Jul 6 - Rapper Beelow in hospital after being shot in the head..

Beelow, a local rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is in the hospital after being shot in the head in a dispute over bootlegged CD’s.

Beelow, who worked with such artists as Juvenile, C-Murder and David Banner and opened for such acts as 8Ball & MJG, Master P, and Silkk the Shocker, was allegedly accused of selling bootleg CD’s and DVD’s during an argument yesterday (July 4) in front of a local store.

Police are exploring several leads, including the possibility that the assailant is linked to another Baton Rouge, Louisiana rapper, who recently inked a major label deal.

“An argument ensued between two men and one placed the gun to his head and shot him twice,” Cpl. L'Jean McKneely Jr. told AllHipHop.com. Associates with Beelow returned fire during the altercation, police stated.

Beelow was taken to Earl K. Long Medical Center in a private automobile and police stated they expected him to survive.

McKneely did not release the names of the suspects, due to the pending investigation.

Sources told AllHipHop.com that in addition to Beelow’s altercation, several other figures associated with the bootlegging trade in the city were hospitalized.

“There was a meeting between record store owners, rappers and various councilmen a few months ago about the bootlegging problems in Louisiana,” a source speaking under the condition of anonymity told AllHipHop.com. "It's really serious."

Beelow released four albums, 1999’s Ballin’ 4 Billions, Ballaholic, Paperchasin and Same Game New Hustle.

He also released a popular DVD, Beelow Presents Thugz Gone Wild a "Ghetto Brawls" type DVD that featured brawls and fighting, which was distributed by Universal Music & Video Distribution (UMVD).

The illict music trade has turned into a global black market. A recent report stated that one out of every three CD’s sold world wide was pirated and artists are not compensated for those sales.

The same report revealed that fake recordings outsold legal recordings in 31 countries, raking up almost $5 billion in sales

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