Month: June 2021

Kanye West and supermodel Irina Shayk are reportedly dating, as confirmed by a report from TMZ. The rumored couple was spotted frolicking at a luxury boutique hotel in Provence, France for Kanye’s birthday this week, flying back to the States in a private plane together. According to the media outlet, they are “100% romantically together.”

The latest report regarding Kanye and Irina’s relationship status signals that they’ve been together for longer than the public has known, looking back to Kanye’s performance at DMX’s celebration of life as the first sign that he was rebounding from his divorce from Kim Kardashian.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Kanye and Irina have reportedly been seeing each other since as early as March. They previously hung out together in late April in New York City, jetting there for DMX’s celebration of life. The model was spotted wearing a YEEZY-designed Balenciaga tribute t-shirt for DMX before the piece was released to the general public, giving the first early hint that the two were dating. 

Professionally, Irina and Kanye have some history. Kanye has name-dropped her on a few of his songs in addition to including her in some of his fashion shows. She also starred in the music video for “Power.”

Ian Gavan/Getty Images

This is the first time that Kanye or Kim have publicly dated anybody since their divorce. According to some insider sources, Kim is aware that her estranged husband is dating Irina Shayk and she doesn’t mind.

Do you think they make a nice couple?

[via]

Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city is widely regarded as a classic album, arguably one of the best in recent memory. Highly conceptual to the point where repeat listens are basically necessary, Kendrick Lamar’s vision ensured that every song played a pivotal role in the character study. Even “Backseat Freestyle,” the project’s most in-your-face banger, develops the protagonist in an interesting and immersive way.

Recently, the track’s producer Hit-Boy sat down with HipHopDX for an interview, where he shared an interesting revelation about the history of “Backseat Freestyle.” “I actually did a couple sessions with Kendrick before, we did a couple ideas,” he reveals. “We went to Vegas for a few days, and locked into the studio. None of them songs ended up being in the mix.”

Amy Sussman/Getty Images

“He came back like ‘I need some more beats.’ That was in the batch of the beats I gave him…next thing I know, I’m out in Texas, he emailed me the song like we got one. I listened to it, I’m like this n***a spazzing for real.” 

“I didn’t expect it, cause somebody recorded a song to that beat,” he continues. “Actually, Ciara recorded an r&b song to that beat. The song was called ‘Hit-Boy,’ so I was dumb hype on it, she’s saying my name! But that shit wasn’t supposed to go down.”

Though it would have been interesting to see how Ciara approached Hit-Boy’s instrumental Kendrick’s contribution was undeniable. Not only was “Backseat Freestyle” an integral part of the GKMC narrative but a standalone banger in its own right. Check out Hit-Boy’s convo with HipHopDX below. 

All eyes are on Migos. The superstar rap trio is less than 24 hours away from dropping their long-awaited fourth studio album Culture III, and after a polarizing onslaught of solo albums from Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset following Culture II, a lot is riding on Migos’ forthcoming project.

Over the past year, fans have already been treated to songs such as “Need It,” “Straightenin,” and the newly released “Avalanche,” and to give their new album one last big promotional push before it drops on Friday, Migos have hit The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a swanky new performance.

Rather than performing a live rendition of “Straightenin,” however, Migos use their set time to shine a light on the Culture III intro track “Avalanche.” Tying in with the song’s throwback sample of The Temptations’ classic 1972 single “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff hit the Jimmy Fallon stage in black and white suits and top hats, Blues Brothers-style.

Culture III is officially one day away, so while you get ready for the highly anticipated album’s arrival on streaming services, watch Migos’ new Jimmy Fallon performance below.

You’ve got to think that the higher-ups at STARZ are peeved about Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s constant criticism of the network. Considering he’s such a major part of the network’s success in recent years with the Power universe and his other television projects, one would expect Fif to filter himself when it comes to shredding his bosses online. In the last few weeks though, he’s come after his employers on a few separate occasions, most recently joking about a scene on Run The World that featured laughable continuity editing. 

Video editors know to look for continuity issues in the mise-en-scene when they’re piecing together the puzzle behind the boards but on the latest episode of Run The World, 50 Cent quickly noticed something was off when one of the characters had disappearing earrings during a scene.

50 Cent’s Instagram post from May 26, 2021

Ella McFair, portrayed by Andrea Bordeaux, was walking down the block with her boyfriend when 50 Cent pointed out that, at times, she appears with large gold earrings and at others, they’re completely missing from the scene. This is a pretty big blunder from the editing team and while the lead editor likely already got a stern speaking-to, Fiddy wanted to voice his own frustrations with the network, possibly leveraging himself for an even more prestigious position.

“STARZ needs me! It don’t come out right when I’m not involved,” said the executive producer of Power, speaking over the scene. “EARRINGs, No Earrings EARRINGs, No Earrings, No Earrings EARRINGS. LMAO,” he added in his caption.

Watch the scene below (with additional commentary from 50 Cent).