Industry Tea

Grab your tea cups people. I have a bit of orange pekoe to share...

Hip Hop mogul Chris Lighty is in hot water with Russell Simmons, Rev Run, and Diggy over a manager we'll call J.A. who was committing corporate fraud. Lighty hired J.A. to “manage” (read: babysit) Diggy while he was doing shows. He was paid under the table a couple hundred dollars a month and was essentially a glorified intern. Well he was fired last week for double-charging promoters who were trying to book Diggy for shows. I guess he got tired of not getting paid more than intern-level wages? Apparently a promoter in Michigan called Lighty directly to complain about the double fees, and the manager was fired on the spot. Lighty went ape shit, of course. And was especially upset that J.A.’s direct boss, didn’t catch it sooner. J.A. claims that everyone does this all the time, but he obviously didn’t have the power or influence—or discretion—to get away with it. Chris Lighty went ape shit on J.A. in front of everyone and he was fired immediately. The only reason they didn’t press charges is because J.A. wasn’t “officially” a member of the staff there (i.e, got paid under the table.) But word is he got THOUSANDS of dollars in kickbacks using Diggy’s name. It’s just super sad that a grown man would steal from a KID this way. Sure he’s a a rich kid, but still. Come on. How stupid could you be? Now his name is mud in the industry. More importantly, the whole fiasco has put Chris Lighty’s relationship with Diggy and Rev Run on the rocks. And we ALL know that Violator is on thin ice, financially, to begin with. They can’t afford to lose one of it’s major clients right now! SMH.