L
IL KIM HIT WITH $2.5 MILLION LAWSUIT
Rapper Lil Kim was hit with a lawsuit this week by Brookland Media, an upstart label which allegedly entered into a $2.5 million contract with her for her new album. Unfortunately Lil Kim has yet to deliver the project. Brookland Media, which was founded by Trackmasters producers Tone and Poke alleged that they have spent hundreds of thousands on recordings, equipment and advances to her but she refuses to record another song until her contract has been renegotiated. According to Brookland Media, the company was created for the express intent of releasing Lil Kim's next album. Lil Kim's attorney, Londell McMillan, told the Associated Press that he believes the lawsuit is just an attempt by the company "to leverage their own position" in the contract dispute. So far Lil Kim has only recorded a few songs under the new contract but Brookland Media wants a judge to declare the contract valid so that Lil Kim cannot take the completed songs to another company. A judge did grant a temporary injunction to that effect earlier this week. According to the lawsuit, Lil Kim has made some "outlandish" post-contract demands, including requesting Wyclef Jean and Akon as producers on the project. In light of the dispute, the Brookland Media group has so far withheld a $200,000 payment which was pledged to Atlantic Records to allow Lil Kim to get out of her contract with the label last year.
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RAP FAN SENTENCED TO CLASSICAL MUSIC LISTENING
What's worse -- listening to classical music or paying a fine? Urbana, Ohio resident Andrew Vactor found out the hard way, apparently. According to the Associated Press, a judge sentenced him to a $150 fine for playing rap music too loudly on his car stereo in July. The judge then decided to reduce the fine to $35 if Vactor spent 20 hours listening to classical music by Bach, Beethoven and Chopin. The 24-year-old Vactor agreed to the deal, but could only get through 15 minutes of listening time, claiming it wasn't the kind of music, but was a timing issue. He had to be at practice with the rest of the Urbana University basketball team. Vactor said, "I didn't have the time to deal with that. I just decided to pay the fine." Judge Susan Fornof-Lippencott says she hoped to force Vactor to listen to something he might not enjoy -- just as other people had to endure his loud rap music. She explains "I think a lot of people don't like to be forced to listen to music."
