Netflix Docuseries Executive Produced by 50 Cent Secures Three Emmy Nominations

Promotional art for the Netflix docuseries “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” is shown in this undated handout image. The project, executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, earned three Emmy nominations this week, including outstanding documentary or nonfiction series. The critical television recognition arrived exactly as Jackson faced a separate legal setback in a New York appellate court regarding a disputed life-rights agreement.

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson spent the last two decades turning beef, television and personal history into business.

This week showed both sides of that machine.

A New York appeals court on Thursday rejected G-Unit Books’ attempt to win a default judgment against Shaniqua Tompkins, Jackson’s former girlfriend, in a breach-of-contract case tied to a disputed life-rights agreement. The same week, “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” the Netflix docuseries Jackson executive produced, earned three Emmy nominations.

It is a strange but very 50 Cent split-screen: a legal setback over who controls one woman’s story and awards recognition for a documentary about another hip-hop mogul’s fall.

The court loss came from the Appellate Division, First Department, which unanimously affirmed a lower-court ruling denying G-Unit Books’ motion for default judgment and giving Tompkins more time to answer the complaint. The case is listed as G-Unit Books, Inc. v. Shaniqua Tompkins, Index No. 654265/2025.

G-Unit Books had sued Tompkins, accusing her of breaching an agreement by posting online videos and speaking publicly about her past relationship with Jackson. Bloomberg Law reported that the company claimed the posts violated a contract connected to her life story.

The appeals court did not decide whether Tompkins breached the agreement. It ruled that G-Unit Books was not entitled to a quick win before the case was answered.

The panel said the lower court “providently exercised its discretion” in denying G-Unit Books’ motion, pointing to New York’s “strong public policy in favor of litigating matters on the merits.” The court also noted that Tompkins’ delay in answering was “only four months” and that G-Unit Books did not allege prejudice from the delay.

The appellate panel focused heavily on service. Tompkins said she did not receive the summons and complaint. The court said G-Unit Books failed to provide evidence that she lived at the addresses where service was attempted.

At one Jamaica address, a process server was told by security staff that Tompkins no longer lived in the building. At a Greene Avenue address in Brooklyn, a tenant said he did not know her, according to the appellate decision.

The court also rejected G-Unit Books’ argument that publicity around the lawsuit showed Tompkins knew about the case. The panel said Tompkins denied knowing about the lawsuit until October 2025 and that G-Unit Books presented no evidence refuting that denial. A TMZ request for comment did not prove she had notice, the court said.

The lower court ruling, which the appeals court upheld, said Tompkins had raised possible defenses to the case. Judge Robert R. Reed wrote that Tompkins disputed that the “Life Rights Agreement” was entered into voluntarily and had identified possible defenses including duress, illegality and fraud.

That does not mean those defenses have been proven. It means the case continues instead of ending by default.

While G-Unit Books lost that round, Jackson’s television business had a better week.

The Television Academy lists “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” with three Emmy nominations: outstanding documentary or nonfiction series, outstanding directing for a documentary/nonfiction program and outstanding picture editing for a nonfiction program. Jackson is listed as an executive producer on the documentary/nonfiction series nomination.

The nominated Netflix series was produced by House of Nonfiction, G-Unit Film & Television and Texas Crew Productions. Alexandria Stapleton was nominated for directing the episode “Pain Vs Love,” while the editing nomination was for the episode “Blink Again.”

Jackson celebrated the nominations on social media, writing that “everybody had something to say” when the project was announced and that “the Emmys got something to say too."

Music Publisher Reservoir Media Secures Global Rights to T.I. Discography

Multi-platinum recording artist T.I., second from left, poses alongside Reservoir Media executives to celebrate a new publishing agreement. Pictured from left are Reservoir CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi, T.I., Executive Vice President of A&R and Catalog Development Faith Newman, and President Rell Lafargue. The Atlanta rap pioneer signed a comprehensive worldwide publishing deal with the company on Thursday covering his entire back catalog and future releases. (Courtesy photo)

T.I. is turning his legacy into long-term publishing business.

The Grammy-winning Atlanta rapper has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Reservoir Media covering his back catalog and future works, including his new album, “Kill the King,” the company announced Thursday.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The agreement gives Reservoir a role in a catalog that helped push Atlanta trap from regional movement to global rap language. Reservoir said the deal spans T.I.’s full publishing catalog, including his back catalog and future work, and comes as “Kill the King” has debuted in the top 10 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top Rap Albums charts.

T.I., born Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., has released a catalog that Reservoir said includes 11 studio albums, more than 100 singles and 13 mixtapes. His hits include “What You Know,” “Bring Em Out,” “Live Your Life,” “Dead and Gone” and “Swagga Like Us.”

“I’m very excited about building a strong partnership with Reservoir as we work together to diversify the business and expand the reach of my catalog,” Harris said in a statement.

The deal arrives as T.I. is also positioning “Kill the King” as the closing chapter of his rap career. In a People interview published Thursday, he reflected on retiring from music, family life with Tameka “Tiny” Cottle-Harris and the 25-year arc from his 2001 debut, “I’m Serious,” to his final album.

That makes the Reservoir agreement more than routine catalog housekeeping. It is a legacy move by one of the central figures of 2000s Southern rap at a time when hip-hop catalogs from the CD era are being treated as long-term assets.

Reservoir Executive Vice President of A&R and Catalog Development Faith Newman called T.I. the “King of the South” and said his music helped put Atlanta’s rap scene on the map.

“His crossover successes and enduring popularity have proven time and again how much his music resonates with fans,” Newman said.

Reservoir President and Chief Operating Officer Rell Lafargue said T.I.’s music has “real cultural significance and staying power.”

T.I. won three Grammys during his commercial peak, including best rap solo performance for “What You Know” and best rap/sung collaboration for Justin Timberlake’s “My Love.” He won again in 2009 for “Swagga Like Us,” the Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and T.I. collaboration built around an M.I.A. sample.

His 2008 album “Paper Trail” remains the cleanest example of his crossover reach. The project included “Live Your Life” with Rihanna, “Dead and Gone” with Timberlake and “Whatever You Like,” turning the self-proclaimed King of the South into one of rap’s most reliable pop-chart names without fully detaching him from trap music’s street foundation.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Get Permanent Place on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Members of the Grammy-winning rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony — from left, Wish Bone, Bizzy Bone, Krayzie Bone, and Layzie Bone — are shown in this undated promotional file photo. The pioneering Cleveland group was honored Wednesday with the 2,851st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (Photo: Ruthless Records / File)

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s Cleveland sound now has a permanent address in Hollywood.

The Grammy-winning rap group received the 2,851st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Wednesday during a ceremony at 6126 Hollywood Blvd., where friends, family, fans and fellow hip-hop veterans gathered to celebrate one of rap’s most distinctive groups.

The honor came in the recording category, more than three decades after Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone and Flesh-n-Bone turned rapid-fire flows, street harmonies and grief-soaked melody into a sound no one else could duplicate.

“Cleveland is in the house,” Jerry Newman, chair of the board of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said as the ceremony opened.

Radio personality Big Boy hosted the ceremony, calling the day “beautiful” as fans lined the sidewalk in the July sun. He introduced the group as pioneers whose music brought national attention to Midwestern rap while helping shape the melodic, double-time style that still echoes through hip-hop and R&B.

“There’s a lot of people that pay homage and there’s a lot of sloppy carbon copies,” Big Boy said.

That was the unspoken theme of the afternoon: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony did not just make hits. They invented a lane.

Fat Joe, who spoke before the unveiling, said he had attended about 10 Walk of Fame ceremonies and had never seen a crowd spill into the street the way fans did for Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

“I owe a great deal to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony,” Fat Joe said.

The Bronx rapper said the group supported him early in his career, took him on tour, appeared in his videos and stayed close through personal loss, including the death of Big Pun.

“They never acted funny with me,” Fat Joe said. “They took me on tour with them. They came to my videos. They showed up in my songs.”

Fat Joe said the moment also mattered because the five members were together, healthy and able to receive the honor in person.

“I love that the guys are all here,” he said. “They all look great.”

Ice-T followed with a speech that put the group’s legacy in the context of 1990s hip-hop, when biting another artist’s style was one of the fastest ways to lose credibility.

“I get a phone call. They say Bone Thugs getting a star. I said, ‘About time,’” Ice-T said.

He asked the crowd to pause and appreciate that the members were alive, together and receiving their flowers in public.

“Usually, you only see people like this — we only get together during bad times,” Ice-T said. “Let’s just applaud the fact that all Bone Thugs are alive, healthy and here.”

Ice-T said originality was the currency of the group’s era.

“Our era of hip-hop, you had to be original,” he said. “You could not sound like anybody else.”

When Bone Thugs-N-Harmony arrived, he said, there was no mistaking them for anyone else.

“When Bone Thugs hit the scene, they were like nothing we had ever heard,” Ice-T said. “That’s why I got to tip my hat to them.”

The group formed in Cleveland in 1991, originally performing as B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e before being discovered by Eazy-E. He signed them to Ruthless Records in 1993, giving the West Coast label a group that sounded nothing like Los Angeles, New York or Atlanta.

That difference became the point.

Their national breakthrough came with the 1994 EP “Creepin on ah Come Up,” powered by “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” and “Foe tha Love of $.” A year later, “E. 1999 Eternal” made them unavoidable.

Released in 1995, “E. 1999 Eternal” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and produced “1st of tha Month,” “East 1999” and “Tha Crossroads.” The last of those, rewritten as a tribute after Eazy-E’s death, spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy Award for best rap performance by a duo or group in 1997.

“Tha Crossroads” did something rap was still fighting to prove in the mid-1990s: It made mourning sound massive.

Bone Thugs followed with “The Art of War” in 1997, another No. 1 album that included “Look Into My Eyes” and “If I Could Teach the World.” By then, the group’s influence had moved beyond Cleveland and Ruthless Records. Their cadence, hooks and sing-rap approach were already being absorbed across hip-hop and R&B.

Big Boy called them “veterans and relevant at the same damn time.”

During brief acceptance remarks, the members thanked God, their families, Ruthless Records, longtime collaborators and the fans who stayed with them for more than 30 years.

“From the trenches to the stars,” one member said. “We’ve been through it all, through the fire and the rain. We came from a place where opportunities were way too limited. So to be here standing with my brothers is something that I don’t take for granted.”

He said the group’s mission was simple.

“All we wanted to do was share a particular sound to inspire the world,” he said.

Another member made clear that the star belonged beyond the five men whose names were being honored.

“This is everybody’s star,” he said.

That line fit the afternoon. For Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, the Walk of Fame star is not just a trophy for past sales. It is a public marker for a sound that stretched rap’s vocabulary and made Cleveland part of hip-hop’s emotional map.

The group’s records could be spiritual and menacing in the same breath. “1st of tha Month” turned a welfare-check calendar date into a celebration. “Tha Crossroads” became a funeral song and a victory lap at the same time. “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” sounded like a cipher drifting through smoke.

That influence is easier to hear now than it was to explain then. The melodic rap that later became a default language for many artists did not appear out of nowhere. Bone Thugs helped make it commercially viable without sanding off the speed, darkness or strangeness that made them special.

At the end of the ceremony, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce proclaimed Wednesday Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Day in Hollywood before the group unveiled its star.

More than 30 years after five Cleveland rappers chased a record deal to California, Hollywood gave Bone Thugs-N-Harmony a star. Cleveland gave them the hunger. Eazy-E gave them the door. Hip-hop gave them the sky.

The harmony still travels.