Month: March 2021

After years of attacking her peers on social media, Azealia Banks appears to be turning things around with the help of her new fiancé Ryder Ripps, who encouraged her to create a list of people she loves and share it on social media. On Tuesday, she shared her first list, which included people like Donald Trump, Candace Owens, North West, and herself. It seems the exercise proved to be a cleansing one for the “212” rapper because, on Wednesday morning, she posted yet another “love list” on Instagram with a new batch of names.

Possibly attempting to reverse the narrative that she’s a hater, Azealia Banks added a whole slew of new names to the “love list”, and this one is far less controversial than yesterday’s. Alongside artists like Q-Tip, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Lil Durk, Sean Paul, Mo’Nique, Burna Boy, Mariah Carey, and more, Azealia claimed to have love for Vivica A. Fox, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Safaree Samuels, Jennifer Lopez, the late Aaliyah, and O.T. Genasis. The majority of her picks are pretty tame, but she curiously also added in the Hamburglar of McDonald’s fame, which confused a lot of fans in her comments.

“I didn’t feel like being a hater today so I wrote another love list,” she said on Instagram. 

Her latest initiative started after she took aim at T.I. and the allegations that he is currently facing alongside his wife Tiny. The two are facing very serious sexual abuse, rape, and drugging allegations by over a dozen women, and Azealia took time to bash the Atlanta rapper on Instagram Stories yesterday. She also explained her love for Candace Owens and said that, while she doesn’t agree with everything she says, she does think that she’s “insane” because of the way people have reacted to her commentary on social media, drawing comparisons to her own situation.

What do you think of Azealia’s love list today?

Following Bobby Shmurda’s release from prison after a six-year bid, many of his loyal fans were simply excited to see him happy and healthy upon touching down. And while he certainly wasted little time in connecting with friends and family, not to mention taking a slight detour to the club, Bobby Shmurda has made it clear that bouncing back with some new music is the priority. As it happens, Shmurda has already moved to get the ball rolling, heading down to Atlanta to connect with two of the South’s most prominent producers.

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Yesterday, Zaytoven revealed that he was locked in the studio with Bobby Shmurda and Mike WiLL Made-It, sharing a glimpse at what the trio cooked up. Though it’s not exactly the clearest snippet in the world, the track itself appears to be bass-fueled and relatively minimalist, which should go a long way in placing emphasis on Shmurda’s presence and charisma. 

The new track isn’t the first time Shmurda and Zay connected on wax, having previously linked on the Rich The Kid and Rowdy Rebel-assisted “On My Way,” as well as the Migos collaboration “Shmoney Never Stop.” Consider this a promising sign that Shmurda is picking up where he left off, and it should certainly be interesting to hear his first big single since touching down as a free man. Check out the snippet below, as well as an IG picture from the studio session. Are you excited for Shmurda’s musical return? 

We nearly had a CaruShow at the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest but, unfortunately, Los Angeles Lakers guard Alex Caruso turned down an invite to participate in the highly-anticipated theatrical skills showdown this weekend. The league had extended him an offer to throw down with some of the greatest dunkers on the rise but Caruso ultimately declined, revealing the reason why to Bill Oram of The Atlantic.

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One of the most popular players in the league — not just on the Lakers — Alex Caruso will not be showing off his bounce in Atlanta this weekend. According to the guard, who reportedly received over 371,000 votes to appear in the All-Star Game this year and finished eighth in fan voting for the Western Conference, he will be using the break to recoup and relax before the second half of the season starts up.

“Maybe looking forward to [the break] a little bit more,” said the Bald Mamba when asked about his plans for his midseason time-off. “I’ll probably just play some golf with some buddies and leave it at that.”

Fair enough. With the Lakers expected to make another deep run into the playoffs, Caruso should be finding all the time he can to rest and make sure his body is good to go on game night. While it would have been nice to see him compete in the Slam Dunk Contest, his performance during the season is more important to Lakers fans.

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Zion Williamson and Anthony Edwards also turned down invites to the Slam Dunk Contest this year. New York Knicks rookie Obi Toppin, Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons, and Indiana Pacers guard Cassius Stanley are expected to be this year’s participants.

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T. Eric Monroe, a veteran photographer who captured some of the biggest Hip-Hop stars throughout the 1990s for publications such as Thrasher and The Source, has been revisiting his work in a new video series posted to his Instagram, titled Rare & Unseen Moments of 90s HipHop. Named after his photography book that published in 2019, the video series finds Monroe telling stories and giving insights into some of the most iconic shots that he has captured throughout his career, and one of the more interesting moments that he has recently reflected on involves none other than Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.

During his first year working as a photographer in New York, Monroe took a picture of a group of artists following an Onyx and Public Enemy concert in 1993, and since the photo featured egregious shadows as well as someone throwing up their middle finger, he considered it useless at the time. According to Monroe, it took him about 20 years to realize that the photo that had been sitting in his archives featured friends-turned-rivals Tupac and Biggie. In the video below, the photographer talks about unearthing the rare Hip-Hop artifact.

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“I shot maybe six frames of Onyx as a group, just the four main guys. After the last frame, I knew I got the shot I needed. I let them know we were good and they could go back to the dressing room,” Monroe says in a statement on his website. “The group left the stage area, I packed up my camera bag and as I left the stage and started heading back towards the dressing rooms, I heard someone yell at me, ‘Yo, why don’t you take our picture?'”

“I turned around and looked, it was a group of seven guys. I didn’t know who they were but I also had enough respect to not blow them off because I didn’t know who they were,” Monroe continued. “For years, I didn’t think about that one frame I’d shot of those guys who yelled to have the picture taken, I would casually look at and only noticed a guy giving me the finger and a strong shadow cast on half of his face. That type of shot is not commercially usable in a magazine’s for their ‘who’s who’ celebrity picture page.”

T. Eric Monroe

Around 2011, Monroe finally realized his insane oversight, saying, “It wasn’t until 2011 when I was sorting through slide photographs and beginning to catalog my images that I seriously took a look at that one slide of a dude giving me the finger with a strong shadow on his face…”No f’n way!” I was shocked I didn’t know the guy with the shadow in his face was Tupac.” 

“As I pan around the image, I looked deeper and yelled to myself, “You’re f’n kidding me!” Biggie, Lil Ceaser are in this shot?!” he continued. “I start laughing at myself because as I stared deeper into the picture, I noticed all the guys, including Tupac, were wearing,”I’m a Bad Boy” t-shirts.”

The rare picture, like several other of Monroe’s gems, can be found in his three-volume photography book series Rare & Unseen Moments of 90s HipHop.

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There are a staggering number of hip-hop fans who appear fascinated by the romantic developments occurring within the rap game. For them, the on-again/off-again relationship between Lil Uzi Vert and JT of the City Girls has been premium entertainment. For everyone else, however, music remains the more important takeaway (as it should be). Sometimes, however, the two worlds collide — case in point, JT recently previewed an unreleased banger from Lil Uzi Vert, sparking hype for his next body of work.

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For many “newer” rappers, there appears to be an unspoken challenge to push one’s voice to the highest registers possible. And while Lil Uzi Vert doesn’t quite hit the difficult benchmark of “baby,” he certainly comes close. While the stylistic cadential choice might not be for everyone, it certainly works for Uzi, who has mastered the art of using his voice as an instrument. In this snippet, he becomes one with the synthesizers, singing barely intelligible lyrics as he fires off a barrage of ad-libs. 

Unfortunately, the snippet ends before we can get a genuine feel of what the upcoming track will sound like, with JT cutting the clip the moment Uzi scurries into his gargantuan vehicle. While it’s unclear as to whether we’ll ever see this one surface in full, remember that Uzi has been hard at work to his follow-up to Eternal Atake, having previously expressed his own disappointment in the project. 

Check it out for yourself now, and sound off if you’re excited to hear another new album from the self-styled Baby Pluto.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made the controversial decision to lift the mask mandate on Tuesday, which was set in place to protect Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, also announcing the re-opening of all businesses one hundred percent. The executive order was immediately called into question by thousands of social media commentators who argued that it was too soon to risk the lives of Texans by re-opening non-essential businesses, especially with such a limited number of residents presently vaccinated. 

While many have spoken out to debate that the timing isn’t right to make a risky move like this, others are fully supporting Gov. Abbott’s decision to re-open, including 50 Cent, who may even be planning a move to Texas as a result.

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Re-posting a news report about Gov. Abbott’s divisive move, the rapper-turned-television producer chimed in on the matter and said that he wants to set up roots in Texas because of mask mandate being lifted. “I’m headed to Texas f*ck this,” he said on Instagram, adding a running emoji and a steam emoji to indicate how quickly he plans to pack his bags and fly over.

This has proven to be an eyebrow-raising decision from Gov. Abbott, but with President Joe Biden’s announcement that the United States will have enough vaccines for every American in the next few months, it does seem like we could be nearing a turning point in the pandemic. In due time, we’ll be outside. We just need to be patient and safe in the meantime.

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What do you think about Texas easing up on COVID restrictions?