Nas’ troubles with the Internal Revenue Service have reached a
new level, with the Queensbridge rapper’s debt amounting to more than $3
million.

According to court documents, Nas owes $3,365,671.26, an
increase from the $2,584,206.31 lien IRS filed last week against him.

Nas isn’t the only rapper to encounter trouble with the IRS.
Just last week, the organization revealed Ruff Ryders affiliate Eve’s
tax delinquency with state and federal taxes, which amounted to more…(read more)

A Naugatuck woman testified Thursday that a member of rapper 50 Cent’s entourage beat her with a belt, choked her and punched her in the face during a summer night in 2008 at the music star’s Farmington mansion.
Shana Chin said she was dating Dwayne McKenzie, an assistant to the rapper who lives at the multi-million-dollar mansion. She testified that McKenzie often carried a gun and had talked of torching a house that belonged to the rapper’s ex girlfriend.
McKenzie’s attorney painted the 24-year-old Chin, who is suing McKenzie for damages and medical bills, as a greedy, fame-hungry woman out for money and the chance to meet rap stars. He said she fabricated the story about the assault after her relationship went south.
In a small courtroom on the upper floor of Waterbury Superior Court, testimony from McKenzie, Chin and their associates gave a glimpse into the world of a rapper who recorded best-selling tracks like “Candyshop” and “I Get Money.” The rap star isn’t named in the suit, but Chin says the assault occurred at his Farmington mansion.
Chin, who was attending Central Connecticut State University in New Britain at the time, had started a dating relationship with McKenzie in 2007 that led to frequent visits to 50 Cent’s mansion. During those visits and trips to area nightclubs, Chin met other famous members of 50 Cent’s crew, including rappers Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo.
That 48,515-square-foot home is an extravagant hotel-like building with four whirlpools, a nightclub, a recording studio and 39 bathrooms spread over three stories on 17 acres with a market value of $6.8 million. The rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, bought the home from former boxing champion Mike Tyson.
Chin, a slim woman with straight black hair that falls to her shoulders and silver bracelets on her wrists, said she dated McKenzie after meeting him outside a Hartford nightclub. She said she was in love with him, but ended the relationship after finding a used condom in his bathroom.
She claimed McKenzie contacted her again, driving to her job at Best Buy to invite her to a Memorial Day barbecue at 50 Cent’s mansion in 2008.
Following that encounter, she said, McKenzie dropped off gifts at her home, and she eventually agreed to attend the cookout.
Chin testified she fell asleep on McKenzie’s bed, but awoke at 3 a.m. to him trying to flip her over and pulling her pants off. She said he started choking her, but she thought he was only fooling around. She choked him back, but Chin said the fight escalated after he threw her off the bed and sat on her chest.
 

Juvenile was arrested in St. Bernard Parish on Thursday on a charge of misdemeanor marijuana possession, authorities said.
The New Orleans-based rapper was arrested in a house at 208 Livingston Ave. in Arabi. The St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office said Juvenile, 34, whose real name is Terius Gray, does not live in the house, but that it is owned by a friend who allows him to record music there. Investigators said there was recording equipment in the house.
A Sheriff’s Office spokesman said someone called the sheriff’s drug line to report smelling marijuana smoke at the house. A deputy with the Special Investigations Division went to the house also smelled marijuana when the door was opened, authorities said.
The man who answered the door, Leroy Edwards, 42, of New Orleans, who identified himself as Juvenile’s producer, was arrested after the deputy found marijuana on him the spokesman said. And after getting a search warrant, deputies then found a small amount of marijuana in a drawer in the kitchen that Juvenile said belonged to him, police said.
Several others inside the house were not arrested, authorities said.
Authorities said Juvenile and Edwards were booked with misdemeanor possession of marijuana and were expected to be released on bond later Thursday night.