Hip Hop News

The last time there was this big of a noose scandal, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace had reportedly found a rope hanging in his garage. The investigation didn’t lead to any suspects or arrests, and it was determined by authorities that the noose wasn’t left maliciously. Still, during a time when social and political tensions were high, people were on guard. 

Earlier this month, an Amazon warehouse that is currently under construction in Connecticut was reportedly found to have five nooses hanging inside of the unfinished facility. Authorities report that a supervisor located a noose at the end of April and immediately made employees undergo anti-discriminatory training. However, days later, more arrived.

The “hangman’s noose” ropes are reportedly currently being investigated at a crime lab and Amazon issued a statement to a local news station. “Amazon remains deeply disturbed by the incident that occurred in Windsor a couple of weeks ago. Hate, racism, and discrimination have no place in our society and are not tolerated in any development associated with Amazon— whether it be under construction like this one, or fully operational.”

“We are committed to working with the Town and Windsor Police Department, as well as our development partners, to hold the perpetrators accountable and ensure that all members of our community feel valued, respected, and safe. We are contributing towards the reward to find and bring to justice those responsible.”

There haven’t been any suspects named and it’s unclear if any information has been picked up from surveillance footage. The reward for information about this case has increased to $50K. There are those who have taken to social media to express that they believe this is all being made to be something out of nothing.

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The friendship involving Timbaland, Aaliyah, and Missy Elliott was tried and true, but many fans are more familiar with their collaborations than their personal relationship. The trio was of a select group of Hip Hop and R&B artists that dominated the 1990s music scene, but before Aaliyah was able to continue her goals into the 2000s, the 22-year-old songbird tragically died in a plane crash back in 2001.

Since her untimely passing, both Missy and Timbaland have not only honored her legacy, but they often pop up with memories unknown to the public. On Friday (May 14), Missy gave a “fun fact” about Aaliyah’s 1996 single “One in a Million,” a track that was written by both Tim and Missy.

“Funfact because I didn’t think I was a singer singer I would rap sing all the songs I did. If you listen to Aaliyah ‘One in A Million’ it was rap singing a bounce to the melody because that’s the only way I thought I sounded decent in the demos [shrrug emoji].” In today’s music scene, “rap-singing” is a norm and often, it’s difficult to determine if an artist that many consider a rapper should truly be classified as a singer. 

Missy has been one of the leading innovators in the music industry, and whether one categorizes her as a singer or rapper, or overall entertainer, fans can’t get enough. Check out Missy’s tweets and take a trip down memory lane with Aaliyah’s “One in a Million” below and let us know if you can hear the “rap-singing” element of its production.

During the height of Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling protest, while he was still a member of the San Fransisco 49ers, many music artists supported his endeavor. Then, when Kaepernick was no longer in the league and struggling to find a new home team, those same artists vowed to boycott or reject performing at games. As the years have moved on and with Jay-Z involved in the league, sentiments have changed and it’s business as usual. With the 2022 Super Bowl reportedly set to land in Los Angeles, Snoop Dogg wants an all-star line-up for the halftime show.

“Hopefully the NFL will be smart and make the right decision. It’s in Inglewood, California, and it will make the most sense in the world,” Snoop shared with Yahoo Entertainment.

Harry How / Staff / Getty Images

“I’m available, Dre’s available, Eminem’s available, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent — whoever Dr. Dre wants to pull out of his hat to make this thing a professional event and make it big and the biggest effort they can have,” the Long Beach icon added. “It’s just a matter of the NFL pulling the trigger. I wouldn’t just walk out. I would definitely do something that would be mind-blowing, you know what I’m saying? People will be talking about it for the next 30 years.”

We could only imagine what an Aftermath, Death Row, and Top Dawg Entertainment Super Bowl halftime show would look like, but Hip Hop fans are unsure if the NFL would approve. “I’m open to anything that’s dope, unique, edgy, and cunning. This will be cutting-edge, just for my people.” Do you think this is a good idea?

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If you’ve ever wondered what the inside of Big Sean’s palatial mansion looks like, Architectural Digest is giving the world a sneak peek. The Detroit rapper has climbed the ranks of the Rap game to become a respected emcee in the industry, and it doesn’t surprise many that he’s living large in his seven-bedroom Beverly Hills luxury home that used to be owned by Guns N’ Roses rocker Slash. Sean reportedly purchased the property back in 2017 and told the outlet that he didn’t do much, if any, redesigning of the residence.

“It has a lot of history. The whole house used to be kinda like, a darker gothic tone,” said Sean. “I kinda brightened the whole thing up.”

Jim Spellman / Stringer / Getty Images

Big Sean also shared that in October 2019, his mother came to visit and while she was there, told him that she would just stay until Thanksgiving. When the gluttonous holiday arrived, she decided she would stay until his birthday…in March. When the rapper’s celebratory day came around in the Spring, the world was put on lockdown under quarantine and Sean revealed that she hasn’t left since. “It’s been beautiful,” he said.

In true Slash fashion, the luxury crib came built with a mini nightclub. Sean said he didn’t change the design of the underground area at all, but he did replace the sofas. “All black everything. I got the exact same couches that he had in here before, but I just got new ones because I don’t know what the f*ck he was doing down here,” the rapper said with a smile before sharing that he kept the same stripper pole but it’s been meticulously sanitized.

You don’t want to miss his closet, sneaker collection, movie theater, recording studio, spacious garden, and massive bedroom. Watch Big Sean give a personal tour of his crib below.

One of the earliest roles for actor Christopher Williams came as a bit part on Martin. The classic 1990s sitcom centered around comedic actor Martin Lawrence continues to be hailed as one of the greatest shows of all time, but Williams recently reflected on his interactions with Lawrence while on set. According to Williams, Lawrence had an unmatched ego and made the lives of the people around him difficult. It’s unclear what prompted him to tell his mid-1990s tale, but it has quickly gone viral.

Williams shared a clip of his appearance along with a detailed caption. “This was one of my first guest star roles back in the ‘90s on MARTIN,” he wrote. “It was an interesting experience for many reasons: I auditioned and got the job, but on the DAY I was shooting, I had to have a ‘extra’ audition JUST for the egomaniacal Martin Lawrence.”

Alberto E. Rodriguez / Staff / Getty Images

“Then when we were on set, he yelled at the person bringing him a NEW water because he had taken a sip out of the last one and had someone following him around with a fan,” Williams continued. “I had never seen a ‘star’ treat people so rudely. The piece de resistance came when shooting the scene you see here.”

Williams accused Lawrence of injuring him during the first take of the scene and claimed that he “almost had a concussion.” They reportedly stopped the scene and someone from the crew allegedly told Williams that he was a target because “you are just being too funny.” They did the scene again, but to protect himself, Williams claimed he landed on his side, but that didn’t help.

“He didn’t the same thing but THIS time he punched the dummy on the ground and then punched me twice,” he said. “This was my first lesson in my acting career that you need to take care of yourself and speak up when someone does something unprofessional. Which I did not. I didn’t know any better. I’ll never forget that day and as you can tell I am NOT a fan of his.”

That wasn’t the last time that Williams and Lawrence allegedly had a run-in. Check out his story below.

It’s safe to say that Nicki Minaj’s hiatus is over. The rapper took time off to tend to her duties and a first-time mom, but earlier this week, she surfaced with new photos as she teased a big release. We now know that she was building up to the arrival of her 2009 mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty hitting streaming services, and with the project comes a few new tracks. Prior to the release, Nicki hopped on Instagram Live to share the good news with her dedicated fans and even spent a few minutes chopping it up with Drake.

Soon, clips of the Live circulated online and Minaj faced accusations of using cocaine. The “Seeing Green” rapper returned to Livestream once again, this time addressing the gossip about alleged drug use.

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“If I ever did coke at any time in my life, I woulda been rapping about it,” said Nicki. “That’s just never been my drug of choice. I do take Allegra every day and also I have to take Allegra now, sometimes twice a day. But if I was crying or if I was just blowing my nose, this is me. All day. Runny, sniffly, all the time.”

“In fact, I’ve only ever seen coke in bricks,” she added. Nicki also said that if she references cocaine in her lyrics, she’s speaking about “weight” or “bricks.” If fans want to know what drugs she does, the rapper told them to listen to her music. “By the way, I have a lot of friends or acquaintances in the industry that actually do coke. I don’t judge them for it, but I’ve never tried it. Never wanted to. Never asked them to. Especially in the fashion world. That’s so common and normal.”

Nicki stated that in the past when people spread false information about her, she didn’t feel it was necessary to respond or clarify statements. She claimed that someone started the rumor of alleged cocaine use years ago—some are assuming it’s Joe Budden—but at the time she felt it was too ridiculous to address.

“I’ve never in my life, let me say it again, we can do a lie detector test, we can do a hair follicle test, my hair is long as f*ck, get the hair from my motherf*ckin’ scalp all the way down to my p*ssy b*tch, ’cause that’s where it reach.”

Watch her video below.

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People don’t like to think of death, but Tee Grizzley believes it’s time to get over our own fears in order to take care of business. The Detroit rapper has built his career from the ground up and has suffered a tragedy or two in his own life, so he took to social media recently to give a bit of advice to his fellow artists who he believes need to get things straightened out behind the scenes.

“So look, right. As rappers, as successful Black men from the trenches, bro. We the number one target and we the least prepared, you feel me? So, I feel like everybody should have life insurance. I need everybody to go get life insurance if you ain’t got it. If you got kids, I need you to get a will set up, bro, for your kids, bro.”

Aaron J. Thornton / Stringer / Getty Images

“God forbid anything happen,” he continued, adding that it’s all about making sure that your loved ones aren’t scrambling to piece things together if something were to occur. “You know what I’m saying? We the number one target and the least prepared. I need us to get on top of this sh*t. We need to get life insurance. We need to get our wills right, so the next generation don’t have to go as hard as we did and have to go through everything we did, you feel me.”

He also encouraged people to leave comments on his post “if you know something that could help us for the future, for our family.” Watch Tee Grizzley give his advice below.