More Violence

Three men were shot and one was killed at the Echo Sound studio in Atwater Village, CA on Sunday, October 17, where Kurupt and Daz wererecording.

According to the L.A. Police Department, at 11:40 PM, least two armed men, fired a barrage of shots upon Dwayne "Draws" Dupree, Jevon "Realistic" Jones and Willard "Act Da Fool" Givers. Dupree, a security guard for Daz and Kurupt, was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple gunshots to the chest, while Jones and Givers were taken to nearby hospitals where they were treated for gunshot wounds to the foot and calf and released. There were no arrests and the attackers remain at large.

Inside, Kurupt had been finishing his upcoming album, Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha. The general manager of Kurupt's label, Antra Records, released a statement suggesting that "the shooting resulted from a possible misinterpretation of a hidden track on Kurupt's forthcoming album." The "hidden track" is no doubt a reference to "Callin' Out Names," a song where Kurupt goes off on his ex, Foxy Brown, DMX and the Ruff Ryders, the Firm, and others. "Any battles should be fought with words not bullets. We are terribly saddened by the loss of life and hope this does not happen again," read the statement. "Please respect human life."

Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha is tentatively scheduled for release on November 16.

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

More Song Stories entries »

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