New Hip Hop News

Kanye West has been busy this week trying to repair relationships that he’s damaged over the years, including with Drake and Soulja Boy. He has yet to receive a response from Drake after he tried to put their differences aside to organize a concert to help free Larry Hoover. Soulja Boy, however, was quick to reply to Ye, confirming that they’re back on good terms after the music legend reached out on text and apologized for cutting his verse from DONDA.

After naming Soulja Boy as one of the most influential rappers in terms of where the culture has gone in the last decade, Ye reached out to Big Draco to formally apologize for taking him off his album, which previously angered the rapper.

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“Yo it’s Ye. Love you bro. I should have told you I wasn’t gonna use the verse,” wrote Ye in the text.

“Love you too bro. That’s all I wanted,” responded Soulja.

Shortly after the messages were posted to Ye’s Instagram page, Soulja Boy told his fans that he’s no longer feuding with the Chicago native.

“Me and Ye all good now,” he wrote on Twitter. “I was the first rapper to get an apology from Kanye West.”

He also replied to a joke from internet personality Adin Ross, who asked if the two had “makeup sex.” “I’ll smack u adin,” he wrote back with a laughing emoji.

Do you think Soulja Boy will get a Ye feature in the coming months?

He shot and killed two people during the Kenosha, Wisconsin protests last year when he was just 17-years-old, and finally, Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial has begun. The now-18-year-old stands accused of crossing state lines with firearms and patroling Kenosha streets during civil unrest before opening fire. Rittenhouse shot and killed two unarmed protesters but insisted that he was there to protect businesses from rioters and did not do anything wrong because he was being threatened. 

While on the stand earlier today (November 10), Rittenhouse openly wept as he recounted his side of the story. Things became so emotional that the judge had to call for a recess.

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According to CNN, Judge Bruce Schroeder told the jury that this trial could reach its conclusion by as early as next week.

“I have just discussed the matter with the lawyers, and I’m very confident that we will finish by Tuesday as I asked you about a couple of weeks ago. And there is a bare chance, I don’t want to get your hopes up, but there is a chance we can finish on Monday. And that’s the best of my information. It isn’t a promise, but I think that’s very realistic,” Schroeder reportedly stated.

Meanwhile, Candace Owens has been vocalizing her support of Rittenhouse on Twitter, once again.

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“Kyle Rittenhouse is innocent. It was another case of the BLM lynch-media-mob attempting to ruin a person’s life (this time, a 17 year old kid) to feed their race-obsessed ‘rampant white supremacy’ lie,” she said. “Journalists and Big Tech are the true enemies of the American people.” She also tweeted that she hopes Rittenhouse files lawsuits against the authorities.

If convicted, Rittenhouse is looking at spending the rest of his life behind bars.

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Shortly after news broke that tragedy had struck at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas over the weekend, leaving eight people dead and over three hundred injured, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner addressed the city and said that one of the security guards at the event was stabbed in the neck and injected with drugs. Some firsthand accounts suggested that somebody may have been going through the crowd and injecting festivalgoers with drugs as well, but Finner corrected his previous statement, claiming that the security guard in question was actually struck in the head before losing consciousness, and he was never injected with anything.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Finner said on Wednesday that after locating the guard, he confirmed that the story wasn’t adding up.

Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images — Houston Chief of Police Troy Finner speaks at the press conference addressing the cancellation of the Astroworld festival

“We did locate that security guard. His story is not consistent with that,” said the Police Chief. “He says he was struck in his head, he went unconscious. He woke up in the security tent. He says that no one injected drugs in him so we want to clear that part up.”

Finner also clarified previous statements about his relationship with Travis Scott. It was reported that Finner had a close relationship with the rapper, but that is also untrue. Finner says that he only spoke to Scott twice before the festival.

This news comes as the number of lawsuits filed against Scott and Astroworld’s organizers reached forty-six. Many more lawsuits are expected to be filed before the end of the week.

We will continue to keep you updated on all of the latest news in this heartbreaking story.

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Detroit rapper Big Sean has always put his entire city on his back. He holds a special place in his heart for his hometown, and he always makes sure to give back to the community in any way that he can. At the end of last year, it was announced that Sean had accepted a new role with the Detroit Pistons as Creative Director of Innovation. Now, he’s onto his next project, showing off progress pictures from the construction of his first movie theater in the city.

Back in 2018, Big Sean teamed up with Emagine to open a new movie theater in Detroit. While the pandemic may have delayed construction, they’re officially back to work, and the rapper is proudly showing off the lot his theater will be situated in.

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“Building my 1st movie theatre in Detroit, pandemic slowed us down but it’s on the way,” announced Sean on Instagram. “A dream come true, what else should I put in here? Arcade? Lounge? Bowling? A intimate Venue? Community Center? Let me know.”

Emagine boasts luxury recliners, specialty popcorn, and more in their theaters. They look to still be in the early stages of construction, so the theater might not be ready for a while. It was supposed to be complete in 2020. It was previously announced that it would feature ten to twelve screens, as well as a 300-seat auditorium, which will serve as a multi-function venue.

“There is no major movie theater in the city of Detroit — this makes no sense to me,” said Sean in a statement when the project was announced. “I feel that it is necessary to build a theater in the city, not only because of the joy and inspiration movies will bring to people’s lives, but I hope this theater will become a hub of creativity — a place for intimate concerts, lectures, meetings, and other events.”

How do you think Big Sean will innovate with his cinema?

It was reported a few weeks ago that Mac Miller’s drug supplier entered a guilty plea to fentanyl distribution charges. On Wednesday, it was revealed that a second man has pled guilty to similar charges in the same case.

According to the Justice Department, 38-year-old Arizona man Ryan Michael Reavis entered a guilty plea to one fentanyl distribution charge as part of a plea agreement. Reavis admitted to “knowing that the pills contained fentanyl or some other controlled substance.” He faces a twenty-year sentence and a lifetime of supervised release.

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TMZ reports that Reavis supplied counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl to Cameron James Pettit, the drug dealer who sold them to Mac Miller. He was ordered to do so by Stephen Walter, who also recently pleaded guilty.

This news comes less than a month following the re-release of Mac’s Faces mixtape on streaming services. A posthumous music video for “San Francisco” was also released to coincide with the drop. Additionally, Mac was featured on Young Thug’s latest studio album Punk on the song “Day Before,” which was recorded one day prior to the rapper’s death.

We will continue to keep you posted with any updates on the criminal case surrounding Mac Miller’s 2018 overdose. 

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The horrifying events at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival this past weekend will likely go down in history as one of the darkest tragedies in modern music history. According to ABC 13, the now-infamous concert resulted in the deaths of eight concertgoers ranging from age 14 to 27, and of the hundreds of people who were injured and treated, two victims — a nine-year-old boy named Ezra Blount and a 22-year old Texas A&M University senior named Bharti Shahani — remain hospitalized following the “mass casualty event.”

As lawsuits continue to be raised against Travis Scott and the festival organizers, it’s crucial that to remember the victims affected by this unbelievable tragedy, and as of Monday morning, the identities of all eight of the people who were killed at the 2021 Astroworld festival have been revealed.

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Here are the names of all eight victims, as provided by Harris County:

Danish Baig, 27
Rudy Peña, 23
Madison Dubiski, 23
Franco Patiño, 21
Jacob Jurinek, 20
John Hilgert, 14
Axel Acosta, 21
Brianna Rodriguez, 16

According to ABC 13, Jacob “Jake” Jurinek and Franco Patiño were Naperville, Illinois, natives and best friends, and 27-year-old victim Danish Baig perished while attempting to save his fiancee during the crowd rush. Of the minors, Brianna Rodriguez was a 16-year-old junior at Heights High School in Houston who reportedly had a passion for dancing, and John Hilgert was a 14-year-old freshman at Memorial High School in Houston. Both Rudy Peña and Madison Dubiski were 23-year-olds from nearby Texas cities Laredo and Cypress, respectively, and Edgar Acosta confirmed with ABC13 Houston that his 21-year-old son Axel had traveled all the way from Washington to see Travis Scott live.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo spoke on the tragedy during a briefing this past Saturday. “This is an artist that we know has a following amongst young people with bright futures,” she stated. “Those were the people that were at the event, (they) went to have a good time. And no one, no parent, no friend, no sibling should see their loved one off to a concert by a world-renowned artist and not be able to expect them to come home safely.”

Rest in peace to all of the deceased, and prayers and support to the families and friends who have been affected by this senseless tragedy.

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Vanessa Bryant’s business handlings since Kobe Bryant’s tragic January 2020 passing have paid great tribute to him. She has had to manage deals with Nike, BodyArmour and their own family Mambacita line in his absence.

Now, Vanessa Bryant looks to pursue a wine business under Kobe’s name, which aligned himself with his whole career. On Nov. 5, she filed four separate trademarks under Kobe Bryant, LLC for a wine business named Mamba Vino.

Titles such as “MAMBA VINO 2024, “MAMBA VINO 24,” MAMBA VINO 8″ and “MAMBA VINO” were the four Vanessa filed, as she hopes to commemorate Kobe with his two numbers he played as in his career, as well as a wine releasing in three years perhaps. 

Kobe always compared his career to wine, because he aged gracefully and got even better over time. He actually took on the nickname “Vino” halfway through his career, which is Spanish and Italian for “wine.”

Since his passing, Vanessa had to overlook the handlings of Kobe’s Nike contract expiring, while still “hoping to forge a lifelong partnership” with the sports apparel titan instead. Later on, however, she scolded Nike for releasing a Kobe 6 Protro shoe dedicated to the “Mambacita” without her authorization.

After leaving Nike, she helped found Mambacita, the sports clothing brand dedicated to their late daughter Gigi, who also died with Kobe in their helicopter accident.

Earlier this month on Nov. 2, Vanessa posted a beautiful tribute to Kobe after BodyArmour was purchased by Coca-Cola. BodyArmour was a sports drink company that Kobe invested in in 2013, buying 10% of the company for $6 million. When Coca-Cola purchased BodyArmour, the Bryant’s were reported to receive $400 million in earnings.

It seems as though Vanessa is doing a terrific job with Kobe’s business handlings, doing justice to Kobe’s life work.

Will you be trying Mamba Vino?

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While Netflix initially announced Tiger King 2 would be out before the end of 2021 back in September, it wasn’t until a month later that we got an official trailer and November 17 release date. 

That’s when Tiger King star Carole Baskin’s complaints about a second iteration of the viral Netflix hit turned into legitimate legal actions.

Before the official trailer and release date, Baskin spoke openly about her disdain for Tiger King and the fact that a second season was in the works. Calling the show’s producers liars and noting that people “love a good lie,” she sat down with Variety for a whole interview just to convey her disgust. 

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Just over a week ago, following Netflix’s release of the Tiger King 2 trailer, Baskin filed a lawsuit against the streaming platform and Royale Good Productions. In the suit, Baskin alleges that “The Appearance Releases limited Royal Goode Productions’ right to use film footage of the Baskin to ‘a documentary motion picture’ … No mention is made of granting Royal Goode Production sequel rights, rights to create derivative works from ‘the Picture’ or additional seasons or episodes … By utilizing the film footage of the Baskin and Big Cat Rescue secured by Royal Goode Productions under the Appearance Releases in ‘sizzle reels’ and promotional trailers for the sequel entitled Tiger King 2, the Defendants are in breach of the terms of the Appearance Releases.” 

However, in court documents obtained by People, Netflix and Royale Good maintain they were well within their rights to use footage of Baskin and her husband. 

“Defendants did not need to obtain a release from Plaintiffs to use the footage in Tiger King 2 or its promotional trailers,” the documents say. “And there is nothing in any of the appearance releases that prohibits any use of the footage. Accordingly, Plaintiffs have no claim at all.” 

Netflix, having already won a court battle with Baskin when a Florida judge denied her request for a restraining order to prevent the company from using footage of her and her property, seems to have the high ground in this legal battle, but what do you think? Should Baskin be left out of Tiger King 2, or does Netflix have the right to include her footage. Let us know in the comments. 

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The trial between Jay-Z and Parlux Fragrances is finally over. 

Today in Manhattan, New York State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Borrok cleared The Blueprint rapper of all allegations waged against him by the perfume company. 

Parlux, who partnered with Jay-Z back in 2013 for a cologne called Gold Jay-Z, alleged that Hov was in breach of contract with the company, and that he had not fulfilled all of his promotional obligations for the cologne. Over the course of nearly six years of legal back-and-forth, there have been missed depositions, an ex-police officer hired (by Jay) to investigate former Parlux CEO Chuck Loftus and, most recently, three weeks of in-person court battles. 

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While the perfume company claimed that Hov hadn’t held up his end of the bargain, the 51-year-old assured that he “did a lot” for the release of Gold Jay-Z, and let it be known that he never liked doing business with the company, noting that “he always had problems with the quality of the lazy work that was coming from Parlux.” He also took it a step further, and countersued Parlux for what he said were millions of dollars in unpaid royalties.

According to Complex, Borrok was unsatisfied with either side’s case against each other, and jurors ultimately cleared Jay-Z, “while also rejecting Hov’s $6 million countersuit for alleged unpaid royalties.” 

Despite losing his countersuit, not having to pay Parlux $67 million in requested damages was enough to put a spring in Jay’s step as he left the Manhattan courthouse. As the Brooklyn rapper strolled out of the courtroom, a reporter asked him if he has 98 problems now, a reference to Hov’s 2003 record “99 Problems.” 

“Ay!,” he responded. “I like that.”

What do you think Jay-Z being cleared in his lawsuit with Parlux? Let us know in the comments. 

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