AR Rapper Coca-Kazi Dead Following Police Stand-Off

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Several news reports have confirmed that Arkansas rapper Coca-Kazi was killed in a police stand-off last week(January 18).

Little Rock Police responded to a domestic disturbance at 2am, but it wasn’t until they arrived that they learned that the suspect was armed and made their way inside of the home. The police allege that the suspect fired the first shots inside of the home before exiting the residence. One officer fired a shot at the suspect before officers tried to make contact with the suspect via their Special Operations Unit and Crisis Negotiation Team. The SWAT team was called to enter the home soon after, where they found the body of the suspect. 

Not long after the standoff, reports began to surface that Coca-Kazi was the only suspect. Kazi, whose real name is Joseph Seriale Smith, posted a video to Facebook Live around 2:38 am the day of the shooting, which many believe is linked to the shooting.

Coca-Kazi’s cousin also confirmed his passing in a tweet, saying, “Lost another cousin today. That’s 2 in less than 7 days. This shit brazy. Damn @cocakazi.”

Coca-Kazi’s label, Hunnafied Records, also shared a tribute on IG, which read, “We all gonna miss u and remember u as one of ours #FAMILY @cocakazi rest well champion.”

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Carl Payne And Malik Yoba Co-Host The Pink Awards 2023

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The Pink Awards is Atlanta’s only annual philanthropic event where Black excellence and breast cancer awareness unite at the center stage. Guests can purchase tickets now and learn more about the event at www.thepinkawards.com. The event happens on Saturday, February 25, 2023, inside the illustrious Riverside EpiCenter in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Pink Awards raises funds for breast cancer warriors and survivors who cannot pay their monthly household and medical bills due to their inability to remain employed while undergoing chemotherapy. The event also honors global business and community trailblazers who are using their talents and resources to uplift the lives of others.

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Young Dolph Murder Suspect Released From Jail, Co-Defendants Face New Charges

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According to local news reports, the suspect who was accused of the shooting death of Memphis rap legend Young Dolph walked out of a Texas jail on bond on Christmas Eve.

Shundale Barnett walked out of Tarrant County Jail on bond after being charged as an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder on January 12 when he was arrested with the primary suspect Justin Johnson. U.S Marshal Tyreece Miller said that Barnett was charged as an accessory because authorities feel like Barnett assisted Johnson in evading apprehension during a week-long search.

Justin Johnson was transported to the Knox County Indiana Jail and booked on violation of federal supervised release before being transferred to Memphis’ Shelby County Jail. Shundale Barnett was held at the Clay County Jail in Indiana and was also expected to be transferred to Shelby County.

Barnett was released from Indiana’s Clay County Jail on January 21, 2022, but Shelby County authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in February.

“On January 11, Mr. Shundale Barnett was brought to the Clay County Jail by the Indiana State Police from an arrest on I-70,” Clay County Sheriff Paul Harden explained. “He was booked in the Clay County Jail on an outstanding warrant from Shelby County, Tennessee.”

“We contacted Shelby County and held him on their warrant,” he continued. “And we were contacted on January 21 and they told us that they were no longer wanting to come and pick up Mr. Barnett and that we were to release him at that time.”

In April 2022, a new arrest warrant had been issued for Shundale Barnett on charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder , but it is still unconfirmed whether or not his incarceration in Texas was related to Dolph’s murder.

Now, Johnson and three other men remain in custody in Memphis with charges related to the slain rapper’s death.

On January 13, Dolph’s estate, his record label Paper Route Empire and the Trap Music Museum launched the Dolphland Pop-Up Museum Tour in New York City.

The tour is scheduled to travel through Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., among other cities.

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Today In Hip Hop History: Tone Loc Dropped His Debut ‘Loc-ed After Dark’ LP 34 Years Ago

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On this date in 1989, West Coast rap giant Tone Loc released his debut album Loc-ed After Dark on Delicious Vinyl Records. It was a huge success, making it to #1 on the Billboard 200 the week of April 15 and #3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop album charts. It featured three hit singles — “Wild Thing”, “Funky Cold Medina”, and “I Got It Goin’ On” — and was certified Double Platinum by the RIAA.

Lōc-ed After Dark’s album cover is based on Donald Byrd’s 1963 record, A New Perspective.

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R&B Singer Sammie’s Mother Charged With Murder

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According to several confirmed reports, Angila Baxter, 56, has been charged with murder in the shooting death of Nekaybaw Collier on January 12 in Orange County, Florida.

Baxter, who is the mother of 90s R&B child star Sammie, was allegedly shooting at random cars, hitting Collier’s car, with one of the bullets being the fatal shot. Police say that Baxter claimed that she was being followed by several unidentified people, which is what prompted her to let off the deadly shots.

The Orange Sheriff’s Office issued a statement on Collier’s death, saying, “We extend our deepest condolences to Nekaybaw’s family for the senseless killing of this young mother, wife, and daughter.” 

An eyewitness identified Baxter as “shooting at cars and screaming expletives at random people in the area” after she was picked out of a line up. After being interviewed by detectives, Baxter noted she didn’t remember the shootings but told the police she pulled out her gun in the same area where the victim was killed. The suspect admitted to shooting the gun in the air because a woman was following her and she admitted to shooting at several other cars.

Baxter was booked into the Orange County Jail and hs being held without bond. 

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Happy 58th Birthday To The Legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff!

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On this date in 1965, Jeffrey Townes, better known to Hip Hop and television fans as “Jazzy Jeff” was born in the City of Brother Love and has become one of the best to ever place their hands on a pair of Technics 1200s.

Originally known as the DJ for rapper/actor The Fresh Prince aka Will Smith, Jeff’s claim to fame was his seemingly innate ability to play the wheels of steel like instruments, popularizing the “transformer” style scratching sound which was mimicked by many DJs who succeeded and preceded him. The two-time Grammy Award winner later became an established producer, sitting behind the boards for artists like Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, The Roots, Floetry, and many more. Just last year, Jazz worked on the Straight Outta Compton film, doing scratch overdubs for the classic flick.

Happy born day and salute to one of the pioneers of the 1s and 2s of Hip Hop culture!

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[WATCH] Young Thug’s Attorney Says Rapper Had Nothing To Do With Drug Delivery In Court

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Rapper Young Thug’s attorney says his client had nothing to do with a YSL co-defendant distributing drugs in court on Thursday.

Courtroom video shows co-defendant Kahlieff Adamscurrently serving a life sentence for murder — handing Williams a Percocet pill in open view of deputies in the Fulton County Courthouse. Jeffery Williams, aka Young Thug is on trial for RICO gang violations as leader of the Young Slime Life (YSL) street gang.
In an interview with WSB-TV, lawyer Keith Adams was adamant that Williams had no idea what he was being given.

“The reality is, Mr. Williams has nothing to do with what went on in the courtroom yesterday. One of the co-defendants, on his way to the restroom, attempted to pass something to Mr. Williams who immediately turned it over to the deputy.”

He continued: “We don’t know what [the item] is. Did not know what it was. Turned it over to the deputy right away. The deputies took action. The individual who had the contraband – not Mr. Williams – was taken into the back, where I’m told he ingested whatever he had. He had to be taken to the hospital, and as a result, court was terminated for the rest of the day.”

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Rapper Lil Boosie’s Daughter ‘Comes Out’ On Social Media

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Rapper Lil Boosie Badazz‘s 21-year-old daughter Iviona, a.k.a. Poison Ivi, came out on Instagram. Intimately hugged up with her girlfriend, Iviona, an aspiring rapper, captioned the image: “Endlessly in love with you.”

Boosie, 40, went viral in February 2020, when he was criticized for comments he made about Zaya Wade, the then-12-year-old child of retired NBA star Dwyane Wade.

Among theBoosi comments Boosie made to Wade was, “Don’t cut his d*ck off, bruh.” He was also asked to leave a Planet Fitness gym in Georgia after his comments about Zaya went viral.
  
Boosie was also criticized for his parenting which included hiring a stripper for his minor son.  Boosie bragged that he hired his son a “bad bitch” to perform fellatio on him for his birthday and allowed the boy to watch adult videos..

At the time, Boosie said watching pornography was more suitable than allowing children to watch “cartoons with two men kissing.” He later said he was only kidding.

Check out his daughter’s post below.

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The Museum Of Graffiti Presents ‘Layer Cake – The Versus: Project 3’ Opening Next Month

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The Museum of Graffiti is excited to announce a new exhibit curated by the German art duo know as Layer Cake (Patrick Hartl and Christian “C100” Hundertmark). In the group exhibition, The Versus Project 3, all the canvases on display began in their studio until they were then sent unfinished to other artists scattered around the world. The other artists completed the unfinished paintings without discussing the details of the work with Hartl and Hundertmark, thus breaking one of the most important rules of graffiti: Never paint over the work of other writers.

In some cases, this process was repeated several times, and occasionally the development could take up to two years. In this creative, non-verbal dialogue, painterly mosaics of different ideas, styles and working methods were thus created in an associative manner. While the paintings crossed national borders and oceans, the artists were confronted with their own inner boundaries.

The project involves artists with different styles and techniques who changed the original painting, layer by layer, until a joint artwork was created. The unique style of each artist can be seen in each of the artworks. The result is a fascinating collective experiment that spurs an artistic dialogue and examines the exploration of the intersection between graffiti and contemporary art.

All participants in this project are united by their passion and strong connection to style writing, street art and graffiti. Some of the artists include Akue, Raws, Flying Förtress, Various & Gould, Bond Truluv, Mad C and Hera, each of whom are from various generations, countries, and continents.

Hartl and Hundertmark have been experimenting with the fusion of their styles since 2015. Patrick’s writing elements are infused and overlaid with Christian’s hard-edged floating fields. This creates deep spatial variations on type and line, color field and occlusion. The images are not planned, they happen. Sweet, crunchy and layered fittingly, the collaborators called themselves Layer Cake: a cake with a rich filling.

“Working on The Versus Project represents a broadening of our artistic horizons for us as well as for the guest artists. Normally, as an artist, you start with a pristine white surface and not with another artist’s work which is sometimes very colorful and expressive. One faces the challenge of painting over parts of another’s work or incorporating them into one‘s own work. The certainty that we, as Layer Cake, will finally intervene in the painting and again cover over parts of what the guest artist has painted forces the guest artist to relinquish final and sole control. The project and the collaboration open new horizons and shows new ways to interpret the piece. Through the project, works have been created that would never have existed otherwise, whether by an artist collective or as a solo artist.”

– Patrick Hartl & Christian “C100” Hundertmark

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Happy Heavenly Birthday To The Late Great Jam Master Jay!

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Hip Hop lost a great DJ over two decades ago, but in celebration of JMJ’s life today, his legacy will forever live on

On this date in 1965 in Brooklyn, New York, Jason Mizell, who later became Jam Master Jay, was born.

Jay was the DJ for the legendary Kings from Hollis, Queens, Run-D.M.C. His musical career took him all over the world and even expanded his talents into Hip Hop filmographies, such as Krush Groove and Tougher Than Leather. JMJ is also responsible for breaking several artists from his Jam Master Jay Records imprint, including Onyx, Chuck D of Public Enemy, and 50 Cent.

On October 30, 2002, Jay was tragically shot and killed by an unknown assailant in a Jamaica, Queens recording studio. To this day, no one has been charged with his murder.

The Source Magazine would like to send a super born day salute to this icon of our culture. He may be physically gone, but his legacy will never be forgotten!

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