Background
Lighty was born in the Bronx, New York and raised in the Bronx River Housing Projects. His mother was single.
architect manager chief executive
Lighty was born in the Bronx, New York and raised in the Bronx River Housing Projects. His mother was single.
He did not attend college, and stated that he got his "Master of Business Administration in hell," in reference to growing up on the streets of a dangerous neighborhood.
He co-founded Violator, a record label, management, and marketing company, which represented hip hop artists such as Nas, Ja Rule, Mobb Deep, Missy Elliott, L.L. Cool J, Uncle Murda, and 50 Century, Central He served as Sean "Diddy" Combs" manager. The New York Times called him "one of the most powerful figures in the hip-hop business."
He had five siblings.
Lighty got his start in the music industry by carrying vinyl record crates for DJ Red Alert.
Then Russell Simmons" company, Rush Management, hired him. Lighty founded a management company in the early 1990s called Violator.
The company is named after the gang he belonged to in the Bronx. Violator was responsible for getting L.L. Cool J his first Gap commercial in 1997.
He also developed endorsements for Sprite with A Tribe Called Quest, American Telephone & Telegraph Company with Diggy Simmons, and for Mountain Dew with Busta Rhymes.
In 2002, Lighty & a DJ from Chicago DJ SCRAP Dirty created The Violator Allstar DJs "I started carrying crates for Red Alert," Lighty told AllHipHop.com. "We wanted to build a situation for the DJ’s who might need more muscle. lieutenant’s an honor to give back to the DJ’s, create an outlet for everyone and show how important these guys are." DJ Scrap Dirty, who also founded the DJ coalition The Technical.Nitions, said that the mixshow DJ community was suffering from infighting, something Violator All-Star DJ’s hope to education
The same year he appeared in the Electronic Arts video game "Def Jam: Fight Foreign New York as the character "Baby Chris".
In 2004, Lighty brokered the largest brand endorsement deal in hip hop to date. He was the architect of what turned out to be one of the most lucrative deals in hip hop history: 50 Cent’s Vitamin Water pact.
When Coca-Cola paid $4.1 billion for the company three years later, 50 Cent walked away with $100 million, and Lighty received an undisclosed sum. In 2011, Lighty launched the website "pleaselistentomydemo.com", which allowed new artists to submit their music online and have top music executives listen to it for a fee of $10USD. The site is no longer active.
Lighty worked for Def Jam, Jive and Loud.
He was chief executive of the Brand Asset Group. In 2011, Violator merged with another company called Primary Wave. The two companies merged to form Primary Violator.
On August 30, 2012, Lighty was found dead in his Bronx apartment from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head
The New York Daily News reported that "a gun shot was heard and Lighty was found lying face-up with a 9mm pistol next to his body". Lighty"s brother said that he doesn"t believe that his death was suicide and that the family is now staging its own private independent investigation which they will go public with once solid details emerge.