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EMINEM SUIED BY A LITTLE OLD LADY
Eminem's mom isn't the only grandma with a bone to pick with the star rapper.

A 70-year-old Los Angeles woman is suing Eminem and producer Dr. Dre for unlawfully sampling music by her late husband on the hit "Guilty Conscience" from Em's 1999 disc, The Slim Shady LP.

In a case filed last month in U.S. District Court, Harlene Stein says "Guilty Conscience" features snippets from a 24-second piece called "Pigs Go Home" that her husband Ronald wrote for the score of the 1970 film "Getting Straight," which starred Elliott Gould and Candice Bergen. The sections Eminem and Dre used compose the background instrumental for the rap song.

Stein's complaint also names Eminem's music publishing companies, Eight Mile Style Music, Ain't Nuthin' Goin' on But F---in', Ensign Music Corporation, WB Music Corporation, Famous Music Corporation, Colgems-EMI Music Publishing Inc., and Interscope Records as co-defendants.

The liner notes for The Slim Shady LP state that "Guilty Conscience" features an "interpolation" of "Go Home Pigs," but Stein is never credited as the song's composer, nor was his wife ever paid royalties for use of the song. Stein died in 1988 and his wife inherited his estate.

The suit does not specify damages, which Stein's attorneys are calculating, but they could amount to well over million. Stein is asking for 5 percent of the retail list price of 90 percent of the 4.6 million copies of The Slim Shady LP sold in America and 2.5 percent of the retail price of 90 percent of the copies of the album sold abroad. In addition, she wants substantial payments from sheet-music sales and publishing royalties, as well as punitive damages.

Finally, Stein asks that Interscope not distribute records with the sample of "Pigs Go Home" and that all existing copies be pulled from shelves.
  C-MURDER CONVICTED OF MURDER C-Murder was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder in the nightclub shooting of a 16-year-old boy.
The charge carries an automatic life sentence.
Relatives of C-Murder, whose real name is Corey Miller, began sobbing as the verdict was read and were escorted out of the courtroom. Women were heard screaming in the hallway outside.
Miller is the younger brother of rapper Percy Miller Jr., who is known as Master P.
Their father, Percy Miller Sr., said the family would seek an appeal. "My son didn't do that," he said.
Steve Thomas was beaten and fatally shot Jan. 12, 2002, during a fight outside the Platinum Club in Harvey.

"Now Steve can rest in peace," his father, George, said after the verdict.

Assistant District Attorney Douglas W. Freese said he was satisfied with the verdict: "I believe the killer has been put where he belongs."

Defense attorney Ronald J. Rokosky did not speak to the media following the verdict.

Before they began deliberations Tuesday, jurors were told they could find Miller, 30, innocent of second-degree murder but guilty of manslaughter in Thomas' death.

But Assistant District Attorney Roger Jordan urged them to convict on the more serious charge. "Miller's a murderer. He's a killer. He took away something you can't give back — Steve's life," Jordan said.

Two prosecution witnesses testified that Miller beat and shot Thomas. Nine defense witnesses said he had nothing to do with the killing, but gave different descriptions of his clothes and of his whereabouts within the club.

Rokosky argued that investigators botched the case, finding only two witnesses who could identify Miller as the gunman out of 150 people in the club.




EMINEM
  I DID NOT SHOOT THE KID

C-MURDER
  SILK RICK RELEASED FROM JAIL Rapper Slick Rick, whose real name is Ricky Walters, was finally released from a Bradenton, Florida, INS detention center on Friday (November 7) after 17 months of incarceration. Slick Rick was granted his freedom by Judge Kimba Wood of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York on Friday, October 31. Wood ruled that the Board of Immigration Appeals should never have reversed its earlier decision that the British-born rapper is a legal U.S. resident.


Slick Rick won an initial bout with the INS in 1995, which allowed him to stay in the country upon his release from prison. However, the INS overturned that decision in 1997. According to the rapper's lawyer, he was never notified of the decision.


The rapper was found guilty of second-degree attempted murder in 1991 for shooting his cousin, and he served five years and 12 days in prison. U.S. Federal law states that any non-citizen who serves more than five years in prison must be deported. This law, which hit the books in 1996, was applied retroactively in Slick Rick's case.


Slick Rick, who was born in London, was arrested on June 1, 2002, after attempting to return to the United States following a performance on a cruise hosted by popular radio host Tom Joyner.


For Slick Rick it was a long week waiting for his release following the judge's decision. The rapper told MTV.com, "There was a lot of anxiety. You don't know if it's going to be this day, this hour. It's been a week since the judge granted me permission, so there's been a lot of butterflies in my stomach, you might say."


Upon his release, the rapper drove to Fort Lauderdale with his attorney to catch a flight to his Bronx, New York home.


Slick Rick's last release was 1999's gold-certified the Art Of Storytelling. The rapper's best-seller to date was 1988's platinum-certified the Great Adventures Of Slick Rick.

SILK RICK