Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa’s 2023 Black Star Line Festival in Accra, Ghana made its historic, inaugural debut with a jam-packed week of events and panels at cultural centers throughout Accra, all culminating in an explosive concert –– combining music, art, and culture. The free gatherings provided opportunities for education, enrichment and cultural diffusion. On Friday, January 6, 52,000 fans attended the monumental concert. The music & arts festival was set in the historic Black Star Square and aims to be a bridge between Black people and artists of the Diaspora and the globe with the continent.
“The Black Star Line Festival is more than just a celebration of Black culture and music, it’s a chance for the Diaspora to come together as a community and remind ourselves of the power that lies within us,” says Chance the Rapper. “It’s an opportunity to honor the legacy of those who came before us, and to inspire and uplift each other. It’s a historic event and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the Black Star Line Festival.”
The historic Black Star Square is a monument to the political freedom that was fought for and won by Ghanaians in 1957. Ghana was the first Sub-Saharan African country to free itself from colonialism, under the leadership of its first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah –– many nations on the continent soon followed. Dr. Nkrumah was inspired by Jamaican-Born revolutionary Marcus Garvey, who believed in a free Africa and a global connection between the people of the continent and Black people globally. When Dr. Nkrumah developed Ghana’s flag and principles, he insisted that these principles were key to the forward mobility of its people.
The festival title’s origins were inspired by civil rights leader Marcus Garvey’s iconic Black Star Line. Founded in 1919, and operated by Black people, the line would link America, the Caribbean, and Africa, to global shipping and tourism opportunities. The Black Star Line was a symbol of pride, not only for Africans, but also for Black people in all ports of call. After nearly 40 years, the Ghanian government launched their fleet with the same name, in homage to Garvey, and even added a black star to the country’s new flag.
Rapper NBA Youngboy is officially married to the mother of two of his seven children, Jazlyn Hayes…
A marriage license confirming the Jan 7. nuptials turned up online over the weekend. The 23-year-old MC previously alluded to his nuptials. “I’m getting married January 7th,” he said on Instagram Live. “I’m happier than a motherfu**er. I’ve been waiting on this my whole life.”
Jazlyn has documented the preparations for her wedding day, including photos of her bridal dress shopping and white florals. The couple, who got engaged last year, share two children including a baby boy, who was born in September, and a 1-year-old daughter named Alice.
YoungBoy is also a father to eight other children with seven women including Iyanna “Yaya” Mayweather, the daughter of Floyd Mayweather, and actress Drea Symone.
In case you’ve been under a rock, many people are transitioning to veganism and living a healthier life. Popular vegan influencer Tabatha Brown recently launched a vegan food and home goods collection at Target and a hair care line at Ulta. The social media star is known for her fun personality and easy-to-do vegan dishes. She also is remembered for the infamous clapback she gave TV personality Wendy Williams.
Tabatha writes: Family look at what the Lord has done. Y’all know that food changed my entire life!! When I went vegan 5 years ago I had no idea what I was doing, but every day I tried to make it easy and fun! I know how tough it can be to figure out what to eat when you first try a plant based lifestyle, so I wanted to help make the transition easier for you!! I am so excited to announce my limited time vegan Food and kitchen collection @target . Honey we got burgers, pasta, potato salad, popcorn, and even pickled okra to just name a few!! I can’t wait for you all to experience it all!! Head on over to the link in my bio and check out all the things!!! Make your list and see you this Sunday, Jan 8th @target. Omg Tab got food at Target!!!! OOHHH GOD I THANK YOU
Neighbors and onlookers recorded the bloody aftermath of a man who was severely beaten after allegedly sexually assaulting a teenager.
“Absolutely tragic. It really is,” said Capt. Rebecca Hall, Detroit police. “It is in affecting a young life, a family, and it’s going to definitely take time to heal.”
McKay says officers took the suspect into custody Tuesday night. Although police would not confirm it, neighbors who witnessed the beating and those in the video, say that the suspect knows the victim.
“It’s sad, and it just hurt me so bad,” Carmen Witherspoon said. “And it broke me down that a man would do that.”
Witherspoon saw the man beaten up after the alleged sexual assault. She heard the commotion outside of her home in northwest Detroit Tuesday night and opened her front door to see the child rape suspect practically naked, surrounded by the victim’s furious relatives.
“They beat him over there real good,” she said. “He was on the ground. He managed to get up and he ran across the street, and he was on my property. He fell, he slipped, and fell. And that’s when they beat him some more.”
“He was bloody, nothing but blood, there was a puddle on the ground,” said one witness.
“From what I heard, they stomped his top lip off,” said Marc D’ Andre, 7 Mile Radio News. “His mouth appeared to be very bloody and it was just like he was in an MMA fight.”
D’Andre, the founder of 7 Mile Radio, provided FOX 2 with video. The victim’s relatives reportedly confronted the suspect after he allegedly raped the teen. They chased him around the neighborhood and dispensed their own justice once they caught up with him.
“I’m not mad at the way that it happened,” he said. “Whether it be swift street justice or through the court systems or jail systems, I think we need to raise awareness about this type of situation because too often it gets swept under the rug, and we have a lot of victims – both girls and boys.”
A Pasadena radiologist was charged with attempted murder and child abuse after he drove a Tesla 250 feet off a cliff in San Mateo, CA. on Monday, Jan. 2.
According to the California Highway Patrol, Dharmesh A. Patel, 42, of Pasadena, his wife, 41, and two children – ages 4 and 7 – were inside the Tesla when the car plunged off the side of a cliff at a spot known as the Devil’s Slide.
Witnesses say the car was speeding when it veered off the highway and plunged over the cliff. CHP officials said the car made an initial impact before flipping multiple times and landing on its wheels on the rocks below.
All four occupants walked away from the wreckage. Initial reports claimed all 4 occupants were injured. But according to updated reports, the children were unharmed.
The children reportedly told CHP their father tried to kill them.
Rescue teams risked their lives descending down the steep, jagged cliff to airlift the four occupants to safety. CBS News chopper video shows the harrowing rescue from a Tesla at the bottom of a cliff just feet away from the Pacific Ocean.
Teslas have a self-driving feature and a manual option, but investigators don’t know which one was in use at the time of the crash. CHP said the driving mode “does not appear to be a contributing factor in this incident.”
The spot where the car went off the cliff has no guardrail and it is known for fatal accidents.
“We go there all the time for cars over the cliff and they never live. This was an absolute miracle,” CHP said. “CHP investigators worked throughout the night interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence from the scene. Based on the evidence collected, investigators developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act,” the CHP said.
Officials believe the Tesla Model Y’s safety features and airbags may have saved the family. The sticker price of a Tesla Model Y ranges from $65,990 – $69,990.
According to DailyMail.com, the Tesla Model Y has multiple airbags: front airbags, seat-mounted side airbags, and curtain airbags, all of which appeared to have inflated upon impact.
Patel was discharged from a hospital on Wednesday and moved to the San Mateo County Jail where he is being held without bond.
This morning, a vehicle with 2 adults and 2 minors went over cliff at Devil’s Slide in @sanmateoco. Witnesses saw the accident and called 911. The car plunged hundreds of feet down the cliff and landed on the beach. All four patients were successfully rescued. Watch the video! pic.twitter.com/HUM2SJ56Oy
Last year rumors swirled that blogger Tasha K illegally accessed R. Kelly’s prison emails, triggering an FBI investigation. A retired US prisons officer is under a federal investigation for allegedly leaking tons of illegally-accessed information about musician R. Kelly to Tasha K.
Tasha K, posted a number of videos in which she sips wine and shares information to her thousands of followers, quoting verbatim from Kelly’s recorded phone calls, emails and visitor logs, according to a federal search warrant obtained by the Chicago Tribune.
The officer, named in the warrant as Officer A, is accused of illegally accessing Kelly’s private information while he was an inmate at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center and leaking it to 39 year-old Tasha K, whose real name is Latasha Kebe. She has not yet been charged with any crime.
Now R. Kelly is blaming Tasha for ruining his case by sharing private information to each of his women.
In a jailhouse phone call with blogger Storm Monroe, R. Kelly accuses Tasha of upsetting his girlfriends by leaking his emails and phone calls turning all his women against him right before his trial.
Six years ago NFL star Aaron Hernandez committed suicide in prison after he was convicted on murder charges. Now his child’s mother, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, is being accused of draining their daughter’s trust fund at fancy clothing stores and college courses.
The fight started in September when Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez said she couldn’t afford the $10,697 bill for her daughter’s dance lessons.
So the former fiancée of disgraced New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez asked a court-appointed trustee to pay the bill from a trust fund that had been set up for their daughter, Avielle, after Hernandez committed suicide while in prison for murder in 2017.
But the trustee, attorney David Schwartz, said no. By his calculations, Jenkins-Hernandez already was receiving a separate source of funds outside the trust — $150,000 a year or more from Hernandez’s NFL pension and Social Security that was supposed to pay for the 10-year-old’s daily expenses. He couldn’t imagine why she needed more.
Then Schwartz reviewed how Jenkins-Hernandez had been spending the money: $36,858 on clothing, including maternity wear; $39,347 on home goods; $25,577 shopping online; $11,792 in “self care,” including gym fees, and visits to hair and nail salons.
“There is reason to question whether the expenditures were for Avielle’s benefit,” said attorney Robert O’Regan, who is representing Schwartz in the court dispute. “To be fair, this little girl should have a decent life with what her father left for her. No one would complain if there were reasonable expenses. We’re talking about over the top or otherwise unrelated expenses to Avielle.”
Now Schwartz and Jenkins-Hernandez are locked in a battle over who controls the money that remained after the death of Hernandez, who hanged himself in prison after being convicted of murdering Odin Lloyd, the boyfriend of Jenkins-Hernandez’s sister. Just a few days before his death, Hernandez had been acquitted of a separate double murder in the South End.
When Schwartz declined to pay Avielle’s dancing bill, Jenkins-Hernandez promptly asked a Bristol County probate judge to remove him as trustee, arguing he was potentially forcing the child to give up her favorite extracurricular activity. Jenkins-Hernandez, who gave birth to a second daughter by another man in 2018, insists she hasn’t improperly spent money and the money from the trust fund should be available when she needs it.
But Schwartz said Jenkins-Hernandez appears to have broken the rules and he has asked that she be removed as Avielle’s conservator, a court-appointment that allowed her to set up the trust fund Schwartz now administers. If she loses that role, a new conservator would receive Hernandez’s pension and Social Security checks and decide how the money should be spent.
The trust administered by Schwartz paid for her current Rhode Island home and all related expenses, as well as Avielle’s school tuition. Separately, Jenkins-Hernandez directly receives Hernandez’s pension and Social Security payments, although Schwartz said those funds, too, are supposed to be spent exclusively for the benefit of her daughter.
As the conservator for her daughter, Jenkins-Hernandez was supposed to file annual disclosures for the last several years as to how she was spending the money, but Schwartz said she only recently began submitting them.
Schwartz was shocked by what he saw on the expenditure forms: tens of thousands of dollars in what he called “questionable” expenses, such as $4,800 in charges at Harrods Department Store, that seemed to benefit her more than her daughter. She made $29,650 in ATM withdrawals and paid $13,778 in bank charges — mostly overdraft fees.
“There is every reason to question whether and how (Jenkins-Hernandez) is applying the significant resources that should be available to pay for Avielle’s daily needs, including dance lessons, especially since all of her basic housing security and educational expenses are paid from the trust,” wrote O’Regan, a partner in the law firm Burns & Levinson, in a filing submitted on Schwartz’s behalf.
Schwartz was particularly concerned that Jenkins-Hernandez reported spending $39,655 on education — including $3,720 for Bay Path University, a private university in Western Massachusetts.
“Avielle is not in college,” wrote O’Regan, and her school bills are already paid for from the trust.
Jenkins-Hernandez also spent $12,830 on something called “Ask My Accountant.” Neither Jenkins-Hernandez nor her lawyer, would explain what that is or discuss any other specific expenditures.
Going forward, O’Regan argues, Jenkins-Hernandez should no longer be entrusted with funds for her daughter, who is eligible to receive the trust funds when she turns 25. Currently, the fund contains around $700,000.
“I believe that (Jenkins-Hernandez) has been co-mingling the child’s funds with her own,” wrote O’Regan in a court filing. ”I believe that Ms. Jenkins-Hernandez’s ongoing conflict, her almost five-year-long record of excessive expenditures, continuous violation of this court’s decree … and her failure to file an inventory and up to date accounts all indicate that despite what might be her best intentions, Ms. Jenkins-Hernandez is not effectively performing her duties as conservator.”
On this date in 1996, Busta Rhymes of the almighty L.O.N.S.(Leaders Of The New School) crew dropped his very first single as a solo artist entitled Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check. The frontman of the four-man squad had been expected to come out dolo since the early days of L.O.N.S., but made a few guest appearances on tracks within the circle of Hip Hop royalty, but didn’t officially go for self until 1995.
At the top of the following year, Buss A Bus released the first single “Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check” from his solo debut album The Coming, which was marketed and distributed by Elektra Records. The energetic track borrowed lyrics from The Sugarhill Gang’s impactful “8th Wonder” for the hook and added Busta’s signature animation for one of the most memorable singles of Buss ‘career.
Salute to Busta, the late Chris Lighty, and the entire Violator family for bringing Buss to us as a solo artist!
According to court documents on public record during jury selection, Young Thug faces eight out of the 65 total charges against the alleged YSL gang in their RICO trial.
The charges against Young Thug, aka Jeffrey Williams, were confirmed during the jury selection for the case, which began yesterday (Jan. 4). Prosecutors alleged that the Young Slime Life collective was a street gang involved in criminal activity, which prompted the 65-count indictment to be handed down in May last year.
Thug’s eight charges include conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, two counts of participation in criminal street gang activity, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of codeine with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine, possession of a firearm and possession of a machine gun.
Out of the 65 charges, #YoungThug is charged with 8 counts. Ct 1: Conspiracy to Violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations. Ct. 56 & 57 : Participation in Criminal Street Gang Activity 1/2 pic.twitter.com/HlbDUG9XJZ
CT 58: Possesion of Marijuana w/intent to distribute Ct. 59: Poss of Codeine w/intent to distribute Ct. 60: Poss of Cocaine Ct. 61: Poss of Firearm Ct. 62: Poss of Machine Gun pic.twitter.com/vtqZ3mCNLD
Thug was one of 28 defendants when the case began, but that number has withered away to just 14 defendants after his other co-defendants, including Gunna, took plea deals to be released from custody. Gunna was released last month after pleading guilty to one count of racketeering.
Thug’s trial will be a fight for his life, as the plea deals taken by his former crew members will make his battle in court even tougher. One of the former co-founders of the crew, Antonio “Mounk Tounk” Sledg, admitted in court that one or more YSL members were behind the 2015 murder of Donovan Thomas after negotiating his plea deal. Sledge testified that he and other YSL associates were paid by Young Thug to “lay low” after the killing.
The case is expected to last at least nine months to a year, with the media pool schedule running through Sept. 23.
Following accusations from an OnlyFans model on he set of his “White Girl” video shoot, Glizzy Gang capo Shy Glizzy has a lot of explaining to do after former Glizzy Gang member Ant Glizzy further supports the accusations made by OnlyFans model Sky Bri on the recently shot “White Girl” video set.
Bri claims that the D.C. rapper coerced her into taking an unknown pill while on the set of the video and even came to her hotel room after the shoot and pulled out his genitals, telling the featured video girl to “lick it” and “suck it”. When she declined his offer, Shy allegedly withheld her pay from the video.
Not long after Adam22 uploaded the Sky Bri interview, Ant Glizzy posted a video on YouTube virtually confirming the featured ‘White Girl” accusations.
Ant Glizzy confesses to & seemingly confirms him & Shy Glizzy spiking drinks and having sex with the unsuspecting women affected by these heinous actions…. https://t.co/SzwZrlYGHOpic.twitter.com/7f7BL6W4qF
“Shy Glizzy is a professional bottle spiker,” Ant Glizzy said as he looked into the camera. “He spikes bottles…it’s about to be the ‘Me Too’ movement, for the last 15 years Shy Glizzy been spiking girls’ [drinks]. He’s been spiking girls’ drinks since I’ve been around him. I’m telling you, that’s his remedy! But this is how he got caught, I’ma give ya’ll the scenario, he thought Sky Bri was a porn star. If she a female adult star, he felt like he could just get it. He off his pivot right now, he’s tripping…he lost his mind…”
. Honey we got burgers, pasta, potato salad, popcorn, and even pickled okra to just name a few!! I can’t wait for you all to experience it all!! Head on over to the link in my bio and check out all the things!!! Make your list and see you this Sunday, Jan 8th @target
. Omg Tab got food at Target!!!! 
