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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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A post shared by Nipsey Hussle (@nipseyhussle)

He resisted.

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

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

Its foundation was already there.

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

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

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

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

That history also requires one important qualification.

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

That is different from saying nothing was touched after 2019.

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

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

Even the artwork predates the tragedy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The album arrives Friday, Aug. 14.

One day later, Nipsey Hussle would have turned 41.

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

Faith Evans Loses Key Ruling in Fight With Biggie’s Former Manager Wayne Barrow

A Delaware Court of Chancery opinion issued Aug. 7, 2026, opens with a reference to the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments” before ruling for Wayne Barrow on claims involving the Voletta Wallace trust’s membership and distributions from Notorious B.I.G., LLC. (Delaware Court of Chancery)

The Notorious B.I.G.’s famous warning about mixing family and business has found its way into a Delaware courtroom, this time in a fight over the company created to protect his legacy.

A Delaware judge has ruled that a trust established by Biggie’s late mother, Voletta Wallace, is a full member of Notorious B.I.G., LLC, handing the rapper’s former manager Wayne Barrow a significant
victory in his dispute with Biggie’s widow, Faith Evans.

Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick granted partial summary judgment Friday, Aug. 7, in favor of Barrow, who is the sole trustee of the Voletta Wallace Revocable Trust. The ruling also dismissed a
counterclaim by Evans and the company that sought a declaration that the trust was not a member.

That distinction carries real financial consequences. McCormick ruled that the trust qualifies as a permitted transferee under the company’s operating agreement and is entitled to the membership and distribution rights that belonged to Voletta Wallace.

The judge opened her 16-page opinion by invoking Biggie’s 1997 song “Ten Crack Commandments” and its warning against mixing relatives and business. She then noted that Wallace and Evans ultimately did exactly that when they formed Notorious B.I.G., LLC in 2007 to manage intellectual property belonging to Christopher Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls.

The structure behind the dispute is more complicated than a simple fight over who “owns Biggie.”

Voletta Wallace and Evans each held 50% of the membership units in Notorious B.I.G., LLC under a 2023 operating agreement. Each also assigned half of her distribution interest to one of Biggie’s children — Ty’anna Wallace and Christopher Jordan “C.J.” Wallace. The arrangement left Voletta, Evans, Ty’anna and C.J. each entitled to 25% of company distributions, according to the court.

The agreement specifically listed the Voletta Wallace Revocable Trust as a party permitted to receive membership units.

That became crucial after Voletta Wallace amended her estate documents Feb. 6, 2025, just weeks before her death. The amendment removed C.J. Wallace and longtime friend Carol Sampson as successor trustees and left Barrow as the trust’s sole successor trustee. A related change to Wallace’s will made Barrow the sole executor of her estate.

Wallace died Feb. 21, 2025. Barrow formally accepted his appointment as trustee the following month.

Evans then became the sole manager of Notorious B.I.G., LLC. According to the court record, she stopped making distributions to the trust and disputed whether the trust remained a member of the company after Wallace’s amendments.

Barrow sued in Delaware Chancery Court in July 2025.

At the center of the case was a seemingly technical question with large consequences: Did changing the terms and trustees of Voletta Wallace’s trust transform it into something different from the trust specifically named in the company agreement?

McCormick said no.

The judge found that amending a trust does not create an entirely new legal entity. Because the same Voletta Wallace Revocable Trust remained in existence, it remained a permitted transferee under the LLC agreement.

The court also rejected Evans’ objection to a written consent Barrow signed in December 2025 assuming Wallace’s rights and obligations under the company agreement.

The operating agreement required such an instrument to be “reasonably satisfactory” to the company manager. McCormick found that Barrow’s consent met that standard objectively, regardless of whether Evans personally approved it.

The ruling, therefore, grants Barrow summary judgment on his claims that the trust is a member of Notorious B.I.G., LLC and is entitled to distributions.

Barrow’s attorney, Jay W. Freiberg, called the decision “a total victory in a dispute that never should have happened” in a statement to Rolling Stone. He said Wallace wanted Barrow to help steward her son’s legacy after her death.

An attorney for Evans did not immediately respond to a request for comment from People following the ruling.

The stakes surrounding Biggie’s intellectual property have increased substantially in recent years.

In March 2025, Primary Wave Music announced a partnership with the Notorious B.I.G. estate. The Wall Street Journal reported that Primary Wave acquired a 50% interest in an estate valued at more than $200 million. Primary Wave has since described its relationship with the estate as encompassing publishing, master recordings, film and television rights, name and likeness rights, brand management and archival material.

The Delaware decision does not, however, end every dispute over Wallace’s estate plan.

C.J. Wallace filed a separate case in Pennsylvania Orphans’ Court in February challenging his grandmother’s decision to remove him as a trustee and executor. His petition alleges that Barrow exerted undue influence over Voletta Wallace and had conflicts with her heirs. Those allegations have not been decided.

Evans and Notorious B.I.G., LLC had asked McCormick to put the Delaware case on hold until the Pennsylvania challenge was resolved. She refused, finding that Barrow currently has legal authority to act for the trust unless a Pennsylvania court orders otherwise.

McCormick also stressed that the Pennsylvania case does not change the separate Delaware question of whether the trust itself is a member of Notorious B.I.G., LLC. Under both versions of Voletta Wallace’s estate plan, her membership units passed into the trust.

That makes Friday’s ruling important but narrower than some headlines about the dispute suggest.

It does not decide C.J. Wallace’s allegations about the circumstances surrounding his grandmother’s final estate changes. Nor does it hand Barrow sole control of Biggie’s catalog; Evans remains manager of the LLC.

What it does establish is that the Voletta Wallace trust cannot simply be treated as an outsider to the company. It has membership rights, and it is entitled to its distributions.

Kurupt Reveals Eminem Stepped In to Pay for His Rehab

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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