Hip Hop News

The 2021 BET Awards, which took place on Sunday night (June 27), was loaded with star-studded performances and appearances. A few of the most noteworthy moments of the night include Cardi B’s pregnancy bombshell announcement during her surprise performance with Migos, Lil Nas X’s fiery performance of his hit “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” and much, much more. 

While there were many famous faces in attendance, fans couldn’t help but notice that a few were missing. Asian Doll was one such face, and supporters of the rapper suspected that she had been purposely excluded from the festivities. Despite the speculation, the self-proclaimed Queen Von took to Twitter on Monday (June 28) to explain her absence. 

She reassuringly told fans that although she knows they are “(used) to seeing me,” at the ceremony, there was no foul play as to why she wasn’t in attendance. “I feel like @AsianDaBrattt had the biggest female rap song and should of been nominated,” the fan suggested. “F**k the charts. At this point mfs behind the scenes is hating. #NUNNADETS**T.”

Asian then made it clear that her decision to not attend the ceremony was her own. “I didn’t want to attend the awards this year,” she began her tweet. “I know y’all use to seeing me I’ll go next year just for y’all tho.”

The Dallas native didn’t go further into detail as to why she chose to skip out on this year’s ceremony, but it may be because she’s hyperfocused on her music right now. The former 1017 Records signee expressed interest in signing with Yo Gotti’s record label back in March. 

Perhaps if things do work out, she’ll be in attendance at next year’s ceremony. 

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Lil Baby pranked one of his employees, this week, by dumping ice water on them while they were found sleeping on the job. The moment was caught on video in a post uploaded to social media.

“When you sleep on the job with your windows open,” Baby captioned the video. “@Yarocapone wake yo ass up let’s get ittttttt.”

He added in another picture from the prank: “This wen he knew he fucked up.”

It’s unclear where the clip takes place, however, Baby was on the road this week to perform at the BET Awards. He opened the ceremony with a rendition of his collaboration with Kirk Franklin, “We Win.”

Bennett Raglin / Getty Images

Legendary rapper Fat Joe recently said that Baby is the best rapper of his generation right now.

“In the newer generation, here’s no one better than Lil Baby right now,” Joe said. “We’ve seen all this. We, as Hip Hop historians, we saw when Lil Wayne emerged, we saw when Eminem emerged and Lil Baby is in a lane by himself right now.”

“It’s sad because the other night I’m with Khaled in his convertible Maybach,” Fat Joe continued. “He played three records in there, and they were three of the biggest artists of the time. He played one guy that’s been winning for ten years straight. He played this group, but then he played that Lil Baby, and it sounded like this guy was the best.”

Check out Lil Baby’s prank below.

Over these last couple of years, the Nike Dunk High and the Low have been having a huge resurgence among sneakerheads. These are classic Nike models that will always stand the test of time, and to celebrate the newfound popularity, Nike has made sure to drop a ton of new colorways. They have even brought back some blasts from the past, and on June 29th, Nike is set to bring back the infamous Nike Dunk High “Kentucky” which is an homage to the Wildcats. This is a release that is sure to excite fans and if you find yourself struggling to get a pair on release day, eBay promises to have you covered.

eBay makes things incredibly easy for sneakerheads who want to buy or sell shoes using their platform. When you buy online, there are always fears about whether or not what you’re buying is authentic. Thanks to eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee, you can sleep easily at night knowing your shoes have been legit-checked prior to being shipped out. As for sellers, there are no fees on shoes over $100 USD, which means you don’t have to worry about any hidden costs when you send out your shoes to a willing buyer. Overall, eBay is extremely user-friendly and it’s what makes them a leader in the sneaker space.

Based on the images below, you can see that this retro is authentic to the original as we have a white leather base with some navy blue overlays. Even if you aren’t a fan of the Wildcats, you have to admit that this is a pretty phenomenal colorway, and we’re sure plenty of sneakerheads will be looking to get their hands on a pair when they drop. If you miss your alarm on the 29th, at least you can rest assured knowing eBay will make it easy to find an authentic pair.

Image via Nike

Image via Nike

Image via Nike

Image via Nike

Image via Nike

Lul Tim is infamous because of his alleged role in the fatal shooting of rapper King Von. The man, who is affiliated with Quando Rondo, was accused of firing the shot that ended King Von’s life last year, facing the wrath of the internet ever since. He was released from jail on a $100,000 bond, moving with caution in the months following his return to the streets. As he continues to be a catalyst for frustration within the hip-hop community, Lul Tim decided to switch his passion to try and live a sustainable life through more reasonable means, previewing his first new song on social media.

Self-proclaiming himself to be “the biggest opp,” Lul Tim, real name Timothy Leeks, is looking to launch a music career off the infamy he achieved through his attachment to Quando Rondo and King Von. This week, he started to tease his new music, sharing a preview of his upcoming debut single “Off The List.” 

He’s rapping over a beat that seems like it was tailormade for Youngboy Never Broke Again. Considering Lul Tim’s affiliation to Quando Rondo (and, by connection, Youngboy), it makes sense that he would work with one of the superstar rapper’s producers. His rhymes will anger some fans, especially with Tim rapping about violence, shooting people, and more. In the video, he stands around his homies with a shovel, digging in the dirt. 

“Just checked a new p***y n***a off the list, quick to gun you down but check the score, b*tch, I don’t miss,” he raps.

Watch the preview video below and let us know how you feel about Lul Tim starting a rap career.

Lil Baby quickly rose to the top of the rap game and the music game in general. His rise to prominence was aided by the phasing out of pop music as America’s most favored genre just as rap music took over. A few Grammy nominations and chart-topping projects later, the Atlanta native is now collaborating with the biggest artists in the game.

He recently connected with Drake for a track on his three-track Scary Hours 2 EP for the track “Wants and Needs.” The two hip-hop heavyweights, who have previously connected on tracks like “Yes Indeed,” and “Never Recover,” clearly valued their time. Lil Baby recently took to social media to share a photo of a snazzy gift he recently received from the OVO head honcho. 

“[Champagne Papi] thank you,” penned the “Bigger Picture” artist, tagging Drake and adding prayer hand emojis. He then shared a snap of a silver wristwatch the Toronto native presumably recently gifted him. 

Drake has been known to be an extravagant gift-giver with a knack for watches. J. Cole once spit, “This watch came from Drizzy, he gave me a gift,” and clearly, not much has changed for the Certified Lover Boy. 

Speaking of Certified Lover Boy, Drake has spent much of the year putting the finishing touches on the album that was originally expected to drop last summer. As the world anxiously awaits the project, perhaps we’ll get another collaboration between Drizzy and Baby. 

As for Baby, he’s fresh off the heels of unleashing his collaborative project with Lil Durk The Voice Of The Heroes. 

Jay-Z has declared his playlist-making game to be “A++.” Speaking with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for a 30-minute conference on Twitter Spaces, Hov discussed his work on TIDAL over the years.

“I think in the beginning, everything was like super manual,” JAY-Z said. “I was making playlists, people were making playlists. We were creating content in-house as we worked on the algorithm. We built and built, and it got really good. And if you play a song now, you can pretty much just let TIDAL fly and I promise you you’re gonna find new music, new amazing music that you’ve never heard before.”

He added, “I’ve found so many songs, my playlist game is A++. I challenge anyone out there. I see a lot of people on this call, I’m not gonna call out individual names. I’m definitely, you know, in the top-tier of playlist creators.”

Brian Ach / Getty Images

Jay-Z also emphasized how important it is to “maintain a human element,” despite the use of a complex algorithm.

“You can’t duplicate the heart and spirit and people that’s in the office working really hard and care what’s going on and know what’s going on in the culture minute by minute,” he explained. “It’s super important to us to interact and have that relationship back and forth.”

The legendary rapper has shared public playlists throughout TIDAL’s life cycle. He’s been known to post his favorite songs of the year. His 2020 playlist included Conway, Drake, Busta Rhymes, and more.

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Jack Harlow and Saweetie definitely had eyes for each other at the BET Awards on Sunday night. As the world continues to unwind from the culture-packed event this weekend, new moments keep on popping up to steal people’s attention. People have been discussing Lil Nas X’s queer-culture celebrating performance, Tyler, The Creator’s creative rendition of “LUMBERJACK,” and Coi Leray’s outfit on the red carpet, but another moment from before the show has captured the attention of many. 

Jack Harlow and Saweetie were both nominated in major award categories and they brushed shoulders on the red carpet prior to the event, which featured a fully vaccinated crowd as we slowly return back outside. Photographer Johnny Nunez managed to capture a tension-filled moment between the two rappers, who seemingly have some chemistry. Looking right into the eyes of the “My Type” artist, Jack Harlow cracked a big smile as many of his fans suggest he may have been plotting to swoop in and sweep Saweetie off her feet. Shining in the middle of Cancer season, Saweetie appeared to be flattered by Jack’s words, giving him the eyes and looking back in his direction.

Johnny Nunez/Getty Images

Saweetie and Jack haven’t addressed the viral moment yet on social media, but a bunch of their fans have been sharing their comments online, predicting the future for the bachelor and bachelorette. 

Take a look at what people have been saying below. Do you think they were flirting?

Megan thee Stallion’s career has propelled her to impressive heights in the last two years. In 2020, she made Time magazine’s 100 most influential list, collaborated with the likes of Beyoncé, Cardi B, and more, and she’s got three Grammy awards under her belt–including the coveted Best New Artist award.

Despite her success, some people, namely DJ Akademiks, don’t believe this success is organic. He recently called the “Savage” hitmaker an industry plant, explaining exactly why he believes the “protect black girl” trope brought her this success. The hip-hop connoisseur also recently took to Twitter to address exactly why his static with Meek Mill has yet to be resolved.  

Earl Gibson III/Getty Images

“I hate Megan thee Stallion very hard,” begins Akademiks. “Because you can’t be objective, so I guess I’ll start by saying this. I am now in belief that Meg thee Stallion’s career has been propelled, overhyped, and also put on a pedestal because of this whole Black girl magic, protect Black women, I’m sorry.”

He went on to add, “But listen to everybody’s review of Meg’s album. She just dropped it’s called Good News. It’s mid. It’s mid. And if it was anyone we liked that dropped a mid album that wasn’t being seen as a victim, lift and just act like the fact that she’s doing it is good enough. The consensus would be ‘Meg you missed, try again.'”

“Meg could fart on a song and we would be like ‘Oh my god, that is a sweet, sweet sound of being a victim, protect her she is Black and she is a woman,'” he continued, comparing her “mediocre” rapping skills to Lil Baby, Roddy Ricch and DaBaby. He furthered that her success is in direct correlation with the fact that Tory Lanez shot her. 

Elsewhere, Akademiks took to Twitter to address his long-standing tension with Meek Mill. “Meek mill tweeted that he finally had my location when he saw me on verzuz with 750k watching… bro I went to complex for 3 years every morning at 7:00 am why u act like I was hiding from u… stop it dawg. I hate u rappers. U know ur other rapper opps location too. They do shows,” penned Akademiks. “Actually he ain’t tweet he was in the comments of the verzuz live lol.. let m state facts,” he continued. 

He added, “Rapper theatrics … meek stop it and put ur album out,” while sharing a screenshot of Meek’s comment.

It seems like DJ Akademiks had time. What are your thoughts on the situation?  

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Following his viral Verzuz battle with Soulja Boy, Bow Wow admitted that he doesn’t want to rap anymore because it brings too much stress. He posted a video on Instagram, Tuesday, taken as his hard drive crashed right before the show went live.

“Y’all n****s see why I don’t be wanting to rap no motherfucking more? This is exactly why I’m at peace. I’m at peace man. I like hosting my shit, making more money than half of y’all rap n****s. I like doing my podcast. This shit right here is the number one reason why a n***a don’t wanna rap no more. This is the reason why. I do movies and I do so much other shit. It’s because rap shit brings stress.”

Todd Williamson / Getty Images

He added that the show was put together in just four days, in the caption: “I was soooo stressed putting this show together in 4 days for VERZUZ!! What yall don’t know is our hard drive CRASHED 6 mins before we went live!! SEE.”

Despite the preshow drama, Soulja Boy and Bow Wow’s Verzuz appearance went off without a hitch. Both artists traded hits throughout the night, but Twitter went on to declare Bow Wow the victor. 

Check out Bow Wow’s new IG post below.