Thug Life Army

According to Patricia Hurtado of Bloomberg.com hip hop diva’s Foxy Brown aka Inga Marchand and Lil’ Kim aka Kimberly Jones; have had separate lawsuits filed against them by the publishing house Simon & Schuster Inc.

The separate lawsuits against the hip hop and rap divas were filed in Sate Court in New York. The suits claim the hip hop divas received tens of thousands of dollars in advance money to deliver books they promised to write and signed contracts to write the books.

According to Bloomberg.com Simon & Schuster said it paid Brown $75,000 under a 2006 contract for an autobiography tentatively titled “Broken Silence”. The publisher said Lil'' Kim signed a contract in 2004 and was paid $40,000 for an untitled novel.

“Both accepted the money and both books never were delivered,'''' Simon & Schuster spokesman Adam Rothberg said today in a phone interview with Bloomberg.com.

Rothberg said the publisher has teamed up with other rappers and hip-hop artists on books. Starting in 2007, Simon & Schuster and hip-hop artist `50 Cent'' started a series of books based on his rhymes about drug dealing, street crime and expensive cars. “That line of books was very successful and we''ve also published books by members of 50 Cent's G-Unit posse,'''' Rothberg said.

Simon & Schuster also published the autobiography of the hip hop rapper ‘50 Cent,'' who was born Curtis Jackson, Rothberg said.

The cases are Simon & Schuster v. Inga Marchand, 110125/2008, and Simon & Schuster v. Kimberly Jones, 110124/2008, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan).

To contact the reporters on this story at Bloomberg.com: Patricia Hurtado in New York at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .