New Hip Hop News

Brooklyn rapper Casanova was arrested on racketeering charges near the end of 2020 alongside seventeen others and he believes that, had the right people looked into his case, he would not still be sitting behind bars right now.

The 35-year-old rapper remains optimistic as he hopes to be released from jail soon after being accused of participating in criminal activities organized by the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation, a division of the Bloods gang. The Roc Nation-signed rapper has been keeping his fans updated on his situation via messages sent through social media from his management team. In the latest post, Cas claims that had the right people studied his case, he would be back home celebrating the new year with his family.

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“IF ONE OF THE HIGHER UPS REALLY MADE SOMEONE LOOK INTO MY CASE I WOULD BE HOME RIGHT NOW,” wrote the rapper on his Instagram page.

Some of the artist’s fans believe that this could be a dig at JAY-Z, who runs Roc Nation, where Cas is signed. Hov previously had a hand in bringing attention to Meek Mill’s case. Recently, he also started fighting for one of his fans, who has been locked up for thirteen years on a twenty-year sentence for a weed charge.

Do you think Casanova will come home this year? 

Screenshot via @bigcasanova_2x on Instagram

Sales figures for Nas and Hit-Boy’s newest album, Magic, are here. Over the first week since being released, the project moved 22k copies, landing it in the top 30 on the Billboard 200 chart.

The album was released on December 24, 2021, through Mass Appeal Records and is the third consecutive album by Nas that is produced by Hit-Boy. The first two albums, King’s Disease and King’s Disease II, were dropped in 2020 and 2021 respectfully. It also features appearances from A$AP Rocky & DJ Premier.

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22k sales is respectable considering Nas only announced the album one day before it was released. Regardless, it is still down from Nas’ King’s Disease II, which moved 56,000 equivalent album units in its first week.

“MAGIC is in the air. Midnight et brand new music to vibe to,” Nas wrote on Instagram, December 23. “Wow!!!”

Throughout Magic, Nas references other heavy-hitters in the music industry. On “Wu for the Children,” Nas compares himself, Jay-Z, and The Notorious B.I.G. to J. Cole, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar.

“Me, Jay, and Frank White is like Cole, Drizzy, and Kenny,” he raps.

He also honors the late Virgil Abloh and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and more at the end of the track.

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Eminem has officially jumped into the NFT game, acquiring an exclusive one-of-one “Eminape” design from Bored Ape Yacht Club. According to multiple sources, the Detroit-born hip-hop icon spent over $452,000 (123.45 ETH) on his purchase.

With the NFT craze leading us into the new year, it looks like the newly-fledged technology won’t be letting up — at least for a while. After rappers, including Gunna and Meek Mill, recently got into NFTs, Eminem did some research on the trend and decided that it could be a solid financial avenue for him to explore, making his first BAYC purchase and taking ownership of the “Eminape.” The NFT, which was designed specifically with the rapper in mind, features an ape wearing Eminem’s signature hat, which he has often rocked over the course of the last few years. 

Em didn’t publicize his NFT purchase but the news got out quickly on social media after he updated his profile pictures on Twitter and Instagram with the “Eminape.” 

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There has been some controversy stemming from rappers’ involvement in NFTs after it was reported that 6ix9ine’s previous “Trollz” NFTs might have been a scam, as his fans have claimed. Read more about that here.

What are your thoughts on NFTs, and Eminem’s new “Eminape?”

Lil Wayne’s security guard intends to press charges against the rapper for allegedly pulling a gun on him, despite previously deciding against taking legal action. The altercation took place at Wayne’s Hidden Hills home back in December.

The guard has accused Wayne of smacking him in the head with an assault rifle. 

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The dispute reportedly began after Wayne accused the guard of taking photos of him and leaking them to the press. The guard says he called the police, but Wayne fled the scene before they arrived.

TMZ reports that police do not believe the guard to have a strong enough case against Wayne and had doubts about the legitimacy of his story from the beginning. Police have yet to speak to the 39-year-old rapper.

In Wayne’s defense, he claims that he doesn’t own an assault rifle and police did not find any injuries on the guard when they arrived on the scene.

While it’s been a rough start to January for Wayne, his manager, Mack Maine, said that he plans to rerelease another of the rapper’s classic mixtapes at some point this month.

“Shout-out to the fans. If we could, we’d put all of [the tapes] up in one month,” he told Billboard in November. “It’s a tedious process. It’s not like a one-day thing. But we’re going to hopefully get all those mixtapes [up].”

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Kanye West has been jet-setting to start off the year, being spotted in Miami, Los Angeles, Belize, and other locations throughout the last few days. There has been increased media coverage on the 44-year-old’s personal life since his divorce from Kim Kardashian. And while he has been publicly begging for his ex-wife to let him back into her arms, Kim doesn’t seem interested. Ye recently purchased the home right across the street from his ex-wife as a teardown project and as work begins on his new property, the fashion icon continues to be spotted out on the prowl, going on dates with an eclectic range of women. 

After being spotted on a date with actress Julia Fox a few days ago, Ye seemingly had a sleepover at his Miami hotel room with a couple of other women, who were spotted on his room’s balcony with him. In the paparazzi photos, Ye stands at the ledge and looks at his phone as one woman wears a white crop top and looks away in the opposite direction. A different lady appeared in the doorway at some point, meaning that they weren’t alone in the room.

 
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Considering all the time that Ye has been spending with Future in recent weeks, he may be taking pointers from the toxic king. 

Check out the pictures at this link and let us know what you think of Ye’s recent escapades.

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UPDATE: The Weeknd has announced that his new album, Dawn FM, is out on Friday, January 7, and will feature Tyler, the Creator, Lil Wayne, Quincy Jones, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Jim Carrey. Check out the official trailer for the upcoming project on The Weeknd’s YouTube page below.

Read the original article underneath.

The Weeknd may have new music dropping at dawn, according to a cryptic new post on Instagram from the Canadian singer.

“Wake up at dawn tomorrow…” The Weeknd captioned a photo of the sun with no further explanation.

While it could mean anything, The Weeknd admitted over the New Year’s weekend that he plans to drop his next album without warning in 2022. He explained in a screenshot of a text conversation he had with La Mar Taylor, the co-founder of XO Records.

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“Happy New Year brother! What we thinking??” Taylor asked The Weeknd.

He answered: “Happy new year! Everything feels chaotic again. Music can heal and that feels more important than another album rollout. Let’s just drop the whole thing and enjoy it with the people… XO.”

The Weeknd’s contact photo for Lamar also alludes to dawn.

It’s been over a year since The Weeknd’s last full-length studio album, After Hours, was released. Instead of dropping a follow-up, he spent 2021 focusing on several popular collaborative singles including a remix to “Save Your Tears” with Ariana Grande, appearing on Doja Cat’s “You Right,” and more.

Check out The Weeknd’s new teaser below.

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Lizzo has always been known for her bold personality and antics, and the start of a new year clearly hasn’t taken those away from her. On the evening of January 2nd, the 33-year-old shared a video to Instagram and Twitter of her dancing to the City Girls’ hit track “Rodeo” while wearing nothing more than a pair of tights and a bodysuit.

Continuing with her consistent message of body positivity, Lizzo captioned the clip, “I gained weight. I look TF GOODT.” SZA responded with, “And DO,” while model Parker Kit Hill wrote, “I knew there was a reason why this song has been stuck in my head for the past few days.”

The “Truth Hurts” singer has never shied away from sharing her curvaceous body with the internet (she recently managed to catch “Pull Up Music” recording artist DaBaby with one of her super hot thirst traps), but she has admitted in the past that constantly having to discuss her body becomes “exhausting.”

“It’s exhausting,” she told Essence in an interview. “And that’s the point. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. We should be neutral about bodies.”

When she wasn’t sharing messages of self-love with her adoring fans this holiday season, Lizzo could be found being her usual, fun-loving self at Christmas gatherings. A story from the Daily Mail reports that the “Rumors” vocalist actually performed a cover of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” during a round of karaoke with her nearest and dearest friends; check out the video below.

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24-year-old Bella Thorne has added some seriously cool new ice to her jewellery collection. According to TMZ, the Time Is Up actress spent over a quarter of a million dollars on her new piece, which was designed by Alex Moss and pays homage to her home state of sunny Florida.

The jeweller showed off the piece on his Instagram page, captioning the photo dump, “we present The Florida Gem, made for @bellathorne, inspired by her hometown roots of Florida. Featuring a flexible tail-chain and a 16.7ct Natural Zambian Emerald #AMNY #FloridaGem.”

Moss’ post has attracted attention from other celebrities, including the Clermont twins who labelled the 1 of 1 necklace as “fire.” Another fan replied “damn – really look like vintage Cartier or Bvlgari, this shit crazy,” also giving the amazing craftmanship its well-deserved flowers.

The designer says “the whole look is not only iconic but [also] practical, with the alligator tails even bending for some flexibility while Thorne rocks it,” the outlet reports, also sharing that the rumoured price tag for the piece is $300,000.

In May of 2021, we also shared a story about Thorne’s impressive ice, although at the time she was making headlines for comparing her collection with “Birthday Song” rapper 2 Chainz’s when she also talked about investing in the reselling industry. 

Elsewhere in the news, it’s been almost a year since the Shake It Up alum announced her engagement to Benjamin Mascolo, with who she recently spent the holiday season in beautiful Aspen, according to Daily Mail – read more about that here.

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