Lil Durk Murder-for-Hire Trial Opens as Defense Blames Cooperating Witness for Quando Rondo Plot

Rapper Lil Durk, whose legal name is Durk Devontay Banks, is shown in an October 2024 booking photo following his arrest in Broward County, Fla. Banks has pleaded not guilty to federal charges stemming from an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting rapper Quando Rondo in Los Angeles in 2022. (Broward Sheriff’s Office)

Lil Durk’s federal murder-for-hire trial opened with two sharply different explanations for a 2022 Los Angeles ambush that left one man dead.

Prosecutors told jurors Monday that the Grammy-winning Chicago rapper financed a revenge plot against Quando Rondo after the killing of King Von.

Durk’s defense says the government has the wrong mastermind.

Attorneys for the rapper, whose legal name is Durk Devontay Banks, instead pointed to former personal assistant Kavon Grant, one of three alleged co-conspirators who have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

“This is a case about revenge, stalking and premeditated murder,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel H. Weiner told jurors, according to the *Los Angeles Times*.

Banks, 33, has pleaded not guilty.

The federal case centers on the Aug. 19, 2022, shooting outside a gas station near the Beverly Center in Los Angeles.

Prosecutors allege Banks wanted Tyquian Bowman, the Georgia rapper known professionally as Quando Rondo, killed in retaliation for the November 2020 death of Dayvon “King Von” Bennett.

Von was fatally shot following a confrontation outside an Atlanta nightclub involving members of Bowman’s entourage.

Nearly two years later, prosecutors say a group associated with Banks traveled from Chicago to Southern California, tracked Bowman and eventually attacked his vehicle.

Bowman survived.

His cousin, 24-year-old Saviay’a Robinson, was shot and killed.

In his opening statement Monday, Weiner portrayed Banks as the person who supplied both the motive and the resources behind the alleged plot.

“It was defendant Banks’ beef, it was defendant Banks’ money, it was defendant Banks’ hit men,” Weiner told the jury, according to the *Times*.

Banks was not at the scene of the shooting, a point his defense highlighted as it challenged the government’s attempt to connect him to the attack.

Attorney Marissa Goldberg told jurors that Grant — not Banks — arranged the operation.

According to the defense, Grant booked hotels, obtained vehicles and purchased ski masks before the shooting. Goldberg argued that Grant later implicated Banks after becoming a cooperating witness, giving prosecutors the celebrity defendant she described as a “big fish.”

“Mr. Banks had nothing to do with it,” Goldberg told jurors.

That dispute could become one of the trial’s defining questions.

Grant has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify for the government. So have Keith Jones and Kacey “OTF Jam” Hester, according to prosecutors.

Banks is being tried alongside Deondre Dontrell Wilson and David Brian Lindsey. Both men also deny the charges against them.

Federal prosecutors contend the group followed Bowman around Los Angeles before gunmen opened fire at the gas station. Robinson was struck several times and died from his injuries.

The defense is attacking not only the government’s cooperating witnesses but also one of the more culturally sensitive elements of the prosecution: Banks’ music.

Goldberg told jurors prosecutors are expected to introduce songs and lyrics while trying to establish Banks’ state of mind and connection to the alleged revenge plot.

She characterized the material as artistic expression rather than evidence of a murder agreement.

“This is art, this is performance,” Goldberg said.

Banks’ lawyers also say prosecutors cannot show that he actually paid or promised to pay anyone for Robinson’s killing.

“There is no money to follow,” Goldberg told the jury.

The distinction matters because prosecutors are asking jurors to find that Banks was not merely angry about Von’s death or acquainted with people who committed the shooting, but that he knowingly participated in an agreement to have Bowman killed.

The government says financial and logistical evidence, communications and testimony from cooperating defendants will establish that connection.

The defense says those same cooperating witnesses have powerful reasons to shift responsibility toward Banks as they await sentencing.

Banks’ music career adds an unusual backdrop to the proceedings.

He won his first Grammy in 2024 for “All My Life,” his collaboration with J. Cole, taking home the award for best melodic rap performance. He is also the founder of Only the Family, commonly known as OTF.

The trial does not include every allegation federal prosecutors have made against Banks.

A federal grand jury added separate racketeering-related allegations this summer involving other alleged violence in Chicago and Atlanta. Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ordered those counts tried separately, keeping the current proceeding focused on the Los Angeles case.

Those allegations remain unresolved and are not evidence of Banks’ guilt in the trial now before jurors.

Banks has remained in federal custody since his October 2024 arrest in South Florida.

Monday’s opening statements were only the beginning of what is expected to be a closely watched trial built around competing interpretations of the same relationships, communications and witnesses.

Prosecutors say Banks used his money and influence to turn grief over King Von’s death into a murder plot.

His lawyers say the people who actually organized the attack are now trying to save themselves by putting Lil Durk at the center of it.

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.

John Paris Awake Again as Earth, Wind & Fire Drummer Faces Two Major Surgeries

Earth, Wind & Fire drummer John Paris, left, poses with his wife, Honey Cone member Kathy Merrick, in an undated photo shared with a GoFundMe established to support the family during his hospitalization. Paris remains in intensive care after an Aug. 6 medical emergency and faces two major surgeries, according to the family-backed Standing for John Paris page. (Courtesy of GoFundMe)

The musician remains in intensive care after an Aug. 6 medical emergency forced Earth, Wind & Fire’s San Francisco concert with Lionel Richie to be postponed.

John Paris is awake again.

But the Earth, Wind & Fire drummer remains in intensive care and faces two major surgeries as he recovers from the medical emergency that hospitalized him earlier this month, according to a new update from the family and friends who have been chronicling his condition.

The update was posted Thursday on the family-backed Facebook page Standing for John Paris, which has become the primary public source of information about his recovery.

Paris had briefly awakened earlier in his hospitalization before doctors needed to sedate him again.

His family says he has now awakened a second time, with more encouraging results. His blood pressure remained stable and his breathing stayed strong while doctors monitored and evaluated him.

Additional testing determined that Paris will need two major surgeries as part of his recovery. He will remain in the intensive care unit.

The family has not identified the procedures or publicly disclosed the underlying diagnosis that caused the Aug. 6 medical emergency.

“This journey is definitely a marathon, but JP is fighting every single day and our hope is strong,” his wife, singer Kathy Merrick, said in the family update.

The crisis began shortly before Earth, Wind & Fire was scheduled to perform with Richie at Chase Center in San Francisco.

The Aug. 6 concert was postponed because of what was initially described only as a medical emergency involving a member of Earth, Wind & Fire. Friends and relatives later identified Paris as the hospitalized musician.

A GoFundMe organized on behalf of Paris and Merrick says he experienced a “critical medical emergency” shortly before taking the stage and was rushed to a hospital.

That remains the most specific description of the initial episode provided by the family’s public sources.

Some reports have described the emergency as a heart attack or cardiac event, but Paris’ family has not publicly announced such a diagnosis. The Standing for John Paris updates have likewise not identified the underlying condition.

The family’s accounts instead have documented a difficult recovery with periods of both progress and setback.

Paris briefly regained consciousness earlier in his hospitalization, recognized people around him and asked for Merrick. Doctors later sedated him again after his blood pressure rose and he experienced difficulty breathing.

Earlier this week, his family reported another encouraging sign: Paris squeezed the hands of Merrick and their daughter, Kyla, as they spoke to him.

Now, after awakening again, he has remained stable enough for doctors to conduct further evaluations and determine the next stage of his treatment.

The seriousness of his condition has not changed.

Paris remains in intensive care, with two major surgeries ahead.

He has spent much of the past quarter-century behind the drums for one of the most enduring groups in R&B and funk.

Earth, Wind & Fire’s official website lists Paris as a current member on drums and vocals, alongside longtime members Philip Bailey, Verdine White and Ralph Johnson.

Paris became Earth, Wind & Fire’s drummer in 2001 after a career that had already included work with artists such as Patti LaBelle and Sheila E. An official artist biography from instrument maker Artesia also credits him as a drummer, arranger, singer and songwriter.

In January, only months before his hospitalization, NAMM recorded Paris for its Oral History program. NAMM described him as a drummer known for a powerful groove, versatility and an approach that balances precision with feel.

Music also connects many of the people now supporting Paris.

Merrick performs with the current lineup of Honey Cone, the soul vocal group whose catalog includes the 1971 hit “Want Ads.” The present trio features Merrick and Wendy Smith-Brune alongside original Honey Cone member Shelly Clark White.

Clark White is also married to Earth, Wind & Fire bassist Verdine White, making the two groups’ connection a personal one as well as a musical one. Honey Cone’s official biography says Merrick and Paris have frequently collaborated professionally.

The GoFundMe says Merrick and the couple’s daughter, Kyla, have remained near Paris during his hospitalization. Because the family lives in the Los Angeles area, the extended stay in San Francisco has brought additional travel, lodging and other expenses.

Clark White canceled Honey Cone’s remaining performances for at least the next couple of months so Merrick could remain with her husband, according to the fundraiser.

Clark White, Smith-Brune and longtime family friend Tazz Cole helped establish the campaign.

Earth, Wind & Fire, meanwhile, is scheduled to return to the road in September.

The band’s official calendar currently lists its next performance for Sept. 4 in Vancouver, followed by a series of West Coast dates. The postponed San Francisco concert with Richie has been rescheduled for Sept. 26 at Chase Center.

No timetable has been announced for Paris’ return to the stage.

Freedom Williams Faces Federal Lawsuit Over C+C Music Factory Name

A collage of C+C Music Factory album covers traces the group’s recording history from “Gonna Make You Sweat” in 1990 through “Anything Goes!” in 1994 and the self-titled “C+C Music Factory” in 1995. Co-founder Robert Clivillés is suing Freedom Williams over rights to the group’s name and federal trademark.

The dispute asks a surprisingly complicated question about one of the biggest dance acts of the early ’90s: Who has the right to call something C+C Music Factory?

The argument over who gets to use the C+C Music Factory name has moved from interviews, trademark proceedings and social media into federal court.

Robert Clivillés, who created the hitmaking dance act with the late producer David Cole, filed a nine-count lawsuit against rapper Freedom Williams and two companies associated with him, accusing them of improperly exploiting the C+C Music Factory name.

Clivillés filed the complaint Aug. 14 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Case No. 1:26-cv-04981). He is representing himself.

The defendants are Williams, Freedom Williams Entertainment LLC and Big Mac Entertainment LLC, along with 20 unidentified defendants.

Clivillés alleges trademark infringement, false designation of origin, fraud on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, fraud, defamation and breach of contract. He is also asking the court to cancel the federal trademark registration held by Freedom Williams Entertainment.

The filing seeks at least $10 million in compensatory damages. Clivillés asks the court to treble that amount under the federal Lanham Act, which would bring that portion of his requested award to at least $30 million. He is additionally seeking punitive damages, defendants’ profits, costs and injunctive relief.

No court has awarded him any of that money.

At the center of the case is a name familiar to anyone who was near a radio, dance floor or MTV in 1991.

Clivillés argues that the two C’s refer specifically to himself and Cole.

“The name C+C Music Factory stands for Clivillés and Cole Music Factory,” the complaint says.

He contends that Williams was a featured rapper and vocalist on C+C recordings rather than a founder or owner of the act and therefore never acquired the right to turn the group name into his own performing brand.

Williams’ side disputes that conclusion.

Attorney Charles F. Schmitt, who has represented Freedom Williams Entertainment in trademark matters, told Billboard that the new claims are meritless and that Williams is the lawful owner of the registered mark. Schmitt also argues that an earlier trademark challenge brought by Clivillés was dismissed with prejudice and that Clivillés should not get another attempt to undo the registration.

That earlier case makes the current dispute considerably more complicated than a simple fight between a founder and a former performer.

Freedom Williams Entertainment owns federal Registration No. 4775972 for the mark C & C MUSIC FACTORY, covering entertainment services.

USPTO records show the company applied for the mark in October 2014. The registration was issued July 21, 2015 and has since been maintained.

Clivillés challenged it before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in December 2016. That proceeding never produced a decision deciding who originally owned the name.

Instead, the board issued an order in May 2018 after Clivillés failed to file his trial brief. When no response was filed to that order, the board entered judgment against him and dismissed the cancellation proceeding with prejudice on June 25, 2018.

Clivillés emphasizes in his new complaint that the board did not decide the underlying ownership allegations on their merits.

Williams’ attorney emphasizes the other half of the equation: The proceeding was nevertheless dismissed with prejudice.

Whether that earlier judgment prevents Clivillés from pursuing some or all of his present claims is now one of the legal issues hanging over the federal case.

The fight has roots stretching much further back.

Clivillés and Cole emerged from New York’s dance-club scene and became an in-demand production and remixing team before launching C+C Music Factory around 1990.

Their debut album, “Gonna Make You Sweat,” became one of the defining crossover dance records of the period.

Its title track, “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now),” featured Williams’ rap and Martha Wash’s powerhouse vocal. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in February 1991, while the album later climbed to No. 2.

“Here We Go (Let’s Rock & Roll)” and “Things That Make You Go Hmmm...” extended the run, with Williams prominently featured on both.

The structure of C+C Music Factory was never as straightforward as a traditional band standing together behind microphones.

Clivillés and Cole were its central production team, while different rappers and singers appeared across its records. Contemporary coverage routinely identified Williams as the rapper associated with the group, while Columbia releases billed tracks such as “Gonna Make You Sweat” as C+C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams.

The act’s history also includes one of the era’s best-known disputes over performer credit.

Wash sang the explosive vocal heard throughout “Gonna Make You Sweat,” but Zelma Davis appeared lip-syncing that part in its original music video. After Wash objected and sued, MTV added an on-screen notice distinguishing Wash’s vocals from Davis’ visual appearance.

Long before the current trademark case, Williams had his own legal dispute with Clivillés and Cole.

In 1992, Williams filed a $10 million lawsuit alleging the producers had cheated him out of royalties and breached obligations connected with his recording and management agreements.

Williams subsequently pursued a solo career.

Cole died in New York in January 1995 at 32. Clivillés continued working as a producer, songwriter and remixer.

The current complaint alleges that Williams later began performing concerts under the C+C Music Factory name and eventually obtained trademark registrations without Clivillés’ authorization.

Williams has publicly offered a different account.

In a 2019 interview, he said he had continued performing and representing the music when Clivillés was no longer touring with him and defended his decision to secure the trademark.

The dispute flared publicly again this year.

After Williams became associated with a planned Freedom 250 concert series in Washington, D.C., Clivillés used social media to distance himself from Williams’ participation and comments and argued publicly that Williams did not speak for the C+C Music Factory legacy.

Clivillés threatened legal action in June.

Ten days after that warning, according to the new complaint, Big Mac Entertainment released “Into the Future,” a new recording marketed on digital services under the C+C Music Factory name alongside Williams and Mark Walker. 

The June 12 release is independently listed by digital music services under C+C Music Factory, Freedom Williams and Walker, with Big Mac Entertainment as the label.

Clivillés cites that release as evidence that what had been a long-running dispute over live appearances had expanded into new recordings.

He is asking the federal court to stop Williams and the other defendants from using the C+C Music Factory name for performances, recordings and other commercial activity.

He also wants Registration No. 4775972 canceled, “Into the Future” and other disputed recordings removed from digital services, and administrative control of the long-running C+C Music Factory Instagram account transferred to him.

Clivillés filed a separate motion seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on the same day as the complaint.

None of those requests should be confused with a court ruling.

At this stage, they are Clivillés’ allegations and requested remedies, and Williams disputes his underlying claim to the name.

Thirty-five years after C+C Music Factory made “Gonna Make You Sweat” unavoidable, the new lawsuit is not really asking a court to decide who audiences remember from the record.

Williams’ voice is part of that history. So are Wash’s vocals, Davis’ image and the work of numerous singers and musicians who passed through what was deliberately constructed as a “music factory.”

The legal question is narrower — and potentially much harder.

Who owns the name on the factory door?

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.

Netflix Drops ‘A Different World’ Trailer as Dwayne and Whitley’s Daughter Heads to Hillman

Maleah Joi Moon stars as Deborah Wayne in Netflix’s “A Different World” sequel, which follows the daughter of Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert during her freshman year at Hillman College. The series premieres Sept. 24.

Hillman has a new freshman class, but the Wayne family is back where it started.

Netflix released the full trailer Monday for its “A Different World” sequel series, showing Maleah Joi Moon as Deborah Wayne, the youngest daughter of Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert, trying to build a college life separate from two parents whose names already mean something on campus.

The 10-episode series premieres Sept. 24.

Kadeem Hardison returns as Dwayne and Jasmine Guy as Whitley, placing one of Black television’s best-known sitcom couples on the other side of the college experience this time around.

Their daughter is the student.

Netflix describes Deborah as free-spirited, well-intentioned and rebellious. She arrives at the fictional historically Black Hillman College for freshman year but quickly discovers that being the child of two prominent alumni makes it difficult to begin with a blank slate.

The trailer shows Dwayne and Whitley maintaining a close watch on her life, something Deborah appears determined to escape.

Her new circle includes roommate Rashida, played by Alijah Kai; Kojo, played by Chibuikem Uche; Amir, played by Jordan Aaron Hall; Hazel, played by Kennedi Reece; and Shaquille, played by Cornell Young IV.

Shaquille provides another direct link to the original cast.

He is the son of Ron Johnson, Dwayne’s longtime friend, with Darryl M. Bell returning as Ron. Deborah and Shaquille also arrive at Hillman with romantic history of their own.

The connections do not stop there.

 

Debbie Allen appears as Deborah’s academic adviser, Dr. Langhorne, while also serving as an executive producer and directing the premiere.

Allen’s involvement carries particular weight because she helped shape the original series after its first season. Netflix says she produced 122 episodes and directed 83 during its original run.

The trailer confirms an unusually deep roster of returning alumni.

Cree Summer is back as Freddie Brooks. Jenifer Lewis reprises Professor Davenport. Jada Pinkett Smith returns as Lena James.

Netflix has also announced Ajai Sanders as Gina Deveaux, Karen Malina White as Charmaine Brown, Charnele Brown as Dr. Kimberly Reese Boyer, Dawnn Lewis as Jaleesa Vinson-Taylor and Glynn Turman as Colonel Bradford Taylor.

That makes the project something more specific than a remake built around the title of an old sitcom.

This is a continuation of the original characters’ lives.

“It’s not just nostalgia. It’s like, ‘Where are they now?’” Allen told Netflix.

The distinction matters for a series whose original audience is being asked to watch Hillman through the eyes of its characters’ children.

“A Different World” ran for six seasons on NBC from 1987 to 1993. While the series was a comedy, it routinely moved beyond dating and dorm-room stories to address race, class, politics, HIV/AIDS, war and other subjects rarely centered in prime-time shows built around young Black characters at the time.

The sequel will consist of 10 single-camera half-hour episodes, according to Netflix. Felicia Pride, whose credits include “Bel-Air” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” serves as showrunner and executive producer. Original writers Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood also return as executive producers.

The new cast has some notable throwback connections of its own.

Cliff “Method Man” Smith plays Coach Coles, while Tichina Arnold appears as Darlene Duvall. Raven Goodwin is Dr. Brooklyn Boyer.

Netflix says the trailer also teases an appearance by R&B singer Summer Walker.

And the show has already recruited another major name from ’90s Black pop culture for its music.

Brandy recorded the new version of the “A Different World” opening theme. Original cast member Dawnn Lewis, who co-wrote the song, is also among the actors returning.

Aretha Franklin performed the best-known version during the original show’s run.

That gives Netflix a delicate assignment.

The original “A Different World” was not simply popular because viewers liked Hillman. For many Black viewers, it made an HBCU campus the center of a national network television series at a time when that environment was rarely depicted with that depth.

The sequel cannot recreate what that meant in 1987.

It can, however, answer a question the new trailer embraces directly: What does Hillman look like when the students who once had to figure out adulthood for themselves are now the parents, professors and alumni watching another generation do it?

We find out Sept. 24.

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.