On Wednesday, Oct. 16, a jury ruled in favor of the famed rap group, granting them back copyright control of five of their early albums after a yearslong legal battle with a record company, the Associated Press reports.
“We won,” 2 Live Crew member Luther Campbell, also known as Uncle Luke, said in an Instagram video. “All the albums! We got them all back!”
“The verdict is in members of the 2 Live Crew. We have just got our catalog back to its rightful owners. [We have an amazing God,]” Luke captioned the post.
The lawsuit was initiated by Lil’ Joe Records, which acquired the rights to 2 Live Crew’s albums after the group’s record label went bankrupt in 1995. In 2020, the members of 2 Live Crew and their heirs informed Lil’ Joe that they were terminating its copyrights and reclaiming ownership of the albums. Lil’ Joe responded by filing a lawsuit, claiming it retained the rights under the terms of the bankruptcy agreement.
However, a federal jury in Florida has ruled in favor of 2 Live Crew and heirs of the two deceased members, Fresh Kid, who died in 2017, and Brother Marquis, who died in June.
“Our team is proud to have been part of this historic trial,” attorney Scott Burroughs said in a statement. “Our overwhelming and total victory at trial will hopefully serve as a beacon to encourage other artists to brave the legal process to recover their copyrights.”
2 Live Crew dominated the rap scene in the late 80s and early 90s with its provocative, X-rated singles, which led to arrests and radio bans. In 1992, a federal appeals court overturned a previous ruling that had deemed the group’s album obscene.
The trio’s provocative and sexually explicit recordings reshaped the legal boundaries of hip-hop, leading to landmark court rulings that upheld artists’ rights to free expression. Among their more popular singles include “Me So Horny,” “We Want Some Pu–y,” and “Throw That D.”
Meet The Collins Family: 2nd Generation IHOP Owners Named Franchisees Of The Year
Brandon and Shaleeza Collins are second-generation IHOP franchisees from North Baton Rouge.
IHOP named Brandon and Shaleeza Collins 2023 Franchisees of the Year, which was awarded to them at the brand’s Global Franchisee Conference. This coveted award recognizes franchisees for all-around leadership excellence and for embodying the brand’s mission by executing great restaurant operations.
BLACK ENTERPRISE spoke with the husband-and-wife team to learn more about how they overcame years of challenging circumstances to become top award winners.
Brandon and Shaleeza were unlikely candidates for IHOP franchise ownership. However, in 2006, after retiring, Brandon’s parents, Ella and Larry Collins, decided to open an IHOP restaurant, recognizing the need in their North Baton Rouge community. “There were no sit-down restaurants, and they wanted to make sure that that need was fulfilled and to create a legacy for their family,” explained Shaleeza.
“This legacy wasn’t just for the kids; it was a legacy for the community. We’re in North Baton Rouge; there’s not much here. There’s no economic development that happens here. Our IHOP is still the only national franchise, sit-down restaurant in North Baton Rouge –- to this day,” Brandon added.
Changing Trajectory
After purchasing the IHOP franchise, the challenges began early on. “Things took a turn when my mother began having difficulties managing day-to-day operations and back-of-the-house responsibilities at the restaurant, and I wanted to help her out,” explained Brandon.
“We recognized that we could help with some of these difficulties in our own individual way, without physically needing to be there –- at first. Then it snowballed, simply because my parents entered into a business they technically had no experience in.”
Brandon and Shaleeza graduated from college and entered the financial sector. “We never saw ourselves as restaurant owners,” interjected Shaleeza.
“I was a finance major, Brandon was a management major, so we just saw ourselves going more in the financial field. But God had his own path for us. We could not possibly sit back and watch her struggle and not jump in to help. That was the driving force that made us change our trajectory as to where we were going.”
Passing the Torch
In January 2023, after spending several years learning the restaurant’s ins and outs, Brandon and Shaleeza purchased it from Brandon’s parents, excited to continue the legacy that started it all.
“We didn’t want to see it go away, especially after all the things we had to push through, and my parents had to push through, to bring something to this area. We were told that nothing would make it here. That’s always been the driving force behind what we’ve done and how we’ve done things to simply show this is a viable business, a viable community to invest in. We just wanted to be that example.”
Our Time – Our Opportunity
Brandon and Shaleeza’s humility in running their franchise is the same humble response they display in winning such a prestigious award.
“Winning has been bittersweet. We’ve been doing the same thing we’ve done for over 15 years now. I just think that it was our turn -– our opportunity. We also had real help getting to know corporate and being known by corporate, going through the franchise application interview process. I was invited to join a newly formed committee, which allowed us to bring our voice, which we thought was small and insignificant, to a big brand like IHOP. It allowed us to give our perspective as actual operators, because a lot of times, multi-unit franchisees who are not actually in the store every day have a bigger voice. To win this award is truly a big deal for us.”
After having the franchise for 19 years and winning this award, what’s next for Brandon and Shaleeza?
“Our goal as second-generation owners is to grow the business because we would like to see it expand. But we want to make sure that the way we grow it makes sense, and that we’re growing it at a pace that we can handle,” explained Shaleeza. “We are currently working on another location, potentially one of the new DINE Brands concepts.”
The IHOP brand has been supportive of the Collins family and their multigenerational journey. First, taking a chance on opening in an area that struggled economically, but also approving the purchase transfer of the business from the parents’ ownership to the children. Franchisors have the sole discretion on the approval of new owners. With this approval, IHOP acknowledged the hard work that went into keeping the business going and saw the potential for the future. And with two children, ages 14 and 8, there’s every indication that ownership will extend to a third generation. “Our 14-year-old son is already hosting and serving, and our 8-year-old daughter is asking to be in the business as well, but she has a few years before that can happen.”
Haitian Immigrants Helped Revitalize Pennsylvania Town Trump Lied About
The newly revitalized community received negative attention from Donald Trump
Charleroi, Pennsylvania, a town in Southwestern Pennsylvania that was once the home of a booming factory industry, needed revitalization once the factories, the lifeblood of the local economy, closed for good.
In the last four years, the town has been revitalized due to the contributions of Haitian immigrants like Rodny Michel, who arrived in 2020 from his native Haiti in search of opportunity.
At first, Michel could only find work at a food prep company and later an Amazon warehouse in a neighboring community, but now he has found a sense of belonging as he helps to turn a Caribbean store into a Caribbean restaurant.
According to The Guardian, the newly revitalized community received attention in September when former president Donald Trump falsely asserted that Charleroi was “virtually bankrupt” and was experiencing “massive crime” because of its immigrant population.
Just as with Springfield, Ohio, another Midwestern town that Trump and his vice presidential running mate JD Vance subjected to false narratives about that community’s Haitian immigrants eating pets, Charleroi has seen right-wing hate groups like the KKK post recruitment pamphlets in local Facebook community groups.
Despite the lies coming from Trump and some local Trump supporters, local leadership in the town has moved to support the Haitian immigrant community.
In 2022, a community liaison officer position staffed by a Haitian national was established. Programs were also established to help immigrants enroll in English language classes, register children in schools, and set up health testing sites at the town’s library.
According to Michel, those efforts have not gone unnoticed by the town’s Haitian community.
“In Haiti, the government don’t take care of the people like they do here,” Michel told The Guardian.
Camera Bartolotta, a Pennsylvania state senator who represents the town, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, responded to a post from Libs Of TikTok, a social media account that frequently engages in outrage farming, shared that most of the town’s immigrants are legal immigrants who are good, hard-working people.
Leighanna Girvin, a 33-year-old resident of the town and a first-time voter and Trump supporter, told the outlet that she thinks taking care of immigrants puts a strain on America’s resources.
“I don’t believe everything he says, but I don’t think America has the resources to keep helping outside people. That’s why I’m going to vote for Trump,” Girvin said.
In contrast to Girvin, Charleroi Borough Council President Kristin Hopkins-Calek said at an earlier council meeting in October that “The use of our citizens and residents as political talking points is unacceptable,” Hopkins has also characterized Trump’s “divisive rhetoric” about the town as a device to create “political gain.”
Evency Dorzelma, a 42-year-old who formerly worked as a police officer in Haiti before immigrating and settling in Charleroi, told the Post that the attacks on the Haitian community are racist.
“We brought life to the community. We don’t do no harm to anyone,” Dorzelma said. “So, there is no reason to fear us. There is no reason for this fearmongering, this racism campaign.”
File:20140814 World Basketball Festival Team USA assistant coaches.JPG: TonyTheTigerderivative work: Shakeydeal33, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Former Detroit Pistons Coach Monty Williams Hired To Lead Basketball Team At Sons’ High School
The Pistons, who signed him to a guaranteed contract in 2023, will still be paying him $65 million over the next five seasons after firing him earlier this year
Last year, Monty Williams signed the largest coaching deal in NBA history. Less than a year later, he was terminated by the Detroit Pistons. Now, with the team having to pay him $65 million over the next five years, he has taken his coaching expertise to his sons’ San Antonio school, TMI Episcopal.
According to a social media posting from TMI Episcopal, Williams is now the boys’ basketball team’s head coach.
“We are excited to announce that Monty Williams will be our new Head Coach for the Boys’ Basketball Team.
Coach Williams brings extensive coaching experience, including his most recent roles in the NBA as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons and Phoenix Suns (where he was named NBA Coach of the Year in 2022).”
Williams recently moved to San Antonio with his wife, Lisa, and has two sons who attend TMI, Elijah, Class of ‘26, and Micah, Class of ‘29.
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Williams to this position and look forward to the future of our basketball program under his leadership.”
In June 2023, the Pistons signed Williams for a reported six-year, $78.5 million contract to take over the head coaching position. The agreement was the largest coaching deal in NBA history.
A year earlier, Williams won NBA Coach of the Year as head coach of the Phoenix Suns. A year after winning the award, the Suns terminated him after they were eliminated in the Western Conference Semifinals. He recorded 194 wins against 115 losses (.628) in regular season games. His playoff record for the Suns was 27-19. The team made it to the NBA Finals in 2021 and won a franchise-record 64 games in 2021-22.
Williams will lead a team featuring his four-star small forward son, Elijah. His younger son, Micah, is the No. 1 prospect in Texas, the No. 7 rated small forward in the country, and the No. 22 overall prospect in the class of 2026, according to ESPN.
LeBron James Criticized For ‘Welcome Home’ Message To Big Meech
LeBron James has sparked a debate after welcoming Big Meech home from prison.
LeBron James is under fire after tweeting out a “Welcome Home” message to convicted drug trafficker and money-laundering kingpin Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory.
Big Meech was released into a halfway house last week where he will finish out the remainder of his shortened sentence. James was among the famous faces to express their excitement about Meech being that much closer to freedom by sending out a “Welcome home” tweet to his 53.1 million followers.
Amid Meech’s release from prison and James’ celebratory tweet, the Los Angeles Lakers star is facing criticism and sparking debates around whether or not someone of his stature should be welcoming home a convicted drug kingpin.
““Welcome home a murder, killer of KIDS THROUGH DRUGS, killer of countless mothers, fathers hand FAMILIES”. You want to fit in so bad, wanna be hip and cool so bad that you just follow whatever is deemed cool at the moment. Shame on you. Grow tf up,” one critic tweeted in response.
“Lebron supporting drug dealers?!?!?!?! Not my goat,” added someone else.
On the Bagfuel podcast, co-hosts Esso and Hynaken subtly criticized James for publicly supporting Big Meech’s release, questioning the alignment of that endorsement with James’ role as a community impact leader, given Big Meech’s criminal history.
“All these positive athletes and everything is building schools and telling kids that they need to go and they need do better…the same ball players that’ll spend $300 million in education…and the first thing they doing is saying ‘Welcome home Big Meech?’…you’re making me say ‘he’s cap!’” Esso quipped, in a clip captured by The Jasmine Brand.
“This is what you’re doing to the 16 year-old…You’re saying ‘go be a gangster…because this is who we respect, who we love!’”
Sports analyst Jemele Hill joined the conversation, expressing her hope that after 20 years in prison, Flenory has been rehabilitated and can now use his influence to inspire positive change in the same communities he once harmed.
“In a country where a convicted felon is running for president, we have more important sh*t to worry about. That said, this is why I really hope when Big Meech is acclimated, he uses his story to encourage something different,” Hill wrote.
“Young people see what you do. They don’t care about what you say. And y’all might not like to hear it but Meech and his family hurt a lot of people and helped in the destruction of our neighborhoods. I ain’t judging, but it is what it is. But there’s a real opportunity here for him to do something that could be so meaningful and positive. It’s great he gets another chance. I’d like to see him do something good with it.”
Many others defended James’ “Welcome home” message to Big Meech and explained why the NBA star might be happy to see Meech step that much closer to regaining his freedom.
“How about he happy to see a father reunited with his son who has been successful play the role of his father,” one person wrote. “The fact that he has spent most of his son’s life in jail.”
“Both can be true you can welcome somebody home from a bad situation and still want the next generation to do better,” added someone else.
Big Meech was released from a Florida prison on Oct. 15 but is required to serve the remainder of his sentence, which was reduced from 360 to 292 months, in a halfway house. His projected release date from the halfway house is Jan. 27, 2026, after which he will be subject to supervised release.
Photo by Truman Rexti: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-holding-a-basketball-10634343/
Girls Basketball Coaches At Texas School Found Guilty Of Recruiting Violations For Top Players In Nation
The school, which plays in the University Interscholastic League, recently hired four-time state champion Andrea Robinson as its new head coach.
The 13-5A district executive committee in Texas has found the girls’ basketball coaches of Oak Cliff Faith Family School guilty of recruiting violations.
They found the coaches withheld information regarding the 13 players who transferred to the Dallas charter school during the off-season. The school, which plays in the University Interscholastic League, recently hired four-time state champion Andrea Robinson as the new head coach. The DallasMorning Newsconfirmed her former employer, DeSoto High School, also accused Robinson of the violations.
Robinson, alongside her assistant coaches Kadi Creel and Jordan Jones, will now face punishment for their actions, which will be determined by the UIL’s state executive committee. As for the players, the DEC will determine their eligibility for the upcoming basketball season.
Prior to the six-hour hearing on Oct. 17 that led to this guilty verdict, the school’s athletic director denied the accusations. Robinson also remained adamant that they abided by regulations as the school realigned from 4A to 5A. Moreover, Oak Cliff has an open enrollment policy with an attendance zone covering the Dallas Independent School District.
Four of the recruits rank within the top 100 players in the nation. Many are assumed to be eyeing spots on a Division 1 collegiate team’s roster. Some include a five-star junior forward, Amari Byles, and a four-star junior combo guard, Amaya “Sunshine” Garcia. Both also attended DeSoto.
However, the hearing showed Creel had impermissible contact with one of the recruits. Moreover, some of them hailed from the same AAU program. A coach from another school stated, with photographs to back his assertion, that Jones also reached out to another athlete.
The UIL strictly forbids students from transferring to athletic programs. Given the DEC can only issue reprimands to coaches, they reported their findings to the state committee, which has the authority to implement suspensions. The maximum length of suspension is three years.
The hearing also stated that two of the recruits have already begun working out with the team despite not having approved Previous Athletic Participation Forms (PAPF). The UIL recently approved a proposal for its executive committee to investigate schools with a heightened number of these forms. It will go into effect in August 2025.
President Obama Gets An Earful From Deion Sanders After Erroneously Predicting Buffaloes Loss
After Obama predicted that Sanders' team would lose to Arizona, Sanders responds to him after the Buffaloes blew them out
With eyes on the Colorado/Arizona game on Oct. 19, President Barack Obama seemingly predicted that Deion Sanders‘ team was going to lose. Yet Sanders had a message for the former president after his team blew out Obama’s selection.
After the Buffaloes defeated the Wildcats 34-7, Sanders spoke about Obama telling the press not to “bet against the Wildcats.”
Speaking to reporters at a press conference to discuss the game, he made sure to acknowledge Obama’s wrong prediction.
“President Obama is everything to me. I mean, I love him, I admire him. I respect him tremendously. But…. I heard what he said, you know?”
Sanders went on to seemingly chastise the former president for betting against him and his team. He did mention that Obama may have had to play the political game since he was in Tucson when he made the statement stumping for Vice President Kamala Harrison in her bid to become the next President of the United States.
“President, I heard what you said, man,” Sanders said. “Like c’mon, c’mon. That’s why I really don’t get into politics. I’m into people. Because politicians, they play the political game, and he was here and had to play the political games that they have two good players. We got more than two good players. But then you’re here, so you have to support that.”
According to USA Today, while Obama was speaking to the press, he mentioned that he noticed some buses from Colorado at the airport.
“As we landed, we saw Colorado’s buses at the airport,” Obama said. “And I know Colorado’s got a couple good players. But I also know you guys have beaten them twice in a row, so don’t bet against the Wildcats tomorrow.”
Thelma Mothershed Wair, Member Of Little Rock Nine, Dies At Age 83
When Mothershed Wair was a teenager, she and 8 other Black students initiated the integration of Central High School in Little Rock.
Thelma Mothershed Wair, a member of the Little Rock Nine, has died at age 83. Wair was part of the famous group of Black students who integrated an Arkansas high school in 1957.
Mothershed Wair died on Oct. 19 at a hospital in Little Rock after complications from multiple sclerosis. Her sister, Grace Davis, confirmed her death to the Associated Press.
When Mothershed Wair was a teenager, she and eight other Black students initiated the integration of Central High School in Little Rock. White segregationists frequently protested outside the school, harassing them with slurs as they entered the building.
“I didn’t think anybody was really going to hurt her because, you know, we’ve had racial incidents in Little Rock over the years,” explained Davis on her sister’s experience. “People would say things that were mean, but they never really hurt anybody.”
In addition to the protestors, Arkansas’ then-Governor, Orval Faubus, called in the National Guard to block the students from going inside. Given the U.S. Supreme Court deeming segregated classrooms as unconstitutional through their 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent soldiers to help escort the students on Sept. 25.
The group’s bravery and determination to attend the school led to their label as the Little Rock Nine. Mothershed Wair and her classmates, Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Melba Pattillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls, became symbols of the fight for racial justice in the U.S.
Davis recalled that although her sister evaded physical violence, the intimidation tactic did result in name-calling and other forms of disrespect.
“I think one time somebody put some ink on her skirt or something when she was coming through the hallway. And, of course, there was always name-calling,” shared Davis. “But she never really had any physical confrontations with any of the students up there.”
However, despite the racist encounters and internal health issues, Davis always saw her sister as a “fighter.”
“She was always a fighter,” expressed Davis. “She’s been sick her entire life. She was born with a congenital heart defect and was told at an early age that she would never get out of her teens. So, as she approached her 16th birthday, I remember Mother talking about how afraid she was because she thought she was going to die. But she did what she wanted to do. She enjoyed life.”
While Mothershed Wair did not graduate from Central High School, as Faubus closed the schools to protest the integration further, she continued her studies. She earned her bachelor’s degree in home economics education and a master’s in guidance and counseling.
She worked as a teacher in the East St. Louis, Illinois school system before serving as a counselor for elementary career education. Before retiring in 1994, she also worked at a juvenile detention center as an instructor for survival skills for women with the American Red Cross.
She married Fred Wair in 1965, and they had one son and two grandchildren. Upon her husband’s death in 2005, she returned to Little Rock.
Mothershed Wair remains ingrained in Black and American history. In 1999, she and the Little Rock Nine received a Congressional Gold Medal for their collective heroism.
According to Nicole Carty, the executive director of Get Free, a social justice organization led by Millennials and Gen-Z students, that bill is part of a suite of “inhumane laws that attempt to suppress the vote for Black and brown people.”
Carty also told NBC News that the laws are deeply rooted in the Jim Crow South.
“It is so visibly dehumanizing to actually criminalize such an act of humanity and dignity,” Carty said. “It really exemplifies the broader inhumanity and inequality of all these voter laws that are happening. It’s not just about not being able to hand out water. Many of the most insidious components of these anti-voter laws are deep in the bureaucracy and Jim Crow. So, we’re using it to shine a light on what is dehumanizing about these laws.”
Matthew Johnson, the Georgia organizing manager of Faith in Public Life Action, shared Carty’s sentiments, in his comments to the crowd at the rally.
“In 2020, there were people standing in line five, six, seven hours to vote. There were people to come and give them life-sustaining materials such as food and water. Now, imagine seeing the problem as the food and water and not the long wait for hours. And imagine then being so bold as to try to convince us that this was about protecting the integrity of the election,” Johnson said.
Georgia’s law, along with laws passed by other Republican-controlled states, have put forth a number of restrictive laws that they allege are about fighting voter fraud since the 2020 election.
According to the Voting Rights Lab, those states have enacted over 100 laws across 30 states since 2020.
As Jonathan Diaz, a director at the Campaign Legal Center, a non-partisan legal watchdog group that has challenged a number of policies looking to eliminate voters from state rolls, told The Hill, “It’s become this game of like whack-a-mole to try and track all of these efforts to undermine election processes and to create opportunities to delay the certification of election results so that if the tabulation isn’t going their preferred candidate’s way, they can throw sand in the gears and slow down the whole process to give whatever schemes they’re hatching to overturn the results time to play out.”
The 2021 law appears to work in concert with a law Georgia passed in August 2024 that has few guidelines but allows local election officials the latitude to conduct “a reasonable inquiry” before they certify any election results.
According to Diaz, “One of the broad trends that we’ve seen is a real focus from election deniers on county election administration, on either getting people who question the validity of the 2020 election in positions on county boards of election or elected as local election supervisors,” Diaz also remarked that “the aftermath of the 2020 election radicalized a lot of people.”
Back in Georgia, Carty called for the federal government to mobilize against these laws, supporting the Voting Rights Act.
“The Voting Rights Act has been so attacked,” Carty told NBC News. “We really need federal action to actually repeal these laws that are happening all across the country. But in the meantime, what we can do is mobilize a mass against Jim Crow 2.0 and also make sure other Americans know the strategy around trying to throw out these votes inside of Black and brown [precincts], so that if something squirrelly goes down after Election Day, they won’t fall for it.”
