Month: May 2021

Outside of music, Kanye West has made an equally impactful name for himself in the streetwear world. Before joining forces with Adidas to create the highly successful Yeezy line, Ye had been teaming up with Nike and in the late 00s debuted the Nike Air Yeezy 1. Since then, numerous pairs of the samples of prototypes of the sneaker have hit the auction block, but none have been as coveted as the Nike Air Yeezy 1 sample worn and designed by Kanye specifically for the Grammys. 

The rap mogul made sneaker history on Monday (April 26) when the one-of-a-kind sneaker was sold for a record-breaking $1.8 million. Executed by the Elite New York auction company, the purchase was made by Gerome Sapp, the head of RARES, a sneaker investment app that allows community members to list, buy and sell sneakers. The former NFL quarterback explained to The Shade Room that his reason for purchasing the kicks lied in his status as a life-long sneakerhead. 

 
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“The Nike Air Yeezy 1 prototype not only means a lot to the sneaker culture, but it meant a lot to me personally,” Sapp explained to The Shade Room. “I retired from the NFL in 2008 and was wondering what was next with my life. When I saw Kanye and Nike unveil these sneakers at the 2008 Grammys, aside from being dope, they represented a new age of independence, a beginning of something bigger to come.”

He continued, “That is exactly what RARES represents to my team and I now. So when the opportunity was presented to acquire this all-time favorite grail, I hopped on it. I felt that this 1 of 1 grail didn’t belong in a museum or a museum environment, it needed to be securitized and split into affordable shares so that anyone who loved these sneakers and the culture around what made these sneakers hot, could invest in them. One equity share at a time.”

West debuted the kicks at the 2008 Grammy awards ceremony shortly after his beloved mother, Donda West, passed away. He performed a rendition of “Stronger” as well as “Hey Mama” in dedication to his late mother. 

The final sale of the Yeezy sneakers nearly doubled the opening bid of $1 million. Ye beats out the previous record for most-expensive sneaker sold at auction: a pair of Air Jordan 1s that were signed by Michael Jordan himself that sold for $560,000. 

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Congrats to Kanye West on making history!

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A guy like Dr. Dre isn’t going to tell you that he’s dropping an album. He’s pretty much just going to do it when he feels like it without much of a warning. His mystique is clearly something his protegée’s like Eminem and Kendrick Lamar picked up on and apply to their own careers. That being said, whenever a clue drops, fans instantly pick up on it and dissect it to find any signs of new music on the way.

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Fredwreck and KXNG Crooked have stirred up some conversation on the interwebs after tweeting out “Beats & Rhymes” but it was the rapper’s tweet that kicked off a flurry of internet conspiracy theories.

It began a few days ago when Fredwreck shared a photo of himself alongside Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and Dr. Dre with the caption, “Beats & Rhymes.” Though it didn’t say much, and the photo itself was taken in 2017, it was enough for fans to speculate that a collaboration was on the way. What took it a step further was a tweet from KXNG Crooked yesterday that read the exact same thing as Fredwreck’s caption. 

The speculation surrounding a new album from Dr. Dre picked up last year after Page Kennedy confirmed there was a new Dr. Dre album in the works. By late 2020, the album suffered yet another leak. 

Earlier this year, following Dr. Dre’s scary hospitalization, he was spotted back in the studio with several of his collaborators including Dem Jointz who strongly hinted that Detox was dropping this year.

Though Fredwreck and Crook’s tweets can be mere coincidence, fans do think that there is something on the horizon. Check out a few of the fan reactions and theories below. Do you think Detox is dropping this year or have you lost hope? Sound off in the comments. 

When it comes to the rich and famous, many of their struggles seem to be unrelatable to the general public. Amassing a pretty healthy fortune makes you unsusceptible to many first-world problems, but of course, not all of them–especially those concerning parenting.

Young Thug is the proud father of six children. While they mostly keep a low profile, Mego ‘YSL’ Amari prefers the spotlight. The eight-year-old sure has a lot of spunk, proven through the youngster launching her rap career while barely being able to spell. It seems like the tot was angry with her father recently, boldly claiming that she hates her father before removing the ‘YSL’ from her name. 

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The whole debacle happened on Thursday (April 29) when Mego shared text on her Instagram page reading, “I HATE MY DAD.” She followed up by announcing a switch in her once-YSL repping username. “New @ name @mego_amari,” wrote the 8-year-old in her story.

It seems like whatever qualms she had with her father were quickly resolved, adding the ‘YSL’ back to her username shortly after the hiccup. She announced the new change on her story again, penning “New new @ name change.” While many disapproved of the youngster taking the problems to the internet, it’s likely the youngster was just being dramatic, as expected from an 8-year-old. 

As for Thugger, he recently showed off some of his new RIAA certification plaques, bringing his grand total to thirty-seven. 

The rap star also teased an unreleased London on da Track-produced track tentatively titled “Don’t Be Mad” in the braggadocious post. Thugger rhymes, “I f*cked her the first night and then I never called again/Last time lil’ shawty see me, I was ridin’ with her friend/This alligator Kelly, not the Stacey, please/Do not hate me, hate the game, baby (x3).” 

What do you think of Mego’s minor meltdown? Let us know down in the comments!

Moneybagg Yo has a lot to brag about these days. He unleashed his fourth studio album A Gangsta’s Pain last Friday (April 23) to a round of critical and commercial success following striking gold with buzz-worthy singles like “Said Sum” and “1 2 3.”

After being predicted to sell upwards of 100k album-equivalent units in its first week, Moneybagg’s album officially debuted at No.1 yesterday after its first tracking week. Taking a moment to bask in his own glory, the Memphis rapper took to Instagram to react to the news. 

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Sharing a screenshot of DJ Akademik’s putting his total first-week sales figure at 112,000 earning him a debut at the Billboard Top 200 summit on Friday (April 30th), he added in the caption, “Big Win For Da Streets !! Thanks.” 

He paired the simple message with a heart emoji, prayer hands emojis, all while adding the hashtag #DeluxeOTW. Leaving the rest to the imagination, fans can expect a deluxe version of the project somewhere down the line. 

While he certainly does have a lot to celebrate, things aren’t completely sunny for the Memphis native. As we reported earlier, the rapper had taken to Twitter to reveal his mother’s recent diagnosis with both pneumonia and COVID-19. “Dam mane how df My mama got COVID and pneumonia,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet, “smh I need y’all prayers right now.”  

Without providing additional details about his mother’s condition, he did ask fans to keep his family in their prayers. “Mannnn I hate when sh*t goin good sum bad come right behind it,” he said in a second tweet.

Our prayers go out to his family during this time. Congrats to Moneybagg on the No.1 album!

Damian Lillard is one of the best point guards in the entire league and over the years, he has made it abundantly clear that he does not want to be a part of a Superteam that was crafted out of thin air. Instead, Lillard is deadset on crafting a legacy in Portland which is where he was drafted. Despite this, Lillard is still included in trade rumors, which is exactly what happened this past week after a post-game interview.

Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Haynes wrote a piece claiming that Lillard could be traded if things don’t work out, which prompted reporters to ask Dame about the article in question. Of course, Haynes and Lillard are close which is what led to all of the speculation. As Lillard noted, he had nothing to do with the piece.

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“I took it for what it was,’’ Lillard said. “That’s [Haynes’] thoughts. I was kind of — what word should I use – not irritated with him because he’s a writer and that’s what he does. But I know because of our relationship people would assume I was tied to the story. That was the only thing that bothered me about it.’’

When you’re a superstar in the NBA, everyone is going to speculate on where you may go, so this latest rumor shouldn’t be a surprise. For now, however, it doesn’t seem like Lillard is going anywhere, anytime soon.

Steph Chambers/Getty Images

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