Florida Sentinel Bulletin

DUARTE, CA — Motown record producer and songwriter Frank Wilson, who worked with the Supremes, the Temptations and Marvin Gaye, has died in California at 71.

Daughter Tracey Stein tells the Los Angeles Times that Wilson died of lung infection complications on Sept. 27.

Wilson, who later became a minister, wrote or co-wrote the hits “Love Child” for Diana Ross and the Supremes, “Chained” for Marvin Gaye and “All I Need” for the Temptations.

Wilson also helped write “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” a 1967 Top 40 single for Motown’s Brenda Holloway that soon became an even bigger hit for Blood, Sweat and Tears.

In the ’90s, “Eazy’s Playhouse” was the place to be. The former den of iniquities that was owned by the late-rapper Eazy-E, a.k.a., the Godfather of Gangsta Rap and member of the hip-hop group N.W.A., was foreclosed by the bank earlier this year. Now it is being reported that the reason the house was foreclosed was because his widow, Tomica Wright, allegedly stopped making mortgage payments.

The 6,700-square-foot, 5-bedroom, 5-bathroom, Calabasas, Calif., mansion was auctioned off for more than $2.2 million last spring. When Eazy-E, whose real name was Eric Lynn Wright, passed away on March 26, 1995, at age 31 from AIDS, the home was passed on to his wife.

Big name rappers can’t seem to get along, even at events created to celebrate their accomplishments.

Details are still sketchy but Rick Ross, right, and Young Jeezy, left, allegedly exchanged words and scuffled backstage at the BET Hip Hop Awards, which was taped tonight September 29th at the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center.

Apparently the two rappers, who have hurled veiled and not so veiled shots at each other in rhyme—and who also happen to be Def Jam labelmates—heatedly exchanged words, which soon became shoving and pushing before both of their personal and BET’s security teams stepped into separate them.

After the altercation, which occurred while the award show was taping, someone from Ross‘ entourage allegedly fired gunshots while in the Civic Center’s parking lot.

Source also say that 50 Cent and Rick Ross’ camps, specifically Gunplay, got into a physical altercation.

The BET Hip Hop Awards will air October 9th at 8PM EST.

Kanye West finds himself in legal hot water again after a record company accused the megastar rapper/producer of illegally sampling copyrighted material, although there were legal exchanges made between the parties.

Record label TufAmerica, already going after the Beastie Boys for copyright infringement earlier this year, filed a claim in Manhattan courts that allege

West improperly used the songs from the company catalog for his smash album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

The songs in question, “Who Will Survive In America” and “Lost In The World,” both used sections of New Orleans R&B great Eddie Bo’s “Hook & Sling” parts 1 and 2. TufAmerica acquired the rights to the 1969 tracks back in 1996. Based on the filing from TufAmerica, Roc-A-Fella and Universal Musi.

Group paid the company $62, 500 in licensing fees – but “failed and refused to enter into written license agreements that accounted for their multiple other uses of [‘Hook & Sling’],” according to the filed complaint in federal court.

Lupe Fiasco made an impromptu appearance at a townhall community gathering in Philadelphia, where a debate on hip-hop, the youth vote, and the 2012 election was well under way.

For the first time, Fiasco responded in person to a debate that began on Twitter last week, when comedian D.L. Hughley and journalist Roland Martin criticized him for saying that he would not be voting for president in 2012.

The two also argued that Fiasco’s voice could influence young Black men to stay away from the upcoming national election.

Saying that his views had been misrepresented in the aforementioned Twitter beef, Fiasco clarified that while he will not vote for president, fans should follow their own interests.

LOS ANGELES  — Two people charged with trying to extort millions of dollars from pop star Stevie Wonder pleaded no contest on Monday and were released after being sentenced to time-served in jail.

Alpha Lorenzo Walker and Tamara Diaz were sentenced to serve 292 days in jail and three years of probation for attempting to sell a video that purportedly portrayed Wonder in a negative light. Jail credits made the pair eligible for release Monday.

The pair was arrested in May after the Grammy-winner’s attorney arranged a sting and claimed Walker had sought up to $5 million for the video.

Walker’s attorney, Ian Wallach, said the deal was reached after prosecutors encountered trouble proving the extortion case and that the charges were eligible to be reduced to misdemeanors and expunged later if the pair comply with the terms of their release.

Lil Wayne’s meteoric rise to fame is astounding when one considers his humble beginnings as a teenaged phenom on his native New Orleans recording label Cash Money. Along with five platinum albums and four gold albums over the course of a stellar 13-year career, Lil Wayne can now add a most significant boast to his tally. According to Billboard, the Young Money captain has surpassed rock and roll icon Elvis Presley as the top solo artist of the magazine’s Hot 100 charts.

To be fair, Billboard didn’t start taking notice of the chart numbers until 1958 and Elvis certainly had hits earlier than that time period. From that first year until 2003, the singer amassed 108 placements on the charts. Still, Weezy F. Baby’s achievement is certainly noteworthy considering his status and longevity in the game. Wayne just edged Presley out at 109 – this after Game’s newest single “Celebration” featuring Chris Brown, Tyga and Wiz Khalifa debuted at #82 this week.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has closed one infamous chapter in his career. This week he financially settled claims with the victims of a widely-publicized shooting that took place at Club New York in 1999.

At the time, the Bad Boy executive was better known as Puff Daddy, and was with then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez and Bad Boy artist Jamal ‘Shyne’ Barrow. The crew was partying when a confrontation went sour and Shyne opened fire in retaliation. Three bystanders were injured by stray bullets and sued Barrow, and Club New York.

Shyne was sentenced to ten years in prison while Diddy was acquitted of gun charges.

MANCHESTER, England — Alicia Keys has been getting in touch with her spiritual side, headlining “MTV Crashes Manchester” in the city’s cathedral.

The 14-time Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter said performing in a place of worship was “a real honor” and added that there was “an energy there that’s very different.”

Alongside old favorites, Keys on Monday night treated the 1,000-strong U.K. crowd to songs from her highly anticipated new album “Girl on Fire,” saying afterward that it was incredible to see people get into the new tracks.

Since releasing her debut album “Songs in A Minor”, Keys has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. “Girl on Fire” is set for release Nov. 26.