Chi Modu: Celebs Rumors

The Notorious B.I.G’s estate has settled a lawsuit over some iconic photos of the late rapper at the World Trade Centre.In 1996, late photographer Chi Modu took the photos of Biggie – real name Christopher Wallace. The images, which show the rapper in front of the World Trade Centre towers, were taken five years before the September 11 attacks in New York City.At the filing of the initial lawsuit in 2019, Biggie’s estate claimed Modu was illegally licensing the photos for use on such things as shower curtains and NFTs “in complete disregard for BIG’s rights.” The photographer passed away in 2021.In 2022, a judge ruled that images used in this way on such merchandise did likely violated the rapper’s likeness rights.Now, this week, Billboard reported that Staci Jennifer Trager, who represented The Notorious B.I.G.’s estate, announced that a settlement has been reached regarding the lawsuit on January 18.While the terms of the settlement were not made public, Trager said the resolution was between Biggie’s children and Modu’s widow who are all executors of the estates of the deceased artists. “Pictures of Christopher cannot be commercially exploited without a license from our client,” Trager said.

Universal Music has been sued by the estate of photographer Chi Modu over an image of Tupac Shakur that features on a post on the major’s own editorial website uDiscoverMusic.com. The estate says it controls the rights in the image and it’s being used without licence.The lawsuit provides a short biography of Modu, who died last year aged 54.

Famed photographer Chi Modu has died. The artist, who captured iconic shots of Tupac and many more, was 54.