Hip Hop News
2021 XXL Freshman Class 10th Spot: Vote Now
Russ Theorizes Nicki Minaj Would Have Dominated TikTok Era
Nicki Minaj is a legend in the game, though for whatever reason, it can sometimes feel like she doesn’t always get the credit she deserves. Yet one rapper who has always held it down for Minaj is Russ, who has frequently stressed the importance of celebrating her legacy while she’s still around to see it.
Paras Griffin/WireImage/Getty Images
“I understand you might not like certain things they’re saying, but you can’t just dismiss a whole career,” he previously stated, speaking on the Rap Radar podcast in December of 2019. “You can’t dismiss the fact that Nicki was the biggest female rapper for a whole fucking decade straight. Y’all can’t even last a fucking summertime. This girl was the biggest, most successful female rapper for 10 years. You know how hard that is? Motherfuckers struggle to last two months.”
Now, the Diemon has returned with a reminder of how dominant Minaj’s reign truly was, offering up an alternative timeline in order to emphasize his argument. “Imagine if TikTok was out during Nicki Minaj blowin up era…numbers woulda been astronomical lmao,” he reflects. “did it on em, only, anaconda, twerk it, FEELING MYSELF Man, soooo many like bruh lmao shit was already outta here but that woulda been insane lol.”
Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images/Getty Images
A fair point, and it’s unlikely that many would argue his claim with much conviction. Though Minaj hardly needed TikTok to dominate the charts — she currently holds thirty-eight gold and platinum songs, with many having gone multi-plat — it does make you wonder how much of a boost she might have received under different circumstances. Check out Russ’ co-sign of the legendary rapper below.
Steve Kerr Gets Honest About Steph Curry’s Absence
Steph Curry is currently out with an injury and as any NBA fan could expect, this is not going very well for the Golden State Warriors. They are already without the likes of Klay Thompson, and without Steph, the team is just a shell of itself. As a result of Curry’s absence, the team is on a four-game losing streak and they don’t seem to be close to snapping out of it. It’s the harsh reality of the NBA, which is a league driven by superstars and superteams.
While speaking to reporters, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr spoke about Curry’s injury and how it has negatively affected the team. As he explained, the team just needs to dig deep right now and there are plenty of areas where the team can improve and remain successful.
Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
“When Steph is on the floor, we just have confidence and swagger that’s missing when he’s not. And that helps our defense. If you go back over the last eight or nine games, we’ve had a lot of stuff. Whether it’s injuries, [COVID-19] protocol … [these] are all reasons — not excuses, they’re just reasons — that we’ve struggled. But nobody really cares. It’s just what it is. Every team’s dealing with all kinds of adversity this year,” Kerr said. “So this is a moment where we gotta sit back and take stock, and understand what’s next. And that’s what today was about, and as I said, we have a great opportunity to improve our defense and get back to playing at a much higher level and win some games.”
As of today, the Warriors are tenth in the Western Conference standings which means they are outside of the playoffs. This is a crucial time in the season and if they don’t get it together, they could be looking at a second-straight season outside of the playoffs.
Christian Petersen/Getty Images
[Via]
Jayda Cheaves Stuck With Lil Baby’s Pink Jeep After Trying To Sell It
Jayda Cheaves seemingly couldn’t offload the hot pink Jeep that her ex-boyfriend Lil Baby customized for her as an extravagant gift after she tried selling it because of concerns for her safety. According to Jayda, she said that people knew she was rolling in the whip, which posed an immediate danger to herself and her loved ones. She decided to sell the vehicle after her breakup with the rapper but, as noticed by The Shade Room, she was seemingly unsuccessful in getting rid of it, posting up in the car this weekend.
Sharing videos of herself and a friend inside of the customized vehicle, Jayda made no reference to the car, which she tried to sell earlier this year. Considering the whip was customized for her with “Jayda Wayda” written on the leather seats, it’s possible that this was too unique for anyone to feel comfortable inside of it.
Despite her splitting up with Lil Baby, Jayda has still been supporting her ex-boyfriend with sporadic social media posts. At the top of this month, she showed off her collection of Birkin bags while playing one of his songs in the background.
Prince Williams/Getty Images
Do you think she wasn’t able to sell the car or did she just have a change of heart at the last minute?
NLE Choppa Arrested on Burglary, Drug and Gun Charges
The Weeknd Is Dropping New Song As An NFT
The Weeknd has never been afraid to push the boundaries, and from the sound of it, he’s ready and willing to embrace new technological advances in the music industry. With NFTs — an acronym for Non Fungible Tokens — having emerged as a sweeping craze in the cryptocurrency sphere, many artists have been experimenting with the unique format. And while it’s unclear as to whether or not we’ll see any lasting shifts to the existing model, The Weeknd appears to be gearing up to incorporate NFTs into his next song release.
Jason Merritt/Getty Images
“New song living in NFT space,” wrote The Weeknd, on Friday, March 26th. “Coming soon.” In the same Twitter update spree, he hinted that “this chapter isn’t quite done yet,” with the implication that said chapter centers around After Hours and the songs that emerged from those sessions.
At this moment, The Weeknd has yet to elaborate on his forthcoming song release, leaving questions surrounding the track’s exclusivity. As NFTs are still a relatively new development, many are still in the learning process — though several artists in the hip-hop sphere have already started implementing them into their marketing strategies. Ja Rule recently auctioned an original Fyre Festival painting for an NFT worth an approximated $122,000, while Azealia Banks offered up an NFT sex tape with her fiancé Ryder Ripps. Outside of hip-hop, Kings Of Leon became the first band to release an album as an NFT, allegedly generating over two million dollars in sales.
Keep an eye out for further news on The Weeknd’s foray into the strange and exciting world of NFTs as it develops.
Keep an
Donald Trump Wedding Speech Derails Into Anti-Biden Rant: “Do You Miss Me Yet?”
When you’re at a wedding, it seems like the last thing you’d want to talk about is children being caged at the US and Mexico border. However, this is exactly the kind of conversation former US President Donald Trump sparked at a wedding in Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night. Happy couple John and Megan Arrigo hosted a fancy ceremony where they were surprised with a speech from the ex-Commander-in-Chief, although he didn’t really acknowledge the bride and groom.
Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
“I turned off the news, I get all these flash reports… they’re telling me about the border, they’re telling me about China,” Trump starts. “They’re telling me about Iran, how we doing with Iran?” Guests laugh at the comment initially, but the speech seems to quickly spiral out of control when Trump further complains about border control and President Joe Biden. Trump calls the way that he controlled the border during his presidency the more “humanitarian” approach, rather than the conditions that are being sustained under Biden currently.
“Do you miss me yet?” Trump asks the wedding guests, to which they gleefully cheer. “We did get 75 million votes,” he says. “Nobody’s ever gotten that. They said, ‘Get 66 million votes, sir, and the election’s over.’ Well, I got 75 million.”
It seems like even though Trump hijacked a speech that was supposed to be about the wedding, guests were entertained by the strange commentary nonetheless. Watch the video of the speech below.
Lil Nas X Flexes On Haters After “Satan Shoe” Sells Out Instantly
Lil Nas X had the Twitter world buzzing over the weekend as he unveiled a brand new collaboration with MSCHF. The collab saw MSCHF create their very own version of the Nike Air Max 97, which featured a drop of blood in the midsole. The shoe was also going to cost $1,018 USD, and only 666 pairs were made, which, of course, goes with the whole Satan aesthetic. Many were absolutely enraged by this and felt as though Lil Nas X was trying to possess people.
Today, the shoe went on sale at around 11 AM EST and it immediately sold out. It only took a few minutes for every pair to be scooped up, and Nas X made sure to alert his haters about it. In the tweets below, Lil Nas X even said his foes were looking pretty down bad.
“Y’all talked so much shit about these shoes just for them to sell out in literally less than one minute. lmao y’all going out SAD!” he wrote on Twitter. Clearly, the outrage only helped to boost sales, and Lil Nas X is the biggest winner in all of this.
At the end of the day, controversy is always going to bring publicity, and all of the people clutching their pearls over the devil, should have known better.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Lil Nas X Hits Back At Joyner Lucas
Pop star Lil Nas X is on a roll this weekend, going on his fifth day straight of tackling the trolls who are angry about his queer representation in the music video to his latest single “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)“. The rapper is being accused of worshipping Satan because of his sneaker collaboration with MSCHF, which contains Satanic imagery and a single drop of human blood. The sneakers officially launched this morning and sold out in under a minute.
Among the people that have taken issue with Lil Nas X’s latest moves in the music game are Joyner Lucas, who called out the 21-year-old on Twitter. “I think the biggest problem for me is the fact he dont understand ‘old town road’ is every kids anthem,” said the Massachusetts-born rapper. “Children love him for that record. They tuned in and subscribed to his channels. So with no disclaimer he just dropped some left field ish & all our kids seen it. Smh.”
Lil Nas X has responded and he’s taking no prisoners, blaming Joyner for letting his kids listen to “Old Town Road” in the first place. “I literally sing about lean & adultery in old town road. u decided to let your child listen. blame yourself,” said LNX, burning Joyner.
This appears to just be the start for Lil Nas X, who has stirred the pot to a dangerous degree, pissing off homophobes and bigots across the globe. What do you think of his new video?