Is Lil Wayne having some financial troubles? Well according to the Associated Press, Lil Wayne was forced (March 18, 2009) to hand over the financial records for his latest album to a singer who accused him of copyright infringement? You’d think that by now, people would know that you can’t just go around sampling songs without permission from the original composer(s).

Sources say that U.S. Magistrate Daniel Knowles III ordered this self proclaimed “Best Rapper Alive” to hand over records about the sale of 2008’s “Tha Carter III”. Karma-Ann Swanepoel claims in a federal lawsuit filed in May that Lil Wayne didn’t have permission to sample her song “Once” in the track “I Feel Like Dying.” The lawsuit says Lil Wayne’s record label, Cash Money Records, failed to negotiate a license to use Swanepoel’s song before millions of people downloaded “I Feel Like Dying.”

According to the Seattle Times, “I Feel Like Dying” wasn’t a track on “Tha Carter III,” but a lawyer for Urband & Lazar Music Publishing said Lil Wayne promoted the album by singing that song in concert and allowing fans to download it for free on his Web site. “It’s more akin to promotional material,” attorney Melvin Albritton said. “He used the infringing work to promote himself.”

However, Lil Wayne’s attorney Shantell Payton, says otherwise. She claims that the record in question had little effect on Weezy’s career, citing that it wasn’t even a track on “Tha Carter III.”

So my question is, what was the whole point of even stealing, and yes it’s considered stealing, if you weren’t even going to put it on the album? Now,there is the added stress of court and all of the unnecessary money going into a lawsuit that could’ve easily been settled beforehand. And if I’m not mistaken, didn’t Weezy just settle a separate copyright lawsuit last summer concerning his track “Playing With Fire?” So he hasn’t yet learned his lesson? I don’t think this judge is going to be as lenient since this has happened before. But hey, I’m guessing when you have the kinda money that Lil Wayne has, settling a lawsuit is a piece of cake. So keep doing you, I guess.

There hasn’t been anything else released about this situation as of yet, but I’m sure that there will be fairly soon. Just keep on the look out for more information from 24Hour.

Kanye West Facing Serious Charges?

First TI, now Kanye West? What is going on with these Hip-Hop artists today?

According to GlobalGrind, This 31-year-old rapper has been charged with three misdemeanor counts of vandalism, grand theft and battery, all originating from an altercation he and his manager Don Crawley had with paparazzi at LAX back in September 2008.  Kanye’s manger was also charged with two counts of vandalism, grand theft and battery. 

I watched the video, and to my surprise, I wasn’t surprised. I expected to see everything I saw.When people don’t want to be bothered they will flip out. Now, I don’t condone violence and I know that as stars, being in the public eye nonstop can be difficult, but sometimes the paparazzi can provoke and aggravate people and that’s not cool. I do understand that the paparazzi are just doing their job, and I know everyone has to get their hustle on the only way they can but I think sometimes they need a reality check. They deserve a little reminder that these people aren’t just artists, and their meal tickets, they are human.

“I’m cool with the paparazzi,” West wrote on his blog the following day. “This guy wasn’t cool. I gotta work now … I’ll rant later!”

Well, looks like he may have a lot of time to rant in jail.  Oddly enough his hit song “Love Lockdown” comes to mind.

Ok, this is so not funny, but what else can you do other than joke about it?

Kanye is said to be due in court on April 14, 2009 for his arrangement. If convicted, he faces up to two-and-a-half years in jail. If he’s lucky perhaps he can be roomies with TI, they’ll have more than enough time to create some banging hits! Stay tuned for more of this story!

To see this hilariously funny video click below