Video network Vevo teamed up with Public Enemy’s Chuck D to celebrate 50 years of hip-hop. There will be programming including “Legends In Concert,” “Hip-Hop International,” “2K Hip-Hop Legends,” and more. The world’s leading video network will also collaborate with a hefty, yet, impressive list of hip-hop artists with appearances throughout 2023 from legends such […]
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Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga first debuted in 2019. The dramatized origin story of the Wu-Tang Clan stars Ashton Sanders (RZA), Siddiq Saunderson (Ghostface Killah), and Shameik Moore (Raekwon). The show is currently gearing up for its third and final season in February, but ahead of its premiere, Ghostface Killah has commented on one of its most shocking story arcs.
For those who have not yet seen the show, Ghostface Killah and Raekwon’s characters are depicted as deadly adversaries. In the first season, Raekwon even participates in a violent act that puts Ghostface’s entire family in danger. Since Rae and Ghost famously teamed up for one of the most celebrated rap albums of all time, many casual fans couldn’t believe that they were originally mortal enemies. According to one of Ghostface Killah, fans were right to be skeptical.
In a recent interview on the Outside with Gorilla Nems podcast, Ghostface Killah denied the validity of the show’s depiction of his beef with his Only Build 4 Cuban Linx… collaborator. When asked how they were able to work so closely together after beefing, Ghostface denied ever having beef with Raekwon.
“Me and Rae never had beef. That’s what I told you,” Ghostface Killah explained. “Yeah, me and Rae never had no problems. It was the way them characters got switched around. It’s TV.”
“I don’t laugh about that shit ‘cause that shit ain’t my story,” Ghostface continued. “But Rae my bro. I love him. We just had great chemistry. We had chemistry. Like he taught me a lot of shit.”
In an exclusive 2013 interview with HNHH, Raekwon admitted that there was beef and tension within Wu-Tang from the beginning. In a 2021 interview with VladTV, Raekwon confirmed Ghostface was beefing with one of his friends. That tension eventually led to Ghostface’s home getting shot up.
Do you think Ghostface Killah is being completely honest? Or do you think the depiction of Ghostface and Raekwon’s tensions in Hulu’s Wu-Tang show may have some merit? Let us know what you think in the comment section and stay tuned to HNHH for more news.
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Chris Webber, an NBA Hall of Famer and businessman, and his business partner Lavetta Willis have now officially launched their luxury cannabis brand Players Only (“PO”) all over the world.
In addition to exclusive branded strains like Non-Laters and Whipped Cherries, the Players Only brand will debut with Ray Jackson’s Black Sox and Blueberry Hotcakes in the coming weeks. Chris Webber’s C4, Time Out, and G.O.A.T.’s Milk strains will also be available. The company works with black growers and operators, like Hassim Robinson and Winner’s Circle Genetics, to introduce Quavo’s BIRKINZ and the well-known PB&J strain to the Michigan market. Legendary Detroit hip-hop musician Royce 5’9″, will introduce his “Heaven” brand as part of an avant-garde NFT, and Detroit’s iconic brand “Lil Stupid” will also make its regulated market debut.
A collaboration with Wu-Tang’s Raekwon leads to Compliments of the Chef and a partnership wth Citizen Grown to enlighten a commitment to the community. To introduce the “White Chocolate” strain, he is also working with Jason Williams, a former teammate from the Sacramento Kings.
Furthermore, Webber just hired Matt Barnes, a former NBA player, and teammate, as Chief Collaborations Officer while introducing “The Smoke” with Stephen Jackson, his business partner and co-host. The name of the product is a reference to “All The Smoke,” an award-winning SHOWTIME series created by Barnes and Jackson. Limited-edition brand collaboration with the Players Only x Packwoods 2.5G Blunt will also be available in some retailers to start off the launch weekend.
“Players Only is more than a cannabis brand – it’s a lifestyle brand,” Webber said. “We truly have a unique opportunity to change the narrative around cannabis, empower rising entrepreneurs and set a new standard in this growing industry. We’re thrilled to launch our versatile offerings and begin the process of creating meaningful economic change in communities across Michigan. Shout out to TerrAscend and Gage – our Michigan family. Much love to Cookies and Berner, let’s go!”
The new company’s products will be sold at a few Gage and Cookies outlets spread out over Michigan. Prior to launching the brand in new territories, the NBA legend will commemorate the launch of Players Only with activation in his native Detroit.
Players Only offer a wide range of cannabis experiences and goods, including pre-rolls, vapes, all-natural cannabis oil cartridges, exotic cannabis flower strains, and more. It also sells Players Only-branded clothing and shoes. In addition, the brand is collaborating on a variety of projects with artists, performers, influencers, legacy cultivators, and community organizations. Through the purchase of Gage Growth Corp. in March 2022, TerrAscend obtained exclusive retail rights for Players Only items in Michigan.
“We have been working with legacy cultivators and operators seeking to establish their place in the regulated market for quite some time,” said Lavetta Willis, co-founder and President of Players Only. “The opportunity to incorporate legacy strains and expertise into the Players Only platform and menu furthers our goal of uplifting black entrepreneurs who have been building brands and intellectual properties for decades.”
Players Only has created strategic alliances, minority ownership positions, and application involvement in significant restricted licensed states in addition to launching new cannabis products to give the brand the best marketing and distribution prospects possible. In order to ensure global customer consistency, they have established genetic ties with established farmers.
You can learn more about Players Only here.
The post Chris Webber Launches “Players Only” Premium Cannabis Brand and Announces Deals for Royce 5’9″, Quavo, Raekwon & More appeared first on The Source.
What comes to mind when you think of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? The Statue of Liberty, pizza, maybe the Manhattan skyline? All of these are defining traits of New York City, which doubles as the home to our favorite fictional group of reptiles. The Turtles have always embodied New York in a way that few other fictional characters in pop culture do.
With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge coming out, the publishers over at Dotemu knew early on they wanted one of the game’s many themes to be the Turtles’ love for the city. They also wanted tie something in that paid tribute to the era when the Ninja Turtles were at their peak. So, they looked around and quickly realized who they wanted to partner with the Wu-Tang Clan — specifically Ghostface Killah and Raekwon.
“We knew that, for the soundtrack of the Turtles, we wanted to have guests,” Dotemu’s Adrien Marie tells UPROXX. “We wanted to have big guest stars because it makes sense for the project and we wanted to raise the bar. Adding to what we have already been doing, we have a lot of different artists and guest stars, but we wanted to go further into mainstream music … we also were thinking about the fact that TMNT and hip-hop makes sense. A deep part of our perception is that it’s very anchored in there, it’s in the TMNT DNA, to have something hip-hop, and so we were thinking about hip-hop artists. And it’s New York, so we didn’t want to have any West Coast artists. So, our thought process was that we need to have East Coast hip-hop artists from the ’90s and the Wu-Tang Clan was at the top of the list.”
We ain’t came to lose!
@Raekwon and @GhostfaceKillah (thanks to @SuperFeminaEnt) from the Wu-Tang Clan are serving the ultimate hip-hop experience in @TMNT #ShreddersRevenge!
Pre-order your vinyl/CDs on @kidkatanarec website: https://t.co/mNSRvpfi4o pic.twitter.com/wuSSiJF5rJ
— Dotemu
(@Dotemu) June 13, 2022
Of course, the Wu-Tang Clan was formed in Staten Island. There are few people in music that better represent New York than them, so having Ghostface Killah and Raekown involved in the game was an obvious decision. So much of Shredder’s Revenge is about capturing the original spirit of the Turtles that many people grew up with in the ’80s and ’90s. From having a new rendition of the original theme song playing in the opening cinematic, to the entire game’s style, it’s a trip down memory lane for everyone involved.
So how exactly did Dotemu and the developers over at Tribute Games involve them? The spoiler-free answer is that it does play in the game and it’s one of the best moments of the entire game, but there are some secrets to the song that we don’t want to reveal without a spoiler warning.
A disclaimer: If you plan on playing Shredder’s Revenge then be warned that the following few paragraphs will have spoilers for both the game and music.
The track that Ghostface Killah and Raekwon made plays during the boss fight with Shredder towards the end of the game. It’s a really cool moment, because Shredder joins in a little earlier than expected. It’s a fun fight and the best thing to do is blast the music and enjoy the moment to its fullest, but there’s a fun little secret that Marie told us about what the song is supposed to represent.
“So, the idea was to have a rap battle,” Marie says. “Cyrille [Lambert] wanted the first part to be Shredder’s, which is why the first part of the song is from the point of view of Shredder, and then the other side of the track is the reverse. It’s when, after all of the menacing lyrics from Shredder, you have the Turtles fighting back. This is why the second part of the track is the Turtles saying, ‘No, this is this is our fight and we’re going to win.’ Based on that, Cyrille worked with Kid Katana records, and Tee Lopes, the composer of the soundtrack of the game, Tee created a beat, then Raekown and Ghostface recorded their parts.”
The song is a delight, it’s reminiscent of the infamous “Go Ninja” scene from the second movie. If they ever decide to make another Ninja Turtles movie, please let them do a battle rap scene and bring back the Wu-Tang Clan to make a cameo.
Cowabunga, motherf*ckers! Wu-Tang Clan and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles together at last?! You gotta figure the Turtles still owe us after having to weather the ’90s storm of the Vanilla Ice x TMNT “Go Ninja Go” collab. The dawn is now upon us as Ghostface Killah and Raekwon have officially penned a new track for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtled: Shredder’s Revenge video game and it’s awesome, dude.
We ain’t came to lose!
— Dotemu (@Dotemu) June 13, 2022
Titled “We Ain’t Came To Lose,” the track is bona fide motivation for the sticks in the beat-em-up-style game. Ghostface comes in hot right off the bat, spitting, “Nice to meet ya, now I’m here to beat ya / With full force, mess up ya facial features. Hasta la vista, I’m sonnin’ all y’all, Little Caesar’s / All y’all stuff ya face with is pizza, pizza.”
It’s clear how natural this marriage of timeless city dwellers is before Ghost drops easily the best line in the track with, “My stomach cringes from all o’ ya fake ninjas,” to drive the point home. Raekwon The Chef is on the hook, repeating, “We ain’t came to lose,” like a mantra, leaving any shred of Vanilla Ice’s memory in the dust.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtled: Shredder’s Revenge is due out on June 16 via Tribute Games and Dotemu and will be available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Linux. Peep the audio of “We Ain’t Came To Lose” above.
The Diadora N9002 Philly is the second “Community Linx” product from hip-hop legend Raekwon, Diadora, and Foot Locker, Inc.
Community Linx is a franchise series that allows Raekwon to create product capsules in collaboration with and for local communities. Each capsule provides direct assistance to the community by providing local, up-and-coming musicians with tools, resources, and a plethora of information.
The Diadora N9002 Philly is a tribute to the City of Brotherly Love, and it comes in a specially designed box with landmarks from the city. The latest release comes in maroon, black, and grey, with a leather covering and a rubber outsole for further durability and grip. The heel features Raekwon’s trademark with a 3M twist. Beginning this Thursday, April 21st, the Philly-inspired Diadora N9002 will be available in men’s sizes exclusively at Foot Locker and Champs Sports for $120. To purchase, go to the Foot Locker Philly Park West Community Store at 1575 N 52nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19131.
Twenty up-and-coming musicians from Philadelphia were invited to a Zoom session hosted by Mina Say What in support of the Diadora N9002 Philly. Raekwon spoke about his creative approach in turning a 16-bar verse into a storytelling track during a moderated chat at the conference.
The musicians will be back this week for an in-person performance in front of special guest judges, including Raekwon. Participants will compete in four rounds, with the winner receiving one-on-one time with Raekwon after the competition.
“This is an empowering program and allows young artists to be embraced by some of the legends,” said Raekwon. “Shoutout Foot Locker, Champs Sports, and Diadora for helping bring my vision to life. We’re now in Philly with it on the heels of a successful NYC launch, and I’m excited to see what the city offers. There’s so much talent here, and we want to give people the opportunity to build and grow for the culture.”
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