Chris Lighty, who had been instrumental to the careers of some of Hip-Hop’s biggest stars through his company Violator Management, has passed away. Lighty was a manager to the stars, overseeing the careers of such artists like The Jungle Brothers, Diddy, Mariah Carey, 50 Cent, Q-Tip, Nas, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes and a countless amount of others.
Under Lighty along with Mona Scott-Young, Violator released two compilation albums of material from its artists: Violator: The Album, Vol. 1 and Violator: The Album, Vol. 2. Vol. 1 featured Q-Tip’s first solo hit single since breaking from A Tribe Called Quest, “Vivrant Thing.”
“So very sad about Chris Lighty..Great long time friend,fellow bronxite and peer…incredible businessman and person,” Jeff Robinson tweeted minutes after the news broke. Lighty had recently divorced his wife Veronica of seven years in 2011, who played an active role in his talent management company Violator.
Details surrounding his passing are scarce at the moment. Hip-Hop Wired and Moguldom Media Group send out our deepest condolences to the Lighty family.
UPDATE: The New York Daily News reports that Lighty died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. The authorities also alleged that Lighty may have owed the IRS around $5 million.
This story is developing.
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Photo: Violator
