Hip Hop News

Isaiah Rashad is poised to have a massive year on his hands, beginning with the arrival of his new album The House Is Burning on Friday, July 30th. Yesterday, Rashad shared the full tracklist to the sixteen-track project, which features guest appearances from Jay Rock, Lil Uzi Vert, Duke Deuce, and more. Should you be interested, you can check out the tracklist (complete with production credits) right here.

Now, Zay has come through to announce the Lil Sunny’s Awesome Vacation Tour, sharing the forty-two stop itinerary on his social media pages. While he has yet to unveil the “special guests,” interested parties can text 423 564 5774 for a chance at securing pre-sale tickets.

Jerritt Clark/Getty Images 

Beginning on September 8th with a stop in Boston, Isaiah will proceed to hit up venues in Philadelphia, Cleveland, New York, Providence, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Salt Lake City, Spokane, Vancouver, Portland, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Diego, Las Vegas, Dallas, New Orleans, Austin, San Antonio, Raleigh, Charlotte, Orlando, Atlanta, Nashville, Chattanooga, and many more. 

Given that it’s been a fair number of years since Rashad was so active, it’s likely that his many loyal fans will seize the opportunity to catch him live. For now, it does not appear that Zay will be making it to Canada, as the border situation remains complicated for the time being. Nor does he have any European dates on the horizon — perhaps we’ll see the Awesome Vacation tour expanding in 2022. 

In the meantime, check out the complete list of tour dates for Lil Sunny’s Awesome Vacation below, and sound off if you plan on copping tickets.

Japan’s Naomi Osaka Olympic aspirations have come to a close in an unexpected ending for the tennis star.

It was in the 3rd round of the Olympic tennis tournament that Osaka was defeated by Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. Vondrousova’s previous accolades include being a finalist in the French Open.

“I’m disappointed in every loss, but I feel like this one sucks more than the others,” said Osaka.

Osaka, who has been Japan’s obvious face of the Olympic Games this year, lit the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremonies. She called it “undoubtedly the greatest athletic achievement and honor I will ever have in my life.”

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Pairing this responsibility with a newfound profile as the high highest-paid female athlete in the world seemed to get the better of Osaka, who cited more pressure than usual with this tournament.

“I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this,” Osaka added. “I think it’s maybe because I haven’t played in the Olympics before and for the first year [it] was a bit much.”

Her opponent graciously echoed the same.

“It’s tough for her also playing in Japan and in the Olympics,” Vondrousova said post-victory. “It’s so much pressure, I cannot imagine.”

Osaka has previously been public about her struggles with safeguarding her mental health as the 2nd-ranked player in the world. Notably, at the French Open, Osaka skipped the mandatory new conference after her first-round victory in Paris, revealing that speaking with reporters creates doubts for her. She was fined $15,000 for her absence.

Police officers in Atlanta were caught on video inappropriately injuring a handcuffed woman by kicking her in the head. The video has surfaced and went viral on Twitter through the @atluncensored account, which prompted the Atlanta Police Department to take action on the matter. 

The “actions of the sergeant appear to be unacceptable,” APD said in a statement Monday following the incident going viral on social media. In the video, the woman attempts to look up at the sergeant after lying in a prone position on the ground, only to be kicked in the face and subdued back onto the ground. A female officer stood in observance throughout the incident while a third male officer comes around the police vehicle after the kick occurred.

The identities and names of the officers have not been shared with the public, but the APD has indicated that they were not pleased with the “lack of reaction” displayed from the female officer who watched the incident occur. After the decision was made to relieve the two officers from active duty, the APD released the following statement:

“The decision was made to immediately relieve the sergeant and the officer from duty and place the sergeant on unpaid suspension. The Atlanta Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards (OPS) was directed to open an investigation into the actions of all employees on-scene and their investigation is to be expedited.”

The department also noted that the actions of both officers fell outside of their training standards, but they have indicated that they will conduct an investigation on the situation to get to the bottom of where the officers went wrong in protocol.

Check out video of the incident below, but be warned that the actions displayed are graphic in nature.

[via]

Young Thug recently made his NPR Tiny Desk debut, where he unveiled four brand new songs from his upcoming album Punk. Having previously announced the project shortly after dropping So Much Fun in 2019, Thug has officially confirmed an October 15th release date. 

With the album only a few months away, it would appear that we’ll be getting a more emotional offering from Thugger — at least compared to So Much Fun, which was as carefree as its title might have suggested. Case in point, in the first of his four new tracks — titled “Die Slow,” Thugger blends rapping with spoken word as he reflects on some emotional childhood memories. 

Bennett Raglin/Getty Images

“Got in a fight with a deputy Sherrif, I almost lost my mama,” he raps, sliding into the spoken story. “That’s funny. My mom had broken up with my dad for having another kid on another. He came home one day and saw a car in the driveway. It was an off-duty sheriff that my mom was fuckin with. They had a few words and it ended with my dad shooting and ending up in a hospital in a coma.”

“Fast forward about eight years later, my sister had gotten in a fight, and they had a family member who was a deputy sheriff. My mom had come outside to stop the fight, but [the sherriff] had ran and got in the car, pulled off doing sixty miles per hour. Ran my mom over. She had a stroke but she alright.” 

From there, he segues back into spitting, delivering a bombshell bar destined to catch people off guard in its directness: “I always knew I wasn’t going to be gay.” For more from Young Thug — including several unreleased songs from Punk — check out the full NPR Tiny Desk Concert below.

Look for Punk to land in full on October 15th. Based on what we’ve seen so far, are you excited? 

WATCH: Young Thug’s Tiny Desk Concert