Chuck Philips

Philips grew up in the Detroit area and attended Franklin High School.{{cite web |title=Chuck Philips in the U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900–1999 |website=Ancestry.com |url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/590233664:1265 |url-access=subscription |access-date=June 29, 2022 |year=1968 }} He moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and worked for the Wasserman Silk Screen Company of Santa Monica, California, while studying at California State University, Long Beach, where he received a B.A. in journalism in 1989.

Philips spent a majority of his career writing for the Los Angeles Times, beginning as a freelance writer in 1990 and joining the staff in 1995. He remained at the Times until being laid off in 2008. He wrote several investigative pieces and series about the music industry, particularly on controversial business practices, corruption, and crime. Philips has also written for The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Rolling Stone, Spin, The Village Voice, AllHipHop and The Source.

In 1991, Philips wrote an article exposing rampant sexual harassment in the music industry. He revealed, "Industry sources say sexual comportment has been a behind-the-scenes factor in certain recent executive shake-ups." The article details four cases of harassment at a prominent entertainment law firm and three record labels, Geffen Records, RCA Records, and Island Records.{{cite web |last1=Philips |first1=Chuck |title=Sexual Harassment Claims Confront Music Industry : Bias: Three record companies and a law firm have had to cope with allegations of misconduct by executives. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-03-mn-1568-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=November 3, 1991 |access-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-date=September 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061222/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-11-03/news/mn-1568_1_sexual-harassment |url-status=live }} Philips continued relentless coverage and other media outlets followed suit.{{cite book|first1=Richard D. |last1=Barnet|first2=Larry L.|last2=Burriss|title=Controversies of the Music Industry|url=https://archive.org/details/controversiesofm0000barn|url-access=registration|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|location=Santa Barbara, California|isbn=978-0-313-31094-2}} A follow-up interview in which a victim graphicly describes her experience led to more women sharing their stories. By 1995, all six major record labels had updated their sexual harassment policies.

{{see also|Cop Killer (song)#Reaction}}

In the summer of 1992, Philips provided a platform to rapper Ice-T, who had just released one of the most controversial songs of all time, "Cop Killer." Ice-T was under fire from police and politicians, including President George H. W. Bush, who called the song "sick."{{cite web|work=United Press International|title=Bush Calls Cop-Killing Lyrics 'Sick|date=June 29, 1992|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/06/29/Bush-calls-cop-killing-lyrics-sick/7530709790400/}} In his first interview after the controversy broke, the artist defended his role in a culture war. On the front page of the Los Angeles Times, in a Q&A about rock, race, and the "Cop Killer" furor, Ice-T counterattacked his critics, saying: "Arnold Schwarzenegger blew away dozens of cops as the Terminator. But I don’t hear anybody complaining."{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-25-me-1028-story.html |title=Attempt to Bar Ice-T From Stadium Fails : Entertainment: City officials and police group determine that no grounds exist to stop concert. |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=September 25, 1992 |last1=Lee |first1=John H. |accessdate= July 1, 2022}}

Despite the song being a product of Ice-T's heavy metal band Body Count, it was ensnared in a campaign to ban gangsta rap.{{Citation | vauthors=((Connell, Christopher)) | date=September 22, 1992 | title=Quayle Demands That Rap Record Be Yanked | url=https://apnews.com/article/a249c215c523dbd528710412cb91b193 | access-date=July 9, 2022}}

He complained:

:"The one thing I wish is that the media would quit calling this a rap record. You’d think if they were going to do stories on ‘Cop Killer’ that they might at least listen to the song. But they obviously haven’t, because anyone who has knows it’s a rock record. I hate to get on the racial thing because that’s something I’ve always been totally against. But the problem with the media is that they think that the word rock means white and the word rap means black."

:And politicians "want to shut rappers down. They want to silence us. The Supreme Court says it’s OK for a white man to burn a cross in public. But nobody wants a black man to write a record about a cop killer."

Ice-T had been accused of inciting violence against police officers. He illuminated Philips and his readers on the message of the song: "No way all I’m doing on this record is playing a character I invented who’s fed up with police abuse. He’s not the average person who just figured out after the Rodney King incident that police brutality exists. This particular character has seen it too long and he loses it and goes on a rampage. What I’m trying to tell people is that police brutality in the ‘hood is nothing new. And the thing is that whether this guy, the cop killer in my song, is real or not, believe it, there are people at that point. OK? But anybody who says that my record is going to make them go over that point, that’s bulls---. No record can take a man to that point.{{refn|group=n|name=howard|In 1992, when Ronald Ray Howard was being sentenced for the murder of a Texas highway patrolman, his lawyer attempted to avoid death penalty arguing, "Tupac songs containing strong anti-police messages, replete with accompanying gunshot and siren noises, blasted through [Howard's] head."{{cite journal |url=https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1392&context=elr&httpsredir=1&referer= |title=Cathcin' the Heat of the Beat: First Amendment Analysis of Music Claimed to Incite Violent Behavior |journal=Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review |date=January 1, 2000 |last1=Firestre |first1=Robert |last2=Jones |first2=Kendall T. |volume=20 |number=1 |accessdate= July 6, 2022}}}}

:"Don’t these politicians realize the country was founded on the kind of revolutionary political thought expressed in my song? I mean, haven’t they ever listened to the national anthem? Anybody knows that the 'Star-Spangled Banner’ is really just a song about a shoot-out between us and the police. Have they forgotten that Paul Revere became a Revolutionary War hero for warning everybody, ‘The police are coming, the police are coming?'"

Anti-censorship advocate, Rock the Vote co-founder and then Virgin Records executive Jeff Ayeroff called attention to the hypocrisy, "It’s not like the White House expresses any interest in trying to resolve the polarization that this song reflects. They just want to exploit the fear of this potent black artist to their own political advantage."

Philips himself surmised:

:"When it’s all over, the 'Rap Battle of 1992'{{refn|group=n|name=battle|A rap battle can be defined as a rap contest, almost always performed before a

crowd, between two individuals in which the objective is to outwit, outflow and outdiss one’s opponent.{{cite journal | vauthors=((Mavima, Shingi)) |journal=Journal of Hip Hop Studies|number= 1 Art. 10| title=Bigger By the Dozens: The Prevalence of Afro-Based Tradition in Battle Rap | volume=3 | pages=20 |year= 2016}}}} probably won’t rank up there in American history with the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812. But it has reopened the old American wounds of race and class. And the debate—which had been couched as a conflict between free expression and moral responsibility—has degenerated into an uncivil war of words enveloping politicians, business people, artists and others."

{{See also|Murder of Tupac Shakur}}

On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He died six days later due to the wounds inflicted.{{cite web |last1=Ramirez |first1=Esteban |title=Lost Soul: 25 years since the murder of Tupac Shakur |url=https://www.ktnv.com/13-investigates/lost-soul-25-years-since-the-murder-of-tupac-shakur |website=KNTV Las Vegas |publisher=Scripps Media, Inc. |access-date=June 30, 2022 |date=September 7, 2021 |archive-date=October 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022152717/https://www.ktnv.com/13-investigates/lost-soul-25-years-since-the-murder-of-tupac-shakur |url-status=live }} In 2002, following a yearlong investigation into the murder by the Los Angeles Times, Philips concluded that Shakur was killed by purported suspect Orlando Anderson, a member of the Southside Compton Crips gang.{{cite web |last1=Moss |first1=Corey |title=Biggie Paid Gang to Kill Tupac, Report Says : Fatal Shots Allegedly Fired From East Coast Rapper's Own Gun |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/1457346/biggie-paid-gang-to-kill-tupac-report-says/ |publisher=MTV |access-date=July 1, 2022 |date=September 6, 2002 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630174002/https://www.mtv.com/news/1457346/biggie-paid-gang-to-kill-tupac-report-says/ |url-status=dead }} Philips made an additional claim: "The murder weapon was supplied by New York rapper Notorious B.I.G., who agreed to pay the Crips $1 million for killing Shakur."{{cite web |author1=NME |title=Biggie Implicated in Tupac Killing |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/2pac-45-1379381 |website=NME |author-link=NME |access-date=July 1, 2022 |date=September 6, 2002 |quote=Six years after rapper Tupac Shakur was murdered in a mysterious drive-by shooting in LAS VEGAS, his arch rival Biggie Smalls has been implicated as a key player in the crime... Smalls, according to The Times, was brought into the plan when The Crips decided to make some money out of the killing. He agreed to stump up the $1million on condition that the killing bullet was fired from his own gun. He is said to have presented The Crips with a .40-caliber Glock pistol. |archive-date=July 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701062300/https://www.nme.com/news/music/2pac-45-1379381 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Leland |first1=John |title=New Theories Stir Speculation On Rap Deaths |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/07/arts/new-theories-stir-speculation-on-rap-deaths.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=July 1, 2022 |date=October 7, 2002 |archive-date=April 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414143421/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/07/arts/new-theories-stir-speculation-on-rap-deaths.html |url-status=live }} In the days following the story, friends and family members denied any involvement by the late Wallace. The Wallace family issued a statement expressing outrage and called the article "irresponsible journalism." Friends provided alibis claiming Wallace was not in Las Vegas on the night of the shooting.{{refn|group=n|name=outrage|Wallace family statement in response to Philips' 2002 article: "We are outraged at the false and damaging statements. For the record, Wallace was at his home in New Jersey on the night of Tupac Shakur's murder, with friends who will continue to testify for his whereabouts since he is unable to defend himself."{{cite web |last1=Moss |first1=Corey |title=Notorious B.I.G.'s Family 'Outraged' by Tupac Article : Meanwhile, Lil' Cease Says Biggie Was with Him on the Night in Question |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/1457365/notorious-bigs-family-outraged-by-tupac-article/ |publisher=MTV |access-date=July 1, 2022 |date=September 6, 2002|archive-date=July 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701071300/https://www.mtv.com/news/1457365/notorious-bigs-family-outraged-by-tupac-article/ |url-status=dead }}}}{{cite magazine |last1=Susman |first1=Gary |title=Biggie's family and friends come to his defense : Biggie's family and friends come to his defense. Countering the Los Angeles Times report fingering the late rapper in Tupac Shakur's murder, supporters deny he was in Las Vegas or otherwise involved in the killing |url=https://ew.com/article/2002/09/09/biggies-family-and-friends-come-his-defense/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |publisher=Meredith Corporation |access-date=July 1, 2022 |date=September 9, 2002 |archive-date=July 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701070728/https://ew.com/article/2002/09/09/biggies-family-and-friends-come-his-defense/ |url-status=live }}

In an online chat in 2008, Philips told the participants that unidentified sources placed Wallace in Nevada on the night of Shakur's murder. He added:

:"It has never been proven that Christopher Wallace was not in Las Vegas on the night Tupac was shot. Bad Boy produced some computer-generated documents purporting to place him in a recording studio in New York, but they were not time-stamped. Bad Boy said it was going to produce video of Biggie there. They never did that. I have since learned that federal officials conducted interviews in Las Vegas to determine whether Wallace was present. My sources were there and say he and other East Coast figures were in Las Vegas on the night the Southside Crips killed Tupac."

Louis Alfred, the recording engineer named in the session reports provided by Bad Boy, recalled a late-night recording session, but thought it unlikely it was the same night Shakur was shot. "We would have heard about it," he said.

No one has been arrested or prosecuted for the murder of Shakur and the case remains open. More than two decades following its publication, Philips' is among the theories still presented by the media.{{cite web |author1=Entertain This! Staff |title=5 enduring conspiracy theories about Tupac |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/09/13/5-enduring-conspiracy-theories-tupac/90309840/ |website=USA Today |publisher=Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC |access-date=July 1, 2022 |date=September 13, 2016 |archive-date=July 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701092903/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/09/13/5-enduring-conspiracy-theories-tupac/90309840/ |url-status=live }}

{{see also|Tupac Shakur#1994 Quad Studios shooting}}

While investigating Shakur's murder, Philips learned more about the 1994 ambush of Shakur in New York City. On March 17, 2008, he reported in the Los Angeles Times that the attack had been orchestrated by then talent manager and dealmaker James Rosemond a.k.a. Jimmy Henchman. {{refn|group=n|name=quad|The attack on Shakur occurred at Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan, where Rosemond was in a recording session with his artist Little Shawn. Biggie was also in the studio that night with Puffy and Lil' Cease.{{cite web |url=https://hiphopdx.com/interviews/id.1816/title.shawn-pen-speaks-about-the-quad-studios-attack-on-tupac-his-history-with-bad-boy-and-roc-a-fella-records |title=Shawn Pen Speaks About The Quad Studios Attack On Tupac, His History With Bad Boy And Roc-A-Fella Records |website=hiphopdx.com |date=December 9, 2011 |last1=Arnold |first1=Paul |accessdate=July 2, 2022}}}} Twelve years before Philips implicated Rosemond, lyrics to Shakur's song "Against All Odds" hinted at a connection: "Promised a payback, Jimmy Henchmen, in due time, I knew you bitch niggas was listening, the world is mine, set me up, wet me up, niggas stuck me up."{{refn|group=n|name=AAO|"Against All Odds" was recorded the month before Shakur's death and released posthumously.}}

Philips' story also claimed that Combs and Wallace had advance knowledge of the attack.{{cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/710552759/?terms=%22chuck%20philips%22%20quad%20tupac&match=1 |title=Report: Combs knew Tupac would be attacked |newspaper=Newsday (New York, New York) |date=March 17, 2008 |last1=Sweeney |first1=Matthew |accessdate=July 2, 2022}} To support his theory, Philips relied on unidentified sources and FBI transcripts of an interview with a confidential informant.{{cite web |last1=Stewart |first1=Jill |author-link=Jill Stewart |title=Chuck Philips, Tupac Shakur, Sean Combs, and the Con |url=https://www.laweekly.com/chuck-philips-tupac-shakur-sean-combs-and-the-con/ |website=LA Weekly |access-date=June 27, 2022 |date=March 27, 2008 |quote=But his and the paper's coverage of this case has attracted an inordinate amount of harsh criticism from other journos, ranging from Rolling Stone's detailed attack by Randall Sullivan to the juicy slam by Jan Golab for FrontPageMagazine.com. An even more meticulous picking apart of Philips' obsession with this unsolved rap-world shooting is offered in a long-running series of posts on Patterico, a Los Angeles website operated by blogger and Los Angeles County assistant district attorney Patrick Frey.|archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627062124/https://www.laweekly.com/chuck-philips-tupac-shakur-sean-combs-and-the-con/ |url-status=live }} Both Rosemond and Combs responded swiftly with statements denying Philips' claims.

:Rosemond called the story a "libelous piece of garbage," adding, "In the past 14 years, I have not even been questioned by law enforcement with regard to the assault of Tupac Shakur, let alone brought up on charges. Chuck Philips, the writer … has reached a new low by employing fourth-hand information from desperate jailhouse informants along with ancient FBI reports to create this fabrication. I simply ask for all rap fans and fans of Tupac to analyze this fiction for what it is."

:Combs said, “It is beyond ridiculous and completely false. Neither (the late rapper Notorious B.I.G.) nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during or after it happened. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story.”

On March 25, 2008, The Smoking Gun exposed the FBI documents sourced by Philips as fabrications.{{cite web |title=Big Phat Liar: How a federal inmate duped the Los Angeles Times, fabricated FBI reports, and linked Sean "Diddy" Combs to 1994 ambush of Tupac Shakur |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/big-phat-liar |website=The Smoking Gun |access-date=June 27, 2022 |date=March 25, 2008 |archive-date=January 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119125301/http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/big-phat-liar |url-status=live }} The extended bombshell piece began:

:"The Times appears to have been hoaxed by an imprisoned con man and accomplished document forger, an audacious swindler who has created a fantasy world in which he managed hip-hop luminaries, conducted business with Combs, Shakur, Busta Rhymes, and The Notorious B.I.G., and even served as Combs's trusted emissary to Death Row Records boss Marion "Suge" Knight during the outset of hostilities in the bloody East Coast-West Coast rap feud. The con man, James Sabatino, 31, has long sought to insinuate himself, after the fact, in a series of important hip-hop events, from Shakur's shooting to the murder of The Notorious B.I.G.. In fact, however, Sabatino was little more than a rap devotee, a wildly impulsive, overweight white kid from Florida whose own father once described him in a letter to a federal judge as "a disturbed young man who needed attention like a drug."

On March 26, 2008, the Los Angeles Times announced an internal investigation and published an apology from Philips that read, "In relying on documents that I now believe were fake, I failed to do my job. I’m sorry." Philips was chastised by his peers and the paper was criticized for its "useless policies for controlling its overuse of unnamed sources." Philips' editors also issued statements:

:Deputy Managing Editor Mark Duvoisin stated, "We should not have let ourselves be fooled. That we were is as much my fault as Chuck's. I deeply regret that we let our readers down."

:Editor Russ Stanton claimed to take the criticism seriously, adding "We published this story with the sincere belief that the documents were genuine, but our good intentions are beside the point," Stanton said in a statement. "The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used. We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents and, as a result, in the story. We are continuing to investigate this matter and will fulfill our journalistic responsibility for critical self-examination."

On April 7, 2008, the Los Angeles Times issued a lengthy front-page retraction. The paper's investigation concluded that "the FBI reports were fabricated and that some of the other sources relied on — including the person Philips previously believed to be the ‘confidential source’ cited in the FBI reports — do not support major elements of the story."{{cite news |title=L.A. Times retracts Tupac Shakur story |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/l-times-retracts-tupac-shakur-story-wbna23992099 |website=Today |agency=Associated Press |access-date=July 2, 2022 |date=April 7, 2008}}

This would be the last article Philips would write for the Los Angeles Times. On July 15, 2008, it was reported that he was let go in a round of layoffs. Philips later called foul on the career-ending retraction:

:"In April 2008, the LA Times published a searing front-page retraction trashing my story, my sources, my reporting and myself. I was pressured for days to accept the way the paper wanted to phrase the retraction. But it was not accurate. My sources were solid. My reporting was solid. Unfortunately, the documents turned out to be fakes — and the guy who fabricated them a liar. The retraction made me sound like Jayson Blair or Janet Cooke. It was worded as though I had made up the entire story and snuck it into print behind management's back, without the knowledge, consent or guidance of senior editors and lawyers directly involved in its publication."

Philips later claimed, "[Rosemond] twisted smokingun.com’s indictment of the fake 302s into an exoneration of his role in the Quad ambush. Then he and his attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, distorted smokinggun’s conclusions into a vile smear campaign against me online, attacking my credibility, demanding I be fired. They got their wish. Jimmy and Jeffrey fleeced the newspaper for a quarter million bucks, snookered them into printing a false retraction, plus walked away with my head on a platter."{{cite web|first=Greg|last=Watkins|title=Vengeance in the verdict|url=http://allhiphop.com/2012/06/06/chuck-philips-vs-jimmy-henchman-vengeance-in-the-verdict/|access-date=June 24, 2012|website=Allhiphop.com|date=June 6, 2012}}

In the intervening years, there have been several developments with the individuals, named and unnamed in Philips' article, and others involved in the incident.

• Dexter Isaac – In June 2011, the prison inmate confessed to being a perpetrator in Shakur's attack and claimed to have been paid $2,500 by Rosemond to rob Shakur.{{refn|group=n|name=isaac-apology|Isaac apologized to Shakur's family for "the mistake I did for that sucker [Jimmy Henchman]. I am trying to clean it up to give [Tupac and Biggie's] mothers some closure."{{cite web |url=https://allhiphop.com/news/exclusive-jimmy-henchman-associate-admits-to-role-in-robberyshooting-of-tupac-apologizes-to-pac-b-i-g-s-mothers/ |title=Exclusive: Jimmy Henchman Associate Admits to Role in Robbery/Shooting of Tupac; Apologizes To Pac & B.I.G.'s Mothers – AllHipHop |website=AllHipHop |date=June 15, 2011 |last1=Watkins |first1=Greg |accessdate= July 2, 2022}}}}
• Philips confirmed Isaac as a source for his 2008 article and demanded an apology and a retraction of the retraction from the Los Angeles Times.{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/06/disgraced-l-times-reporter-demands-retraction-retraction/324674/ |title=Disgraced L.A. Times Reporter Demands a Retraction of a Retraction |website=The Atlantic |date=June 23, 2011 |last1=Martin |first1=Adam |accessdate= July 2, 2022}}
• The Los Angeles Times reiterated their reason for the retraction and declined Philips' request stating, "No new information has emerged that bears on the mistakes for which we apologized and which we retracted."{{cite web |last1=Romero |first1=Dennis |title=Los Angeles Times Responds to Chuck Philips' Demand That The Paper Take Back its Retraction of His Tupac Story |url=http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/07/chuck_philips_tupac_times.php |website=LA Weekly |publisher=LA Weekly, LP |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822190941/http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/07/chuck_philips_tupac_times.php |archive-date=August 22, 2011 |date=July 15, 2011}}
• Rosemond claims Isaac is a confidential informant who cannot be trusted.
• Rosemond's lawyer dismissed the claim: "It's a flat-out lie. Dexter Isaac is not claiming this 17 years later to clear his conscience. He's doing it because he's told anybody who will listen he doesn't want to die in prison. He has kids and wants to work off his sentence. He can't be trusted."
• James Rosemond – Incarcerated as of 2010, he is serving multiple life sentences for operating a Continuing Criminal Enterprise and the murder-for-hire of G-Unit artist Lowell "Lodi Mack" Fletcher.{{cite news |url=https://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/the-guy-who-maybe-had-tupac-shot-in-1994-is-going-to-prison/ |title=Crimes and Misdemeanors : The Guy Who Maybe Had Tupac Shot in 1994 Is Going to Prison |website=Grantland |publisher=ESPN Internet Ventures |date=June 6, 2012 |last1=Barshad |first1=Amos |accessdate= July 2, 2022}}
• During opening remarks at Rosemond's 2011 trial, the prosecutor said Rosemond had implicated himself in the shooting of Shakur at Quad.{{cite web |url=https://www.bet.com/article/lg1v2u/jimmy-henchman-s-attorney-denies-tupac-shooting-report |title=Jimmy Henchman's Attorney: My Client Never Implicated Himself in Tupac Shooting |website=BET |date=June 29, 2012 |last1=Ugwu |first1=Reggie |accessdate= July 2, 2022}}
• Rosemond's attorney Gerald Shargel "categorically and emphatically" denied the claim. Referencing the 2008 Los Angeles Times article, Shargel implied Philips had engaged in a smear campaign. He added, "[The prosecutor's] statement was positively and absolutely false whether intentional, or not intentional. I think not intentional. She was not the prosecutor who sat in on any of the proffer sessions with Mr. Rosemond."
• The prosecutor continued, "If Mr. Shargel is going to argue that this was a fabricated article, it's the government's position that we can put in the defendant's own admission about that particular shooting. In saying it is not true, when in fact it is true, the government should be able to rebut that argument that he's making, [and introduce] that the defendant actually admitted to this 1994 shooting."{{refn|group=n|name=proffer|A proffer session is a meeting between a person who is a subject of a federal criminal investigation, the person's lawyer, and a prosecutor or investigator subject to the terms of a proffer letter. Proffer sessions are meetings between prosecutors and individuals who are the focus of an ongoing investigation. They are commonplace in criminal investigations. While a proffer session carries the potential to reduce or resolve a client's criminal exposure, it also presents a great deal of risk.{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proffer%20session |title=Proffer session Definition & Meaning |website=Merriam-Webster |date=1990 |last1=McCaffrey |first1=John |last2=Oebker |first2=Jon |accessdate= July 2, 2022}}}}
• James Sabatino – The document forger is still pulling cons from prison.{{cite web |url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/hip-hop-poseur-jimmy-sabatino-cant-stop-scamming-even-from-prison-6393917 |title=Hip-Hop Poseur Jimmy Sabatino Can't Stop Scamming — Even From Prison |website=Miami New Times |date=November 14, 2013 |last1=McCoy |first1=Terrence |accessdate=July 2, 2022}}
• Zayd Malik – A friend of Shakur who accompanied him that night categorically rejects Isaac's confession in a rare interview in 2018. He also denies a setup by Rosemond, but alludes to NYPD involvement.{{cite interview | last=Malik | first=Zayd| interviewer=Timbo| title=Info Minds| date=December 30, 2018| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wawe5J1xJWg&t=775s |work=Tupac Quad Studio Shooting What Really Happened Straight from the Horse's Mouth | access-date=July 2, 2022}}

Following the Isaac and Rosemond court revelations, Philips penned an exclusive to the Village Voice in which he claimed, "Rap’s longest running crime mystery has finally been solved — and pretty much the way my March 2008 Los Angeles Times article reported it."{{cite web |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/james-rosemond-tupac-shakur-shooting-978345 |title=Drug Kingpin Did Not Admit Assault On Tupac Shakur |website=The Smoking Gun |date=July 3, 2012 |accessdate= July 2, 2022}} MediaBistro's Fishbowl LA, which covered news related to the Los Angeles media, called Philips' Voice piece a "must-read essay that paints a very sorry picture of how the LAT dealt in a moment of crisis with an employee who faithfully served them for 18 years."

{{see also|Murder of the Notorious B.I.G.}}

On April 9, 2002, the Wallace family filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles and LAPD chiefs claiming they "willfully and recklessly prevented a full and thorough investigation" in the murder of Christopher Wallace aka Notorious B.I.G.{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2002/04/17/a-notorious-big-open-case/921d42b7-56fb-48df-bd85-b33eba541ac0/ |title=A Notorious B.I.G. Open Case |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 17, 2002 |last1=Waxman |first1=Sharon |accessdate= July 3, 2022}} During an investigation in the late 1990s, Waymond Anderson testified that disgraced LAPD gang officer David Mack was involved in the 1997 killing of Wallace. In 2002, when deposed in the Wallace family civil suit brought against the City of Los Angeles, Anderson recanted his previous testimony. In 2008, while testifying in his own appeal of a 1993 arson murder conviction, Anderson reversed his recantation claiming he had lied at the deposition because he had received threats passed to him through Philips.{{cite news|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|location=Sacramento, California|agency=Los Angeles Times|title=Inmate's bid to overturn murder conviction denied|date=December 11, 2008|page=7|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/632054882/?terms=%22by%20chuck%20philips%22%20los%20angeles%20times&match=1|url-access=subscription|access-date=July 3, 2022}} Philips was covering Anderson's appeal, exploring his innocence.{{cite web |last1=Frey |first1=Patrick |title=Inmate Whose Innocence Was Touted by Chuck Philips Accuses Philips of Conspiring with Suge Knight to Threaten Him and Suborn Perjury |url=https://patterico90.rssing.com/chan-25596966/article4.html |website=Patterico's Pontifications |access-date=July 3, 2022 |date=August 1, 2008}} Kevin Mackie, another witness deposed in the Wallace civil case, confirmed Mack's attendance at Death Row events and added, "Chuck Philips was frequently at Death Row functions and received payments from Death Row Records."{{cite news |url=http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2011/06/22/tupac-shakur-notorious-big-murders-and-ex-la-times-reporter-chuck-philips-a-timeline |date=June 22, 2011 |last=Wilson |first=Simone |title=Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G. Murders and ex-LA Times Reporter Chuck Philips: A Timeline |newspaper=LA Weekly}} The Wallace family attorney claimed Anderson's changed testimony was influenced by Philips. Philips and the Los Angeles Times described the claim as "idiotic" and "utterly groundless."{{cite web|date=September 26, 2007|title=Witness in Notorious BIG Lawsuit Changes Story, Implicates Wallace Family Attorney in Scam|url=https://www.xxlmag.com/witness-in-notorious-big-lawsuit-changes-story-implicates-wallace-family-attorney-in-scam/|publisher=Townsquare Media, Inc.}}

In 2002, the FBI opened an investigation into the LAPD and potential civil rights violations in connection with Christopher Wallace aka Notorious B.I.G.{{cite web|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/Christopher%20%28Biggie%20Smalls%29%20Wallace%20|title=FBI Records : The Vault : Christopher (Biggie Smalls) Wallace}}{{cite web |date=July 5, 2022 |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/1485912/fbi-joins-investigation-into-the-murder-of-notorious-big/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314204513/http://www.mtv.com/news/1485912/fbi-joins-investigation-into-the-murder-of-notorious-big/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 14, 2015 |title=FBI Joins Investigation Into The Murder Of Notorious B.I.G. : Feds working with Los Angeles Police to Solve 7-year-old case |publisher=MTV |last1=Moss |first1=Corey |accessdate= July 5, 2022}} In 2005, Philips revealed the identity of a confidential informant in the Los Angeles Times, referencing his moniker "Psycho Mike."{{cite news |title=Informant in Rap Star's Slaying Admits Hearsay |first1=Chuck |last1=Philips |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jun-03-me-biggie3-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=June 3, 2005}} Michael Robinson is described as a "reliable gang informant who had testified in federal court against the Bounty Hunter Bloods and worked as an informant for the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's Major Crimes Bureau for more than 15 years."{{refn|group=n|name=bounty|In December 2000, the FBI convicted 30 Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods gang members on federal drug violations for the distribution and conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.{{cite web |url=https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/lapd-and-fbi-crack-down-on-violent-la-street-gang/ |title=LAPD And FBI Crack Down On Violent LA Street Gang |website=LAPD Online |date=January 21, 2004 |author=LAPD |accessdate= July 3, 2022}}}}

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) Sergeant Richard Valdemar criticized the Los Angeles Times in a 2010 Police Magazine article for exposing and endangering confidential informants. He believes Robinson was outed in response to his testimony implicating Death Row boss Suge Knight, LAPD gang officers Mack and Rafael Perez, and Amir Muhammad in Wallace's murder. Following the revelation, Robinson was attacked repeatedly and his family was targeted. Valdemar accuses Philips of protecting Death Row associates and links him to Robinson's death, "Michael Robinson died of a heart attack on Dec. 5, 2006. He was only 49 years old. It is my belief that Michael Robinson died as a result of the stress and anxiety caused by his exposure and identification in Chuck Philip's hit piece that ran June 3, 2005."{{cite web |url=https://www.policemag.com/373646/a-jaundiced-eye-and-blood-red-ink |title=A Jaundiced Eye and Blood Red Ink – Gangs |website=Police Magazine |date=October 28, 2010 |last1=Valdemar | first1=Richard|accessdate= July 3, 2022}}

FBI special agent Philip J. Carson, the lead investigator on the case, confirms Philips' relentless pursuit for information and interference with the investigation. Prior to the article's publication, Philips had demanded an interview with Carson. Since Carson could not comment on the active case, he connected Philips to the FBI press office. Carson recalls the follow-up from FBI PR rep Cathy Viray, "Well, the good news is we met with Chuck Philips. The bad news is, he doesn't care what we have to say. He's going to ruin you in an upcoming article and it's going to ruin this case and it's going to ruin your career."{{cite book|last1=Sullivan |first1=Randall |date=2019 |isbn=9780802147004 |title=Dead Wrong: The Continuing Story of City of Lies, Corruption and Cover-Up in the Notorious BIG Murder Investigation |publisher=United States: Grove Atlantic}} Recorded phone conversations confirm the threats.{{cite podcast | url=https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/episode-6-suge-knight-the-pursuit-of-justice/id1530050718?i=1000494012035 | title=Episode 6: Suge Knight & The Pursuit of Justice | website=Unjust Justice: The Jimmy Rosemond Story |quote=FBI Agent Phil Carson completes his story about the operation to wire up FBI Informant Psycho Mike Robinson to meet with alleged triggerman Amir Muhammad. Former LAPD Homicide investigator Sergio Robleto was hired by Violetta Wallace and her attorney Perry Sanders. Robleto reveals information and evidence secured in the course of his own investigation during the civil trial, filed by Miss Wallace against the City of Los Angeles and the LAPD. | publisher=Criminal Minded Media | first1=Don |last1=Sikorski |author-link=Don Sikorski| date=October 8, 2020|access-date=July 4, 2022}}

Carson contends that he solely briefed LAPD Chief Mike Berkow and that Berkow fed information undermining the case to Philips. Carson identifies Philips' reporting in the Los Angeles Times as one of the "powerful forces" used by the LAPD to derail the FBI's investigation.

In 1997, Philips interviewed Shakur's former bodyguard Frank Alexander as an eyewitness to Shakur's 1996 deadly shooting. In their book, Chaos Merchants: Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious BIG, former LAPD officer Russell Poole and documentarian Michael Douglas Carlin write that Alexander secretly recorded phone conversations with Philips as well as Death Row insiders. They claim the recordings "offer insight into interworking of Death Row Records and their ties to Philips in creating false stories to run in the LA Times."{{cite book|title=Chaos Merchants: Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious BIG Kindle Edition |first1=Michael Douglas |last1=Carlin |first2=Russell |last2=Poole |first3=RJ |last3=Bond |date=January 1, 2016 |author2-link=Russell Poole|publisher=Michael Carlin |asin=B01A2VYJTO}}

While revisiting the FBI's investigation with Carson in The Dossier : The LAPD Cover-up of the Murder of Biggie Smalls podcast, investigative filmmaker Don Sikorski says he "uncovered sourced proof that Philips was in bed with one of the top brass at LAPD, Mike Berkow. Berkow was feeding him information to print in the paper. To go further, Philips wrote in upwards of five stories that created false narrative surrounding the investigation into Biggie's murder."

Wallace family attorney Perry Sanders designates the Los Angeles Times "co-conspirators in the cover-up."

On September 13, 2012, the anniversary of Shakur's death, Philips announced he would do a "Twitter experiment," tweeting a 1,200-word article, 40 characters at a time, concurrently with the launch of his website, the Chuckphilipspost.com.{{cite web |author1=Pollstar Staff |title=Industry Hotwire : Chuck Philips To Tweet 'Scoop' |url=https://news.pollstar.com/2012/09/12/chuck-philips-to-tweet-scoop/ |website=Pollstar |access-date=July 2, 2022 |date=September 12, 2012}}{{cite news|last=Starbury|first=Allen|title=Writer Chuck Philips To Tweet Article Connecting Diddy To Late Harlem Kingpin 'Von Zip'|url=http://www.ballerstatus.com/2012/09/12/writer-chuck-philips-tweet-article-connecting-diddy-late-harlem-kingpin-von-zip/|access-date=October 21, 2013|newspaper=Baller Status|date=September 12, 2012|archive-date=October 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022012956/http://www.ballerstatus.com/2012/09/12/writer-chuck-philips-tweet-article-connecting-diddy-late-harlem-kingpin-von-zip/|url-status=live}} The article was about Harlem drug dealer Eric “Von Zip” Martin and his alleged connection to Sean "Diddy" Combs.{{cite news|last=biz|first=m|title=New Tupac Documents; Website Slated to Hit the Internet, Twitter in Honor of Rapper's Death|url=http://hiphopnewssource.com/2012/09/page/18/ |access-date=September 24, 2013|newspaper=hiphopnewssource|date=September 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930000048/http://hiphopnewssource.com/2012/09/page/18/|archive-date=September 30, 2013|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |last1=Martins |first1=Chris |title=Tupac, Biggie Murders Still Drive Writer To Investigate |url=https://www.spin.com/2012/09/tupac-biggie-notorious-murders-chuck-philips-diddy/ |website=Spin|publisher=Miller Publishing Group |access-date=June 28, 2022 |date=September 13, 2012 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629023748/https://www.spin.com/2012/09/tupac-biggie-notorious-murders-chuck-philips-diddy/ |url-status=live }} The latest post on his website, about the death of Alesia Thomas while in LAPD custody, was published on October 15, 2012.{{cite web |last1=Philips |first1=Chuck |title=What happened to Alesia Thomas? |url=http://chuckphilipspost.com/investigative-reports/alesia-thomas/ |website=Chuck Philips Post |access-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826122218/http://chuckphilipspost.com/investigative-reports/alesia-thomas/ |date=October 15, 2012 |archive-date=August 26, 2013}}

In their 2001 book Controversies of the Music Industry, Richard D. Barnet and Larry L. Burriss credit Philips' continued reporting on sexual harassment in the music industry for prompting coverage by other media outlets and bringing the conversation to a national forum. "The article generated heated debate in the music industry and motivated several record companies to review their policies regarding sex bias and harassment."

Along with outspoken hip-hop critic Bill O'Reilly, Philips is dissed in a verse by Jay-Z on Missy Elliott's 2003 song ″Back in the Day.″{{cite web |title=Missy Elliot: Under Construction Album Review |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/2756-under-construction/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=June 29, 2022 |date=November 21, 2002 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629103950/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/2756-under-construction/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Back in the Day – Missy Elliott |url=https://genius.com/Missy-elliott-back-in-the-day-lyrics |website=Genius |publisher=Genius Media Group Inc. |access-date=July 1, 2022 |archive-date=June 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628083552/https://genius.com/Missy-elliott-back-in-the-day-lyrics |url-status=live }}

Retired FBI Agent Philip J. Carson asserts that when Philips identified a confidential informant by name in his June 3, 2005, article ″Informant in Rap Star's Slaying Admits Hearsay,″ he endangered the informant's life and derailed the FBI's investigation into LAPD's involvement in the murder of Notorious B.I.G. "Two or three weeks later, [the informant's] house got shot up by AK-47s and his daughter and granddaughter were at the house. The granddaughter got hit. The FBI, we had to relocate 'Psycho Mike' and his family to another city."

In September 2011, Showtime announced the production of a documentary film to be directed by Antoine Fuqua about Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight. Philips was named as a co-producer.{{cite web |last1=Kenneally |first1=Tim |quote=The film, tentatively titled "Suge Knight," will be directed by "Training Day" filmmaker Antoine Fuqua. Fuqua will also co-produce the documentary, with Bradley J. Fischer, whose credits include "Black Swan," "Shutter Island" and "Zodiac." David Prior, Laeta Kalogridis, James Vanderbilt, Lisa Remington and Edward McGurn will executive-producers, while journalist Chuck Philips will serve as co-producer. |title=Showtime Announces Suge Knight Documentary |url=https://www.thewrap.com/showtime-announces-suge-knight-documentary-31352/ |website=The Wrap |access-date=June 25, 2022 |date=September 27, 2011 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625223444/https://www.thewrap.com/showtime-announces-suge-knight-documentary-31352/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Goldberg |first1=Lesley |title=Showtime Sets Suge Knight Documentary |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/showtime-sets-suge-knight-documentary-240762/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=June 25, 2022 |date=September 27, 2011 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625223721/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/showtime-sets-suge-knight-documentary-240762/ |url-status=live }} American Dream/American Knightmare was released in 2018 though Philips is not listed in the television film's credits.{{cite web |title=American Dream/American Knightmare Full Cast & Crew |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2071600/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm |publisher=IMDb |access-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625223441/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2071600/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm |url-status=live }}

Philips is the primary subject featured in "Episode 7: The LA Times and the Murder of Biggie" of The Dossier : The LAPD Cover-Up of the Murder of Biggie (2020) podcast series.{{cite podcast| url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-7-the-la-times-and-the-murder-of-biggie/id1530050718?i=1000494833463 | title=Episode 7: The LA Times and the Murder of Biggie | website=The Dossier : The LAPD Cover-Up of the Murder of Biggie | publisher=Criminal Minded Media|author-link=Don Sikorski|last1=Sikorski |first1=Don | date=October 15, 2020}}

Philips is the primary subject featured in the "BONUS: Chuck Philips & Misinformation" episode of the Unjust Justice: The Jimmy Rosemond Story (2022) podcast series.

• 1990: Los Angeles Press Club award for stories about censorship.
• 1996: Long Island University's George Polk Award in the Culture Reporting category for "revealing the inner workings of America's $12 billion music industry."{{cite web |title=1996 George Polk Award Winners |url=https://liu.edu/polk-awards/past-winners#1996 |website=Long Island University |access-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-date=October 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026171813/https://liu.edu/polk-awards/past-winners#1996 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Times Wins Polk Awards for Music Industry, Fund-Raising Stories |quote=Philips, who covers the music industry for The Times, won the award for cultural reporting. Philips has written stories about scandals over lip-syncing and sexual harassment in the music business, the continued use of “payola” to gain air time for records, and shake-ups at Time Warner’s music division. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-07-mn-35658-story.html |access-date=September 14, 2013 |author=L.A. Times Archives |url-access=limited |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=March 7, 1997 |archive-date=September 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928135559/http://articles.latimes.com/1997-03-07/news/mn-35658_1_polk-award |url-status=live }}
• 1997: National Association of Black Journalists Award for coverage of the rap music business.
• 1999: Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting with Michael A. Hiltzik for a year-long series in the Los Angeles Times that exposed corruption in the music business.{{cite news|last=Shaw|first=David|author-link=David Shaw (writer)|title=2 Times Staffers Share Pulitzer for Beat Reporting|quote=Los Angeles Times reporters Chuck Philips and Michael A. Hiltzik won the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting Monday for their stories on corruption in the entertainment industry. The Pulitzer Prize Board cited their work on three major projects--"a charity sham sponsored by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, illegal detoxification programs for wealthy celebrities and a resurgence of radio payola.”|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-13-mn-26990-story.html|access-date=July 30, 2012|url-access=limited|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 13, 1999|archive-date=September 28, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928135514/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/apr/13/news/mn-26990|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=Trounson|first=Rebecca|title=Mark Saylor dies at 58; former Times editor oversaw Pulitzer-winning series|url-access=limited|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-mark-saylor-20130223-story.html|access-date=April 28, 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=February 22, 2012|archive-date=March 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130304210122/http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/22/local/la-me-mark-saylor-20130223|url-status=live}}

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• {{cite journal |last1=Quinn |first1=Eithne |title="Tryin' to Get Over": "Super Fly", Black Politics, and Post—Civil Rights Film Enterprise |journal=Cinema Journal |year=2010 |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=86–105 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25619772 |access-date=June 28, 2022 |publisher=University of Texas Press |doi=10.1353/cj.0.0183 |jstor=25619772 |s2cid=145157914 |issn=0009-7101}}
• {{cite book|first=Eithne|last=Quinn|title=Nuthin' but a "G" Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hTJ_fXhe-WYC&pg=PT179|date=August 13, 2013|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-231-51810-9}}
• {{cite book |last1=Ro |first1=Ronin |title=Have Gun Will Travel : The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records |date=1999 |publisher=Broadway Books |isbn=9780385491358 }}
• {{cite book|last1=Rotondo|first1= Andrea M. |title=Tom Petty: Rock 'n' Roll Guardian|publisher= Omnibus Press|date=2014|isbn=978-0857128683}}
• {{cite book |last1=Sanders |first1=Joshunda |title=How Racism and Sexism Killed Traditional Media : Why the Future of Journalism Depends on Women and People of Color |date=August 11, 2015 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781440830822 }}
• {{cite book|last1=Shepherd|first1= John |first2=David |last2=Horn|first3= Dave |last3=Laing |first4=Paul| last4=Oliver|first5= Peter |last5=Wicke|title= Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 1: Media, Industry, Society|publisher=A&C Black|date=2003|isbn=9781847144737}}
• {{cite book|last1=Silverman |first1=Jonathan |author1-link=Jonathan Silverman|author2-link=Dean Rader|last2=Rader |first2=Dead|date=July 2005 |title=The World is a Text: Writing, Reading, and Thinking about Culture and Its Contexts|publisher=United States: Pearson Education |isbn=9780131931985}}
• {{cite book |last1=Steffens |first1=Bradley |author-link=Bradley Steffens |title=Censorship |date=2001 |publisher=Greenhaven Press |isbn=9781565103917 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Sullivan |first1=Randall |author-link=Randall Sullivan|title=Labyrinth : The True Story of City of Lies, the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. and the Implication of the Los Angeles Police Department |date=December 2007 |publisher=Grove Atlantic |isbn=9781555847432 }}
• {{cite book |author1=United States. Federal Trade Commission |author-link=Federal Trade Commission |title=Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children : A Review of Self-regulation and Industry Practices in the Motion Picture, Music Recording & Electronic Game Industries : a Report to Congress |date=2000 |publisher=The Commission |location=United States}}
• {{cite book|title=Feud : The Birth, Growth, and Fall of Gangsta Rap |date=May 5, 2015|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |last1=Warner |first1=Jennifer|isbn=9781512057553}}
• {{cite book | vauthors=((Watson, Robert P.)) | date=February 1, 2012 | title=Life in the White House: A Social History of the First Family and the President's House | publisher=SUNY Press | isbn=978-0-7914-8507-1}}
• {{cite book|title=Racism in Contemporary America|date=1996|publisher=United Kingdom: Greenwood Press |last1=Weinberg|first1=Meyer|isbn=9780313296598}}
• {{cite book |last1=Weiss |first1=Jeff |last2=McGarvey |first2=Evan |title=2pac Vs. Biggie : An Illustrated History of Rap's Greatest Battle |date=May 13, 2013 |publisher=Voyageur Press |isbn=9781610587938 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Westhoff |first1=Ben |title=Original Gangstas : The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap |date=September 13, 2016 |publisher=Hachette Books |isbn=9780316344869 }}

}}

{{reflist|group=n}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• Randy Newman – {{cite news |title=Randy Newman Matters |journal=Cash Box |volume= LII|issue= 18|date=October 29, 1988 |pages=3, 12–13}}
• Miles Davis – {{cite news |title=Miles Smiles |journal=Cash Box |volume= LII|issue= 51|date=July 1, 1989 |pages=18}}
• Ice-T – {{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-19-ca-4406-story.html |title=A Q & A with Ice-T about rock, race and the 'Cop Killer' furor |website=Los Angeles Times |date=July 19, 1992}}
• Tupac Shakur – {{cite news |title=2Pac's Gospel Truth |newspaper=Rolling Stone |date=October 28, 1993}}
• Snoop Dogg – {{cite news |title=Dogg's Life |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1993/11/14/doggs-life/ad80652e-c8ec-422d-95fd-327e1e9a1245/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=November 14, 1993}}

• {{Cite news |date=January 6, 1990 |title=Music Industry Vows to Fight Proposed Warning Label on Records |pages=F1, F6 |work=Los Angeles Times/Calendar}}
• {{Cite news |date=February 11, 1990 |title=The Target is Rock: Censorship-vs.-responsibility debate gains new momentum as more states examine laws requiring the labeling of 'offensive' recordings |pages=69, 75–76 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times/Calendar}}
• {{cite web |title=A War on Many Fronts : Censorship: 1990 was the year that 'free expression' ran head-on into 'moral concern.' But the conflict may only be beginning. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-12-26-ca-6655-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=December 26, 1990}}
• {{Cite news |date=March 2, 1991 |title=Day of Decency: Radio: The 18-hour anti-censorship program originated at UC Irvine will be broadcast simultaneously by 12 California college radio stations on Monday. |newspaper=Los Angeles Times/Orange County Calendar}}
• {{Cite news |date=June 4, 1992 |title=Rock Industry Rapped for Inaction; Producer Decries Lack of Response to Lyrics Law |pages=B8, B11 |work=Washington Edition/Los Angeles Times}}

• {{cite news |title=Digital Sampling: The Battle Over Borrowed Beats |journal=Cash Box |volume= LII|issue= 46|date=May 27, 1989 |pages=5, 16}}
• {{Cite news |date=November 16, 1990 |title=It's True: Milli Vanilli Didn't Sing |pages=F1, F24 |work=Los Angeles Times/Calendar}}
• {{cite web |title=Sexual Harassment Claims Confront Music Industry : Bias: Three record companies and a law firm have had to cope with allegations of misconduct by executives. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-03-mn-1568-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=November 3, 1991}}
• {{cite web |title=Gloves Come Off in Damage Control by Jackson Camp : Fame: Expert team works to counter effect of allegations. For them, the best defense is a good offense |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-09-03-mn-31256-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=September 3, 1993}}
• {{cite web |title=Company Town : Hollywood Records Executive Fired Amid Harassment Complaints |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-17-fi-43886-story.html |date=March 7, 1995 |website=Los Angeles Times}}
• {{cite web|date=July 17, 2000|title=Piracy: Music Giants Miss a Beat on the Web| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-17-mn-54359-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times}}
• {{cite web |title=Radio Exec's Claims of Payola Draw Fire |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-mar-07-fi-payola7-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=March 7, 2002}}

• {{cite news |title=Pearl Jam Takes Its Ticket Case to Congress |newspaper=Los Angeles Times/Calendar |date=June 30, 1994 |pages=B8–B9}}
• {{cite news |title=Concert Business Awaits the Word on Ticketing Issue |newspaper=Orange County/Los Angeles Times |date=May 30, 1995 |page=D1, D4}}
• {{cite web |title=Pearl Jam Throws in Towel in Crusade Against Ticketmaster |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-06-15-fi-13424-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=June 15, 1995}}
• {{cite news |title=The Ticket King's Path to Power |newspaper=Valley Edition/Los Angeles Times |date=June 17, 1995 |pages=A1, A28}}
• {{cite news |title=U.S. Drops Ticketmaster Antitrust Probe |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=July 6, 1995 |page=B5, B7}}
• {{cite web |title=Pearl Jam to Tour on Own Terms Again |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-07-25-ca-27598-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=July 25, 1996}}

• {{Cite news |date=February 22, 1998 | title=Power and Conflict Behind the Grammys |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-feb-22-mn-21916-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}
• {{Cite news |date=February 25, 1998 |title=More Questions Are Raised About Grammy Finances |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-feb-25-fi-22672-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}
• {{Cite news |date=March 6, 1998 |title=Grammy Group Paid Royalty by Its Own Charity |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-06-fi-25947-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}
• {{cite news |title=Payola probe focuses on Latin music airplay |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jun-04-mn-56557-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=June 5, 1998}}
• {{Cite news |date=September 10, 1998 |title=Grammy Chief's Pay: $1.5 million |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-sep-10-mn-21407-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}
• {{cite news |title=Hotel Detox: For affluent addicts |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-detoxphilips8nov08-story.html |date=September 27, 1998 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}
• {{cite news |title=State probes doctor's hotel detox of wealthy |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-oct-23-me-35265-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=October 23, 1998}}
• {{cite news |title=Beverly Hills hotels warned not to allow treatment of addicts |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-oct-30-me-37506-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=October 30, 1998}}
• {{cite news |title=Radio pushes bands for freebies |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-nov-05-mn-39545-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=November 5, 1998}}
• {{cite news |title=Radio conglomerates skirt payola laws, critics say |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-dec-16-mn-54616-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=December 16, 1998}}

• {{cite news |title=Possible Suspect in Tupac Shakur Death Killed in Shootout |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-may-30-me-54748-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=May 30, 1998}}
• {{cite news |title=Who Killed Tupac Shakur? |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-06-fi-tupac6-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=September 6, 2002}}
• {{cite news|title=How Vegas police probe floundered in Tupac Shakur case|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fi-tupac7sep07,0,6002100.story|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=September 7, 2002}}
• {{cite news |title=Rapper's Family Offers Alibi in Shakur Slaying |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-11-na-tupac11-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=September 11, 2002}}
• {{cite news |title=FBI ends probe into killing of rap star |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-biggie11mar11-story.html |archive-date=April 22, 2016 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=March 11, 2005 |access-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422085055/https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-biggie11mar11-story.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}
• {{cite news |title=Informant in Rap Star's Slaying Admits Hearsay |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jun-03-me-biggie3-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=June 3, 2005}}
• {{cite news |title=How the rap war began: New information backs up Tupac Shakur's claims about the 1994 ambush on him |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=March 19, 2008}}
• {{cite web |title=Tupac Shakur, the Los Angeles Times, and Why I'm Still Unemployed: A Personal History |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2012/05/20/tupac-shakur-the-los-angeles-times-and-why-im-still-unemployed-a-personal-history-by-chuck-philips/ |website=The Village Voice |date=May 20, 2012}}
• {{cite web |title=James 'Jimmy Henchman' Rosemond Implicated Himself in 1994 Tupac Shakur Attack: Court Testimony |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2012/06/12/james-jimmy-henchman-rosemond-implicated-himself-in-1994-tupac-shakur-attack-court-testimony/ |website=The Village Voice |date=June 12, 2012}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131022001021/http://chuckphilipspost.com/ The Chuck Philips Post]
• [https://www.latimes.com/la-chuckphilips-sg-storygallery.html Articles by Chuck Philips – Los Angeles Times]

{{PulitzerPrize Beat Reporting}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Philips, Chuck}}

Category:1952 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting winners

Category:George Polk Award recipients

Category:American male journalists

Category:American music journalists

Category:American writers about music

Category:American crime reporters

Category:American writers of Armenian descent

Category:Writers from Detroit

Category:Journalists from Detroit

Category:American investigative journalists

Category:American newspaper reporters and correspondents

Category:Tupac Shakur

Category:Los Angeles Times people

Category:Writers from Los Angeles