Hip Hop News

Benny the Butcher dropped off his latest effort The Plugs I Met 2 last Friday (March 19). While the album garnered attention for its Benny and Harry Fraud’s magical chemistry, Fat Joe’s guest verse on the track “Talkin’ Back” has taken center stage, with many accusing the rapper of perpetuating anti-Asian rhetoric. 

In a failed attempt at displaying his lyrical wit, the rapper waived political correctness and ended up delivering an insensitive bar that could be interpreted as promoting anti-Asian rhetoric. “Threw that white up in the pot, gave ‘em pipe dreams/And watch it spread like the Wuhan Virus,” spit the Bronx native. 

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In wake of the tragic hate-driven mass shooting in Atlanta last week against the city’s Asian population that left six women dead, the rapper potentially creating space for more harassment towards the community was instantly condemned. Catching wind of all the backlash, Joe took to Twitter to explain that he recorded the verse over a year ago when media outlets and publications were still problematically referring to COVID-19 as the ‘Wuhan Virus.’ The harm in the term wasn’t seen until months later. 

“I’ll address the Benny verse i did that verse a year ago when the news was calling it the wuhan virus before they called it COVID,” Fat Joe wrote. “I support and love all my asian brothers and sisters never hate.”

While Fat Joe’s explanation makes sense, it still does not fully absolve the rapper from any fault. With hate crimes against the East Asian community increasing since the start of the pandemic, even releasing the verse in today’s climate was stilll incredibly harmful. 

How do you feel about Joe’s apology? Let us know below. 

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Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat have had their struggles throughout the early parts of 2021 although over the last few weeks, they have been showing improvement, and they are one of the harder teams to go up against. Today, the Heat were going up against the Indiana Pacers in a match that at the time of writing this, is tied at the end of regulation.

So far, it’s been a pretty good game although the biggest highlight to come from it is the clip below. As you can see, Bam Adebayo went up for a dunk on the likes of Domantas Sabonis, and he absolutely posterized him. Sabonis tried to take a charge but in the end, it was no match as Adebayo went up and performed an incredible dunk that had everyone on the Heat bench going wild.

Adebayo’s dunk belongs among the best of the year thus far, including the one done by Anthony Edwards just a few weeks ago. Fan reactions to the dunk were also quite intense, and overall, you’ve got to hand it to Adebayo for putting on an athletic display that would make Michael Jordan proud.

Let us know what you think of this dunk, in the comments below.

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As Spring Break season arrived upon us, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic–albeit nearing the end of it, thousands of young people still traveled down to Miami to celebrate. Similar to last year’s chaos, spring breakers flooded South Beach, hardly social distancing or wearing masks. This prompted Miami Mayor Dan Gelber to declare a state of emergency in the city as well as an 8 pm, forcing tourists to stay in their hotel rooms during curfew hours. The city has used intense force to keep the restrictions in place, leading many people like Plies to warn the mainly Black and brown spring breakers to tread lightly.

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Tensions between tourists and police came to a final battle when Miami PD turned away thousands of people from Ocean Drive using a SWAT truck, pepper balls, and sound cannons. At least a dozen arrests were made during the altercation, and the city has vowed to continue to 

They have received criticism for the new ordinances from Black leaders in the area. “I was very disappointed,” said Stephen Hunter Johnson, the chairman of Miami-Dade’s Black Affairs Advisory Committee on Sunday morning. “I think when they’re young Black people [on South Beach], the response is, ‘Oh my God, we have to do something.’”

Mayor Gelber has said the new regulations are to maintain order. “Too many are coming, really, without the intention of following the rules, and the result has been a level of chaos and disorder that is just something more than we can endure,” Gelber told CNN about the new restrictions.

What are your thoughts? Let us know below. 

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March Madness is easily one of the best times of the year if you are a big fan of basketball. The NCAA Tournament always provides some drama and everyone is always interested in the big upsets. In the first round, the biggest upset was Oral Roberts over Ohio State, especially since Oral Roberts was the 15th seed. There were other big upsets throughout the first couple of days and on Sunday, we got yet another great moment.

In the tweets below, you can see that Loyola Chicago came through with a massive win against Illinois, who were one of the number one seeds, and was expected to make it all the way to the Final Four. Now, Loyola Chicago gets to go to the Sweet Sixteen, while one of the tournament’s big favorites is gone.

Loyola Chicago has been an underdog story numerous times in the March Madness tournament, and they are guided by Sister Jean who is always at the games, making sure the players are well taken care of. In fact, after the game, the jokes were flowing on social media, as many reacted to Loyola’s performance, and what their win means for the tournament, moving forward.

You can see some of the reactions to the match, below.

The past few months of the internet have belonged to Chloe Bailey. Ever since she and her sister and bandmate finally launched their own separate social media channels, Chloe’s content has blown up to unforeseen levels, namely after she shared her jaw-dropping #BussItChallenge. Since then, she’s maintained the momentum with an even split between sexy shots and exclusive musical content. Her latest rendition of Bruno Mars’ and Anderson .Paak’s super duo Silk Sonic’s debut single “Leave The Door Open” has left internet users wowed again.

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Already amassing more than 1 million views on each of the respective pages the video was shared to, Chloe looked stunning as rocked a blue two-piece set to deliver her extremely sultry rendition of the soulful single. 

“Ima leave the door open,” penned Chloe in the caption of the one-minute cover. Her stunning take on the single followers her previous well-received rendition of Yung Bleu and Drake’s hit “You’re Mines Still.” 

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Beyoncé’s father Matthew Knowles previously caught flack for saying that comparisons between his daughter and Chloe were “insulting. “You’ve got to be kidding me, right? You’re asking me that question?” said Dr. Knowles. “Are you actually serious that you are comparing that young lady to Beyoncé?”

When asked about them comparatively in a biopic sense, he eased on his comments. “Okay, if you’re talking about a movie– not talent-wise. Talent-wise? Are you telling me talent-wise, somebody is an idiot enough to compare her to Beyoncé talent-wise? Are there people saying her talent is equal to Beyonce? They’re idiots. That’s actually insulting to Beyoncé.”

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What are your thoughts about the cover? Let us know down below. 

Dragon Ball Z is one of those entities that hold a special place in a lot of people’s hearts. The animated series is still going strong and the cast of characters that made the series famous continue to elicit joy from people both young and old. Goku is the main character in the series and when some of us were kids, we wanted to be just like him. One of the people that feels that way is none other than Big Sean, who has been adamant about his love for the series.

Recently, Sean and his mom got to meet the actor behind Goku, Sean Schemmel. In the clip below, you can see Sean’s mom explaining to the actor just how much his work means to her son. She notes that Goku’s character had an impact on him, and Sean even chimes in saying he appreciates the character now more than ever.

Schemmel seemed humbled by it all and noted that when he used to do the voice for Goku, he always thought of the kids who would be watching, and the wonder they would feel whenever seeing Goku on the screen. Clearly, Schemmel’s strategy worked as he was able to get someone like Big Sean to look up to the character.

After all these years, Schemmel has certainly made an impression on millions of people.

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The Kardashian-Jenner family and associates love to flaunt their wealth, oftentimes to social media’s disapproval. Kylie Jenner, although later disproven, allegedly became a billionaire early last year, while older sister Kim K and ex Kanye West both individually have acquired billion-dollar-plus fortunes. Announcing the news during the COVID-19 pandemic, many viewed the family’s braggadocious as insensitive. The youngest Jenner has just sparked outrage across social media after she tone-deafly requested her fans to donate to a crowdfunded to pay for her friend’s emergency surgery despite only donating just $5,000 herself.  

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Jenner, who apparently makes $1.2 million per Instagram post and upwards of $450,000 daily, drew widespread gasps from humble internet scroller who were in disbelief after she took to Instagram to ask followers to help raise money for Samuel Rauda’s $60,000 treatment. Rauda was propelled from a moving vehicle and suffered internal bleeding requiring eight brain surgeries after hitting his head on the pavement.

A GoFundMe page was subsequently set up her Rauda’s family to help pay for the medical costs of the 26-year-old make-up artist, whose clients include Jenner and her mother, Chrissy Teigen, and Khloe Kardashian. 

Undergoing surgery on March 14, Jenner shared a picture of Rauda a few days later telling her followers, “May God watch over you and protect you @makeupbysamuel. Everyone take a moment to say a prayer for Sam who got into an accident this past weekend. And swipe up to visit his families’ GoFundMe.”

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