Hip Hop News

Chloe Bailey performed a polarizing rendition of Nina Simone’s classic 1965 track, “Feeling Good,” during ABC’s special event Juneteenth: Together We Triumph – A ’Soul of a Nation. After the event, Simone’s granddaughter, RéAnna Simone Kelly, came to her defense.

“Everyone’s coming at @ChloeBailey for her performance of my grandmother Nina Simone’s song ‘Feeling Good.’ But what y’all don’t understand is that grandma was a free spirited woman herself!!” Kelly wrote on Twitter. “She would’ve loved that performance as much as I do! Relax. Chloe killed it. #NinaSimone.”

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Many who complained about the performance were unhappy with Bailey’s sexualized rendition. Kelly said that her grandmother was a sexual woman herself.

“Grandma was unapologetically herself. She was a muhhhfuckin badass woman who did what she wanted when she wanted,” Kelly continued. “She was a sexual woman and she expressed that. Educate yourselves !! If grandma could she probably would’ve done that performance herself.”

Other users online defended Bailey’s performance as well.

“People did not pay attention to Nina Simone and it SHOWS,” one user tweeted. “Nina was very sex positive and literally did photoshoots with her cooch out. I don’t think she’d be upset with Chloë Bailey twerking to Felling Good, a literal song about black joy. Miss girl was getting it.”

Check out more reactions below.

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The Phoenix Suns have confirmed that star point guard Chris Paul will miss the first game of the team’s Western Conference Finals matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers. Paul was put in the league’s health and safety protocol, Wednesday.

The league has not confirmed whether Paul has been placed in the health and safety protocol because of contact tracing or if he tested positive for COVID-19; however, Paul has been vaccinated.

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“Control what we can control,” Suns’ Devin Booker said. “Obviously Chris is in the health and safety protocols and we don’t know the timetable on that, so we just go with what we hear day to day. It’s next man up.”

Cameron Payne will start in place of Paul during Game 1. During the regular season, he averaged 8.4 points and 3.6 assists behind Paul.

“He’s not scared of the moment,” Booker said of Payne. “Usually somebody is put in that situation, you come in a little hesitant, but that’s not how he plays at all. I know he’s ready for anything and he’s carried himself with that type of confidence and he’s put the work in to back it up. So we’ll see how that goes.”

Game 1 is scheduled to tip-off at 3:30 PM, ET on Sunday.

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Megan Thee Stallion traded shots with DaBaby on Twitter, Saturday, after the Blame It on Baby rapper appeared to retweet a post making light of Tory Lanez’s alleged shooting of Megan. Megan previously unfollowed DaBaby on Instagram after he collaborated with Lanez on the track, “SKAT.”

“Support me in private and publicly do something different…these industry men are very strange,” Megan tweeted in response. “This situation ain’t no damn ‘beef’ and I really wish people would stop down playing it like it’s some internet shit for likes and retweets.”

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DaBaby denied that he intended to retweet the post and responded: “You done let these folks get the best of you thug. ion got no bad energy for ya. You know like I know I ain’t no ‘industry’ n***a, let em fool you into thinking that you trippin. Stand on what you stand on without feeling like I’m against ya. Stay focused my g.”

Megan then called out DaBaby for his behavior in private versus in public: “My stance hasn’t changed at all YOURS has. We already spoke abt this in private and you specifically said ‘that ain’t even no good business move why would I promote that shit’ but now this ain’t your ‘beef’ ? That ain’t real. But you stay on ya ‘business’ my g.”

From there, DaBaby responded with more explanations.

Check out Megan and DaBaby’s Twitter feud below.

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Kodak Black shared a picture on Instagram, Saturday, of himself with XXXTentacion and YNW Melly’s mothers. The post comes after the release of his new song, “Falling Over,” a tribute to the late XXXTentacion.

“Long Live @xxxtentacion,” he captioned the photo. He added: “#FreeMelly.”

XXXTentacion was fatally shot at a motorcycle dealership in Florida back in 2018 at just 20 years of age. The shooters stole a Louis Vuitton bag containing $50k from him and fled the scene. Four suspects have been arrested and are awaiting trial.

“Come alive Jahseh because I need an angel. I know you didn’t know you can die like this,” Black raps on his new tribute song. The track was released on the three-year anniversary of X’s death. 

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Melly was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder back in 2019. He currently faces life imprisonment or the death penalty if convicted and is awaiting trial.

Melly’s mother Jamie King, reflected on her son’s incarceration, two years after his arrest, earlier this year.

“Today makes 2 years that you been locked up… Free my heart in human form,” King captioned a heartfelt post on Instagram.

Check out Black’s picture on Instagram below.

Blake Griffin was reportedly advised not to sign with Boston when he asked an unidentified Celtics player if he should join the team, earlier this season, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic. The player told Griffin that the Celtics were dysfunctional.

Weiss wrote, Saturday, that Griffin was “asked a Celtics player if he should join the team midseason and was told not to come to Boston because of the apparent dysfunction.”

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The Celtics struggled throughout the 2020-21 season, going just 36-36, despite making it to the Eastern Conference Finals a season earlier.

Earlier this week, Boston traded star point guard Kemba Walker and two draft picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Al Horford, Moses Brown, and a second-round draft pick.

Brad Stevens, who replaced Danny Ainge as president of basketball operations earlier this month, spoke about his decision to trade Walker in a statement: “Kemba is a true professional and a great teammate and player. I want to thank him for his tremendous impact, and the positive contribution he’s made both to the Celtics and the City of Boston.”

Despite the statement, Weiss described Stevens and Walker’s relationship as “tension-filled,” and explained that they did “butt heads, though the pair were considered to have a productive working relationship and mutual respect for one another.”

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