Is the Hip Hop Industry Dirtier Than the Dope Game?

U.S. Magistrate Alan Baverman has postponed a hearing for T.I. where the rapper's legal team was to argue that key government evidence against the rapper should be thrown out.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Baverman postponed the hearing originally scheduled for yesterday (Jan. 3) until Feb. 19.

T.I.'s legal team filed motions in November claiming that the search of T.I.'s vehicle during his arrest Oct. 13 was illegal as it was done without "a warrant, consent or probable cause" and thus "all evidence obtained in the searches and all statements as well as fruits thereof must be suppressed" the motion said.

T.I. was arrested Oct. 13 in a Walgreen's parking lot for allegedly trying to buy machine guns and silencers.

Cash Money Records and the company’s co-founder Bryan "Birdman" WIlliams are the subject of a copyright lawsuit filed in October, accusing the rapper and his label of copyright infringement. According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit claims that Williams illegally used copyrighted material on albums released Birdman, Lil’ Wayne and the Big Tymers. Additionally, Cash Money Records made a payment of $400,000 dollars to various publishing companies, but the label has failed to give the publishers a proper accounting of the amount of records sold. Companies include WB Music Music, Warner-Tamerlane Publishing, Noontime Tunes, Cotillion Music and others. The lawsuit also accuses Cash Money Records of breach of contract and seeks an unspecified amount of damages.

According to reports, Lil’ Wayne’s online album The Leak EP moved 2,401 copies the first week in stores. The Leak, which contains 5 tracks, was released on Christmas (December 25) and was sold via retailers like Amazon, Rhapsody and iTunes. Lil’ Wayne’s album The Leak is a precursor to his upcoming solo album Tha Carter III. The rapper pushed back his highly anticipated album Tha Carter III until February, due to widespread bootlegging of the studio recordings.