More on rappers and the law

I had a great time in Puerto Rico, but it was really hard to come back to D.C. to keep studying for the bar when all I really wanted to do was extend my trip, go to the beach, and start a new life in the Caribbean, which would probably involve island-hopping just to make sure I leave a complicated trail for the student loan people who will eventually want their money back.

I think I found a little bit of my motivation again, which is a huge relief, because although cramming has always worked for me in the past, there's only so much information I can cram into my head and retain for a twelve hour exam, so I actually need to study and learn for real this time.  I had mentioned to my parents that I hit a studying slump though, so today when I checked the mail, I was pleasantly surprised to find a Bar Exam Care Kit from them (I didn't figure out why BECK was listed as the sender until I opened it up).  It definitely made my day, and came at just the right time, so thank you Mom and Dad.  

Finally, here is another analysis for you concerning rappers and the law:

Yesterday I saw a headline when I was logging into my Yahoo! email account that 50 Cent is suing his son's mother, Shaniqua, for defamation for her statement "[h]e tried to kill me and his own child....I know this came from 50 Cent" that she made after the home she lived in with her son (50 Cent actually owns the home) burned down.

I'm not sure how successful 50 Cent's defamation claim will be.  Defamation is basically the publication of a fact about the plaintiff (50 Cent) that is false and defamatory that causes harm to the plaintiff's reputation.  Here, the defamation could be slander, since it was spoken. However, if Shaniqua made the statement to reporters, rather than the police, it may be libel, since it would then be permanently preserved on the internet, radio, or television.  Whether it's slander or libel will affect the type of damages that 50 Cent would recover (50 Cent would recover better money damages if the statement is libel, since he won't have to prove he suffered special damages, which are basically economic harm).

50 Cent is a public figure (even though my parents may not have heard of him), so he'll need to show that Shaniqua acted with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth, which basically means that there has to be sufficient evidence to allow the conclusion that his ex had serious doubts as to the truth of the statement when she made it.  I think this might be the point on which 50 Cent's claim would fail, because considering he and Shaniqua already had a pretty big, ongoing legal battle over child support and the $1+ million dollar home, it doesn't seem like Shaniqua would have had such serious doubts the statement was false when she made it, since 50 Cent wanted her out of the house.  

So 50, in the (paraphrased) words of Jay-Z, "I ain't passed the bar, but I know a little bit," so I'm thinking that based on the celebrity gossip news available to me, your defamation claim will fail.