Jay Z’s one-time protégé, Sigel, fatally shot…in intensive care

US rapper, Beanie Sigel (real names: Dwight Grant), a one-time protégé of Jay Z, was shot in the stomach on Friday at a home in Pleasantville, New Jersey. He sustained life threatening injuries but hospital staff say he is stable after a surgery.

Another person was injured but police say he refused medical treatment and was uncooperative.

The motive behind the shooting was unclear but a BBC report quotes Pleasantville police Chief Jose Ruiz as saying: "Apparently, there was a struggle of some type, which led to Mr Grant being shot and that is all we have at this point."

His attorney Fortunato Perri Jr. said his family confirmed that Sigel had just taken his children to school and that he was not the intended target of the shooting.

Sigel, who has in the past, been involved in fights and brushes with the law was sentenced to one year in prison on weapons charges the 2004.

The 40-year-old recently served a two-year prison sentence for tax evasion and was released in August.

He has also been a success in his music career. Three of his albums hit the top five on the Billboard album chart: The Truth' (2000); The Reason (2001) and The B. Coming' (2005). 

He was once a protégé of Jay Z, who signed him to his record label, Roc-A-Fella Records in 2006, where he released his fourth album, The Solution.

The duo however fell out with each other with Sigel accusing Jay Z of not visiting him in prison and not promoting his work.

Three years later, he left the label, and since then, it had been rough for him. He released a song criticising Jay Z called What You Talking Bout? (I Ain't Ya Average Cat).