Dash.

It will go toward paying his creditors.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Roberta A. Colton approved the bidding process Tuesday as part of Dash's bankruptcy case, moving forward with a sale proposed by court-appointed trustee Traci K. Stevenson.

Everlasting Films LLC has submitted the $37,000 initial bid.

Dame Dash is aggravated after seeing Loren Lorosa report on his bankruptcy pic.twitter.com/JJvfonTTSe

— 2Cool2Blog (@2Cool2Blog) August 7, 2026

Other prospective buyers have until Sept. 23 to submit competing offers. Because bids must increase by at least $10,000, another bidder would have to offer at least $47,000.

If qualifying competing bids are received, an auction is scheduled for Oct. 1. Colton is expected to consider final approval of the winning sale Oct. 27.

The unusual collection of assets goes considerably further than the right to make a conventional authorized biography.

Court filings describe rights to Dash's biography, voice, image, likeness and other identifying characteristics, as well as the ability to portray events from his life.

The package also includes more than 100 hours of video, photographs and memorabilia and rights connected to an unreleased film project involving Roc-A-Fella.

That footage could prove particularly valuable because Dash was present for one of the most consequential runs in modern hip-hop business.

Dash co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records with Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and Kareem “Biggs” Burke in the 1990s. The label became the home of Jay-Z's rise from independent rapper to one of music's biggest stars and later released records by artists including Kanye West, Cam'ron, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek and Freeway.

The company also became part of Dash's public identity as he championed entrepreneurship and ownership while expanding into fashion, film and other businesses.

The irony of that history is difficult to miss.

A man who spent years publicly preaching the importance of controlling one's work could soon have another party acquire the contractual rights to commercially tell his life story.

The proposed sale follows a long series of financial and legal problems for Dash.

He filed for bankruptcy in September 2025 after years of judgments, tax liabilities and other debts.

His once-substantial interest in Roc-A-Fella has already been sold.

Dash's one-third stake in the company was auctioned in 2024 after a federal judge ordered the sale to satisfy a judgment against him. New York state ultimately acquired the stake with a $1 million bid, with proceeds applied toward Dash's debts.

The life-rights sale would turn another part of Dash's history into an asset for creditors.

Everlasting Films, the initial bidder, would receive a $3,700 breakup fee if another buyer ultimately wins the assets under the proposed bidding terms.

Dash did not appear at Tuesday's hearing, according to Complex, and had not publicly commented on the court's latest decision as of Wednesday afternoon.

The $37,000 bid should not be confused with a final valuation of Dash's life story. It establishes the floor for a competitive sale that could produce higher offers before the Sept. 23 deadline.

What the eventual buyer could acquire, however, is unusually broad: not simply permission to make a film about a former music executive, but an archive of material from someone who was inside Roc-A-Fella during a formative period in hip-hop history.

Nearly three decades after helping build a record company around ownership and independence, Dash is watching bankruptcy court turn his own story into something that can be sold.

Kehlani Says Hospital Visit Forced Two Tour Postponements

Kehlani appears in a promotional image released in connection with the singer’s 2024 single “After Hours.” Kehlani postponed two stops on the Kehlani World Tour this week after a hospital visit and said they were not medically cleared to sing. (Courtesy Warner Music/Atlantic Records)

Kehlani has postponed two stops on the Kehlani World Tour after a sudden illness sent the R&B singer to the hospital.

Kehlani said Wednesday that they had felt normal during two days off before developing severe pain and difficulty swallowing overnight.

“I just left the hospital & am not cleared to sing for the next two shows,” Kehlani wrote on Instagram.

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The affected concerts were Wednesday at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey, and Thursday at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Kehlani referred to the latter as the Washington, D.C., stop in the announcement.

Both concerts are now officially listed as postponed.

Ticketmaster says tickets for the Camden show will remain valid once a new date is announced. Merriweather Post Pavilion similarly says tickets for Thursday’s show will be honored when the concert is rescheduled.

Kehlani said the tour is expected to resume in Virginia. The next scheduled performance remains Saturday at Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront in Richmond, according to Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

No diagnosis or cause for the sudden symptoms has been announced.

The interruption comes during the North American leg of Kehlani’s world tour, which began earlier this month. The singer entered the tour as a two-time Grammy winner after “Folded” won best R&B performance and best R&B song at the 2026 Grammy Awards.

Rap Pioneer Keith Keith Dies at 64

Funky 4 + 1 performs “That’s the Joint” on “Saturday Night Live” on Feb. 14, 1981. Keith Caesar, known as Keith Keith, was 18 when the pioneering Bronx group made the landmark television appearance. Caesar died Aug. 21, 2026, at 64. (Screengrab/NBC)

Keith Keith was 18 years old when hip-hop walked onto “Saturday Night Live” for the first time.

He would turn 19 the next day.

On Feb. 14, 1981, Blondie singer Debbie Harry introduced Funky 4 + 1 as some of “the best street rappers in the country.” Then Keith Keith and his Bronx crew launched into “That’s the Joint,” passing the microphone through a performance that became one of early hip-hop’s defining crossings from neighborhood culture to national television.

Keith Caesar, the pioneering MC known as Keith Keith, died Friday, Aug. 21, at 64, his family told News 12 The Bronx.

His family said he died from medical complications. No further details were announced.

Caesar was a lifelong Bronx resident and one of the original voices of a group whose list of firsts can sound almost impossible in retrospect.

Funky 4 + 1 is widely credited as the first hip-hop group to secure a record deal. It featured Sha-Rock, one of the culture’s foundational female MCs. And when the group appeared on “Saturday Night Live,” it became the first hip-hop group to perform on the program and, according to contemporary histories and later accounts, the first authentic Bronx hip-hop crew to perform live on national television.

None of that was inevitable when Caesar started rhyming.

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Sha-Rock has recalled that when she became an MC in the late 1970s, Keith Keith and K.K. Rockwell were already the two male MCs in the organization that would become the Funky 4. Rahiem joined soon afterward, completing an early version of the group before lineup changes brought in performers including Lil’ Rodney C and Jazzy Jeff.

These were not artists entering an established recording industry called hip-hop.

The infrastructure barely existed.

Their stages were parks, community centers, clubs and neighborhood parties. Flyers preserved by institutions including Harvard’s Hiphop Archive and the Smithsonian now read almost like archaeological documents from a culture that would eventually reshape popular music.

Keith Keith’s name is on those documents.

By 1979, Funky 4 + 1 had moved from the live Bronx circuit onto vinyl with “Rappin’ and Rocking the House” on Bobby Robinson’s Enjoy Records. Caesar shares a writing credit on the sprawling early rap record.

The group later joined Sylvia Robinson’s Sugar Hill Records and recorded the song that would become its signature.

“That’s the Joint” was different from a modern rap single in nearly every obvious way.

The original performance stretched for roughly nine minutes. Instead of centering one star, the record operated like a recorded version of a Bronx MC routine: voices traded off, joined together and handed momentum from one rapper to another.

Caesar was one of its credited writers.

Its influence lasted far beyond the group.

A 1980 Bronx flyer advertises a Funky Four Plus One More appearance and names Keith Keith among the pioneering group’s MCs. Keith Caesar, known professionally as Keith Keith, died Aug. 21 at 64. The flyer is held by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. (Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture/Public Domain)

Decades later, Rolling Stone placed “That’s the Joint” among its 500 greatest songs of all time. Its DNA also traveled directly into later generations of hip-hop. The Dust Brothers drew from it while constructing the Beastie Boys’ sample-heavy “Paul’s Boutique,” including material heard on “Shake Your Rump” and “Shadrach.” Positive K’s 1992 hit “I Got a Man” also drew from the record.

That afterlife helps explain why Funky 4 + 1 occupies a strange but essential place in hip-hop history: Millions of people know music shaped by the group without necessarily knowing the names of the teenagers who made the original.

Debbie Harry did.

Her decision to bring Funky 4 + 1 onto “Saturday Night Live” was not a celebrity stunt built around a passing musical curiosity.

Harry and Blondie guitarist Chris Stein had spent time around New York’s emerging hip-hop scene. Years later, Harry identified “That’s the Joint” with what she described as her hip-hop epiphany, recalling the impact of seeing DJs scratching and rappers performing at an event in the South Bronx.

When Harry hosted “Saturday Night Live” on Valentine’s Day 1981, she used part of the episode to put that music in front of a national audience.

Funky 4 + 1 took the stage.

For Caesar, the date carried an accidental bit of symmetry that becomes more striking now: He was born Feb. 15, 1962.

The kid helping introduce hip-hop to much of television America was performing on the final night of his 18th year.

Sha-Rock has said the group did not fully understand what it had accomplished at the time. They were already known around New York through performances and tapes circulating from neighborhood to neighborhood.

National television was something else.

Years later, she remembered what it meant to “have the entire world hear us rhyming.”

It is difficult to watch that performance now without seeing everything that came after it.

Run-DMC had not released a record. LL Cool J was still a child. “Yo! MTV Raps” was years away. There was no Grammy category for rap, no hip-hop radio format stretching across the country and no guarantee that the music being created in the Bronx would become a permanent part of American culture.

Keith Keith was already on the microphone.

The group’s recording career was relatively brief. Funky 4 + 1 never made the kind of studio-album catalog later generations would use to measure rap careers, and its members eventually moved in different directions.

But longevity is not the only way to measure importance.

Some artists dominate an era.

Others help create one.

Grandmaster Flash, another architect of the Bronx scene, responded to Caesar’s death by placing him firmly in the latter category.

In a Facebook tribute, Flash called Caesar “one of our originators from the beginning of the culture.” He said he had seen him recently and was stunned by the news.

“You will not be forgotten,” Flash said.

For Keith Keith, the historical record gives those words weight.

Before hip-hop became an industry, he was on the flyers.

Before rap television had a format, he was on national television.

And before the world knew where hip-hop was going, Keith Keith was already there.

BigXthaPlug Arrested Again in North Texas, Faces DWI and Firearm Charges

Dallas rapper BigXthaPlug, whose legal name is Xavier Landum, is shown in a Feb. 26, 2025, booking photo released by the Arlington Police Department following a separate marijuana-possession arrest. Landum was arrested again Aug. 21, 2026, by Allen police and booked into the Collin County Jail on DWI, marijuana and firearm charges. (Arlington Police Department, file)

BigXthaPlug has been arrested again in North Texas, exactly one year after a Dallas traffic stop led to marijuana and firearm charges.

The Dallas rapper, whose legal name is Xavier Landum, was arrested Friday by Allen police and booked into the Collin County Jail.

Jail records list three charges: driving while intoxicated, possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana and unlawful possession of a firearm.

What led to those charges has not been made public.

Allen Police Department spokesperson Sam Rippamonti confirmed the arrest Friday evening and said the investigation remains active. The department declined to provide additional details.

No publicly available account reviewed Friday explained where the arrest occurred, what prompted officers to encounter Landum or the evidence underlying the DWI and firearm allegations.

The charges are accusations. Landum has not been convicted in connection with Friday’s arrest.

The date adds an unusual wrinkle to his latest legal trouble.

Landum was also arrested Aug. 21, 2025, after Dallas police stopped his pickup truck on Great Trinity Forest Way because it did not have a front license plate.

Police said they found marijuana and firearms in the vehicle.

Dallas County records show Landum was booked early the following morning on charges of possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was later released after posting $5,000 bond.

That arrest came on the eve of the Aug. 22 release of “I Hope You’re Happy,” the album that accelerated BigXthaPlug’s push beyond Southern rap and into country music.

The project paired him with artists including Darius Rucker, Jelly Roll, Bailey Zimmerman, Luke Combs, Shaboozey, Ella Langley and Thomas Rhett.

Friday’s arrest also coincided with a canceled performance several hundred miles away.

BigXthaPlug had been scheduled to perform Friday at Country Rising Festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The festival announced on its official website that he would not appear because of a “personal emergency.”

Country Rising did not identify the emergency or say that Landum’s arrest was the reason for his absence.

The show continued without him.

Attention now turns to BigXthaPlug’s next scheduled performance.

He is booked to headline the Iowa State Fair Grandstand in Des Moines at 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, with XOLEX as the special guest.

As of late Friday, the fair’s official website still listed BigXthaPlug as the headliner and continued to offer tickets for the concert. No cancellation or lineup change had been announced.

The Iowa date comes during a period in which BigXthaPlug has pushed well beyond the Southern rap audience that first made him a breakout act. His 2024 album “Take Care” debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, while “I Hope You’re Happy” debuted at No. 7 and further developed the country-rap crossover that has become a major part of his recent work.

“All the Way,” his collaboration with Bailey Zimmerman, reached No. 1 on both Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs and Hot Country Songs charts — an unusual overlap reflected in a State Fair booking that pairs the Dallas rapper with Iowa-born country artist XOLEX.

Rock the Bells Sets Thanksgiving Weekend Show With LL Cool J, SWV and Lil’ Kim

LL Cool J, SWV, Lil’ Kim and Method Man & Redman lead the lineup for the 2026 Rock the Bells Festival, scheduled for Nov. 29 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. (Rock the Bells)

Rock the Bells has found a way to put LL Cool J, SWV, Lil’ Kim, Method Man & Redman, The LOX, LeToya Luckett and David Banner on the same Thanksgiving weekend bill.

The festival returns to Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Nov. 29, with a lineup spanning several distinct periods of hip-hop and R&B, organizers announced Monday.

LL Cool J leads the bill alongside SWV, Lil’ Kim and Method Man & Redman.

D-Nice will curate another portion of the show featuring Luckett, Banner and The LOX — Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek Louch.

Additional artists are expected to be announced later.

Rock the Bells and the Black Promoters Collective are producing the event. The concert is scheduled for the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend and will close out Hip-Hop History Month. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the show scheduled for 7.

“There’s something special about seeing artists and fans from different generations come together under one roof,” LL Cool J said in the announcement.

That description is unusually literal in this case.

SWV’s presence keeps the bill from becoming an all-rap nostalgia package, while the D-Nice segment effectively builds a second miniature lineup inside the larger show.

The LOX bring the Bad Boy and Ruff Ryders eras. Luckett adds a direct link to Destiny’s Child and her later solo R&B career. Banner represents the Southern rap explosion that changed the genre’s center of gravity during the 2000s.

Ticketmaster independently lists LL Cool J, Lil’ Kim, Method Man & Redman, SWV, D-Nice, Luckett, The LOX and Banner on the Nov. 29 event page.

The first ticket window begins Tuesday.

An exclusive presale starts Aug. 18 at 10 a.m. Eastern and ends Thursday, Aug. 20, at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Local, venue and promoter presales begin Thursday at 10 a.m. and run through 11:59 p.m. Eastern.

General sales begin Friday, Aug. 21, at 10 a.m. Eastern through Ticketmaster.

Organizers say more performers and community-focused programming will be announced before the festival.

For now, the lineup already amounts to a compact timeline of the music Rock the Bells was created to celebrate.

Prosecutors Tell Jury Keffe D Planned Tupac Shakur Shooting

​Duane "Keffe D" Davis, shown in this booking photograph provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Davis is standing trial on murder charges in connection with the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur.

The prosecution of the only man ever charged in Tupac Shakur’s killing opened Monday with an unusual concession.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis is not accused of firing the gun.

The state’s case is that he did not have to.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis organized the Sept. 7, 1996, attack as retaliation after Shakur and members of his entourage beat Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, at the MGM Grand.

“Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting,” Palal told jurors.

Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He could face life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors say Davis spent roughly two hours after the casino fight arranging revenge, obtained a gun and joined three other men in a white Cadillac searching for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight.

The Cadillac eventually pulled alongside the black BMW Knight was driving near the Las Vegas Strip. Shakur was struck multiple times and died six days later at 25. Knight survived with a minor wound.

Police have never established publicly which man in the Cadillac fired the shots.

That question is important historically, but it is not necessarily the question jurors have to answer.

Under Nevada law, prosecutors can seek a murder conviction against someone accused of knowingly taking part in the crime even if that person did not personally pull the trigger. Prosecutors contend Davis supplied the weapon and participated in planning and carrying out the attack.

Much of their case will depend on something investigators did not have in 1996: years of statements from Davis himself.

Davis has discussed the shooting in interviews, with investigators and in his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.” Prosecutors played portions of his recorded statements Monday and displayed the book for jurors.

In those accounts, Davis placed himself in the front passenger seat of the Cadillac and described handing a gun to the men sitting behind him.

The other three men investigators have linked to the Cadillac — Anderson, Deandrae “Freaky” Smith and Terry “Bubble Up” Brown — have all died.

Davis is the only surviving alleged occupant.

That has made his public storytelling unusually important to a case that went nearly three decades without a prosecution. Police have said Davis was long considered a suspect but that his later statements helped revive an investigation that had gone cold.

Defense attorney Michael Sanft told jurors those statements are not the equivalent of proof.

Sanft challenged investigators for what he described as incomplete work and missing documentation and argued that Davis made claims in interviews and his book that law enforcement never independently verified.

“What they are telling you ... is really fiction,” Sanft told the jury.

Sanft’s name is confirmed by AP’s pretrial reporting, Las Vegas local coverage and court photography; a Reuters version of Monday’s story rendered the surname differently.

The first witnesses Monday took jurors back to the hours surrounding the shooting.

Retired Las Vegas police Officer Garry Dale testified that he and another officer stopped Knight’s BMW because it did not have a license plate. Shakur was riding with him.

The officers issued a warning and let them continue.

About 10 minutes later, Dale responded to the shooting and found emergency personnel removing Shakur from the BMW.

Former Las Vegas homicide detective Brent Becker described investigators’ difficulty getting witnesses to cooperate.

Ingrid Stokes, who was riding in another vehicle nearby, testified that she heard gunshots while stopped near Knight’s BMW. Her group sped away and nearly collided with a white four-door vehicle, she said.

Stokes testified that fear of retaliation and distrust of police made her reluctant to become involved.

Members of Shakur’s family, including his stepbrother Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur, were in the courtroom as prosecutors played Davis’ recorded statements.

The trial comes nearly 30 years after Shakur’s death and almost three years after a Clark County grand jury indicted Davis in 2023.

For decades, discussion of Shakur’s killing sprawled across books, documentaries, interviews and competing theories about who was responsible.

The criminal trial is considerably narrower.

Jurors do not have to resolve every question that has surrounded Tupac’s death since 1996.

They have to decide whether prosecutors can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Davis participated in arranging the killing — or whether, as the defense argues, the state has built its case around stories that cannot be trusted.

Sean Combs Says Lil Rod Stole Footage Later Used in Netflix’s ‘The Reckoning’

Promotional artwork for Netflix’s four-part documentary series “Sean Combs: The Reckoning.” Sean “Diddy” Combs has filed counterclaims against producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, alleging Jones stole documentary footage that was later used in the series. Netflix and director Alexandria Stapleton have said the production obtained its footage legally and had the necessary rights. (Courtesy Netflix)

The Bad Boy founder alleges Rodney Jones took computer drives during a 2022 St. Barts trip and later sold the footage. Netflix says the documentary obtained its material legally and had the necessary rights.

Sean “Diddy” Combs spent months saying footage in Netflix’s documentary about him had been taken without permission.

He is now making that accusation in court — against the producer who sued him first.

Combs filed counterclaims Tuesday against Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones in their existing federal case in Manhattan, alleging Jones took computer drives containing footage intended for a Combs documentary and later sold or supplied material that appeared in Netflix’s “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” the four-part series executiv ise produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

The filing does not amount to a new lawsuit against Netflix or Jackson. Jones is the opposing party in Combs’ counterclaims.

That distinction is especially important because the counterclaims allege Jones sold the footage to “Netflix, Inc., West Tower Road, LLC, and/or Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson,” according to the filing. The wording does not establish that Jackson personally bought or received the material.

Combs’ account centers on a December 2022 trip to St. Barts, where Jones was among several people documenting Combs and his entourage.

According to the counterclaims, Jones was expected to stay in a staff villa but instead remained aboard a yacht, at times sleeping on couches. Combs alleges Jones later entered another videographer’s workspace while that person was away and took external computer drives containing footage being shot for Combs’ own documentary.

“Mr. Jones devised a plan to exploit the trust provided to him by Mr. Combs,” the filing alleges, according to TheWrap, which said it obtained and reviewed the counterclaims.

Combs further alleges that Jones copied footage without authorization, concealed the drives during the trip and eventually sold the material for use in “The Reckoning.” His attorneys say Combs did not learn about the alleged theft until December 2025, when material he believed belonged to his documentary appeared in the Netflix series.

The filing also alleges Jones remains in possession of the drives.

There is one notable point on which Netflix’s own account and Combs’ lawsuit overlap: Jones supplied footage to the filmmakers.

Netflix said in a December article about “The Reckoning” that Jones appeared in the fourth episode and provided filmmakers with footage from his 13 months working alongside Combs.

What the two sides sharply dispute is whether Jones had the right to provide it.

When Combs objected to the documentary before its release, director Alexandria Stapleton said the production had obtained the footage legally and had the necessary rights. Netflix also said footage used in the series had been legally obtained.

Neither statement resolves the ownership question now raised in court.

Combs’ counterclaims also accuse Jones of defamation over statements he made during his interview in “The Reckoning.” According to the filing, Combs disputes Jones’ assertions that Combs directed him to obtain sex workers and that Jones was unknowingly given drugs.

Those accusations echo claims Jones made when he sued Combs in February 2024.

Jones, a producer and videographer who worked extensively on Combs’ 2023 album “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” sought $30 million and alleged Combs sexually assaulted and harassed him, drugged him, threatened him and coerced him into encounters involving sex workers while Jones worked and traveled with him. Combs has denied Jones’ allegations.

Jones worked on nine tracks from “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” which was released Sept. 15, 2023.

His lawsuit has already been substantially narrowed, but some of its central claims remain alive.

In March 2025, U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken dismissed Jones’ civil racketeering claims, finding that Jones had not adequately tied the alleged racketeering activity to his claimed business or property losses. Oetken also dismissed Jones’ breach-of-contract and emotional-distress claims.

The judge, however, declined to dismiss Jones’ sexual-assault claim against Combs. Oetken wrote that Jones had alleged sufficiently specific instances of unwanted sexual contact for the claim to proceed at that stage of the case.

Jones also was permitted to proceed with a federal trafficking claim against Combs and former chief of staff Kristina Khorram, as well as premises-liability claims. A trafficking claim against Combs Global was dismissed.

Those rulings were not findings that Jones’ allegations were true. On a motion to dismiss, the court was deciding whether the allegations were legally sufficient to continue toward later stages of the case.

Now Combs is asking the court to consider allegations of his own.

Combs is seeking damages under claims involving computer fraud, conversion, unfair competition, unjust enrichment and defamation. He also wants the computer drives and footage returned and any retained copies destroyed.

Jones had not publicly answered the counterclaims as of Thursday morning. 

Combs, 56, is serving a 50-month federal prison sentence at Fort Dix, New Jersey. A Manhattan jury last year convicted him on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted him of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking charges. His appeal was argued before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April.

The civil dispute with Jones now runs in both directions.

Jones continues to accuse Combs of sexual misconduct and trafficking-related conduct that Combs denies. Combs, in turn, accuses Jones of stealing documentary material, distributing it without authorization and making defamatory statements.

And footage used to tell the story in a Netflix documentary is now at the center of a court fight over who owned it and who had the right to distribute it.

Nine Years After Nipsey Hussle and Bino Rideaux Recorded it, ‘Prolific’ is Ready

The cover of “Prolific,” the collaborative album from Nipsey Hussle and Bino Rideaux, due Aug. 14, 2026. Hussle selected the photograph used for the artwork while the pair were working on the project in 2017. (All Money In/Out The Blue/Atlantic Records)

Posthumous albums often come with an unavoidable question: How much of what listeners are hearing did the artist actually choose?

“Prolific,” the new Nipsey Hussle and Bino Rideaux album arriving Friday, comes with an unusually clear answer.

Hussle and Rideaux recorded the music together during an intensive three-month stretch in 2017, nearly two years before Hussle’s death. They also sequenced the project during his lifetime, and Hussle personally selected the photograph that became its cover, according to a Los Angeles Times interview published Wednesday with Rideaux and Hussle’s older brother, Samiel “Blacc Sam” Asghedom.

The 15-track “Prolific” is scheduled for release Aug. 14 by All Money In & Out The Blue Records under exclusive license to Atlantic Recording Corp. The date falls one day before what would have been Hussle’s 41st birthday.

For Hussle’s family, the long delay was intentional.

Asghedom, his brother’s longtime business partner and estate administrator, told the Times that people began pressing the family to release unreleased Nipsey music after the rapper’s death in 2019.

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He resisted.

“When we drop the music, we gotta feel like it’s the right time,” Asghedom told the newspaper.

The distinction matters because “Prolific” is not being presented as an album constructed years later from unrelated Nipsey verses.

Its foundation was already there.

Hussle and Rideaux began working together in 2016 after Hussle heard Rideaux’s music and invited the younger South Los Angeles artist to his studio. Two songs from that early session appeared on Hussle’s “Slauson Boy 2,” and the partnership grew into their 2017 collaborative mixtape “No Pressure.”

That same year, Hussle rented NoName Studios in Tarzana where he and Rideaux effectively moved in for about 90 days.

They slept there. They showered there. Producers and engineers rotated through. Music was made constantly.

During those sessions, the pair worked on “No Pressure” and the body of music that would eventually become “Prolific.” Rideaux described the atmosphere to the Times as part frat house, part summer camp, with the studio operating around the clock.

That history also requires one important qualification.

Although the recordings and sequencing date to Hussle’s lifetime, Asghedom has previously estimated that the project was about 80% finished when his brother died. The team later did finishing work using unreleased verses and other music Hussle had already recorded with Rideaux.

That is different from saying nothing was touched after 2019.

It is also different from constructing a new album around orphaned vocals.

Asghedom has repeatedly drawn that distinction, describing “Prolific” as a project Hussle deliberately created with Rideaux rather than a collection assembled by the estate after his death.

Even the artwork predates the tragedy.

Hussle chose a blue-tinted photograph showing him and Rideaux with friends at the Hollywood Roosevelt, a hotel they frequented while making the project. The album carried another name during the original sessions; the team later settled on “Prolific,” taking the title from the word Hussle famously had tattooed on his right temple.

The completed track list also reaches well beyond the two Los Angeles rappers.

Guests include Cardi B, Ty Dolla $ign, Leon Thomas, James Fauntleroy, Buddy and BH. The 15-song album includes the previously released “Reckless” featuring Static Major, “Sacrifices” featuring Fauntleroy, “All Summer” featuring BH and “I Just Wanna Know” with Cardi B and Ty Dolla $ign.

Several producers involved with “Prolific” also worked on Hussle’s 2018 major-label debut, “Victory Lap,” including Mike & Keys and Larrance “Rance 1500” Dopson.

Musically, Rideaux told the Times that “Prolific” is more vulnerable and experimental than “No Pressure.” Relationships play a larger role in the subject matter, and the production sometimes moves beyond the West Coast palette most closely associated with Hussle. One song, “Miami Off the Plane,” uses a Caribbean riddim-inspired beat, a sound Rideaux said neither artist had previously explored.

The experimentation adds another dimension to music Hussle was making as he prepared for the breakthrough that would come with “Victory Lap.”

Hussle, born Ermias Asghedom, was fatally shot outside his Marathon Clothing store in South Los Angeles on March 31, 2019. He was 33.

By then, “Victory Lap” had transformed years of independent momentum into mainstream recognition. The album earned a Grammy nomination for best rap album, and Hussle won two Grammys posthumously in 2020: best rap performance for “Racks in the Middle” and best melodic rap performance for his appearance on DJ Khaled’s “Higher.”

Recordings featuring Hussle have surfaced since his death, including his 2021 collaboration with Jay-Z, “What It Feels Like,” from “Judas and the Black Messiah: The Inspired Album.” But his estate has been notably restrained about turning his unreleased recordings into a full posthumous project.

That restraint is part of what makes “Prolific” notable.

Rather than rushing an album into the market while attention surrounding Hussle’s death was at its peak, his family waited more than seven years — and nearly nine years after the sessions themselves — before deciding this particular body of work was ready to be heard.

Rideaux, now 33 himself, told the Times he understands that releasing music involving an artist as revered as Hussle invites scrutiny. He also made clear that carrying forward what his mentor began has become inseparable from his own career.

The album arrives Friday, Aug. 14.

One day later, Nipsey Hussle would have turned 41.

After years of saying no to pressure for a posthumous album, his family is finally saying yes to one Hussle had already helped shape.

Kurupt Reveals Eminem Stepped In to Pay for His Rehab

West Coast rap veteran Kurupt is opening up about a private act of generosity from one of hip-hop’s biggest superstars that helped save his life.

​In a newly published interview, the former Death Row Records artist and Tha Dogg Pound member revealed that Eminem quietly paid the full cost of his medical rehabilitation treatment following a severe struggle with alcohol addiction.

 

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Speaking on SiriusXM’s "Sway in the Morning," Kurupt, born Ricardo Brown, detailed how his addiction led to multiple seizures and a three-week medically induced coma. While recovering from the life-threatening ordeal, he received unexpected outreach from two iconic architects of hip-hop.

​The 53-year-old rapper explained that Dr. Dre initially reached out to offer moral support and guidance.

​"It was Dr. Dre that called and was just giving his support and just let me know that, you know, we all go through these things," Kurupt told the radio hosts. "He was just giving me that game."

​That phone call quickly opened the door for direct financial and logistical help from Eminem. According to Kurupt, the Detroit rapper arranged treatment through his own trusted contacts and covered the entire expense to ensure the rehabilitation remained entirely private.

​"And it was Em who came to the table like, 'I'm gonna put Kurupt with my folks, and I'm going to put some money into getting him into like, a rehab situation to where he can sit down and enjoy [himself] and be out the way. Nobody will know he's there,'" Kurupt recalled.

​"You know, these things cost bread, so Em put the cheese up for it and said, 'Tell Kurupt I love him,'" the rapper added. "Dr. Dre relayed the message, and then he put me with Em's folks."

​The revelation underscores a long-standing, quiet brotherhood between 1990s and 2000s rap legends. Eminem famously listed Kurupt among his favorite MCs of all time on his 2002 track "Till I Collapse". Furthermore, Eminem has been highly transparent about his own past struggles with prescription pill addiction and a near-fatal overdose, treating his hard-won sobriety as a point of pride.

​For Kurupt, whose 1990s dominance was anchored by legendary West Coast releases like Dr. Dre's 1992 album "The Chronic" and his own 1998 solo debut "Kuruption!", the unexpected gesture left a lasting mark.

​"So, you know, that was real special to me," he said. "I appreciate both of them so much. And it's like, damn, you know? He just came out the blue from nowhere. Like, 'OK, Kurupt going through that? Bam. Boom. I'ma do that for him, man. Tell Kurupt get well, we love him.' That's deep."

​E-40 Sets August Release for 40-Song Quadruple Album ‘Turning My Money Over'

 

Official artwork for E-40's upcoming quadruple album, "Turning My Money Over." Dropping Aug. 28, the 40-song project features a sprawling lineup of guest appearances spanning multiple generations of hip-hop and R&B. 

More than three decades after establishing Northern California’s independent rap blueprint, E-40 is setting another industry milestone.

​The Vallejo rap veteran has officially announced "Turning My Money Over", an ambitious quadruple album featuring 40 tracks spread across four discs. Scheduled to arrive on Aug. 28, 2026, the project is divided into four themed sections: "Turning My Money Over Once," "Twice," "Thrice," and "Cuatro".

​E-40 unveiled the massive project through his social media platforms, declaring, "The greatest game spitter of all time is BACK!".

​The 40-song tracklist confirms appearances from a sprawling lineup of West Coast staples, Southern legends, and R&B veterans. The guest list includes long-standing collaborators like Too $hort and B-Legit, alongside Busta Rhymes, Killer Mike, Anderson .Paak, Al B. Sure!, and Larry June. The album’s lead single, "Sumn Ain't Right" featuring Juvenile, is already available.

​Among the most anticipated tracks are "Trunk Is Alive" featuring Too $hort and B-Legit, "Play If You Want" with Busta Rhymes, and "Night In The Bay" pairing E-40 with Anderson .Paak and Al B. Sure!.

​The expansive format continues a long tradition of multi-disc releases for E-40. Throughout his career, he has repeatedly challenged standard album structures with massive, multi-volume drops like the "Revenue Retrievin'" and "The Block Brochure" series. Delivering exactly 40 songs directly ties the album's concept to the rapper's iconic stage name.

​BMI Honors Nas with Icon Award for Three Decades of Hip-Hop Influence

​Grammy-winning rapper Nas poses for a portrait. Broadcast Music, Inc. announced that the Queensbridge lyricist will receive the BMI Icon Award during the 2026 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards on Aug. 26 in Los Angeles. (Photo courtesy of Mass Appeal)

Broadcast Music, Inc. will celebrate three decades of lyrical innovation by bestowing one of its highest individual honors on Queensbridge rap titan Nas.

​BMI announced that the Grammy-winning rapper and songwriter will receive the BMI Icon Award during the 2026 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards. The private ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 26, in Los Angeles.

​Nas, born Nasir Jones, is being recognized for his prolific songwriting and his immeasurable influence on hip-hop and popular music.

​“Nas has both defined and elevated hip-hop through his groundbreaking storytelling, lyrical excellence and a lasting commitment to artistic innovation,” Catherine Brewton, BMI Vice President, Creative, Atlanta, said in a statement. “From his earliest works to the music mogul that he is today, Nas is a true icon whose legacy continues to inspire artists, influence culture and shape the sound of hip-hop for generations.”.

​Nas burst onto the national scene with his 1994 debut album, "Illmatic", which helped redefine East Coast rap through its vivid storytelling and intricate lyricism. The landmark project was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2021. Since his debut, Nas has released 17 studio albums and sold more than 35 million records worldwide.

​The evening will also salute the songwriters, producers, and publishers behind the past year’s 35 most-performed R&B and hip-hop songs.

Lecrae-Co-Founded Reach Records Clears Early Hurdle in Capitol CMG Lawsuit

Lecrae, who co-founded Reach Records with Ben Washer in 2004, appears in an undated promotional photo. Lecrae is not individually named as a plaintiff in the label’s lawsuit against Capitol Christian Music Group, which a federal judge has allowed to proceed. (Photo courtesy of Reach Records)

The label co-founded by Lecrae alleges Capitol CMG abandoned a multimillion-dollar acquisition after representing that the purchase price had been approved.

A federal judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit from Reach Records, allowing the influential Christian hip-hop label to pursue claims that a Universal Music Group division backed away from a multimillion-dollar acquisition after representing that the price was final.

U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. denied Capitol Christian Music Group’s motion to dismiss the case July 21 in the Middle District of Tennessee.

The decision keeps alive Reach’s claims of breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation and negligent misrepresentation. It is not a finding that Capitol CMG violated a contract or misled the label.

At this stage, the judge was required to accept Reach’s properly pleaded factual allegations as true and determine whether they presented legally plausible claims. Crenshaw found that all three claims met that standard.

Reach Records LLC and The Reach Group LLC filed the lawsuit Dec. 10, 2025. Lecrae, who founded Reach with Ben Washer in 2004, is not individually named as a plaintiff.

According to the judge’s summary of the allegations, Capitol CMG President Brad O’Donnell told Washer on June 14, 2025, that a UMG investment committee would need to approve the proposed acquisition.

Reach alleges O’Donnell told Washer several days later that the committee had approved both the transaction and the final purchase price.

The companies signed a letter of intent Aug. 8, 2025. The document treated the purchase price as binding and said it could not be renegotiated unless final due diligence uncovered materially adverse information, according to the opinion.

The agreement also established a process through which the companies could mutually approve a price adjustment after due diligence.

READ THE FULL COURT RULING

The companies then completed five rounds of due diligence.

Reach alleges Capitol CMG did not identify or communicate any materially adverse finding that would have activated the price-adjustment provision.

Drafts of a final purchase agreement moved between the companies during August and September, with the proposed price unchanged, according to the court’s account.

Reach says the deal unraveled Sept. 12.

The label alleges O’Donnell said another level of internal approval was required and that the agreed price was too high because of the earnings multiple used to calculate it. The acquisition was never completed.

Capitol CMG argued that the letter of intent was not a completed acquisition contract, but part of the continuing negotiations toward a final purchase agreement.

Crenshaw found that argument insufficient to end the case.

Although other parts of the proposed transaction remained unfinished, the judge said the letter of intent expressly identified the purchase price as one of its binding provisions.

“Reach has plausibly alleged the existence of an enforceable contract and CMG’s breach,” Crenshaw wrote.

The judge also allowed Reach’s two misrepresentation claims to continue.

Capitol CMG argued that Reach had not sufficiently alleged that O’Donnell knowingly made a false statement or that the label reasonably relied on what he said.

Crenshaw ruled that Reach had provided enough detail about the disputed statements, who allegedly made them, when they were made and the financial injury the label says it suffered.

Reach alleges it lost time and work preparing for the closing, along with the money it expected to receive from the sale. The proposed purchase price has not been publicly disclosed beyond the court’s description of it as a multimillion-dollar amount.

Capitol CMG will have an opportunity to dispute Reach’s account and present evidence as the case continues.

The conflict places one of Christian hip-hop’s foundational independent labels opposite the faith-based music operation of the world’s largest music company.

Reach began in 2004 and developed a catalog that helped move Christian rap beyond a narrowly defined religious market. Lecrae’s 2014 album, “Anomaly,” became the first release to top the Billboard 200 and Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart in the same week.

Capitol CMG is UMG’s Christian and gospel music operation. Official company materials identify O’Donnell as its longtime president and list a roster that includes Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Tye Tribbett, TobyMac, Amy Grant and Chris Tomlin.

The case now moves deeper into discovery, allowing the parties to seek documents, testimony and other evidence about the negotiations and the internal approval process.

Discovery is currently scheduled to close Dec. 4. Motions seeking a judgment before trial are due March 30, 2027, and a trial is set for Sept. 14, 2027. Those dates could change, and the case could be settled or resolved without a trial.

For Reach, the ruling is a procedural victory rather than a final judgment. It gives the label an opportunity to pursue evidence supporting its claim that Capitol CMG walked away from a price the companies had already agreed would be binding.