Month: June 2021

Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine have forged a partnership built on loyalty, trust, and creative exploration, having played a pivotal role in shaping Interscope Records into the giant it is today. Now, the longtime Defiant Ones have come together once again for a truly noble endeavor, one that will go on to make a difference in the Los Angeles community. 

According to a report from the LA Times, Dre and Jimmy have teamed up to open a public high school in South Los Angeles, vowing to make it one of the most “successful” and “sought after” institutions. With the plans having already been approved by the L.A. Board of Education, Dre and Jimmy’s school is set to open in the fall of next year. 

In the extensive piece, both Jimmy and Dre open up about their motivations driving the venture, with the former looking to help forge a new generation of creative thinkers and ambitious entrepreneurs. “This is for kids who want to go out and start their own company or go work at a place like Marvel, or Apple or companies like that,” he explains. “This is nowhere near a music school.”

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“Here’s a place that you can go where there’s something that you can learn that you’re really interested in,” explains Dre, speaking on the school’s targeted demographic. “That guy that didn’t have an opportunity, that had to scratch and figure out things on his own,”  “That had the curiosity but didn’t have these type of opportunities, really smart kids — we want to touch and give them this open door and these opportunities to be able to show what they can do.”

In addition to speaking about the upcoming school, Dre also opened up about his recent health scare — a brain aneurysm that left him hospitalized. “I’ve always been a person that has always taken care of my health,” Dre continues. “But there’s something that happens for some reason with Black men and high blood pressure, and I never saw that coming. But I’m taking care of myself. And I think every Black man should just check that out and make sure things are OK with the blood pressure.” 

The school, which is currently being referred to as Regional High School No. 1, will be located at the Audubon Middle School in the Leimert Park neighborhood in South Los Angeles. Check out the full profile here, and show some love to Dre and Jimmy for continuing to make a difference in their community.

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Billie Eilish’s fans are coming after her over her alleged new boyfriend’s resurfaced homophobic and racist posts on social media. As you know, things live forever on the internet and with cancel culture raging on, anybody can have their platforms removed from beneath them with a snap of the right person’s fingers. Billie’s alleged new boyfriend, actor Matthew Tyler Vorce, is learning the hard way that some things are better to keep to yourself after his old posts using homophobic and racist words, including the n-word and f-word, came back to bite him in the ass this week.

As Billie attempts to control this situation before it spins even more out of control, her fans have started to throw away her merch collections as they’re enraged over her alleged boyfriend’s old posts. Matthew Tyler Vorce, 29, is being called out for resurfaced posts in which he uses homophobic and racist slurs. He also said girls who say they’re free-spirited are “sluts” and seemingly vocalized his support for Donald Trump.

Billie, 19, liked a post on Instagram calling out her fanbase, saying, “This fandom is so embarrassing sometimes like why would you go in someone’s comments and say something that you literally don’t even know is true and something y’all LITERALLY MADE UP, sometimes y’all are so dumb. Some of you just need to learn how to mind your business.”

Some of the comments were made over ten years ago when his alleged girlfriend was only 8-years-old. Billie has not made any public statements about the controversy. Check the posts below.

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Alton Sterling, an unarmed Black man, was killed by a Baton Rouge police officer in July 2016. The officer was responding to a call about a man with a gun in the area. Sterling’s family has been fighting for justice over the last five years, filing a civil suit related to the fatal shooting. While it was reported previously this year that a $5 million settlement had been pushed aside, a new report from the New York Times confirms that Sterling’s family has settled for $4.5 million from the city of Baton Rouge.

The settlement was reportedly approved in May 2021. An attorney representing Sterling’s family stated that the settlement “will allow the city to heal and provide a pathway for Mr. Sterling’s children to be provided for financially.”

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Sterling’s death prompted heated protests in the streets of Baton Rouge and surrounding cities five years ago. Unfortunately, we have not seen much change since his fatal shooting. Last year, the Black Lives Matter movement sparked worldwide protests following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who were also killed by police officers in the United States. 

Read more about the settlement that was reached between Alton Sterling’s family and Baton Rouge at the link below.

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EarthGang recently confirmed that their upcoming album Ghetto Gods would be arriving after Lollapalooza in August, sparking the belief that it would follow MirrorLand’s lead with a September release. In the meantime, Olu and Wowgr8 have been keeping fans sated with a steady stream of loosies, including the recent standout “Aretha” and the Drake-sampling “Lemon Pepper Freestyle.”

Now, the duo has come through with a potential bombshell, taking to Twitter to tease a mysterious collaboration from their forthcoming project. As it happens, EarthGang recently received guest vocals from one of the following four: J. Cole, OutKast, Future, or Isaiah Rashad. They proceeded to open the floor to their fans, who flooded the comments with speculation.

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Though each option was met with appreciation, many were quick to highlight OutKast as a standout, as EarthGang has long fielded comparisons to the legendary ATLiens. On the other hand, it also wouldn’t be surprising to see J. Cole slide through to contribute to Ghetto Gods, having opted to sit out of MirrorLand entirely. Future and Isaiah are also viable possibilities, as is the unlisted and undeniably best-case scenario option: the one in which all of the listed parties are ultimately included. 

Either way, we won’t have to wait that much longer to find out the answer. With EarthGang’s Ghetto Gods due out after Lollapalooza, be sure to keep a watchful eye out for news on the upcoming project and all of the mysterious collaborations it may hold. 

Le’Veon Bell recently got Kansas City Chiefs fans riled up after he went on social media and said that he would never re-sign there because of head coach Andy Reid. In fact, Bell said that he would rather retire than play for Reid, which had many speculating on what exactly went down during his tenure with the Chiefs. Either way, his comments were enough to get fans upset, and in the aftermath of it all, he took to Twitter to clarify everything that he meant.

Simply put, Bell’s problem is strictly with Reid, and not with his teammates nor the city itself. Bell made sure to note that he loved Kansas City although Reid told him something that was personally offensive, which is why he won’t re-sign. 

“I said what I said & I don’t regret at all what I said…for those who have a PERSONAL PROBLEM with me because of what I SAID, that’s fine…you have your right! just understand I ALSO have MY RIGHT for how I feel about MY PERSONAL problem with dude because of what HE SAID to me,” Bell said. “Never did I say I didn’t enjoy my time in KC, because I loved my time there, and was probably the closest locker room full of players I ever been around…I enjoyed my teammates, the city, food, the fans, just about everything in KC.”

Bell eventually admitted that he shouldn’t have made these feelings public, although his frustration is certainly understandable. As it stands, Bell remains a free agent and his status for next season remains up in the air.

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Kodak Black has taken an unorthodox approach to promote his new music. The Florida-based rapper released his latest EP Happy Birthday Kodak to coincide with his Z-Day last week, dropping a four-pack with features from Yo Gotti, Lil Keed, Jacquees, and more. The project was overshadowed by two huge album releases from Polo G and the Migos, who are competing for the top spot on the Billboard 200 next week. As Kodak looks to get more eyes on his new music, the rapper took a surefire approach to his social media campaign by posting bikini-clad pictures of Kim Kardashian on his account, finding a link between her thirst trap and his music.

After previously admitting that he had a crush on the 40-year-old aspiring lawyer, Kodak Black took his lust a step further by sharing a photo of Kim dipping her legs in the pool. In the photo, she wears a bikini top with peach designs on it, drawing a line between her look and his song “Feelin Peachy.”

“@kimkardashian Feelin Peachy,” wrote Kodak on Instagram, adding a heart-filled emoji. “Go Stream My New EP #HappyBirthdayKodak & Watch My New Video #FeelinPeachy.”

The comments are pretty funny with most top fans laughing at the extent Kodak will go for some promotion. Many believe he’s shooting his shot at the recently-divorced billionaire, and others think he’s shooting himself in the foot by likely cutting off any hope for a Kanye West feature in the future. “This n***a done lost it,” wrote the most popular comment. “Dis brothaa starving,” said another people, getting over 7,000 likes. 

Check out some comments below and watch the music video for “Feelin Peachy” below.

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Skip Bayless is one of the most polarizing people on television and for good reason. His hot takes can come across as disingenuous at times and he has always been known for being a bit of a flip-flopper. For instance, after a Game 5 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, Bayless said he was officially done with the Los Angeles Clippers and Kawhi Leonard. Now, the Clippers are down 2-1 to the Utah Jazz, and he has completely changed course on his view of the team.

In the clip from Undisputed below, Bayless makes the claim that the Los Angeles Clippers are going to win the next three games and defeat the Utah Jazz. He even went on to make the bold claim that the Clippers will get past the Phoenix Suns, which will put them into the NBA Finals.

“I’m here to tell my Clippers what happened Saturday night is meaningless if you don’t rinse and repeat tonight,” Bayless said. “And Kawhi Leonard will have to take it up one more level. He made 1-of-6 3-point shots on Saturday. That cannot happen again tonight.” Needless to say, Bayless is cautiously optimistic although he appears to be very confident.

Fans immediately pointed out that this is a contradiction to what Bayless has said in the past, although we doubt he really cares. If the Clippers win, he’ll look like a genius and if they lose, well, it will be yet another reason for him to get roasted.

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Dave East has been ramping up the hype for his upcoming album HOFFA, and this past weekend he came through with a few intriguing developments. For one, the album will be entirely produced by Harry Fraud, who has been on a tear lacing projects like Benny The Butcher’s The Plugs I Met 2, Jim Jones’ The Fraud Department, and Curren$y’s The Outrunners.  

In addition to boasting Fraud’s gifted mind behind the boards, Dave East’s HOFFA will be curated by hip-hop’s self-declared “Great Orchestrator” Westside Gunn. In fact, East recently connected with Gunn at the Buffalo Kids Gallery to unveil the album’s artwork, a painting of East’s likeness brought to life by Mariella Angela. In keeping with the album’s title, Angela confirms that she drew inspiration from a picture of the real Jimmy Hoffa, sharing a side-by-side on her IG page.

On his own page, East shared a glimpse at the music to come, previewing a bar-driven track over footage from the Buffalo Kids event. “Gunpowder inside my whiskey, blowing sour vibing to Missy,” he spits, over Fraud’s slow-burning and authoritative production. “Misdemeanor Elliott, these rap n***as is delicate / I’ll never switch, I been on some shit since Perry Ellis fits.”

Check out the snippet and footage below, and look for Dave East’s upcoming HOFFA album — produced by Harry Fraud and curated by Westside Gunn — to arrive on July 21st. For more from East, check out a snippet that the rapper recently previewed, presumably set to appear on the new project.