Hip Hop News

It seemed like it was gonna be the Summer of bromances for James Harden, who has found himself in the close entourages of Meek Mill and Lil Baby. Now, it seems the summer has become a bit more complicated, as the Brooklyn Nets star is looking to recoup a hefty sum of lost money, as evidenced by a string of legal letters sent by Harden to Austin McBroom’s Simply Greatness Productions.

Allegedly, Harden was a big fan and a strong believer in McBroom’s “Social Gloves: Battle of the Platforms” event, which found McBroom facing off with TikToker Bryce Hall, so much so, that he invited $2 million into it. He now joins another group of investors and contestants whose payouts are a fraction of what they were promised.

Simply Greatness Productions seems to be at fault here with grossly miscalculating the estimate of how many people would tune in to the event via Pay-Per-View. McBroom believed that over 10,000,000 fans would purchase the $50 Pay-Per-View livestream of the event. However, when the event finally came around, only 136,000 fans shelled out the $50. The event, reportedly lost over $10 million, promising Hall $5 million,  for his loss to Austin McBroom. 

Bryce Hall and Austin McBroom – Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images for LivexLive

Taylor Holder, the TikToker who fought British Youtuber Gib at the event, also recently filed a breach of contract against Simply Greatness Production. Holder has allegedly peen paid only $85,000 of his promised $2 million. In response to calls for returned losses, Simply Greatness Productions reached out to creditors with this statement: “In light of the apparent underperformance of the Event, our firm has been retained to represent SGP in connection with either a workout of the claims of all of its creditors or if a workout is not feasible a likely bankruptcy filing.”

Good luck to James Harden. 

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U.K. rapper Dizzee Rascal has been charged with assault after leaving a woman with minor injuries following a domestic argument in London, at a residential address in Streatham on June 8th. Rascal, real name Dylan Mills, is currently out on bail.

In a statement, the Metropolitan police said: “Dylan Mills, 36, of Sevenoaks, Kent, has been charged with assault after an incident at a residential address in Streatham on 8 June. Officers attended and a woman reported minor injuries. She did not require hospital treatment.”

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Rascal is considered a pioneer of grime music. His career began in 2003 after the release of his debut album Boy in da Corner. The project earned him a Mercury Prize and is considered a classic in the genre. His album, Tongue n’ Cheek went platinum and has sold 300,000 units in the U.K. He’s also notched a handful of number one singles including “Dance Wiv Me” and “Bonkers.” For his contributions to music, he was award Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2020. Rascal also owns his own record label, Dirtee Stank.

He released his latest album E3 AF, last year.

Rascal is set to appear at Croydon magistrates court on Friday, September 3rd.

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In a surprising turn of events, Tory Lanez found himself on the receiving end of a diss track from Cassidy, who fired shots at the Canadian rapper on “Perjury.” For those missing context, the situation started after Tory hit Funkmaster Flex for a freestyle, where he slyly slid in a few of Cassidy’s punchlines and bars. 

Though Tory argued that he was simply paying homage to one of his favorite rappers, Cassidy felt some type of way given the initial lack of credit. By his logic, Tory should have given him credit off the jump, as fans would have been left under the impression that the bars were Lanez originals. He decided that the only course of action was to fire off a diss record, delivering “Perjury” and forcefully tossing the ball into Tory’s court.

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Meanwhile, Royce Da 5’9″ has been steadily watching this one unfold from afar, his popcorn bag steadily dwindling. As of this morning, Nickel made his position on Tory vs Cassidy abundantly clear. Simply put, he wants more. Taking to Twitter, Royce encouraged Tory to clap back, complementing the way he handles himself in a battle. “You gon respond @toryLanez?” writes Royce. “I like when you in that bag. Pardon my lateness y’all my girl wouldn’t let me online.”

Royce is of course referring to Tory’s previous competitive feuds with Joyner Lucas and Don Q, which delivered tracks like “Litty Again” and the scathing “Don Queen.” In fact, Tory was seemingly interested in aiming something at Royce at one point, but the calculated Detroit veteran sternly advised him against it. Now, however, Royce is ready and willing to see Tory clap back at Cassidy — all while his many fans encourage him to take his own advice and reply to Lupe Fiasco and Mickey Factz.

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Check out Royce’s call to action below, and sound off if you agree that Tory Lanez should retaliate against Cassidy. Another day, another instance of idols becoming rivals. Funny how that works.

The Nets and Blake Griffin have agreed on a deal to keep the veteran power forward in Brooklyn through one more season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

After being having his contract was bought out by the Detroit Pistons, Griffin signed with the Nets on March 8, 2021. In his short time in Brooklyn last year, he averaged 10 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in just over 21 minutes per game. Griffin went on to start in all 12 of the team’s playoff games.

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“We all saw the intangibles that he brought to us last year. Some on the court, some behind the scenes and what he did in the locker room: the veteran leadership, the presence that he had,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said, according to the New York Post. “He was absolutely terrific and found a niche with the team.”

The Nets suffered a disappointing playoff loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, ending a season that certainly had championship aspirations.

As for their goals this offseason, Marks said: “We have a pretty good team and we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here. We don’t want to screw it up too bad. We want to add depth at the big position. That’s going to be important from a defensive and rebounding standpoint.”

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Dave Chappelle, Talib Kweli, and more honored the late Biz Markie at an afterparty following a screening for Chappelle’s new untitled documentary at the Kennedy Center, in Washington D.C., Sunday.

Page Six reports that Kweli led a crowd chanting along to Markie’s lyrics.

“Talib Kweli started off by saying, ‘Nobody beats the Biz, nobody beats the Biz,’ before they transitioned to [Markie’s 1989 hit song] ‘Just a Friend,’” one attendee told Page Six.

“They were all in a great mood, and hyped all night toasting Biz’s life. Dave was there until like 2:30 a.m.,” the source continued.

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Markie passed away on July 16, 2021, due to severe complications from Type 2 diabetes. Months prior, he suffered a stroke after going into a diabetic coma. His wife, Tara Hall, was the first to confirm his passing after his death had been falsely reportedly numerous times.

“Rest in peace to our friend Biz Markie, a DMV [D.C., Maryland, Virginia] legend,” they said to end the night.

A ceremony celebrating the “Just A Friend” rapper’s life was held in Long Island, NY, on Monday. Fat Joe, LL Cool J, Papoose, Big Daddy Kane, Al B, and more were all reportedly in attendance.

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Pooh Shiesty may have recently faced a major career setback following his incarceration in June, which essentially slammed all of his momentum to a grinding halt. Unfortunately for Gucci Mane’s 1017 signee, that momentum was driven by major early-career milestones — namely a hit single in “Back In Blood” and a position in the 2021 XXL Freshman Class. 

Still, that’s not to say Sheisty Season has wrapped up. Jack Harlow, who is currently in the midst of his own epic run, has officially confirmed that he’ll be dropping a Pooh Shiesty-assisted single at noon today.

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The rapper took to Twitter to unveil the artwork for “SUVs (Black on Black),” and while it’s rarely wise to judge a song by its cover, perhaps we’re looking at a more hard-hitting and unapologetic release from Harlow. It will certainly be interesting to see how he sounds alongside Shiesty, and given that Harlow is the primary artist, perhaps we can assume that he’s gearing up to roll out his sophomore studio album. 

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As for Shiesty, it’s unlikely that we’ll be seeing a proper follow-up to Shiesty Season anytime soon, though it’s entirely possible that his label will do their best to throw together something that’s more-or-less cohesive. In the meantime, another Shiesty verse will always be welcome, and it should be fun to hear how his style complements Harlow’s own. 

Look for the upcoming single “SUVs (Black On Black)” to land later this afternoon, at 12 PM EST.