Biggie's new album pulled from shelfs
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:03 pm
A judge has stopped sales of the late Notorious B.I.G?s album Ready to Die after a jury decided the title track sampled another song without permission.
The jury at the court in Nashville, Tenn. on Friday awarded $4.2 million US in damages to the two music companies that own the rights to the recording of the 1992 song Singing in the Morning by the Ohio Players.
?We?ve just been battling this for such a long time,? said Armen Boladian, owner of both companies. ?We knew we were right.?
The judge?s ruling also affects internet downloads and radio play of the album and title song by Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace.
Boladian brought charges against Bad Boy Entertainment head and producer Sean (Diddy) Combs, who produced the album.
?We think [the verdict] is without merit,? said Jay Bowen, a lawyer representing Combs and his companies.
Wallace, also known as Biggie Smalls, shot to fame in the early 1990s after being taken on by Combs. The New York rapper?s two albums ? the breakthrough Ready to Die and the posthumous Life After Death ? sold nearly eight million copies in the United States.
Wallace was 24 when he was shot and killed in Los Angeles in 1997. His slaying remains unsolved and his family has long argued that a rogue L.A. police officer was involved.
The family?s wrongful death lawsuit against the city and its police department was cut short last July after a judge declared a mistrial when it was revealed that a police detective concealed information linking an officer to the crime.
The Los Angeles police have launched a new investigation into the murder.
Source: Rap News Direct
The jury at the court in Nashville, Tenn. on Friday awarded $4.2 million US in damages to the two music companies that own the rights to the recording of the 1992 song Singing in the Morning by the Ohio Players.
?We?ve just been battling this for such a long time,? said Armen Boladian, owner of both companies. ?We knew we were right.?
The judge?s ruling also affects internet downloads and radio play of the album and title song by Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace.
Boladian brought charges against Bad Boy Entertainment head and producer Sean (Diddy) Combs, who produced the album.
?We think [the verdict] is without merit,? said Jay Bowen, a lawyer representing Combs and his companies.
Wallace, also known as Biggie Smalls, shot to fame in the early 1990s after being taken on by Combs. The New York rapper?s two albums ? the breakthrough Ready to Die and the posthumous Life After Death ? sold nearly eight million copies in the United States.
Wallace was 24 when he was shot and killed in Los Angeles in 1997. His slaying remains unsolved and his family has long argued that a rogue L.A. police officer was involved.
The family?s wrongful death lawsuit against the city and its police department was cut short last July after a judge declared a mistrial when it was revealed that a police detective concealed information linking an officer to the crime.
The Los Angeles police have launched a new investigation into the murder.
Source: Rap News Direct