31 years ago, Eazy muthaf**kin’ E made his debut on the White House lawn.
While other rappers of the time were totally against President George Bush and his staunch law and order policies, Eazy-E, along with his manager Jerry Heller, spent $1250 a plate to attend the Republicans Inner Circle dinner.
This private, members-only dinner may have cost Eazy a whopping $2500 for two plates, but that type of publicity couldn’t be bought. Speculation has it that Eazy and Jerry’s attendance at the White House during the Bush administration kept the FBI off of N.W.A’s backs after the controversy over their “Fuck The Police” single.
Having recently announced the new spring dates for his upcoming headlining All or Nothing World Tour, EMPIRE partner Rotimi now announces the opening acts for the festivities.
International sensation HoodCelebrityy will lead the charge with majority of the dates with Oscar Award-nominee DIXSON opening in Chicago, Dallas and Oakland and R&B songstress Inayah setting the tone in her hometown of Houston. Being an entertainer who has always put his fans first, the tour was originally postponed in January to keep Covid cautious, and now as the world opens back, Spring of 2022 is slated to start with a bang.
During the 17 city tour, Rotimi will be performing favorites from his latest debut album, All or Nothing as well as his gold certified hit single “In My Bed” and other throwback specials singles. Recently the singer/songwriter released visuals for “Weapon” featuring Fireboy DML and his wedding classic track “I Do.” The original album charted on Apple Music’s Top 10 R&B/Soul albums,and currently sits at 30 million streams across all platforms. Rotimi led the roll out for both projects by releasing some of his most creative videos to date in “What To Do,” “Don’t You Ever,” and “Decide,” all of which appear on the album as well.
Rotimi: World Tour DatesApril 19, 2022 || Boston, MA II Opener: HoodCelebrityyApril 20, 2022 || Philadelphia, PA II Opener: HoodCelebrityyApril 21, 2022 || Baltimore, MD II Opener: HoodCelebrityyApril 23, 2022 || New York, NY II Opener: HoodCelebrityyApril 26, 2022 || Toronto, ON II Opener: HoodCelebrityyApril 28, 2022 || Chicago, IL II Opener: DIXSONApril 29, 2022 || Detroit, MI II Opener: HoodCelebrityyMay 4, 2022 || Dallas, TX II Opener: DIXSONMay 5, 2022 || Houston, TX II Opener: InayahMay 7, 2022 || Atlanta, GAMay 11, 2022 || Los Angeles, CA II Opener: HoodCelebrityyMay 12, 2022 II Oakland CA II Opener: DIXSONMay 13, 2022 || Las Vegas, NVMay 17, 2022 || Amsterdam, NetherlandsMay 18, 2022 || Paris, FranceMay 20, 2022 || Berlin, GermanyMay 22, 2022 || London, England
After letting it loose on Diddy on his latest track “Oracle 2: The Liberation Of Mason Betha”, Ma$e took to Instagram Live yesterday(March 17) to discuss why he made the diss record aimed at Diddy, his integrity and the way he treated former Bad Boy artists.
The former Bad Boy said he made that song to empower those scared to speak up against the Bad Boy founder, saying, “When I see the hurt and the pains of other people on Bad Boy that motivates me to say something so I don’t be deemed as a person who just made a bunch of money and turned a blind eye. I’m not gonna be like the rest of the people around Puff that don’t tell him he’s wrong. I’m not gonna be like the yes men around him that seem him ruining people’s lives and never tell him he’s wrong.”
Ma$e seemed to have sided with the former contestants of Making The Band, who have been very critical of Diddy as of late, with one former contestant saying that Diddy’s dealings with him almost made him commit suicide.
Diddy reponded the controversy on his Instagram Stories, writing, “STOP ALL YOUR CRYING, BITCHING & MOANING. HUSTLE HARDER OR GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR WAY. – LOVE.”
According to several confirmed reports, the Russian model who went missing after a video of her criticizing Putin went viral, has been found dead a year after her disappearance.
Gretta Vedler put out a video criticizing the Russian leader, saying, “Given the fact that Putin went through a lot of humiliation in [his] childhood, he could not stand up for himself due to his [slight] physical form, it is not surprising that he left after law school and joined the KGB,” Vedler said. “Such people are timid and fearful from childhood, afraid of noise and darkness, strangers, so traits such as caution, restraint, and lack of communication are developed early in their character.”
One month after posting the video, Vedler was never seen again. A year later, her death has been confirmed, but reports say that her death and the video she released are unrelated. According to reports, shortly after the video was made, Vedler was strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend Dimitry Korovin.
The 23-year-old killer slept with Vedler’s corpse in a hotel for three days while posting on her social media to not alarm people of her disappearance. Afterward, Korovin stuffed Vedler’s severed body parts into a suitcase and drove 300 miles away from the crime scene to the Lipetsk region of Russia, where he discarded her body.
It was the missing person’s report Korovin asked to file that eventually led to his arrest. Details of Korovin’s arrest are few, but TheSource.com will update the story as details develop.
During the time when Hip-Hop was being passed off as a fad that wouldn’t last beyond “Rapper’s Delight”, a vivid reenactment of the introduction of this artistic culture to the world was made. Wild Style is arguably the very first movie and definitely one of the very few that shows the true essence of what Hip Hop is about. On this date in 1983, film director and cultural artist Charlie Ahearn premiered the flick in Times Square, breaking records by selling out at all screenings for the three weeks it played.
Ahearn, a member of the artist collective group Collaborative Projects, was originally exposed to Hip Hop in the late 70s through graffiti when he went to film the youth in the projects in Manhattan’s Lower East Side that studied martial arts. He was soon approached by Fred “Fab 5 Freddy” Braithwaite about making a movie encompassing all elements of Hip-Hop (emceeing, DJing, breakdancing, and graffiti). Fab 5 Freddy brought legendary graff artist Lee Quinones to meet Ahearn to further discuss the approach of filming graffiti and introducing it as a legitimate art form. Ahearn found out that Lee was the same graf king whose work he admired while filming in LES. With Ahearn as producer and director, the three began embarking on a journey to gather the individuals who would be the faces of this landmark film.
Developing its name from an abstract letter design made popular in the graffiti world by graff king Tracy 168, Wild Style featured some of the most prolific pioneers from all aspects of Hip-Hop. The Cold Crush Brothers, Rock Steady Crew, and Grandmaster Flash were just a few of Hip-Hop’s trailblazers that made their debut on the silver screen in Wild Style. The Furious Five could not appear alongside Flash and had to be cut from the film because of prior obligations to another more mainstream motion picture depicting the development of Hip Hop that came out later called Beat Street. This is why Afrika Bambaataa, the New York City Breakers, The Treacherous Three, or female pioneer MC Sha Rock were not seen in the film. Other notable legends included Busy Bee Starski, graf legends Dondi, Zephyr, and Revolt, who all designed the Wild Style logo, and the Fantastic Freaks.
Lee Quinones played the main character “Zoro”, the anonymous graf phenom that is introduced to the art world by his pal and fellow graffiti writer “Faze” who is played by Fab 5 Freddy. Faze introduces Zoro to Virginia, a journalist portrayed by cultural icon Patti Astor, who later shows Zoro to art’s world stage of galleries and museums. The story is an accurate historical account of how Hip-Hop, in general, was introduced to mainstream America and later, the rest of the world. It also showed the poverty and despair that existed in the South Bronx out of which the culture of Hip Hop emerged.
Over 30 years later, Wild Style is still an icon of American pop culture. The players that participated and performed in the movie have made themselves legends in their own right, however, most will recognize their appearance in the film as the catapult of their career. The movie has been sampled on various classic Hip Hop albums including ATCQ’s Midnight Marauders, Common’s Ressurection, and the Five Mic classic, Nas’ Illmatic. Wild Style was voted as one of the top ten rock n’ roll movies of all time by the Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame and VH1’s Hip Hop Honors acknowledged the film’s influence in Hip Hop with a tribute in 2007.
The West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center in Memphis has released the autopsy report of Young Dolph. According to Fox 13 Memphis, Dolph suffered 22 gunshot wounds.
According to the report, wounds both entered and exited the body. Dolph was shot in multiple places, including the forehead, face, back, arms, chest, chin, neck, shoulder, and more.
Dolph, born Adolph Thorton Jr., was killed on Nov. 17, 2021 outside of Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies. Justin Johnson, aka Straight Drop, and Cornelius Smith have been charged in the case. A warrant is currently active for Shundale Barnett for his place in the connection. Devin Burns and Joshua Taylor have been named as persons of interest.
Young Dolph’s memorial at Makeda’s Cookies is scheduled to be taken down. In response, people have gathered asking for the memorial to remain untouched. Dolph was killed at the location in November 2021.
The owner of Makeda’s, Pamela Hill, reversed course on reopening the business, stating that she did not feel safe in doing so. According to ABC24-Memphis, the building’s owner then decided it was time to take down the memorial.
“I understand you have to lease it out and run a business,” community activist Frank Gotti said. “I understand it. It’s his building and nobody can argue with him on that. I appreciate him for keeping it up this long.”
Members of Paper Route Empire are planning to honor Dolph with a new memorial in Castalia Heights.
Previously, one of the men in charge of caring for the dead Memphis rapper Young Dolph’s memorial site was killed in Memphis.
Friends of Jeremiah Taylor are shocked by the needless death of the young guy who took on the task of keeping Young Dolph’s memorial in front of Makeda’s Cookies, the location of Dolph’s murder on November 17, clean and presentable.
“Jeremiah was a great person,” said Gotti. “He was so creative. He was so on point. He was helpful, he would help anybody.”
Taylor’s body was found on Getwell Road in Memphis and police are looking for answers.
Taylor spoke to ABC News affiliate in Memphis ABC 24 about caretaking for the memorial, saying, “I want people around the world to know we care about Dolph. The love he had with people. A lot of people are realizing and now seeing the person that he always was. Taking care of his community, being a philanthropist, and really promoting financial independence. [It’s] a moral that he taught.”
On this date in 1959, William Jonathan Drayton, better known to the world as Flavor Flav, was born in NYC. Flav is the former hypeman of the iconic, Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame Hip-Hop group Public Enemy.
Growing up on Freeport, Long Island is where A young Flavor developed his love for music, teaching himself to play the piano, drums, and guitar on his own. It was also in Long Island where a young adult Flav met Chuck Ridenhour, who later became known as Chuck D, the frontman of Public Enemy. The two linked at Adelphi University on the Island, where the two attended college and learned about each other’s love for Hip Hop.
As one of the founding members of PE, Flav was there in 1984 when the song “Public Enemy #1” was recorded; the first known track by the group. In 1986, the crew signed with Rick Rubin on Def Jam, however, Rubin did not initially want to sign Flav because he didn’t understand his role in the group.
Ever since PE’s debut album Yo! Bum Rush The Show, Flav was the hype jester to the ultra-serious, politically charged group which now included Chuck D, Terminator X, and a security force known as the S1Ws. Songs such as “Fight The Power”, “911 Is A Joke”, and “I Can’t Do Nothin’ For Ya Man” featured the comedic darts of Flav, which brought a balance to PE.
Drugs and domestic issues hindered Flav for a short while during his career, however, he bounced back into the public eye as a reality show pioneer, with shows like Surreal Life and The Flavor Of Love breaking ground in reality TV. Earlier this year, Chuck D announced that Flavor Flav was indefinitely fired from the group for his response to PE publicly endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Presidential race.
Big ups to Flav on his born day and TheSource.com wishes the Flavor Man many more!
The ever evolving beef between Kim Kardashian’s former hubby Kanye West and her current beau Pete Davidson has everyone from Charlemagne Tha God to D.L. Hughley weighing in on the publicly controversial back and forth between the music/fashion mogul and his ex’s new comedian boyfriend. Now, boxing prospect/YouTube star Jake Paul has offered up $30 million to West and Davidson to square up on pay-per-view.
Even though it’s highly unlikely that West or Paul would step into the ring to fight, the offer by Paul is the bait that would seem to draw Ye out front for a response.
Sending a 21 gun soldier salute Rest In Peace one of Hip Hop’s favorite crooners
There were many who tried, but nobody put R&B into Hip Hop the way it was supposed to sound better than the late, great Nate Dogg of the legendary Dogg Pound. The Source Magazine would like to send him a posthumous shout in recognition of his contributions to the game.
Besides his obvious links to Snoop Dogg and the original Death Row Family, Nathaniel Hale, born on this date in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1969, Nate appeared alongside several iconic artists in the game including 2Pac, 50 Cent, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z. The world lost a talented singer, actor and musician when Nate succumbed to multiple strokes on March 15, 2011. He was 41 years old.
Condolences go out to Warren G, Dr. Dre, Snoop and the entire 213 on the day an entire community lost a Hip Hop legend.
A family-owned gas station in Houston, Texas was robbed of nearly $5,000 worth of gas after a group of thieves stole more than 1,000 gallons of fuel last week. A rising new trend in a series of bold daylight thefts as Americans are becoming increasingly desperate for cheap fuel.
Gas prices have been rising steadily since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, with prices averaging $4.325 for a gallon of regular on Monday.
Some thieves have begun drilling holes into gas tanks, crawling under cars to drill the holes and catch the fuel before it hits the ground. One group of thieves were caught at a family-owned gas station in Houston, Texas, where they used a ‘trap door in their vehicle’ to access a locked manhole cover and ultimately suck out the gasoline stored in underground tankards.
‘The way they did it was very sneaky,’ Jerry Thayil, who caught them in action on surveillance footage, told KHOU.
Thayil’s family owns the Fuqua Express gas station in Houston, where gas prices are averaging $3.978 and diesel prices cost an average of $4.834, according to AAA. He said a group of thieves hit his Chevron station three times last week and tried for a fourth.
They ultimately caught onto the act after noticing a deficiency in his stores of about ‘350 gallons of diesel per day for three days in a row.
At that point, he said, he began combing through the surveillance footage, and noticed a green van ‘just parked out there.’
‘Each time they were there about 15 to 20 minutes…in a high traffic time.’
He later realized that a black SUV was playing lookout to aid in the crime.
In total, Thayil said, the thieves stole over 1,000 gallons of gas, explaining: ‘We had locks on our fill caps. Still, they were coming in and … I think they were locking it with their own locks.’
‘They were doing it in front of so many people – so many different customers.’ Watch the video below.
