NY Daily News Releases Details About Chris Lighty's Death

Hip-hop manager Chris Lighty dead after shooting himself outside his Bronx apartment 

Hip-hop mogul Chris Lighty killed himself Thursday after a heated argument with his estranged wife in the Bronx, police sources told the Daily News.

Lighty — a longtime manager who worked with the likes of 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Diddy, Ja Rule and Mariah Carey — walked away from the argument after declaring “I’m tired of this,” before shooting himself in the head behind his South Riverdale home about 11:30 a.m., the sources said.

Cops found Lighty, 44, the founder and chief of Violator Management, lying faceup on the basement patio in a pool of blood with a 9-mm. pistol at his side, the sources said.

Lighty and Veronica

The shocking suicide followed a wild spat between Lighty and his 36-year-old wife, Veronica, who filed for divorce last year.

Moving trucks were at the home, as the veteran music manager prepared to move out of the three-story townhouse, sources said.

Law enforcement sources said Lighty’s wife of seven years told police he was facing financial woes that include a $5 million debt to the IRS. However, The Associated Press reported that Lighty paid off most of what he owed by selling a Manhattan apartment for $5.6 million in October.

Lighty still owed more than $330,000 in state and federal taxes, the AP reported. And in April, he was sued by City National Bank for not paying them after he had overdrawn his account by $53,584.

His 17-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son were in the W. 232nd St. home and left when the argument erupted. They were in a park nearby when Lighty, H who has three other children, stepped outside and pulled the trigger, sources said.

“It’s just devastating,” said Dan Charnas, author of “The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop” who featured Lighty in the final chapters of his book. “He was the personification of hip hop’s growth into the world.”

Charnas recalled how the kid from the Bronx River Houses evolved into a successful businessman.
“He wasn’t on the straight and narrow,” the writer said, but “learned to restrain whatever demons he had. Maybe in the end his circumstances weakened his restraints.” Lighty — who was reportedly worth an estimated $30 million — helped launch the careers of several artists, including brokering a multimillion-dollar deal for 50 Cent.

Lighty pushed the Queens rapper to sign a deal with Glaceau Energy Brands when they unveiled their new product, Vitamin Water, in 2004.

The “In Da Club” rapper joined the campaign team, appearing in several ads for about three years.

When Coca-Cola bought Glaceau for $4.1 billion, 50 Cent cashed out his 10% stake in the company — which reportedly earned the rapper between $60 million and $100 million.

Rumors swirled that the pair had a falling out, but Lighty took to his blog to clear the air.

In his final blog post on his website, ChrisLighty.com, he wrote that he was “BUSY TRYING TO STAY AHEAD OF THE RAT RACE WE CALL HIP HOP.”

Lighty said allegations that he and his brother were attacked by a member of 50 Cent’s crew were simply ridiculous.

The June 23, 2010 post, titled “chaos and mayhem . . . hip hop,” continued with an eerie message, apparently aimed at twisted stories involving his clients.

“YOU HAVE SEEN THE SENSELESS LOSSES THAT WE HAVE HAD IN HIP HOP ... THE CHAOS AND MAYHEM WILL DESTROY HIP HOP.”

Lighty, who was born Darrel Lighty, was raised with five siblings by a single mother in the projects. He had his big break in the late 1980s, when Russell Simmons offered him a gig to work for his management company.

His career quickly catapulted after Lighty founded Violator Management, which merged last year with Primary Wave Talent Management to create Primary Violator.

In 2008, he was named one of Crain’s 40 under 40.

“When you’re growing up in the Reagan era, you really learn the value of a food stamp — and you never want to go back there,” he told Crain’s.

“On the entrepreneurial side, this is one of the biggest losses in hip hop,” said Datwon Thomas, executive editor of Vibe magazine.

Lighty had one arrest on his record, a pinch for weapons possession, a law enforcement source said.

As news of his sudden death spread Thursday, some of the industry’s brightest stars took to Twitter to share their condolences.

“In shock,” tweeted Sean (Diddy) Combs. “R.I.P. Chris Lighty.”

“Rest peacefully Chris Lighty, my prayers go out to family and loved ones! Dear God please have mercy,” tweeted songstress Rihanna.

“R.I.P. CHRIS LIGHTY THE MAN THAT SAVED MY LIFE,” Bronx rapper Fat Joe posted on Twitter. “I Would Be Nothing Without YOU!!! My Kids Appreciate YOU God Bless Chris Lighty.”

Nick Cannon posted: “I’m devastated right now. I can’t believe my big brother Chris Lighty is gone . . . He was a pioneer, a mentor, and a great friend.”

Outside Lighty’s home, some stars showed up to help finish removing boxes Lighty was packing to take away from the house.

Deejay Funkmaster Flex and rapper Busta Rhymes were seen outside helping load two UHaul trucks parked on the street.

“I am utterly, utterly devastated,” said hip-hop activist Harry Allen. “It feels unfair to us. He was our wealth. Chris was like the fruition of all that could be. He was loved. ”

"Timbaland"

From the radio to MTV to the pop charts, no producer dominated hip-hop of the late 1990s and early 2000s more than Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley. With his jittery future-shock beats — characterized by heavy bass and skittering synths, and often augmented by avant-garde touches like Indian tabla — the Norfolk, Virginia was behind massive hits for Missy Elliott ("Get Your Freak On"), Justin Timberlake ("Cry Me a River") and Nelly Furtado ("Promiscuous"), to name a few. While beat-making is Timbaland's forte, he's also an MC, with three albums of his own plus two with rapper Magoo. 

Born Timothy Zachery Mosley on March 10, 1971, Timbaland began making music as a teenager, performing in a band with fellow Virginians Magoo and Pharrell Williams, who became a founding member of the Neptunes. Timbaland also became friends with fellow Norfolk native Missy Elliott, who was in an early 1990s R&B girl group called Sista. When Sista was signed by DeVante Swing, a member of Jodeci, Mosley and Magoo followed Elliott to Suffern, NY, and — along with singer Ginuwine — joined Swing's crew of writer-producer-performers. Mosley worked on Jodeci's 1995 The Show, the After Party, the Hotel; soon, he, Magoo, Elliott, Playa, and Ginuwine split from Swing. 

Timbaland began attracting the music industry's attention in 1996, when his work on Ginuwine's second album Ginuwine . . . the Bachelor spawned the sexed-up Top Ten hit "Pony." He then collaborated with R&B sensation Aaliyah on her 1996 album, One in a Million; the title track hit Number Two on the Dance chart. Timbaland was developing his signature sound: snaking syncopated drum patterns, skittering hi-hats, plinking keyboards and strong, glutinous bass. 

He inspired even more buzz when he produced his old partner Missy Elliott's 1997 smash solo debut, Supa Dupa Fly, which featured the groundbreaking hits "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" and "Sock It 2 Me." Around that time, Timbaland flexed his mic skills, too, releasing Welcome to Our World with Magoo. The album yielded two hits: "Up Jumps Da Boogie," which featured Elliott and Aaliyah, and "Clock Strikes."

In 1998, Timbaland released his solo LP, Tim's Bio: Life From Da Bassment, which boasted superstar cameos from Jay-Z, Nas and Ludacris. But he scored even bigger with a stunning string of singles for others, including Jay-Z's "Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99)," Nicole "Make It Hot" (featuring Missy Elliott) and "Are You That Somebody," Aaliyah's contribution to the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack. The deeply funky, avant-garde tune — which featured heaving sound gaps and a gurgling baby — cemented the "Timbaland sound" in the public ear, and raised the bar for other producers to top its audacious style. 

Timbaland next cooked up beats for Elliott's 1999 LP Da Real World, and Ginuwine's 100% Ginuwine ; he also contributed four standout tracks to Jay-Z's Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter, including the smash "Big Pimpin'," which, noted Village Voice critic Robert Christgau, sounded as if it "were recorded in Cairo." The song signaled a shift in Timbaland's tastes: he began to sample Eastern sounds, a style that reached its apex in 2001 on Elliott's Miss E . . . So Addictive. The album's single, "Get Ur Freak On," was driven by an Indian tabla and Jamaican-dancehall-style drum and bass. 

Timbaland's experimental streak was also evident on four tracks he crafted for Romeo Must Die, the soundtrack for a 2000 film starring Jet Li and Aaliyah. The singer's sultry Number One tune "Try Again" featured a Roland TB-303 bass-synthesizer, an instrument usually associated with acid house music. He also helmed three cuts — including "We Need a Resolution" and "More Than a Woman" — on the chart-topping Aaliyah, released shortly before the singer's death in a plane crash at age 22. 

Around that time, Timbaland reunited with Magoo for Indecent Proposal. He also oversaw a series of albums and singles: Bubba Sparxxx's Dark Days, Bright Nights, Petey Pablo's Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry and Ludacris's hit "Roll Out (My Business)" (Number 17, 2001). Soon after, Timbaland reteamed with Elliott for Under Construction (Number Three, 2002), which blended left-of-center beats and straightforward funk. He also produced a handful of tracks for Justin Timberlake's 2002 smash Justified, including the hard-hitting breakup tune "Cry Me a River." In 2003, Timbaland put out another album with Magoo (Under Construction Pt. II) and produced Elliott's This Is Not a Test!, neither of which saw major commercial success. In fact, Timbaland's peak work around this time was Bubba Sparxxx's Deliverance, which fused Timbaland's off-kilter percussion with countrified fiddles. 

Timbaland laid fairly low in the mid-2000s — even Elliott's 2005 The Cookbook featured minimal input from him. He played the journeyman, contributing tracks to several albums and garnering a handful of hits for L.L. Cool J and Ludacris, among others. It was during this time that Timbaland moved to Miami and began work as a bodybuilder; he also began collaborating with Nate "Danjahandz" Hills, who is credited as co-producer on several songs from this period forward. In 2006, Timbaland's relative lull ended decisively, when he produced two chart-topping albums: Nelly Furtado's Loose and Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds. Singles from both albums ruled the pop charts for the next two years: Furtado's "Promiscuous," "Maneater," "Say It Right," "All Good Things (Come to an End) and "Do It"; and Timberlake's "SexyBack," "My Love" (featuring T.I), "What Goes Around . . . Comes Around," "Summer Love" and "LoveStoned." Timbaland continued his hot streak with his 2007 solo disc Shock Value, which shot to Number Five and featured the Top Ten hits "Give It to Me" (with Furtado and Timbaland), "The Way I Are" (featuring Keri Hilson) and "Apologize" (featuring OneRepublic). In 2009, he released Shock Value's sequel, Shock Value II. Though Timbaland corralled a superstar crew – including Timberlake, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus – to guest on the disc, it wasn't as successful as its predecessor; it peaked at Number 36 on the pop charts.

Diddy Signs YouTube Sensation Megan Nicole to Bad Boy

A young Texan girl by the name of Megan Nicole just got an upgrade.

Bad Boy Records founder Sean “Diddy” Combs and label President Harve Pierre have signed the 18-year-old YouTube songstress to the label.

She has over 1-million YouTube subscribers and has grossed more than 250 million views. This is just from doing covers of songs like “The Lazy Song” and “Call Me Maybe.” Bad Boy/Interscope execs plan to boost her platform even further.

Pandora's Second Quarter: As Losses Grow, the Message Shifts to Mobile

Pandora shifted its message for its fiscal second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, putting more emphasis on the growth of its mobile revenue and listening hours.

During the earnings call, Pandora CEO Joe Kennedy unveiled an unprecedented number of details meant to show advertisers have and will continue to follow Pandora listeners to mobile devices. Compared to the prior-year period, mobile revenue was up 86%, mobile listener hours grew 96% year-over-year, and mobile revenue improved 86% to $59.2 million

"Our mobile monetization strategies are working," Kennedy declared confidently.

Pandora Mobile Revenue Outpaces Overall Growth, Yet Losses Grow

 

Pandora shares were up 7.9% to $10.08 in after-hours trading -- not so much because of the disclosures about mobile growth, but because the company improved its fiscal 2013 guidance. Revenue is expected to be $425 million to $432 million, up from $420 million to $427 million, and net loss per share is expected to fall between ($0.04) and ($0.08), an improvement from earlier guidance of ($0.07) and ($0.11).

Top-line numbers looked good, as usual. In the second fiscal quarter ended July 31, Pandora grew its revenue 52% to $89.4 million. Total revenue for the first six months of the company's fiscal year was $182 million, with $160 million coming from advertising and $22 million coming from paid subscriptions. Although Pandora is no longer seeing revenue growth at or near triple digits, it grew revenue by $29.7 million in the first quarter and $34.3 million in the second quarter.

Pandora Shares Drop After Fourth-Quarter Earnings Report

 

The company posted a slight loss of $5.4 million for the quarter and $25.6 million in the first six months of its fiscal year (due to a $20.2 million loss in the first quarter). It posted a net loss of $3.7 million in the same period a year ago.

Content acquisition costs continued to drag on Pandora's earnings but improved from the first quarter. Royalties paid to rights holders -- mainly for the performance of sound recordings -- accounted for 59.8% of revenue during the most recent quarter and 63.9% during the first half of the fiscal year. Royalties accounted for 69.1% of revenue in the first fiscal quarter of 2012. Those content acquisition costs are between 9.4 percentage points (for the second quarter) and 12 percentage points (for the first quarter) higher than previous periods.

Pandora and Live Nation Disclose Executive Compensation

 

Content acquisition costs keep growing because people keep listening. Listener hours increased 80% to 3.3 billion. Active users grew 48% to 54.9 million at the end of July. The company expanded into Australia and New Zealand in July, but its number of listeners and resulting royalties are immaterial relative to its U.S. operations.

Mobile, which accounts for 75% of Pandora usage, is an important topic because it presents a unique challenge (and is a major, ongoing concern of equity analysts). Listeners have moved from the desktop to mobile devices. Pandora has been coaxing advertising to its mobile platforms and slowly growing the revenue it generates per 1,000 impressions. It's a numbers game, and Kennedy believes Pandora is on the right track.

"If you look at the historical trend," he told Billboard.biz before Wednesday's earnings call, "we are narrowing that gap, meaning the revenue growth is approaching the listener hour growth and that ultimately is the key to getting the content acquisition costs down."

Pandora CFO Steve Cakebread announced during the earnings call he plans to leave the company later this year.

Mia Love Wikipedia page vandalized

Rep. Mia Love's Wikipedia page was vandalized overnight with racist and sexist epithets.

The attack comes as Democrats and liberal media outlets criticize or downplay the GOP's effort at showcasing diversity at their convention in Tampa.

Love, a Utah city mayor and congressional candidate who is black, delivered a brief but rousing address Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention. The daughter of Haitian immigrants told her family story, throwing in some jabs at President Obama's "divided" America for good measure. 

Bloggers were quick to spot some inflammatory changes to her Wikipedia page that night. Though the changes have since been removed, screen grabs posted to various websites show one section called her a "dirty, worthless whore" who sold out to big business. Another section again called her a "sell-out" to the "right wing hate machine," before accusing her of being exploited "like the House N----- she truly is."

Elvis' Underwear Goes Up for Auction

 

 

A pair of unwashed briefs belonging to Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley's underwear, complete with stains, will be sold at an auction in Manchester, England, next month, the BBC reports. Presley wore the undies at a 1977 show before the auction house acquired them from Presley's father Vernon. The dirty drawers could fetch up to £10,000, or around $15,800.

Also up for auction are Presley's personal Bible, which was given to him in 1957 and contains handwritten notes, and 16mm home movie footage taken by Priscilla Presley. The Bible is expected to go for £25,000, or around $39,500.

Omega Auctions will stream the auction live on September 8th.

President Obama to Reddit Users: 'Ask Me Anything'

President Barack Obama participated in an "AMA" (Ask Me Anything) Q&A session with Reddit users on Wednesday afternoon, taking questions on the social networking site about everything from Internet freedom and student loans to basketball and beer.

Here are some of the highlights from the conversation:

How are you going help small businesses in 2013 and 2014? and what if any bills are you going to implement for small businesses, in 2013, and 2014?
–PartyInYourMouth

Obama: We've really focused on this since I came into office – 18 tax cuts for small business, easier funding from the SBA. Going forward, I want to keep taxes low for the 98 percent of small businesses that have $250,000 or less in income, make it easier for small business to access financing, and expand their opportunities to export. And we will be implementing the Jobs Act bill that I signed that will make it easier for startups to access crowd-funding and reduce their tax burden at the start-up stage.

What are you going to do to end the corrupting influence of money in politics during your second term?
–suzmerk
Obama: Money has always been a factor in politics, but we are seeing something new in the no-holds barred flow of seven and eight figure checks, most undisclosed, into super-PACs; they fundamentally threaten to overwhelm the political process over the long run and drown out the voices of ordinary citizens. We need to start with passing the Disclose Act that is already written and been sponsored in Congress – to at least force disclosure of who is giving to who. We should also pass legislation prohibiting the bundling of campaign contributions from lobbyists. Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn't revisit it). Even if the amendment process falls short, it can shine a spotlight of the super-PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change.

Is Internet Freedom an issue you'd push to add to the Democratic Party's 2012 platform?
–SharkGirl
Obama: Internet freedom is something I know you all care passionately about; I do too. We will fight hard to make sure that the internet remains the open forum for everybody – from those who are expressing an idea to those to want to start a business. And although there will be occasional disagreements on the details of various legislative proposals, I won't stray from that principle – and it will be reflected in the platform.

What was the most difficult decision that you had to make during this term?
-FifthSurprise
Obama: The decision to surge our forces in afghanistan. Any time you send our brave men and women into battle, you know that not everyone will come home safely, and that necessarily weighs heavily on you. The decision did help us blunt the taliban's momentum, and is allowing us to transition to afghan lead – so we will have recovered that surge at the end of this month, and will end the war at the end of 2014. But knowing of the heroes that have fallen is something you never forget.

What is the first thing you'll do on November 7th, win or lose?
–daveforamerica
Obama: Win or lose, I'll be thanking everybody who is working so hard – especially all the volunteers in field offices all across the country, and the amazing young people in our campaign offices.

Who's your favourite Basketball player?
–karlfranks

 Obama: Jordan – I'm a Bulls guy.

What's the recipe for the White House's beer?
–silent1mezzo

Obama: It will be out soon! I can tell from first hand experience, it is tasty.

I am recent law school graduate. Despite graduating from a top school, I find myself unemployed with a large student loan debt burden. While I'm sure my immediate prospects will improve in time, it's difficult to be optimistic about the future knowing that my ability to live a productive life – to have a fulfilling career, to buy a house, to someday raise a family – is hampered by my debt and the bleak economic outlook for young people. I know that I'm not alone in feeling this way. Many of us are demoralized. Your 2008 campaign was successful in large part due to the efforts of younger demographics. We worked for you, we campaigned for you, and we turned out in record numbers to vote for you. What can I say to encourage those in similar situations as I am to show up again in November? What hope can you offer us for your second term?
–hmlee

Obama: I understand how tough it is out there for recent grads. You're right – your long term prospects are great, but that doesn't help in the short term. Obviously some of the steps we have taken already help young people at the start of their careers. Because of the health care bill, you can stay on your parent's plan until you're 26. Because of our student loan bill, we are lowering the debt burdens that young people have to carry. But the key for your future, and all our futures, is an economy that is growing and creating solid middle class jobs – and that's why the choice in this election is so important. The other party has two ideas for growth – more taxs cuts for the wealthy (paid for by raising tax burdens on the middle class and gutting investments like education) and getting rid of regulations we've put in place to control the excesses on wall street and help consumers. These ideas have been tried, they didnt work, and will make the economy worse. I want to keep promoting advanced manufacturing that will bring jobs back to America, promote all-American energy sources (including wind and solar), keep investing in education and make college more affordable, rebuild our infrastructure, invest in science, and reduce our deficit in a balanced way with prudent spending cuts and higher taxes on folks making more than $250,000/year. I don't promise that this will solve all our immediate economic challenges, but my plans will lay the foundation for long term growth for your generation, and for generations to follow. So don't be discouraged – we didn't get into this fix overnight, and we won't get out overnight, but we are making progress and with your help will make more.

How do you balance family life and hobbies with, well, being the POTUS?
–gobearss
Obama: It's hard – truthfully the main thing other than work is just making sure that I'm spending enough time with michelle and the girls. The big advantage I have is that I live above the store – so I have no commute! So we make sure that when I'm in DC I never miss dinner with them at 6:30 pm – even if I have to go back down to the Oval for work later in the evening. I do work out every morning as well, and try to get a basketball or golf game in on the weekends just to get out of the bubble. Speaking of balance, though, I need to get going so I'm back in DC in time for dinner. But I want to thank everybody at reddit for participating – this is an example of how technology and the internet can empower the sorts of conversations that strengthen our democracy over the long run. AND REMEMBER TO VOTE IN NOVEMBER – if you need to know how to register, go to Gottaregister.com. By the way, if you want to know what I think about this whole reddit experience – NOT BAD!