AMG Joins With Rap Management Firm

Michael Ovitz’s Artists Management Group got into the rap business Wednesday by joining forces with Violator, a New York hip-hop management firm that represents such stars as Busta Rhymes, Missy Misdemeanor Elliot, Mobb Deep, Q-Tip and Noreaga. Under the joint-venture agreement, Violator founder Chris Lighty and partner Mona Scott will head up AMG’s new urban entertainment division and help develop rap-related programming for film, TV, animation and new media as well as tap into synergistic sports and advertising opportunities. Ovitz and Lighty declined to discuss how much money changed hands, but the deal does not include Lighty’s tiny Violator record label, which has recently been shopped to at least one major record company.