Thug Life Army

Earlier today we (Thug Life Army.com) posted a press release that seemed to be creditable because the issue was discussed in an earlier press release a few weeks ago. The post was titled ‘Chicago Hip-Hop and Rap Artist Twista’.

We were contacted by Twista’s PR people and we decided to take it down, because we were told that there was too much untruth to what was in it.

The release had to do with hip-hop / rap artist Twista and hip-hop artist Faheem Shabazz (BigFa), and the use of the name ‘Chi-Rock’ in Chi-Roc Entertainment, Inc., the corporation that was recently formed by the rap artist Twista.

Faheem Shabazz (BigFa) and I discussed the reason why we as a site  took the article down and I told him to send me his response and we would post it; because we all know there are two sides to every story. And since this is for the lawyers and the courts to work out, we did not want to filter the news on this issue.

I will first list the correspondence from Faheem Shabazz (BigFa) to ThugLifeArmy.com and then I will re-post the press release he is referring to. Both are posted word for word. We have great respect for both Twista and Faheem Shabazz (BigFa) and we are only reporting the facts and not editing what we put out. Faheem Shabazz gave approval for his comments to be posted and the press release can be found on the press release site; the address is given below.– thank you.

To: THUGLIFEARMY.COM c/o R.B.

From: Faheem Shabazz (BigFa), Chi-Rock president.

"Response to press release issue"

“I see that Twista's camp not only is trying to cover up the name theft, but they are trying to use his status as a "star" to persuade different news medias to discontinue my press releases. It's a shame when you basically lie to the news by saying that "The beef with Big "Fa" and Twista is settled, so you better not run that article - or take that new release down from your site." Nothing has been settled and we''re not going away! These Twista "employees" are committing a serious crime themselves by lying to the media and then somewhat strong-arming the situation. I hope that your site re-posts my press release so that the little man can have a voice too. Their camp can call everybody else but they haven''t called me yet to settle this dispute. Now they can deal with my lawyers because we are definitely in the process of legal action and further investigation.”

The Press Release:

Chi-Rock Takes Next Step in Trademark Dispute with "Twista"

Despite efforts to get another hip-hop artist from using his trademark, the South Chicago musician Faheem Shabazz (BigFa), has retained the Law Offices of John R. Mugno, a New York City Intellectual Property law firm to forward a cease-and-desist letter to Twista and Chi-Roc Entertainment, Inc., the corporation that was recently formed by Twista.

(PRWEB) November 15, 2005 -- Despite efforts to get another hip-hop artist from using his trademark, the South Chicago musician Faheem Shabazz (BigFa), has "retained the Law Offices of John R. Mugno, a New York City Intellectual Property law firm to forward a cease-and-desist letter to Twista and Chi-Roc Entertainment, Inc., the corporation that was recently formed by Twista.

BigFa claims he has used the Chi-Rock name since 1985 to identify his own brand of music and objects to Twista using the name “Chi Rock”

Faheem said about Mitchell: "I am not surprised that Twista is portraying himself as the victim here. He has a reputation in the music industry for breaking legal agreements at will"

In a statement issued over the website www.bet.com, Mitchell said, "Many thought of it [my company named ''Chi-Roc'' as an honor and a tribute to the original Chi-Rock Hip Hop Nation members and the hip hop movement in Chicago."

But Faheem has countered, "He's acting like we should be honored because he has stolen our name to make a profit. If I paid tribute to Mickey D's by opening one, what would "Ronald" do? I''ve tried to communicate with him for two years but to no avail."

"The reason he wanted Chi-Roc/k was because he thought that he was going to sign with the ROC, ["Roc"afella Records but the deal didn''t go through," Faheem says.

"We have always supported Twista because he is one of Chicago's own, but now we have no other choice than to defend our treasured name which is at stake within the hip-hop community," Faheem says.

A federal trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office has been filed under United States Trademark Serial Application No. 78/751,401 for the mark CHI-ROCK.

Editors: high-resolution digital photographs are available upon request.

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Press Contact: Faheem Shabazz

Company Name: Chi-Roc Entertainment

Email: email protected from spam bots

Phone: 312-388-4183

Website: www.officialchi-rocknation.com  

More Information: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/11/prweb310098.htm