News Exclusives

Happy 63rd Birthday To Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav!

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On this date in 1959, William Jonathan Drayton, better known to the world as Flavor Flav, was born in NYC. Flav is the former hypeman of the iconic, Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame Hip-Hop group Public Enemy.

Growing up on Freeport, Long Island is where A young Flavor developed his love for music, teaching himself to play the piano, drums, and guitar on his own. It was also in Long Island where a young adult Flav met Chuck Ridenhour, who later became known as Chuck D, the frontman of Public Enemy. The two linked at Adelphi University on the Island, where the two attended college and learned about each other’s love for Hip Hop.

As one of the founding members of PE, Flav was there in 1984 when the song “Public Enemy #1” was recorded; the first known track by the group. In 1986, the crew signed with Rick Rubin on Def Jam, however, Rubin did not initially want to sign Flav because he didn’t understand his role in the group.

Ever since PE’s debut album Yo! Bum Rush The Show, Flav was the hype jester to the ultra-serious, politically charged group which now included Chuck D, Terminator X, and a security force known as the S1Ws. Songs such as “Fight The Power”, “911 Is A Joke”, and “I Can’t Do Nothin’ For Ya Man” featured the comedic darts of Flav, which brought a balance to PE.

Drugs and domestic issues hindered Flav for a short while during his career, however, he bounced back into the public eye as a reality show pioneer, with shows like Surreal Life and The Flavor Of Love breaking ground in reality TV. Earlier this year, Chuck D announced that Flavor Flav was indefinitely fired from the group for his response to PE publicly endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Presidential race.

Big ups to Flav on his born day and TheSource.com wishes the Flavor Man many more!

The post Happy 63rd Birthday To Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav! appeared first on The Source.

[WATCH] Jake Paul Offers Kanye West And Pete Davidson $30M To Box On Pay-Per-View

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The ever evolving beef between Kim Kardashian’s former hubby Kanye West and her current beau Pete Davidson has everyone from Charlemagne Tha God to D.L. Hughley weighing in on the publicly controversial back and forth between the music/fashion mogul and his ex’s new comedian boyfriend. Now, boxing prospect/YouTube star Jake Paul has offered up $30 million to West and Davidson to square up on pay-per-view.

Even though it’s highly unlikely that West or Paul would step into the ring to fight, the offer by Paul is the bait that would seem to draw Ye out front for a response.

The post [WATCH] Jake Paul Offers Kanye West And Pete Davidson $30M To Box On Pay-Per-View appeared first on The Source.

The Source Magazine Remembers Nate Dogg 11 Years Later

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Sending a 21 gun soldier salute Rest In Peace one of Hip Hop’s favorite crooners

There were many who tried, but nobody put R&B into Hip Hop the way it was supposed to sound better than the late, great Nate Dogg of the legendary Dogg Pound. The Source Magazine would like to send him a posthumous shout in recognition of his contributions to the game.

Besides his obvious links to Snoop Dogg and the original Death Row Family, Nathaniel Hale, born on this date in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1969, Nate appeared alongside several iconic artists in the game including 2Pac, 50 Cent, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z. The world lost a talented singer, actor and musician when Nate succumbed to multiple strokes on March 15, 2011. He was 41 years old.

Condolences go out to Warren G, Dr. Dre, Snoop and the entire 213 on the day an entire community lost a Hip Hop legend.

The post The Source Magazine Remembers Nate Dogg 11 Years Later appeared first on The Source.

[WATCH] Thieves Create A Trap Door and Steal $5000 Worth Of Gas

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A family-owned gas station in Houston, Texas was robbed of nearly $5,000 worth of gas after a group of thieves stole more than 1,000 gallons of fuel last week. A rising new trend in a series of bold daylight thefts as Americans are becoming increasingly desperate for cheap fuel.

Gas prices have been rising steadily since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, with prices averaging $4.325 for a gallon of regular on Monday.

Some thieves have begun drilling holes into gas tanks, crawling under cars to drill the holes and catch the fuel before it hits the ground.
One group of thieves were caught at a family-owned gas station in Houston, Texas, where they used a ‘trap door in their vehicle’ to access a locked manhole cover and ultimately suck out the gasoline stored in underground tankards.

‘The way they did it was very sneaky,’ Jerry Thayil, who caught them in action on surveillance footage, told KHOU.

Thayil’s family owns the Fuqua Express gas station in Houston, where gas prices are averaging $3.978 and diesel prices cost an average of $4.834, according to AAA. He said a group of thieves hit his Chevron station three times last week and tried for a fourth.

They ultimately caught onto the act after noticing a deficiency in his stores of about ‘350 gallons of diesel per day for three days in a row.

At that point, he said, he began combing through the surveillance footage, and noticed a green van ‘just parked out there.’

‘Each time they were there about 15 to 20 minutes…in a high traffic time.’

He later realized that a black SUV was playing lookout to aid in the crime.

In total, Thayil said, the thieves stole over 1,000 gallons of gas, explaining: ‘We had locks on our fill caps. Still, they were coming in and … I think they were locking it with their own locks.’

‘They were doing it in front of so many people – so many different customers.’
Watch the video below.

The post [WATCH] Thieves Create A Trap Door and Steal $5000 Worth Of Gas appeared first on The Source.

Today in Hip-Hop History: 2Pac Dropped His Third LP ‘Me Against The World’ 27 Years Ago

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On this day in Hip-Hop History, the late Tupac Shakur released his third studio LP, Me Against the World. This album came at one of the most pivotal times in ‘Pac’s life and career. Recorded shortly after his near-fatal assassination attempt in New York and released while he was in prison, this album marked a change in 2Pac as an artist and a man.

This album was nothing like the music that gave him his “thug life” gangster image and street credentials. The subject matter and tone of this project were a lot more serious and introspective than anything he had previously released. Much less high energy than the tracks from his previous album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z…, this album showed genuine reflection on his life and career path as an artist along with shining light on some of his personal struggles with paranoia and self-loathing.

The realism of this album brought a ridiculous amount of commercial success. Debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, the album has been certified double platinum selling over 3.5 million copies in the United States alone. Along with being #1 in the US, the album also ranked #23 in Germany and #20 in Sweden. In the year after its release, the album received the Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap Album. The project was Tupac’s most positively reviewed album and has been called the magnum opus of his career.

The singles from the project “Dear Mama,” “So Many Tears” and “Temptations” all made appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Dear Mama” peaked at #9, “So Many Tears” hit #44 and “Temptations” claimed the#68 spot.

The post Today in Hip-Hop History: 2Pac Dropped His Third LP ‘Me Against The World’ 27 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

Jussie Smollett Placed In Cook County Jail Psych Ward

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According to several confirmed reports, disgraced actor Jussie Smollett was placed in the psych ward in the Cook County Jail after receiving his 150-day jail sentence, but his brother says that despite his classification, Jussie is not having any mental health issues while incarcerated.

Jocqui Smollett, the brother of Empire actor Jussie Smollett took to IG over the weekend, saying, “So Jussie is currently in a psych ward at the Cook County Jail. What’s very concerning is that there was a note attached to his paperwork today saying that he’s at risk of self-harm.”

Jocqui continued, “I want to make it clear that he is in no way, shape, or form at risk of self-harm. He wants to let folks know that he is very stable, he is very strong, he is very healthy and ready to take on the challenge that… has been put up against him.”

Sources in law enforcement say that Smollett was placed in the psych ward because it is another housing unit used for high profile inmates.

Smollett was sentenced to five months behind bars for faking a racial and homophobic attack in Chicago back in January 2019.

The post Jussie Smollett Placed In Cook County Jail Psych Ward appeared first on The Source.

[WATCH] Stevie J Gets Oral Sex During Live Interview

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A video has gone viral that shows Love And Hip Hop star Stevie J receiving fellatio during a FaceTime interview while the journalist conducting the sit down tries to ignore what is actually happening.

Leah Henry was interviewing the former Bad Boy producer for her show “Leah’s Lemonade” when not long into the interview, a female’s hand comes into the frame, revealing that the philandering producer was not alone nor was he fully attentive to Ms. Henry. Leah eventually asks Stevie about his unidentified company, but he never reveals what’s actually going on during the interview.

Henry has had to defend herself against fans and critics alike who have criticized her for not promptly ending the interview when she realized what was going on and some even questioned her professionalism for continuing to interview Stevie while he was receiving oral sex.

The post [WATCH] Stevie J Gets Oral Sex During Live Interview appeared first on The Source.

Snoop Dogg Removes Most Of Death Row’s Catalogue From DSPs

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Last month, things began to take a futuristic turn for Death ROw Records, with former label signee Snoop Dogg taking ownership of the label and soon after said that the “world’s most dangerous recordlabel” would be made into an NFT. To further solidify that, the Dogg has now removed all of Death Row’s previous recordings from all streaming platforms.

Even though the report stems from a Wikipedia page, upon close examination of Death Row recordings on all DSPs including those from Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound, all of access to these songs and albums on public streaming platforms have been removed. Death Row labeled classic albums like Doggystyle, Dogg Food, the Above The Rim soundtrack, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and more are no longer available.

Snoop discussed the idea of bringing the Death Row label into the metaverse in a Clubhouse conversation, saying, “Death Row will be an NFT label,” he said.“We will be putting out artists through the metaverse. Just like we broke the industry when we was the first independent to be major, I want to be the first major in the metaverse.”

Even though Snoop hasn’t publicly addressed the disappearance of the Death Row projects, but fans have certainly expressed their displeasure in the absence of some of Hip Hop’s most revered classics.

One Clubhouse participant said, “So, thanks to Snoop Dogg promoting NFT shit and making Death Row Records an NFT record label, all the releases except 2Pac’s, will be removed from Spotify and so on. This is actually bullshit, that means no more Dre’s Chronic on Spotify. NFTs need to die, fucking stupid movement.”

The post Snoop Dogg Removes Most Of Death Row’s Catalogue From DSPs appeared first on The Source.

Today in Hip Hop History: Kool G. Rap And DJ Polo Dropped Their Debut LP ‘Road To The Riches’ 33 Years Ago

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On this date in 1989, Corona, Queens rap and street legend Kool G. Rap and DJ Polo released their very first album on the quintessential, yet now-defunct Hip-Hop label Cold Chillin’ Records.

As esteemed members of the world-famous, Queens-based Juice Crew, G. Rap and Polo dropped this project as one of the first full-length albums from the crew, only to succeed Big Daddy Kane’s Long Live The Kane and Biz Markie’s Goin’ Off albums. the Marley Marl-produced album is one of NYC’s crime rhyme holy grails, with tracks like “Road To The Riches” as a theme song for late 80s hustlers, but the majority of the album showcased G. Rap’s uncanny rapping ability. Tracks like “Men At Work”, “Poison” and their premiere track “It’s A Demo” were proof three decades ago that G’s style would be pioneering in the rap game, to say the least.

Salute to G. Rap, Polo, Marley, Fly Ty, and the rest of the Juice Crew and Cold Chillin’ staff for this important piece of Hip Hop history!

The post Today in Hip Hop History: Kool G. Rap And DJ Polo Dropped Their Debut LP ‘Road To The Riches’ 33 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

[WATCH] Quavo Wants Wesley Snipes’ Role In ‘White Men Can’t Jump’ Reboot With Jack Harlow

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Many fans and celebs know of Quavo’s b-ball skills, but now, the Migos front man wants to take his hoop dreams to the silver screen alongside rapper jack Harlow in White Men Can’t Jump reboot.

With the starring roles originally played by Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, White Men Can’t Jump tells the story of two on-court rivals who put their differences aside to hit the court together to hustle other playground stars for their money.

When asked about the upcoming reboot by TMZ, Huncho said, “I think they need to call me, so me and Jack Harlow can do it. I need to play Wesley Snipes’ role.”

The post [WATCH] Quavo Wants Wesley Snipes’ Role In ‘White Men Can’t Jump’ Reboot With Jack Harlow appeared first on The Source.