Young L, Founding Member of Bay Area Rap Group the Pack, Has Died

Young L appears on the cover of his 2010 solo mixtape "L-E-N." The Bay Area rapper and producer, best known for his work with The Pack on the 2006 hit "Vans," died at 39. 

Young L, the Bay Area rapper and producer whose offbeat production helped turn The Pack's 2006 sneaker anthem "Vans" into a national hit, has died, according to Too $hort, the hip-hop veteran who helped launch the group's career.

Born Lloyd Omadhebo, Young L was the principal beatmaker behind the Berkeley quartet, which brought skateboarding culture and a stripped-down, electronic twist on hyphy to hip-hop at a time when the Bay Area sound was reaching audiences well beyond Northern California.

Too $hort announced his death Thursday in an Instagram tribute, sharing a photograph of the producer and praising the group's influence on other artists.

"I never heard a Young L beat that didn't SLAP," he wrote.

Young L was 39. His exact date and cause of death have not been disclosed. No public statement from his family was available as of Friday morning.

Too $hort remembers Young L, the rapper and producer behind The Pack's breakout hit "Vans," in an Instagram tribute posted Nov. 12, 2026. View the original tribute.

The Pack came together in 2005 when Young L joined forces with Lil B, Stunnaman and Lil Uno, four teenagers connected by their love of skateboarding and rap.

Young L and Lil B met at Albany High School. Young L was experimenting with music-production software, and Lil B needed beats. Their earliest recordings came out of a closet in Young L's home.

"I didn't have anybody to rap over my beats, so we just hooked up," Young L recalled in a 2010 interview with The FADER.

Their breakthrough, "Vans," emerged from the group's 2006 mixtape "Wolfpack Muzik, Vol. 2." Built around a sparse, insistent beat and a chant celebrating the California skate-shoe brand, the song spread through MySpace and Bay Area radio before reaching a national audience.

Writing for GlobalGrind in 2010, Young L recalled that the group recorded the song in his bedroom closet. What began as friends making music for fun had become something much bigger.

Too $hort heard the record, sought out the young group and signed The Pack to his Up All Nite imprint through Jive Records.

But Young L was already thinking beyond one hit.

"We didn't get signed because of 'Vans,'" he told XXL in July 2006. The group had recorded more than 100 songs in the preceding year, he said.

The Pack's official music video for "Vans," the group's 2006 breakthrough hit produced by Young L. (The Pack/Jive Records via YouTube)

Young L produced the group's "Skateboards 2 Scrapers" EP, released later in 2006, and helped establish the sound heard on its 2007 debut album, "Based Boys." His beats mixed the bounce of Bay Area rap with electronic textures, unusual rhythms and minimalist arrangements that left plenty of room for the group's personalities.

His creativity extended beyond The Pack. He released solo projects including the 2010 mixtape "L-E-N" and the 2013 instrumental EP "Convulsion," experimenting with sounds that moved further from the group's original formula.

He also co-founded the streetwear label Pink Dolphin, which became a recognizable name in hip-hop fashion.

Bay Area rapper Mistah F.A.B., who worked with The Pack, remembered watching Young L develop clothing ideas at his mother's home in El Cerrito. In his tribute, he recalled that the producer "Stayed sending me beats and cooking up fire."

Members of The Pack reunited for new music in 2018. Young L told The FADER they had "brought back that Wolfpack sound once again for the fans" as the group released a video for "Why U Wanna Do That."

By then, Lil B had become a prominent figure in internet-era rap, while Young L had established a body of work as a producer, solo artist and entrepreneur.

It was a long way from the bedroom where four teenagers began recording songs without knowing where the music might take them.

In his 2010 GlobalGrind essay, Young L explained what he hoped other artists would learn from The Pack's success:

"We want to influence the industry by showing up-and-coming artists that you can be successful without having to sound like everyone else."

Rochelle Fleming, First Choice Singer Whose Voice Helped Shape House Music, Dies at 72

 

Rochelle Fleming, founding member and lead singer of First Choice, helped shape disco and house music with recordings including “Doctor Love,” “Love Thang” and “Let No Man Put Asunder.” Fleming died Nov. 5 in Philadelphia at age 72. (Photo courtesy of BMG)

Rochelle Fleming's voice helped define disco in the 1970s. It was still filling dance floors decades later.

The lead singer and founding member of Philadelphia R&B group First Choice, whose recordings became essential building blocks of house music and influenced generations of artists, died Nov. 5 in Philadelphia. She was 72.

Her longtime manager, George Iz Correia, announced her death on behalf of the Fleming-Finney family. No cause was disclosed, and arrangements for a celebration of her life have not been announced.

Fleming rose to fame with First Choice, the vocal group behind "Armed and Extremely Dangerous," "Smarty Pants," "The Player," "Doctor Love" and "Let No Man Put Asunder."

LISTEN: First Choice's "Let No Man Put Asunder," featuring Rochelle Fleming's lead vocals, became a touchstone of house music. Listen on YouTube. Audio provided through BMG Rights Management.

But the full measure of her influence extends well beyond the group's original run.

"Let No Man Put Asunder," recorded for First Choice's 1977 album "Delusions," became a defining record in house music as DJs and producers introduced it to new audiences through remixes, sampling and reinterpretation.

Mary J. Blige later recorded her own version for her 1999 album "Mary."

And First Choice's influence extended into another generation of hip-hop and electronic music. J. Cole sampled "Wake Up to Me" on his 2019 hit "Middle Child," while Kaytranada drew from "Love Thang" for "10%," his collaboration with Kali Uchis that won a Grammy for best dance recording.

For listeners who knew those later records but not the original group, Fleming's voice had been part of the soundtrack all along.

Born in Philadelphia in 1954, Fleming began singing with schoolmates Annette Guest and Wardell Piper. The group, initially known as the Debonettes, eventually became First Choice.

Their breakthrough came with 1973's "Armed and Extremely Dangerous," which reached No. 11 on Billboard's R&B chart and crossed over to the pop market.

Working with Philadelphia producer Norman Harris, the group helped bridge the soulful harmonies of the early 1970s and the rhythm-driven disco sound that followed.

Fleming's commanding vocals remained central to that identity as First Choice recorded for labels including Philly Groove and Gold Mind, the latter associated with Salsoul Records.

The group disbanded in 1980, but its music continued to circulate through dance clubs, remixes and subsequent recordings.

Fleming pursued a solo career, recording songs including "Love Itch" and "Danger!" She also continued performing, preserving the musical legacy of First Choice while finding audiences who had discovered the group long after its initial success.

BMG, which represents part of the group's catalog through Salsoul, paid tribute Monday, describing Fleming as an artist whose recordings helped shape Philadelphia soul, disco and dance music.

Remembering Rochelle Fleming

BMG, which represents part of First Choice's catalog through Salsoul, has published an official tribute tracing Fleming's influence from Philadelphia soul and disco to house music.

Read BMG's tribute

Dan Baxter, the company's senior vice president of global catalog recordings, said the songs continued reaching new listeners through remixes and samples.

"Her voice and the joy it brought to so many will not be forgotten," Baxter said.

Fellow Philadelphia group Sister Sledge also mourned Fleming, praising her soulful voice and the music she left behind.

Her manager remembered someone who preferred to call her supporters "sweeties" rather than fans.

Some knew Fleming from First Choice's original hits. Others discovered her decades later through house music, remixes and hip-hop samples.

Nearly half a century after "Let No Man Put Asunder" was recorded, her voice was still filling dance floors.

After Nipsey Hussle’s Death, Jay-Z Helped His Family Overcome a Business Crisis

During an appearance on the "One54 Africa" podcast, Nipsey Hussle's brother, Samiel "Blacc Sam" Asghedom (right), discusses how Jay-Z and Roc Nation helped The Marathon Clothing secure a partnership with Live Nation after the rapper's death in 2019. (Screenshot/One54 Africa)

Jay-Z's support for Nipsey Hussle didn't end when the rapper was killed in 2019. According to Hussle's older brother, it helped keep the clothing business they built together from being overwhelmed by orders in the aftermath of his death.

Samiel "Blacc Sam" Asghedom revealed how Jay-Z and Roc Nation helped connect The Marathon Clothing with concert giant Live Nation during a recent appearance on the "One54 Africa" podcast.

The family was facing a flood of orders it lacked the resources to produce or ship, Sam said.

"We had so many orders that we didn't even have a way to ship out or produce," he recalled.

Live Nation initially offered to help clear the backlog and keep the website operating, even if the companies never reached a formal business agreement.

That offer, Sam said, came through the involvement of Jay-Z and Roc Nation.

WATCH: Blacc Sam explains how Jay-Z, Roc Nation and Live Nation helped The Marathon Clothing respond to overwhelming orders after Nipsey Hussle's death. Watch on YouTube. Video: One54 Africa.

A partnership followed, with Live Nation providing a substantial advance and taking over merchandise operations. The arrangement gave the family access to the company's production and fulfillment network at a time when demand for Nipsey-related products had surged.

It also provided something Sam hadn't fully anticipated: legal muscle.

Live Nation's attorneys pursued counterfeit merchandise, unauthorized websites and other potential infringements involving Nipsey's intellectual property and the Marathon brand, he said.

Those weren't the only threats the family faced.

Sam described a separate effort by people attempting to claim rights associated with the Marathon name. He said attorneys who had previously assisted his brother helped challenge the claim, which was eventually abandoned.

He did not identify those involved.

With Live Nation's resources, Sam said, the clothing business was able to expand, recoup the advance and eventually move back toward operating on its own. He did not disclose the financial terms of the partnership.

Jay-Z's involvement continued a relationship that had drawn attention years before Nipsey's death.

In 2013, when Nipsey challenged conventional music sales by offering his "Crenshaw" mixtape for $100, Jay-Z bought 100 copies — a $10,000 show of support for the independent rapper's business strategy.

A relationship built over years

In 2013, Jay-Z bought 100 copies of Nipsey Hussle's $100 "Crenshaw" mixtape. More than a decade later, The Marathon Clothing and Jay-Z collaborated on merchandise for his 30th-anniversary concerts.

Forbes: Nipsey Hussle and the $100 mixtape (2013)

The Marathon Clothing: Official Jay-Z30 collaboration (2026)

That connection has remained visible.

The Marathon Clothing collaborated with Jay-Z on merchandise celebrating his 30-year recording career, including items tied to his October performances at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Sam said Jay-Z also surprised the family by appearing onstage wearing an official All Money In chain, paying tribute to Nipsey and the independent label he founded.

The gesture meant something to Sam, who said Jay-Z's longtime associate Emory Jones helped maintain the relationship between the artists and their businesses.

Nipsey was fatally shot March 31, 2019, outside his Marathon Clothing store in South Los Angeles. He was 33.

His brother has since overseen the expansion of the family's ventures, including Marathon Burger, which recently opened a location at Los Angeles International Airport.

But Sam's account also reveals how vulnerable the business was in the early days after Nipsey's death, when the family was simultaneously protecting his legacy and managing demand on a scale it hadn't been prepared to handle.

The assistance, he said, reflected the relationships Nipsey had built while he was alive.

"We had a lot of help," Sam said, crediting those relationships and the support his brother continued to inspire.

Rude Boys Founder Melvin Sephus, Who Helped Shape '90s R&B, Dies at 61

The Rude Boys appear on the cover of their 1990 debut album, "Rude Awakening." The group scored two No. 1 R&B hits with "Written All Over Your Face" and "Are You Lonely for Me." Founding member Melvin Sephus died Oct. 28, 2026, at age 61. (Atlantic Records/Rhino)

Melvin Sephus, a founding member of the Cleveland R&B group the Rude Boys, whose hits "Written All Over Your Face" and "Are You Lonely for Me" topped Billboard's R&B chart in the early 1990s, has died. He was 61.

Sephus died Oct. 28, according to Gaines Funeral Home in Ohio, which has announced funeral arrangements. No cause of death has been publicly disclosed.
The singer, songwriter and musician was part of a quartet whose success grew out of Cleveland's thriving R&B scene and a chance encounter with Gerald Levert, the singer and producer who helped launch their career.

The Rude Boys — Sephus, Larry "Bingo" Marcus, Edward "Buddy" Banks and Joe Little III — came together in the late 1980s. Levert discovered the group performing locally and helped secure a recording deal with Atlantic Records.

Their 1990 debut album, "Rude Awakening," initially struggled to produce a major hit. That changed with "Written All Over Your Face."

The Rude Boys featuring Gerald Levert, "Written All Over Your Face," from the 1990 Atlantic Records album "Rude Awakening." (Audio: Rhino Atlantic)

The song, written by Marcus and featuring guest vocals from Levert, reached No. 1 on Billboard's R&B chart in 1991 and crossed over to No. 16 on the Hot 100. It spent 31 weeks on the R&B chart and finished the year as Billboard's top R&B single.

The recording prominently featured the voices of Little and Banks, supported by the quartet's harmonies and Levert's unmistakable presence.

The follow-up, "Are You Lonely for Me," also topped the R&B chart, giving the group two No. 1 hits from its debut album. Another single, "Heaven," reached the R&B top 20.

"Are You Lonely for Me," the Rude Boys' second No. 1 R&B single from their debut album. (Audio: Rhino Atlantic)

The Rude Boys arrived during the rise of new jack swing, but their music retained much of the traditional vocal-group sound associated with the O'Jays, LeVert and other soul acts from their hometown.

Sephus' contributions extended beyond singing.

On the group's second album, "Rude House," released in 1992, he received credits for vocals, keyboards, production and vocal arrangements.

That album produced "My Kinda Girl," another R&B hit with an unexpected place in hip-hop history. A remix by DJ Clark Kent featured a young Jay-Z, years before the Brooklyn rapper released his debut album, "Reasonable Doubt."

Sephus also maintained his musical relationship with the Levert family.

He contributed production and background vocals to "I Got Your Back," a song from Gerald Levert's 1995 collaboration with his father, Eddie Levert of the O'Jays, on the album "Father & Son.

The Rude Boys returned with a third album, "Rude as Ever," in 1997. Their commercial success never again matched the early Atlantic recordings, but the group's ties to Cleveland's soul music community endured.

Following Gerald Levert's death in 2006, members reunited to sing at his funeral, honoring the man who helped bring their music to national audiences.

The Rude Boys were inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2019.

Sephus was the third member of the group's best-known original lineup to die. Marcus died in 2016 and Banks in 2020, leaving Little as the last surviving member of that quartet.

His family has established an online fundraiser to help pay for funeral services, burial expenses, a headstone and a gathering in his memory.

"He gave the world his voice, his music, his talent, and his heart," relatives wrote in the appeal, organized by Maleya Johnson on behalf of the Sephus and Johnson family.

A public viewing is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 13, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Gaines Funeral Home, 5386 Lee Road in Maple Heights, Ohio.

A wake will follow at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, with a celebration of life at noon at Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church, 11115 Kinsman Road in Cleveland. Burial is scheduled at Evergreen Memorial Park Cemetery.

Remembering Melvin Sephus

The family of Rude Boys founding member Melvin Sephus has established a memorial fundraiser to help cover funeral and burial expenses, a headstone and a gathering in his honor.

View the family's memorial fundraiser

Organized by Maleya Johnson on behalf of the Sephus and Johnson family.

Juan Atkins, Founding Figure of Detroit Techno, Dies at 64

Juan Atkins, a founding figure of Detroit techno whose 1983 Cybotron recording “Clear” was sampled in Missy Elliott's hit “Lose Control,” died at 64. His death was confirmed Sunday by his representatives.

A sound that helped invent Detroit techno in 1983 was still moving dance floors more than two decades later, when Missy Elliott built one of her biggest hits around it.

The man behind that sound, Juan Atkins, has died at 64.

Atkins, a Detroit DJ and producer widely regarded as one of techno's founding figures, was found unresponsive in a Mexico City hotel room ahead of a scheduled Halloween performance. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead Sunday, according to Greensmith Artists, his agency, which confirmed his death to electronic music publication Resident Advisor.

A cause of death has not been officially established.

Atkins helped lay the foundation for electronic dance music through his work with Cybotron, Model 500 and his independent Metroplex label. Alongside fellow Detroit innovators Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, he became part of the Belleville Three, the trio credited with helping establish Detroit techno.

But his influence reached well beyond electronic music.

In 1983, Atkins and collaborator Richard Davis released “Clear” as Cybotron, combining a relentless electronic rhythm, synthesizers and an otherworldly sense of space.

In 2005, Missy Elliott sampled “Clear” for “Lose Control,” her hit featuring Ciara and Fatman Scoop. The song became one of the defining dance records of the decade, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Missy Elliott's 2005 hit "Lose Control," featuring Ciara and Fatman Scoop, samples Cybotron's 1983 recording "Clear," co-written by Juan Atkins and Richard Davis. (Missy Elliott/YouTube)

Atkins and Davis received songwriting credits on the recording, which also sampled Hot Streak's “Body Work.”

For listeners who knew the song primarily through Elliott's music video and its explosive choreography, the connection offered an introduction to an earlier generation of Black electronic music.

Atkins' musical education began in Detroit, where he absorbed the funk of George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic alongside the electronic experiments of Germany's Kraftwerk. Radio personality the Electrifying Mojo helped bring those sounds together for a generation of Detroit listeners.

After moving to Belleville as a teenager, Atkins befriended May and Saunderson. Their shared interest in synthesizers, dance music and futuristic production eventually helped create a sound unlike the disco, funk and pop dominating American radio.

Atkins founded Cybotron with Davis in 1980. Along with “Clear,” the duo recorded influential tracks including “Alleys of Your Mind” and “Techno City.”

He later moved forward under the name Model 500, releasing “No UFO's” in 1985 and establishing Metroplex, a label that became central to Detroit's developing electronic music scene.

As the music spread overseas, particularly through clubs in Europe, the innovations of Atkins and his Detroit contemporaries helped shape a worldwide movement.

The word “techno” itself became closely associated with the sound through Atkins' music and the late-1980s British compilation that introduced Detroit artists to a broader international audience.

Saunderson, one of his fellow Belleville Three members, paid tribute to Atkins on social media.

“Juan was the originator of Techno, a true visionary who opened the door for so many of us, myself included,” he wrote, according to Mixmag.

Saunderson also recalled Atkins teaching him how to finish his first record, “Triangle of Love,” a gesture that helped launch his own career.

Other artists, including Kenny Larkin, Roger Sanchez and Fatboy Slim, joined the tributes following the announcement of Atkins' death.

Although techno became a global commercial genre, its origins in Detroit's Black music community have not always received equal recognition.

Atkins' recordings remain among the clearest evidence of that history: music rooted in funk and electronic experimentation that crossed continents, influenced generations of producers and eventually found its way into hip-hop and R&B.

More than 40 years after Cybotron recorded “Clear,” the beat that helped define his legacy still sounds unmistakably ahead of its time.

Las Vegas Honors the R&B Group That Took Its Area Code Worldwide

LeMisha Fields and Kameelah “Meelah” Williams of R&B group 702 are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album, “No Doubt,” with a hometown honor and weekend performances in Las Vegas. (Photo courtesy of Troutman Music Group)

Thirty years after taking their hometown's area code to the R&B charts, the women of 702 are coming home to a welcome only Las Vegas could give them. Thirty years after taking their hometown's area code to the R&B charts, the women of 702 are coming home to a welcome only Las Vegas could give them.

The group behind “Steelo,” “Get It Together” and “Where My Girls At?” will be honored Thursday at the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, where Clark County officials plan to recognize three decades of music that helped bring the city's R&B talent to an international audience.

Commissioner William McCurdy II is scheduled to present a proclamation to Kameelah “Meelah” Williams and LeMisha Fields during the 5 p.m. ceremony. The county also plans to pay tribute to Irish Grinstead, Fields' younger sister and longtime bandmate, who died in September 2023 at age 43.

The landmark sign will be illuminated in the group's honor.

It's a fitting tribute to an act whose name has always been a declaration of where it came from.

702 released its debut album, “No Doubt,” on Oct. 8, 1996, through Motown and Biv 10 Records. The album went gold, pairing R&B harmonies with hip-hop production and contributions from a young Missy Elliott.

702 performs “Steelo,” featuring Missy Elliott, from the group's 1996 debut album, “No Doubt.” (702 Official/YouTube)

Elliott wrote and appeared on “Steelo,” which sampled the Police's “Voices Inside My Head.” The album also produced “Get It Together,” a Donell Jones-penned ballad that reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The singers were still teenagers when they recorded much of that music, balancing schoolwork in Las Vegas with studio sessions in Los Angeles.

In an interview published Tuesday by Las Vegas Weekly, Fields recalled leaving school, flying to California to record and returning home in time for classes. While one member was in the recording booth, the others did homework. Some sessions stretched into the early morning hours.

The demanding schedule produced music that would long outlast the teenage experiences behind it.

In 1999, 702 scored its biggest crossover hit with the Elliott-written “Where My Girls At?,” which climbed to No. 4 on the Hot 100. The song helped propel the group's self-titled second album to platinum status and became a fixture of an era when female R&B groups were among popular music's dominant voices.

For Williams and Fields, the songs have taken on different meanings with age.

702 performs “Get It Together,” a single from its debut album, “No Doubt.” (702 Official/YouTube)

Williams told Las Vegas Weekly that motherhood, relationships and heartbreak have given the material a depth she could not fully appreciate as a teenager. Songs that once described emotions she was just beginning to understand now reflect experiences she has lived.

But the anniversary also brings an absence that cannot be overlooked.

Irish's death left the surviving performers to navigate the stage without a voice that helped define 702's sound. Fields said continuing to perform is part of honoring her sister, not leaving her behind.

“She would want us to continue and live out the legacy of 702,” Fields told the publication.

The homecoming extends beyond Thursday's ceremony.

702 is scheduled to perform Friday at On the Record inside Park MGM, followed by a '90s-themed skate party Saturday at Skate Rock City. Motown also has released a limited-edition 30th-anniversary vinyl pressing of “No Doubt,” including three additional mixes.

The festivities offer a chance to celebrate a group whose music has followed its fans from their teenage years into adulthood, even as the women behind those songs have endured changes of their own.

Three decades after turning a telephone prefix into a musical identity, 702 is returning to the place where it all began.

ThIs time, Las Vegas is welcoming them home — and honoring the sister who won't be there to celebrate.

Chance Wins Legal Battle Over Merchandise Profits as Drakeo’s Estate Settles Death Case

Chance the Rapper performs at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on May 2, 2017. A Chicago judge ruled Tuesday that his former manager breached his fiduciary duties in connection with the rapper's merchandise business. (Photo by Julio Enriquez, CC BY 2.0; cropped for display)

A Chicago judge has ordered Chance the Rapper's former manager to surrender undisclosed merchandise commissions, while the estate of slain Los Angeles rapper Drakeo the Ruler has reached a settlement with festival organizers and security companies sued over his 2021 death.

A Chicago judge has ordered Chance the Rapper's former manager to surrender undisclosed merchandise commissions, while the estate of slain Los Angeles rapper Drakeo the Ruler has reached a settlement with festival organizers and security companies sued over his 2021 death.

The unrelated cases mark significant developments in two long-running hip-hop legal battles. Neither has produced a publicly established final payout: The amount Chance's former manager must forfeit remains under review, and the terms of Drakeo's estate settlement have not been disclosed.

Chance wins ruling over merchandise profits

Chance the Rapper has won another round in his nearly six-year legal fight with Patrick "Pat the Manager" Corcoran, the former friend who helped guide his rise from Chicago's independent rap scene to Grammy-winning success.

Cook County Circuit Judge James E. Hanlon Jr. ruled Tuesday that Corcoran breached his fiduciary duties by collecting undisclosed commissions from merchandise vendors while also receiving management fees tied to the same business.

Hanlon ordered Corcoran to surrender those commissions, forfeit the 15% management compensation associated with the affected merchandise transactions and transfer the ChanceRaps.com domain to the rapper by Oct. 28.

Chance's representatives estimate the forfeited management fees could total as much as $1.5 million, in addition to the vendor payments. The figure is not a final court award.

The parties have until Nov. 30 to agree on an amount. If they cannot, the judge will decide.

The ruling follows a March jury verdict that rejected Corcoran's demand for $3.8 million in unpaid commissions and royalties. The jury also found in Chance's favor on portions of his countersuit, awarding him $35.

The two worked together from 2012 until their relationship collapsed in 2020, building one of hip-hop's most prominent independent success stories without a traditional written management agreement.

Their dispute eventually turned on what Corcoran was owed after his dismissal and whether he had put his own business interests ahead of the artist's.

The latest ruling was not an across-the-board victory for Chance.

Hanlon rejected his attempts to recover compensation connected to several outside ventures, including the Ramova Theatre and UnitedMasters. The judge also declined to award punitive damages or strip Corcoran of all the compensation he earned during the relationship.

Corcoran's attorneys welcomed those limits, arguing that the court recognized the value of his work and rejected the rapper's broader financial demands.

Chance, whose legal name is Chancelor Bennett, said he was grateful to be nearing the end of the dispute and hoped to eventually share his account of what happened.

Drakeo's estate settles festival death lawsuit

In Los Angeles, a separate legal fight over the killing of Drakeo the Ruler has reached a conditional settlement nearly five years after the rapper was fatally stabbed backstage at a music festival.

A notice filed Oct. 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court confirms that Drakeo's estate, administered by his mother, Darrylene Corniel, reached an agreement with Live Nation and several other companies involved in the Once Upon a Time in L.A. festival.

The settlement resolves the estate's claims, subject to specified conditions being completed within 45 days. No financial terms have been disclosed.

Drakeo, born Darrell Wayne Caldwell Jr., was 28 when he was attacked backstage on Dec. 18, 2021, shortly before he was scheduled to perform.

His estate accused the festival promoters and security contractors of failing to maintain a secure backstage area and allowing a group of attackers to reach the rapper and his entourage.

The defendants disputed the negligence allegations. The settlement does not constitute a court finding that they were responsible for his death.

The agreement also does not end all the civil litigation arising from the attack.

Claims involving Drakeo's younger brother, rapper Ralfy the Plug, and others who were backstage remain scheduled for trial Nov. 30.

The criminal investigation remains unresolved. No one has been charged with Drakeo's killing.

The estate's agreement settles a major part of the civil case, but it does not establish who killed the rapper or whether the remaining plaintiffs will prevail against the festival organizers.

Drakeo the Ruler's "Talk to Me," featuring Drake, appeared on his 2021 album The Truth Hurts. (Drakeo the Ruler/YouTube)

Man Convicted in Tupac Shakur’s Murder Gets 40 Years to Life, Three Decades After Killing

Duane “Keffe D” Davis is shown in a Sept. 29, 2023, police booking photograph. Davis was sentenced Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)

Duane “Keffe D” Davis spent years publicly describing his role in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur. On Tuesday, the former gang leader was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the murder, bringing a measure of justice to the rapper's family more than three decades after the fatal shooting.

Clark County District Judge Carli Kierny imposed the sentence in Las Vegas, six weeks after a jury convicted Davis of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon.

Davis, 63, was the only person ever charged in the killing, one of hip-hop's most enduring unsolved crimes until his arrest in September 2023.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis appears in court in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, for sentencing in the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur. Davis was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. (Video: Courtroom Insider/YouTube)

Shakur's family addressed the court before sentencing, recalling a brother whose life had been cut short at 25.

His younger sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, described their mother's belief that Tupac could change the world.

“He believed her,” she told the court. “He went out in the world to do that. And I believe he would have done it.”

Their brother Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur spoke about everything Tupac never experienced, including the opportunity to have children and watch his nieces and nephews grow up.

For the family, the punishment followed 30 years of living with the consequences of a killing that became part of hip-hop history even as their personal loss remained unresolved.

Kierny rejected Davis' argument that he had left his violent past behind.

“You don't get to take a man from his family,” the judge told him. “The world never forgot about him.”

Davis will receive credit for time served since his arrest. His attorney, Michael Sanft, said he plans to appeal the conviction.

When offered an opportunity to speak, Davis did not apologize. Instead, he asked about recovering personal belongings seized by police, including photographs.

TUPAC SHAKUR MURDER CASE

30 years to a sentence

Sept. 7, 1996
Tupac Shakur is shot in Las Vegas. He dies six days later.

Sept. 29, 2023
Duane Davis is arrested and charged in the killing.

Aug. 31, 2026
A jury convicts Davis of first-degree murder.

Oct. 13, 2026
Davis is sentenced to 40 years to life.

Sources: Clark County court records and AP and Reuters reporting.

The prosecution had built much of its case around Davis' own accounts of the shooting, including interviews, statements to investigators and his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.”

Prosecutors argued that Davis organized a retaliatory attack after Shakur and members of his entourage assaulted Davis' nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, at the MGM Grand following a Mike Tyson boxing match on Sept. 7, 1996.

Hours later, Shakur was riding in a BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight when a white Cadillac pulled alongside the car near the Las Vegas Strip.

Someone inside the Cadillac opened fire.

Shakur was struck multiple times. Knight survived with a minor injury, but Shakur died six days later, on Sept. 13.

Davis acknowledged being inside the Cadillac and described passing a gun toward the back seat, where the shots were fired. Prosecutors said he supplied the weapon and directed the retaliation, making him criminally responsible for the murder even though he was not accused of pulling the trigger.

His attorneys maintained that his public accounts had been exaggerated or fabricated for publicity and financial gain. They also challenged the absence of physical evidence connecting Davis to the shooting.

The jury rejected that defense after a trial that revisited gang rivalries, the East Coast-West Coast rap feud and a murder investigation that remained dormant for years.

The identity of the person who fired the fatal shots has never been conclusively established in court. Anderson, whom Davis identified as the gunman, died in 1998. The other alleged occupants of the Cadillac are also dead.

For millions of listeners, Shakur remains the artist behind “Dear Mama,” “Keep Ya Head Up,” “California Love” and “Changes,” records that helped establish his voice as one of the most influential in rap.

For his family, he was a son and brother whose future disappeared on a Las Vegas street.

Davis' sentence establishes the punishment for his role in that killing. His planned appeal means the legal proceedings may continue.

But Tuesday's hearing marked a consequence his own public accounts of the murder helped bring about: After nearly three decades without a prosecution, the only man convicted in Tupac Shakur's death now faces at least 40 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.

Tupac’s 1995 Prison Interview Gets New Release as Original Tapes Head Toward Auction

Patrick Heaphy, left, Tupac Shakur and Jason Keller are shown at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., during a 1995 interview shoot. (Courtesy LCM247)

Patrick Heaphy went to a maximum-security prison in upstate New York in 1995 to film Tupac Shakur for a concert against youth violence. More than three decades later, he is still trying to make that concert happen.

The filmmaker announced Thursday that an extended presentation of his interview with Shakur will premiere Oct. 12 on YouTube, exactly 31 years after the rapper's release from prison. He also plans to auction the original camera and recording tapes, with part of the proceeds intended to help revive the concert that first brought him to Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.

The concert never materialized, but the interview became part of the extensive documentary record Shakur left behind before his death in 1996.

Heaphy said the original assignment took an unexpected turn almost as soon as he arrived.

TUPAC SHAKUR | ARCHIVE / 2026

One interview. Two different releases.

1995The original recording

Filmed at Clinton Correctional Facility. Footage later appeared in commercially distributed documentaries.

2026The extended premiere

Heaphy announces a new presentation, plans to auction his equipment and proposes an anti-violence concert.

Whether the new edition includes previously unseen footage remains unclear.

View the earlier documentary's library record

"Most people don't know that I went to Dannemora to film Tupac for a proposed jailhouse concert aimed at stopping youth violence," Heaphy said in Thursday's announcement.

Shakur, he recalled, greeted the crew with news that he expected to be released.

In an earlier interview with Rorschach Art Publication, Heaphy described traveling to the prison with interviewer Frank Cooley and production assistant Jason Keller. What followed was an unusually candid encounter with a rapper whose music was dominating the charts even as his legal troubles dominated headlines.

Shakur was serving a sentence stemming from a New York sexual abuse conviction. His third solo album, "Me Against the World," had debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in March 1995, making him the first artist to achieve that distinction while incarcerated.

The album included "Dear Mama," his tribute to his mother, Afeni Shakur, and offered a more reflective side of an artist frequently portrayed through his confrontations with police, rivals and the music industry.

Heaphy's footage captured Shakur discussing his circumstances, ambitions and experiences behind bars during a period when his career and personal life were about to change dramatically.

Shakur was released on $1.4 million bond pending appeal on Oct. 12, 1995, and joined Death Row Records. Four months later, he released "All Eyez on Me," the blockbuster double album that included "California Love" and "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted."

He was fatally wounded in a Las Vegas shooting in September 1996 and died six days later at 25.

Behind the story

Read the original announcement and the filmmaker's account of the 1995 prison shoot.

Read LCM247's October 8 announcementRead Patrick Heaphy's earlier interview

Links to original sources

Although the upcoming presentation is being promoted as an extended version of the 1995 conversation, the footage itself is not a newly discovered recording.

Material from the prison session appeared in earlier documentaries, including "Tupac vs." and "Tupac Uncensored and Uncut: The Lost Prison Tapes," the latter released in 2009 and co-directed by Heaphy and Ken Peters.

The producers have not specified how much, if any, previously unreleased footage will appear in the new edition.

The planned auction presents a separate chapter in the recording's history.

Heaphy and his production company, LCM247, say they intend to offer the original Sony camera used during the prison shoot, along with source tapes from the production. Heaphy says he has personally authenticated the camera and holds the registered U.S. copyright to the interview footage.

An auction house, sale date and estimated value have not been announced.

The filmmaker also hopes to use a portion of the proceeds and a proposed crowdfunding campaign to finance a concert featuring contemporary artists and addressing youth violence.

For now, that event remains a proposal. No performers, venue or date have been identified.

The effort would revisit an idea conceived at a particularly turbulent point in Shakur's life, when the rapper was balancing commercial success with imprisonment and speaking publicly about the conditions affecting young Black Americans.

Whether the new release offers substantially more of that conversation remains to be seen.

What Heaphy wants to accomplish with it, however, has come full circle.

"If the film, the camera and the tapes can now help us finally make that concert happen," he said, "that feels like the right next chapter."

"The Tupac Prison Interview" is scheduled to premiere Monday, Oct. 12, at 9 p.m. Eastern on LCM247's YouTube channel.

Freddie Jackson, Platinum-Selling R&B Singer, Dies at 70

Freddie Jackson appears during a 2019 interview on "Sister Circle Live." The R&B singer, whose hits included "Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake)" and "You Are My Lady," died Monday at 70. (Sister Circle TV via screenshot)

Freddie Jackson, whose unmistakable voice and string of chart-topping love songs made him one of R&B's biggest stars of the 1980s, has died. He was 70.

Jackson died Monday, three days after his birthday, his family announced Tuesday on his official Instagram account. No cause of death was disclosed.

The Harlem-born singer ruled R&B radio with hits including “Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake),” “You Are My Lady,” “Tasty Love” and “Have You Ever Loved Somebody,” collecting 10 No. 1 singles on Billboard's R&B chart and two platinum albums along the way.

His family remembered him as a “kind, generous soul” and thanked the listeners who had supported his music and performances over the decades.

FAMILY ANNOUNCEMENT

Jackson's family announced his death Tuesday on his official Instagram account. Read the family's original statement.

Jackson's rise was immediate.

His 1985 Capitol Records debut, Rock Me Tonight, produced four Top 10 R&B singles. The title track spent six weeks at No. 1, while “You Are My Lady” became his biggest crossover hit, introducing him to pop audiences without sacrificing the sound that had made him a favorite on Black radio.

Freddie Jackson performs "Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake)," his 1985 breakthrough hit. (Capitol Records/YouTube)

His follow-up, 1986's Just Like the First Time, kept the hits coming. “Tasty Love,” “Have You Ever Loved Somebody” and “Jam Tonight” all topped the R&B chart, establishing Jackson as much more than a balladeer.

He also reached No. 1 with “A Little Bit More,” a duet with Melba Moore, and continued his run of hits into the 1990s.

Jackson's commercial success placed him among the leading male R&B singers of a period dominated by artists including Luther Vandross. But it also reflected the power of Black radio, where an artist could build a major career without achieving comparable success on the pop charts.

Jackson was keenly aware of that distinction.

In a 1988 interview with the Los Angeles Times, he discussed the pressure on Black performers to change their music in pursuit of crossover success.

“Crossover is just icing on the cake,” he told the newspaper.

Freddie Jackson performs "You Are My Lady," one of his signature R&B hits. (Capitol Records/YouTube)He was equally clear about changing musical tastes. As Keith Sweat and Al B. Sure! helped usher in a more hip-hop-influenced era of R&B, Jackson told Billboard in 1988 that he respected the emerging sound but intended to remain rooted in the traditional soul music his audience expected.

The approach continued to pay off. His third album, Don't Let Love Slip Away, produced more R&B hits, including “Hey Lover” and “Nice 'n' Slow.” The title track from his 1990 album Do Me Again also reached No. 1.

His cultural footprint stretched beyond the charts. In 2000, Big Boi name-checked Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass in OutKast's “So Fresh, So Clean,” placing two generations of soul singers in the middle of a hip-hop classic.

Born Oct. 2, 1956, Jackson began singing gospel at Harlem's White Rock Baptist Church, where he met future producer and songwriter Paul Laurence. After working New York clubs and singing with the group Mystic Merlin, he recorded demos and sang backup for Moore before launching his solo career.

His breakthrough earned two Grammy nominations in 1986: best new artist and best male R&B vocal performance for “You Are My Lady.”

Jackson continued recording long after his chart dominance faded, releasing music independently and returning in 2023 with My First Love.

In 2024, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with kidney disease and partnered with the National Kidney Foundation to promote awareness. His family has not linked the illness to his death.

The family said details of memorial arrangements and opportunities for fans to honor Jackson would be announced later.

Memphis Honors Tay Keith With Music Lab, Key to City and Day of His Own

Grammy-nominated producer Tay Keith is shown in an undated promotional portrait. Memphis Public Libraries dedicated the Tay Keith Music Lab on Monday, creating a music production space for young people in honor of the late Memphis hitmaker, whose credits included Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode,” Drake’s “Nonstop” and Beyoncé’s “Before I Let Go.”

Before Tay Keith was producing No. 1 records with some of hip-hop's biggest stars, his sister remembers the work beginning in a little blue, yellow and white house on Bruton Street in Memphis.

On Monday, his hometown put his name on a room where somebody else's career might begin.

Memphis Public Libraries formally dedicated its music production room inside Cloud901 at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library as the Tay Keith Music Lab, honoring the late Grammy-nominated producer while expanding an initiative aimed at giving young people access to music-production tools and instruction.

Keith's older sister, Lisa Austin, told those gathered for the dedication that the family's Raleigh home was where her brother discovered his love of music, started making beats and built the foundation for what the world would eventually know as Tay Keith.

But Austin made clear that the family did not want the room to function simply as a memorial.

“This lab is more than just putting Tay's name on a room,” Austin said. “It's about access and opportunity.”

Cloud901 is Memphis Public Libraries' free technology and production center for teenagers ages 13 to 18. The Tay Keith Legacy Foundation donated to the project, which is being developed into a broader initiative around Keith's life, career and commitment to young people.

Plans include hands-on beat-making and music-production instruction, a permanent archival collection and oral histories with Keith's relatives, friends and associates.

Library officials said they hope to collect photographs, handwritten notes, studio material, correspondence, memorabilia and other pieces of Keith's history. Family members and others who knew him will also be invited to record their memories through the library's 901Voices oral-history project.

At Monday's ceremony, library officials said the collection is intended to preserve not only Keith's career but the stories behind it for people who may encounter his work generations from now.

The project also extends work Keith had begun before his death.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young said Keith and his team contacted him shortly after Young became mayor because the producer wanted to discuss how he could make deeper investments in Memphis.

One conversation turned into a standing habit.

Keith told Young he planned to call him every Monday.

Tay Keith's family and Memphis officials dedicate the Tay Keith Music Lab at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library on Sept. 21, 2026.

“And he called me literally every Monday,” Young said.

Young said that even after becoming a successful producer, Keith was routinely checking in with the mayor because he wanted to figure out how to make a larger impact on the city that raised him.

Keith also worked with the city's Office of Youth Services on the My Memphis Poetry Challenge, which encouraged young Memphians to use writing to express their creativity and connection to the city. Young cited the project Monday as another example of Keith's interest in creating opportunities for young people. The competition itself was also documented by the Memphis City Council and local reporting.

Memphis added two other honors around what would have been Keith's 30th birthday.

Young proclaimed Sept. 20 Tay Keith Day in Memphis and presented Keith's family with a key to the city during Monday's dedication.

The mayor said young Memphians entering the lab will be able to see Keith's name, use the equipment and recognize that someone from their city reached the highest levels of the music business.

“Somebody from Memphis did it, and they can too,” Young said.

Keith, born Brytavious Lakeith Chambers, developed from a young Memphis producer into one of the most successful hitmakers of his generation. His credits include Travis Scott's “Sicko Mode,” Drake's “Nonstop” and “First Person Shooter,” along with work for artists including Beyoncé, Eminem, Cardi B, 21 Savage and Sexyy Red. BMI honored him three times as its R&B/Hip-Hop Producer of the Year.

He died June 18 at his Nashville apartment at 29.

Days before the Memphis ceremony, the Nashville medical examiner disclosed that Keith's death had been ruled accidental. The cause was toxicity involving ketamine and several mitragynine-related compounds associated with kratom. Police had said no foul play was suspected.

Monday's dedication, however, was centered less on how Keith died than on what his family and hometown want to continue in his name.

Austin said the hope is that a young person walks into the Tay Keith Music Lab, creates a first beat and eventually becomes the next major producer or creative to come out of Memphis.

Then she distilled the purpose of the room into two sentences.

“Tay's legacy lives on,” Austin said. “And now he gets to help build someone else's.”

Tone Capone, Producer Who Connected Bay Area and Houston Rap, Dies at 59

FILE — Producer Tone Capone, born Anthony Douglas Gilmour, is shown DJing in the 1980s. Capone, the Bay Area beatmaker behind Luniz's 1995 hit "I Got 5 On It" and a frequent Rap-A-Lot Records collaborator, died Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. He was 59. (Photo: Tone Capone / Instagram)

The Bay Area beatmaker behind Luniz’s 1995 crossover hit also produced seven tracks on Scarface’s platinum album and Devin the Dude’s “Sticky Green.”

Tone Capone, the Bay Area producer behind Luniz’s “I Got 5 On It” whose catalog later reached deep into Houston through Scarface, Devin the Dude and Rap-A-Lot Records, died Saturday.

He was 59.

Capone, born Anthony Douglas Gilmour, was born in Berkeley and raised in North Oakland near Bushrod Park. Close family members reported his death online Sunday.

Legendary Bay Area producer Tone Capone has passed away at age 59. Causes are unknown at the time. His body of work includes

Luniz - I Got 5 On It
Celly Cel- It’s Goin Down
3xKrazy - Keep It On The Real
Mac Dre - Fire
Mac Mall - Servin Game

He also produced a lot of the classic… pic.twitter.com/B0jkVK9eER

— Nstant Vntage (@nstantvntage) September 14, 2026

A cause of death had not been announced as of Monday. Capone had lived in the Las Vegas area since 2021.

For many listeners, his signature will always be “I Got 5 On It.”

The 1995 Luniz single reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the duo’s debut album, “Operation Stackola,” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

The record's construction was more complicated than a simple sample flip.

The official music video for Luniz's 1995 crossover hit "I Got 5 On It." The track, produced by Tone Capone, reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the most recognizable anthems in West Coast hip-hop history. (Video via YouTube)

Luniz brought Capone Club Nouveau’s “Why You Treat Me So Bad” as a musical starting point. Capone told The Guardian in 2019 that the original groove did not hit hard enough for the sound he wanted.

“I wanted everything in your face,” he said.

Capone slowed the groove and added bells, voices and scratches. In a separate interview with TheWrap, he explained that he replayed the central musical idea rather than directly sampling the Club Nouveau recording. He identified Audio Two’s “Top Billin’” and Kool & the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” as the record’s direct sampled elements.

Capone also pushed for a singer on a hook that Luniz originally rapped. Michael Marshall, his old Berkeley High School friend and a member of Timex Social Club, supplied the melody that became one of the song's defining features.

The record found another life nearly a quarter-century later.

In 2019, a slowed, orchestral “Tethered Mix” of “I Got 5 On It” became a recurring musical device in Jordan Peele’s horror film “Us,” turning a familiar party record into something deliberately unsettling.

Capone's work had begun long before his biggest hit. He learned to DJ while attending Berkeley High and was playing parties and other events while still young. By the mid-1980s, he was building beats with four-track cassette recorders, drum machines, turntables and tape decks.

His résumé eventually expanded well beyond Northern California.

By the mid-1990s, Capone had entered the Rap-A-Lot orbit that connected Bay Area artists with Houston. Mike Dean later told HipHopDX that he brought Capone in to help produce Scarface’s 1997 album “The Untouchable.”

The surviving album credits show how substantial that role became.

Scarface's "Smile," featuring 2Pac and Johnny P, from the 1997 platinum album "The Untouchable." Tone Capone served as a co-producer on the track alongside Mike Dean and Scarface, marking one of his most prominent collaborations with Houston's Rap-A-Lot Records. (Video via YouTube)

Capone shares production credit on seven tracks: “Untouchable,” “Southside,” “Money Makes the World Go Round,” “Mary Jane,” “Smile,” “Smartz” and “Faith.” His collaborators across those tracks included Scarface, Dean, N.O. Joe and Domo.

“The Untouchable” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum.

Among Capone’s contributions was “Smile,” the Scarface record featuring 2Pac and Johnny P. Official Rap-A-Lot metadata credits the production to Scarface, Dean and Capone.

The Houston connection continued beyond Scarface.

Capone produced “Sticky Green,” featuring Scarface, from Devin the Dude’s 1998 debut album, “The Dude.” Devin later recalled that Scarface, Capone and a musician named Harm brought the music to him as the song was taking shape.

Back home, Capone’s credits stretched across generations of Bay Area rap. He worked with artists including E-40, Celly Cel, 3XKrazy, The Click, Dru Down, Mac Dre, Mac Mall and the Jacka.

He remained involved in music in later years even after taking a hospital job and eventually retiring from that work.

“I Got 5 On It” will inevitably be the first record attached to Tone Capone’s name.

The credits that come after it — Scarface, 2Pac, Devin the Dude, E-40, Celly Cel, 3XKrazy and Mac Dre among them — explain why his legacy was considerably larger than one hit.

Timothy Joseph, the Original Buc Wild of ‘Star & Buc Wild,’ Dies at 47

Timothy “Buc Wild” Joseph, the broadcaster who helped take “Star & Buc Wild” from Manhattan public-access television to MTV and one of the most visible morning shows in New York hip-hop radio, has died. He was 47.

His older half-brother and longtime broadcasting partner, Troi “Star” Torain, announced Joseph’s death during a livestream Wednesday, saying his brother died Sunday, Sept. 6.

A cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.

Torain described Joseph as someone who was “like a son” to him and spoke about a side of his brother that listeners rarely heard on the air. Joseph struggled with dyslexia, Torain said, and the two worked on his reading while they were at Hot 97, with station executives Tracy Cloherty and Judy Ellis among those who supported him.

For listeners who remember New York hip-hop radio at the turn of the millennium, Buc Wild was part of a name that seemed to turn up everywhere for a while — in print, on television and eventually in morning drive.

The idea started with Torain’s “Reality Check” column in The Source, where he developed the Star and Buc Wild characters during the 1990s. In 1998, the concept became a public-access television show on Manhattan Neighborhood Network, with Joseph beside his brother as Buc Wild.

A year later, MTV brought the pair to “Beat Suite,” a weekday music program that gave the act a national platform.

Radio made the name considerably bigger.

 

By March 2000, Hot 97 had moved Star and Buc Wild into morning drive alongside Miss Jones and DJ Enuff. Contemporary radio-trade coverage identified Joseph as Torain’s partner as the station assembled a show designed to compete in one of the most important and closely watched radio markets in the country.

The timing mattered.

This was an era when New York terrestrial radio could still shape the daily conversation around hip-hop. A record could gain momentum because Hot 97 played it. An interview could become news before the morning show was over. On-air personalities were not merely introducing songs; they were part of the culture surrounding them.

Torain supplied much of the confrontation that made “Star & Buc Wild” famous — and frequently infamous. Joseph played a different role.

Torain later described Buc Wild as the younger voice who helped keep him connected to artists, records and changes in the culture. That dynamic gave the show its balance: Star pushed, provoked and argued, while Buc Wild operated closer to the music and the younger audience the program was trying to reach.

The Hot 97 run lasted until 2003. Star & Buc Wild subsequently signed with Clear Channel and worked in Hartford before the brand returned to New York at rival Power 105.1.

That part of the history is more complicated than many retrospectives suggest.

By July 2005, Torain told the radio trade publication Radio & Records that Joseph had been the original Buc Wild, but another staffer, Kaheem, was then filling the role. By that point, “Buc Wild” had effectively become both Joseph’s broadcasting identity and a character within the larger Star & Buc Wild franchise.

It is an important distinction when tracing Joseph’s career.

The Power 105.1 show ended in 2006 after Torain made threatening, racist and sexually explicit remarks involving the family of rival Hot 97 personality DJ Envy. Clear Channel fired Torain after the broadcast.

Contemporary reports attributed those remarks to Torain, not Joseph.

Joseph eventually reunited with his brother on the air. In late 2007, The Associated Press reported that Torain and Joseph were preparing to return together to New York morning radio, and Pulse 87 launched in 2008 with “Star & Buc Wild” in its morning lineup.

By then, the media environment that had made their name was beginning to change.

The kind of personality-driven, free-form hip-hop conversation that once required space in a magazine, a public-access slot or a terrestrial radio signal was moving online. Blogs, streaming video, podcasts and social media would eventually make that style of commentary available to anyone with an audience.

Torain followed it there, building “The Star Report” online and continuing the confrontational broadcasting style that had defined much of his career.

Joseph became far less visible.

That makes Torain’s remembrance of his brother more revealing than another rundown of radio stations and controversies. Behind the deliberately outsized Buc Wild character was a younger brother navigating dyslexia, learning the business and helping turn an idea that began in a magazine column into a recognizable name in hip-hop media.

“Star & Buc Wild” was never built to be restrained. Provocation was part of the product, and the show repeatedly pushed — and sometimes crossed — the limits of what radio stations were prepared to put on the air.

But Joseph’s place in that history is more specific than the controversies surrounding the brand.

He was there before the major stations and before the national exposure. He was beside Torain when “Star & Buc Wild” was a public-access show, when MTV came calling and when Hot 97 put the pair in front of New York every morning.

The Buc Wild role would eventually be filled by someone else.

Timothy Joseph was the original.

Cassandra Wilson, Singular Voice Who Connected Jazz, Blues and R&B, Dies at 70

Cassandra Wilson performs at the Ottawa Bluesfest in Ottawa, Ontario, on July 3, 2008. The two-time Grammy Award winner, whose rich contralto and adventurous approach brought jazz into conversation with blues, R&B, folk and other musical traditions, died Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in her native Jackson, Mississippi. She was 70. (Photo by Scott Penner/CC BY-SA 2.0)

Cassandra Wilson, the two-time Grammy-winning singer whose unmistakable contralto carried blues, R&B, folk, country and the sounds of her native Mississippi into some of the most adventurous jazz recordings of her generation, has died. She was 70.

Wilson died Tuesday morning in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, Hinds County Coroner Jeramiah Howard confirmed. Her longtime manager, Robert Torre, announced her death Wednesday, saying Wilson died peacefully at home surrounded by family and close friends.

A cause of death was not announced.

Wilson emerged as a major voice in the 1980s and became one of jazz's most distinctive stars during the following decade, challenging expectations about both what a jazz singer should sound like and what songs belonged in a jazz repertoire.

Her breakthrough 1993 album, “Blue Light ’Til Dawn,” drew from blues, jazz, folk and popular music and included her interpretations of songs associated with Robert Johnson, Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell.

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“New Moon Daughter” pushed the idea further in 1995, moving from Billie Holiday and Son House to Hank Williams, Neil Young and the Monkees without losing the musical identity holding it together.

The album earned Wilson her first Grammy Award for best jazz vocal performance.

She would win again for “Loverly,” released in 2008, and received four Grammy nominations during her career.

Wilson's reach also extended into hip-hop during a period when the genre's relationship with jazz was rapidly evolving. She appeared on “Swept Away” from the Roots' 1995 album “Do You Want More?!!!??!,” a record that helped establish the Philadelphia group's live-band approach to hip-hop.

For Wilson, crossing those boundaries was less a detour than an extension of where she came from.

Born in Jackson in 1955, she grew up listening to music that included Motown, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. Her father, Herman B. Fowlkes, was a musician, and Wilson began piano lessons at 6 before taking up other instruments.

After spending time in New Orleans, she moved to New York in the early 1980s and became associated with saxophonist Steve Coleman and the M-Base Collective, the experimental group of musicians whose ideas helped reshape contemporary jazz.

Wilson eventually moved toward the spacious, acoustic sound that became one of her signatures.

Her low, instantly identifiable voice could make familiar material sound as though it had originated somewhere else entirely.

That quality allowed Wilson to move through musical traditions that were often separated by genre labels — Delta blues, jazz standards, rock, folk, R&B and country — while keeping Mississippi at the center of her sound.

Jon Batiste, who toured with Wilson early in his career, remembered that quality Wednesday.

In a tribute posted after her death, Batiste wrote that Wilson's combination of folkloric, R&B, diasporic, experimental and popular music had a major influence on him. He said her Mississippi heritage remained present regardless of how far her music traveled stylistically.

“She was one of the first people to take me on tour around the world, the great Cassandra Wilson,” Batiste wrote.

Jackson Mayor John Horhn also paid tribute to Wilson, saying the city had lost an extraordinary native daughter and the world a singular musical voice.

Wilson's later work continued to resist easy categorization.

In 2015, she released “Coming Forth by Day,” an album honoring Billie Holiday released during the centennial of Holiday's birth. It would become Wilson's final studio album.

The National Endowment for the Arts named Wilson a Jazz Master in 2022, placing her among recipients of one of the nation's highest honors for jazz musicians.