Beanie Sigal Arrested On Assault Charges

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Topics - Rap, Hip Hop, Crime, Law
Hip hop rap artist Beanie Sigel, who has sold hundreds of thousands of records glamorizing a criminal lifestyle, has been convicted of assault.

Sigel, born Dwight Grant, did not dispute the prosecutor's version of events of a fight in Philadelphia and was convicted of misdemeanor simple assault.

He was sentenced to two years' probation plus ?120 in court costs.

The charges stem from an argument between Sigel and a man who said the rapper punched him, breaking his left eye socket, during a January 2003 argument outside a Chinese restaurant.

The case was the latest in a series of criminal charges against Sigel, who has an arrest record dating to his days growing up in South Philadelphia.

Sigel now plans to "make music, make movies and work on his clothing line," said his attorney, Fortunato N. Perri Jr.

Two years ago, a jury acquitted him of charges that he nearly shot to death a man on a crowded street.

Sigel left a federal prison in August 2005, after serving nearly a year on a federal weapons charge that stemmed from a 2002 traffic stop in Philadelphia.

Sigel's three albums - The Truth (2000), The Reason (2001) and The B. Coming (2005) - each hit the top five on the Billboard album chart. Many of Sigel's songs depict guns, drugs and violence.

He also has his own clothing line and starred in the movie State Property and its sequel.