Hip Hop News

J. Cole is out in Rwanda where he’s fulfilling his hoop dreams as part of the Basketball Africa League. It was unexpected yet fitting for the theme surrounding his latest opus. Cole is certainly the furthest thing from being the BAL’s LeBron James, but it seems like he’s simply happy with challenging himself. 

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Ahead of his debut in the BAL, the rapper unveiled his latest body of work, The Off-Season. The album already had major sales projections in its first week but now, the numbers are in and Cole has, once again, broken records. Per HDD, The Off-Season marks Cole’s sixth consecutive chart-topper with 288K units moved in its first week. While impressive, he fell a few thousand units short of surpassing Taylor Swift’s Fearless for the biggest first-week debut of the year.

Cole gave fans a special message yesterday following the news of his #1 debut. The rapper offered his gratitude for the support while seemingly acknowledging the criticism surrounding his pro-ball debut. 

“Sending a thank you from Rwanda! #1 album, I appreciate the love, i heard the noise from out here. the off-season means keep pushing yourself, I will do the same,” Cole said.

What’s your favorite song off of J. Cole’s new album? Sound off in the comments. 

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With the world focusing on the Black Lives Matter movement for much of last year, of course there would be jokes stemming from the campaign. Michael Che sat down with Howard Stern recently, and explained that a joke about race and police didn’t quite make the cut on SNL. Che, who has worked as one of the head writers for the sketch comedy series, said that a joke he tried to spin about the Avengers was cut. The sketch had the Avengers kill an unarmed Black teen on accident. 

“I think for obvious reasons there’s no way that’s going on,” Che told Stern. “The audience is looking at Saturday Night Live as Lorne Michaels’s show. They’re not looking at it as ‘Oh there’s this Black writer who is making this nuanced observation or whatever.’ It’s a little trickier.” When it comes to race and TV comedy, Che shouted out Dave Chappelle for finding the perfect formula. 

“He was talking about when he did his show he would set it up in stand up and that way the whole sketch would just be punchlines,” Che commented about the format of Chappelle’s Show. “I was like, ‘That’s genius.’ But, on SNL you can’t really do that because it’s a variety show so there is no person that’s really leading it in.” It would definitely be weird to have a comedian introduce each sketch with a few jokes on SNL, but maybe it’s something they should try doing more often. 

The past few years of Lil Mosey’s career have witnessed him banking on a few Billboard Hot 100 hits. 2020, specifically, was shaping up to be the perfect set-up for an explosion in 2021. Unfortunately, his plans have seemingly been derailed for the foreseeable future. The 19-year-old rapper was charged with second-degree rape and later pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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The latest development in the case, according to TMZ, is a sexual assault “pre-trial protection order.” A judge ordered Lil Mosey to refrain from contacting the alleged victim and is required to maintain a distance of 500m from his accuser at all times. Additionally, the rapper was ordered to stay clean from any alcohol or drugs. 

The court documents also reveal that Lil Mosey is not allowed to obtain or possess any firearms. Any guns that are in his possession are required to be handed over and surrendered to the Sheriff’s Office.

The sexual assault charges against Mosey arrived after he was arrested on a felony gun charge last summer. The rapper, along with his security guard and a juvenile, were pulled over by police in Burbank over missing plates. That’s when police said they discovered firearms in the glove compartment of the vehicle and one n the minor.

We’ll keep you posted on any more updates regarding Lil Mosey’s case. 

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Bill Burr always finds a way to make some of the most hilarious outlooks work in a twisted method. The veteran comedian was on Conan recently, and he was asked if he believed in the anti-vax sentiment that the COVID-19 vaccine was made to kill off the population. Burr, finding the conspiracy hilarious, had a great response. Why would the government kill off the “sheeple?” Burr claims that people taking the vaccine are the type of people who listen to the government, so why would the “overlords” want to murder the group that willingly listens to them?

“No, because what they would do, they would be killing all what they call ‘the sheeple,’ so all the people that go, ‘What are we supposed to do?’ They’re going to kill us and just be left with all the Fonzies with their leather jackets who are too cool to listen to people,” Burr joked. ” They’re “eliminating the wrong group,” Conan replied. Burr continues on to claim, “So maybe they vaxxed us sheeple, so that they can have a second COVID thing come out to kill all the cool people.” 

Check out the entire clip below and let us know what you think. 

Can you remember a time when Drake did not have the charts on smash? The rapper has been a dominant force in pop culture, as a whole, with the numbers to back it up. To this day, he finds new ways to break Billboard records, even when it seems that he’s reached every known milestone on the chart.

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On Sunday night, the rapper will receive the glowing honor of being Billboard’s Artist Of The Decade. Thankfully, Billboard honors people based on numbers so there’s not much to argue in that sense but in the wake of COVID-19 era award shows, not everyone has been able to bask in the glory on live television. However, as things open up, it looks like the BBMAs are expecting to have a few stars in physical attendance including tomorrow night’s man of the hour. 

According to TMZ,  Sandi Graham, Drake’s mother, and his son Adonis are both expected to be seated front row and center during tomorrow night’s ceremony. This will mark the first time Drake brings his son to a public award show-type setting. What better way than to celebrate Drake’s 10-year reign at the top of the Billboard charts.

Maybe Drake will finally announce a release date for CLB. What’s your favorite Drake hit from the past decade? 

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Steph Curry is a legend, no matter how this season ended for the Golden State Warriors. And J. Cole is a legend himself, and just stunted on the rap game with his new album The Off Season. Curry had Cole join him on his IG Live recently, and the two chatted about Cole’s current basketball career, Curry’s season coming to an end, and more. 

“Putting out albums, overseas hooping, like, how you got that much time in a day?,” asks Steph to a smiling Cole. Cole, who is clearly still in the gym after practice with his Rwanda Patriots team, answers with mutual admiration. “I don’t know bro. Scheduling like you,” he quips. “If you could though, now that you done with the season, if you can send me some powers across the water to Rwanda,” he jokes. 

Cole continued on to praise Curry’s leadership. “Obviously, we want Klay in the game. We want a full squad, but it was beautiful as a fan to be able to watch you carry a young squad on your back,” Cole explained. “Ya’ll were right on the doorstep, very impressive bro,” he continues, referring to how close Golden State got to making the playoffs. Check out the IG Live moment below. 

The case surrounding 40 Cal’s missing daughter Saniyya Dennis was ruled a suicide by Erie County District Attorney’s office. However, the family of Dennis has issued a statement disputing that this is true. D.A. John Flynn told reporters that they sifted through phone records and security footage before coming to that conclusion. 

“An exhaustive search and review of the evidence has been done and it appears that this poor girl took her own life,” said Flynn. “Without a body, without an autopsy being done, we’re never going to definitively know. All I can do is present you with what I have and what I presented … everything that I had … to her parents.”

The family of 40 Cal’s daughter said that the D.A.’s findings and announcements were not consistent in a statement to New York Amsterdam News.

“Upon careful review and consideration of the allegations presented by District Attorney Flynn regarding the issues surrounding the disappearance of Saniyya Dennis, we respectfully disagree with his presentation and were shocked by his assertion that he shared information with our family regarding her disappearance and his findings of suicide,” the statement reads.

In a statement to People, the African American Juvenile Justice Project said that they were working with Dennis’ family to find out what really happened. They reportedly have evidence that back up the family’s belief that she didn’t die by suicide. Sherri Jefferson, the executive director of AAJJP, told NYAN that the police said they had video of Dennis at Niagara Falls where they said she committed suicide. The AAJIP said that the police only provided the family with a photo — an unclear one, at that.

“If in fact she went to Niagara Falls, one of those cameras would have picked her up,” Jefferson said. “Are they suggesting that in an area that has 12 million tourists annually not one person saw her there? Not one person can attest that they saw her there? How is it with all of these entities there nobody had one piece of evidence to produce to this family to show this is where she is?”

A spokesperson for the Eerie County District Attorney’s Office said, “The Erie County District Attorney’s Office shared the findings of the investigation with Saniyya’s family on May 5. As previously stated, our office, along with our partners in law enforcement, have found no evidence of any criminality in this case.”

She’ll share more updates on the case. 

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Shams Charania is one of the most popular NBA insiders and when it comes to breaking news, he is always competing with Adrian Wojnarowski to be the first guy on a story. He has proven himself to be a seasoned journalist at a young age, and he certainly has a ton of connections around the league who are ready and willing to feed him information.

Yesterday, Charania reported that Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler had some run-ins with his teammates as of late and that things have gotten testy at times. In fact, Charania also claimed that Butler had some disagreements with his coaches as well. This report didn’t sit well with Butler’s agent Bernard Lee, who took to social media with some strong words for the journalist. Needless to say, he isn’t a fan of Shams’ reporting.

“Shut the f*ck up you click bait, ambulance chasing, dirt bag piece of sh*t,” Lee wrote. “No one has told you this because this is not reality. Go find someone’s assistant to text abt an MRI or some other human calamity you want to be 1st on. We are good over here.”

When Butler was in Minnesota, there were similar stories circulating about him, so Charania’s recent report shouldn’t be seen as that scandalous. Regardless, you’ve got admire Lee for standing up for his client, even if the comments were a bit out of line.

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LeBron James is the biggest superstar in the NBA which means he can get away with things that the average player just can’t swing. For instance, there have been plenty of times where LeBron was just a bit too aggressive but didn’t actually get a foul or severe punishment. Now, LeBron is avoiding repercussions again, this time when it comes to the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

Earlier this morning, we reported on how LeBron was actually in violation of the league’s rules after attending an event with Drake and Michael B. Jordan on Monday. LeBron went and played with his team a couple of nights later, where the Lakers cemented their spot in the playoffs. On Friday, the league came out and warned the Lakers about LeBron’s actions, but now, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, LeBron will not be punished.

The timing of this decision makes sense when you consider how the NBA Playoffs start today. Without LeBron in the postseason, the NBA would suffer some severe consequences in terms of ratings, and after last season, the league would rather avoid that sort of disaster.

For some fans, this comes across as yet another instance of the rules not applying to LeBron although when you’re a massive superstar, it’s to be expected.

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