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Pop Smoke Was Allegedly Killed By A 15-Year-Old During A Fight Over A Rolex Watch

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This past February marked one year since the hip-hop world was shocked by the news of Pop Smoke’s shooting death. The Brooklyn-born rapper was killed during a home invasion at a Hollywood Hills mansion he was renting at the time. Following an investigation, four suspects were taken into custody last July and each charged with one count of murder and robbery in juvenile court as they were all under the age of 21 at the time of their arrest.

Now, according to the New York Daily News, we now know which of the suspects was responsible with shooting. During a preliminary hearing for 20-year-old Corey Walker, the only adult in the case, LAPD Det. Carlos Camacho testified that Pop Smoke was killed by a 15-year-old teen.

“He admitted that he shot the victim three times with a Baretta 9 [mm.],” Camacho said. The detective also revealed that the group of suspects broke into the rapper’s mansion in hopes of stealing his Cuban link chain but only managed to get away with a diamond-studded Rolex watch, which they later sold for $2,000.

Camacho added that during a recorded jail interview, the 15-year-old “admitted that they asked for the jewelry” before engaging in “a confrontation” with the rapper during the home invasion. “They got into a fight, and he shot him three times,” Camacho said. “He said he shot him on the back.” The detective also said Pop Smoke fought back and “rushed” the suspects who “pistol-whipped” him before shooting him in the chest.

Swizz Beatz Explained The Frustrations He Let Out During His Speech At DMX’s Memorial Service

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It’s been a month since DMX tragically died following a heart attack that resulted from a reported drug overdose. His passing left many close family members, friends, and fans to grieve at the unexpected loss. One of those was Swizz Beatz, who shared a passionate speech at the late rapper’s memorial service last month. Swizz had some harsh words for those who failed to check on DMX before his death, despite claiming to be close to him. During a recent interview with Angie Martinez, he explained what inspired the speech and why he felt it was necessary to deliver it at the service.

“From the fans’ standpoint, X got a lot of love. It’s just the other love he was looking for I don’t think he got a lot of,” Swizz said. “And that’s what made me want to say what I said at his homegoing because I was dealing with a lot of that.” He added, “I was with X a lot. Especially, recently. So I was very current in his life and understanding where he was at and what he was going through. So when I started seeing things, naturally as his brother, it just bothered me.” He also said he had no regrets for the speech and would do it all over again if he had to.

Swizz also spoke about DMX’s upcoming album, which he called a “well-deserved masterpiece.” “X was really in a good mood after doing Verzuz,” he said. “He really got excited because he was able to see the love that the youth had for him and the energy that Snoop gave him…We didn’t leave L.A. We stayed there and finished the album at Snoop’s studio like from Verzuz. That energy bottled, bottled up and we just stayed on it. X was just saying that ‘I just wanna get some new music out so I can contribute to this new energy that I’m feeling.’” He continued, “He was going to get back in the best shape that we’ve ever seen him in a long time physically as well.”

You can watch clips from the interview above.

Saweetie Took Over The Santa Monica Pier For A Surprise Performance

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It’s been a while artists could safely interact with crowds, but with big-name music festivals set to make their return within the coming months it appears this period is nearing an end. With that in mind, Saweetie took her talents to the Santa Monica Pier for a surprise performance. The rapper shared a clip of her performance on Instagram, showing her rapping along to her 2019 track “My Type.” Another video that was posted on social media shows her also performing her new single “Fast (Motion).”

For the performance, Saweetie pretended to be an up-and-coming artist looking to make ends meet, complete with a small container that read “Pretty B*tch Summer Donation” on the floor near her. The set seemed to be a way for Saweetie to bring some additional attention to “Fast (Motion),” which she shared on Friday, with a music video that saw her take the role of a soccer player, racecar driver, skydiver, and more.

Last month, Saweetie appeared in a trailer for the third season of Call Of Duty: Warzone. She later revealed she attended an artist development boot camp to work on her craft.

You can watch videos of Saweetie performance above.

Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Jay-Z Reportedly Filed A New Trademark For A TV And Film Production Company

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Jay-Z has spent the bulk of 2021 buying and selling a number of companies he either owned or invested in. According to TMZ, his latest move brings him into the world of TV and film production. The publication reports that Jay recently filed a trademark through S. Carter Enterprises for the name “2/J” under the category of “entertainment services in the nature of creation, development, and production” for television programming, TV series, movies, and similar projects. The new trademark would suggest that Jay is entering the media and television business, following in the footsteps of names like 50 Cent (G-Unit Film & Television) and LeBron James (SpringHill Company).

This comes just a couple of weeks after the rapper’s investment firm Marcy Venture Partners teamed up with former MLB baseball player Adrian Gonzalez to invest in the Los Angeles-based LIT Method, a fitness company launched by Justin and Taylor Norris back in May 2020. Larry Marcus, co-founder and managing director of Marcy Venture Partners, spoke about the move in a statement. “Justin and Taylor are tenacious and adaptive entrepreneurs with so much drive and passion,” he said. “Their engaging content, motivating style, and innovative equipment are a winning combination.”

Prior to that, Jay-Z sold half of his champagne company, Ace Of Spades, to LVHM for what Forbes estimates was a $315 million deal. He later sold his streaming service, Tidal, to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Square for $297 million in cash and stocks. In exchange, Jay was given a seat on the mobile payments company’s board.

Chance The Rapper Will Celebrate The Fifth Anniversary Of ‘Coloring Book’ With A New Movie

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Later this month, Chance The Rapper will celebrate the five year anniversary of his third mixtape, Coloring Book. The full-length effort arrived three years after his 2013 breakout project, Acid Rap. In order to celebrate its fifth anniversary, Chance The Rapper announced that his upcoming movie, Magnificent Coloring Book, will debut exclusively in AMC Theatres later this summer. He shared a trailer for the film that captured the many performances Chance did during his tour for the album.

Chance shared his excitement for the upcoming film in a post on Twitter. “I’m independently distributing a film to theatres and I’m extreeemely proud of myself,” he wrote. “Thank you @AMCTheatres and thank you to everyone who made this concert, this film and this partnership possible. WE GOING TO THE MOVIESSS.” While Magnificent Coloring Book will stand to be Chance’s big-screen debut, it also marks the first time a recording artist has independently distributed a film through the movie theater company.

”As the first individual music artist to distribute a concert film at AMC, Chance continues to break new ground in entertainment, and we are thrilled to bring this incredible event to the big screen at AMC communities around the country,” Nikkole Denson-Randolph, SVP, Content Strategy & Inclusive Programming at AMC Theatres, wrote in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. “Chance’s love of not only film, but the communal magic of the cinemas and the shared experience of seeing a film together makes this collaboration even more special.”

Magnificent Coloring Book has been confirmed for a summer release, but a specific premiere date has not yet been shared.

You can watch the trailer for Magnificent Coloring Book in the video above.

Snoop Dogg Asked For Prayer For His Mother In Several Emotional Instagram Posts

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Prayers up for mama Snoop.

Today, Snoop Dogg asked his family and friends to get on their knees and start asking for a little heavenly help. Posting a glowing photo of his mother, Beverly Tate, on Instagram, the rapper captioned it: “🙏🏾🙏🏾💕💕💕😢 I need all my prayer warriors for momma right now please and thank you 🙏🏾🌹💝.”

Though there’s no further information on what Snoop and his family are going through right now with regards to his mother’s health, the public post suggests that she might be in some sort of crisis.

Prior to the post asking for prayer, he shared another pixelated throwback of the two tagged to Jamaica with the caption: “A mother’s love is precious 💝🌺 Rita.”

And after the prayer post, he shared a few more photos honoring her: another of her by herself captioned “Love u mama 💘💗😢🙏🏾💝💝,” a group shot with his two brothers captioned “The queen wit her 3 boys. We love u mama 💝💘🙏🏾🙏🏾🌹,” and finally, a pic of him and her all ddolled up with the emotional note: “Mama thank u for having me could of gave me up but u raised a family. 💝🙏🏾🌺🌺🌺.”

Live Nation’s 2022 Show Bookings Are Double What They Were In 2019

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Live music and entertainment has been necessarily put on hold during the advent of the coronavirus, where close proximity and large crowds are too risky as “super spreader” events to be legally happening. But now that vaccine rollout has begun, the booking behemoth has made it clear that next year, live events and live music will be back in full force. On a call with investors yesterday, May 6, Consequence reports that Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino let concerned parties know that the bookings for 2022 have already doubled the pre-pandemic rate in 2019.

“We are already seeing confirmed major tour dates for 2022 up double digits from the same time pre-pandemic in 2019 for 2020,” Rapino said. “Many of these artists will have multi-year tours, spanning the U.S., Europe and often either Asia or Latin America, setting us up for a strong multi-year growth run. Around the world, people are showing the need to get out and socialize once again which reinforces our expectation that a return to concerts will be the logical progression as vaccines are readily available to everyone who wants to get one.”

Particularly in the US, the interest in tours has skyrocketed due to increased vaccine availability, and Rapino said he expects other markets will react similarly. “This is generally already the case in the U.S. where we are confidently planning our reopenings, particularly for outdoor shows, and we expect many of our other major markets will follow this summer,” Rapino continued.

Finally, he noted that large scale events like festivals are slated to resume this summer.

Conan O’Brien Hilariously Accepts An Apology From BTS’ J-Hope For Getting His Name Wrong

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Over the past few days, Conan O’Brien and BTS have found themselves in a bit of a situation. A few days ago, clip from a South Korean variety show surfaced, in which BTS’ J-Hope misidentified O’Brien as “Curtain” before he and his bandmates realized the error and had a laugh about it. O’Brien featured the clip on Conan and playfully got upset with the group. Now, the saga continues: Today, J-hope offered an apology to O’Brien, which he has accepted.

Taking to the official BTS Twitter account, J-Hope wrote, “Sorry,,,,, Curtain [kissing face emojis] @ConanOBrien.” He then used a subsequent tweet to tack on a selfie of himself pouting his lips. O’Brien responded with humor, of course, replying, “In Hobi’s defense, Curtain makes about as much sense as being named Conan.”

(“Hobi,” by the way, is J-Hope’s nickname.)

O’Brien made it clear on his show that there were no hard feelings about the mishap, as he said through laughter, “I’ll get you, BTS. Oh I’ll get you good. And by that, I mean I’ll silently resent you. I have no power to do anything to you. You’re going to go on to have huge success. I’m very old and on the way out and you guys are pretty much running the world. So when I say I’ll get you, I just mean I’m gonna stew in my own juices for quite a long time, and you’ll be vastly unaware.”

Mac Miller’s Estate Denounces A Biography Planned For Release Near His Birthday

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With the Mac Miller estate announcing The Book Of Mac: Remembering Mac Miller releasing this October, fans may be surprised to learn that Donna-Claire Chesman’s book isn’t the only one about the rapper planned for release in the next year. Journalist Paul Cantor also has a biography in the works called Most Dope: The Extraordinary Life Of Mac Miller with a release date of January 17, but unlike Chesman’s book, Cantor’s effort has drawn the ire of Miller’s estate.

Sharing a statement through publicity company Orienteer’s Nick Dierl, Miller’s estate denounced the upcoming project, saying that it was “not authorized or endorsed by Malcolm’s family” and noted that Cantor wasn’t closely connected with Mac during the rapper’s life. The statement also points out the Cantor was advised that “the family and friends of Malcolm were uncomfortable with him authoring this biography.” The fact that the book has since been made available for pre-order also rubbed Mac’s family the wrong way, prompting them to wonder if the release date was announced to take advantage of the Book Of Mac pre-order in hopes of confusing fans.

The family expresses disappointment with Cantor and Abrams Press for the move and for setting the release date so close to Mac’s birthday (January 18). “With that in mind,” the statement reads, “We urge those that wish to support Malcolm and his legacy to abstain from purchasing this new book.” You can read the full statement below.

Mac Miller is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

50 Cent Trolls Floyd Mayweather Over His Recent Jake Paul Fight

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When Floyd Mayweather agreed to a fight with YouTuber turned boxer Logan Paul, both men likely knew there’d be a rise in media scrutiny on them, even compared to their usual level of attention. Of course, Mayweather proved to be a bit too susceptible to the Paul brothers’ trolling ways at the fight’s media day when Jake Paul snatched his hat, leading to a scuffle that wound up going viral when footage hit the internet. If that trolling got under his skin, the trolling from his former friend turned antagonist 50 Cent might just make him break out in hives.

“WTF going on on champ head,” 50 wondered in a post about the incident on Instagram. “I heard he had his pubic hairs put on his face. Lol.” In a separate post on Twitter, he again roasted Floyd’s haircut. “Floyd like [sad face] you can’t show people my hair,” he teased.

Floyd and 50’s feud extends back to 2012 when a dispute over money led to an exchange of vicious rhetoric between the two. In the years since, 50 Cent has mocked Mayweather’s reported trouble with reading, while Floyd sent some “jabs” back on social media as well. They’ve both even gone so far as teasing a potential bout between the two. But first, Mayweather has to get through Logan Paul on Sunday, June 6.