Hip Hop News

Just two days in, this year’s NBA Free Agency has already been an exciting one for NBA fans. While there have been plenty of predictable deals made so far, like Steph Curry’s max extensions, there have also been plenty of bonafide shockers. Lonzo Ball, Kyle Lowry, Reggie Bullock, and Rudy Gay have all gone to new teams, and most notably, Carmelo Anthony has signed a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he will finally be teammates with longtime friend LeBron James.

That left important players like Kawhi Leonard, John Collins, Victor Oladipo. Andre Iguodala, DeMarcus Cousins, and more still on the Free Agency table. According to ESPN, one of those players has closed a huge deal, and as a result, restricted free agent John Collins will return to the Atlanta Hawks on a five-year deal. 

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According to ESPN, John Collins averaged 17.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game over the last season and had a huge impact on the young team’s morale during their unexpectedly deep playoff run this summer, and apparently, that was enough for the Atlanta Hawks to secure his talents for $125 million over five years. This comes days after the basketball team re-signed Trae Young on a massive $207 million max extension.

Collins was selected as the 19th overall pick during the 2017 NBA draft, and he remains the longest-tenured player who is currently on the Atlanta Hawks roster. The lucrative deal is a major money move for Collins who made the polarizing decision to decline a $90 million extension with the Hawks last season. It’s safe to say that John Collins, the Hawks, and the city of Atlanta are satisfied with Collins resigning, as they hope to improve upon their awe-inspiring performance this past season.

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Kemba Walker is taking his talents back to Madison Square Garden. The veteran point guard has agreed to a contract buyout with OKC Thunder and will now be joining the New York Knicks, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.

The Thunder acquired Kemba Walker from Boston back in June in Brad Stevens‘ first major roster move as the Celtics’ president of basketball operations. While the deal was considered a salary-dump, a report surfaced last week stating the Thunder believed they might be able to flip him to another team for an asset, but those efforts were unsuccessful as he is believed to be owed too much money. Kemba currently has two years and $74 million left on his original 4yr/$140 million deal.

Maddie Meyer/ Getty Images

It’s unclear at the time of this post what Kemba will be signing for with the Knicks, but if it’s anything like these other NBA contracts, then it’ll be massive to say the least.

Kemba will join Evan Fournier and Derek Rose as the new back court in the Garden for next season. Can they take the Knicks on a deep playoff run? Let us know what you think about the move in the comments (below).

If it wasn’t already clear that Jadakiss was out for blood during last night’s Verzuz, his absolutely dominant performance of “Who Shot Ya (Freestyle)” served as an emphatic exclamation mark. Consider this. In a battle of hits, Jada dipped into the vault and drew a freestyle, performed it all without a backing track, barely missing a syllable. It was a statement, not only to his Dipset competitors — who seemingly had no idea what they were in for — but for the rap game at large. 

Though many have long-respected Jada’s pen game and presence, he appeared a man possessed, seemingly hellbent on scorching his enemies in front of a lively New York audience. That’s not to take away from his group-mates Styles P and Sheek Louch, nor the Dipset squad of Cam’ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, and Freekey Zekey, but a narrative quickly took shape highlighting Jada as the event’s most valuable player. No easy feat, considering the combined legacies of both legendary crews. 

Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images

It’s not the first time he gained Verzuz notoriety (remember Drunk Jada?) and now, his status in Swizzy and Timbo’s cultural celebration has been cemented. And perhaps most importantly, it would appear that many have since realized just how elite Kiss truly is. There’s a reason he once likened himself to rap’s Jason Voorhees, and in his mind last night, the Dipset squad was nothing but a bunch of teenagers at a summer camp. 

Naturally, Twitter found much enjoyment in Jadakiss’ unrestrained and merciless energy, firing off celebratory memes, clips, and words of appreciation. For many, the fact that he and his groupmates made a point of forsaking the backing track emblemized the art of emceeing, a culture in which The LOX has long taken pride. It’s no wonder they felt so confident going into the battle, going so far as to say that they’d make short work of any crew when it comes to lyricism and performance. 

Though every emcee involved in the battle deserves a major shout-out, it cannot be denied that Jadakiss has earned some time in the spotlight. Give the man his flowers, perhaps revisit his claim of Top 5 Dead Or Alive with fresh eyes, and check out some of the most celebratory, hilarious, and downright reverent reactions below. 

Kanye West isn’t the only Hip-Hop artist who has been leading his fanbase astray by not sticking to a release date. Trippie Redd is just as guilty as the DONDA artist because he’s been teasing his highly anticipated project Trip At Knight for several months without confirming an official release date or sharing a tracklist.

Having already released “Miss The Rage” with Playboi Carti in May and “Holy Smokes” with Lil Uzi Vert just a few weeks ago, fans are more ready than ever for Trip At Knight. Trippie Redd has promised that the album will arrive before he embarks on his similarly titled tour on August 25, leading fans to obsess over the project’s still unreleased tracklist.

Josh Brasted/FilmMagic/Getty Images

When revealing the cover art for Trip At Knight, the “Dark Knight Dummo” artist said that he would drop the tracklist once his forthcoming album received 100,000 pre-saves. That was on June 24, so now, more than a month later, fans are starting to get anxious.

Rather than just dropping the tracklist, however, Trippie Redd decided to acknowledge his failure to share the Trip At Knight tracklist by trolling his fans. Channeling his inner Roddy Ricch, the LIFE’S A TRIP artist shared a black and white picture of him in a black turtleneck against a white background. He also modified the title of the “Late At Night” rapper‘s debut album, scribbling the words “please excuse me for not dropping the tracklist” on top of the photo.

Check out Trippie Redd’s admittedly hilarious troll below.

Barry Hankerson, the record executive and uncle of the late Aaliyah, is reviving Blackground Records, his old record label, rebranded as Blackground Records 2.0. The label is being revived after almost twelve years since its last release, and the head honcho of the label has already found its first lady, artist and singer Autumn Marini. According to The Shade Room, multiple streets in Atlanta were shut down on Saturday as the artist’s first music video was shot ahead of the label’s relaunch.

Hankerson told TSR that Autumn Marini is an artist that can’t be compared to anyone else in the game. He also shared that Blackground was moved to Atlanta, where he has been taking meetings with multiple artists who need the right platform to get their music out. This is ultimately what inspired Hankerson to bring back Blackground Records, in order to carry out the mission of pushing young artists. He said it is an especially good time to promote young talent.

Background Records has previously been responsible for discovering other artists like Tank and JoJo. Hankerson has past experience in managing big artists like Toni Braxton and the late Aaliyah, though it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing for the 73-year-old executive. Both Braxton and JoJo have filed lawsuits against Hankerson in the past for issues in how they were managed under him, both of which came to settlements. The Instagram comments of The Shade Room post are also primarily calling for Hankerson to put his late niece’s music onto streaming platforms, as the majority of it has been largely unavailable in recent years.

Check out some behind the scenes footage of the music video shoot below. What do you think about the revival of Blackground Records?

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If you missed it this week, Fetty Wap suffered a horrific tragedy when his 4 year old daughter suddenly passed away. It’s unclear at the moment what the cause of death was or when his daughter, Lauren Maxwell, died, but no one should ever have to bury their own child. Following this horrific news, several peers and fans of Fetty Wap took to social media to show their support and condolences, including Iron Mike Tyson.

Mike took to Twitter yesterday to share his condolences with the Jersey rapper, saying they met once and he left an impression on him. “Condolences to @fettywap and family.  Met you once and you left an impression on me.  Losing a child is devastating so praying for you all brother,” he tweeted out.

This all comes just a couple days after Mike Tyson made headlines for his refusal to support his own son in the boxing ring. Mike said the following: “I said, ‘Man, just chill the f— out.’ He wants to fight Logan Paul and those guys. He wants to do that. I said, ‘Man, just get a job. Get a real estate license. Just chill out, man. Why can’t you take advantage of your lightweight wealthiness? Just chill.’ You don’t want none of that heat. I’m telling you. This drives people to commit suicide, getting humiliated in front of millions of people. You gotta be able to take that pressure and heat. Not many people can do it. It seems like a lot of people, but the people doing it is such a small percent. It’s probably one percent.”

Joe Scarnici / Getty Images

It may have only been 24 days since Conor McGregor broke shattered his left leg during the Dustin Poirier trilogy fight, but that’s not stopping him from already standing on it and pushing his rehab. TMZ Sports caught a photo of McGregor outside of a Beverly Hills hotel yesterday wearing a walking boot, while standing freely with no crutches and chatting with a friend (see below).

Conor reportedly hopped on his motor scooter after this photo was taken and rode into the hotel gym where he put himself through a hard workout. He’s coming off a broken left tibia and fibula which required a titanium rod, plate and screws to hold his leg together.

For comparison, Tiger Woods, who also broke his tibia and fibula (amongst other injuries to the leg) in a February 23 car crash was still using crutches 155 days after his accident. Conor has seen 24 days since the injury and is already pushing the boundary. Hopefully this isn’t the last we hear from the Notorious one in the octagon.

Do you want to see Conor fight again or just retire already?

While his claims of growing two inches in his early 30s should have been enough to get people talking about the Detroit 2 rapper, Big Sean has probably just found out that an overwhelming amount of Hip-Hop fans actually have a crush on him. Late Tuesday evening, Sean shared a post to his Instagram with the caption, “Black Hair = Magic,” and ever since then, fans have been absolutely thirsting over the G.O.O.D. Music artist.

Sean’s latest post simply consisted of him showing before and after videos of his hairstyling, as it transitions from a more compact afro into a huge mane before being braided into six cornrows. Apparently, however, that was more than enough to inspire fans and artists alike to speak on Big Sean’s physical appearance.

Even rising Hip-Hop artists like Yung Bleu and Bfb Da Packman felt compelled to speak on Sean’s luscious locks. Yung Bleu theorized that Big Sean knew what he was doing by sharing the post, saying, “U licking your lips n sh*t like ‘yeah this gone kill em’ [laughing emoji].” Bfb Da Packman, however, got as direct as possible with the I Decided artist, saying, “N*gga you beautiful.”

Several other fans took to Twitter to comment on Big Sean’s physical appearance, so check out some of the thirstiest Twitter reactions below. 

“I walked in his studio and saw 146 songs on a big ass list.”

– KXNG Crooked, on Dr. Dre’s next body of work.

Dr. Dre is working on a project. Though the legendary producer has yet to confirm as much, enough information has surfaced that its existence cannot be questioned. Whether it ever receives a widespread release is another story. For the sake of argument, however, it stands to reason that Dre intends on delivering a proper studio follow-up to 2015’s Compton, his third album.

It’s presumptuous to assume that this mysterious project is titled Detox, but at this point, it’s become synonymous with a new Dr. Dre album and almost feels like fair play. True, Dre is likely so far removed from the Detox days that his new album will almost certainly boast a different title. Still, it’s hard to deny that Detox will forever be associated with that exciting period of Dre-related musical uncertainty.

Christopher Polk / Staff/Getty Images

What is certain is the fact that Dre has been steadily building up a collection of new material. In a recent tweet, KXNG Crooked teased that he “walked in his studio and saw 146 songs on a big ass list.” That’s a lot of material, and as hip-hop fans have come to learn, a “big ass list” of songs tends to signal album mode.

Not only that, but Eminem actually revealed that he traded a song with Dr. Dre to secure “Guns Blazing,” their duet off Music To Be Murdered By: Side B. “We actually traded a couple of times,” explained Em, speaking on Shade 45. “cause I did a couple of other songs and I’m like ‘yo you can have that one that I just sent you if I can have [Guns Blazing] and we kinda swapped a little bit. It’s very personal. That’s a very personal song.”

The subject matter certainly does cover personal ground for Dr. Dre, who defiantly addressed his widely-publicized divorce with Nicole Young. It’s not surprising that Dre would cover such territory in his new music, and it’s not the only time he tackled the subject head-on. An actual snippet of a KXNG Crooked-assisted track surfaced back in February, courtesy of Aftermath affiliate DJ Silk. “Trying to kill me with them lies and that perjury, I see you trying to fuck me while I’m in surgery,” raps Dre, over his signature dark and crisp sound. “In ICU, death bed, on some money shit / Greedy bitch, take a pick, girl you know how money get.” It’s been a minute since we’ve heard Dre this worked up, and while it’s possible that time might have diluted his rage, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him tackle the subject of his divorce (and recent health scare) with a venomous edge.

LISTEN: Dr. Dre & KXNG Crooked – Unreleased “Detox” snippet

After Dr. Dre was released from the hospital following a brain aneurysm in January of 2020, it wasn’t entirely surprising to see that the studio was among his first destinations. Dem Jointz, who enjoys a place in Dr. Dre’s inner production circle, shared a picture of the squad behind the boards, signaling that the band was indeed back together. When we spoke with Jointz a few weeks later, he acknowledged that the new Dre project was underway. “It is a mythical creature,” he teased. “But we’re having fun and being creative and that’s what it’s about.” The timing certainly lines up with the aforementioned KXNG Crooked collab snippet, and it’s possible that the song emerged as a direct result of that post-hospital session.

Is it then safe to assume that Dre’s upcoming album will be made up of entirely new material? And if so, what happens for all of the behind-the-scenes studio footage that fans have grown undeniably fond of?

WHO HAS BEEN SIGHTED

Should we assume that KXNG Crooked’s 146-song list holds true, how many of those songs hail from the last year or so? It’s not entirely uncommon for a hip-hop artist to amass a gargantuan vault; Young Thug and Future alone are said to record hundreds upon hundreds of songs before an album. But what of Dre, a noted perfectionist said to spend hours on a single ad-lib?

Unless he seriously sped up his pace, it’s hard to imagine Dre and his team building up a 146-deep song repertoire in a matter of months. Perhaps it’s fair to hypothesize that Dre has been steadily building up to this moment, and some of the potential album contenders may very well stem from years back. Of course, that may be wishful thinking, as some of those studio sessions yielded genuine gold. To be honest, it’s hard to paint a clear picture of what Dre is plotting, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try our best to gain a deeper understanding.

So who has Dre been working with of late? Most recently, the D.O.C teased a picture of himself, Eminem, and Dre, implying that some “Aftermathematics” are afoot. Given Eminem’s own status as a proud recluse, it’s hard to believe that he would take a casual trip down to California for anything other than recording. Throw in a coy caption from the D.O.C, and it stands to reason that Em is a lock-in for whatever Dre has lined up.

 Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images

It’s also safe to assume that KXNG Crooked is a possibility, as the pair are documented to have a duet already recorded. True, it’s never a guarantee that a song will make the final cut, but it’s clear that Crook has indeed put in work alongside the Doc. Producers Fredwreck and Dem Jointz, and Focus.. are shoe-ins as well, being that they’re longstanding members of Dre’s production team to this day. It’s entirely possible that Relapse wingman Dawaun Parker pops in at some point, as the pair did reunite for Eminem’s Music To Be Murdered By: Side B.

Aside from Eminem and Crooked, both of whom have contributed vocals to the project, longtime Dre collaborators Snoop Dogg and Xzibit have also been frequent visitors to the studio. Prior to the release of King’s Disease, Nas was also seen cooking up alongside Dr. Dre, with an Instagram post of their session tagged in Los Angeles, California. Given that the song has yet to be released, it’s possible that the untitled track (check it out below) is among the 146 included on the aforementioned list. 

Another potential guest is B-Real of Cypress Hill, who revealed he had recorded some music for Dre’s upcoming album at some point before December of 2020; should his song make the cut, it would be their first collaboration since “Puppet Master” in 1997. In April of 2021, Dre and Ron Isley hit the studio together, and Fred Wreck confirmed that he was involved with whatever they cooked up — sounds like an album contender, doesn’t it?

Speaking with the Bootleg Kev Podcast, Carson rapper Jayson Cash confirmed he had visited Dr. Dre’s studio and recorded some music with the Doc. In October of 2020, Quavo confirmed that he had visited Dre’s studio for an unknown purpose; being that the Aftermath mogul was not even remotely involved in Culture III, it’s possible that Quavo was called in to record something for the secretive Dre project. Conway The Machine was also granted access to Dre’s studio, though he noted that he only heard some unreleased music — no mention of any actual recording. And of course, it’s a safe bet that Aftermath’s own Kendrick Lamar and Anderson .Paak, who both contributed to Dre’s Compton at length, will be making appearances in some capacity.

Clearly, Dr. Dre’s studio has been a revolving door of talent — but this is not the first time Dre has been sighted working with several like-minded creatives. Fellow Dre archeologists are likely familiar with a pair of behind-the-scenes videos from the Detox sessions, during which the Doc was seen cooking up with Snoop Dogg, RBX, DJ Quik, Battlecat, DJ Pooh, and more. A quick scan of the comment section features plenty of timestamps highlighting incredible — and woefully unreleased — beats, seemingly left dead on the cutting room floor. If there really are 146 songs in play, is it not possible that some of the highlights from a few years back might resurface with a vengeance?

WATCH: Some behind-the-scenes footage of Dr. Dre’s Detox sessions from years back

Questions aside, at this point, we have every reason to believe that Dr. Dre will be releasing his fourth studio album in the near future. Page Kennedy, who happened to find himself in the studio with Dre, previously confirmed that he heard the project in a completed state. Only a few days ago, the legendary Grandmaster Flash revealed that Dre had played the new album for him during a recent hang-out session, and he certainly worked wonders in getting the hype train rolling: “I get a call from one of my heroes he invites me to the CRIB he takes me down to the STUDIO he played me a project that will change the game!!” 

As it turns out, Grandmaster Flash’s reveal sparked new life into the fans, who appeared finally convinced that a Dre album is indeed on the horizon — and for real this time. For those of us who have long enjoyed the Doc’s countless classic contributions (including some truly haunting beats) few projects can elicit such excitement. It’s about time the game was given the chance to feel it again.