Hip Hop News

Legendary record producer Quincy Jones, while speaking about racism in the music industry, told The Hollywood Reporter that he refused to work with Elvis Presley because the iconic singer was racist.

“No. I wouldn’t work with him,” Jones told the publication.

He explained: “I was writing for [orchestra leader] Tommy Dorsey, oh God, back then in the ’50s. And Elvis came in, and Tommy said, ‘I don’t want to play with him.’ He was a racist mother — I’m going to shut up now. But every time I saw Elvis, he was being coached by [“Don’t Be Cruel” songwriter] Otis Blackwell, telling him how to sing.”

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Jones also recalled another instance of racism he dealt with during his career while working on the 1965 film, Mirage. 

“They called me to do Gregory Peck’s ‘Mirage’ and I came out here. I was dressed in my favorite suit, and the producer came out to meet me at Universal,” Jones explained. “He stopped in his tracks—total shock—and he went back and told [music supervisor] Joe Gershenson, ‘You didn’t tell me Quincy Jones was a Negro.’ They didn’t use Black composers in films.”

Jones produced Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), and Bad (1987), as well as numerous other hit records. He has been awarded 28 Grammys.

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Young Noble, of 2Pac’s rap group The Outlawz, says that he is in the hospital recovering from a sudden, “serious heart attack.”

“Thank you to all my luved ones who been praying for me I had 1 of the worst days of my life yesterday I had a serious heart attack but God is too good & the amazing doctors brung me back an they getting me right,” Noble wrote on Instagram. “I plan to put everything in my life on hold while I recover an get my health all the way right…This will only make me stronger I’m grateful for a second chance an I beg y’all please please please take your health serious all the unhealthy living an stress catches up sooner than later!”

Noble is perhaps best known for appearing on 2Pac’s classic diss track, “Hit Em Up.” He also was featured on the albums Me Against the World, All Eyez on Me, Gang Related [Soundtrack], and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.

The Outlawz were founded in 1995 following 2Pac’s release from prison. 2Pac died one year later in the Fall of 1996.

Their final album, LastOnezLeft, was released in 2017.

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Soulja Boy is riding high off of the success of “She Make It Clap” which is one of the biggest songs on TikTok right now, if not the biggest. The rapper is preparing for the release of his upcoming project Dracoand has been making the rounds in the past week. The rapper recently chopped it up with HNHH for an in-depth conversation about his career from his work as a producer to touring with Young Money in ’09.

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While Soulja Boy might be regarded as an innovator these days, he faced some serious criticism at the early stages of his career. In fact, there was that hilarious feud with Big Draco and Ice T who said that the “Crank Dat” rapper “singlehandedly killed hip-hop.” The beef is water under the bridge at this point but Soulja believes that the West Coast OG was simply “confused” at the time.

“Man, I love Ice-T. Fuck all that shit. That shit was petty as hell,” he said. “He was just confused. He didn’t know what was going on! He didn’t know I was the truth. He didn’t know I was the GOAT. He didn’t know he was looking at the future in his eyes! He didn’t know he was listening to the wave. He ain’t know. You can’t fault him for that.”

However, Soulja Boy did reveal that his back-and-forth with Ice T taught him a big lesson: always stay in tune with youth culture.

“When you fall out the mix, you gotta keep your ear to the street. That’s why I’m in tune with my youngin,” he said. “Look, I got some youngins and I keep in tune with my youngins and I keep in tune with the streets. ‘Cause you gonna get lost in the sauce and end up beefing with the GOAT. That’s over with, man. You gotta show love to the younger generation and stand on your morals and principles. He was standing on his morals and principles. He didn’t like that type of music. You can’t do nothing but respect that.”

Peep our full interview with Soulja Boy here or press play below. 

Danny Masterson’s worst days seem to be ahead of him. The former That 70s Show star has been accused of rape for over a decade now, and has been in and out of court recently trying to defend his name. There have been emotional testimonies presented before a judge leading up to what is now an official trial for the actor. 

LA County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo found the statements of three women in the preliminary hearings sufficient enough to move forward with a trial. The rape charges go back decades, which made Masterson’s lawyer (Sharon Appelbaum) claim, “Memories fade and memories change.”

Lead defense attorney Thomas Mesereau stated that he believes the case is tainted by religious bias. Masterson is a high-ranking member of the Scientology church, while his accusers are former church members. Mesereau also defended Bill Cosby and Michael Jackson when they were facing sex abuse charges.

Appelbaum says the accusers have a “sisterhood” that “seems to want to take down Mr. Masterson and take down Scientology.” She stated that the accusers ignored court orders, and contacted each other to match up their stories for court. “Over time their stories are becoming more similar to one another,” Appelbaum stated. “They’re taking the language of one another.”

Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller admonished the accusation.“These were not rehearsed statements,” Mueller responded. “They were heartfelt, and they each had their versions of what happened. If there is any consistency in these statements, it was because the defendant was consistent in these acts.”

Masterson admits to having sexual relations with each of them women, however, he disputes that he raped them. He is free on bail, but will be arraigned on June 7.

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The Fast Saga continues. The ninth installment into the series opened overseas in select markets, and it is doing very well. The film was released in South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, China, and various countries in the Middle East. 

Fast 9 took in $162.4 million in those counties over the weekend. That is the biggest take for a pandemic-era film. In comparison, Godzilla vs. Kong brought in $121 million opening weekend worldwide. “It shows us that audiences are willing to come back when the right movie is available,” says Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, Universal’s president of international distribution. The film touches down in America in about a month. Universal decided to stagger the release due to markets just opening back up across the world. Of course, the film was also been sitting on their shelf for over a year, ready to go. 

The entire Fast franchise has sold over $6 billion in tickets, making it Universal’s top dog. The saga plans to drop two more installments, in what will probably be a “cliffhanger” two-part finale. However, Dwayne Johnson’s Hobbs & Shaw is likely to keep pumping out movies, and other spin-offs are in the works. Will you be watching Fast 9 in theaters? Let us know below. 

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