Bill Withers Publisher Sues Music Giants Over Olivia Dean’s ‘I’ve Seen It’

Bill Withers, left, is shown in a 1976 Columbia Records publicity photograph. Olivia Dean performs at BST Hyde Park in London on July 6, 2025. Mattie Music Group, doing business as Bleunig Music, alleges Dean’s “I’ve Seen It” copies protectable elements of the melody of “Just the Two of Us,” which Withers co-wrote with Ralph MacDonald and William Salter. Dean is not a defendant in the lawsuit. (Columbia Records/Public domain; Raph_PH/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0; composite image modified from originals)
A music publishing company founded by Bill Withers has gone to federal court over one of his best-known songs, alleging that a track by Grammy-winning singer Olivia Dean repeatedly copies the melody of “Just the Two of Us.”

Mattie Music Group, doing business as Bleunig Music, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Thursday in Los Angeles against Capitol Records, Universal Music Group, Sony Publishing (US) LLC and Kobalt Music Publishing America.

Dean is not a defendant.

Neither is either of her co-writers, Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang.

Instead, the lawsuit targets companies involved in the recording, publishing and commercial exploitation of “I’ve Seen It,” the closing track on Dean’s 2025 album, “The Art of Loving.”

Mattie alleges the song copies “Just the Two of Us” in large and significant part, including repeated use of what the complaint describes as its protectable melody.

According to the filing, representatives of the publisher listened to Dean’s song several times in early August and reached what they called an “obvious and inescapable” conclusion that it copied the earlier composition.

The company then hired musicologist Alexander Stewart, Ph.D., to compare the songs.

Mattie says Stewart conducted a preliminary musicological analysis, searched for similar earlier material and found substantial similarities in protectable musical expression.

What the seven-page complaint does not include is Stewart’s analysis.

There is no musical notation comparing the songs, no measure-by-measure breakdown, no timestamps identifying the disputed passages and no copy of his report.Mattie says it sent written notice to all four defendants on or about Aug. 17, identifying the copyright registration, Dean’s song and the musical similarities it believed infringed its rights.

LISTEN: Olivia Dean — “I've Seen It”

LISTEN: Grover Washington Jr. featuring Bill Withers — “Just the Two of Us”

The lawsuit alleges the companies continued reproducing, distributing, licensing, performing and commercially exploiting “I’ve Seen It” afterward.

No court has determined that the song infringes “Just the Two of Us.”

Billboard reported that representatives for UMG, Sony and Dean did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Kobalt representative declined to comment.

The history of the song at the center of the case makes the dispute more complicated than the shorthand description of “Just the Two of Us” as a Bill Withers classic might suggest.

The recording originated with jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. and appeared on his 1980 album, “Winelight,” with Withers singing lead.

Withers shares the songwriting credit with Ralph MacDonald and William Salter.

Released as a single in 1981, “Just the Two of Us” reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. MacDonald, Salter and Withers won the 1982 Grammy Award for best rhythm and blues song.

Withers was also unusually candid about how he entered the collaboration.

“I came in after the foundation was already there,” he told American Songwriter.

Withers recalled that MacDonald and Salter already had a demo when they approached him about singing it. He said he wanted to improve the words, memorably describing the existing lyrics as wearing overalls and his revisions as an attempt to put them in a tuxedo.

“I wasn’t the genesis” of the song, Withers said.

That history does not by itself determine Bleunig’s rights in the composition.

It is nevertheless particularly interesting here because Mattie’s lawsuit focuses not on Withers’ lyrics but on alleged copying of the song’s melody.

The complaint says Withers was under contract with Bleunig when he co-wrote “Just the Two of Us” and describes Mattie as a copyright proprietor of the composition.

Bleunig is one of three publishers credited on the song, along with Antisia Music and BMG Ruby Songs. Neither of those companies joined the lawsuit.

Bleunig is not a company that bought its way into the Withers catalog decades later.

Withers founded Golden Withers Music in 1974 after deciding he wanted greater control over his songwriting rights, according to Mattie Music Group’s company history. He established Bleunig in 1978 as he expanded his publishing interests and formed Mattie Music Group in 1997 as an umbrella for those businesses.

He named Mattie Music Group after his mother.

The company identifies Bleunig as a co-publisher of “Just the Two of Us.”

Dean arrives at the dispute from the other end of the song’s 45-year history.

“I’ve Seen It” was written by Dean, Langebæk and Wolfgang. Langebæk, Wolfgang and Zach Nahome are credited as producers.

Dean’s career has surged since “The Art of Loving” arrived in September 2025. She won the Grammy Award for best new artist in February.

Now a song from that album is at the center of a copyright case involving a composition that won its own songwriting Grammy more than four decades earlier.

Mattie is seeking an injunction, its alleged losses, profits attributable to the alleged infringement, interest, costs and attorneys’ fees.

The complaint also asks the court to allow the seizure, impoundment or destruction of copies found to infringe its rights.

It does not demand a specific dollar amount.

For now, Mattie has put its allegation before a federal judge: that a melody heard around the world for 45 years can be heard again in “I’ve Seen It.”

What it has not yet put in the public record is the musical analysis it says shows why.

Rick Ross Pleads Not Guilty After Miami Beach Arrest on Domestic Violence Charges

Rick Ross is shown in a booking photograph following his arrest by Miami Beach police. The rapper faces one felony count of battery by strangulation and one misdemeanor battery count in a domestic violence case. Ross pleaded not guilty Thursday. (Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation)

Rick Ross was arrested in Miami Beach early Thursday on felony and misdemeanor battery charges after a woman told police he repeatedly struck her during an Aug. 28 confrontation that she said began over an Instagram photo.

Ross, 50, whose legal name is William Leonard Roberts, was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center at 6:10 a.m., according to Miami-Dade jail and court records.

He faces one felony count of battery by strangulation and one misdemeanor count of battery. Court records list both charges as involving domestic violence.

Ross pleaded not guilty through an attorney during his first court appearance Thursday.

The hearing also produced an unexpected exchange after Ross' attorney asked whether his release could be expedited because of his celebrity status and said the rapper had been placed in a red jumpsuit for his safety.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer was unmoved.

“I have no idea who you are,” Glazer told Ross before saying he would be treated fairly like everyone else appearing before the court.

The charges stem from an alleged Aug. 28 incident.

According to an arrest report reviewed by WSVN, the woman told police Ross became angry over an Instagram photograph in which she had been tagged.

She alleged Ross slapped her in the face as he questioned her about the photograph and later struck her several times in the chest, leaving her unable to breathe.

The woman also told investigators Ross grabbed her by the ponytail and slammed her head to the ground, according to the report.

Attorney Steve Sadow said Ross is being wrongfully accused by an ex-girlfriend and noted that the alleged incident was not reported to police until about a month later.

Ross has denied the allegations through his attorneys.

Under Florida law, battery by strangulation involves knowingly and intentionally impeding another person's normal breathing or blood circulation by applying pressure to the throat or neck or blocking the nose or mouth in a manner that creates a risk of or causes great bodily harm. The offense is a third-degree felony.

Ross' arrest came days after his former girlfriend, Jazzma Kendrick, separately accused him of physical abuse in posts on Instagram Stories.

Kendrick shared an image of an injured lip that she attributed to Ross and said she had left the relationship after the alleged incident.

Authorities have not publicly identified the woman in the criminal case by name, however, and early court reporting did not establish that Kendrick's public allegations were the basis for Thursday's charges.

Ross emerged as one of Miami's biggest rap stars with his 2006 breakout single “Hustlin'” and later founded Maybach Music Group, whose roster has included prominent hip-hop artist Meek Mill and Wale, among others.

His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 22.

1. Jay-Z Rape Accuser Recants in Federal Court, Says She Never Met Him

Jay-Z speaks during an interview with GQ released March 23, 2026. The rapper, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, discussed the sexual-assault allegation against him during the interview and maintained it was false. The woman who made the allegation said in a federal court declaration filed Thursday that she had never met Carter and that her claims against him were false. (Screengrab/GQ)

The woman who accused Jay-Z of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 now says she never met him and that her allegations were false.

In a 12-page declaration filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, the woman, identified as Jane Doe, said Shawn Carter, Jay-Z’s legal name, never raped or sexually assaulted her and never engaged in inappropriate conduct toward her.

“There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr. Carter,” she said in the declaration, filed under penalty of perjury.

Doe also said she received no money or promise of compensation for making the declaration.

Carter has since dismissed her as a defendant in his ongoing federal lawsuit against attorney Tony Buzbee and other lawyers involved in bringing the original case.

Doe’s current attorney, James Blair Newman Jr., said she continues to maintain that she was sexually assaulted but now acknowledges that she was wrong when she identified Carter. Newman said she apologizes to Carter and his family.

The reversal goes considerably further than Doe had before.

Her original lawsuit, filed in October 2024, accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting her after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. It initially referred to another alleged attacker only as a male celebrity.

An amended complaint filed that December named Carter.

Both men denied the allegations.

Questions about Doe’s account surfaced almost immediately. In a December 2024 interview with NBC News, she acknowledged making mistakes in her recollection while continuing to stand by the allegation.

Among the discrepancies, Doe said she encountered Good Charlotte’s Benji Madden at the party, although a representative said Madden and his brother were touring in the Midwest that night. She also said her father drove several hours to pick her up afterward. He told NBC he did not remember doing so.

Doe voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice in February 2025, preventing the same claims from being refiled.

Carter then took the fight to Doe and the lawyers who represented her.

His federal lawsuit accuses Buzbee and others of pursuing an allegation they knew or should have known was unreliable. A central part of Carter’s case is his contention that the attorneys failed to properly investigate Doe before attaching his name to an accusation of child sexual assault.

Carter’s complaint points to information he says was available before his name was added to the case, including Doe’s recent involvement in Mental Health Court and public testimony from her psychiatrist concerning multiple mental-health conditions, prescription medication and a history of hallucinations.

Those details are allegations cited by Carter as part of his argument that Doe’s lawyers had reason to investigate her account more closely. Mental-health treatment itself does not establish that someone is dishonest or that an allegation is false.

Doe’s mental health later entered the court record from her side as well. In seeking permission to continue using a pseudonym, she submitted a declaration from a psychiatrist who said publicly identifying her could destabilize her recovery and worsen her psychiatric symptoms.

Carter spoke publicly about the toll of the accusation during a GQ interview released March 23.

He said the case left him heartbroken and with “uncontrollable anger,” adding that an allegation that serious was something a person “better be super sure” about. Carter maintained in the interview that the accusation was false.

Buzbee has denied wrongdoing and disputed Doe’s latest account of how her original case was handled. He has said several lawyers interviewed her before he personally met her and that she gave them essentially the same story.

A California appeals court sided with Buzbee on a separate Carter lawsuit earlier this month.

In an unpublished Sept. 9 opinion, the three-judge panel upheld dismissal of Carter’s California case and said the evidence before it did not show that Buzbee accused Carter while knowing the allegation was false or with reckless disregard for whether it was true. The court pointed to declarations describing legal teams that interviewed Doe and said they believed her claims.

That decision came before Thursday’s declaration and involved different claims and legal standards.

The new declaration also differs sharply from an earlier, secretly recorded conversation in which investigators approached Doe at her Alabama home and said she appeared to clear Carter. Doe later said she felt intimidated during that encounter and reaffirmed her original allegation.

Memphis Honors Tay Keith With Music Lab, Key to City and Day of His Own

Grammy-nominated producer Tay Keith is shown in an undated promotional portrait. Memphis Public Libraries dedicated the Tay Keith Music Lab on Monday, creating a music production space for young people in honor of the late Memphis hitmaker, whose credits included Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode,” Drake’s “Nonstop” and Beyoncé’s “Before I Let Go.”

Before Tay Keith was producing No. 1 records with some of hip-hop's biggest stars, his sister remembers the work beginning in a little blue, yellow and white house on Bruton Street in Memphis.

On Monday, his hometown put his name on a room where somebody else's career might begin.

Memphis Public Libraries formally dedicated its music production room inside Cloud901 at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library as the Tay Keith Music Lab, honoring the late Grammy-nominated producer while expanding an initiative aimed at giving young people access to music-production tools and instruction.

Keith's older sister, Lisa Austin, told those gathered for the dedication that the family's Raleigh home was where her brother discovered his love of music, started making beats and built the foundation for what the world would eventually know as Tay Keith.

But Austin made clear that the family did not want the room to function simply as a memorial.

“This lab is more than just putting Tay's name on a room,” Austin said. “It's about access and opportunity.”

Cloud901 is Memphis Public Libraries' free technology and production center for teenagers ages 13 to 18. The Tay Keith Legacy Foundation donated to the project, which is being developed into a broader initiative around Keith's life, career and commitment to young people.

Plans include hands-on beat-making and music-production instruction, a permanent archival collection and oral histories with Keith's relatives, friends and associates.

Library officials said they hope to collect photographs, handwritten notes, studio material, correspondence, memorabilia and other pieces of Keith's history. Family members and others who knew him will also be invited to record their memories through the library's 901Voices oral-history project.

At Monday's ceremony, library officials said the collection is intended to preserve not only Keith's career but the stories behind it for people who may encounter his work generations from now.

The project also extends work Keith had begun before his death.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young said Keith and his team contacted him shortly after Young became mayor because the producer wanted to discuss how he could make deeper investments in Memphis.

One conversation turned into a standing habit.

Keith told Young he planned to call him every Monday.

Tay Keith's family and Memphis officials dedicate the Tay Keith Music Lab at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library on Sept. 21, 2026.

“And he called me literally every Monday,” Young said.

Young said that even after becoming a successful producer, Keith was routinely checking in with the mayor because he wanted to figure out how to make a larger impact on the city that raised him.

Keith also worked with the city's Office of Youth Services on the My Memphis Poetry Challenge, which encouraged young Memphians to use writing to express their creativity and connection to the city. Young cited the project Monday as another example of Keith's interest in creating opportunities for young people. The competition itself was also documented by the Memphis City Council and local reporting.

Memphis added two other honors around what would have been Keith's 30th birthday.

Young proclaimed Sept. 20 Tay Keith Day in Memphis and presented Keith's family with a key to the city during Monday's dedication.

The mayor said young Memphians entering the lab will be able to see Keith's name, use the equipment and recognize that someone from their city reached the highest levels of the music business.

“Somebody from Memphis did it, and they can too,” Young said.

Keith, born Brytavious Lakeith Chambers, developed from a young Memphis producer into one of the most successful hitmakers of his generation. His credits include Travis Scott's “Sicko Mode,” Drake's “Nonstop” and “First Person Shooter,” along with work for artists including Beyoncé, Eminem, Cardi B, 21 Savage and Sexyy Red. BMI honored him three times as its R&B/Hip-Hop Producer of the Year.

He died June 18 at his Nashville apartment at 29.

Days before the Memphis ceremony, the Nashville medical examiner disclosed that Keith's death had been ruled accidental. The cause was toxicity involving ketamine and several mitragynine-related compounds associated with kratom. Police had said no foul play was suspected.

Monday's dedication, however, was centered less on how Keith died than on what his family and hometown want to continue in his name.

Austin said the hope is that a young person walks into the Tay Keith Music Lab, creates a first beat and eventually becomes the next major producer or creative to come out of Memphis.

Then she distilled the purpose of the room into two sentences.

“Tay's legacy lives on,” Austin said. “And now he gets to help build someone else's.”

Sean 'Diddy' Combs Lawsuit: Ariel Mitchell Challenges Jurisdiction as Combs' Lawyers Seek to Quit

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ $100 million defamation lawsuit survived a major attempt to dismiss it less than two weeks ago.

Now one of the defendants is trying a different route — arguing Combs’ own previous representations about his Florida ties could knock the case out of federal court.

Attorney Ariel Mitchell asked a federal judge Thursday for permission to challenge the court’s jurisdiction, arguing that she and Combs were both Florida citizens when he filed the lawsuit in January 2025.

The filing came the same day three of Combs’ attorneys appeared before U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan seeking to leave the case amid a dispute over unpaid legal bills.

Together, the developments create new uncertainty around Combs’ lawsuit against Mitchell, Courtney Burgess and Nexstar Media Inc. over allegations aired on NewsNation in 2024.

Cronan on Sept. 4 rejected Mitchell’s previous attempt to dismiss the lawsuit and allowed part of Combs’ claim against Nexstar to continue.

Mitchell’s new argument is different.

Combs’ amended complaint says he “presently resides in Brooklyn, New York,” while identifying Mitchell as a Miami resident. The lawsuit relies on diversity jurisdiction, which generally requires opposing parties to be citizens of different states.

COURT FILING

The new challenge to Diddy's $100 million lawsuit

Combs v. Burgess, Mitchell & Nexstar Media Inc. • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York • Sept. 17, 2026

Ariel Mitchell argues that Sean “Diddy” Combs remained domiciled in Florida while detained in Brooklyn — and that if both were Florida citizens when the lawsuit was filed, the federal court lacked the required diversity of citizenship.

Page 3 of Ariel Mitchell's Sept. 17, 2026, federal court filing. Tap or click the document to enlarge.

“Plaintiff cannot have it both ways.” — Steven A. Metcalf II, attorney for Ariel Mitchell

WHY IT MATTERS

Mitchell says Combs relied on his Florida domicile while challenging jurisdiction in separate California litigation. She now argues that the same Florida domicile would undermine the diversity jurisdiction supporting this New York federal case.

The argument is Mitchell's. The court has not ruled that jurisdiction is lacking.

DOCUMENT 127 CASE NO. 25-CV-650 (JPC)

But Combs was in Brooklyn while being held in federal detention.

Mitchell’s attorney, Steven A. Metcalf II, argues that incarceration did not make Combs a New York domiciliary and that he remained domiciled in Florida, where he maintained a home before his arrest.

If Combs and Mitchell were both Florida citizens when the lawsuit was filed, Mitchell argues, the required diversity did not exist.

Her filing also points to separate litigation in California in which, according to Mitchell, Combs successfully relied on evidence establishing his Florida domicile while challenging that court’s jurisdiction over him.

“Plaintiff cannot have it both ways,” Metcalf wrote.

Cronan has not ruled on the argument, and Thursday’s filing is not another motion to dismiss. Mitchell is asking for permission to make the jurisdictional challenge.

It arrived as Combs faces a separate problem with his own legal team.

Attorneys Michael Tremonte, Erica Wolff and Katie Renzler of Sher Tremonte LLP have asked to withdraw, saying Combs is in “substantial arrears” on his legal bills and has not made himself available for substantive communication for months.

Combs disputes their account. He says he decided to replace the firm because it overcharged him and billed for work he had not authorized. The firm denies that allegation.

During Thursday’s conference, Wolff told Cronan that the firm still had not spoken with Combs despite another attempt to reach him. Cronan did not immediately grant the attorneys’ request to withdraw and directed them to continue attempting to reach Combs.

The jurisdiction issue also surfaced during the conference. Wolff offered a preliminary response that Combs had come to New York intending to remain there.

Mitchell, meanwhile, is asking the court to suspend her deadline to answer the lawsuit and her discovery obligations while the jurisdiction question is considered.

Her new challenge does not undo Combs’ Sept. 4 victory. Instead, it raises a more fundamental question about the surviving lawsuit: whether Combs had the legal standing to bring it in federal court in New York in the first place.

Chris Brown Tells Texas Lawmaker to ‘Keep That Award’ After Apology

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, left, Chris Brown, center, and Texas state Rep. Venton Jones pose together after the lawmakers presented the singer with official recognitions during a stop on The R&B Tour at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Photo: Venton Jones / Instagram)

Chris Brown says he never asked Texas lawmakers to honor him.

Now, after one of them apologized for participating, he wants no part of the recognition.

Brown told Texas state Rep. Venton Jones to “keep that award” after Jones apologized for presenting the R&B star with an official State of Texas legislative recognition during Brown and Usher’s concert Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

The response capped several days of fallout from what began as a celebration of two of R&B’s biggest stars.

Jones and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett appeared during the Sept. 12 stop of "The R&B Tour"d alongside producer and songwriter RoccStar.

They brought separate recognitions.

Crockett announced a Congressional Record entry titled “Recognizing the Artistry of Chris Brown and Usher Raymond,” praising the two singers’ contributions to contemporary R&B and popular music.

Usher was not onstage during the presentation.

Jones separately presented Brown with what the Dallas lawmaker later described in his own social media post as an “official State of Texas legislative recognition” of Brown’s impact on music.

Jones credited RoccStar with helping coordinate the effort.

Crockett told the Arlington crowd they were experiencing “Black joy to the highest level” and said she wanted the moment documented in the Congressional Record.

A Congressional Record entry is a ceremonial recognition by an individual member of Congress. It is not legislation or an honor approved through a vote of Congress.

Jones initially celebrated the appearance, writing on social media the next day that it was an example of how to “mobilize voters.”

The presentation quickly drew criticism centered largely on Brown’s history of violence against women.

Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault in 2009 after attacking Rihanna, who was his girlfriend at the time. He was sentenced to five years of probation, community labor and domestic violence counseling.

Jones addressed the criticism Tuesday during an appearance on “The Don Lemon Show.”

“I want to offer an apology,” Jones said, directing his remarks to Black women, women generally and people who have experienced domestic violence.

I have been listening and reflecting. I see you and hear you.

Please accept my remarks in response.

I remain transparent and committed to House District 100, the Dallas community, and Texas, and will allow the work of the Office to continue reflecting that.

Texans, please… pic.twitter.com/0DdW37DWy5

— State Rep. Venton Jones (@VentonJonesTX) September 15, 2026

Jones said he and Crockett had been asked to participate by the venue and that their appearance was also intended to engage voters ahead of the November election.

He later expanded on the apology in a written statement, saying he had listened to people who believed his decision had contributed to circumstances in which Black women’s safety and experiences are pushed aside.

Brown rejected the apology.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Don Lemon (@donlemonofficial)

In posts on Instagram, Brown said the recognition had been brought to him rather than requested by him.

“Y’all came to me with this! Not the other way around,” Brown wrote.

Brown noted that his Arlington shows were already sold out.

While Brown accused the lawmaker of pandering, Jones maintained that his apology followed conversations with constituents and reflection on the criticism.

Brown ultimately told Jones he no longer wanted the recognition and said he wanted to be left alone to concentrate on the fans supporting his tour.

His response to Crockett was markedly different.

Before Jones’ apology, Brown posted a photograph of himself embracing the congresswoman and thanked her for the recognition. He also apologized for any backlash she might receive and said that although he was not political, he was grateful for the gesture.

Crockett’s Congressional Record recognition included Usher as well as Brown, despite Usher’s absence from that portion of the onstage presentation.

Jones’ state recognition was specifically for Brown.

Ye Could Face Up to $23 Million Claim as Donda Academy Case Nears Trial

FILE — Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is shown in a file photograph. The hip-hop artist and entrepreneur could face up to $23 million in potential damages in an ongoing racial discrimination lawsuit filed by a former security employee of Donda Academy and Yeezy LLC, according to newly reported court documents. (Photo: Phil Romans / Flickr via CC BY-SA 2.0)

A former Donda Academy employee is seeking up to roughly $23 million in damages in his discrimination lawsuit against Kanye West as the two-year-old case moves toward trial, according to newly filed court papers.

Benjamin Provo, a Black former security guard who sued the artist, Yeezy LLC and Donda Academy in 2024, has outlined damages he contends could reach approximately $23 million if he prevails, according to court documents obtained by TMZ.

The figure is not a judgment or settlement, and no court has determined that West, who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021, owes Provo that amount.

Provo's lawsuit alleges he faced racial and religious discrimination while working at Donda Academy and Yeezy and was ultimately fired after refusing a demand to cut his dreadlocks, which he has said he wore in part as an expression of his Muslim faith.

Ye and the other defendants have denied wrongdoing.

Provo filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court in April 2024, accusing Ye and members of his management team of treating Black employees less favorably than white workers.

The complaint alleges Ye frequently screamed at and berated Black employees while treating white employees differently. Provo also alleges that Ye began demanding that employees shave their heads.

According to the complaint, Provo was eventually told that Ye wanted "the one with the dreads" to shave his head or be fired. Provo alleges he refused and subsequently lost his job.

The lawsuit extends beyond Provo's hair.

Provo alleges that Ye expressed displeasure with prominent Black leaders and ordered people associated with Donda to dispose of books related to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and other Black figures.

The newly reported court papers also offer a glimpse at testimony gathered as the case moved toward trial.

Provo's latest filing cites deposition testimony from former Yeezy chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos concerning racially charged remarks and the provocative way Ye discussed religion in the workplace.

That testimony comes as the two sides fight over what evidence may be considered at trial.

Ye's attorneys have asked the court to exclude social media posts attributed to Ye and Yiannopoulos, arguing that much of the material is irrelevant to whether Provo experienced unlawful discrimination during his employment.

The defense filing includes a 919-page report containing social media material that Provo may seek to use at trial. Ye's attorneys contend that some of the posts came from impersonation, parody or other accounts and have argued that Provo should be required to establish the authenticity, relevance and admissibility of disputed material before it is considered.

Another pretrial dispute centers on whether Ye's mental condition during the period covered by the lawsuit has any relevance to the case.

Provo's attorneys have asked the court to prevent Ye's side from arguing that he was of unsound mind, contending that such a defense was not raised in the defendants' answer and that Ye did not produce medical records or designate an expert witness to support such an argument during discovery.

Ye's attorneys have separately asked the court to exclude evidence concerning any alleged mental unfitness, noting that Ye testified during a deposition that he considered himself mentally fit.

Ye has also disputed Provo's characterization of their employment relationship, arguing in court papers that Provo worked for a third-party company that provided workers rather than directly for Ye or his companies.

The $23 million figure represents Provo's calculation of potential damages, not money that has been awarded by the court.

A nonjury trial is currently scheduled for Oct. 12 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Ye's attorneys have asked Judge Brock T. Hammond to postpone it until May 17, 2027, or another date available to the court and Provo.

Tone Capone, Producer Who Connected Bay Area and Houston Rap, Dies at 59

FILE — Producer Tone Capone, born Anthony Douglas Gilmour, is shown DJing in the 1980s. Capone, the Bay Area beatmaker behind Luniz's 1995 hit "I Got 5 On It" and a frequent Rap-A-Lot Records collaborator, died Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. He was 59. (Photo: Tone Capone / Instagram)

The Bay Area beatmaker behind Luniz’s 1995 crossover hit also produced seven tracks on Scarface’s platinum album and Devin the Dude’s “Sticky Green.”

Tone Capone, the Bay Area producer behind Luniz’s “I Got 5 On It” whose catalog later reached deep into Houston through Scarface, Devin the Dude and Rap-A-Lot Records, died Saturday.

He was 59.

Capone, born Anthony Douglas Gilmour, was born in Berkeley and raised in North Oakland near Bushrod Park. Close family members reported his death online Sunday.

Legendary Bay Area producer Tone Capone has passed away at age 59. Causes are unknown at the time. His body of work includes

Luniz - I Got 5 On It
Celly Cel- It’s Goin Down
3xKrazy - Keep It On The Real
Mac Dre - Fire
Mac Mall - Servin Game

He also produced a lot of the classic… pic.twitter.com/B0jkVK9eER

— Nstant Vntage (@nstantvntage) September 14, 2026

A cause of death had not been announced as of Monday. Capone had lived in the Las Vegas area since 2021.

For many listeners, his signature will always be “I Got 5 On It.”

The 1995 Luniz single reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the duo’s debut album, “Operation Stackola,” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

The record's construction was more complicated than a simple sample flip.

The official music video for Luniz's 1995 crossover hit "I Got 5 On It." The track, produced by Tone Capone, reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the most recognizable anthems in West Coast hip-hop history. (Video via YouTube)

Luniz brought Capone Club Nouveau’s “Why You Treat Me So Bad” as a musical starting point. Capone told The Guardian in 2019 that the original groove did not hit hard enough for the sound he wanted.

“I wanted everything in your face,” he said.

Capone slowed the groove and added bells, voices and scratches. In a separate interview with TheWrap, he explained that he replayed the central musical idea rather than directly sampling the Club Nouveau recording. He identified Audio Two’s “Top Billin’” and Kool & the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” as the record’s direct sampled elements.

Capone also pushed for a singer on a hook that Luniz originally rapped. Michael Marshall, his old Berkeley High School friend and a member of Timex Social Club, supplied the melody that became one of the song's defining features.

The record found another life nearly a quarter-century later.

In 2019, a slowed, orchestral “Tethered Mix” of “I Got 5 On It” became a recurring musical device in Jordan Peele’s horror film “Us,” turning a familiar party record into something deliberately unsettling.

Capone's work had begun long before his biggest hit. He learned to DJ while attending Berkeley High and was playing parties and other events while still young. By the mid-1980s, he was building beats with four-track cassette recorders, drum machines, turntables and tape decks.

His résumé eventually expanded well beyond Northern California.

By the mid-1990s, Capone had entered the Rap-A-Lot orbit that connected Bay Area artists with Houston. Mike Dean later told HipHopDX that he brought Capone in to help produce Scarface’s 1997 album “The Untouchable.”

The surviving album credits show how substantial that role became.

Scarface's "Smile," featuring 2Pac and Johnny P, from the 1997 platinum album "The Untouchable." Tone Capone served as a co-producer on the track alongside Mike Dean and Scarface, marking one of his most prominent collaborations with Houston's Rap-A-Lot Records. (Video via YouTube)

Capone shares production credit on seven tracks: “Untouchable,” “Southside,” “Money Makes the World Go Round,” “Mary Jane,” “Smile,” “Smartz” and “Faith.” His collaborators across those tracks included Scarface, Dean, N.O. Joe and Domo.

“The Untouchable” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum.

Among Capone’s contributions was “Smile,” the Scarface record featuring 2Pac and Johnny P. Official Rap-A-Lot metadata credits the production to Scarface, Dean and Capone.

The Houston connection continued beyond Scarface.

Capone produced “Sticky Green,” featuring Scarface, from Devin the Dude’s 1998 debut album, “The Dude.” Devin later recalled that Scarface, Capone and a musician named Harm brought the music to him as the song was taking shape.

Back home, Capone’s credits stretched across generations of Bay Area rap. He worked with artists including E-40, Celly Cel, 3XKrazy, The Click, Dru Down, Mac Dre, Mac Mall and the Jacka.

He remained involved in music in later years even after taking a hospital job and eventually retiring from that work.

“I Got 5 On It” will inevitably be the first record attached to Tone Capone’s name.

The credits that come after it — Scarface, 2Pac, Devin the Dude, E-40, Celly Cel, 3XKrazy and Mac Dre among them — explain why his legacy was considerably larger than one hit.

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.