Rapper 50 Cent has settled his lawsuit against an engineering firm
over repairs and renovations to a Connecticut mansion he bought from
boxer Mike Tyson in 2003, a court official said Friday.
Details of the settlement, confirmed by Linda Cohn, deputy chief clerk at Hartford Superior Court, were not released.
The rapper's lawyer, Michael Feldman, declined to comment. A
message was left for an attorney for the firm, BVH Integrated Services
of Bloomfield.
The case went to trial Tuesday, and the entertainer testified his
lawyers hired the firm to inspect the property before he bought it. He
said that BVH came back with an estimate of about $500,000 for needed
repairs, but that he ended up spending $6 million.
Lawyers said that about $3 million of that was spent on
maintenance repairs that should have been included in the firm's
estimate, and that the rest was spent on additional improvements.
BVH's lawyer, Michael Byrne, has disputed 50 Cent's allegations,
saying his client shouldn't be liable for the difference because 50
Cent wanted "extravagant and costly upgrades."
The firm was to make a visual inspection to determine how much it
would cost to repair the roof, decks, driveway and other aspects of the
property.
A contractor hired by BVH to conduct the 2003 inspection, John
Wilcox Jr., testified Tuesday that there was no intention to provide an
inaccurate estimate, and he wasn't given enough time to do a
comprehensive review. He also said the mansion was built with
inexpensive materials.
50 Cent, also known as Curtis Jackson, sued in 2006. He put the
mansion up for sale in 2007 for $18.5 million and allowed the MTV show
"Cribs" to film an episode to show off the details of the 19-bedroom,
37-bathroom property. The home includes a recording studio and a
nightclub that features a swing dangling from the ceiling.
There were no buyers, and 50 Cent said Tuesday that the house is no longer for sale.
Tyson bought the estate for $2.8 million in 1996 from Colonial
Realty founder Benjamin Sisti, who was sent to prison for nine years
for fraud after Colonial went bankrupt in 1990 and investors lost more
than $350 million.
Dave Matthews Band will likely bow at No. 1 on the Billboard 200
chart next week with "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King," which
industry prognosticators are suggesting could sell as much as 390,000
in its first week. If it debuts at No. 1, the RCA set will be the
band's fifth straight studio album to do so.
(The band celebrated the album's release with a concert at the
relatively intimate Beacon Theater in New York. Be sure to check out
Billboard's extensive interview with Dave Matthews.)
The act's last studio release, 2005's "Stand Up," entered with
465,000. Its three earlier offerings -- 2002's "Busted Stuff," 2001's
"Everyday" and 1998's "Before These Crowded Streets" -- all also
started with more than 400,000 in their debut weeks.
"GrooGrux" also leads the Nielsen SoundScan Building Chart that
was released on June 3, which reflected unweighted sales through the
close of business on Tuesday, June 2. Billboard estimates the seven
merchants who report to Nielsen SoundScan's Building chart -- Trans
World Entertainment, Best Buy, iTunes, Starbucks, Borders, Target and
Anderson Merchandisers -- comprise about 60% of all U.S. album sales.
Other albums in the hunt for high debuts next week include 311's
"Uplifter" (Volcano) and Taking Back Sunday's "New Again" (Warner
Bros.), which both look good for bows within the top 10. Rancid's "Let
The Dominoes Fall" (Hellcat/Epitaph) and Elvis Costello's "Secret,
Profane & Sugarcane" (Hear/CMG) also seem headed for top 20
entries.
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Thirty-eight previously unreleased recordings -- from groups such
as the Who, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival and
Jefferson Airplane -- will dot Rhino's "Woodstock -- 40 Years On: Back
to Yasgur's Farm" box set, which will be released on Aug. 18.
Among the highlights of the six-CD, 77-song collection are a
19-minute rendition of the Dead's "Dark Star," "Amazing Journey" and
"Pinball Wizard" by the Who, "Feelin' Alright" by Joe Cocker, CCR's
"Bad Moon Rising," Blood Sweat and Tears' "You've Made Me So Very
Happy" and tracks from Sweetwater, Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin, Ravi
Shankar, Joan Baez, Melanie, Country Joe & the Fish, Sha Na Na, the
Butterfield Blues Band, Johnny Winter and others.
The set, which lists for $79.98, also restores full-length
performances of Canned Heat's "Woodstock Boogie" (to a whopping 30
minutes) and the Who's "We're Not Gonna Take It," and it includes the
never-released Woodstock performances of Arlo Guthrie's "Coming Into
Los Angeles" and Mountain's "Theme For an Imaginary Western," which
were replaced by better-sounding recordings from other concerts for the
original "Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music" soundtrack.
The track lineup is accurate to the actual running order of the
legendary 1969 festival, and it also includes stage announcements (you
still need to check the brown acid, apparently), Wavy Gravy's
announcement of "breakfast in bed" for the crowd estimated at 500,000,
Max Yasgur's famous speech to the crowd and audio of Abbie Hoffman's
encounter with Who guitarist Pete Townshend.
"This will be the most comprehensive collection of Woodstock music
yet," Rhino Vice-President of A&R Cheryl Pawelski tells
Billboard.com. "The goal was to make it as real as possible...as
authentic an experience as possible. It feels like dirt. It feels like
a field. We wanted to take you there. We worked very hard to make it a
true document of that time."
Co-producers Andy Zax and Mason Williams compiled "Woodstock -- 40
Years On" from the original multitrack tapes recorded during the
festival. Their research also allowed them to put the songs and artists
in the correct order of performance, and the accompanying booklet will
include the accurate sequence complete with full set lists.
One performance is conspicuously absent; Pawelski says Ten Years
After would not clear the use of its performance for the box, meaning
the group's epic version of "Goin' Home" will not be included. The Band
and Keef Hartley were the only other acts that opted out of the set.
"Woodstock -- 40 Years On" follows Rhino's re-release earlier this
week of "Music From the Original Soundtrack and More: Woodstock" and
"Woodstock 2." A new Woodstock.com web site also launched this week,
and a new DVD edition of "Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music -- The
Director's Cut" comes out Tuesday. And on June 30 Legacy adds to the
onslaught with "Woodstock Experience" editions of seminal albums by
five of the festival's acts -- the Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers,"
Janis Joplin's "I Got Dem 'Ol Kozmic Blues Again Mama!," Santana's
debut album, Sly & the Family Stone's "Stand!" and Johnny Winter's
self-titled effort -- each with a second CD featuring the acts'
complete Woodstock performances for the first time ever.
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If you buy an album, you can call it whatever you want — at least
R. Kelly thinks so. In February, Kelly partied in Atlanta club the
Velvet Room with Jazze Pha, DJ Infamous and others and told the crowd
that his new album didn't have a name.
"ATL, what's up? I got my little brother right here, Jazze Pha,"
he said, standing in the VIP balcony. "I'm out here working on the
mutha----in' album. I'm working on a new album, and I'm calling that
mutha----a Untitled. Y'all call it what y'all want."
On Monday, the Pied Piper of R&B told MTV News why he decided to go the Nas route when titling his LP.
"I've been in the biz 17 years, so everyone is used to me naming
my records," he said. "So I wanted to mix it up a little. I want
whoever listens to the record to call it what they want, name it
themselves based on what they feel listening to the music."
This week, Kelly drops his first-ever mixtape, The Demo Tape. "I
took it all the way back to when I first started; all I had was my
demo," he said of the street project. "It's a way to start fresh, be
humble. It's like being a new artist. This is my demo tape for my
fans."
Kelly worked with DJ Drama and DJ Skee on the project, which
combines Kelly's remixes, previously unreleased joints and new cuts
from the forthcoming album.
"He had reached out awhile ago for the mixtape," Drama said of
Kelly's tape. "So I know it's been on his mind. I think it finally just
came together for him. It's a song on there called 'Bangin' the Head
Board.' Problem! He redid Dream's 'Kelly's 12 Play.' Ridiculous. He
gave some exclusives from the album — it's some heat on there. Somebody
that big doing a mixtape is dope. It's keeping the game alive. It's
necessary."
Drama said he expects Kells to shoot videos for at least a couple
of the tracks on the mixtape. "We're trying to go all the way," the man
behind the Gangsta Grillz mixtape series revealed. "It would be better
to take advantage of all forums at the moment."
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Susan Boyle, who became a global star after appearing on a British
television talent contest, has left the London clinic where she was
being treated for exhaustion, her brother said on Friday. The
48-year-old amateur singer from Scotland, whose performance on
"Britain's Got Talent" in April was downloaded nearly 200 million times
on the Internet, was admitted to the Priory clinic on Sunday amid
concerns for her mental health.
"She's much happier," her brother Gerry told GMTV.
"She seems a lot more like herself. I think things are becoming
clearer now and she's much more content. I believe she's in the middle
of London, in a flat in London."
Dowdy and unglamorous, the unemployed church volunteer challenged viewers' notion of what a star should be.
Boyle was thrust into the media limelight with camera crews
camping outside her home and Larry King and Oprah Winfrey inviting her
to appear on their U.S. chat shows.
But as Saturday's final of the popular talent show approached,
Boyle, who was starved of oxygen at birth leading to minor brain
damage, began to show signs of strain, bursting into tears regularly
and threatening to leave the show.
When she failed to win the final, despite overwhelming odds in her
favor, she was admitted to the private clinic suffering from emotional
exhaustion.
Boyle's financial future is seen as secure despite coming second
to dance troupe Diversity, as Britain's Got Talent creator Simon Cowell
and his Syco music label are expected to sign her up for an album.
There has also been talk of a Hollywood movie.
"The way forward now is to talk about where her career goes from here," Boyle's brother said.
"She's absorbing the fact that America has a huge appetite for her
and she's now beginning to believe that yes, indeed, I will be a singer
and there will be a recording career beyond it. It's all she ever
wanted to do."
He backed Cowell to manage Boyle's recording career.
"Simon Cowell -- he's been around the dance floor a few times
hasn't he? I'm sure that he knows that he's got someone who has broken
down the barriers in America before she even gets there and I'm sure
Simon will do a good job for her."
Boyle's brother also confirmed reports that Boyle was expecting to perform in front of U.S. President Barack Obama.
Atlantic has announced that it will relaunch the Elektra Records
imprint, which has been dormant since 2004. The label will be run by
Fueled By Ramen founder John Janick and Atlantic EVP of A&R Mike
Caren.
While the new presidents say they are planning on signing new
artists, the first three artists to join the label all have established
relationships with Atlantic. The first album released on Elektra was
the soundtrack for the HBO show "True Blood," which dropped on May 19.
The company's next release will be the U.S. debut of U.K. dance artist
Little Boots, whose EP "Illuminations" is scheduled for release on June
9.
Elektra has also signed French electronic duo Justice, and rapper
Cee-Lo. Caren says a new Cee-Lo album will be out in the either the
fourth quarter of this year, or first quarter next year. Justice will
release a new album in early 2010.
Janick and Caren say they were approached by Atlantic co-chairs
and COO's Julie Greenwald and Craig Kallman to head up the imprint.
"When Elektra merged with Atlantic five years ago, we always knew
the right moment would come to bring it back to life," said Kallman and
Greenwald. "The great news is that we have found the perfect people to
do it. John and Mike are two of the most passionate, creative,
forward-thinking young executives in our business. They both started
their careers as teenagers and have gone on to champion some of the
most exciting new music of the last decade. The independent,
entrepreneurial spirit that long defined Elektra is in great hands, and
we are truly thrilled to see the label take flight once again."
Janick also suggests the approaching 60th anniversary of the
launch of Elektra as another reason for the relaunch of the imprint.
"We are planning on building an eclectic brand," Janick says.
"We're looking for artists with potential. We're not an incubator
label; we're going to develop artists and get them to the next level."
He adds that he will continue to run Fueled By Ramen and extend
the 360 model they have used to Elektra, noting that Little Boots is a
360 artist.
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