In a case that centered on the exact connotation of the word "consortium," the US Supreme Court today declined to review a libel lawsuit brought by the husband of hip-hop critic and Tupac Shakur nemesis C. Delores Tucker against two Philadelphia newspapers.

Tupac and Tucker

The nation's high court refused to revive the lawsuit brought by William Tucker against the Philadelphia Daily News and The Legal Intelligencer, two of several media outlets that covered Tucker's 1997 lawsuit against Shakur.

In that case, Pennsylvania native Tucker, who died last year, claimed that Tupac's lyrics on the track "How Do U Want It," from 1996's All Eyez On Me album, had caused her "great humiliation, mental pain, and suffering." The lyrics in question included the line: "DeLores Tucker, you's a motherf****r/Instead of trying to help a n***a, you destroy a brother."

Tucker had drawn Tupac's ire by frequently criticizing his lyrics and those of other rappers, calling Shakur's music "pornographic smut." Tucker protested outside record stores that sold rap music and bought stock in record labels in order to protest their deals with hip-hop artists at shareholder meetings.

Tupac

Tucker's lawsuit against Shakur also claimed that the emotional distress Tupac gave her caused her to suffer loss of "consortium" with her husband. Most media reports, including those Tucker eventually sued for libel, interpreted "consortium" to mean that Tupac's lyrics had been a detriment to the Tuckers' sex life. The Tuckers vehemently rejected those media reports, saying "consortium" had to do with "advice, society, companionship, i.e., defendants' effect upon the 'family union,'" and filed several libel lawsuits.

The Tuckers' original lawsuit against Shakur was eventually dismissed. Pennsylvania courts dismissed the Tuckers' libel claims, and the Supreme Court's decision not to review the case effectively ends the saga, whose two protagonists are deceased. Tupac was shot and killed in 1996 in Las Vegas. His killing remains unsolved.