ScHoolboy Q is dropping his new album Blue Lips in just a couple of hours at press time, and it’s been great to see him engage with excited fans online ahead of the release. Moreover, he recently answered a fan’s question on Twitter about the “cringiest lyric [he] ever wrote looking back.” “‘Make da p***y drip like a slitted wrist,’” the TDE MC replied on the social media platform. “[Two facepalm emojis] like braH embarrassing.” Of course, any great lyricist has at least a couple of duds on their track record, and it doesn’t take away from his many great bars. But folks are hoping that the 37-year-old doesn’t stoop back down to this level on this new LP.
Jokes aside, there is one person who would’ve definitely called out any weak lines on Blue Lips, and that’s none other than Jay-Z. After expressing his wishes to do so on Twitter -– and after “hip-hop Twitter” called it to action -– ScHoolboy Q was able to play the new album for Hov. Many within and outside of his Top Dawg camp reacted to this news excitedly online, let alone hardcore fans waiting for a new full-length record from him for a long time. We can’t help but wonder what other top-tier wordsmiths were able to take a peek behind the curtain for this project.
What’s more is that ScHoolboy Q’s album listening event for Blue Lips over the weekend fueled this excitement even more. One particular song sounds absolutely grimy, and in a clip circulating on social media, you can see fans go wild for it. We’re sure that the tracklist will contain a lot of peaks and valleys when it comes to energy and aggression. But it’s nice to see a lot of versatility from the teases, especially from such a big release.
Meanwhile, would you also rank this bar as the cringiest one that the “Cooties” spitter’s ever delivered? What are some other contenders that pop up for you, and how do you think Blue Lips will shape up? Whatever the case, let us know in the comments section down below. Also, check back in with HNHH for the latest news and updates on ScHoolboy Q.
Lil Baby and Gunna were once at the top of the world of unofficial rap duos, and what goes up must sadly come down. Following the latter’s plea deal in the YSL RICO case, which many took as overt proof of snitching, the former distanced himself considerably. However, the College Park crooner came back, dropped a Gift & a Curse last year, and is forging his new career path largely on his own. On the other hand, his former Atlanta partner has sent not-so-subliminal shots at him and even called him out during live performances. While this has been pretty aggressively anti-Wunna, the DS4EVER artist might be taking the opposite approach.
Furthermore, fans took note of one of Gunna’s opening lines on his brand-new single, “Bittersweet.” “You my dawg, I don’t care if we fall out, I never could diss you,” he raps on the cut, which many fans online interpreted as a message towards Lil Baby. After all, one of his first-ever big hits was the song “My Dawg,” so there’s enough connective tissue and context here to paint Baby as the receptor. It’s been a pretty one-sided beef from the “California Breeze” lyricist against the “fukumean” hitmaker. Maybe this will prompt the reconciliation that so many fans begged for online, and continue to pray for.
Meanwhile, as Lil Baby and Gunna continue this rift in the public eye, the origin of their falling out moves on. The YSL RICO case finally reached its more developed trial stages, and a whole lot changed in this proceeding’s course since the latter left. Young Thug and company are still locked in a battle to defend themselves, and the prosecution is not slowing down in their efforts to provide proper evidence. It’s worth noting that both clashing MCs voiced their support for Thugger and the crew various times over the past few years, regardless of what was happening at the time.
With all this in mind, what do you think about Gunna seemingly offering an olive branch to Lil Baby on “Bittersweet”? Will the positive reception to this track turn the tide on their relationship? Whatever the case may be, drop your thoughts down in the comments section below. Also, check back in with HNHH for more news and the latest updates on the Drip Harder team.
Antonio Brown has asked people not to “spin his words” after namedropping Keke Palmer in a series of raunchy tweets. “These all are rap lyrics. Please do not spin my words. Spin your money . Ima Rappa,” Brown wrote a few hours after a collection of tweets went viral. The posts in question referred to running a woman “like the Olympics”, referring to the colloquial group sex of “running a train”. The one that got people in arms concerning Palmer read “I don’t drink Arnold PALMERS I sip Keke Palmer Ya dig”.
However, the former wide receiver did double down on his lust for Palmer. “I love @KekePalmer. This is me creatively thinking of rap bars by the way is she Keke Single$.” Brown has been very active of late, seemingly trying to bait his former QB, Tom Brady. “I just f-ck Tom bihhhhh,” Antonio Brown wrote the day after Thanksgiving. It was part of a bizarre string of tweets in which Brown quoted Kanye and also claimed to have Alzheimer’s. Brady was reportedly instrumental in bringing Brown to the Buccaneers in 2020. However, Brown’s tenure only lasted a season and a half before his explosive exit from the team.
Elsewhere, Brown recently compared himself to Draymond Green. “Draymond Green in Antonio Brown” was the simple post that Brown made on X, formerly Twitter. Brown is likely alluding to the notion that both men are/were “unfairly targeted” or demonized by their respective leagues. Brown, due to his position on the offense, was never given the label of being a dirty player. However, he does believe himself to have been essentially run out of the league for his on- and off-field antics. Meanwhile, Green has long carried the dirty player label with him. Furthermore, that notoriety has been helped by incidents such as punching Jordan Poole and stamping on Domantas Sabonis.
In this latest incident, Green, Klay Thompson, and Jaden McDaniels were all ejected less than two minutes into a recent in-season tournament matchup between the Warriors and Timberwolves. The brawl broke out after Thompson and McDaniels clashed in transition. McDaniels pulled on Thompson’s jersey while the latter contested for a long rebound and the pair remained tangled up amid the ensuing breakaway. The two proceeded to start fighting, leading to a game-stopping brawl. Amid the chaos, Green was seen putting Rudy Gobert in a headlock.
It’s a crucial day for the RICO case against Young Thug and his YSL collective, as Judge Glanville made a pivotal decision in Fulton County on Thursday (November 9) according to WSB-TV’s Channel 2. Moreover, he ruled that prosecutors will be able to use rap lyrics as evidence against Young Stoner Life in court during this trial’s proceedings. However, the judge clarified that this is a conditional admittance for attorneys, as they must still lay a foundation in order to justify their use of any of these seventeen sets of lyrics. While this is a promising caveat, it’s also a very vague one, which puts these artists’ right to free artistic speech in jeopardy.
Brian Steel, Young Thug’s attorney, argued as much, vehemently opposing the use of these lyrics. On the other hand, the prosecution believes that the connective tissue between them and real crimes they indicted these individuals with is too great to ignore. “Your honor, someone can look at that indictment and say one thing’s for sure: that’s not fantasy,” prosecutor Mike Carlson expressed in court. “People are dead and murdered and a gang exists.” Now, it seems like it’s up to Glanville to determine their worth, as well as the recently seated jury.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 17: Rapper Young Thug performs at halftime during the Boston Celtics v Atlanta Hawks game at State Farm Arena on November 17, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
What’s more is that this is an interesting point on the prosecution’s board that comes just days after they had one taken off. Furthermore, Judge Glanville expressed disappointment in these attorneys withholding evidence and their general plan for the court. As such, it looks like Young Thug and YSL’s fate still hasn’t sealed, and it will likely be a very complex case to navigate. Still, the ruling on these lyrics is understandably disappointing: in an industry where artists are pushed to present the worst and most profitable version of themselves in exploitative ways that glorify violence and struggle, taking this collective’s success away due to the artistry they express and have been rewarded for expressing is an egregiously unfair and inhumane double standard.
Meanwhile, that’s not to say that we should ignore actual evidence of crime in the face of this battle. But this is something that will deeply affect not just this trial, but many more rap cases to come. As such, we’ll see if this injustice is what ends up sinking the ship, or if the system can’t find enough evidence to lock them up. On that note, log back into HNHH for the latest news and updates on Young Thug and the YSL RICO case.
You could use two hands to count the number of rappers who currently would rather be spitting bars on the microphone than living behind them. We have ten fingers, so lets count 10 notable rappers who are currently incarcerated.
In no particular order, YNW Melly, YFN Lucci, Pooh Shiesty, Casanova, Tay-K, Q Money, Hoodrich Pablo Juan, RondoNumbaNine, and Fam Goon Ralo are all locked up. This is just the list that we’ve accumulated. With more research, we could easily extend this list.
Tay K Casanova YFN Lucci
From Generation X to Generation Z, almost every era of Hip-Hop has had its share of rappers run into legal battles with the law. The judicial system has never been Hip-Hop friendly.
In the late ’80s, Slick Rick did a five year bid during the prime of his career. Snoop Dogg signed to Death Row Records just before being acquitted for first degree murder in 1993.
Snoop Dogg acquittal
Two years later, one of the most influential rappers ever, Tupac Shakur, served eight months in prison on sexual abuse charges.
In 2001, Bad Boy artist Shyne Po went to jail for 10 years for his involvement in a night club shooting. In 2009, Lil Wayne sat down at Rikers Island for two years for possession of an illegal firearm.
Meek Mill was arrested and hit with reckless-endangerment charges for popping wheelies in 2017. He had to serve five months of his two-four year sentence. 34-year-old, Meek Mill, has been fighting the justice system since 19-years old.
This reoccurring history of America’s criminal justice system resenting rappers, who are mostly Black people, is a reflection of the cruel history of the relationship between the American government and the Black community.
Black history in the United States is well known to be connected with violent, unfair, and biased treatment against people of color. Slavery, segregation, and a broken economic infrastructure including the prison system all aided in the prevention of Black progression.
People of color were denied civil rights and liberties. Black people were socially discriminated against, and struggled to advance financially.
If Black people didn’t suffer from those living conditions, there wouldn’t be a need to listen to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.” Unfortunately, POC did suffer, but they took the struggle and expressed it through sound. As a result, the birth of Hip-Hop.
In the late ’70s, during the genesis of the genre, artist mostly used music as a rhythmic way to not only entertain and uplift people, but also a way to lyrically protest the problematic issues plaguing low-income Black communities.
After the civil rights movement, Hip-Hop stood as a united voice for issues like poverty, racism, inequality, criminal justice, police brutality, and anything else that oppressed Black communities.
While Black artist non-violently protested with lyrics, the American government developed its prison industrial complex. The prison system is an industrial sector, just as slavery was considered an agriculture and labor business.
The evolution of Hip-Hop happened simultaneous to the mass incarceration of people of color in America’s prison system. Is the parallel of this phenomena coincidental or is it systematic? We’re not here to determine that, but let me leave you with some facts.
According to a 2012 report from the Death Penalty Information Center, there have been at least 1276 executions in the United States since 1976. There are approximately 3,251 inmates on death row and Blacks represent 42% of these inmates (Death Penalty Information Center, 2011). This statistic is quite disproportional because African-Americans only represented 9.7 percent of the population back then.
So again, is this systematic or coincidental? Is the unpopular opinion true about rappers being targets by America’s criminal justice system? We are uncertain in every case, but if rappers are not targeted, many make themselves easy to become targets.
Many artist deviated from reciting the same unhealed stories of civil struggles. They became more aggressive with their approach, and the music went from peaceful to painful.
The emergence of rap music gradually made Hip-Hop more dangerous. The kumbaya rap era ended, and transitioned to “Wa da da dang Wa da da da dang (Ay!) Listen to my 9 millimeter go bang!”
Sadly, this created a new parallel.
The increase of violent music, increased Hip-Hop’s popularity. Rappers became cultural icons and their unruly substance made everybody want to listen to rap. In 2017, Hip-Hop officially became America’s number one music genre, and all eyes were on the culture. This put the culture under a microscope, or better yet, put the culture on social media.
Artists should be able to utilize technology and use social media as a promotional tool. Instead we’ve seen more then a few rappers expose and document their alleged involvement in criminal activity online.
Tekashi 69 YNW Melly
The culture began to see more glorification of street life, rising criminal activity and dismissive attitudes towards the law. New-aged rappers seemingly love to display their rebellious behavior. Coincidentally, the feds love it too. It makes their job easier.
The Hip-Hop community fed up with the Hip-Hop police and blatant discrimination that rappers receive from the criminal justice system decided to take action.
In an effort to protect the artistic liberty of rappers, Jay-Z teamed up with other powerful leaders in Hip-Hop to push “Rap Music on Trial” (S.7527/A.8681)
“Rap Music on Trial” is a proposal of a new law in New York that will prevent the usages of lyrics on trial. The bill was written by Democratic Senator Brad Hoylman, Jamaal Bailey, and Catalina Cruz.
Jay-Z’s lawyer, Alex Spiro and University of Richmond Professor Erik Nielson co-wrote a letter to New York lawmakers in favor of the approval of this bill.
Hov along with superstars such as Meek Mill, Big Sean, Fat Joe, Kelly Rowland, Yo Gotti, Killer Mike, Robin Thicke, and more have all petitioned the letter.
New York rapper, Fat Joe said he is passionate about change and desires Hip-Hop to be treated fairly in the future.
“Our lyrics are a creative form of self-expression and entertainment – just like any other genre,” Fat Joe told Rolling Stone. “We want our words to be recognized as art rather than being weaponized to get convictions in court. I hope the governor and all the lawmakers in New York take our letter into consideration, protect our artistic rights and make the right decision to pass this bill.”
In 2017, the late South Central rapper, Drakeo the Ruler served three years in Los Angeles County Jail after the content of his songs and videos were used to prosecute him.
Drakeo the Ruler
“They rap about their crimes,” said the prosecutor Shannon Cooley. Detective Hardiman agreed and told the court he used “the greatest crime-fighting tools on earth – Google and social media.”
Hardiman cited Drakeo’s lyrics where he allegedly spoke about driving around with a rival rapper “tied up in the back”.
The judge indicted Drakeo on multiple felonies. Charges included murder, conspiracy murder, criminal gang conspiracy, shooting from a vehicle, illegal possession of a firearm and a number of other charges. He faced a life sentence.
In 2020, Drakeo accepted a plea deal that helped acquit his murder charges. His lawyer, John Hamasaki spoke on the judges initial decision to prosecute his client.
“It really makes no sense, logically, from a criminal justice perspective,” Hamasaki said. “Their main crime was making music, videos, and raps. And those raps were offensive to the [lead] detective.”
Erik Nielson, is the co-author of a book on discrimination in Hip-Hop, Rap On Trial; Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America. Nielson said he’s identified more than 500 total cases since 1991 in which rap has been used as evidence.
“Police rely on rappers’ music because it’s easy to watch YouTube videos and it’s often effective,” Nielson shared. “You don’t have to do police work, and you get convictions. It makes it very easy to pin crimes on people who were not involved.”
Hip-Hop is aware of this biased behavior by America’s criminal justice system, and it’s taking steps towards changing it. In no way should your bars lead you to a life behind them.
like braH embarrassing https://t.co/4Qd16JBVRQ
. Ima Rappa,” Brown wrote a few hours after a collection of tweets went viral. The posts in question referred to running a woman “like the Olympics”, referring to the colloquial group sex of “running a train”. The one that got people in arms concerning Palmer read “I don’t drink Arnold PALMERS I sip Keke Palmer Ya dig”. 
. This is me creatively thinking of rap bars by the way is she 
