Geto Boys' Willie D
Photo: Ben Rose/ Getty Images

The Geto Boys rapper Willie D (born William James Dennis) was arrested by FBI agents on Wednesday night at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and charged with wire fraud in connection with an alleged plot to sell iPhones over the Internet and then never delivering them.

According to the Houston Press, the arrest warrant in the case alleges that D, acting through a shell company called Texas One Wireless, arranged to sell iPhones and other electronics to overseas buyers over the Internet. Beginning in September 2008, Willie D allegedly used eBay to establish his credibility with international buyers. Once a buyer became interested, D then allegedly moved the transaction outside of eBay to an e-mail account.

Once the buyers had electronically transferred money into his account, the warrant claims, the rapper would send tracking numbers for packages that were never shipped. When the shipments never arrived and the buyers complained about not receiving their purchases, officials allege the rapper claimed he filed a complaint with the U.S. Postal Service or the carrier handling the shipment, but that he could not refund their money until he tracked down the goods.

At some point, investigators claim, Dennis would stop communicating with the buyers, which led one of the disgruntled customers to contact law enforcement authorities. The charge carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

D earned his fame as the leader of the legendary Houston underground rap grew the Geto Boys, whose 1991 album featured the bleak, iconic #1 single, "Mind Playing Tricks on Me," which he co-wrote. He quit the group in 1992 for a solo career, only to rejoin four years later for the group's reunion album, The Resurrection.

The rapper appeared before a U.S. Magistrate judge in federal court on Thursday, according to the Houston Chronicle, and is due back in court on Friday (May 15), when it will be determined if he will be offered bail, since prosecutors consider him a flight risk.

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Snypaz
Photo: Atlantic

While Chicago has produced more than its share of blues and R&B artists, the City of Big Shoulders has yet to make its mark as a hip-hop hotbed. Snypaz is out to change all that.

They've already caught the ear of the Geto Boys' Scarface, who put the Windy City foursome on his 1998 album, My Homies, and helped get them signed to Rap-a-Lot, which will release their major label debut, Livin' in the Scope, on Tuesday.

After hooking up in 1993, Snypaz — Chilla, 2-4, Lil Rob and Sic Wicked — first made their local mark with their 1995 tape Ridin' High, but kicked it to another level with their 1997 disc, My Life as a Snypa, which they say they sold 80,000 copies of on their own.

In addition to working with Scarface, Snypaz also appeared on fellow Chicagoans Do or Die's "Bustin' Back" on that group's 1998 Headz or Tailz album.

"We built our reputation from the ground up," Chilla said. "It's better that way, really. Because then nobody can say we didn't pay our dues." "Overnight," the cut they did with Scarface, grew out of living room jams based on Geto Boys tracks that Snypaz loved. "We grew up with them, you know? Then we got the chance to work with Scar, and that was like our big break," Lil Rob said.

Like Scarface and the Geto Boys, Snypaz offer up sounds that sometimes stand in stark contrast to the lyrics, injecting even the hardest raps with a healthy dose of soul music.

Cuts like "Kill-Steal-Will" and "Comin' Wit It" combine raw, aggressive lyrics with catchy, even melodic, backing tracks featuring strings and piano. "There's no one Snypaz sound, there's no one Chicago sound," Chilla said. "It's too versatile, so it's hard to label it. But we want to put Chicago on the map." For Chilla, it's all about communicating, sending out their sounds to Memphis, New Orleans and Atlanta, reminding folks that just because you're in the middle of the country doesn't mean you can't play it. "We're in the Midwest, trying to get people to understand that everybody's doing something, no matter where they are," he said. "We've been hearing it from them, and now it's time they hear from us." "We all take turns rapping, depending on who's really feeling the track," Lil Rob said. "Sometimes it'll have a Dirty South feel, sometimes it'll have a real hard West Coast feel, but that's what we want to do. Depending on who's rapping it, different people will feel different things." Which means they're not all about being hard.

"That's on Everything" finds the guys taking things down a notch, with a mellow flow over staccato Spanish guitar. "In the end, it's about the track," Chilla said. "If the music is OK, we can do anything with it. If it's dark and gloomy, we work with that. If it's more, like, upbeat, then we go in that direction."

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Houston rapper Bushwick Bill has dedicated his latest album, "No Surrender... No Retreat" to the memory of his slain friend and former prosecutor, Fort Bend County Assistant District Attorney Gil Epstein.

• Bushwick Bill
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Geto Boys rapper Bushwick Bill has filed a $20 million lawsuit against several defendants -- including the hardcore group's former record label, Noo Trybe Records -- claming he was attacked in an incident that occurred on August 28 at a Houston comedy club.

• Bushwick Bill
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The diminutive rapper known as Bushwick Bill was arrested for marijuana possession in Homewood, Alabama last weekend after police discovered two grams of pot in his hotel room.

Bill, who entered the public consciousness as part of the Geto Boys, was in the Birmingham suburb to do a personal appearance and autograph session at a local car dealership where, by all accounts, he was on his best behavior.

Later that evening, police received complaints of a marijuana smell coming from Bill's room at the Holiday Inn, and found the rapper in possession of the pot as well as a 12 gauge shotgun and four live shells.

Bushwick Bill is currently free on $500 bail.

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