New Hip Hop News

If you’ve been on TikTok at all over the past few weeks, you’ve likely gotten a preview of Dwayne Johnson’s verse on Tech N9ne’s track, “Face Off.” The song was a part of the latter’s ASIN9NE album, which dropped a month ago, on October 8th, and has since blown up all across the nation and beyond.

Seeing as “Face Off” was The Rock’s first rap verse, fans weren’t sure to expect, but the Red Notice actor came through, keeping up with Tech, as well as Joey Cool and King Iso, who are also featured on the song. As it turns out, we nearly didn’t get to hear Johnson’s MC skills at all as N9ne initially wanted him to provide a spoken word outro.

“He said, ‘I’d love for you to come in on the end and just do spoken word.’ I said, ‘In what way?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know. Maybe like a Rock promo, like if you were in WWE.’ And I said, ‘OK, cool. Let me hear it,’” he told Complex. Upon hearing what his friend had created, Johnson reportedly felt inspired.

“I called [Tech] and I said, ‘Look, brother, I have an idea,’” the 49-year-old said. “‘This might be a great idea or fucking trash.’ He laughed. He goes, ‘What is it?’ I said, ‘I want to try and rap this. Let me really try and attack some bars for you.’ He goes, ‘You want to do that?’ I said, ‘I would love to do that because if I just do a Rock promo at the end, I honestly feel like I’m not doing you and the boys the proper service. I really want to come in and help elevate in any way I can.’”

Johnson shared that he and Tech have been friends for years, the actor admires the way that his pal makes music “about the hunger and the drive and journey.” Once he had crafted up a rough draft of his verse, his rapper friend helped get it to where it needed to be, creating “Face Off” as we know and love it today.

“The fact that it went to number one on iTunes, number one on TikTok and YouTube, that’s such a blessing and it was so cool. I love all the heat that it’s getting, especially that verse, ‘It’s about drive, it’s about power / we stay hungry, we devour’—it’s good, man,” he said in the interview.

Check out “Face Off” below.

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A few days ahead of his headlining performance at Day N Vegas this weekend, it has been announced that rapper Kendrick Lamar has a new business manager. According to a report from HitsDailyDouble, the pgLang co-founder is working with Anthony Saleh, who is well-respected in the music industry as the manager of Future, Nas, YG, and others.

As he prepares his upcoming studio album, which he announced will be his final offering as part of his deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, Kendrick is making a change to his entourage, employing Anthony Saleh as his new manager. 

Craig Barritt/Getty Images — Co-founder of QueensBridge Venture Partners Anthony Saleh speaks onstage during The New Yorker TechFest 2016 on October 7, 2016

The low-key announcement was made as Kendrick’s upcoming festival appearance is being hyped, writing, “Kendrick’s new manager touts hip-hop superstar’s first U.S. live show in years with huge Vegas engagement. Bet everything on the K.Dot.”

TIDAL’s Chief Content Officer Elliott Wilson confirmed the news, writing, “Didn’t realize my guy Anthony Saleh @Dude_Br0 was managing Kendrick Lamar. Wow. Big moves. Congrats.”

With this news, it remains unclear of Dave Free’s role in Kendrick’s career. They work together as the co-founders of pgLang, but fans are wondering if Free will have any managerial duties as Saleh’s hiring becomes public knowledge.

Image via HNHH — Kendrick Lamar performing

Many believe that with this being Kendrick’s first US-based performance in years, the rapper may make an album announcement at Day N Vegas. Do you think we’ll be receiving some big news this weekend?

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Missy Elliott is one of the most important pioneers in hip-hop history. 

From iconic records, and even more iconic music videos, to breaking down barriers and allowing other women to step into the male-dominated genre, Elliott’s impact on rap music and hip-hop as a whole is undeniable. And after receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday, Elliott’s impact is literally set in stone. 

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With the help of Lizzo and Ciara, Elliott unveiled her star, the 2,708th in Hollywood Walk of Fame history, right in front of Amoeba Records. 

During Elliott’s start unveiling ceremony, the “Work It” rapper took some time to honor the “female MCs in hip-hop.” 

“To my sisters in hip-hop,” Elliott began. “I want to say I love each and every one of y’all — he ones that’s popping now, the one’s that’s about to be popping. But I want to give a big shoutout to the godmothers of this, and that is Queen Latifah, Monie Love, Sha-Rock, Angie Stone, Roxanne Shanté, Yo-Yo, MC Lyte, Salt-N-Pepa … Y’all are the backs that we stand on, y’all are the foundation. Y’all ran so we could walk. Y’all stood up for something so we could sit comfortably.” 

Ana Martinez, a Hollywood Walk of Fame producer, acknowledged Elliott’s perseverance as a woman in rap.

“Missy Elliott has broken through the barriers of the male-dominated Hip Hop world, and music industry as a whole, as she has led the way for many women who have followed in her footsteps,” Martinez said. “She continues to break barriers year after year and we’re thrilled to be able to honor her on the Walk of Fame.” 

Elliott, who was presented with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2019 VMAs, and enshrined into the Songwriters Hall of Fame the same year, has been recognized for her extensive work throughout multiple different eras of hip-hop, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is another notch in her belt.

Check out Elliott’s speech below and let us know what you think of her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

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Many people recognize 46-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio as one of the greatest actors in the game today. Throughout his lengthy career, the Los Angeles native has played incredible roles like Jack Dawson in Titanic, Jordan Belford in The Wolf of Wall Street, and Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, just to name a few. Now, DiCaprio is getting closer and closer to playing the infamously dangerous cult leader, Jim Jones.

As Variety reports, the actor is in “final talks” to not only star in, but also produce the new film, which was written by Scott Rosenberg, who’s known for his work on projects like Venom, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and Jumanji: Next Level.

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If you’re not familiar with Jones’ story, he was best known as the leader of the Peoples Temple religious group, and back in November of 1978 he was responsible for the mass suicide that took place at a jungle commune in Guyana. Jones and his closest confidants pulled off a scheme that saw them feeding cyanide-adulterated punch to a large group, resulting in their untimely deaths.

Complex notes that the cult leader’s body was found dead in the same year with a gunshot wound in the head. An autopsy would later reveal that Jones’ cause of death was suicide.

Elsewhere in the news, DiCaprio made headlines when he was seen chatting up billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Bezos’ girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, at an event over the weekend. The New Mexico native didn’t take long to troll his actor friend, posting a photo on Twitter joking that he may have to push the Hollywood icon off of a steep cliff. 

See the photo for yourself below.

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Roddy Ricch has been alluding to releasing his upcoming album quite some time. He has occasionally been dropping clues about the album’s details since mid-Sept., as fans have been starving for his second studio album.

On Monday (Nov. 8), Roddy took to Twitter to acknowledge his debut album Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial achieving 100 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart. He responded to this impressive feat by praising his fans, and teasing his follow-up: “all my fans GOATs ! it’s time for another one.”

Released in December 2019, Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial cemented Roddy Ricch’s versatility and separated himself from the pack of run-of-the-mill melodic rappers. While he had a reputation for crafting high energy bangers beforehand, songs like “War Baby” and “High Fashion” added an introspective and sensual aspect to his artistry.

On Sept. 13, Roddy unveiled that his upcoming album is expected to be titled Live Life Fa$t, and will presumably last around 51 minutes with eighteen tracks, the most ever for any of his albums or mixtapes. 

As fans took this as a sign the album was coming in the immediate future, it did not turn out that way. Roddy Ricch addressed the patience he has exhibited in preparing his album on Oct. 10, saying he wanted no fluff on the record: “For us to drop the album we gotta have a NO skip policy.”

This certainly falls in line with previous projects, as filler is hard to find. Eventually though, fans’ enthusiasm may turn to bitterness. The rollout for Live Life Fa$t should be coming any day now.

Check out Roddy’s tweet below.

Kanye West has turned in some of the most iconic interviews in hip-hop history. 

From his early appearances on MTV and VH1, to telling Zane Lowe he thinks he’s a God, to his proclamation that Sway Calloway did not have the answers, Ye always brings his A game to sit-down interviews, and his recent appearance on Drink Champs was no exception. 

When it was first announced that Ye would appear on DJ EFN and N.O.R.E.’s interview show, the internet didn’t know what to expect. Drink Champs had turned out some of the most revealing interviews in hip-hop history, but it was unclear if Ye was going to play ball.

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Just a couple minutes into the interview, however, it became clear that he was definitely going to play ball, and he was going to take every shot from the opening tip to the final buzzer. During the two-and-a-half hour interview, Ye addressed everything from his beef with Drake to his divorce with Kim Kardashian, and sent a couple heat-seeking missiles at Big Sean and John Legend. 

After the last couple months saw Kanye gallivanting around Europe and the United States wearing a bunch of weird masks and questionable Balenciaga x Crocs rubber boots, his Drink Champs appearance was the first time we’d heard unfiltered Ye in quite some time, and according to a press release from REVOLT, it is “on track to be the most viewed Hip Hop interview of all time.” 

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Racking up 2M viewers in just 12 hours, Ye immediately trended on Twitter and the buzz surrounding Drink Champs has only grown since. Four days after the interview was initially posted, Ye’s Drink Champs episode now boasts 6.3M views on YouTube and that number will surely increase as time goes on.

Check out Ye’s full interview below, and let us know what you think of his Drink Champs appearance being on pace to be the biggest hip-hop interview of all time.