Month: June 2021

Most rappers are more than happy to share their “Top 5” or “Top 10” lists, but Lil Kim is keeping her choices close to the chest. The music legend recently appeared on the 2021 BET Awards stage to help honor Queen Latifah by performing “U.N.I.T.Y.,” but prior to her sharing her talents, Kim chatted with AllHipHop on the red carpet. She was asked about what she has coming up next and Lil Kim quickly plugged her forthcoming memoir,The Queen Bee.

“I have a book coming out in November, so, remember that,” the rapper began. “That will be the beginning of the next level and phase of Lil Kim, just keep watching and you’ll see.”

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Kim vocalized her excitement about the memoir’s release and suggested that there are portions of her life that have yet to be addressed publicly. “People think they know me, but they don’t, you know what mean?” she said. Before being rushed off, the interviewer wanted to know Lil Kim’s “top five rappers dead or alive,” and it was clear that the New York femcee didn’t want to ruffle any feathers.

“Oh! I plead the fifth,” she answered. “‘Cause I have so many. I don’t want to sit here and just forget anybody.” However, she dropped off two names. “Everyone knows Biggie is always in my heart so…and everyone knows I love Drake.” Fans are still curious as to what her other choices may be, but Kim at least shared two of those five choices.

Check out the clip of Lil Kim on the 2021 BET Awards red carpet below.

There were several moments of vulnerability for Kevin Gates during his Hotboxin with Mike Tyson appearance, but the rapper and the sports legend bonded over tragic circumstances. At the beginning of his interview, Gates promised to be open and authentic with everything he shared, and from the jump, he spoke about his introduction to music. While many rappers desire to be the next big star, Gates revealed that penning lyrics was “an escape” for him. 

“I’mma say something, I never said this in no interview, no podcast or anything like that,” said Gates. “I grew up real, real violent. Real aggressive. Not because I wanted to be, ’cause I was molested when I was a child.” 

Amy Sussman / Staff / Getty Images

“I had this fear of being vulnerable so I took every kind of martial art you can take and I even boxed, I did everything,” he continued. “I wanted to be the toughest person on earth, but writing and making music was always an escape for me. Like, I never had the nuts to come out and say that. This my first time saying this today.” Tyson chimed in and connected with the rapper, saying he identified with Gates’s experiences.

“I know that route, too,” said Tyson. “Why do you think I became the meanest motherf*cker on the planet? Somebody did something to me.” Gates replied, “Yes, sir,” before Tyson continued. “I didn’t want it to happen again, so I became this guy.”

“Take it to the furthest extent,” answered Gates. “Yes, sir. That’s my story. But it was really everything that I did, even when people say like, ‘Kevin Gates, he’s this killer,’ I’m not. I’m not. But, at the end of the day, I started, we started killing and things of that nature because we had a fear of being vulnerable.”

Back in 2014, Tyson revealed to Opie Radio that as a child, he was a victim of molestation by an older man who bullied him and “snatched him off the street.” He added, “I was a little kid. Never seen him again.” Check out Mike Tyson and Kevin Gates sharing their experiences below.

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On the heels of TMZ‘s report that Jamie Spears denied responsibility for Britney Spears’s living conditions, and judgment has been made in her case. For the past week, Britney Spears’s name hasn’t left social media trending topics lists following her impassioned plea during her recent court hearing. The music icon has been under conservatorship since 2008, and she finally spoke out about her restrictions, feeling traumatized, and not being able to go to the doctor to remove her implanted birth control because her conservators allegedly won’t allow her to make an appointment.

It didn’t take long for Spears’s family to become targets of the singer’s supporters that included celebrities calling for her conservatorship to end. On Wednesday (June 30), it was reported that Jamie Spears will remain named as one of her conservators.

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According to Variety, Spears’s lawyer filed paperwork to have Jamie Spears removed from the singer’s conservatorship last year. The documents reportedly stated that Spears was “afraid” of her father and she wouldn’t perform while under his care. The court was unmoved.

“The conservator’s request to suspend James P. Spears immediately upon the appointment of Bessemer Trust Company of California as sole conservator of estate is denied without prejudice,” the court documents state. It also reportedly reads that the court believes Spears is “substantially unable to manage his or her financial resources or to resist fraud or undue influence.”

The conservatorship was put into place back in 2008 after Spears suffered a public breakdown that was captured by paparazzi. Spears and her legal team continue to seek a removal of the conservatorship in its totality. The singer has been supported publicly by Halsey, Christina Aguilera, and ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake.

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Marilyn Manson’s career seems more and more unsalvageable as a fourth woman has now come out against the singer for sexual assault and sexual battery claims. These claims, which are incredibly violent, are the fourth in a two-month-reckoning with the singer’s alleged predatory past. The accuser, model Ashley Morgan Smithline, alleges that she and the singer started a consensual sexual relationship in 2010, though it quickly became violent within the first month. 

According to TMZ, the singer became obsessed with the model in 2010 and began contacting her over social media. Later that year, Manson and his self-described “perfect girl” began a relationship, but the relationship quickly became violent and toxic. The model allegedly suffered injuries to her ribs and vagina after she awoke “unconsciousness with her ankles and wrists tied together behind her back and [Manson] sexually penetrating her.” She claims she said no repeatedly, but the singer didn’t stop. 

That same month, things got even more brutal during a similar sexual encounter. After choking and slamming her, Smithline claims Manson “grabbed a knife next to the bed and began cutting [her] shoulder, inner arm, and stomach,” leaving permanent scars on her body. The couple continued their relationship until 2013, which Smithline alleges consisted of consistent threats to her life, physical abuse, anti-Semitic harassment, and poor living conditions. She is suing Manson for sexual assault, sexual battery, and intentional inflection of emotional distress and false improvement. 

In response to Smithline’s claims, Manson’s team said “We strongly deny Ms. Smithline’s claims. There are so many falsehoods within her claims that we wouldn’t know where to begin to answer them. This relationship, to the limited extent it was a relationship, lasted less than a week in 2010.”

We will keep you updated on the status of the lawsuit.

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His hit track “Wockesha” is all about his love for Lean, but Moneybagg Yo has recently accepted a challenge to put away with the codeine-laced drink. We recently received the visual to the Memphis rapper’s single, but last week, NLE Choppa issued a challenge to Moneybagg to encourage a healthier lifestyle.

“I Have A New Challenge For Rappers. For Every Pint of Lean, Or Even Alcohol, Drink A Pint Of Chlorophyll,” wrote Choppa on Twitter. “I Wanna Start By Challenging @MoneyBaggYo I’ll Bring This To You Personally Fam.”

Steven Ferdman / Stringer / Getty Images

Later, Moneybagg seemed to accept the challenge by retweeting Choppa’s message with an additional caption that only included a handshake emoji. It has only been a week since that agreement, and a fan wanted to know if Moneybagg was making good on his word. “I wonder if @MoneyBaggYo started the chlorophyll yet..what’s the word fam.”

The rapper responded to the inquiry by writing, “Mind yo business love [one hundred emoji].” NLE Choppa couldn’t help but jump in the comments. “F*cked up [crying laughing emojis],” he replied. Maybe Moneybagg is off to a slow start. Check out the posts below.

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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has officially begun production, much to the excitement of fans of the beloved Marvel story. The sequel to 2018’s Black Panther will take an alternative approach to the fabled city of Wakanda in the wake of the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman, the “Black Panther” himself, last year. Boseman’s legacy will be preserved in the upcoming sequel as his character will not be recasted, though other members of the original cast are set to return.

Production started at the Atlanta Pinewoods Studios on Tuesday, according to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. Feige admitted that the absence of Boseman is “very emotional,” Variety reports, though goes on to explain how the sequel will honor the late actor: “Everyone is also very excited to bring the world of Wakanda back to the public and back to the fans. We’re going to do it in a way that would make Chad proud.”

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney

A tweet by parent company Disney last December noted that the sequel, directed by Black Panther’s Ryan Coogler, will stray away from Boseman’s character and instead “explore the world of Wakanda and the rich characters introduced in the first film.” 

In an interview with Deadline in January, Feige pointed towards this new direction: “Wakanda is a place to further explore with characters and different subcultures. This was always and initially the primary focus of the next story.”

The sequel will be accompanied by a Black Panther spinoff series on Disney+, though the details and release date aren’t confirmed. 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will release on July 8th, 2022. Are you excited to see where the series goes?

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A class-action lawsuit set against James Franco has concluded with a multimillion-dollar settlement. It was back in 2019 when two women, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, filed a lawsuit against the actor and his partners. The ladies were reportedly students of Franco’s acting school, paying $300 per month for classes, but they alleged that instead, they were subject to intimidation and were sexually objectified. It was alleged that students who agreed to take off their clothes in front of Franco were treated better than others. The women also accused the actor and his associates of fraud.

There were also accusations that those who participated in certain behaviors would later receive roles in Franco’s films. Franco, through his attorney, previously denied the allegations against him, but both Variety and ABC News reported today (June 30) that Franco and his accusers have reached a $2,235,000 settlement in the case.

Kevin Winter / Staff / Getty Images

“The settlement would mean Tither-Kaplan and Gaal would drop their claims without prejudice, with other members of the class given roughly two months to opt out should they choose to further pursue their case,” Variety reported. “Any unclaimed money would be contributed to the National Women’s Center.”

A joint statement was released by everyone involved:

“The parties and their counsel are pleased to have resolved portions of this dispute and pending lawsuit. While Defendants continue to deny the allegations in the complaint, they acknowledge that Plaintiffs have raised important issues; and all parties strongly believe that now is a critical time to focus on address the mistreatment of women in Hollywood. All agree on the need to make sure that no one in the entertainment industry — regardless of sex, race, religion, disability, ethnicity, background, gender or sexual orientation — faces discrimination, harassment or prejudice of any kind.”

 There are also “non-economic” terms that have not been made public. Back in May, Franco’s longtime collaborator Seth Rogen shared that he had no plans to work with his friend in the future and regretted joking about the allegations against Franco in the past.

Jamie McCarthy / Staff / Getty Images

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