Dave Chappelle Addresses DaBaby’s Backlash Over Homophobic Comments

DaBaby is still feeling the backlash from his comments at Rolling Loud this past summer. The rapper’s attempt at a call-and-response during his set ultimately targeted the LGBTQ community and those living with HIV/AIDS. It didn’t take long for those comments to go viral and result in a steady decline in opportunities. Dua Lipa removed him from the “Levitate (Remix)” while festivals quietly took him off of line-ups.


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During Dave Chappelle’s recent Netflix special, The Closer, the comedian dived into DaBaby’s recent comments head-first. As someone who has frequently faced allegations of homophobia and transphobia in the height of cancel culture, Chappelle addressed the LGBTQ community first in an attempt to “negotiate the release of DaBaby.”

“All the questions you might have had about all these jokes I’ve said in the last few years, I hope to answer tonight,” he said during the special. “And I’d like to start by addressing the [LGBTQ] community directly. I want every member of that community to know that I come here tonight in peace and I hope to negotiate the release of DaBaby.”

Chappelle added that the LGBTQ community likely isn’t familiar with DaBaby’s background including the fatal shooting at a Walmart in North Carolina that the rapper claimed was in self-defense.


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“A lot of the LGBTQ community doesn’t know DaBaby’s history. He’s a wild guy. He once shot a n***a and killed him in Walmart,” he said before urging the audience to Google it. “Nothing bad happened to his career. Do you see where I’m going with this? In our country, you can shoot and kill a n***a but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings.”

Despite his piss poor apologies following the incident, DaBaby has recently attempted to redeem himself. He recently met with 9 HIV/AIDS awareness organizations where he offered an apology for his comments at Rolling Loud. Check the clip out below. 

Pooh Shiesty Ready For Federal Trial, Withdraws Request For Delay

Memphis rapper Pooh Shiesty is one step closer to becoming a free man. The “Back In Blood” artist’s legal team has announced that Shiesty has withdrawn his request to delay his trial, stating that it’s in the rapper’s “best interest to proceed” with his trial beginning at the end of this month.

Shiesty’s lawyers previously filed a form to have his trial delayed until at least December in a robbery case where the rapper is being accused of shooting a man in the buttocks. Prosecutors were fine with the proposed delay, but the artist’s lawyers reversed the delay request on Monday, stating that Shiesty will be okay with starting his trial on October 25.


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The 21-year-old, whose real name is Lontrell Williams, pleaded not guilty to his charges, which carry a possible life sentence. He has been in jail since June.

Pooh Shiesty had a breakout year in music, becoming one of the most sought-after rappers from Memphis. The 1017 signee has collaborated with the likes of Gucci Mane, Lil Durk, Lil Baby, G Herbo, Jack Harlow, and others. 

We will keep you updated as more news is revealed in Shiesty’s upcoming trial. The trial will be kicking off on October 25.


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Brian Laundrie Update: Wanted Man’s Sister Begs Him To “Come Forward” In New Interview

The one month anniversary of Brian Laundrie’s suspicious disappearance is quickly approaching as authorities continue to hunt for him. The 23-year-old is currently the main person of interest in the death of his YouTuber fiancée, Gabby Petito.

Petito’s remains were uncovered in Grand Teton National Park this month, after Laundrie returned to their shared home in Florida with her van, but without her.

Thus far, the alleged criminal and his parents have been uncooperative with authorities, but now his sister, Cassie, is speaking out.

“I would tell my brother to just come forward and get us out of this horrible mess,” she told ABC News for Tuesday’s episode of Good Morning America.

“I really wish he had come to me first that day with the van, because I don’t think we’d be here.”

The mother of two also told ABC News that Brian and her parents stopped by her Florida home for “an ordinary visit” when he returned from his trip with Petito on September 1st.

Petito was first reported missing by her family in Long Island on September 11th, and according to authorities, Brian has been a missing person since September 14th.

Since he’s gone missing, body cam footage from an August altercation between the couple has surfaced. They were pulled over after local authorities received reports of a domestic dispute. Petito and Laundrie were separated by police for an evening, but the severity of the situation was swept under the rug.

In her interview, Cassie said that the couple had been known to “argue and try and take space from each other,” but she had never seen any sort of domestic violence occur.

She also insisted that she has no idea of Brian’s whereabouts (the last time she had contact with him was September 6th), but if she did, she would turn him in. 

“I hope my brother is alive because I want answers just as much as everybody else. I don’t know if my parents are involved. I think if they are, then they should come clean,” Cassie said on Good Morning America.

If you want to know more about the hunt for Brian Laundrie, check out our story on what his sister had to say to protestors this morning.

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The Weeknd Says His Next Album Is ‘Complete’ But Notes ‘There Are Still Some Additions To Be Made’

The Weeknd recently wrapped up his After Hours era, and since then, he’s been looking forward. There’s been talk of a new album, and now the Weeknd says it’s “complete.”

The Weeknd — who has been referring to his upcoming album as the “dawn,” although it’s unclear if that is the actual title of the project — said on the October 4 episode of his Apple Music show Memento Mori:

“Some exciting features coming out in the fall before the album drops. We’ll slowly be unraveling that info in the next couple months. Some dawn updates: Album is complete. Only thing missing is a couple characters that are key to the narrative. Some people that are near and dear to me, some people that inspired my life as a child, and some that inspire me now. More to come in the following months.”

The Weeknd’s upcoming music was described in greater detail in an August profile in GQ. It reads, “The music hit the studio like a Mack truck. The new project is packed with party records. Like real-deal, illuminated-white-tiles-on-the-floor party records. Quincy Jones meets Giorgio Moroder meets the best-night-of-your-f*cking-life party records. Not anachronistic disco stuff. (Not ‘cosplay,’ as Abel put it.) That sort of retro thing is having a moment right now in pop music, but these records are new. Sweaty. Hard. Drenched-suit, grinding-on-the-girl/boy-of-your-dreams party records.”

Those Anxiety-Causing Voices In ‘The White Lotus’ Theme Song? They Were Originally Meant For Kanye West

Cristobal Tapia de Veer composed the music for HBO’s Hawaii-set breakout hit The White Lotus, but the anxiety-causing voices were originally meant for Kanye West.

“I went to his place where he works” in California, Tapia de Veer revealed on the Broken Record podcast, “and then I was trying to understand what he wanted.” But because West is “always talking about a million things at the same time,” he didn’t know what he was there for. It had something to do with Nike and a prototype for a new shoe and “how this Nike shoe relates to music,” so Tapia de Veer started to work on something “really striking” on his laptop. He continued:

“I had those voices and I tried to find a way to play melodies that is really striking, and this happened by accident and I was like, at that point I knew that this was like gold. And I was like, ‘OK, this I’m going to show to Kanye.’ I was there for like a week and I had to leave, and there was problems, and Kanye started firing people and his lawyers and everything was too long… It was a mess”

This was, Tapia de Veer notes, a month before all the Trump stuff.

Anyway, West never called Tapia de Veer back, so when The White Lotus came up, he knew “those tribal voices” would be perfect for the show. “So I went back to my system and started finding the right melody,” he said. Tapia de Veer found it: creator Mike White said that he wanted “music that makes you feel like there’s gonna be some kind of human sacrifice at some point… Cristobal nailed that — and then some.”

You can listen to the Broken Record episode above.

Wizkid And Tem’s “Essence” Is Now The First African Song To Go Platinum In The US

Tems

Grammy award-winning singer, Wizkid, is soaring to new heights with his 2020 song, “Essence”, which features Nigerian artist, Tems. The song is now the first African song to go platinum in the US. “Essence” Goes Platinum Nigerian artistes Wizkid and Tems have received a platinum plaque for their global hit track “ Essence.” The song […]

“Squid Game” Script Rejected For 10 Years Before Netflix Picked It Up

Squid Game is currently the hottest show on television, but studios passed on the Korean survival drama’s script for an entire decade before Netflix finally secured the rights. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk initially came up with the idea for Squid Game ten years ago, but he says that local film studios passed on the concept for being too “grotesque” and “implausible.”

Currently on pace to become Netflix’s biggest show ever, Squid Game was finally green-lit because Netflix thought the class struggles displayed “spoke to reality.”

“The world has changed,” said Hwang. “All of these points made the story very realistic for people compared to a decade ago.”

This is one of Netflix’s first major successes since investing in more Korean content, spending over $700 million on Korean-made films and television shows between 2015 and 2020. 

While Squid Game has been a runaway hit for Netflix, there has been some controversy surrounding the show. A Korean fan of the show recently called out Netflix’s English dubbing and translation of the actors’ dialogue, claiming that one character’s words were translated poorly and don’t reflect what they were actually communicating. As IGN has pointed out though, one of the English subtitle options is reportedly more accurate than others though, so choose wisely if you’re just starting up the series.

Have you checked out Squid Game yet, and are you surprised that it was rejected for an entire decade?

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Troy Ave Takes On WizKid & Tems’ “Essence” For New KeyMix

A pandemic couldn’t stop Troy Ave from delivering new music for the fans. In fact, it probably gave him the best opportunity possible to keep his fanbase satisfied with brand new tracks. Though the rapper closed off 2020 with the release of the eighth installment in the White Christmas series, he quickly followed up with the release of Kill or Be Killed earlier this year.

Now, the rapper has returned with a brand new KeyMix over the song of the summer, WizKid and Tems’ “Essence.” The vibrant afrobeats production serves as the backdrop for Troy’s getting into his lover boy bag. 

WizKid and Tems’ collaboration officially hit platinum status this week. It’s also produced remixes from DaBaby, and Ghostface Killah and Raekwon.

Check out Troy’s take on “Essence” below.

Quotable Lyrics
They say opposites attract
And we together as one
I’mma get it from the trap
You a college alum 

Forbes’ Wealthiest Americans List Doesn’t Include Donald Trump For The First Time In 25 Years

For the first time in 25 years, Donald Trump won’t be included on Forbes’ list of America’s 400 wealthiest citizens. According to Complex, the former President of the United States came in “$400 million short” this year, which resulted in him being booted off the list.

Although he’s no longer being acknowledged by Forbes, the 75-year-old still has a reported net worth of $2.5 billion, meaning that he’s approximately as wealthy as he was this time last year by the magazine’s calculations.

As you may have already guessed, at the very top of this year’s ranking is Jeff Bezos, with a terrifying $201 billion. Following the entrepreneur is Tesla CEO, Elon Musk with $190.5 billion and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg with $134.5 billion, although he lost out on a considerable amount of money after yesterday’s Facebook outage.

The wealth of all 400 Americans on the list can be totalled up to a whopping $4.5 trillion, Complex reports.

As Forbes notes, a major reason for Trump’s fall off this year (he’s reportedly down $600 million) is the fact that most of his wealth comes from high-level properties, which have taken a huge hit throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The magazine also points out that the New York-born reality star made a huge mistake in failing to diversity throughout his one-term presidency.

Things have been relatively quiet on Trump’s front since he was banned from most social media platforms earlier this year, although he recently made headlines when he asked a judge to force Twitter to give him his account back.

Are you surprised by any of the names of Forbes 400 Wealthiest Americans list? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

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