At this point in the season, the Lakers only have about 22 games left to play. They need to string together a winning streak, especially since they are only a few games back of sixth place. Unfortunately, doing this will be that much more difficult without LeBron on the court. Overall, the team will now need to rely on its younger guns, as well as Anthony Davis. Davis is someone who is injury prone, and now, the Lakers need to pray that James can come back in time for a late push.
Earlier today, we reported that LeBron James would be missing an indefinite amount of time. However, he had not been ruled out for the entire season. Now, according to Shams Charania, we have a clearer sense of LeBron’s injury timeline. As he explains, “LeBron James is expected to miss an indefinite amount of time… I’m told likely at least 2 or 3 weeks.” After two weeks, the team will reevaluate him and then make an official decision on what to do.
Overall, Lakers fans can’t do anything except hope for the best. LeBron is someone who has prided himself on his ability to be available. Having said that, there is a very good chance he is able to come back and be successful. Whether or not the Lakers will be out of the playoff picture by then, still remains to be seen. Stay tuned to HNHH for more news and updates from around the basketball world.
It’s been nearly two months since a jury convictedTory Lanez for shooting Megan Thee Stallion. The dramatic trial became one of the most discussed legal matters of the year, especially as new details surrounding Tory and Megan’s relationship emerged. Megan took the stand to testify against Tory, as well as her former best friend, Kelsey Nicole. Each shared their accounts of the evening, ultimately securing a win for prosecutors. Tory was convicted of assault with a semi-automatic firearm, possession of a concealed, unregistered firearm, and negligent discharge of a firearm. The rapper’s facing some serious time behind bars that will undoubtedly have a negative impact on his career. He’s facing over two decades in prison and the possibility of deportation, though he’s still aiming for an appeal.
In recent months, the rapper’s made several changes to his team. In mid-January, reports emerged that he hired Casey Anthony’s former lawyer, Jose Baez, to help with his appeal. Baez will work closely with Matthew Barhom and David Kenner, who famously represented Suge Knight on a robbery charge that led to a probation sentence. Over the past few months, they’ve prepared to file a motion for a new trial, beginning with postponing the sentencing date.
Gag Order On Tory Lanez Lifted
Update: Tory Lanez’s new sentencing date is April 10. Judge Herriford also lifted the gag order that restricted him from commenting on the case or victim Megan Thee Stallion.
Though Tory Lanez was initially expected to face a judge for his sentencing last month, his plans to appeal have led to several delays. Per LA Mag’s Meghann Cuniff, the judge agreed to push back the sentencing date to April 10th, 2023 as the rapper and his legal team appeared in court. This will provide Tory’s team more time to prepare a new trial motion and give the prosecutors the opportunity to draft a written opposition to the request.
In addition to getting the sentencing date postponed until next month, Judge Herriford also lifted the gag order on Tory Lanez that blocked him from speaking on Megan Thee Stallion or the case itself. The gag order was a point of contention prior to the trial beginning, even landing Tory behind bars for violating the restaining order against him. It seems likely that we might hear some sort of statement from him in the near future. We’ll keep you posted on further updates surrounding Tory Lanez’s case.
On Thursday, February 23rd, Sirius XM and Pandora Music brought back their famous playback series at their new office in Atlanta, Georgia. The event highlighted a conversation with Jermaine Dupri and Curren$y, moderated by Torae.
Dupri discussed his life and musical legacy. He opened up on the significance of tracks “Welcome To Atlanta”, “Jump”, “Money Ain’t A Thing”, “Pressure” by Ari Lennox, and “I Think They Like Me”. The conversation revealed that Dupri and Curren$y are working on a project together.
It was a large event with over one hundred eighty people in attendance from media personalities, college students, and influencers. DJ Suga Shae provided the 1s and 2s for the large crowd. Congresswoman Nikema Williams from Georgia’s 5th district addressed the crowd at the start of the event. The event was produced by the Vice President of SXM/Pandora Music Programming, Josh “J1” Raiford.
At the end of the event J1 presented Jermaine Dupri w/ a Hip Hop 50th Anniversary Trailblazer Award on behalf of SXM/Pandora
Hip Hop Nation’s Torae, said “Celebrating thirty years of So So Def in Atlanta with Jermaine Dupri was really an amazing experience. His track record and list of hits are legendary. Curren$y being there and being excited about the music they’re about to drop together is a testament to JD’s longevity. I was honored to have moderated such a monumental moment. Shout out to J1 and the entire SXM Pandora team for putting together this historic Playback event.”
Hong Kong model Abby Choi went missing on Tuesday, according to Hong Kong police. The following gruesome timeline occurred: on Friday, authorities found her dismembered body in a refrigerator in a house rented by Kwong Kau in Lung Mei Tsuen, in a suburban part of Hong Kong. On Sunday, authorities discovered a young woman’s skull, several ribs, and hair believed to be Choi’s in a large stainless steel cooking pot seized from that same house. A meat slicer and an electric saw were also found at the home.
Shortly after the discovery, Choi’s ex-husband Alex Kwong and his parents were taken into custody on a joint murder charge and held without bail. Kwong, his brother, and his father were charged with murdering Kong, and his mother, Jenny Li, was charged with “perverting the course of justice” or trying to stop the police from learning facts about the case.
According to police, Choi had mishandled her financial assets and had ongoing disputes with her ex-husband and his family surrounding tens of millions of dollars. The citizens of Hong Kong have been in complete shock following the news of Choi’s murder. Her case is one of the most shocking killings Hong Kong had seen since 2013, when a man killed his parents, and their heads were later found in refrigerators. In another famous 1999 case, three members of an organized crime group kidnapped and tortured a woman before her death. Her skull was later found stuffed in a Hello Kitty doll.
Abby Choi was an influencer and model with over 100,000 followers on Instagram. The case has been adjourned to May 8.
Karriem Riggins deserves all his flowers. Three decades deep in the game, the Detroit native is a drummer, producer, DJ, and songwriter, working with the likes of Common, Slum Village, Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Paul McCarney, and the late, great J Dilla.
While Riggins’ contributions to the genre of jazz are impressive to say the least, working with the greats such as Hank Jones, Oscar Peterson, Milt Jackson, Donald Byrd, and Ron Carter, we definitely can’t overlook his work within the Hip-Hop space. The 47-year-old is best known for his tenure as Common’s bandleader, who actually was the one who introduced him to J Dilla in the first place. Soon after, Riggins and J Dilla would collaborate on critically-acclaimed albums such as Welcome to Detroit and The Shining.
One thing about Riggins, he is an originator. Spanning the genres of old funk, soul, and jazz, Riggins makes and plays the type of breaks that Hip-Hop producers have been sampling off since the genre was birthed.
Fast forward to today, Riggins is excited as ever to unveil his new mini-documentary, Behind The Sleeves, produced by Native Instruments. Together, they created a new digital instrument, as Riggins continues to intentionally inspire the next generation of producers.
The Source spoke with Karriem Riggins via Zoom, who was enjoying the 80 degree weather in Atlanta. Read below as we discusshis relationship with Common, meeting J Dilla, being a fan of J Dilla already, creating a new instrument with Native Instruments, Steve Lacy reaching out, and more!
Photo Credit: Native Instruments
For those who don’t know, who is Karriem Riggins?
I’m a music-lover, producer, drummer, DJ, and a father. From Detroit, Michigan. My passion for music, it runs deep. I’m a real true creative, and an advocate of just being creative.
How did you end up becoming the bandleader for Common?
I met Common in 1995, went to the jazz showcase. I played for Roy Hargrove for a lot of years, and Common came to the jazz showcase to hear our band. That’s when we connected. I had already heard Resurrection and Can I Borrow a Dollar? I was already a fan, so we stayed in contact. When he was working on One Day It’ll All Make Sense, is when we started to really connect on music. He wanted to start a live band, so that was perfect.
What does it mean to work with such a legend in Hip Hop?
I’m very grateful to be able to work with an artist like him. Being close with Common taught me what MCs need, when buying beats. It taught me how to tailor and make beats for certain people. And he picks — he’s hard. I make 100 beats, and he may pick one. [laughs] It taught me to really go hard to, to really try to artistically fit whatever I’m working on with the artist.
Photo Credit: Native Instruments
You met J Dilla through Common, bring us back to that moment.
Man, that was an incredible moment. Because when I met Dilla, I had already heard his music. Once I met him, I had already heard the frequencies that he was using. To be in the basement at that time, he had a cassette player and two small speakers. All of that music was made on that small setup, I was amazed. It just inspired me.
I passed him my number and we stayed in contact. He called me when he was working on Slum Village’s Fantastic, Vol. 2. I went to the studio and that’s the song, “2 U 4 U,” that he passed me a cassette of in the studio. He said “I want you to play drums on this.” I went to the car, learned it. Went back in studio, and I did one take. He didn’t let me do another take. That was it. [laughs] That was our first musical collaboration.
What was special about J Dilla’s producing?
What makes him extremely specialist is you hear his ear. You can tell that he’s a real music-lover. He’s not someone that just listens to records for loops, he really listens to learn. So I consider him more of a musician than just a producer. Because he has a real heavy respect for the art form.
When you and J Dilla are together in the studio, what is the synergy between you guys?
He reminds me of a jazz musician, like that one take. A lot of people want to do 100 takes to get it to where they feel like it should go, but he made that work from that one take. We got so many ideas done being in the studio together because we did so many back to back little one offs, then it turned into an album.
Photo Credit: Eric Jordan
Do you miss cassettes?
I do. I still use them to this day. I’ll go record my drums. My drums are recorded to 2 inch tapes. Then from 2 inch, I go to cassette. A lot of the stuff, you hear my drums. You might hear the hiss and everything, it’s on cassettes.
Is there a best memory from The Shining, and that whole process?
I’d pick him up when we had the sessions, and we’d ride to — he’d have a CD of new beats every time I got in the car. One of those CDs, he was shopping Donuts. Donuts was at the time, a B-side CD that he was giving to different artists. Shopping. Listening to that, it blew my mind. I was in heaven, riding to the studio every day. Listening to new stuff like that.
Yes, this Play series is called Karriem Riggins Drums. I was contacted by Justin Adams from Native Instruments, my good friend. He put it all together. A lot of the ideas I had, sometimes I think there’s so far left. He made it happen. He said “whatever you want to do, we can make it happen.” They went above and beyond, actually exceeded my expectations with how it works.
Hip Hop celebrates 50 years this year. What does Hip Hop mean to you?
Hip-Hop means everything. This is the rhythm that I have, everything that inspires me. From the beginning, my first 45 was Fat Boys “Stick ‘Em.” That was the beginning of Hip-Hop for me, how they were innovative with beatboxing on the mic and using the effects. You can make anything dope in Hip-Hop, it’s about being creative. That’s me, that’s who I am.
Do you have a Top 5?
No, I don’t. I can’t give you a Top 5, but I can give you some people that I really, really love and who inspire me. Dilla, Pete Rock, Madlib, Kaytranada, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes. Gregory Hutchinson is an incredible drummer who helped me out in my career. When I was in high school, he was a major influence on me and helped me connect to Betty Carter. That’s what sent me to New York, working with Betty car through Gregory Hutchinson. Those are some of my favorites.
What did it mean to have Steve Lacy reach out to you? That’s pretty legendary.
Man, that dude is really incredible. That’s the confirmation that music is gonna be here forever. Because the soul that he has, is an old soul, but he’s also bringing future in it. That inspires me a whole lot, just to want to work with someone like that. To hear what he did to my drums also, that blew my mind to hear that much soul in those drums. He’s an incredible artist.
What are you most excited for next?
Really this Play series, I want to hear what people are making. I’m going to send a message out to the world that I want to hear beats. I want people to send me the music that they’re making with Karriem Riggins Drums. Because we put a lot of hard work into it, it’s just a blessing to hear it back. Keep recycling the energy, gives me energy and inspiration when I hear that. That’s what I’m excited for.
Anything else you want the people to know?
Just to spread love. Through the music, spread love and light.
Keke Palmer and her boyfriend Darius Jackson have welcomed their first child together and announced the birth of a baby boy named Leodis Andrellton Jackson.
He was flexing with his Little Mermaid girlfriend for Milan Fashion Week, but not everyone was familiar with DDG. The rapper is enjoying the lull away from viral mania after trending due to his interactions with ex-girlfriend Rubi Rose. It unraveled in real-time on social media, even prompting DDG’s current leading lady, Halle Bailey, to step in with a tweet to keep the peace. That didn’t do much good, however, because DDG insisted on getting the last word against Rose. So, he wrote and released a song about her.
As people took to the internet to troll DDG, he and Bailey were posing on the streets of Italy. A group of women stopped to take photos of the rapper and kept saying the word “baby” while attempting to communicate in another language. The barrier was evident as DDG and Halle tried to understand what was being said. Then, they realized one of the women was asking if the rapper was Lil Baby.
The interaction was only a tad awkward, but Halle got a kick out of seeing the exchange. When the woman asked if DDG was Lil Baby, he simply replied, “Yup.” The group went on their way, amazed that they saw the My Turn star, except they didn’t. No word on if they know they’ve gone viral. Despite being called the wrong person, DDG seems happy to escape the social media storm he helped create within the last few weeks.
If you missed it, Rubi Rose ignited a war of words after suggesting that DDG gave Halle her old clothes. He fiercely denied the allegations, and the pair seemed to indirectly beef for a brief time. Then, Rubi shared screenshots of alleged DMs between her and her ex, but he responded quickly.
No Love Lost Between DDG & Rubi Rose
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 27: DDGand Halle Bailey attend the after party for the Los Angeles Premiere of “Creed III” on February 27, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto Rodriguez/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images)
Unsurprisingly, DDG was trolled over his latest single, “Way Too Petty.” It directly answered Rubi Rose’s antics, and he berated her on the track. The public suggested DDG wasn’t over the romance, but he retorted that he has no feelings for Rose.
#RunItBack pic.twitter.com/nk2BpXx0Cd
