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Lupe's Label Partner Gets 44 Years For Drugs
Tuesday, June 5, 2007 By: Kenny Rodriguez
Charles Patton, Lupe Fiasco’s business partner and co-founder of 1st & 15th Records, was sentenced to 44 years on drug charges, including selling heroin packets on the streets of Chicago.
Patton, nicknamed Chilly, was caught with 6 kilos of heroin – worth about $1 million – which he kept stored in a suburban storage locker, according to investigators.
Although prosecutors did not present evidence of a link between Patton’s drug dealing and the record label he owned with Lupe Fiasco, according to authorities, the connection was implied.
“There is a large amount of money that he received from the sales of heroin,” Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Coughlin said. “And he was able to start up a record company.”
Lupe, who was not formally charged, was at Patton’s home during his arrest in 2003, and he later testified in court regarding several phone conversations with Patton.
During one conversation Lupe and Patton discussed splitting up “whole yellow” and “whole red” ones – which prosecutors said referred to the mixing and preparing of $10 heroin packets.
Lupe denied the allegation, and said they were referring to mixing and laying down music tracks. He has also denied any involvement in drugs.
Lupe and Patton met at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois, in the 1990s, and formed a record company around 2000. Meanwhile, prosecutors allege that Patton had been selling drugs since the late 1980s.
In a previous interview with NobodySmiling, Lupe explained that following Chilly’s arrest, rap artist Jay-Z stepped in and offered his advice on the ins-and-outs of the music industry. Jay would later executive produce his 2006 debut, “Food & Liquor.”
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, requests for a comment from Lupe were not answered, but he vouched for Patton in a letter to the court.
“I love Charles … I am deeply saddened by his circumstances and will stand by him and his family no matter what occurs,” Fiasco wrote.
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