According to declassified documents released by the FBI, late Chicago rapper King Von put out a hit on his late rival, Chi-Town rapper FBG Duck. An interview with a confidential informant has revealed that Von initially placed a $50K hit on Duck before raising the price to $100,000.
According to the interview, Von bought “O Block” chains for the people responsible for killing FBG Duck back in August 2020 in Chicago.
This news comes after an old tweet from Von who claimed that the now-deceased rappers had actually put their beef in behind them and planned to collaborate to boost the morale of the Windy City.
On this day in Hip-Hop history, legendary west coast DJ, rapper, and producer DJ Quik was born in 1970.
David Marvin Blake a.k.a. DJ Quik was born in Pomona, California and shortly after relocated to Compton, California. His love for music began at a very young age, and by age 12 he could already play a number of instruments. Quik jumpstarted his path to fame by selling mixtapes he made with the turntable he received while still in school. Through self-promotion, his fame began to rise and he started to DJ and host events in Southern California.
Whether due to knowledge of his coming success or lack of interest, Quik dropped out of high school in the 11th grade. Shortly after, he suffered homelessness when his family home was taken away in foreclosure. There’s little information about what happened over that period of DJ Quik’s life but in 1990, everything changed.
DJ Quik had created so much of a buzz on the streets selling tapes and making appearances at parties and events he gained the attention of local record labels Ruthless Records and Profile Records. Despite a one million dollar offer from Eazy E, Quik went ahead and signed with Profile.
On February 12, 1991, DJ Quik released his debut album, Quik Is the Name, which debuted at #29 on the Billboard 200 chart, where it would peak, and sold 50,000 copies in its first week. After about four years, the album was certified platinum by the RIAA and has to date sold 1,068,203 copies. The album hosted hit singles, “Born and Raised in Compton” and “Tonite.” After his debut success, Quik went on to produce eight more solo studio albums and a collaborative album with rapper Kurupt called Blaqkout in 2009.
Outside of music, DJ Quik has made appearances as an actor on popular TV shows: Method and Red, Entourage, and Everybody Hates Chris. His career is one of the more influential ones on the West Coast. Quik was an instrumental part of the G-Funk sound and helped it to gain popularity early in the rap world. Countless rappers, producers, and DJs alike have noted their influence by DJ Quik and if you ride around SoCal today, there’s no doubt you can hear one of his hits playing on someone’s stereo. If you don’t already listen on the daily, take some time today to appreciated the career of one of the West Coast’s OGs.
On this date in 2005, Compton emcee The Game released his debut album The Documentary on Aftermath/G-Unit/Interscope records.
The Game was the first G-Unit representative from outside of NYC to be a part of the then-dominating roster consisting of Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks, and its general, 50 Cent. The album was originally called “Nigga Witta Attitude Vol.1,” but Eazy-E’s wife, Tomica Woods-Wright, legally blocked that N.W.A. title reference from being used.
The album received commercial and critical success, reaching gold status in its first week and 2X platinum within the first two months. The singles that received the most acclaim were 50 Cent-assisted, which many felt was the primary reason for the project’s success. “Hate It Or Love It,” “Westside Story” and This Is How We Do” allowed The Game to see the same degree of fame as his Queens boss, but left many critics to wonder if this feat was capable with no guest appearances. The album’s production was a Hip-Hop producers’ Hall of Fame, with the likes of Kanye West. Scott Storch, Just Blaze, Timbaland, and of course Dr. Dre behind the boards. These key elements make The Documentary The Game’s most notable and successful album to date.
Salute to Dre, 50, Em, The Game, the entire G-Unit and everyone involved in one of the most pivotal Hip-Hop projects of the new millennium.
Janet Jackson’s managers are accusing the legendary pop star of non-payment on fees for nearly a quarter million dollars..
According to The Blast:
According to legal documents, obtained by The Blast, the Grammy-winning singer is having legal action taken against her for what her managers are calling “unpaid services.” The lawsuit has been filed against Jackson and several of her companies dating back to 2017. The suit claims Jackson entered into a “business management services agreement” in August of 2017 with David Weise and Associates.
The company describes itself as “the largest business management firm in the country.” They also boast that they are no strangers to working with entertainers and such. “We work alongside the world’s top artists in music, film, and television, as well as athletes, executives, entrepreneurs, and other high achievers, offering a sophisticated range of concierge-style services to meet their lifestyle management needs.”
The company is accusing Jackson of bailing on paying the full amount owed for their involvement in her career. Obviously, Jackson is a big star who could probably pay the debt sooner rather than later. The total allegedly owed is $238,593.88.
On this date in 1992, Paramount Pictures presented the highly anticipated hood flick Juice, which stars a still rising rap star by the name of Tupac Shakur, who plays a crooked crimie from Uptown by the name of “Bishop”.
His co-star, Omar Epps(Higher Learning, In Too Deep), plays a local DJ with industry potential named “GQ”, alongside Jermaine “Huggy” Hopkins(Lean On Me) and Khalil Kain, who all form a loosely knit crew of truants who are headed in the wrong direction.
This movie was very instrumental in bringing Hip Hop artists onto the silver screen, with cameo appearances from Treach of Naughty By Nature, Queen Latifah, EPMD’s DJ Scratch and Special Ed. Juice also helped to introduce the soundtrack as a way to market movies for larger budgets.
For those who never took notice, it wasn’t until after ‘Pac made everyone love to hate his character Bishop that Shakur’s run-ins with the law became more frequent and his “Thug Life” persona became more noticeable and for its own intent, purposeful. Many will say that it was life imitating art. Some will say that this was the real Tupac; he was just being filmed.
On a recent episode of DJUTV, Dipset capo Jim Jones was asked about former friend and affiliate Max B and Jones immediately halted the trajectory of the convo and responded very harshly without mentioning the Wave God’s name.
Jones said, “I don’t talk about dead people, and I don’t talk about people locked up. If I say some s**t, I wanna be able to say it to your face if I have to.” He went on saying, “That was one thing I always made it a point to do, so just keep that in mind for the next time you speak to a real n***a and talk about dead people or somebody that’s locked up,”
As previously reported, Max B is slated to come home from prison this year, even though he was sentenced to 75 years in 2006 on robbery and murder charges. With two sentence reductions since then, Max had his homie French Montana announce his pending arrival via his new “Lemonade” single, which was just released last week.
Ahead of its time to say the least, A Tribe Called Quest’s experimental, alternative, jazz rap was originally unappreciated by mainstream audiences. It took six years for the Tribe’s first album to hit gold. The album might not have been a huge commercial success at first, but their innovative and comedic sound beautifully balanced the light-hearted social consciousness of their tracks. Although “People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm” was critically acclaimed, some critics felt that the inspired lyricism and unique humor was at times overshadowed by the group’s immaturity and lack of focus. Their debut album did, however, generate buzz within the Alternative Hip Hop community that has gained them a devout cult following. Today “People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm” is certified gold, and in The Source Magazines’s 100 Best Rap Albums. Other accolades include a 5 mic rating from The Source, 4 stars out of 5 by The Rolling Stone Album Guide, and a 3.5 out of 4 stars by the Chicago Tribune.
Regardless of which generation you belong to, every true Hip Hop fan can remember the first time they heard “Can I kick It?” by saying “yes I can!”…and how it changed their perception of the genre. In honor of this special day in Hip Hop history we did some digging and found old school Source articles reviewing “People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm”, so feel free to take a look at the history.
29 years ago today, Nas dropped his debut LP, ‘Illmatic.’ Released by Columbia Records in 94′ Nas recorded the album at Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios, and Unique Recording Studios in New York City. Produced by DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and Nas himself, the bangers on the album will be embedded in Hip Hop culture as classics merely based on their production alone.
The album sold 60,000 in the first week and debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200 chart. On January 17, 1996, the album was certified gold by the RIAA. In 2001 it earned a platinum certification after shipping 1,000,000 copies in the United States alone.
Lyrically, Nas delivered certified street verses on ‘Illmatic’ that influenced the majority of the ’90s and is regarded as one of the greatest LPs of all time by critics and major publications globally.
Dolphland Creative Director Skye Williams explained that each room design came from friends, family, and collaborators close to Dolph. “This is very authentic to him and there was a lot of time and energy and effort put into this by people who love him.”
Additional attendees included Jay Adino (Empire), Lowkey (Apple Music), Georgette Cline (Editorial Director, XXL), Dimas Sanfiorenzo (Okayplayer Managing Editor), Gray Rizzy (SiriusXM/Hip Hop Nation), Jerry Barrow (Head of Content, Hip Hop DX), actor Hassan Jackson, Drea Jackson (Sound Clous), Kelly Jackson (SiriusXM), Alvin Aqua Blanco (Managing Editor, Hip Hop Wired), Michael Saponara and Marc Ellibert (Billboard), Jade Gomez (News Editor, Paper Mag), Justin Frasier-Wright (Complex), Robyn Mowatt (Okay Player), Kim Osorio and JT Soyemi (BET), Rosy Rodriguez (Say Less Podcast), and Mecca Rashawn (My Expert Opinion Podcast) among many others in the media.
This weekend in New York City, Young Dolph’s label Paper Route Empire hosted a cocktail launch celebration for “Dolphland,” a traveling pop-up museum exhibit celebrating the life of Young Dolph and his new posthumous album “Paper Route Frank.” Co-hosted by platinum-selling PRE recording artist and Dolph protegee Key Glock, hundreds of industry friends, media and NYC’s Hip Hop glitterati such as Jim Jones, Dave East, Maino and many others, packed the pop-up to get an exclusive first glance of the exhibit throughout the three-hour private opening. The premium open bar flowed and DJ Clue along with Dolph’s DJ Rocksteddy kept the vibes going in honor of the late Hip Hop artist.
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Conceptualized by Paper Route Empire and Young Dolph’s manager Allen Parks of Street Execs Management in conjunction with curating partner Trap Music Museum, the multi-room art exhibit features original artwork of various mediums portraying Adolph “Young Dolph” Thorton Jr. throughout various stages of his life, and celebrating his musical legacy.
Dolphland Creative Director Skye Williams explained that each room design came from friends, family, and collaborators close to Dolph. “This is very authentic to him and there was a lot of time and energy and effort put into this by people who love him.”
Additional attendees included Jay Adino (Empire), Lowkey (Apple Music), Georgette Cline (Editorial Director, XXL), Dimas Sanfiorenzo (Okayplayer Managing Editor), Gray Rizzy (SiriusXM/Hip Hop Nation), Jerry Barrow (Head of Content, Hip Hop DX), actor Hassan Jackson, Drea Jackson (Sound Clous), Kelly Jackson (SiriusXM), Alvin Aqua Blanco (Managing Editor, Hip Hop Wired), Michael Saponara and Marc Ellibert (Billboard), Jade Gomez (News Editor, Paper Mag), Justin Frasier-Wright (Complex), Robyn Mowatt (Okay Player), Kim Osorio and JT Soyemi (BET), Rosy Rodriguez (Say Less Podcast), and Mecca Rashawn (My Expert Opinion Podcast) among many others in the media.
Chef Way, a popular chef on TikTok and Prosecutor, has been getting dragged for resurfaced tweets trashing black and dark-skinned women. He issued an apology, but that wasn’t enough to save his endorsement deal. A number of tweets have resulted in the chef issuing apologies to save his coins from disappearing.
Chef Way (real name Waymond Wesley) came under fire online from a number of women who proved he harassed them on social media with receipts.
It started when one of the chef’s TikTok videos cooking oxtail pasta went viral. A Twitter user pointed out to Chef Way how he was getting dragged for years-old tweets and comments, many of which included insults against Black women.
His resurfaced tweets contained remarks about Sandra Bland, a victim of police brutality, dark-skinned women, and women’s body types.
In one tweet, which was manually retweeted in July 2015, Wesley (tweeting under the handle @WaymoTheGod) suggested that “if black lives mattered to sandra bland she wouldn’t have taken her own life.”
In another, Chef Way commented on one photo that “smh the dark one messed up the pic” in response to a dark-skinned Black woman posing in a photo with another woman, and then one of his followers replied by cropping her out of the photo. In another old tweet, Wesley posted a photo of a light-skinned woman, using it to fat shame and insult anyone with a darker skin tone.
“This is the perfect size woman and skin tone,” he wrote. “She’s healthy. Anything bigger/darker than this is garbage.”
After the initial criticism, the chef issued an apology on Twitter and Instagram, saying he had been “sick in more ways than one” during that time and that since then, “cooking” had saved him.
Chef Way’s apology fell on deaf ears, which resulted in him losing his partnership with Anova Culinary, a San Francisco-based smart kitchen company.
“We’re ending our affiliation with chef way, asap,” wrote CEO Stephen Svajian via Twitter. “Formal statement coming soon. Thanks for bringing the issue to my attention.”
He continued, “I believe that brands are about values. We want to partner with individuals that reflect our own values. Chef way clearly does not represent the values that we hold dear. Thanks to those that called this out. We need to do a better job vetting people that represent our brand.”
You commented on one of my pics on my old account and said my dark skin made me ugly, I was in high school. Called me all types of butterface. You said if I was light skinned I’d look better. Now you’re a chef? That’s crazy. https://t.co/iMtA18VCzvpic.twitter.com/FHnyQmSGQs
To those I’ve hurt with my past tweets that have resurfaced, I am deeply sorry. That was a moment in my life where I was sick in more ways than one. Cooking saved me. You have watched a flawed man heal. I will continue to heal and learn. Thanks for being along for the journey.
To those I’ve hurt with my past tweets that have resurfaced, I am deeply sorry. That was a moment in my life where I was sick in more ways than one. Cooking saved me. You have watched a flawed man heal. I will continue to heal and learn. Thanks for being along for the journey.
(@tayshusmama) 
(@sheabuttersidy) 
(@yourstrulymua)