Hip Hop News

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who came under fire last week for abandoning his home state during a historically dangerous winter storm, is attempting to repair his image on social media with a photo of himself handing out water bottles. Many online have criticized the photos as being staged.

“#TexasStrong,” Cruz captioned the photos.

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Many compared the move to NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign to raise more than $4 million for the people of Texas.

“Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon,” Cruz wrote in a statement explaining his decision to travel to Cancun. “My staff and I are in constant communication with state and local leaders to get to the bottom of what happened in Texas. We want our power back, our water on, and our homes warm.”

Texas GOP Rep. Michael McCaul recently criticized Cruz telling CNN, “Look, when a crisis hits my state, I’m there. I’m not going to go on some vacation.”

The winter storm caused millions of families to lose power and almost half of the state’s population were affected by water shortages during the last week.

President Joe Biden recently declared the blizzard a “major disaster,” which will result in federal funds being allocated to the state.

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Shots were reportedly fired in southwest Atlanta on-site at a music video shoot for 42 Dugg and Roddy Ricch that left three people injured, two of whom were hospitalized. WSB-TV Atlanta reports that it is unconfirmed whether both rappers were on the set during the shooting.

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Police responded to the call of shots fired around 4:00 PM, Sunday, at a scrap yard on Wells Street. Grady EMS treated one victim who was merely grazed by a bullet at the scene, while the other two victims were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. Their current condition has not been announced.

The victims’ names have not been revealed and a shooter has not been arrested. An investigation is currently underway.

“Three victims don’t seem to be seriously hurt according to witnesses we talked to who were on set,” local WSB-TV reporter Steve Gehlbach, who was on the scene, said.

DJ A-Tron recently confirmed on Twitter that Ricch was not one of the victims and is doing well. 

“My n***a Roddy good, all the homies good,” he tweeted.

“The Box” rapper recently celebrated the massive success of the hit single on Instagram by posting a giant plague for going seven-times platinum.

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DaBaby has responded to the internet fervor caused by his apparent diss to Jojo Siwa, by saying that it’s “all love” and the controversial lyric was never intended as a diss. DaBaby even says his daughter is a huge fan of the YouTuber.

“I love Twitter bruh,” DaBaby tweeted, Sunday night. “@itsjojosiwa my 3-year-old princess is your number 1 fan. I bought her every product you have out. She think she you. Don’t let em trick you into thinking id ever have a problem with you. My word play just went over their heads. All love on my end shawty, Keep shinning!”

“I don’t ‘Siwa’ they so mad either bae,” he added, replying to a fan.

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The controversy originally started after the rapper dropped his new “Beat Box” remix on Friday, which includes the lyrics: “Turn me up, n***as gon’ see why/N***a, you a bitch, JoJo Siwa (Bitch).“

From there, YouTubers James Charles and Nikita Dragun came to Siwa’s defense, calling DaBaby out on Twitter for the line.

“Can someone please explain why da baby [sic] is dissing Jojo Siwa when she’s 12 years younger, 10 times richer, and 2 inches taller than him,” James Charles tweeted.

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The United States has surpassed 500,000 total deaths related to COVID-19, as we approach the one-year mark since the deadly virus was first discovered in the country. White House COVID-19 medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on CNN’s State of the Union program, Sunday, to provide the latest updates on the pandemic.

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“It’s nothing like we’ve ever been through in the last 102 years since the 1918 influenza pandemic… It really is a terrible situation that we’ve been through – and that we’re still going through,” Fauci explained, regarding the severity of the pandemic.

The nation’s top infectious disease official went on to estimate that mask usage could be commonplace through 2022, depending on how efficiently vaccines are administered.

“When the overwhelming majority of the people in the population are vaccinated, then I would feel comfortable in saying, you know, ‘We need to pull back on the masks,'” Fauci said. “The better we do at getting vaccine into people’s arms … that will be another important tool against preventing spikes.”

“We want to get that baseline really, really, really low before we start thinking that we’re out of the woods,” he added.

Congress is currently working to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package.

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Cam Newton has responded to the viral video that surfaced on social media over the weekend, which shows a teenager at his youth camp troll him. In the video, the free-agent quarterback asks to speak with the player’s father, an action Newton defended in his response on Instagram, Sunday. 

Newton writes in the caption:

I see there are ALOT of things festering out there that I see have took place over the weekend…. TO THE NATURAL EYE, you see me asking the young man “WHERE IS YOUR DAD AT?” but to me, talking to a “child” with everyone looking does me NO good!! So instead of speaking or going back and forth with a CHILD, I wanted to have a man to man conversation with his father!!

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The former MVP goes on to explain that he’s been running the camp for 11 years and has had a positive impact on countless players’ lives and careers throughout the last decade.

Newton, who played with the New England Patriots last season, has not been resigned by the team, but there are plenty of other organizations in need of a quarterback if the Pats decide to move on this offseason.

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Ne-Yo has revealed that he and his wife, Crystal Smith, are expecting a new child, just one day after their anniversary. The couple married in 2016 and currently share two children.

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“Overjoyed to announce… the family is expanding,” Ne-Yo wrote on Instagram on Sunday (Feb. 21). “You ready baby? Let’s go!” The caption included a short video of the couple embracing in front of a mirror.

“This is why I love you,” Smith wrote on her account.

Saturday, Ne-Yo and Smith celebrated their anniversary.

“Today marks 6 years of marriage,” Ne-Yo said on Instagram. “It has been a bumpy beautiful, tragically terrific ride full of twists n’ turns, up’s n’ down’s…and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ve grown so much. With the understanding that we’ve still got some growing to do of course, I have to acknowledge how far we’ve come. I think once we both realized that marriage isn’t ownership…but partnership, we found our tempo, our melody. And now we’ve become a beautiful harmony. I pray we sing this song forever.

“You fell in love with a songwriter, so the words come easy and can be mistaken for pacification. But I love you like lungs love oxygen. So I’m gonna SHOW YOU as often as humanly possible.”

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DaBaby has come under fire in the public eye for apparently dissing YouTuber Jojo Siwa in a new remix to “Beat Box,” which he previewed on Instagram Live. Fellow YouTubers Nikita Dragun and James Charles came to Siwa’s defense on Twitter, Sunday night.

“Turn me up, n***as gon’ see why/N***a, you a bitch, JoJo Siwa (Bitch),” DaBaby raps on the track, which is drawing criticism.

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Dragun responded on Twitter: “DaBaby don’t play with my girl Jojo Siwa. Put some respect on her name little boy.”

DaBaby debuted the new bars on Friday, with a music video, in which he holds up a photo of Siwa as he raps the lyric.

“Can someone please explain why da baby [sic] is dissing Jojo Siwa when she’s 12 years younger, 10 times richer, and 2 inches taller than him,” James Charles tweeted.

From there, Charles was involved in a back and forth in the tweet’s replies.

“Stay out black ppl business love we got this one,” one user wrote.

“A grown ass man is dissing a teenage girl for literally no reason this has nothing to do with race,” Charles responded.

Check out the music video for DaBaby’s “Beat Box” remix below.

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