The Internet was buzzing today with news about Wikipedia and a host of other websites’ blackout protests over the impending SOPA/PIPA legislation. Now, the anti-piracy issue has taken a turn with the recent news that rapper/producer Swizz Beatz is the acting CEO of Megaupload and that he’s now facing a major lawsuit.
MTV reports that the multi-platinum producer for DMX and Jay-Z is now fighting a major lawsuit against Universal Music Group and his involvement with the popular storage and file sharing website. Last year, Swizz enlisted Diddy, Will.I.Am, Kanye West and a host of other musicians and media personalities to help film a promotional video in support his site, which has come under fire in the past for it application in the music and video piracy.
These artists’ support apparently didn’t sit too well with Universal Music Group. The music conglomerate – which owns Hip Hop powerhouses like Def Jam and Interscope – issued a lawsuit and a YouTube take-down notice against the Megaupload video over the song’s featured artists, whose appearance they didn’t clear. Now, Swizzy and Megaupload are firing back at UMG with a counter-suit.
The video in question can be seen below. DX will keep you updated as more information about the suit comes to light.
[January 18]
UPDATE: Contrary to earlier reports, Swizz Beatz is not the CEO of Megaupload and was not named in the shutdown of the company yesterday (Jan. 19th). “To my knowledge, Swizz Beatz was never involved in any meaningful way, He was negotiating to become the CEO, but it was never official,” said Ira Rothken, Megaupload’s attorney.
i watch all my tv shows thru dat megaupload shit on icefilms.info so i guess i cant hate on him for dat!!!
this nigga made me broke as fuck
co-sign homie. smh.
real talk, niggas can’t eat anymore…
Nas, I need some money for night. Did you and your brother rob that dude for 300k?
I need 75% of that or I’m telling the judge REALTALKS
^^^^Nas Forgive my fans they can be morons sometimes….wish i could write like you….I liked how u broke it down on that Dope Victory Track with Khaled..
…Makin all the bucks,
banana clips I bought in Georgia bucks
Kill all you fucks, easy
I be on the golf cart, sleepy
Yall beneath me
Yall be at the pawn shop, pawnin watches
Obnoxious, cant stop us, we shottas
Say you killin Pablo? Impossible
Nonsense, preposterous, bizarre at best
Unfulfilled promises
I feel intelligence is my wealth
However, how enormous is Nas pockets is a pop quiz to gossipers
See me at the Oscars, lookin dreamy, hood opulent
Means esoteric, how I wore it
Exoticness makes you curious to see how serious my closet is
Shareholders wanna invest in that Nas stock, its just
We be on that real shit, luxury four-wheel shit
Niggas actin thirst on some just-got-a-deal shit
Ha, for that victory we will kill shit
Get out the way, playboy, this is real shit
Cosigning the very practice that hinders the record industry near enough powerless to the behest of their conglomerate superiors, jesus what the hell were they thinking making a song like that, Swizz really has fucked up bad…
That’s an Oxy-Moron, a music industry producer owning a file-sharing site.
That’s like an FBI agent being a drug-lord.
I’m pretty sure he purchased the site/business and really didn’t know the ins and out’s of file sharing.
If he was smart he’d have the files hosted off-shore and tell UMG where to stick it.
The same way thepiratebay can’t be touched.
That’s an Oxy-Moron, a music industry producer/artist owning a file-sharing site.
That’s like an FBI agent being a drug-lord.
I’m pretty sure he purchased the site/business and really didn’t know the ins and out’s of file sharing.
If he was smart he’d have the files hosted off-shore and tell UMG where to stick it.
The same way thepiratebay can’t be touched.
celebnews.webatu.com
That’s an Oxy-Moron, a music industry producer/artist owning a file-sharing site.
That’s like an FBI agent being a drug-lord.
I’m pretty sure he purchased the site/business and really didn’t know the ins and out’s of file sharing.
If he was smart he’d have the files hosted off-shore and tell UMG where to stick it.
The same way thepiratebay can’t be touched.
celebnews.webatu(.)calm
Yaaa, right! Swizzy knows whats up…we all know the deal with file-sharing. Pirate bay can’t be touched because its located in Sweden.
tpb is no longer hosted in sweden, and lost in swedish courts…also…tpb does not store files on its servers, its called p2p, its store on all of our computers and shared in bits and pieces.
this dude is pirating his own shit, thats hilarious
Isn’t it? The same thing his peers are fighting against he is promoting. Then get’s other artists to support his business…That’s so wild.
WTF would another artist promote a file sharing site where they shit is being pirated?? That’s just bad business.
Swizzy should have been on some wizard of OZ shit and not have his name associated with the business.
That video is so gay lmao
The video is mad gay. Certain businesses you shouldn’t associate yourself with, Once your already in a certain industry.
I can’t knock him though, if people not buying records then why not have them steal the shit from your site and still get some ones??
yeh, the video is gay.. it is attracted to other videos of the same kind……..
thanks for all the music and porn swizz.
and here i was thinking swizz was a good for nothing, wack producer, who ruins everything he touches with his wack ass adlib hooks.
megaupload is the hottest label in the game fuck young money
what? hold up nigga? I know you ain’t put my shit on that wack site!!
You sleeping on the couch tonite
You guys are missing the fact that Swizzy is making money from this. He isn’t selling records, sure, but no one in music is selling records. At least now he’s got a revenue stream in the form of the ads he sells on Megaupload and any subscription services he provides. The man’s not dumb. He saw the fact that people stopped paying for music and found a way to still profit from music. Now, instead of just making money of his music, he’s making it on the whole industry. Smart.
I aint gonna knock what he’s doing because I watch movies, tv shows and shit for free all the time. I’ve listened to music I download from certain places, but at the same time if I like an artist and more than one of their songs I always end up buying the album anyway. If I only want one song why pay for that one song when I can get it for free….
It’s just strange that someone who works in the industry would be the CEO of this type of company. The video is also fucking stupid..smfh.
I aint gonna knock what he’s doing because I watch movies, tv shows and shit for free all the time. I’ve listened to music I download from certain places, but at the same time if I like an artist and more than one of their songs I always end up buying the album anyway. If I only want one song why pay for that one song when I can get it for free….
It’s just strange that someone who works in the industry would be the CEO of this type of company. The video is also fucking stupid..smfh.
Damn, I didnt see that coming
You don’t see anything coming you blind bitch!
Man, I’m sorry, that reaction was not necessary. Let bury the axe, aight bro?
Lil Wayne gonna launch a new one-click hosting online service YMCMBUPLOAD. Lil Chuckee for da CEO postion! swag
You’re a huge fan of them YMCMB niggaz, right? So, why do you name yourself after Gucci Mane’s defunct label?
cuz gucci got a ice cream tattoo on his cute face which makes it less suspicious when I lick his face! YMCA,erm I mean YMCMB. swag.
Get the fuck outta here So Icey Boi! Nobody likes you… If we were in the streets you’ll be dead already.
BAM BAM end of story bitch!
You can’t win the anti-piracy issue, because the only way to do it would be to shut everything down, and people aren’t going to let that happen. Switch your business model up and adapt.
The fuck is that video, its like a kids learning show
Swizz beats is a CEO at Megaupload???? What the fuck? Bitch you wasn’t with them shooting in the gym….UGH, BITCH YOU WAHNT WIT THEM SHOOTIN’ IN THE JEEEEEEEM!!!
First the nigga upgrades from Mashonda to Alicia and now this? You savvy bastard!!!
This is an ingenious move actually. UMG…eat a dick.
I’m far from a Swizz Beats voucher but I’ll give him credit with this shrewd move. I just hope it’s not one of these “shrewd to begin, dumb to end” joints though that will f up a gang of people down the road. I think this can be something that actually steers the creative control and organic artistry that’s lacking ultra in music right now. I remember dope rhymes and beats and boom bap sold platinum. We need to get back to that instead of niggas selling brands, sharking, and dumbing down and ish all the damn time.
UMG sucks mad dick.
THIS SHIT IS CRAZY … YOU KNOW HOW MANY HIP HOP ALBUMS HAVE BEEN DOWNLOADED FROM MEGAUPLOAD ???
HOW THE HELL CAN A RAPPER/PRODUCER BE THE CEO OF A FILESHARING SITE ? LMAO.
Swizzy just became one of my favorite producers in light of this news lol syke! be i still got mad respect for u swizzy its unimaginable how much porn ive downloaded from your site lol and none of that low quality porn neither that shit is all HD baby! swizzys motto “If u cant beat them, Join them!”
So u been downloading gayporn? Fucking homo boy
Public service announcement: I will retire from commentin’ here forever. HHDX didn’t pay my full check. swag
I Am Hip Hop Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_Ka2keaMM
#Back2TheBasics Mixtape Free Download hosted by Dj Simon Sez:
http://www.datpiff.com/Chaotik-Back-2-The-Basics-mixtape.278936.html
If he was down with Megaupload a year or two ago he should have made millions.
If he just brought in then it wasn’t so smart. There are better sites out now that pay more than megaupload.
Doing the commercial seems to have been really dumb. Now your spending money on lawyers.
OMG NO FUCKING WAY!!!!
BUT SERIOUSLY no one would ever ever ever would of guessed that
i bet somewhere in paris kanye just found out about this and he would say this while jaw dropped ” that shit crazy, aint it jay?”
jay be like “ugh yeah its cool… on to the next 1”
damn megaupload shut down and now i cant watch any of my tv shows?????
wtf swizzy?????
I was surprised by this when I read it this morning. I knew Swizz was quietly doing really well but this is even better than most people expected.
And it is pretty ironic that a music artist is a CEO of a file-sharing/stealing company lol. What kind of mess is that?
i support this shit all day fuckuniveral
MEGAUPLOAD IS SHUT THEE FUCK DOWN!! MAN THIS SUCKS!! well it was good while it lasted. Now I need to make a list of everything I can think of and get that ish off mediafire, rapidshare, etc… It was a dumb move making that video and even dumber namining swizz as the CEO cus it was too much attention being directed towards the site. BOTTOM LINE.. YOU CANNOT TAUNT THE FEDS/AMER GOV and get away with it PERIOD
dude i guess all the rappers were using this megaupload to send songs accross the states to other rappers and what not. You know how shit get hacks easily. Swizz did it for himself, he a beat producer, but it just got big and alot of money inVOlVeD
Fuck UMG, bunch of fucking parasites. Fuck Def Jam and Interscope too, shouldn’t be in bed with those motherfuckers. How the fuck can you keep real when you’re in bed with some business-suit wearing bitch?
If your really wondering about why this SOPA and PIPA thing is suddenly popping up now and causing so much trouble look up Chris Dodd on Wikipedia. He is the CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America and he assumed his position on March 17, 2011. Senator Dodd served in the United States Congress representing Connecticut for 36 years six years in the House of Representatives and thirty years in the U.S. Senate. He earned the trust of both Democrats and Republicans which is why the bill has backing from both sides. It is simply the government trying to help their own make more money by screwing over BILLIONS of others so they can get incentives in return.
These bills began 6 months ago with Bill S.978. This was after this ex Senator became CEO. This old greedy man just wants to screw over everyone to pad his pockets with even more money and the government is more than glad to help an old friend.
Personally I say F#CK HIM and his bills I hope they all die.
man how can you be so far off on this. first he’s firing back with a lawsuit of his own, then hes not even involved. smh
This is what happens when you let white people run a hiphop site.
You get bullshit tmz stories rather than real news.
The CEO of hiphopdx might as well be Perez Hilton. Fuckin losers
Cosign,
But the problem with hiphopdx is that they are not part of the hiphop culture. The same sources they use for their news stories are the same ones the OMG on Yahoo and the Gossip section of every magazine use.
They are not in-tune with what is really happening in the hiphop culture. They need to re-evalute themselves as a hiphop site.
They post news stories about pop artists like Rihanna, Justin Beiber, and LMFAO, which then causes real hiphop artists to be left out of the limelight.
They should really consider changing the name of this site to hippopdx
you should consider a) changing sites or b) jumping off a cliff, you hatin ass nigga
Hell yeah! RealDJEVO representing the truth! Keep at it HipHopDX WE LOVE YOU! #HipHopDX #MeMyselfandI
I gave just about as much of a fuck today about this as I did yesterday
and I bet you still wasted your time commenting on both articles, smart tings brah
time to revolt against the whole music industry…they are not gettin any of my money they did in the 80s, 90s, early 2000s…i havent bought music in 7 years…and never again….run dat!!! homeboy!!! they aint payin my bills…
what you should continue to do is frequent the artist concerts because thats really how they make their money any. Universal take an unfair amount off these artist plates I heard Jadakiss and the Game were making .50 per album, wtf is dat shit?
Lol hiphopdx fails again
yeah, blame hiphopdx for something that was reported everywhere. its not like they broke the story. even SBs publicist confirmed he was CEO.
Shit went down an got ugly that nigga Swizz Beatz quickly denied everything lol like a real nigga would.
CHECK OUT THE MUSIC
http://soundcloud.com/inevitable-success/sets/taste-of-success/
(shaking my head)
Man how much abuse can a nigga take…
Well Good Thing Swizz Aint Facing Anything
Check Out My Beatz : http://soundcloud.com/taylorgangsouja
Am I the only one relieved by this? I’m not sure I want to live in a world where Swizz Beats has more responsibility than his current job of convincing people that Alicia Keys is straight
Hip-Hop be getin there information from the bottom of cracker jack boxes or sum shit
LOL
Well, at least Swizzy doesn’t have to deal with that mess.
Back then Napster, now Megaupload
swizz beatz is an idiot
Bob pooted in the streets Im deeply rooted, yes that means Im a hardcore nigga never hesitate to pull the trigga, what you smokin on I got that loud that get ya mind blown Im in the zone gettin blown while sippin on sum patrone, Im not scared to fuck fat bitches they down for me they know how to get riches,what you know about this deep gangsta shit you aint heard a hit til heard me spit bitch!!!
Ur shit is lame brah. Get an education
I miss real journalism. Where people like the writer and the editor do their job & information before it gets to the reader. This story about Swizz being CEO of Megaupload was asinine. Before and after the update. Try harder.
Just because the other hip hop blogs run with false stories it seems like HHDX feels the need to do the same and normally end up making the story one of the main headlines of the day. It really seems to happen a lot too.
The Huffington Post reported that same day that the heads of MegaUpload were detained and Swizz Beatz wasn’t mentioned at all. I figured HHDX had it wrong then.
Why not try to be the one hip hop site that doesn’t jump off the bridge when all their friends are doing it?
Yo the Megaupload About Us section had Swizzy listed as CEO.before it got taken down. Now, he was probably a figurehead for celeb endorsements but it’s not DX’s fault if they just said what was written on the actual website…
I miss real journalism. Where people like the writer and the editor ded their job & vetted information before it gets to the reader. This story about Swizz being CEO of Megaupload was asinine. Before and after the update. Try harder.
Told yall that fuckin lame wasnt shit
Its always been Kim Dotcom aka MEGARACER. The absurdly fat fuck that went on a 9 hour or so non stop spree to be #1 on the MW3 Leader boards.
Ill bet an article comes along that says BIG founded godaddy.com before he died and all you dumb fucks will eat it up.
LMAO! I read about Kim and was having a riot reading these comments. Yeah, cats will eat ANYTHING up even before verifying or confirming news articles. Now people are left feeling like the dipshits they are…
UH OHH!!! looks like someone is pissed – FBI vs ANONYMOUS video:
http://www.peeje.com/anonymous-hackers-we-legion-211/
…as for swizz, that’s BS…I don’t he has any legal connections to MU…imo it was all fabbed up to get other celebrity endorsements.
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NOW HERE’S A NIGGA WHO GETS ABSOLUTELY NO PUSSY
Alicia Keys??
THAT BITCH DON’T COUNT