Tupac Shakur’s Aunt Added to FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists; First Woman Ever on List

Joanne Chesimard, a left-wing militant who shot a state trooper on the New Jersey Turnpike 40 years ago today, has become the first woman on the FBI's list of Most Wanted Terrorists. "Joanne Chesimard is a domestic terrorist who murdered a law enforcement officer execution-style," said Aaron Ford, special agent in charge of the FBI's Newark Division. Chesimard, a fugitive living in Cuba under the name Assata Shakur, was a member of the Black Liberation Army in 1973 when she shot and killed Trooper Werner Foerster during a traffic stop. According to a state police account, "Foerster was severely wounded in his right arm and abdomen and then executed with his own service weapon on the roadside. Chesimard's jammed handgun was found at Foerster's side." New Jersey State Police/AP Photo This is an undated file photo provided by the... View Full Size Cop Killer Troy Davis Denied Clemency Watch Video 2 Officers Killed in Shootout; Suspect Dead Watch Video 6 Cops Hit in Shootout Near Salt Lake City Watch Video Chesimard, now 65, was convicted in 1977. Two years later she escaped from the prison where she was serving a life sentence, spent time in a series of safe houses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and fled in 1984 to Cuba, where New Jersey State Police Col. Rick Fuentes said she "flaunts her freedom." "To this day from her safe haven in Cuba Chesimard has been given a pulpit to preach and profess, stirring supporters and groups to mobilize against the United States by any means necessary," Fuentes said. The reward for her capture and safe return has been doubled to $2 million. "We want her to come back here and face justice and serve out her sentence," New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said. Chesimard is also known as the godmother of slain rapper Tupac Shakur. The FBI said Chesimard represents a "supreme terror" to the United States, though she is associated with no new threat. Her supporters believe she was a target of law enforcement's campaign against the Black Panther movement in the 1960s and 1970s. "I was convicted by—I don't even want to call it a trial, it was lynching, by an all-white jury," Chesimard told BET in 2001. "I had nothing but contempt for the system of justice under which I was tried." The rapper Common told her story in "A Song for Assata," which caused a stir after Michelle Obama invited him to a White House poetry slam two years ago. The piece contains the lyrics "Your power and pride is beautiful."

Kris Kross Rapper "Chris Kelly" Dies!

The mother of rapper Chris Kelly told authorities in Atlanta her son became sick after taking cocaine and heroin on the night before he died, according to a police report. Kelly, half of the 1990s teen rap duo Kriss Kross, was found dead Wednesday of a suspected drug overdose.  Kelly's mother, Donna Kelly Pratte, 54, and his uncle, Lamar Williams, 52, told authorities Kelly had a history of drug abuse and experienced similar episodes in the past, according to the Fulton County police report.  Paramedics found Kelly, 34, unresponsive on a living room couch at his Atlanta home and tried administering CPR. Kelly, who was known as "Mac Daddy," was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.  Authorities completed a physical examination of Kelly's body and a toxicology screening was being done to determine cause of death, said Betty Honey of the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office.  Kriss Kross was introduced to the music world in 1992 by music producer and rapper Jermaine Dupri after he discovered the pair at Greenbriar Mall in southwest Atlanta. Kelly performed alongside Chris Smith, who known as "Daddy Mac."
"To the world Chris was Mac Daddy but to me, he was a son I never had ...," Dupri said in a written statement Thursday.  Jason Collins, Boston Bombing Investigation and the News of the Week Watch Video
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"When I think about it, I spent more time with Chris and Chris than damn near anybody in my whole life, so you can imagine how bad this hurts," Dupri added. "I will always love you Chris, and I will never let the world forget you, may God bless your soul."

Other music industry fixtures took to Twitter to share their condolences after hearing news of Kelly's death.
The duo wore their clothes backward as a gimmick, but they won over fans with their raps.
Their first, and by far most successful song, was "Jump." The hit, off their multiplatinum 1992 debut album "Totally Krossed Out," featured the two trading verses and rapping the refrain, the song's title. The duo had surprising maturity in their rap delivery, though the song was written by Dupri. It would become a No. 1 smash in the United States and globally, and one of the most popular of that year.  Their success led to instant fame: They toured with Michael Jackson, appeared on TV shows, and even had their own video game.  The group was never able to match the tremendous success of their first song, though they had other hits like "Warm It Up," and "Tonite's tha Night."  In 2009, after photos surfaced that showed Kelly with bald spots on his head, there were rumors that he had cancer. But in an interview posted on YouTube by Straight from the A TV, he said he suffered from alopecia, a condition in which people lose their hair.
"My health is good, I just got alopecia, I don't have cancer, not other sort of diseases," he said.  Earlier this year, the group performed together to celebrate the anniversary of Durpri's label, So So Def.

Wells Gabriel reported from Washington. AP Entertainment Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody in New York and writer Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report.