Hip Hop News

Actor Ryan Reynolds is continuing his hilarious brand of self-referential humor with a new teaser for his upcoming film Free Guy, which shows the actor debuting a new character in the film’s video game world that is an outrageously jacked version of himself.

The new character’s name is “Dude,” and is meant to resembler an unfinished, stock buff guy character that’s popular in many different video games. Also present in the teaser is director Taika Waititi, most popularly known for directing Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit, in an acting role that seemingly antagonizes Ryan Reynolds’ main character in the film by deploying the buff character.

The premise of Free Guy, the upcoming action-comedy film, is that a bank teller (played by Reynolds) comes to the realization that he is a background character in an open-world video game, which leads him to decide to become the hero in a story that he actively begins to rewrite. Alongside Reynolds and Waititi, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Camille Kostek star in the film.

Reynolds has been actively promoting the new film through hilarious social media teasers, even bringing in his Deadpool character – which has recently joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe through a blockbuster agreement between Disney and Fox – in on a recent teaser that parodied a YouTube reaction video. Becoming one of the most popular forms of content on the tenured media platform, Reynolds’ Deadpool character reacts to a teaser of New Guy alongside Korg, the rock monster character voiced by Waititi from Thor: Ragnarok, seemingly officially confirming the former Fox character’s entrance to the MCU.

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According to the “Next Level Reynolds” teaser posted to Ryan Reynolds’ YouTube channel, the introduction to the “Dude” character parodies a fitness lifestyle kind of character, while ironically hinting at the idea that the character took tons of steroids to get jacked. Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” plays toward the end of the teaser while a visual is shown of Dude throwing a strong left hook to Lil Rel Howery’s character’s face.

Free Guy hits theaters on August 13. Check out the teaser below and let us know what you think.

There are few billionaires in the world and Rihanna just became one of them. Earlier today, Forbes reported that Rihanna officially became a billionaire, thanks to her Fenty empire. It isn’t all that surprising considering that Rihanna’s inched closer to the billion-dollar line with every passing year.

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While many of her fans flooded her comment section and mentions congratulating her on the milestone, Nicki Minaj took to her Instagram page where she offered a massive congratulations to Rihanna. Nicki shared a screenshot of a tweet that read, “Rihanna is officially a billionaire. Her net worth is an estimated $1.7 billion making her the wealthiest female musician in the world and second to Oprah as the richest female entertainer.”

“a BILLI-ON here, a BILLI-ON there- Little Bajan bih w/ green [eyes] – dat bag is a different size,” Nicki wrote on her Instagram story alongside the screenshot, adding #IfthisDontInspireYou.

Just before news of Rihanna’s net worth emerged, she was already making another major play with the Fenty brand. She announced last month that Fenty perfume was on the way.

You gotta commend Rihanna for all of the bags she’s secured in the past few years. However, fans are still dying to hear R9 — an album that not even her label has received any updates on. 

 Do you think R9 is ever dropping? Let us know in the comments. Check out Nicki Minaj’s post below.

These days, celebrities have been quick to issue apologies for their transgressions to avoid any public scandal, and Justin Bieber thought it was necessary to explain away his support of country star Morgan Wallen. On his Instagram Story, Bieber posted a screenshot of Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album with the caption, “Love this album,” but his millions of followers were quick to remind him that Wallen was just embroiled in controversy earlier this year.

A video surfaced showing Wallen reportedly returning to his home in Nashville after a night out with his friends. Someone in his group reportedly told Wallen to quiet down and that’s when he said, “Take care of this “p*ssy-ass mother*cker. Take care of this p*ssy-ass n*gger.” 

Years ago, Bieber faced an n-word scandal of his own when videos of him making jokes and singing songs while saying “n*gger” went viral, and he included his experience in his post. “When i was a kid, i was incredibly ignorant and said some very hurtful racist jokes that clearly were not funny,” said the singer. “I hurt a lot of people especially the black people in my life but was fortunate enough to have had them educate me on the horrifying origin of the n word.”

Bieber said this controversy has brought back “painful memories” and apologized once again because “this is such a sensitive issue.” He added, “I have so much more to learn and I’m grateful for my black brothers and sisters for being patient with me as i have a long way to go.” Bieber claimed he was unaware of Wallen’s “racist comments” and he doesn’t “support or tolerate any sort of racism or discrimination.” 

He went on to apologize to those offended by him promoting Wallen’s album and expressed that he is continuing to learn from his mistakes. Do you think this warranted an apology? Check out his posts below.

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It is yet another milestone for Nicki Minaj and it just goes to show that time flies. Seven years ago, Nicki raised eyebrows with the cover art for her smash hit “Anaconda,” and the NSFW music video that followed garnered even more attention. The track was included on the rapper’s 2014 release The Pinkprint that debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 charts.

Nicki took a moment to celebrate her seven-year-old “Baby Got Back”-sampled single by sharing some behind-the-scenes moments. “7 years later. Who remembers witnessing the internet break when I dropped this picture?” she asked.

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“First solo female rap video to reach a billion views + first one to break the VEVO record for most views in a day chi… yes ma’am always inspiring the girlies #BarbTalk  #Anaconda #7YearAnniversary S/O Sir MixALot  love you guys for holding me down this long Pauz.” Back in 2014, Nicki spoke with ABC News about the video and detailed why she decided to put backsides on display.

“I wanted to reinstate something,” Minaj said at the time. “Because of the shift in pop culture, even hip-hop men are really glorifying the less curvy body. I wanted to say, ‘Hey ladies, you’re beautiful.’ Hopefully, this changes things and maybe it won’t change things, but I love it.” Take a walk down memory lane and check out the visual to “Anaconda” below.

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Fans of the Black Manta from the first Aquaman film will be pleased to see that actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has been relentlessly preparing for the character’s return to the big screen in the upcoming sequel. And from the looks of it, the physical demands of portraying a comic book character in a superhero movie haven’t subsided at all in recent years.

“BLACK MANTA Back Under Construction! #Aquaman2,” Abdul-Mateen II’s Instagram caption for the post reads. The black and white photo finds the star standing in front of an incline bench donning sweatpants while shirtless on top, displaying his immaculate, chiseled figure for his followers to see. The actor has been hard at work in the gym as filming had just begun in London in late June.

The sequel to the first film is set for release in the United States on December 16, 2022, so it is still a ways out before fans will get to see Black Manta on screen again. The actor says he hopes to flesh out the character’s personal journey and show more of his personality in the upcoming sequel. Returning cast members for the sequel include Jason Mamoa’s infectious Aquaman character, along with Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, and Dolph Lundgren reprising their roles from the first film alongside Abdul-Mateen II. Director James Wan is also returning to man the camera for the sequel.

Abdul-Mateen II has kept incredibly busy in recent years in addition to his role as the famed comic book character. He appeared in Jordan Peele’s Us and will star in the Peele-produced, Nia DaCosta-directed Candyman that will be out in theaters later this month. He has also appeared in prominent roles in HBO’s Watchmen series and Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Check out a behind the scenes photo of Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta from the first film below. Are you excited for the Aquaman sequel?

It’s been a long week for DaBaby who has felt the wrath of cancel culture first hand. The rapper’s comments at Rolling Loud have been met with backlash and it’s affecting his bag. Several festivals pulled DaBaby off of their lineups while his remix of Dua Lipa’s “Levitate” has officially been pulled from radio. In short, DaBaby is getting blackballed in the industry.

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As many are pushing to cancel DaBaby, Miley Cyrus took a different route in addressing the rapper’s comments. In an open letter shared to Instagram, Miley offered her support for the LGBTQIA+ community while simultaneously denouncing cancel culture at large.

“As a proud and loyal member of the LGBTQIA+ community, much of my life has been dedicated to encouraging love, acceptance, and open mindedness,” she wrote. “It’s easier to cancel someone than to find forgiveness and compassion in ourselves or take the time to change hearts and minds. There’s no more room for division if we want to keep seeing progress!”

In the caption, she directly made a call to DaBaby to chop it up with her. “@Dababy check your DMS – would love to talk and see how we can learn from each other and help be part of making a more just and understanding future!” She wrote.

Akademiks later shared the post to his page which caught the attention of T.I. who has been quite vocal about DaBaby’s situation. Tip didn’t say much except like the post, and comment, “Now THIS is what’s needed.” Clearly, he has an appreciation for anyone pushing back against cancel culture.