LA Times Retracts Tupac-Diddy Story

It looks like LA Times has finally removed the story on the paper's website linking Diddy to Tupac's murder. The LA Times has already publicly apologized for the story, now it appears the paper has finally retracted the story. In a statement on the Times website, they publicly retracted because the article "relied heavily on information that the Times no longer believes to be credible."

MTV.com

"The Times has since concluded that the FBI reports were fabricated and that some of the other sources relied on — including the person Philips previously believed to be the 'confidential source' cited in the FBI reports — do not support major elements of the story," the paper explained in the retraction. Along with retracting the front-page Web story from March 17 and a shorter version that appeared in the actual paper on March 19, the Times also retracted the text of two online chats that Philips participated in on March 18 and March 25, and comments from the Times' Soundboard blog from March 21

It's good The Times finally taken the steps to retract this bogus story.

Diddy "Hurt" By LA Times Story

Sean "Diddy" Combs recently talked to MTV News about the story that appeared in the LA Times. The story linked Combs and Biggie Smalls to Tupac Shakur's death stating both, Combs and Biggie had prior knowledge to the murder. In the first public comments since the story, Combs told MTV News.

MTV.com

"I've been through so much; hip-hop has been through so much; Biggie's, Tupac's [families] have been through so much," Combs told MTV News.

"To rehash the lies and just rumors like that, I didn't understand where that was coming from. I knew that I would never -- me and Biggie would never be involved, or even have any knowledge of that. Because if we have knowledge of something, we the type of people that's gonna warn somebody, we're gonna tell somebody. It just really hurt."

"Just knowing how people in this day and age, what they read online and what they see in the papers, they just take it as fact," Diddy explained. "It's like, come on, I been working so hard to rise above all of this stuff, and to see it now trying to pull me back down.

"[But] I stayed focused," he continued. "I was still. My grandmother told me, 'Be still.' No matter what it feels like, be still. And I was still and then the truth came out the way it was to come out. I didn't jump up and down about it. I let them give the apology and let people go back to the things they need to be focusing on about me, which is the #1 albums I'm dropping with Danity Kane and Day26, #1 fragrances, Janelle Monae, making this black history. And that's what it's about. But it's important to really deal with things however they come at you. And I've always done that my whole life and just always told the truth."

Related:
LA Times Sorry About Tupac-Combs Story
Diddy-Tupac Murder Link - All A Big Lie
LA Times Writer Defends Story
Combs Denies Tupac Link
Puffy Connection to Tupac's Death?

LA Times Sorry About Tupac-Combs Story

The LA Times newspaper has issued Sean Combs an apology. That after the paper published forged documents linking Combs to Tupac Shakur's murder. The articles writer, Chuck Phillips, and Times editor, Russ Stanton apology appeared on the paper's front page.

Philips wrote he was "sorry" and admitted: "In relying on documents that I now believe were fake, I failed to do my job."

Meanwhile, editor Russ Stanton said: "We published this story with the sincere belief that the documents were genuine, but our good intentions are beside the point."

Related:
Diddy-Tupac Murder Link - All A Big Lie
LA Times Writer Defends Story
Combs Denies Tupac Link
Puffy Connection to Tupac's Death?

Diddy-Tupac Murder Link - All A Big Lie

Wow! This is a interesting story, The Smoking Gun published concerning the Tupac-Diddy murder link. According TSG, the information the LA Times story was based off of were fabricated FBI documents. The source of the LA Times story, federal convict, James Sabatino, supplied the Times with false statements and forged documents.

It was only a week ago the paper published, "FBI records recently obtained by The Times." Well only if we knew those documents were forged, and the story was trash from the beginning. Maybe, the well-paid journalist at the Times next time will be more thorough when they receive any sensitive documents or records.

Related:
LA Times Writer Defends Story
Combs Denies Tupac Link
Puffy Connection to Tupac's Death?

Woolard As Biggie Smalls

Here's the first snapshots of Jamal Woolard as Notorious B.I.G. in the upcoming biopic "Notorious." Concreteloop.com caught him in the first day of filming..
Source: Concrete Loop

Combs Denies Tupac Link

Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond quickly responded to the published LA Times story. Combs and Rosemond both blasted the story and denied any connection..

Sean "Diddy" Combs and manager Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond issued quick and angry denials about an L.A. Times report released Monday morning claiming they were behind the 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur at Quad Recording Studios in Times Square.

"This story is beyond ridiculous and is completely false," Diddy said in a statement Monday. "Neither Biggie [Smalls, the rapper at the center of Combs' Bad Boy Productions company] nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during, or after it happened. It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story."

Rosemond, now CEO of Czar Entertainment, said in a statement, "in the past 14 years, I have not even been questioned by law enforcement with regard to the assault of Tupac Shakur, let alone brought up on charges."

Related: Puffy Connection to Tupac's Death?

Update: Biggie Smalls Casting Call Filled

To update a previous blog post..

According to published reports, R&B singer Sean Kingston has been selected to play the role of Notorious B.I.G. in an upcoming biopic. Kingston said; "When I first heard about that movie, it was through management. My management told me about it and you know I had auditioned for it and I met with the director and I nailed it and he gave me a shot now at being in the movie."

----

Posted August 12.. The life and death of Notorious B.I.G. is coming to the movie screens. Producers confirmed of the upcoming biopic "Notorious" of the rapper, in addition will have the Biggie Smalls role filled through an open casting call, movie officials said.

Producers are seeking auditioning actors and non-actors, that resembles the late-rapper Christopher Wallace. Anyone who is interested can submit audition videos via internet beginning Monday to www.foxsearchlight.com/notorious or http://www.biggiecasting.com/.

The script is based on Cheo Hodari Cocker's book Unbelievable: The Life, Death & Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G. The movie project has been in the works for six years. As producers of the film hope to begin production this fall.

"Notorious" Movie Casting Call

The life and death of Notorious B.I.G. is coming to the movie screens. Producers confirmed of the upcoming biopic "Notorious" of the rapper, in addition will have the Biggie Smalls role filled through an open casting call, movie officials said.

Producers are seeking auditioning actors and non-actors, that resembles the late-rapper Christopher Wallace. Anyone who is interested can submit audition videos via internet beginning Monday to www.foxsearchlight.com/notorious or www.biggiecasting.com.

The script is based on Cheo Hodari Cocker’s book Unbelievable: The Life, Death & Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G. The movie project has been in the works for six years. As producers of the film hope to begin production this fall.

More at Variety.com

Bad Boy Notes: Danity Kane, Diddy Twins, Biggie Movie

Danity Kane goes platinum: Danity Kane, the girl group from MTV Making the Band 3, went platinum (1 million copies) with their first self titled album.

Biggie/Pac Movie back on? Reported from the Moviehole.net...

Word is, even the struggling Biggie/Tupac movie that Sly was working on - tentatively titled "Notorious" - is also back on. Welcome back Italian Stallion.

The movie, though, could be easily scrapped as previously stated for the fear of lawsuits.

More Baby Presents: LL Cool J gave some gifts to the Porter/Diddy twin girls, D'Lila Star and Jessie James. Each of the girls received a cream colored custom-made crib from Ga Ga Designs. Both girls got a pair of French Ancestry Cherubini Cribs (valued at $2,250 each).

Biggie's Ready to Die Among TIME's ALL-Time 100 Albums

Time Magazine has selected Bad Boy Record's 1994 Biggie Smalls' 'Ready to Die' among the magazine's all-time 100 albums. Its among a very small selection of rap/hip hop albums making the list..

From Time.com
Christopher Wallace was a Brooklyn drug dealer, and, if his early interviews are to be believed, not a very nice one. Luckily, this was not his signal accomplishment. On Ready to Die Wallace took his street corner experiences and filtered them through his considerable charm. The result was a record that mixed long stretches of menace ("Things Done Changed," "Everyday Struggle") with romance ("One More Chance") and lots of humor. No rapper ever made multi-syllabic rhymes ("Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis/ When I was dead broke man I couldn't picture this") sound as smooth.

A nice accomplishment to be named among so many greats.

Information on Biggie Smalls Case Never Reached the Family

NB4 reports further bad investigating and paper work on the part of the LAPD of the murder of Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls..

From NBC4

The case of whistle-blowing has more implications, according to NBC4, involving allegations of a coverup in a major LAPD homicide investigation -- the murder of rap artist, Biggie Smalls.The rapper's murder back in the 1990s is entangled in the sexual harassment litigation because officer Christle was part of an LAPD team that reviewed the investigative files, Chatman reported. Christle and her lawyer claim some of the information she prepared has disappeared and was never forwarded to the rapper's family as ordered by the courts, according to NBC4.

Notorious BIG EXCLUSIVE! MySpace

From Diddy's video.. Its Notorious BIG EXCLUSIVE Check it out, although its a short video 33 seconds.


Notorious BIG EXCLUSIVE!

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Biggie/Pac Movie Unlikely

The planned Sylvester Stallone movie about Biggie Smalls and TuPac appears unlikely at this time... From ThugLifeArmy.com

Sylvester Stallone was slated to write, direct and star in a film about the deaths of murdered hip hop rap icons Tupac (2Pac) and Biggie and the Los Angeles Police Department corruption scandal that lurks beneath the story. The film has had many 'working' titles including 'Rampart Scandal', 'Notorious', 'A Detective's Requiem', and 'Thugz Lives'. The film was to center on a massive internal investigation of the LAPD that some say links off-duty officers to the murders of the slain hip hop icons Tupac Shakur (2Pac) and Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G.. Sylvester Stallone has said recently that his plans have stalled and the movie may never make its planned debut on HBO.

Commenting on the film Stallone says "The story was like a modern-day noir written from the point of view of a Detective [Russell] Poole, who basically was railroaded out of the police department because the more he investigated, the dirtier the high rollers in city hall and police commissions and DA offices all appeared to be part of a conspiracy to squash this case. I don't think it'll ever be done because of the amount of lawsuits that would be filed."

Suit Pulls Ready to Die off the Shelves

More legal trouble for Diddy & his Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment, this time a jury decided that the title track "Singing in the Morning," violated copyright infringement. The jury awarded Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records, $4.2 million in direct and punitive damages. In addition, the Judge ordered immediate stop of sales of Notorious B.I.G.'s and one of Rap all-time albums, Ready to Die.

NY NewDay reports more:

The sales ban imposed by U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell affects the album and the title song in any form, including Internet downloads and radio play. It was unclear when or how the ban would take effect.

The jury decided that Bad Boy Entertainment and executive producer Sean "Diddy" Combs illegally used a part of the Ohio Players' 1992 song "Singing In The Morning."

Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records, which owned the song rights, have filed hundreds of lawsuits over "sampling," the practice of lifting parts of old music for new recordings. Most were settled out of court.

The companies get most of their income from song royalties by their artists, which include funk legend George Clinton, the Funkadelics and the Ohio Players.

Biggie Video

Doing a little Google searching, I found an unedited young Christopher "Biggie" Wallace (age 17) in the streets of Brooklyn. Check it out..

L.A. P.D ordered to pay Wallace Family, And "Final Chapter" remains steady.

A Federal Court has ordered the city of Los Angeles to pay the Christopher Wallace family for withholding evidence in the Biggie Smalls civil suit... LA. Times continued...

In a stinging rebuke, a federal judge Friday ordered the city of Los Angeles to pay $1.1 million in attorney fees and costs to the family of slain rap artist Notorious B.I.G. as sanctions for intentionally withholding evidence.

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper declared a mistrial last summer in the family's civil lawsuit after finding that a Los Angeles Police Department detective hid statements linking the killing to rogue LAPD Officers David A. Mack and Rafael Perez, a central figure in the Rampart police scandal.

At the time, city attorneys protested that the statements had come from a jailhouse informant seeking special treatment, and robbery-homicide Det. Steven Katz insisted that he had overlooked the transcript of the remarks in his desk.

But Cooper ruled that Katz and perhaps others had deliberately concealed the information and said it could have bolstered the family's contention that Mack was involved in the killing.

The sanctions followed a series of legal volleys in which Cooper asked the plaintiffs' attorneys to submit fees and costs — and the city to contest those calculations.

Though Cooper didn't give the family the $2 million it originally sought, she left open the possibility of an additional award of $300,000. (More at L.A. Times)

B.I.G. Duets: The Final Chapter remains strong: Bad Boy Fans, and rap-hip hop fans have kept up strong sales of the Biggie Smalls, B.I.G. Duets, as it remains #1 on Billboard's top rap albums since its Dec. 19th release. While, The Final Chapter's "Nasty Girl" video remains one of MTV's most requested videos..

Forever Live The Notorious B.I.G.

Diddy, The Lox, Biggie and A Wish Comes True for Bad Boy Fan

So if you have surfed around GNEXTINC.com lately, you already know it... But, if you haven't here's what you been missing. The Lox and Diddy, finally settle the long dispute, as the Diddy was feeling generous to his former rappers. Diddy freed the Lox of any further obligations and fans can kill the "Free the Lox" campaign... Thank Goodness thats OVER!

As I'm sure many of you and including myself will be picking up the soon to be released "Notorious B.I.G. Duets: The Final Chapter" on December, 20 tomorrow! Wal-Mart will be offering the CD/DVD version. A great article on the upcoming release.

And Finally, Sean Combs, made a special appearance and made a dream come true. Part of the Make-a-Wish Foundation for a ill 17 year old, Chalon Keen.

Everyone have a safe, and Merry Christmas!

Later,
G