Hip Hop News

Nicki Minaj is officially back and she’s applying pressure on anybody that doubted her during her hiatus. As if her influence wasn’t already crystal clear, it was reported that she single-handedly boosted Crocs sales by 4,900% last week after sporting the shoes during her comeback tour on Instagram. Following the re-release of her debut mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty a week ago, Nicki has continued to drop gems on the ‘Gram, causing a tidal wave every time she posts a new picture online. 

The Queen has broken necks with her latest eye-catching thirst traps, getting all dolled up in a black bikini with Chanel accessories a few days ago. On Friday, Nicki shared yet another recent photo of herself for her millions of adoring fans, bringing back one of her favorite looks with chopsticks in her bun. She stood next to her Chanel throne and wore a stunning black dress with floral designs. The garment needed to be strapped on her sides, which her stylist did an amazing job with– seriously, the dress fits her so well that it looks like it was painted on. 

This has proven to be a fan favorite look from the Queen, impressing her Barbz yet again with her effortless style and grace. 

Check out her latest look below and scroll through all of her recent posts.

It’s no secret that Lloyd Banks is plotting his long-anticipated return with COTI, having been teasing the upcoming project with increasing frequency on social media. One week ago, the Punchline King shared a poetic trailer that effectively captured an intriguing vibe, albeit a cryptic one.

In it, a narrator muses about destiny among other profound themes. “We have been simply faded in our own existence,” he states. “But what do we say to the people who fear the choices they’ll have to make without any bit of guidance in this world? As if they already don’t have a sense of direction. If they’re not sure if it’s their time to shine or stray.”

Shareif Ziyadat/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Today, Lloyd Banks has confirmed that there’s more where that came from, delivering the full version of the trailer on his YouTube channel. Picking up where its predecessor left off, the narrator is revealed to be artist Rashan Brown, who continues his spoken word journey with increasing intensity. Before long, Brown is basically spitting bars, including an allusion to Banks’ classic debut. “This right here is New York’s finest,” he states. “Subway living / my pursuit of happiness and a silver lining / you tell Chris I got a Hunger For More and I’m on New York City time and my time is now.” 

As the narration concludes, the beat finally drops and Banks appears, ready to put in work over the dark pianos and boom bap drums. It’s then that the acronym reveals itself: the Course of the Inevitable. 

While it’s as of yet unclear as to how this Shatek King-directed video will ultimately tie into Banks’ upcoming project, it’s clear that we’re looking at something cinematic — not to mention deeply thematic — in nature. Check out the full trailer now, and sound off if you’re excited to see what Banks brings to the table when COTI drops in the imminent future. It is, after all, inevitable. 

WATCH: Lloyd Banks – COTI (Official Trailer)

Derrick Rose is one of those players that every single NBA fan roots for. Ever since his days with the Chicago Bulls, fans have wanted the best for Rose and his journey has been nothing short of inspirational. This season, Rose has been playing with the New York Knicks and he has helped the team get the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. He is about to go to the playoffs for the first time in a couple of years and he may even win an award.

This past week, Rose was nominated for the sixth man of the year award, alongside Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles of the Utah Jazz. While speaking to reporter Ian Begley, Rose noted that while the nomination is pretty cool, he has much bigger things on his mind heading into the weekend.

“It’s cool, but it’s more cool being in the playoffs. Missed it for the last couple of years. Being back here, being in a market like this, it means a lot,” Rose explained.

Rose has been through a lot and if he can help the Knicks win just one playoff series, then he will be looked at as a hero in the city. For Knicks fans, this is a very exciting time and they can only hope for Rose to be back next year.

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This year, the NBA has changed things up a bit thanks to a new play-in tournament that determines the seventh and eighth seeds of the playoffs. Last year, there was a play-in round in the Orlando bubble, however, it was only for the eighth and final seed. This new format makes it so that a total of three extra games are played per conference, which helps the league bring in more revenue and ratings. The Lakers Vs. Warriors game from Wednesday night did huge numbers for ESPN, so it shouldn’t be surprising that commissioner Adam Silver would want the play-in to continue long-term.

While speaking on ESPN radio today, Silver got to speak about the future of the play-in tournament and whether or not it’s something that the players want. For now, the teams are all on board and even the players have expressed enthusiasm over it. However, some have concerns about the fairness of a play-in round, which is something the league is looking to rectify. 

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Per Adam Silver:

“I haven’t made any secret that I want it to be [around long term]. I have two constituencies I need to convince of that. One is the 30 teams, and I think for the most part they’ve supported it. Again, I understand the sentiment if I were a team — a 7-seed in particular — the notion [that] after a long season, you could potentially play out of the playoffs. I understand those feelings. I think at the same time, the teams recognize the amount of additional interest we’ve created over the last month of the season plus those play-in games make it worth it.

“Of course, the other constituency is the players. For example, one player, who is on the executive committee of the union, said to me yesterday that he really likes the play-in tournament but he felt it could potentially be a bit unfair. For example, if you were the seventh seed and you were a significant number of games ahead of the 8-seed, the notion that you could somehow lose two games and be out of the playoffs seems unfair.”

It’s probably going to take a lot of deliberation before the NBA comes to a concrete decision on the matter although for now, fans should expect to see the play-in tournament for years to come.

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[Via]

The landscape changed when Lil Baby and Gunna collaborated on their joint album Drip Harder. At the time of its release, the two Atlanta-based rappers were just starting to gain traction as the next big superstars in rap. Since then, they’ve each gone on to release #1-charting albums with My Turn and Wunna, respectively. People are still going back to Drip Harder though, which has been evidenced by the latest plaque being sent to both of their studios as “Drip Too Hard,” one of the lead singles from the album, has just been certified nine-times platinum.

The song received its latest certification on Thursday, selling nine million units since its release in 2018. It only took a few short months for the song to get two additional platinum certifications in the United States so, by the end of this year, it’s looking like Gunna and Lil Baby will have themselves a diamond-certified record. Congratulations are definitely in order for this massive accomplishment.

Screenshot via RIAA 

This month, Gunna also earned another platinum plaque for “Lemonade” with Internet Money, which has now gone platinum three times. Lil Baby earned an extra two certifications on Thursday alone, going double-platinum on “Grace” with 42 Dugg and going gold for “This Week.” 

Do you still listen to “Drip Too Hard” regularly? Revisit it below!