Month: February 2022

L.A. District Attorney’s Office Issues Statement About Megan Thee Stallion & Tory Lanez Case

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The internet was a flurry yesterday (February 23) after Megan Thee Stallion, Tory Lanez, and DJ Akademiks engaged in a war of words. The 2020 shooting incident reared its ugly head after Akademiks reported that it was stated in court that Lanez’s DNA wasn’t found on the weapon used to shoot Megan, and the Houston rapper clapped back. She, along with reporters from the New York Post and Rolling Stone, stated that that wasn’t true and DNA evidence wasn’t introduced during the hearing.

Insults were exchanged and Alex Spiro, Megan’s attorney, even came forward to refute the false news report. Lanez, however, tweeted that Akademiks wasn’t lying, and the whole conflict has caused the Los Angeles D.A.’s Office to enter the chat with a statement of its own.

HipHopDX reported that they obtained a statement from the D.A. saying that prosecutors are adamant that they have an ample amount of evidence to support the assault charge against Lanez.

“Although we are legally prohibited from commenting on the evidence and will continue to abide by that obligation, our office is under an ethical duty to only proceed on charges which we believe can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and which have already been upheld by a judge after presentation of evidence at the preliminary hearing,” the statement read. “We believe the evidence substantially supports the charges and allegations and that evidence will be borne out in court.”

In recent weeks, Lanez has taken to social media to share enigmatic posts about having a celebratory moment on the horizon. Many have speculated that this is about his case and the singer’s fans have stood by his side, assured that he will be vindicated. However, others await the news of the trial before choosing sides. 

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Kanye West Uploads 16 Songs From ‘Donda 2’ To His Stem Player Site

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Kanye West 2021 NYC sighting
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Days before Kanye West’s eleventh album Donda 2 was set to arrive, the rapper announced that the project would not appear on streaming services as some may have expected. Instead, Kanye said Donda 2 would be exclusively available on his Stem Player website. The Stem Player is the device Kanye released last year after he dropped Donda and it let users control vocals, drums, bass, and samples, isolate certain parts of a song, and add effects. While Donda 2 was not available on the site as expected on February 22, Kanye stuck to his word and released a batch of songs from the project onto the website.

On Thursday, 16 songs unexpectedly appeared on the Stem Player website. Many, if not all of the songs, were played during Kanye’s live performance of Donda 2 in Miami. The new records include contributions from Future, Migos, Jack Harlow, the late XXTENTACION, Vory, Alicia Keys, Fivio Foreign, Soulja Boy, Sean Leon, Baby Keem, Travis Scott, and Don Toliver. Four of the songs in the new batch of Donda 2 records were released on Wednesday. It’s unknown if these are the final versions of the songs from Kanye’s eleventh album and if any additional records will be uploaded to the site.

The songs are only accessible from the Stem Player website if you have the Stem Player device, but if you may find them elsewhere with a few Googles.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Jazmine Sullivan Cancels Tour Dates After Catching COVID: “I’m Truly Sad”

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Fans hoping to see Jazmine Sullivan perform live for her Heaux Tales Tour within the next week or two are disappointed to hear that those shows have been canceled for the time being. There have been several artists who have had to postpone their tour dates after revealing that they have contracted COVID-19, and Sullivan is the latest entertainer to share the unfortunate news with supporters. 

“My doctor confirmed today that I’m positive with Covid,” the singer penned on her Instagram Story.

Jazmine Sullivan
Bennett Raglin / Stringer / Getty Images

“I am taking every precaution to isolate myself,” Sullivan continued. “I’m truly sad to have to cancel more shows but health and safety come first for myself, my team, and all of you. LA’s show tomorrow will unfortunately be cancelled and we are likely cancelling shows for the next week based on my condition and the condition of my crew.”

“We will let you know when the tour will resume once we have made that decision. As soon as we have more information in regards to tickets and rescheduling, ticket holders will be notified via email.”

Lil Nas X has been noticeably absent from social media after sharing his COVID diagnosis, and more recently, Justin Bieber had to postpone his Vegas show during his Justice World Tour stop due to an outbreak. Check out Jazmine Sullivan’s post below.

Trump Praises Putin As A “Genius” For “Taking Over A Country” Amid Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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The devastation taking place in Ukraine is being documented in real-time by reporters on the ground as well as citizens fleeing for safety. It has been reported that over 300 people have been injured while just over 130 have been killed since Russia’s invasion. It was also shared that Chernobyl has been taken over by Russian soldiers and several world leaders have come forward, including President Joe Biden, to condemn the attack, calling it unjustified.

However, although Ukrainian forces are massively outnumbered by the Russian military, Biden has stated that the U.S. military will not send troops to fight in this conflict. Vladimir Putin released a video plainly stating that if anyone interferes with his plans, there will be severe consequences.

Former President Donald Trump has been accused of conspiring with Russia throughout his electoral process as well as his tenure in the Oval Office—accusations that he has denied. During a political fundraiser in Florida, the former president called Putin’s recent Ukraine moves “genius” while praising him for his military takeover

“I mean, he’s taking over a country for $2 worth of sanctions,” Trump said. “I’d say that’s pretty smart. He’s taking over a country — literally a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in.” He also added that had he’d been president, Putin wouldn’t have dared to launch the invasion.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates was appalled by Trump’s remarks and condemned him in a scathing tweet.

“Two nauseating, fearful pigs who hate what America stands for and whose every action is driven by their own weakness and insecurity, rubbing their snouts together and celebrating as innocent people lose their lives,” Bates tweeted.

Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has said, “They are killing people and transforming peaceful cities into military targets. That’s villainous and will never be forgiven.”

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Jay-Z Will Receive $4.5 Million In Royalties From Parlux Fragrances Thanks To A Court Ruling

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Last fall, Jay-Z walked away with a big legal win after Parlux Fragrances claimed that the rapper breached his contract by not promoting the failed “Gold Jay-Z” cologne. Parlux filed the lawsuit back in 2016 and said he “never once personally appeared” to promote the cologne, which Jay denied. A jury agreed with him and ruled that he did not breach his contract and that he was not responsible for the $67.6 million in damages that Parlux sued him for. Now, according to Complex which cites a report from Page Six, Jay-Z earned another court win against Parlux.

According to the report, an appellate court ruled that Jay and his company “are entitled to summary judgment on their royalties counterclaim.” As a result, they ruled that Jay is entitled to $4.5 million in royalties from Parlux. “The record is clear: Parlux sold licensed products after July 31, 2015, but failed to pay royalties on those sales,” Justice John Higgitt wrote in a statement.

Jay’s legal matters are not over yet. This summer, he’ll head to trial to settle a lawsuit between himself and Jonathan Mannion, the photographer who shot the cover for his 1996 debut album, Reasonable Doubt. Jay claims that Mannion has been using photos from the shoot for the cover art to make “thousands of dollars” selling prints and merchandise. He adds that when he asked Mannion to stop, the photographer requested “tens of millions of dollars” which sparked the lawsuit. The two attempted to settle things outside of court but failed to come to an agreement.

Jazmine Sullivan Says She Has COVID-19 And Has To Cancel Some Tour Dates

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Jazmine Sullivan’s Heaux Tales Tour got started last week, but it’s gotten off to a bumpy start. While the first show in Vancouver was cancelled because of local COVID safety measures, Sullivan played at Portland and Seattle stops, before laboring through a show in Oakland on Tuesday when she began to feel not so great. She cancelled last night’s show in Sacramento despite testing negative for COVID, because she was “feeling extremely under the weather,” saying on Twitter that she didn’t want to “give a subpar performance.”

Credit to Sullivan, who felt symptoms and started playing it safely from there. Because today, the “Pick Up Your Feelings” singer tweeted that she has indeed tested positive for COVID and is canceling tour dates for at least the next week. “I’m truly sad to have to cancel more shows but health and safety come first for myself, my team, and all of you,” she said.

This means that tomorrow’s show in LA, plus next week’s shows in Phoenix and Denver are likely canceled and perhaps more from there while she recovers. Sullivan said that ticket holders would be contacted via email about rescheduling. You can read her statement in full below and we wish her a speedy recovery.

You can read her statement in full below:

“Hi Everyone,

My Doctor confirmed that I’m positive with COVID. I am taking every precaution to isolate myself. I’m truly sad to have to cancel more shows but health and safety come first for myself, my team, and all of you.

LA’s show tomorrow will unfortunately be cancelled and we are likely cancelling show for the next week based on my condition and the condition of my crew. We will let you know when the tour will resume once we have made that decision.

As soon as we have in regards to tickets and rescheduling, ticket holders will be notified via email.

Thank you so much for understanding and support and I’ll be seeing you very soon.

Jaz <3”