Hip Hop News

Danny Brown Recalls Almost Signing With 50 Cent

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Danny Brown has become a legend in the game, an auteur with one of the most consistent catalogs in the game. No stranger to critical acclaim nor creative reinvention, the experimental Detroit rapper has enjoyed quite the journey throughout his career. With his new album 40 on the way, Brown took a moment to speak with Andrew Barber on The Coda Collection, where they discussed several interesting subjects. 

“That was the time when you’d go to a label and they’d be like ‘I love the music but you don’t have the look,” says Danny, reflecting on his unsigned days with a laugh. “I had a busted up grill, teeth missing, nappy-ass braids. Look malnutrition. That was when 50 had the muscles, everyone had their shirts off. Rap was different. You had to look a certain way and I didn’t look the part.”

Danny Brown

Xavi Torrent/WireImage/Getty Images

Despite the emphasis on image permeating the industry, Danny’s talent eventually caught the ear of Tony Yayo, as they shared a recording engineer. “I was with Yayo for about a year,” says Danny, pointing to his oft-forgotten Hawaiian Snow as a result of their partnership. “I had a great time and learned a lot around him. Shout out to that whole crew, Fif and G-Unit.” 

Given the connection, Barber asks if 50 ever tried to sign him. “50 was down with signing me but now I’m already set into my look,” reveals Danny. “So this is when I’m wearing the skinny jeans and thrift store clothes and shit like that. So he like “no you need to look non-approachable, you need to look mean, you need to wear big jeans and shit. “I wasn’t with that shit so 50’s like fu*k that shit.” 

While it would have certainly been interesting to see how Danny Brown might have fared in the G-Unit camp, we’re more than happy with the way things turned out. Check out Danny’s conversation with Andrew Barber below, and look for his upcoming album 40 — a project that calls back to the days of XXX.

“Space Jam” Themed Nike Air Force 1 Low Surfaces Online: Photos

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Space Jam: A New Legacy will be coming out on July 16th and the hype is certainly palpable. LeBron James has been hitting fans with teasers for the new movie and with all of the cameos and references being jammed into the film, there are plenty of reasons to be excited. Just last year, LeBron came out with some Monstars and Tune Squad-themed colorways of the Nike LeBron 17, which were meant to help promote the new film while also giving his latest signature shoe a boost in sales. With the film, drawing closer, it seems like another Space Jam-themed Nike sneaker could be on the horizon.

Thanks to the Instagram user @Sheikhscloset, we now have a fresh look at this clean Nike Air Force 1 Low colorway which features Bugs Bunny and Lola Bunny hanging out on the Nike swoosh and even the tongue. As you can see, the vast majority of the shoe is covered in white leather, all while the Nike swoosh and outsole are blue. From there, Lola and Bugs Bunny help make this a Space Jam-themed shoe that seems perfect for the collectors out there.

As it stands, there is no word yet on whether or not these will be hitting the market, so stay tuned for updates as we will be sure to bring them to you. As always, let us know what you think, in the comments below.

André 3000 Hasn’t Looked Back From His Spaceship Since UGK’s “Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You)”

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Today, May 27, marks the 46th birthday of one of Hip-Hop’s all-time favorite Geminis: André 3000. As one half of the beloved Atlanta rap outfit OutKast, Three Stacks earned his place in the hearts of Hip-Hop enthusiasts by truly being himself, and one song that truly exemplifies André’s individuality is UGK’s “Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You).”

“Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You)” served as the second single from UGK’s 2007 studio album Underground Kingz, and although it has gone down in Hip-Hop history as a bonafide Southern classic, it originally struggled to see the light of day. After being shelved by Sony as a UGK and Three 6 Mafia collaboration, UGK was persistent and decided to tap OutKast instead.

However, upon receiving André 3000’s verse, Pimp C wasn’t happy with the OutKast artist’s contribution, as André reportedly removed the drums from his verse without either Pimp C or Bun B’s consent. Thankfully, Pimp C eventually accepted Three Stack’s creative take on his verse, and the rest is history.

With a verse full of quotable lyrics, the Love Below artist once again proved that he was out of this world. He famously rapped that “Spaceships don’t come equipped with rearview mirrors,” and he’s been on an otherworldly course ever since.  In honor of his unyielding individuality, celebrate Three Stacks’ life by watching the video for “Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You)” below.

Happy birthday, André 3000! 

Quotable Lyrics

So, I typed a text to a girl I used to see
Saying that I chose this cutie pie with whom I wanna be
And I apologize if this message gets you down
Then I CC’ed every girl that I’d see-see ’round town
And hate to see y’all frown but I’d rather see her smilin’
Wetness all around me, true, but I’m no island
Peninsula maybe, it makes no sense, I know crazy
Give up all this p*ssy cat that’s in my lap, no looking back

Diddy Reminds Ben Affleck He Was With J-Lo First In Throwback PDA Pics

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Jennifer Lopez is seemingly back together with Ben Affleck, spending time with her ex-lover on vacation this week. As the tabloids try and pick up every detail about their rendezvous by the beach, Diddy decided to get a little messy with his choice of Throwback Thursday photos.

The 51-year-old music mogul could have gone in any direction for this week’s throwback photos but he decided to take a pretty shady route, posting a series of pictures with Jennifer Lopez, his ex-girlfriend. The two artists dated for two years and attended some of the most exciting events in Hollywood, including the GRAMMY Awards, as a unit. Today, Diddy shared two pictures of himself with J-Lo, right in the midst of her current situationship with Ben Affleck, seemingly reminding the world (and Ben) that he was with Lopez first.


Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Sharing a photo with his ex-girlfriend in her iconic Versace dress, Diddy went back into his picture books, deleted that picture, and posted another one. In his second attempt, Diddy posted a paparazzi-taken shot of the two hand-in-hand. Some people are commenting that Diddy might be shooting his shot at Lopez, hoping that she sees the pictures and remembers how much of a good time they had together. Others theorize that the rapper just wanted Ben Affleck to know he was with his girl first.

Check out the pictures below.

Tech N9ne Says Machine Gun Kelly Nearly Got Them Banned From Venues For Starting Food Fights

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Getty Image

Whether he’s dying his tongue black or carrying around a vial of his girlfriend Megan Fox’s blood, Machine Gun Kelly never seems to run out of antics. According to Tech N9ne, he’s always been that way. Machine Gun Kelly supported Tech N9ne on a record-breaking 2012 tour where his rowdy behavior nearly got them banned from venues.

Tech N9ne recently sat down for an interview with HipHopDX to talk about his experience working with Machine Gun Kelly. The two had embarked an an exhausting 104-day tour in 2012 where they played 99 shows, earning them a spot in the Guinness World Records book. Tech N9ne recalled his fellow musician breaking “every rule” like starting food fights and climbing up on stage equipment:

“MGK broke every rule. Wild boy, he’s a wild boy. We almost didn’t get to come back to venues because of MGK. […] I’m talking about food fights in the lunch room during the day, you know what I’m saying? Everything man, climbing up, breaking sh*t. That was the year I went to his 21st birthday, and then the next year I went to his 22nd birthday party. I think they were both in Vegas too, so I was with him early on.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Tech N9ne said his crazy tour schedule was purposefully planned to set a world record, but it was so exhausting that he’ll never it do it again. “I’m telling you, the last couple of days we were so delirious, we were forgetting the words,” he said. “My people who do the booking, they know we gotta have a break, especially how we do shows. We don’t just stand on stage grabbing our crotch. I’m sizzling, we really out there cardio life. All that 99 shows in 104 days, we did it, me and MGK, never again. We proved it, we can do it.”

Danny Brown Went ‘Back To XXX Time’ While Recording His New Album ’40’

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Getty Image

10 years ago, Danny Brown broke through with the blog-and-fan-favorite album XXX, redefining what rap could look and sound like and pushing him toward becoming a boundary-pushing star in his own right over the next decade. In a new interview with the Amazon Prime Video-based Coda Collection, Brown reflects on what made XXX so special with FakeShoreDrive’s Andrew Barber, and explains how his groundbreaking breakthrough album inspired his upcoming sixth album, 40.

“I think rap was totally different,” he says of XXX resonating with fans in 2011. “There weren’t too many people talking openly about drug abuse or mental health problems or being just vulnerable in their songs like that. That was just me taking my influences and melding them all together. It was just good timing — lightning in a bottle type of sh*t.”

He also described how the pandemic and resulting shutdown affected his writing process on 40, comparing it to the process on XXX. “The f*cking pandemic hit and next thing you know I’m in the house by myself, stuck, bored, I don’t have nothing to do,” he remembers. “I started back writing and sh*t was trash… I’m like, ‘I might be washed…’ Shows are cancelled, I’m trying to make new sh*t, so I’m just going through a whole depressed, stressed-out moment. So I just wrote myself out the ditch. That’s the only thing I can really say. It was almost like ‘back to the basics’ of the sh*t and it felt like it was back to XXX time again.”

And in one more part of the interview, Brown recalls having the chance to sign with 50 Cent but refusing to change his look to appease even the mighty mogul behind G-Unit Records. “50 was down with signing me but now I’m already set into my look,” he says. “This is when I’m wearing the skinny jeans and thrift store clothes and sh*t like that. So he’s like, “No, you need to look non-approachable, you need to look mean, you need to wear big jeans and sh*t.’… I wasn’t with that sh*t so 50’s like f*ck that sh*t.”

You can check out the preview clips above and find the full episode here.

Gorillaz Are Dropping A Collectible Vinyl Toy ‘Geep’ To Celebrate 20 Years Of The Band

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Superplastic

The Gorillaz have been beloved for decades because of how meticulous they are when it comes to releasing new music and honoring their past work. Today they’ve announced a collaboration with Superplastic to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band with a limited-edition collectible vinyl toy called “Geep.” The toy is the green dune buggy that’s driven by Gorillaz member Noodle. The Geep comes equipped with working LED lights and a removable guitar. To give a sense of sizing, the toy is 10-inches long and 4-inches tall and will retail for $120.

Geep is not the first time Superplastic and Gorillaz have collaborated on merch. In 2019, they released a soft vinyl of Gorillaz lead singer 2D, along with a full band vinyl toy set featuring band members 2D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russell in 2020. Of the Geep collaboration, Noodle had this to say: “The Geep, our most loyal companion. We hope it will bring joy to all the homes it parks up in around the world.”

“It’s been my dream to ride shotgun with Noodle in the Geep…on mushrooms. As real as I want that moment to be, we all know that this shit isn’t happening. So, we decided to make a super limited, dope, amazing toy instead. It’s been killer bringing Gorillaz to life through designer toys over almost two decades, and I can’t wait for fans to get the Geep!” added Superplastic founder Paul Budnitz.

Check out some other images of the Geep below and pick up the collectible here.

Superplastic
Superplastic
Superplastic

Trippie Redd And Playboi Carti Commit Therapeutic Vandalism In Their Explosive ‘Miss The Rage’ Video

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The concept meeting for Trippie Redd’s new “Miss The Rage” video with Playboi Carti must have included the phrase “homemade rage room” somewhere because that’s exactly what they wound up creating. The video opens with the punk-influenced rappers pouring gasoline all over an old car at an abandoned lot and setting it on fire, then chucking other random bits of garbage at the resulting blaze as they perform their long-awaited, much-beloved collaboration.

The video, which arrives just about three weeks after the initial release, might be just the thing to increase anticipation for Trippie’s upcoming fifth album Trip At Knight, which is expected to release in July. He’s been previewing new music via Instagram non-stop since his last project, the deluxe version of Pegasus, produced in conjunction with Travis Barker, was released at the beginning of the year. In the meantime, Trippie was also announced as one of over 20 artists set to appear on the soundtrack to the upcoming film F9.

Meanwhile, Playboi Carti is a month removed from his “Sky” video and has been teasing a project of his own on Instagram, where he wrote “i waNt to DroP like RN.”

Watch Trippie Redd and Playboi Carti’s “Miss The Rage” video above.

Yung Bleu Calls Out BET Awards In Fiery Rant: “This Sh*t Is Rigged”

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Every year, it feels like somebody has something to say about the BET Awards. The ceremony, which is meant to showcase Black excellence in the entertainment and music industries, tries to cover all their bases by featuring a large scale of categories for artists to take home trophies in. This year, the nominations were revealed with Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby leading the way, earning seven nominations apiece. One particular Alabama-based rapper is livid about not receiving any nominations though and he’s calling out BET for failing to recognize him.

Yung Bleu has been around for a few years and he’s got a bunch of gold and platinum plaques hanging around his house. With one of the biggest songs of the year in “You’re Mines Still” featuring Drake, the rising artist thought that he, at least, could have earned a few noms at the BET Awards. Ultimately, his name was nowhere to be found on the list.

 
Prince Williams/Getty Images

“TIRED OF BEING QUIET SOMETIMES I BE WONDERING WHO ASS I GOTTA KISS TO STOP BEING SHITTED ON,” wrote Yung Bleu on Instagram in a since-deleted post. “@bet YALL NO THATS SOME BULLSHIT! DNT SAY YALL DNT CONSIDER ME A NEW ARTIST EITHER CUZ Y’all think I POPped UP AFTER YOUR MINES STILL! APPLUAD EVERY ARTIST ON THE LIST YALL DESERVE IT but I BEEN GRINDING! NOT 1 single artist ON THIS LIST GOT MOre PLAQUES THAN ME!”

He went on to share a list of his songs that were recently certified gold or platinum by the RIAA, pointing out that many of his records haven’t been verified yet and are in limbo for plaques. 

What do you think? Should Yung Bleu have been nominated? Check out the full list of nominations here and peep Bleu’s deleted posts below.


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Nike LeBron 8 Low “Sprite” Officially Unveiled: Photos

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Just ten years ago, LeBron James was in the midst of his first playoff run with the Miami Heat. As many fans remember, that run ended in heartbreak, as the Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. If you’re a sneakerhead, you probably remember LeBron wearing the Nike LeBron 8 during this time period. There were some incredible colorways of this shoe to be had, and the low-top model also had some gems, including the “Sprite” offering.

In the official images below, you can see that this “Sprite” colorway will actually be coming back in its OG form. The upper of the shoe is mostly blue while the sock lining, Nike swoosh outline, and midsole are all a vibrant shade of yellowish-green. These elements come together to create a dope offering that will certainly get fans excited and nostalgic for the early 2010s.

For now, a release date has yet to be given for these although it seems like the Beaverton brand is pushing for a June release which means these will be coming out sooner rather than later. Keep it locked to HNHH for all of the latest news coming out of the sneaker world, and be sure to let us know what you think of these, in the comments below.

Image via Nike
Nike LeBron 8 Low
Image via Nike
Nike LeBron 8 Low
Image via Nike
Nike LeBron 8 Low
Image via Nike
Nike LeBron 8 Low
Image via Nike