Hip Hop News

Let’s hope Dallas Cowboy Ezekiel Elliott’s NFL contracts are enough to keep up with the never ending lawsuits he’s falling victim to. This week, the Cowboy player was presented with his third lawsuit in over a year concerning his three dogs.

Jennifer Gampper, a neighbor of Elliott, is seeking a whopping $1 million in damages after allegedly suffering severe and permanent injuries at the hands of the NFL player’s Rottweiler Ace. The incident reportedly happened in May, when three of Elliott’s dogs escaped his Frisco, Texas home and one attacked Gampper along with one other victim not named in the lawsuit.

“Mr. Elliott and his representatives are aware of the lawsuit filed on July 30th, which stems from a previously reported incident from May 21st of this year. As Mr. Elliott expressed at that time, he was – and remains concerned – for the party involved,” Elliott’s lawyer Frank Salzano told TMZ. However, according to the Elliot camp, there’s more to the story. “However, as in most disputes, there are extenuating circumstances to this matter which will impact the legal proceedings which we are not at liberty to disclose,” Salzano added. 

Local police already hit Elliott with three citations for the May incident. His Rottweiler, Ace, has since been removed from the city per a court order.

Just over a year ago, Elliott was sued for a similar incident after a pool cleaner was allegedly attacked and dragged by all three dogs simultaneously. This was followed by another lawsuit earlier this summer when the Rottweiler allegedly bit a pet resort employee.

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Houston singer Lizzo, who once made headlines for twerking at an NBA game, took time out this past week to clarify her stance on twerking and its significance to black culture at TED Monterey.

During her TED talk, the Houston singer gave a brief history of the dance and warned non-black dancers from appropriating the move. Accompanied by five performers, Lizzo gave quite possibly the most thorough and demonstrative lecture on twerking and why she believes the sometimes controversial dance is “good for humanity.”

Lizzo’s TED talk– a short but often engaging and informative form of lecturing– began with a dive into the history books as the Houston artist explained the origin of her (and associated acts like Megan Thee Stallion’s) favorite dance. She explained that twerking derives its roots from the West African mapouka dance, then tracing its timeline through Blues singer Bessie Smith to Beyoncé’s 2003 “Crazy in Love” dance.  

She then issued a warning to those appropriating the dance from black culture, which she feels is an infringement on the dance’s roots. Those who understand the cultural and historical significance of the dance are better equipped to keep the dance unique to black culture, Lizzo believes. 

The singer has found herself in the middle of controversy before due to her passion for twerking. In 2019, Lizzo turned heads when she suffered an “intentional wardrobe malfunction” while dancing on the sidelines of a Los Angeles Lakers. While some shrugged the incident off as comical and expressive, others criticized the singer for exposing herself to children watching at him and in the audience.

While the TED talk isn’t available for streaming yet, those looking for a deep dive into the dance should stay tuned for its release. 

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Dwight Howard took to Twitter this week to poke fun at one of his most outspoken critics by impersonating Shaq and his steadfast support of Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. “I still got— I still got the Milwaukee Bucks winning, I got Giannis— he’s the new Superman, so I think he’s going to win,” Howard said as he mimicked Shaq’s signature deep voice. It seems Howard took Shaq’s praise of Giannis as “Superman” personally. Howard previously earned the nickname after rocking a Superman cape during the 2008 NBA All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest.  

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However, it wasn’t long before the ESPN host caught wind of the Instagram post and issued a response of his own. Late Friday night, Shaq reposted Howard’s video with a hilarious caption deeming both the impersonation and Howard’s basketball talent as “So So.”

“Not bad @dwighthoward reminds me of your game SO SO,” Shaq captioned a repost of Howard’s video on Instagram. It didn’t take long for other NBA players and fans to flood the comment section with laughing emojis. One user even commented, “There will always be only one superman and it’s SHAQ.” It seems that Shaq will remain on the Dwight Howard hate train for the time being. 

Shaq elaborated on his disdain towards the Lakers player last October on his podcast in a slight at Howard’s dramatic celebration of the 2020 finals win. “I know you know who I’m talking about. Stop it. Frontrunner. Bandwagon jumper. Stop it. Post one pic and sit your a** down,” he said. 

Check out both posts below:

It’s no secret that the latest iteration of the Verzuz series breathed new life into the franchise as Dipset and The Lox put on a battle for the ages.

Beyond the friendly fire exchanged between the two camps on stage as they fired off their legendary catalogs, the tension between the sets underscored the energy of the showing and continues to be the topic of discussion post-battle.

Notably, a clip of Styles P and Cam’ron has circulated as the latter is seen kicking the former. In a recent clip together, however, the two emcees addressed the moment, passing it off as a comical interaction more than anything else.

“I appreciate my drip,” Cam said in regard to the pants that he was wearing. “That shit was $1000 and he tried to rip the whole pants leg off.”

Memorably, the kick came as Styles approached Cam while letting off a few verses. In Styles defense, however, he says he warned the Dipset representative that things would get a little tense in the name of competition.

“I said, ‘Killa, we getting chippy […] don’t bust me in my face, Killa’.”

Cam admits that he almost forgot the warning and thought the moment would’ve escalated. “I thought we was gon’ get in Randy Savage mode.”

All in all, the two friends seem to be in good spirits following the New York battle.

“I love this man,” Styles says at one point before warning promoters that Dipset and The Lox are not and will never beef. “We had a great time […] we said we would give you the show of your lifetime and we did.”

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It’s been a long week filled with Tekashi 6ix9ine-related headlines. Though the rapper hasn’t put out any music since his album flopped last year, he’s continued to make rounds in the news cycle with his antics. That’s practically all he has to offer these days and truthfully, antagonizing others on the Internet is probably the best thing he has going on for him right now.

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Over the week, his long-awaited conversation with Wack 100 hit Spotify as the inaugural episode of DJ Akademiks’ new series, Off The Record. For three hours, the two discussed everything from gang politics in California to Tekashi 6ix9ine’s baby mama drama. Though Wack took a risk by sitting down with hip-hop’s most notorious government informant, he stood by his decision, even as he faced major backlash.

Shortly after the episode went live, 21 Savage got on a Clubhouse call when he was bombarded by Wack 100 and Tekashi 6ix9ine. Wack demanded that 21 Savage explain what he meant when he called the meeting of minds “lame” and then proceeded to promise an ass whooping.

The clip immediately went viral and has certainly garnered tons of responses. However, 21 Savage doesn’t seem to be sweating the situation. A clip emerged shortly after the Clubhouse interaction showing one of 21’s friends trolling him over the situation. “Aye, n***a, I’ll beat your lil’ ass. Wack 100,” his friend said as 21 took a puff off of his vape with a grin from ear-to-ear. 

Will the 21 Savage vs. Wack 100 celebrity boxing match ever go down? Probably not but it’s good to see 21 Savage in good spirits. 

NBA fans can substitute their usual bickering and overwhelming pride for their specific teams today to celebrate the astonishing accomplishments of some of their biggest stars. Led by Brooklyn Nets powerhouse Kevin Durant and legendary coach Gregg Popovich, the courageous Team USA men’s basketball team pushed their way to a gold medal victory on Friday at the Olympics, beating out Team France 87-82. This marks the team’s fourth and most hard-fought gold medal win in four straight Olympics — proof that Team USA truly has the best basketball talent the world can offer.

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Kevin Durant stole the show in Saturday’s game, scoring 29 points as he led the team to victory. “When you’re a part of a team that’s evolving by the second, it’s amazing to see. Each game we continued to grow. I’m grateful we all committed to it, we stuck with it and we finished it off,” Durant said after the game. The Nets Forward signed a $198 million four-year contract extension with the Brooklyn team just hours before the Olympic final.

Teammate Draymond Green was quick to sing Durant’s praise, as well. “He’s one of the greatest players to ever play this game. One of the most special guys you’ve ever seen lace their shoes up and take a basketball court,” Green said. 

Though the victory marks a prestigious moment for the team and the country as a whole, their journey through the 2021 Tokyo Olympics came with major challenges. The team suffered a crushing defeat against Team Nigeria in a preliminary game, casting major doubt on their tenure at the Tokyo Olympics.

LeBron James took to Twitter to congratulate the team, of which he didn’t take part in. “CONGRATULATIONS MEN!”, Lebron wrote with a gold medal emoji. President Biden also took a moment to praise them with a two-minute video on Twitter expressing his pride over the victory. 

Check out both tweets below and congratulations Team USA!