Month: May 2022

Top Gun: Maverick is expected to gross an estimated $151 million at the box office over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, which will make it the most successful opening weekend release of Tom Cruise’s storied career. The legendary actor has starred in numerous classic films including Risky Business, Jerry Maguire, Rain Man, A Few Good Men, Mission: Impossible, and many more.

The original Top Gun was released back in 1986. Alongside Cruise, Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, and Tom Skerritt starred in the movie. Top Gun received mixed reviews from critics when it first hit theaters but gained steam as time went on, eventually earning a total of $356 million against a production budget of $15 million.

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Despite the success, Cruise repeatedly said he wasn’t interested in continuing the franchise. In 1990, he described such a film as “irresponsible,” citing critics who considered the original movie to be an example of military propaganda in Hollywood during the Reagan administration. 

“I want kids to know that that’s not the way war is — that Top Gun was just an amusement park ride, a fun film with a PG-13 rating that was not supposed to be reality,” Cruise has said.

While Cruise was hesitant, Maverick director Joseph Kosinski was able to sell him on returning to the franchise with the plot of the new film.

“Well, I worked with Tom, and I knew to start with character and emotion,” Kosinski recently explained to Polygon. “I just pitched this idea of Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller) growing up to become a naval aviator, and him and Maverick having this fractured relationship that had never been repaired. With Maverick getting called back to train this group of students to go on a mission that he knows is very, very dangerous.”

He continued: “The conflict [is about] the difference between being an aviator who goes in and risks his own life, and someone who’s in a more senior position that has to send others in to risk their lives. I talked to some Navy admirals who talked about that difference. It’s a different sort of pressure, it’s almost harder to send others in rather than go yourself. And to me, it felt like that leveraged the emotion of the past film and those relationships that we all love, but took it in a new direction. So that’s where I started.”

Top Gun: Maverick is in theaters now. Check out a trailer for the film below.

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Aaron Donald is signing with Kanye West’s Donda Sports, the Super Bowl champion defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams recently announced. Donald discussed joining the outfit with Brandon Marshall, Adam Jones, and LeSean McCoy for an episode of I Am Athlete.

“It was an opportunity that came to us, me and [my wife], and it made sense. Hearing the whole spectrum of what they were going to be bringing, the whole family atmosphere that they got in Donda Sports. Not just me, but my wife being a part of that. For me it was a no-brainer,” Donald explained.

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Donald continued: “I think it’s a hell of an opportunity to open up a lot of different doors and a lot of different things outside of football that I wanna be involved in, that I wanna do, that my wife wanna do. So to be a part of that, and be one of the best first athletes to be a part of that, it’s pretty dope. We’re excited about it, and we’re gonna see where this thing goes.”

As for connecting with West, Donald went on to explain that he pulled up to one of Ye’s music video shoots and was even offered a part.

“He cool man. He real cool. A cool dude. Got to talk a little bit. Vibe,” he shared. “Was at one of his video shoots. He actually wanted me to get in one of the videos, but I was like, ‘Naw.’ I was out my element. But he was cool.”

Donald also praised West for taking Donda Sports seriously: “Donda Sports is something close to him, obviously, with his mother and everything. So he definitely wants this to be something that’s top tier and something he’s serious about.”

West launched Donda Sports earlier this year. Antonio Brown joined on back in January

Check out Donald’s comments about joining Donda Sports below.

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Last night (May 28), comedians D.L. Hughley and Mo’Nique participated in The Comedy Explosion at the Fox Theater in Detroit, Michigan. The night of comedy was hosted by Josh Adams and introduced comedian Aida Rodriguez.

During the show, fans were blown away after Mo’Nique spat some hateful words into the microphone about D.L. The 54-year-old felt a certain type of way over a contract dispute. It was said that she was supposed to headline the event, but that did not go as planned.

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Fed up with the disagreement, the actress decided to let the crowd know her true feelings. A ten-minute long video captured her saying, “That’s what the motherf*cking contract says… ‘Mo’Nique is to be the last motherf*cking person on the got d*mn stage. She is the headliner. That’s what I signed the contract for.”

Attacking D.L.’s character, she went on to say, “What kind of real n*gga would ever attack a got d*mned black woman?” she asked in reference to him speaking negatively about her on an old tour. She continued, adding that she feels bad for his entire family along with his wife– saying, “N*gga your name is D.L., what the f*ck does it stand for?” Closing in on her point that he’s an undercover homosexual, she asked, “How far are you bending over n*gga? On the DL.”

She ended her rant by saying that he messed with the wrong one. As of now, D.L. has not responded, but he does have his own radio show, so HNHH will update this story once he issues a statement. 

Watch the entire video below. 

Seeing as things are continuing to heat up between Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson, many fans were expecting to see the 28-year-old in attendance at the socialite’s older sister’s wedding, but alas, the filming of his final episode of Saturday Night Live got in the way. Nonetheless, the 41-year-old still managed to secure herself the best possible date.

On May 29th – a week after all the festivities – Kim dropped off a heartwarming series of photos with her eldest child, 8-year-old North West, posing with her in Italy. “Best Date Ever,” she wrote in the caption.

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While North was photographed with her mom on several occasions during the vacation, this one appears to be from when the Kardashian-Jenner clan first arrived in Italy, based on the SKIMS founder’s Dolce & Gabbana cutout catsuit.

For the young girl’s part, she also dressed in a monochrome fit, pairing jeans and a black short sleeve top baring a cross on the front with some kitten-heeled strappy sandals and her beautifully braided hair.

Sources told E! News that that same night, “The family booked out the entire restaurant for [their] celebration,” adding that “The menu included handmade troife pasta with pesto, baked seabass, fresh fruit and coffee parfait with coffee liqueur. The meal was also paired with a selection of three Italian wines.”

That’s not the only fine dining that North has been doing as of late – days ago she was spotted heading to NOBU with her dad, Kanye West for a lunch date.

Not long after that, the father of four dropped off “True Love” with the late XXXTentacion, on which he addresses his custody battle with Kim – read more about that here, and tap back in with HNHH later for more pop culture news updates.

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Stetsasonic was a crucial crew in the early days of hip hop. The group was founded in the early 1980s by Daddy-O, Crown Supreme and Delite, and later expanded to include Wise The Human Mix Machine, Prince Paul, the Devastating Beat Creator (DBC), Frukwan, and Bobby Simmons. The group ended back in 1991 and, as such, haven’t released an album since.

Now, almost 30 years later, founder Daddy-O has teased that a new Stetsasonic album, titled Here We Go Again, is on the way. It will be the first new music from the group since the group’s last single, “(Now Y’all Givin’ Up) Love,” which was released in 2020 and was dedicated to the late Biz Markie.

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The announcement of the album has fans excited. The record will include beats from Kevin Deane, David “C-Doc” Snyder, and Bobby Simmons. In a recent conversation with HipHopDX, Daddy-O said, “This was driven by my solo efforts since 2016. Classic Hip Hop has a place and we’re standing in that place.” He claimed that it “did take some convincing in this digital age” to round up the group, but it looks like he’s pulled it off.

Since the group released three studio albums back in the 80s and 90s, its members have gone on to do great things. Daddy-O worked with artists like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mary J. Blige, Positive K and Freestyle Fellowship. Prince Paul, meanwhile, worked on De La Soul’s landmark debut, 3 Feet High and Rising. Time will tell how Stetsasonic’s old-school sound will adapt to the modern hip hop market.

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Sukihana is a reality television personality who is far from quiet. The mother of three uses her social media networks to connect with her fans and display her uncensored nature. She’s known for twerking, using explicit language, and voicing her opinion about any and everything. 

Today (May 29), her shenanigans include a moving vehicle, music, and a chicken wing. While she was in the backseat, her friend up front recorded her. The person beside the Love & Hip Hop Miami star waved a chicken wing in front of her face, putting her in a trance. She followed its every move until the hand held the wing in place as if it were a microphone. 

This caused the 27-year-old to get into character and start singing the radio song into the piece of meat. “Pusherman” by Curtis Mayfield blasted from the car’s speakers as Suki sang the lyrics. At the end, she grabbed the wing with her mouth and smiled at her friend in the back. The caption on the video read, “When your man bribes you with food.”

In the caption of her post, though, she wrote, “Protect me this energy is rare [laughing emoji].”

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A post shared by Suki with the good coochie (@sukihanatrill)

This type of act is nothing new to her 328,000 followers. Just last week, she was clowning herself for losing both her front tooth and wig at a club while performing. She hopped on Instagram in an attempt to find the guilty party, saying, “I feel like b*tches is hating… What y’all stole it? Y’all stealing teeth now?” 

It looks like Nancy Pelosi’s husband got himself in a bit of trouble while the Speaker of the House was away for the weekend. Paul Pelosi was arrested late Saturday night for driving under the influence.

The House of Representatives is on break for Memorial Day weekend, and Nancy Pelosi used the free time to travel up to Rhode Island to give a commencement speech at Brown University. “Join me live @brownuniversity as I deliver the Commencement Oration to 2022 graduates and receive an honorary doctorate degree,” the Speaker wrote on Twitter. Meanwhile, it seems her husband Paul has been using his time off this holiday weekend a little less productively.

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While Nancy was at Brown University, it appears that Paul was perhaps getting into the brown liquor. Mr. Pelosi was arrested around midnight Saturday in Napa County and was booked into jail hours later. He was charged with two misdemeanors: driving with a blood alcohol content level of 0.08 or higher and driving under the influence. His wife has yet to address the arrest, and any other family members have remained quiet as well. So far, additional details of the incident remain murky.

Paul’s bail was set at $5,000, a price which probably won’t break the bank for the Pelosi family, seeing as Paul is the head of the San Francisco-based real estate firm Financial Leasing Services and his wife occupies one of the highest seats in the US government. Paul is 82 years old and has been married to Nancy since 1963.

While Speaker Pelosi gets her doctorate and Paul Pelosi gets his DUI, pressure mounts on the political establishment to do something about the proliferation of school shootings in the US. Both stories remain developing.

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2022 is flying by at a rapid speed, and as we prepare to enter the second half of the year, @chartdata on Twitter has unveiled which artists have racked up the most impressive streaming numbers so far. As you may have guessed, Drake and NBA YoungBoy are neck in neck for the top spot, with the Canadian coming out at #1 with 3 billion streams.

YB’s grand total is a whopping 2.8 billion – sure to keep going up thanks to another new single today, “Goals” – but he and Drake aren’t the only rap stars doing numbers. The late Juice WRLD has earned 2.2 billion of his own, followed by The Weeknd coming in at 2 billion.

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Kanye West and Lil Durk follow the Canadian vocalist, with 1.9 billion and 1.7 billion respectively, and at the end of the list, we have Eminem and Future with 1.5 billion each.

The only two non-hip-hop names in the top 10 are Taylor Swift (#3 with 2.8B) and Morgan Wallen (#8 with 1.7B).

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As HipHopDX reports, a similar list was shared by @chartdata back in March, revealing who was in the lead just 10 weeks into 2022. Even back then, Champagne Papi and YB NBA came out on top (1.4B and 1.3B streams each at the time), though names like Kodak Black and Rod Wave also appeared beneath them and have since fallen off.

In other news, DJ Akademiks recently revealed that the Sincerely Kentrell hitmaker allegedly turned down $25M from Atlantic Records to resign with them, claiming that he plans to go independent – read more about that here, and let us know if you’re surprised by 2022’s streaming top 10 so far in the comments below.

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