Hip Hop News

He’s never hesitated in sharing his adoration for the man who helped free him from jail, and Kodak Black is continuing his lauding of former President Donald Trump. Prior to leaving office, Trump granted dozens of pardons, including a nod to Kodak for his firearms case. The Florida rapper has been eternally grateful for the inclusion and ever since, Kodak has openly praised the former president.

Days ago, Kodak celebrated his birthday in style with a helicopter and a Tesla truck—both custom painted in purple and gold in tribute to the late Kobe Bryant. Monday (June 14) marked Trump’s 75th birthday, so Kodak made sure to give his Gemini brother a social media shout-out.

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In a photo posted to his Instagram, Kodak was fully fitted in his navy blue “Make America Great Again” Trump gear, including the autographed hat he personally received from the former controversial world leader. “#HappyBirthdayTrump DT @realdonaldtrump #HappyBirthdayKodak #GeminiGang #FeelinPeachy Out Now,” the rapper penned in the caption.

Last month, Kodak revealed that his Trump affections weren’t just in his waking life. “Had a dream bout trump last night, I love dat n*gga,” Kodak wrote at the time. Check out his post, a few reactions, and a screen-recording of Kodak talking about Trump on Instagram Live below.

We’re inching closer to the release of Pretty B*tch Music and after returning from her artist boot camp, Saweetie is back in action. The Bay Area rapper recently shared her Pretty Summer Playlist: Season 1 after assisting Gwen Stefani on her “Slow Clap” single, and as she ducks and dodges her Quavo-centered controversies, Saweetie is adding her voice to Goat Talk—that is, chatting it up with Complex about her favorites in the industry.

When naming their top rappers, many artists usually stay within the geographical locations of where they grew up and Saweetie didn’t stray from the norm.

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“I don’t know, that’s hard. When it comes to like, mood, do I need to be inspired, do I feel like a bad b*tch, do I…what am I doing?” she prefaced. “I feel like that really changes the perspective of the ‘Greatest Rapper of All Time.’ ‘Cause I’m a mood girl.” Even so, Saweetie found her answer. “For inspiration, I’m saying Tupac.”

“My mom, my dad would play him almost every day, morning, afternoon, and night,” she said of the West Coast icon. “And I love that he really loved women and made you proud to be a Black woman. He made you proud to be in your skin. And I think people like that is really important, especially for a group that is constantly oppressed in experiences, injustices. He made you feel like, it may not be okay right now, but it’s gonna be alright later.”

Check out more from Saweetie below as she names her favorite actor, television show, meal, car, mall store—and see how many times she includes herself in the GOAT conversation.

He remains one of the hardest working men in Hip Hop with a legacy that only a select few rappers can compete with. Compton icon Dr. Dre has seen his fair share of controversies, including his current courtroom drama with his ex-wife, Nicole Young, as they attempt to divvy up their assets in their divorce. While emotions were running high as play-by-plays of their split were being reported on daily at the top of the year, news broke that Dre suffered a brain aneurysm.

Fans awaited news regarding the Aftermath mogul’s recovery and within days, Dre was back home. Speculative reports about what caused the health scare ran rampant, and in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dre shed some light on what he learned from his doctors while offering up advice.

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“It’s a really weird thing,” he said. “I’ve never had high blood pressure. And I’ve always been a person that has always taken care of my health. But there’s something that happens for some reason with Black men and high blood pressure, and I never saw that coming. But I’m taking care of myself.”

“And I think every Black man should just check that out and make sure things are OK with the blood pressure,” he continued. “And I’m going to move on and, hopefully, live a long and healthy life. I’m feeling fantastic.” During his recovery, Dre sent out a public “thank you” to those who had been supporting him. Check that out below.

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The In The Heights hype has been intense over the last few months as fans counted down the days until the musical arrived. The acclaimed film starred Anthony Ramos, who also made a stellar appearance in Hamilton, Orange is the New Black‘s Dascha Polanco, legendary actor Jimmy Smits, Stephanie Beatriz, singer Marc Anthony, award-winning performer Lin-Manuel Miranda, and a slew of others as they shared a tale of life in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood.

Film critics quickly praised the production for its quality, applauding Quiara Alegría Hudes and Lin-Manuel Miranda for delivering a movie that breathed new life into mainstream musical theater. However, some people questioned why there was a lack of dark-skinned Afro-Latinos in roles that weren’t background dancers.

Actors and activists came forward with accusations of colorism and in interviews, the In The Heights performers were grilled about the trending topic. Earlier today, Miranda returned with a letter to the public where he apologized for the lack of representation.

“I started writing In The Heights because I didn’t feel seen,” he said. “And over the past 20 years all I wanted was for us—ALL of us—to feel seen. I’m seeing the discussion around Afro-Latino representation in our film this weekend and it is clear that many in our dark-skinned Afro-Latino community don’t feel sufficiently represented within it, particularly among the leading roles.”

“I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latino representation, the work feels extractive of the community we wanted so much to represent with pride and joy,” he added. “I’m truly sorry. I’m learning from the feedback, I thank you for raising it, and I’m listening.” He promised “to do better” in future projects.

Check out the trailer for In The Heights and read through Lin-Manuel Miranda’s response in full below.

Those hoping for their turn at fame often create content or any form of art in the hopes of grabbing attention from the masses. However, not all that glitters is gold and not everything ages well, and Lil Dicky learned the hard way that often, your art can come back to bite you in the butt. He’s known for his quirky raps and star-studded collaborations—music that includes the song “Freaky Friday” with Chris Brown. The music video rubbed a few people the wrong way as the pair swapped bodies as Brown sings about not being judged for his past while Dicky roamed around Brown’s home only to locate a gun.

Both Rihanna and Karrueche Tran received restraining orders against Brown in domestic violence-related cases, so some weren’t amused by the “Freaky Friday” take. However, Lil Dicky defended his friend in a recent interview with GQ.

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“With Chris Brown, we can do one of two things: We can never hear from him again and say ‘I won’t accept any Chris Brown whatsoever,’ or I feel like we can allow him to use his talent for good,” said Dicky. “When I see people react to the song, I really think that it makes people laugh and it makes people happy. I don’t think it’s the type of thing that really is making the world a worse place, on a micro-specific, talking-about-the-song level.”

Dicky also addressed controversy over his video “White Dude” where he gleefully galavants as a White man who doesn’t have to worry about racism or sexism, and his Rap bars match that sentiment. Reflecting on “White Dude,” Dicky expressed regret.

“Even though I knew I was never serious with it and it was just a joke, it just didn’t feel like a joke I was proud of. And I don’t like making jokes I’m not proud of,” he said, adding that he realizes “how insensitive my art can be, but I’m a very sensitive person and I hate offending people. If I see anybody that’s offended by something I’m doing, it really hurts my heart, truly.”

Check out the music videos for “Freaky Friday” and “White Dude” below.

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They may have been spotted hanging out, but Malu Trevejo is clarifying reports that she’s romantically involved with Swae Lee. The 18-year-old social media star boasts over 10 million followers on her Instagram page and has a successful singing career, and after videos circulated online showing that she was spending time with the Rae Sremmurd rapper, she jumped on her Instagram Story to share that not all is what it seems.

“All these salty ass mfs [crying laughing emoji][exasperated emoji] I already said and would say it again any rapper tha hit to say itttt wwith prooffffff lmfaoaooa,” wrote Malu. “No basketball no singer no nun my friend.”

“I could walk in a room full of mfs tha y’all say ***** and I’ll ask them and they’ll say nooooo lmfaoaooaaoa,” she added. “Y’all just salty is ok if u ain’t got no haters u ain’t popping.”  While critics digested Trevejo’s explanation, Swae kept up his post showing the two together as he had his arm wrapped around her.

“Delicioso,” he penned in the caption. Trevejo reacted to the post in the comments, adding a smiling emoji. Fans were quick to react and soon, Swae was hit with accusations of being a “predator” or that he’s “grooming” the teen. Check it all out below.

As fans await any news regarding a possible Friday film, Ice Cube has set his sights on a new role. Cube has previously spoken out about the delays, setbacks, and run-arounds he’s been receiving in his quest to gift the world with another installment to the Friday franchise, but that hasn’t stopped his hustle. The gangster rapper-turned-actor is continuing on with his silver screen career and Deadline reports that he’s set to star in the Kitao Sakurai-directed film, Oh Hell No.

Although it doesn’t seem as if negotiations have been finalized, reports state that Cube may be starring in the film opposite music legend and comedic icon Jack Black. Cube is no stranger to tackling successful comedy roles himself, and fans are excited to see what these two can bring to the screen in the family-oriented film.

Deadline reports that the “story follows Sherman (Black), who falls in love with [Will’s] (Cube) mom, who has only one thing to say about that, ‘Oh hell no.'” Because both artists are represented by WME, this may be a pairing that works on and off-screen to both their teams’ advantages. Director Sakurai is a fixture in the comedy circuit, reportedly working as an executive producer for The Eric Andre Show as well as helming Bad Trip, Netflix’s No. 1 comedy.

Would you check out this movie?

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They’ve gone down in the music history books as a record-breaking, chart-topping, world touring, hitmaking trio that can never be duplicated, but fans are revisiting Destiny’s Child’s catalog with caution. Recently, social media lit up with jokes after people began criticizing some of our favorite R&B hits. Many people quipped that those tracks are the reason why some of them got into relationship trouble because the songs were dishing out bad advice, and a 17-year-old classic that received keen attention was Destiny’s Child’s “Cater 2 U.”

The lyrics go a little something like: “Let me help you / Take off your shoes / Untie your shoe strings / Take off your cufflinks (Yeah) / What you wanna eat, boo? (Yeah) / Let me feed you / Let me run your bathwater / Whatever you desire, I’ll supply ya / Sing you a song / Turn the game on / I’ll brush your hair / Help you put your do-rag on / Want a foot rub (Yeah) / Want a manicure / Baby I’m yours I wanna cater to you, boy.“

Soon, Gen Zers were calling for the “cancelation” of the song but it didn’t take long for “Black Twitter” to jump in and let them know that wouldn’t be happening. Soon, Michelle Williams hopped into the conversation and while donning a filter, she tapped into her acting bag and pretended to be a woman responding to the backlash.

“I just read that y’all just wanna cancel the song ‘Cater 2 U’ by Destiny’s Child,” she said with a Southern drawl. “Oh honey, you didn’t discern who you were catering to and gave your little pearls to swine, don’t be mad at Destiny’s Child.” Check out the post, as well as a few reactions, below.

In the entertainment industry, image is everything. Whether it’s adhering to a particular trend, style, or weight, the rich and famous often nip, tuck, and inject themselves in order to hold fast to a certain beauty standard. It isn’t just the women who have been undergoing surgery, as Funkmaster Flex recently revealed that he’d heard that artists like Drake and LL Cool J had liposuction, inspiring him to do so, as well.

While his cohorts have been hiring personal trainers and meeting with their cosmetic surgeons, CeeLo Green shared that he’d actually been advised to not lose any weight. The Goodie Mob legend uploaded a post to Instagram where he joked about dropping a few pounds.

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“When I lose my stomach, please don’t speak to me. I plan on acting funny,” the text image reads. In the caption, the Gnarls Barkley singer added, “#lol do y’all know my label and Mgt asked me not to loose weight? They said ‘ noooo it’s your look‘ what y’all think?” The overall consensus from fans was as long as he keeps making music, they didn’t care what he looks like. 

Green’s friend Kandi Burruss got a chuckle out of the post. “[Sideways crying laughing emojis] I don’t know what you’d look like skinny… [shrug emoji] some people just look good with a belly!” the Xscape icon commented. With or without the weight, CeeLo’s talents are unmatched. Check out the post below.