Month: February 2022

Jim Jones Says He Passed on Signing Drake

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Jim Jones turned down an opportunity to sign one of the biggest stars on the planet.

The Dipset rapper revealed that he had the chance to sign Drake, but ended up passing on the Canadian MC.

“Drake definitely ran across my desk,” Jones said in a recent interview, according to Complex. “I got a call from [music executive] Alan Grunblatt, I think I was on tour, and Alan was like, ‘I got this guy named Drake, uh, he’s an actor, he’s on ‘Degrassi.’ I’m like, ‘Who the f**k is Drake on ‘Degrassi’?’ He let me hear him rapping, like this boy could rap his ass off.”

However, Jones said he was unsure how the hip-hop community would perceive Drizzy, who was then best known for his role as Jimmy Brooks on the Canadian teen drama series “Degrassi: The Next Generation.”

“Then I looked at him, I’m like, ‘Boy, what do you mean? What am I going to do with boy?’” recalled Jones. “He’s an actor, he’s in a wheelchair on like, uh, what is it, Disney Channel?’ I’m like, ‘Boy, I don’t know how to make this work out.’”

Jones credits Lil Wayne for having the ability to see Drake’s superstar potential and gave props to Drake as a lyricist, even though he thought he didn’t look the part.

“Once again, I just wasn’t seeing past what I seen in front of me and shit like that,” Jones admitted. “Weezy was smart enough to do so, and I remember being on another tour in the back of the bus and hearing Weezy and Drake rapping, and Drake saying something about Princess Diana and it’s going crazy. I’m like ‘Wow, life is crazy. This ni**a is dead nasty, f**k what he look like.’”

This isn’t the first time that Jones has made the shocking revelation. Not only did he pass on signing Drake, he also claims that he refused to sign J. Cole because he wasn’t reflective of his vision at the time. “He was more of a Kanye, college kid, College Dropout type of shit,” he said of the Dreamville rapper.

Jones isn’t the only one who missed out on signing one of music’s biggest names. Akon also had the chance to sign Drake around 2004-2005, but he thought he sounded too similar to Eminem.

“Kardinal Offishall brought him to me in 2005, I think it was, or was it ’04?” Akon told VladTV. “It was right before ‘Best I Ever Had’ blew up, because at the time, it was more mixtape-ish. At the time, believe it or not, Drake sounded more like Eminem. With that demo that I heard, he sounded more like Em.”

Rihanna & A$AP Rocky Wear Monochrome Looks To Off-White Runway At Paris Fashion Week

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The King and Queen of Paris Fashion Week have been crowned. Over the weekend, we saw Rihanna and A$AP Rocky steal the show with their budding baby bump at Gucci’s Milan Fashion Week runway, and on Monday, they jetted over to France where they attended Virgil Abloh’s final Off-White presentation for the F/W 2022-23 season. 

As Daily Mail reports, the couple looked as fashionable as ever during the show, both opting for monochrome outfits in completely different – but beautifully paired – colours. While the expecting mother wore a leather peach-coloured mini dress with a shearling coat, a dainty handbag, and. a pair of strappy high heels and layered necklaces her beau went for a classic all-black look.

With his matching black leather Mercedes bomber jacket and trousers, the “Fashion Killa” looked sharper than ever, stepping into a pair of workman suede boots, and adding layers and dimension to his fit with a hoodie and black t-shirt.

Not only was the audience star-stubbed for Abloh’s final show, but so was the runway. Famous faces like Bella and Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Naomi Campbell, Adut Akech, and Kaia Gerber were among those modelling the beautiful garments, and rapper Jim Jones was even tapped to walk in the show.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

“Loving the layers of edgy-elegant avant glam,” one viewer of the performance wrote in the YouTube comments. “Beautiful presentation. Bravo!” Another added, “Loving the 60s references,” praising Abloh for his creative craftsmanship on the clothing.

The collection, titled “Spaceship Earth” has been described as “A manifesto for [Virgil’s] democratic and inclusive fashion revolution,” which “takes the establishment’s most sacred symbols and turns them on their head.”

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Check out the full runway above, and let us know what you think of Virgil Abloh’s final Off-White collection in the comments. RIP.

[Via]

“What It Means To Be King” Cover Art Unveiled By King Von’s Team Ahead Of Friday’s Drop

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Long Live King Von. This Friday, March 4th will see the arrival of the Chicago rapper’s posthumous What It Means To Be King record, announced earlier this month along with the arrival of “Don’t Play That” featuring the late artist’s close friend 21 Savage.

On Monday, February 28th, Von’s team shared the upcoming album’s cover art to his Instagram page. The picture finds him looking intensely into the camera, a few locs hanging in his eyes as his drip-covered wrist hides the lower half of his face. Apart from a few flashy bracelets, we also see chains around his neck.

“What It Means To Be King | This Friday, pre-save link in bio,” the caption reads. As HipHopDX notes, the highly anticipated work will follow 2020’s debut Welcome to O’Block, which was released shortly before Von’s untimely death in November of 2020.

In an interview with VladTV, the “Took Her To The O” hitmaker’s former manager revealed that his client had a substantial amount of unreleased music in his possession. “Just going through my notes, I found a hundred songs, not released,” he shared. “One day, I went, I said, ‘Let me really see how much songs this man really had.’ Man got over 200 or 300 songs.”

Seeing as 21 had a strong bond with Von’s family, including “Don’t Play That” on his posthumous album made perfect sense to his team. Following his passing, the Savage Mode artist gifted the 26-year-old’s younger sister Kayla with a brand new Range Rover as he knew it was what his friend intended to do.

“I knew Kayla before I knew Von because she talks to my little brother. Von was already planning on purchasing the gift for her birthday and due to his untimely passing, he wasn’t able to finish so all I did was finish what he started because I told Kayla when he passed I had her 4L and I meant it,” the UK-born star explained at the time, shutting down “disrespectful” haters questioning his motives.

RIP King Von – check back in with HNHH this Friday to hear his posthumous album.

[Via]