Hip-hop mogul 50 Cent is settling in as a new Texan resident by giving back. The popular producer is working with Houston’s city officials to offer paid internships to the city’s high schoolers. 50 Cent Offers Paid Internships in Texas Houston’s Mayor Sylvester Turner made the big 50 Cent revelation about him donating thousands of […]
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Back in March, YG and Mozzy confirmed that they were cooking up a collaborative project. Mozzy’s manager DaveO broke the news of the upcoming joint effort from the West Coast duo, penning on Twitter, “This Mozzy YG Album Is Everything You Want It To Be!!”
At the time, very few details about the project were known and the rap pair remained pretty tight-lipped about the upcoming effort as well. After proving their musical chemistry on back-to-back singles, they finally announced Kommunity Service’s release date, album art, and tracklist.
“Strictly for the streets,” remarked YG of the project. Set to arrive on Friday, May 21st, the announcement follows the release of the second single from the project “Perfect Timing” featuring Blxst. Other appearances on the forthcoming effort include G Herbo, Young M.A., Ty Dolla $ign, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Tyga, and more.
In recent months, two more women have come forward and accused T.I. and his wife Tiny of sexual misconduct. The alleged incidents took place in 2005 and 2010, with both women accusing the couple of drugging and sexually assaulting them. Now, LAPD has launched an investigation into the reports and T.I. and Tiny’s lawyers have responded.
The New York Times first reported allegations of sexual assault back in late February, claiming lawyer Tyrone A. Blackburn represented eleven women who claim they’ve been victimized by the couple. The two additional women are also being represented by Blackburn, and according to Billboard and The Daily Beast, the attorney has successfully pressured the LAPD to open an investigation into the incident that allegedly took place in 2005. The accuser claims T.I. drugged her drink before she was taken to a hotel room and sexually assaulted after repeatedly refusing the couple’s advances.
Responding to the reports of LAPD’s investigation, T.I. and Tiny’s lawyer Steve Sadow issued a statement on behalf of the couple:
“The Harrises have not spoken to or been contacted by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the Las Vegas Police Department (LVPD) or, indeed, any member of law enforcement from any other jurisdiction in the country. Even assuming the story in the Daily Beast is close to accurate, it appears the LAPD ‘accuser’ has chosen once again to remain anonymous, thereby preventing us from being in a position to disprove or refute her allegations – or even examine them. Meanwhile, although we now appear for the first time to have the name of an ‘accuser’ who supposedly filed a police report with LVPD, we have absolutely zero details about her or her claim.”
One thing that television needs is more Snoop Dogg. Following the success of Plizzanet Earth and his colorful commentary during recent boxing matches, it seems inevitable that he would find himself carrying even more hosting duties in the future. Per Deadline, Snoop Dogg is currently developing a series of Peacock focused on the world’s dumbest criminals.
Kevin Hart announced the news during NBCUniversal’s Upfronts presentation where he also revealed that he’d be teaming up with Snoop Dogg for a sports comedy news show. Both shows are reportedly in development for the streaming service.
The latest series are just a few of several television projects that Snoop Dogg is currently involved in. Not only is he a judge on The Voicebut he’s also set to appear in 50 Cent’s series on BMF.
Snoop will also be bringing his own story to life but it won’t be in the form of a biopic. The legendary West Coast figure unveiled plans of an anthology series that will dive deep into his life including his family’s history.
“I want to take my time and make sure that I’ve put together the right infrastructure of how I became me — you know, the people that inspire me, my upbringing, my mother, my father, my friends, community influences, inspirations that shaped and molded me,” he explained. “I don’t see it being a biopic, because I can’t give all of this great information and entertainment in two hours.”
Joyner Lucas is an artist who pours himself into every aspect of his craft, and as fans know, his videos have long been a point of pride for the acclaimed lyricist. Case in point, the new clip for “Zim Zimma,” a highlight off his recent project Evolution, which might actually be the rapper’s most ambitious video yet. It’s certainly among the most star-studded, boasting cameo appearances from Diddy, George Lopez, and Oscar-nominated actor Mark Wahlberg.
Clocking in at over eight minutes, there’s plenty of room for antics between Joyner and his pals. One particular segment stands as a highlight, during which Mark Wahlberg finds himself so drawn in by Joyner’s music that he ends up driving headlong into a pile of dirt, much to the rapper’s annoyance- you have to see it to believe it, really. As for Diddy’s cameo, he opts to keep it relatively low-key, holding it down in a miniature ride while Joyner spits dexterous, rapid-fire bars; though he doesn’t say much, his commanding presence speaks volumes.
Throw in a few hilarious outtakes for good measure, and Joyner Lucas’ new video for “Zim Zimma” is easily among his most enjoyable, despite its gargantuan runtime. Check it out for yourself now, and sound off if you’ve been keeping Joyner’s Evolution on steady rotation.
It was a busy week for new music. The big dogs have officially woken up– most notably J. Cole and Nicki Minaj, who both ended their long musical hiatuses with high-profile releases on Friday. The real returned as J. Cole came through with his long-awaited new album The Off-Season, which has received AOTY (so far) praise all over social media. Nicki Minaj also returned with the re-release of her debut mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty, which included a few new songs featuring Drake, Lil Wayne, and more.
It seems as though some of the world’s favorite artists are picking up the slack, tuning up for an exciting summer on the release front. With J. Cole promising a couple more albums before he hangs up his microphone and Nicki Minaj also seemingly working on new music, the possibilities are endless as we wait for more heat to drop in the coming months.
As always, the HNHH staff mulled over all of the recent releases — including new singles from Internet Money, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Coi Leray, Rich Homie Quan, and more — to come through with a list of our favorite new records in the hip-hop and R&B world. You can check out our individual picks below. Let us know who you’re handing the AUX to.
Be sure to also follow us on SoundCloud and TIDAL to catch the playlist before anyone else!
Alex Zidel (Editorial)
Pressa – Attachments (feat. Coi Leray)
Coi Leray – Bout Me
Nicki Minaj, Drake, & Lil Wayne – Seeing Green
YoungBoy Never Broke Again – White Teeth
Trippie Redd & Playboi Carti – Miss The Rage
Mitch Findlay (Editorial)
J. Cole – a m a r i
Young Nudy – Mini Me
Nicki Minaj, Drake, & Lil Wayne – Seeing Green
Young Nudy – Child’s Play (feat. 21 Savage)
J. Cole – a p p l y i n g . p r e s s u r e
Rose Lilah (Editorial)
J. Cole – a p p l y i n g . p r e s s u r e
Rich Homie Quan – To Be Worried
Jorja Smith – Home
Jenevieve – Eternal
JMSN – Rolling Stone
Erika Marie (Editorial)
J. Cole – a m a r i
Nicki Minaj, Drake, & Lil Wayne – Seeing Green
T-Pain & Kehlani – I Like Dat
Tobe Nwigwe – FYE FYE (feat. Fat Nwigwe)
Russ – STATUS
Joshua Robinson (Editorial)
J. Cole – c l o s e
Jorja Smith – Weekend
Internet Money, Don Toliver, Lil Uzi Vert, & Gunna – His & Hers
Nicki Minaj, Drake, & Lil Wayne – Seeing Green
T-Pain & Kehlani – I Like Dat
Madusa S. (Editorial)
Nicki Minaj, Drake, & Lil Wayne – Seeing Green
Nicki Minaj & Skillibeng – Crocodile Teeth (Remix)
Enchanting – Freaky Deaky (feat. Coi Leray)
Kodak Black – Basement on Fire
Larry June – Wait on Me
Cole Blake (Editorial)
J. Cole – a m a r i
J. Cole – a p p l y i n g . p r e s s u r e
Nicki Minaj & Ptaf – Boss Ass Bitch (Remix)
Nicki Minaj, Drake, & Lil Wayne – Seeing Green
21 Savage – Emergency (feat. Young Thug & Gunna)
At the tail end of last month, 42-year-old Andrew Brown Jr. was shot four times in the arm by officers and once in the head, killing him instantly. Residents of Elizabeth City, North Carolina and the rest of the country have since taken to the streets to call for justice for Brown Jr. After the incident, Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble claimed that Brown Jr. was threatening the officers involved prior to the shooting.
A narrative his family aggressively denies, their attorney previously claimed that the bodycam footage of the incident dispels these claims. Unfortunately for the family, the newly released bodycam footage of the incident has further justified Womble’s decision to not press charges in the “justified” shooting.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Released Tuesday (May 18), the body camera footage presents numerous officers pulling up to Brown Jr.’s home as he sits in his parked BMW. The video then shows officers hopping out of their car and aiming their weapons at Andrew’s car as they surround it, swearing at the victim. He then drives off as police unleash bullets on him.
Next, he drives over a lawn and crashes into a tree as police follow, continuing to surround him and yell commands at him. We will not be sharing the video here, but TMZ has footage of the moments the deadly confrontation occurred. Viewer discretion is heavily advised.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Brown’s family explained the video last week, saying a cop fired a single shot at Brown before he began firing back in fear for his life. They add he never made any menacing actions towards officers, calling the killing unjustified.
D.A. Andrew Womble presented the video at a press conference where he confirmed no charges would be filed because he sees the shooting as “justified,” adding there was an apparent risk to the officers’ lives that justified the use of the deadly force.
We’ll keep you updated on how Brown Jr.’s family responds to this decision.
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When you’re trying to affect change, stubbornness can be an asset. Armed with an impenetrable vision, it is this single-mindedness that has led some of the most important thinkers, creators, and inventors, to leave their mark on this planet. However, that same headstrong approach can be both the engine that pushes you forward, and the pollutant that causes your undoing.
At any given point in his career, Joe Budden has exemplified this hard-headed trade-off. Never one to accept setbacks or perceived injustices that could hamper his creative vision, each phase of Budden’s decades-spanning career has seen things end, often in chaotic fashion, in order to give way to a new era. And when it comes to safeguarding his interests, history has shown that neither conventional business practice nor the possibility of having to take a few steps back is enough to stop Joe once he’s made his mind up.
So, when the news broke that Joe had fired his co-hosts Rory Farrell and Jamil “Mal” Clay after what was an immensely successful spell for his podcast, it was met with a feeling of deja-vu from both fans and detractors alike. As he’s done time and time again, just when things seemed to be harmonious, Joe has thrown himself into a tailspin of uncertainty and personal acrimony.
Initially unrepentant after he fired Rory on air, Joe appeared unfazed by this latest shift in circumstances, offhandedly dubbing the podcast’s most profitable and critically-recognized period as a “helluva run.” But for the podcast’s listenership, this dismissiveness towards two of the pillars of the show that they’d loved wouldn’t suffice, leading to certain fans letting him know that this was one exercise in implosion that they wouldn’t stand for.
Once again, Joe stood his ground and when a fan asserted that “you can’t keep destroying everything you build,” Budden nonchalantly replied “Yes, I can.”
Petulant as this may seem if uttered by anyone else, the blasé response actually makes a lot of sense for Budden. Since the dawn of his fame, Joe’s journey has been defined by escaping the wreckage of vessels that he’s deemed unsuitable, in order to forge ahead. Meaning that, just as one branch is cut off, another is liable to sprout.
Among the few recurring threads throughout his entire career, this willingness to destroy and rebuild is well-established. As a result, his recent claims that “I can’t tell you how we got here” feel devoid of self-awareness. Not least of all because Joe’s tendency to leave a trail of destruction in his wake had been brought to his attention.
“I say look, I like Everyday Struggle. I hope Joe Budden doesn’t fuck it up, the way he fucks up a lot of things that he’s involved in,” Charlamagne Tha God said in a now prophetic assessment of his on-again, off-again ally’s fortunes. “I’m actually rootin’. I’m like, yo, Joe, don’t self-destruct this time.”
Amid warning Rory and Mal that they should’ve prevented Joe from placing his name on the marquee of the podcast due to his erratic ways, The Breakfast Club provocateur has also been quick to point out that “If you keep having the same issues with various companies because it was the same thing at Complex, it’s probably not them. It’s probably you, Joe.”
Throughout his musical and media careers, the sense that he is undervalued or creatively hamstrung has become a familiar trope for Budden. And with each dissolution of a deal that’d once seemed prosperous, “Joey Jumpoff” has rebounded.
Back in the days when he had to watch his proposed sophomore album, The Growth, languish in the Def Jam vault, Joe brokered a partnership with Amalgam Digital that predated the rise of the internet as the go-to music marketplace. When that relationship imploded after allegations of underhandedness from both parties, he turned his attention to Slaughterhouse, eventually progressing from E1 to a major deal with Shady Records. Then once the record deal and relations within the group began to sour, Joe closed his career out on a high with the Empire-distributed Rage And The Machine.
In his pursuits away from the booth, Joe has maintained a similar philosophy of discarding what’s no longer fit for purpose. Towards the beginning of 2015, the first episode of what was then I’ll Name This Podcast Later emerged online, co-hosted by HOt 97’s Marissa Mendez and Rory. Re-energized by this shift into broadcasting, the traction that he’d picked up from the show– which would lose Marissa after Joe fired her via text in summer of 2016– and his proven knack for cultivating an audience would lead to the creation of Everyday Struggle with Complex. Reliant on the fiery dynamic between himself and what Joe saw as a “lil” rapper apologist in DJ Akademiks, it would take just a little over a year for Joe to part ways, citing their refusal to share the revenue with he or Ak as a “red flag.”
Disillusioned by the “corporate games“ that he saw as an extension of what he’d endured at record labels, Budden’s guiding principle shone through as he claimed that, whenever required, he wouldn’t hesitate to burn it all down and be reborn through conflict.
“I created that show,” he informed his followers as news of the separation emerged. “I’ll create another if need be… & another & another.”
Save for his deal with Revolt and Joe’s hosting duties on the similarly styled but less impactful State Of The Culture, the end of Everyday Struggle marked a new beginning in which TheJBP— which was growing exponentially after the addition of Mal perfected the recipe for success– was no longer sidelined, but the primary focus.
Routinely yielding news stories in its own right as well as becoming a prime source of analysis on all the cultural goings-on, soon, TheJoe Budden Podcast’s commercial viability became undeniable. Designated as “The Hip-Hop Howard Stern” by The New York Times, the unique drawing power of Joe, Rory and Mal’s banter would lead to a groundbreaking exclusive partnership with Spotify that, at the time at least, Joe believed. was indicative of “a new way of thinking.”
But as Spotify entrenched themselves deeper into the podcast world, Joe believed that he was, once again, receiving the short end of the stick, severing ties in an on-air rant that harboured similar rhetoric to what we’d heard in regards to Complex.
“There’s an entire ecosystem you have to respect if you are looking to feed the soil,” Joe proclaimed. “Everybody’s not looking to feed the soil, some are just looking to take the fruit.”
Independent once more after a spell with a multinational corporation, Joe found himself in familiar terrain. In essence, the deal that he struck with Patreon after his run with Spotify ended, serves as the modern day equivalent of his digital partnership with Amalgam.
Seemingly poised to be the masters of their own destiny, Rory, Mal and Joe presented a united front when it came time to head out on their own. But with the benefit of hindsight, we know that this was the beginning of the end, as Rory and Mal grew aggrieved about the lack of transparency in regards to their position as “profit partners.”
Foreshadowed by Rory during an appearance on the freshly-minted Joe Budden Network show, See, The Thing Is, his allusions to times where he felt that those on the pod “shouldn’t even speak to each other cause we’ll f**k up the chemistry we have” seemed like minor grumbles, as opposed to irreparable issues. Conversely, what has come screeching into focus is that once the trust was gone the podcast was as good as dead.
In fact, Joe’s 2019 appearance on Math Hoffa’s My Expert Opinion made it abundantly clear that not only does he approach everything with marked suspicion, he’s actually reached a point where he sees impermanence in everything.
“See how I walked up here, stood outside and smoked for a little minute? That’s the same thing I do in life. Got to Def Jam, looked around, I don’t want to be here, I’m out. But you need to walk into the room to know it.”
“Joe Budden gets bored as a creative,” he elaborated when asked if the Spotify deal was the endgame. “Everything is great this second, but I can’t speak for how I’ll feel in six months, a year, two years. I plan as if I don’t know. I’m a creative, I’m nuts.”
Candid about his penchant for self-sabotage as he claimed that “I know what I’mma do in most situations, it’s about combatting that,” Joe’s innate resolve has meant that watching a record deal, group dynamic or even a friendship perish isn’t a cause for concern when you know that it could all erode at any second.
That said, there’re a few reasons why this philosophy has paid off for him in the past that are potentially absent from his latest predicament. For one thing, through the testimony of Rory and Mal, it appears that Joe’s refusal to show them the podcast’s accounting has meant that he was functioning more like the companies and labels that he’d always rallied against.
“Who did you just turn into?,” Mal solemnly enquired in a recent video response. “Everything that we stood for… about corporate fucking over the creatives… Never in a million years did I think you’d be sitting somewhere talking crazy about me.”
Portrayed as “the man,” Joe, for the first time, has found himself struggling with the weight of being seen as disingenuous when it comes to his own business dealings. In the past, the one constant in Joe’s tumultuous career path is that audiences, whether they loved or hated him, believed that he was real to a fault and when he spoke about being on the receiving end of duplicitous deals; we listened and empathized.
Not averse to on-air meltdowns, flagrant oversharing or giving opinions that could jeopardize future deals, his content felt like a safe haven for truth within an inherently nefarious industry. But now, with Rory and Mal providing the receipts for what they see as his hypocrisy, his unimpeachable reputation for authenticity is now under scrutiny and the contradictions of Patreon’s “head of creator equity” are being logged by the very people that once supported him.
Deftly recast from hero to villain, Joe finds himself in the familiar throes of the rebuilding period and, potentially with new co-hosts already lined up, it seems as though The JBP could continue to roll on. Be that as it may, the real question is if he’ll be able to mend the rifts that have suddenly emerged between him and the hip-hop-loving public that has allowed him to rise up after each dissolution.
Freddie Gibbs has been in the midst of an ongoing tear, steadily building anticipation for his upcoming follow-up to the Grammy-nominated Alfredo. Recently, Gibbs dropped off his impressive new single “Big Boss Rabbit,” a track that found him flipping one of Nas’ many classics — Stillmatic’s “You’re Da Man.”
Since then, Gangsta Gibbs has been locked in with Benny The Butcher, who also made sure to bring Hit-Boy along for the ride. At the beginning of May, Benny confirmed that the trio were in the studio, presumably working on some new material for their respective projects; for Freddie, that means SSS, which features a stacked production roster of Pharrell Williams, Metro Boomin, The Alchemist, Hit-Boy, Mike WiLL Made-It, and more.
With many eager to hear what the pair of lyricists were working on, Freddie Gibbs took a moment to showcase a snippet of their latest handiwork, as shared in a new report from HipHopNMore. The song finds both emcees going back and forth over a sample-based, drum-free instrumental, a choice that places their respective pen games in the spotlight. “It would make The Shade Room if these bloggers knew who I’m fuckin,” raps Benny. “It would make the same news if the fans knew what I’m plugging / you bought sixty grams on me, I probably threw in a dozen.”
Gibbs keeps stride, picking up where The Butcher left off. “I’ve been on The Shade Room, got three baby mamas, I’m thuggin,” he spits. “TMZ been at my house taking pictures all of a sudden / heard the DEA they tossing indictments, they want to cuff him / I’ma leave up out the country with fake ID like McLovin.”
Check out the snippet of Benny, Freddie, and Hit-Boy’s new single right here, and sound off if you think this one will end up on Gibbs’ SSS.
