Nas' Ex Carmen Bryan Hit With Plagiarism Lawsuit
While Nas is riding a wave of success with his new album Hip-Hop Is Dead, the rapper's former girlfriend Carmen Bryan has been hit with a lawsuit over her salacious, tell-all book It's No Secret: From Nas to Jay-Z, from Seduction to Scandal--a Hip-Hop Helen of Troy Tells All.
In a lawsuit filed in Columbus, Ohio Federal Court, Tannell Davis claims to have written the book, which originally had a working title of Sex, Drugs and Hip-Hop...Oh, and Did I Mention Love?"
Bryan, who did stints at Def Jam and Capitol Records, also shares a daughter with Nas.
The 272-page-book tells Bryan's life story and her role in a vicious feud between Nas and rapper Jay-Z and her affair with both rappers as well as other trysts.
Bryan details a secret affair she had with Nas' one-time rival Jay-Z and claims she was the inspiration behind a number of hit records written by Jay-Z, including "Give It To Me, "Is That Yo Chick" and others.
The lawsuit alleges that Davis originally wrote and copyrighted Sex, Drugs and Hip-Hop...Oh, and Did I Mention Love? and that Bryan plagiarized the original version and sold the new version to Simon & Schuster under the new titled It's No Secret.
In a recent interview with AHH, Nas shared his views on the book, which hit stores in November.
"In this game, ya moms can come out and write a rhyme about you," Nas told AHH about the book. "It is what it is, what can you do? People are going to write books. I hope it’s a best seller. I hope she can buy twelve Bentleys off of it. Get out of my pockets and do her thing. I don’t respect when people jump out of their shirt; lose their shirt to cause controversy and stuff like that. That’s a different world. I’m staying out of it."
Davis seeks an undisclosed amount in damages.
Jay-Z's Ex Says She's Still His Sidechick
SOHH received a letter from a chick who is supposedly Hov's ex girlfriend Katrina (who claims she is still with him) from a few years ago.
She blasted him about their relationship when he was 18 and he was 30 both kickin in in the BK. And she's saying to this day he still sends her gifts, calls her on the regular, and remains close with Shawn Carter's family.
She wants to out him about their ongoing relationship now because after her abortion (with his baby) Jay won't leave her alone and is only using Beyonce as his puppet. But Katrina says he has much more love for her. And yes, this chick is writing a tell all book as well. The letter is posted after the jump....
The actual letter:
I grew up in Brooklyn,NY and I met Shawn there and when I turned 18 of course Shawn was about to turn 30 me and him dated for two years.
And to this day me and Jay Z is still together, he in fact wants to marry me. But I keep reminding him I don't want no parts of him ever again. So what Shawn do to keep me is buy me all these gifts better gifts than he buys Beyonce and he calls me almost everyday.
And that is because I am very close with his mom Ms.Gloria Carter, his sisters Annie,Michelle. But anyways, after I broke it off with him after 2 years of dating him, I got pregnant by him in 2003 and got a abortion.
Because he was going with Beyonce at the time and me and Bee is the same age.
So I got rid of his baby and yes I feel bad and everything, I do regret it but it was for the best. And I was into my work more than him, so that is why Jay put me in his "Lost Ones".
I than had it up to there with Shawn and all his stalkish ways, so I went with his right hand man Malik Cox who is known as Memphis Bleek just to make Jay stop calling me.
And to my surprise that still did not work, so I started back talking to Jay again and to this day he will even tell you he have more love for me than Beyonce.
But the reason he not leaving Beyonce is because he want her to have his seed. Because jay know I am not having his seed, he like it that Beyonce is his puppet.
Because he know I will never be nobody puppet. So with all this said I am going to continue to air JayZ. And enclosed is my pictures of me and ex Memphis and with Shawn photo book I burned it up in his face. I am also in the process of writting a Tell All Book....
"I definitely did not want to do a fifth album," Bow Wow told Reporters . "Jermaine [Dupri] spoke to me and got my spirits back up high and we went in the studio and did what we had to do. I was going through all kinds of B.S. and negative stuff."Bow Wow's fifth studio set, The Price of Fame, sheds light on the costs he paid for living in the spotlight most of his life including having to deal with the passing of a close friend and obvious heartache. "I just lost one of my best friends," said the Ohio native. "Just stuff like that can really bring a person's mood down. Any artists is gonna write about their life experiences, that's just natural.
"Also, everyone knows about the situation I've been in," he added of his highly-publicized relationship with Ciara. "I'm definitely talking about that."
Ciara recently released her sophomore CD, Ciara: The Evolution, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
"I think it's pretty cool," Bow Wow said of The Evolution. "She definitely has some songs on there that are referencing me of course. There are some songs on my album that people gonna feel the same way about."
Bow and Ciara flaunted their romance on the cover of magazines and in their popular duet "Like You" from Bow Wow's fourth studio album, Wanted.
"It was something personal to me; something that meant a lot to me," said Bow Wow about how fame impacted their romance. "Anytime you do something outside the industry, you always feel that it becomes personal to you, especially when you're not in front of the cameras and you doing things on your personal time. That got blown up and that's really what turned the price of fame in to what it was for me. I had to deal with both my personal and professional worlds colliding and that caused a big earthquake for me."
His personal relationships aren't the only subjects Bow Wow addresses on his new CD. His youth-oriented hip-hop has been under scrutiny throughout his career leaving many to feel like he was just a novelty.
"Cats like [Young] Jeezy, they see me in Atlanta, they know what I am about and they know what I do," Bow Wow told of the respect he gets from older MCs. "Jeezy was like, 'I respect you lil' homie.' And even Nas said it. I found that interesting coming from cats that get that hood credibility. I always get heavyweight rappers telling me they like my record.
"Busta Rhymes was at my album release party last night," he added. "I am getting respect because I am sticking to what I do. I never try to get outside my lane when it comes to making records. I never talk about stuff I am not about. You never hear Bow Wow say I'm bustin' my guns. That's not what I am about. I'm about making the ladies scream. I'm about making the ladies faint, throw their bras and panties on the stage. That's where I win at and people respect me for it."
The Price of Fame, with guest appearances by Chris Brown, R. Kelly, and Lil' Scrappy, is in stores now.
Lil Jon Plays Santa
BME Grammy Award winning recording artist Lil Jon will be passing out toys this today (December 22nd) at Hot 107.9 radio station to help benefit the Boys & Girls Club Single Parent Initiative. Later that day Lil Jon will make a stop at ‘Toys R Us' to personally hand out gift cards he purchased for foster children from the Neighbor To Family organization.The Boys & Girls Clubs promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence. Beginning in October-2005, the Single Parent Initiative selects an artist from the music industry to sponsor teen girls to come on BET 106th & Park whom are currently residing at the Boys & Girls Clubs from in Los Angeles, Houston, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Dallas, Atlanta and Baton Rouge. Neighbor To Family provides safe, nurturing foster care for sibling groups in a home setting and in close proximity to the family of origin. Their mission statement is: Contributing to a better society by supporting the family unit with focused programs to keep siblings together through strong partnerships with families, foster parents and communities.
Nas' DJ/Producer L.E.S. Ignores Beef, "I'll produce for 50...I'll produce for Jim Jones"
L.E.S. has quietly been holding down Nas for years. The Queensbridge, NY producer recently took time to chat to recount the making of the Nas/Jay-Z collabo and discuss his production.
Amidst heavyweights like DJ Premier, Large Professor and Q-Tip, L.E.S. managed to craft a stand out track on Nas' Illmatic, "Life's A Bitch." Since then, Nasir Jones' longtime friend has contributed countless tracks to the QB lyricist. Furthermore, he's been behind the one's and two's during Nas concerts, served as an A&R for his Ill Will imprint and co-executive produced Street's Disciple.
"I started as a DJ and a producer cause when he got a record deal, I wound up getting the first record of my career on his album," L.E.S told reporters "Doing more production and deejaying for him then going into executive producing. I've been an Ill Will A&R for his company, bringing in talent."
L was fortunate enough to score Nas and Jay's long-anticipated collaboration, "Black Republicans." But according to him, it wasn't in the cards -- it just sort of happened.
"Producers would call me up or see me in the streets and be like, 'Yo, I got this beat for Jay and Nas," L revealed. "For a minute there, it was like, 'Hold up, are you forgetting that this man is working on an album. So you're only submitting them beats because it's Jay and Nas?' You're telling me that if Nas is just working on an album, you're not gon submit him a track? We're talking about Nas here, you know what I'm saying.
"I was playing him [Nas] some tracks, so when he heard the 'Black Republicans' [beat] he was like that's crazy right there, so he started writing," L continued. "The next day he called me and he's like, 'Come into the studio.' I get to the studio, the beat comes on and the first thing you hear is Jay going, 'I know you can feel the magic. I'm like what?' The thing was, it wasn't planned. Nas was just in the studio working. Jay came by just to check up on him, make sure everything was good with the album and I guess when he walked into the studio he heard the track. Jay was like, 'yo, I need to get on that.'"
L.E.S is often overlooked for his outside contributions. To date, the producer has worked with Will Smith, Jennifer Lopez, Fat Joe, Big Pun and R&B singer Joe, among many others. With more work lined up with Crisette Michelle and Jadakiss, L is looking to expand even more.
"I'll produce for any artist, for 50 [Cent]. I'll produce for Jay. I'll produce for Jim Jones. Everybody think, 'oh he produce for Nas, how can he do a beat for 50 or Jim Jones,' it's not even about that," L explained. "I'm a producer. I make music I don't control what people say over the record. That's my whole motive on that."
Nas' Hip-Hop Is Dead, which features four songs produced by L.E.S, is in stores now. Read more here
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