Month: June 2022

There are several ongoing investigations into what occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde nearly one month ago. From police looking into the deceased gunman Salvador Ramos to authorities piecing together why it took over an hour for Uvalde police to make a move, the shooting that took the lives of 19 schoolchildren and two teachers remains at the forefront.

Uvalde is a small community where it’s said that most of the town knows one another, so the devastation at Robb Elementary left one lingering question: what will happen to the school now?

Brandon Bell / Staff / Getty Images

PEOPLE reported that today (June 21), a city council meeting was held and mayor Don McLaughlin suggested that the school be demolished.

“My understanding — I had a discussion with the superintendent — that school will be demolished,” he reportedly said. “We could never ask a child to go back, or a teacher to go back into that school ever.”

Meanwhile, Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw reportedly called law enforcement’s response to the shooting “an abject failure” and suggested that if they wanted, Uvalde officers could have stopped the gunman within three minutes of police arriving at the scene. He also made a controversial statement by saying that the failed immediate reaction from Uvalde Police “set the profession back a decade.”

Check out a brief clip of the mayor at the meeting below.

[via]

There have been ongoing conversations regarding whether or not Hip Hop will see a new House wave takeover thanks to two major artists. Beyoncé and Drake have sparked several discussions about artists tapping into dance music after the pair released “Break My Soul” and Honestly, Nevermind, respectively. While Drizzy took quite a few hits regarding his surprise record, Beyoncé has received wide praise for her latest effort. 

Unsurprisingly, several of Beyoncé’s peers have praised “Break My Soul” on social media, and the singer’s mother, Tina Lawson, added her voice to the celebrations by emphasizing the single’s underlying message of empowerment.

“Tell all the Negative People In Your life . You Won’t Break My Soul,” she wrote on Instagram. Then, Lawson seemingly snuck in a challenge that could take off online if followed. “‘Looking for Motivation, New Foundation, New Vibrations Building my own Foundation’ New Challenge get cute and dance extra hard and Look dead in the camera until someone ‘you won’t break my soul’ It feels so good !!![red heart emojis][fire emojis].”

In a video, Ms. Tina also delivered a similar message before playing her daughter’s new hit while showing off her dance moves. “Break My Soul” is the first single from Beyoncé’s highly-anticipated forthcoming album, Renaissance.

Check out Ms. Tina below.

He’s been putting pressure on BET in recent weeks and Lil Nas X continues to troll the network. When the BET Award nominations were announced, Lil Nas X found that he was snubbed and didn’t take it in stride. The rapper has dominated the charts since his “Old Town Road” viral breakout fame, and most recently, Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby” earned both artists massive global success.

“Thank you BET Awards. An outstanding zero nominations again. Black excellence,” Lil Nas tweeted earlier this month. “I try to be humble so bad but it’s really f*ck you to a lot of you n*ggas.”

BET would return to issue a formal statement, reminding the world that Lil Nas X performed at the award ceremony in the past. They added that they were supporters of the hitmaker, however, that wasn’t good enough as Nas X accused the network of feeding into homophobia within Hip Hop culture. Soon, Nas X returned and teased a new song that featured the lyrics “f*ck BET,” and later, it was revealed that NBA YoungBoy would be featured on the record.

The single is slated for arrival this Friday (June 27), and after promoting the track with fake brand ads, Lil Nas X returns with a full fake BET montage to once again announce “Late To Da Party.” The clip shows the rapper accepting trophies and taking to award stages, and spliced in between clips is convincing texts that show BET’s logo.

The BET Awards will take place on Sunday, June 26. Check out Lil Nas X’s latest video trolling the network below.

Things are moving right along for Bobby Shmurda as he crafts out his next project, however, he has revealed a few hiccups he’s run into along the way. The newly-independent rapper is tapping into unchartered territory in his career, but he has a strong team that is making sure each decision is made to his benefit. Still, Shmurda shared in a social media post that he is tired of certain people trying to take advantage of him—specifically, producers and beatmakers.

“These producers is giving me the hardest time right now,” said Shmurda. “I never seen not sh*t like this before. I remember these — it can’t be that bad outside, my n*gga.”

“I done made over half a million for the year, can’t be that bad outside,” he continued. “I’m trying to drop my project, but these n*gga is asking me clearances and these f*ckin’ producers are asking for some crazy sh*t. I don’t know what rumors is going around, they think, ‘Oh Bobby just droppin’ bags, this, that, whatever.’ Givin’ no n*ggas $10,000, $8,000 for no f*ckin’ producer.”

Beatmakers weren’t Shmurda’s only target, because he got even more heated when he touched on receiving tracks from his peers.

“Who the f*ck told you n*ggas to f*ckin’ make songs with ten motherf*ckers on the song? B*tch n*gga,” the rapper said as he unloaded a barrage of expletives to drive home his point. Still no word on when that debut will arrive, but you can check out Bobby Shmurda’s ire below. 

It looks as if Shareef O’Neal is following in his father’s footsteps, but Shaquille O’Neal may not be completely onboard. Shareef has been pursuing basketball throughout his life, even playing for both UCLA and LSU, but when his college career came to an end, there were questions regarding the 22-year-old’s future in sports. However, Today (June 21), Shareef visited the Los Angeles Lakers practice facility for a pre-draft workout, and while this sounds promising, he admitted that it has been a point of contention with his Lakers legend father.

“We kind of bump heads about this process,” he said during a press conference. “He wanted me to stay in school. I wanted to better myself through this.”

Patrick McDermott / Stringer / Getty Images

“He knows I’m working out with teams. But I’m not going to lie, we ain’t talked about this. I’m kind of just going through it. He didn’t do any pre-draft workouts; he just got straight on the [Orlando Magic], so it’s a different grind,” Shareef added. “So, he didn’t want me to do this, and I know he probably doesn’t want me saying this, but sorry. We’re both grown, we’ll get past it.”

“I felt like in college I wasn’t getting enough opportunity. I wasn’t feeling like myself in college,” he said. “[The invite] kind of opened a lot of doors for me. … I feel like it really brought me back and kind of showed a little bit what I can do. And once I started getting calls from teams to work out, I was like, ‘Man, this is what I want to do.’ I mean I’m here, it’s right in front of me, so just go for it. So I continued to work.”

“[My dad] didn’t like that idea at all. It sucks that he didn’t like that idea, but I’m a grown man, I’m 22 years old, I can make my own decision,” he continued. “It was right in front of my face. I’m not backing up from it. I’m going to go get it if I see it. That’s just how I’m built. I take everything the same way. I took my heart surgery the same way. Being cleared was right in front of me, being healthy was right in front of me, and I went for it. I’m not backing down from nobody.”

“I know he’s an NBA legend, I know he’s my dad, but it was right in front of me, I had to go get it. So, if he likes it or not, it’s not really going to stop me from doing what I want to do.”

Check out a clip of Shareef O’Neal’s conference below.

[via]

Despite what some reports may say, there are several Hip Hop artists who are doing their part in curbing violence within the culture. Some rappers have sparked initiatives, foundations, and charities, while others regularly host events in small communities, do giveaways for marginalized neighborhoods, and work with community leaders to bring peace between warring gangs.

Rap legend Twista caught up with TMZ and spoke about his “The Gun Camp” course where he teaches people about firearms with the hopes that they will develop not only respect for weapons but will no longer see them as something that needs to be feared.

“I learned about firearms like a lot of other people had, so I had negative perceptions, but once I became a firearms instructor and a competitive shooter and just got in it from a different angle, I was able to see firearms from a different view, and it gave me the passion to want to go out and teach people, as well as the youth, about firearm safety and just educate them about firearms overall so that people would have a different perception about firearms. :

He added that this education, he hopes, will help others think differently about the use of firearms—most notably, being “defensive-minded” and protecting others “more so than things of negativity.”

“Once you’re educated about firearms, some of these things that you look at that seem so scary, won’t be as scary and you’ll also have positive thoughts about what to do with them instead of negative.” When asked why a civilian would need certain weapons like AR-15s or similar firearms, Twista explained that there are groups of people who compete and have no intention of ever using them in daily life.

Watch Twista preach the importance of firearm safety and education below.