Legendary hip-hop photographer Chi Modu is suing the estate of Biggie Smalls following a court dispute that resulted in the estate calling him a “parasite.”

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In 2018, Modu says the estate wanted to use a 1996 picture he took of the Biggie posing in front of the Twin Towers, in New York City. Modu wanted $100,000 a year for the estate to license various pictures he took of Biggie. 

“I basically asked for a living wage for my work,” Modu told The New York Post. “Up until then, they were paying much, much less, so you see what’s going on.”

“The person who presses that shutter is the owner” of the picture, Modu said. “As copyright holder, I’m the person with the first right to exploit it. This is a fight for the artist, because artists aren’t earning a living wage.”

Notorious B.I.G. LLC sued Modu in California. The estate claims Modu used images of Biggie to sell snowboards without permission. Modu says less than two-dozen were sold.

Modu has taken iconic photos of Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dog, Q-Tip, Ice Cube and others throughout his career. You can check out a full gallery of his hip hop pictures on his website.

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Members of Prince’s family have accused the late artist’s estate of failing to pay them a cent, and have filed a petition for compensation. When Prince tragically passed away in 2016, he left all of his assets to his six siblings, Tyka Nelson, Sharon Nelson, Norrine Nelson, John R. Nelson, Omarr Baker, and Alfred Jackson. However, his half-sisters, Sharon and Norrine, and his half-brother, John, are claiming that they have yet to see a penny of their late brother’s fortune. They have accused his estate, which is run by Comerica Bank, of mismanaging Prince’s money and failing to inform them about new deals. As a result, Sharon, Norrine, and John have filed a petition for compensation, asking the court to approve “payment for services and efforts provided to the Estate.”

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According to court documents, the three siblings feel that they have contributed “considerable time and investment in business matters related to the Estate.” However, “unlike others, who have performed services for the Prince Estate,” Sharon, Norrine, and John have “not received any financial sums for numerous and repeated services they have contributed to the Estate.” The three siblings, who have had issues with the estate on numerous occasions in the past, have requested to be paid several times, but have been denied. “As this Court is aware, the Estate has now been on-going for over three years,” the court papers read. “In this time, millions have been paid to the Personal Representatives, their accountants, attorneys, and legal advisors.”

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The heirs have allegedly had to rely “solely on their pension, social security, personal savings and loans from friends to cover the costs needed to support the Prince Estate despite the millions paid to advisors, attorneys and others approved by the Court.” This has resulted in significant financial instability, according to the three siblings. They are pleading with the court to order Comerica to work out a settlement, but a judge still has yet to rule. 

It looks like Juice WRLD’s estate is finally making some leeway in appointing a legal representative to handle the ongoing lawsuits against the late rap star. The Chicago artist passed away at the extremely young age of twenty-one, shaking up the landscape of the hip-hop world during his short career. The certified hitmaker was a favorite to many, and he will be remembered forever through his music.

Although WRLD was just starting out in the music business, he amassed a small fortune with his successful tour schedule, his two hit albums, and even further contributions. The extent of his earnings was unclear until this week but, according to a new report, the rapper was worth approximately $3.3 million at the time of his death.

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The late recording artist was blooming as a bonafide superstar and it makes sense that he was swimming in money in the final months of his life. Juice WRLD lived in a Miami condo, worth around $1.5 million. He also had several active bank accounts at the time of his death, with one valued at just over $1 million.

As for his personal belongings, a collection of jewelry and watches has been valued at around half a million dollars. 

As it pertains to the upcoming legal affairs involving the rapper, his mother Carmela Wallace is expected to be appointed the representative for the estate.

Rest in peace, Juice WRLD. 999 Forever.

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Mac Miller‘s estate announced the deluxe edition of his posthumous album, Circles, on Monday, and now, this version, which includes two new songs titled “Right” and “Floating,” is available for purchase exclusively on CD. The late artist’s family released “Circles” on January 17th, after announcing the posthumous album a few weeks earlier and dropping its first single, “Good News,” the following day. The project was intended to serve as a companion album to 2018’s Swimming, which he dropped just over a month before his fatal overdose in September that year. Mac tragically passed before he could finish Circles, and the project was thus completed by producer and composer, Jon Brion.

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“He had been working with Jon Brion, who after hearing some early versions of songs, cleared his calendar to help Malcolm fine-tune them,” Mac’s family said in their statement back in January. “After his passing, Jon dedicated himself to finishing Circles based on his time and conversations with Malcolm. We are eternally grateful to Jon and to those who gave their best to the difficult and emotional task of putting out this body of work.”

The deluxe version of the album includes two new songs at the end of the tracklist: “Right” and “Floating.” The Circles deluxe edition is now available for purchase exclusively on CD, and will hit streaming services in two weeks on March 20th. Vinyl copies of the deluxe version will be released next month on April 17th. 

XXXTentacion’s name continues to be written in headlines that, unfortunately, have nothing to do with his music. During his lifetime, the Florida rapper was subject to much criticism in the media for his controversial past, including allegations of domestic abuse and homophobic comments. The recording artist, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, was murdered in June 2018 and, since then, legal battles involving his mother Cleopatra Bernard have made for front-page stories. This time, things are a little more complicated because Bernard is reportedly going up against Dwayne Onfroy, the father of XXXTentacion, in a secret legal fight over the late rapper’s estate.

As reported by The Blast, Bernard and Onfroy are currently duking it out in court over issues pertaining to XXX’s estate. As of right now, the exact reason for the dispute is unclear. However, it was reported court documents that Bernard served Onfroy with proof of service, as well as some sort of legal notice. The specifics are unknown as they have been sealed.

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In the past, Dwayne Onfroy has reportedly attempted to be involved in the handling of his son’s estate, showing up to court for a hearing and notifying a judge on the day of that he would like to be included on decisions regarding his music, business, and more. 

We will keep you updated as more information breaks out regarding this.

Tupac Shakur’s estate is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his third studio album, Me Against The World, by releasing an exclusive range of merchandise. It’s been a quarter of a century since the legendary late rapper dropped MATW, which he recorded and released in prison in 1995. The line includes items like vinyl copies of the critically acclaimed project, as well as three different graphic T-shirt designs and a pullover hoodie, all with the album’s tracklist emblazoned on the back. The products range from $30-$96, the latter price applying to a bundle offer for an “exclusive and limited” tan-coloured 2LP of the album along with the hoodie. Everything is available for pre-order on Pac’s online store, and is expected to ship next month.

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Me Against The World has been praised by fans and critics alike ever since it was released. The album famously marked his return to music after declaring his “retirement” due to his incarceration for a first-degree sexual assault charge. Tupac on to become the first artist at the time to record and release a #1 album while imprisoned. “Me Against the World was really to show people that this is an art to me,” Pac said in an interview during his time in prison. “That I do take it like that. And whatever mistakes I make, I make out of ignorance, not out of disrespect to music or the art. So Me Against the World was deep, reflective. It was like a blues record. It was down-home. It was all my fears, all the things I just couldn’t sleep about. Everybody thought that I was living so well and doing so good that I wanted to explain it. And it took a whole album to get it all out. It’s explaining my lifestyle, who I am, my upbringing and everything. It talks about the streets but talks about it in a different light. There’s a song on there dedicated to mothers, just a song I wrote just for my mother. And it digs deeper like that. I just wanted to do something for all mothers. I’m proud of that song. It affected a lot of people.”

Without any legal representation for Juice WRLD’s estate, Yellowcard’s $15 million lawsuit against the late rapper has been placed on hold for the time being. We had a feeling this might happen after it was revealed that Juice WRLD’s estate had not yet appointed a representative to handle all legal affairs, leading to the dragging of a lawsuit brought forth by pop-punk band Yellowcard. 

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The premise of the lawsuit stems from Yellowcard’s belief that they should have gotten a piece of the pie from the Chicago rapper’s hit single “Lucid Dreams,” which uses a very similar melody to their song “Holly Wood Died.” The band is asking for $15 million in damages but, without anybody in charge of Juice WRLD’s estate at the moment, it is being reported that a Los Angeles judge ordered for the case to be paused until that situation is handled. As of now, the hold appears to be indefinite, allowing the late artist’s family time to appoint somebody appropriate to his legal affairs.

Juice WRLD’s family and his team at Grade A Productions have stated that the rapper has over 2,000 songs stashed away, ready to be released posthumously. While we’re sure not all of these will see the light of day, future bodies of work have been confirmed.

Rest in peace, Juice WRLD.

Juice WRLD, one of the most beloved members of the new school rap class, passed away in December 2019 and, according to new reports, his estate is having difficulty appointing a representative for his ongoing legal affairs. The late star’s hit record “Lucid Dreams” remains at the center of several lawsuits, including one brought out by pop-punk band Yellowcard. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the Chicago artist was influenced by a number of rock bands during his short-lived career and, after his death, many people expected Yellowcard to drop their lawsuit against him. They are still searching $15 million, claiming that the similarities in melodies between “Lucid Dreams” and their song “Holly Wood Died” are blatant. However, things appear to be stalled because of a lack of legal representation within Juice WRLD’s estate.

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According to an exclusive report by AllHipHop, the lawsuit is lagging because there is no official legal rep appointed to Juice WRLD’s estate. Lawyer Mark C. Humphrey commented on the case, saying: “They have recently learned that Mr. Higgins’s estate has not yet gone through the probate process, and that there presently is no authorized representative to handle the Estate’s affairs. The Estate’s current inability to participate in this action creates a number of impediments to Defendants’ defense of this action, including but not limited to their ability to conduct a factual investigation.”

Juice WRLD’s estate is reportedly being given until March 3, 2020 to respond to the lawsuit. 

In other Juice WRLD-related news, his family and estate are planning on releasing posthumous music from the late rapper. He reportedly has over 2,000 finished songs in his bank waiting to be dropped and, while not all of them will be released, we’re expecting at least one album attributed to the star posthumously.