Hip Hop News

While things in hip-hop do get dramatic, the world of battle rap can get a bit dangerous. We’ve all seen how things get when tensions rise, and just how far some of these battle rappers are willing to go. Last night, Rare Breed Ent. debuted a face-off between Cassidy and Hitman Holla ahead of their battle on April 3rd but things didn’t necessarily go as planned. In fact, things ended on a tense note after both Cass and Hitman Holla appeared ready to throw hands.

The two MCs debated their credibility and stance in the battle rap arena which led to both parties throwing shots at each other. That was to be expected but the energy in the room shifted entirely after Cassidy deemed Hitman “replaceable” on the April 3rd line-up. Cass has the bragging rights of an artist who has managed to return to the battle rap arena successfully while Hitman Holla’s track record includes wins against some of the biggest names in battle rap. 

Eventually, the two rappers debated who had more successful careers. Cassidy swiftly reminded Hitman Holla that he was once his hypeman on Wild N Out. “Your views isn’t going to be your hypeman like you was my hypeman on Wild N’ Out.”

As the intensity grew, the two nearly came to blows as Hitman suggested that he would knock out Cassidy. Eventually, Hitman Holla suggested that he would “air out” the spot which prompted a hilarious breakdown of the situation from Cassidy.

“You runnin’ to act like you ’bout to get a bag. What are you doin’? First of all, you bluffin’, my n***a. Like, if you was there by yourself and your gat was in that bag — let’s be serious. Everybody actin’ like they can’t talk. You was acting like you was gonna grab the bag like you had a strap in it. So if you was there by yourself and you sayin’ I had 20 n***as with me, then I would’ve been wearing my bag,” Cass said.

Check out some of the best reactions below. 

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt divorced in 2016 after being one of Hollywood’s most recognizable couples, earning the nickname “Brangelina.” It wasn’t until a year later in 2017 when Jolie opened up about the split, eventually opening up about some domestic abuse claims she allegedly faced at the hands of her ex. Their divorce saga has just come to another shocking turn, this time with the actress now claiming to have “proof and authority in support” of the alleged violence. She’s even ready to provide that evidence during their upcoming divorce proceedings. 

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According to legal documents obtained by Us Weekly, a filing submitted on March 12th states that Jolie is willing to testify about the alleged abuse along with testimony provided by herself and her 6 children: Maddox, 19; Pax, 17; Zahara, 16; Shiloh, 14; and twins Knox and Vivienne, 12. The documents themselves do not detail the alleged abuse, but a source close to Pitt has dismissed the claims as nothing more than another attempt to kick the Oscar winner while he’s already down. 

“Over the past four and a half years there have been a number of claims made by Angelina that have been reviewed and not substantiated,” the insider told Us. “The children have been used by Angelina to hurt Brad before and this is more of that behavior. This leaking of documents by her fourth or fifth set of lawyers has been done to hurt Brad.”

Shortly after their 2016 split, the FBI Department of Child and Family Services began investigating the actor regarding the child abuse claims made by Jolie. The agency eventually cleared the actor of all charges, and he spoke about the experience during his 2017 GQ cover story. 

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“I was really on my back and chained to a system when Child Services was called. And you know, after that, we’ve been able to work together to sort this out,” he said. “We’re both doing our best. I heard one lawyer say, ‘No one wins in court—it’s just a matter of who gets hurt worse.'”

He continued, “And it seems to be true, you spend a year just focused on building a case to prove your point and why you’re right and why they’re wrong, and it’s just an investment in vitriolic hatred. I just refuse. And fortunately my partner in this agrees. It’s just very, very jarring for the kids, to suddenly have their family ripped apart.”

Pitt is reportedly looking for 50/50 custody of the children. 

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Amber Heard and Johnny Depp split way back in 2017 after two years of marriage, but their equal parts messy and public legal battle has extended on for much longer. As part of their divorce settlement, Johnny coughed up $7 million to Heard, and she promised she would donate all of the money to charity, which boosted her credibility in the court. The 57-year-old actor is allegedly claiming, however, that despite his ex’s promise, she hasn’t yet given all of the money away. According to TMZ, he plans to use this argument to get a court to reconsider his 2018 defamation case. 

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The publication reports that Depp plans to use this legal argument with his lawyers to appeal the ruling in his U.K. defamation case back in 2018 when he sued The Sun for labeling him as a “wife beater.” He lost the case when a judge instead ruled there was evidence he had abused Amber before. 

Amber served as The Sun’s star witness and took the stand to lay out the allegations of Depp’s domestic violence during their marriage. Johnny’s lawyer Andrew Caldecott, however, claimed in court Thursday (March 18) that Heard’s testimony was unfair because promising to donate the $7 million gave her, “considerable boost to her credibility as a person” and “tipped the scales against Mr. Depp from the very beginning.”

Depp’s lawyers essentially believe the judge believed Amber because of her donation claims, but she actually has only donated $100,00 of the money. He thinks this entitles his client to a retrial. 

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Amber Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft admitted Amber had not yet fulfilled the entirety of the $7 million pledge because Depp keeps suing her. “Amber has already been responsible for seven figures in donations to charitable causes and intends to continue to contribute and eventually fulfill her pledge,” said Bredehoft. 

On Thursday, Oregon Women’s basketball player Sedona Prince shared a video of the insane disparities between the women’s and men’s weight rooms at their respective NCAA tournament bubbles. “So for the NCAA March Madness, the biggest tournament in college basketball for women, this is our weight room,” she says, showing off a tiny dumbbell rack. “Let me show y’all the men’s weight room,” she continues, panning to a massive, warehouse-sized gym full of high-quality equipment. Her video was meant to call out the lack of respect and attention paid to women’s sports when compared to men, and people were quick to realize that it was completely unacceptable. 

On Friday, retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods reached out directly to the NCAA on Twitter, saying that their team had gotten truckloads of equipment to send to the women’s March Madness bubble, and they were standing by waiting to deliver it. 

“We acknowledge that some of the amenities teams would typically have access to have not been as available inside the controlled environment. In part, this is due to the limited space, and the original plan was to expand the workout area once additional space was available later in the tournament,” said NCAA Women’s Basketball Vice President Lynn Holzman. 

Fans and players alike have since called out other discrepancies that they noticed within the bubbles, including men and women getting different food and different types of daily COVID-19 testing. This is definitely a developing story, so hopefully we’ll get more information on the NCAA’s plan soon.

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Fat Joe appeared as a guest on Benny The Butcher’s The Plugs I Met 2 project and listeners are not too happy with the contents of what he had to say. For his verse on the track “Talkin’ Back,” a failed attempt to show his lyrical skill resulted in him delivering some pretty questionable bars. On the track, the 50-year-old Bronx rapper irresponsibly raps, ” Track me in and out of court, Harvey Weinstein⁠⁠/Threw that white up in the pot, gave ’em pipe dreams⁠⁠/And watch it spread like the Wuhan virus⁠⁠/Do ’em dirty for the low like Wu-Tang ’Sirus (ODB).”⁠⁠

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In addition to lowkey giving props to the convicted sex offender with the reference, the bar also particularly perpetuates anti-Asian racism, which has been ⁠⁠on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic ensued. An NPR article published earlier this month titled “The Rise In Anti-Asian Attacks During The COVID-19 Pandemic” reports that, “In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, racism and harassment toward Asian Americans have increased.” 

This type of hate manifested into the hate-driven mass shooting that occurred in Atlanta against its Asian community on Tuesday (March 16) at the hands of 21-year-old gunman Robert Aaron Long.⁠⁠

⁠⁠Many fans on Twitter have already begun to voice their disappointment and disapproval of Fat Joe’s bar following the release of The Plugs I Met 2 last night. 

“Fat Joe tried to jump on this Benny/Fraud with topical bars + the best he could do was “Wuhan virus” + “track me in + out of court, Harvey Weinstein,” one user disapprovingly penned. Scroll through some more criticism of Fat Joe’s lyrics, and let us know your take below.