New Hip Hop News

When Summer Walker was barred from attending the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards “due to COVID restrictions” fans were unsure of what to expect from the “Come Thru” singer. In the wake of Nicki Minaj’s week-long, multiple-front social media war with everyone from Piers Morgan to the Trinidadian government over The Met Gala’s vaccination requirements and Minaj’s claims her cousin’s friend had become impotent as a result of getting the shot, anybody getting barred from anything because of anything COVID-related is sure to stir up controversy. 

But not for Walker. 

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Even though she was not in attendance at the BET Hip Hop Awards, Walker said that she still loves BET and that BET still loves her, and ultimately kept it pushing. And with the exception of a few heated exchanges with her ex and baby’s father, London on Da Track, and a back-and-forth with an Instagram commenter about her social anxiety, it seems like Walker is in a good place. 

Announcing that her new album, Still Over It, would be available on November 5, Walker fans all over the country have been clamoring for new music from the Atlanta songstress. 

Yesterday, Walker gave fans in New York City a chance to listen to her follow up to 2019’s, Over It, a couple weeks early. Unfortunately for those fans, there was pretty major catch. 

In order to get that early listen, fans were going to have to put in some work. 

In an unorthodox move, Walker put a hard drive containing her new album in a glass case in New York City. Whoever was first to break the glass and retrieve the hard drive was the first to hear the album, and because New York is New York, somebody obviously smashed the case open and got the hard drive.

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A post shared by Summer’s Hard Drive (@summersharddrive)

Walker took to the Summer’s Hard Drive Instagram to congratulate NYC and ask if she should do it again in a different city but what do you think? Would you be down to smash open a glass case with a pink hammer just to listen to Still Over It a couple weeks early? Let us know in the comments. 

Karl-Anthony Towns says that Jordyn Woods played an instrumental role in his ability to cope with the death of his mother during the coronavirus pandemic. Both Towns’ mother and seven of his other relatives died of COVID-19.

“I feel, like, in a way, when my mom passed, she said, ‘I’m not going to leave you alone. I’ma make sure you know who you’re supposed to be with,'” Towns said in an interview with Taraji P. Henson for her Facebook Watch series Peace of Mind with Taraji.

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Towns felt that Woods, having lost a parent in her life as well, could uniquely understand what he was going through. Woods’ father died of cancer in January 2017.

He continued: “I leaned on her because she’s one of the only people who actually know how I was feeling and what I was going through because she was super close with her father just like I was super close with my mother.”

Towns says that he is permanently a changed man after the loss of his mother.

“I’m never going to get that innocent young boy back,” he explained.

Check out Towns’ appearance on Peace of Mind with Taraji below.

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Moneybagg Yo’s had one hell of a run in 2021. Coming off of the success of Time Served and Code Red with Blac Youngsta, the rapper delivered his biggest project to date, A Gangsta’s Pain. The album arrived in the spring with singles like “Wockesha” still on heavy rotation. Despite its success, the rapper didn’t immediately follow up with a deluxe edition like many of his contemporaries. However, this Friday, he’ll be bringing another seven songs to the tracklist for the official reloaded version.

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Bagg hit the ‘Gram earlier today where he unveiled the tracklist and features for the reloaded version of A Gangsta’s Pain. Pooh Shiesty, EST Gee, and Lil Durk will join Bagg on “Switches & Dracs,” DJ Khaled is featured on “Another One” and the previously released remix of “Wockesha” with Lil Wayne will be included on the tracklist. Bagg described the records as leftovers from the project. 

“7 songs All Slam Sum Shit I Just Had Laying Around,” he wrote. “Residue From Da Album FUCK A DELUXE IM RELOADED !! New Mursic This Friday 10/22.”

It looks like we’ll be getting new heat from Bagg at the end of the week. Check out the reloaded tracklist below. 

1. Switches & Dracs ft. Lil Durk, EST Gee, Pooh Shiesty
2. Wat Be Wrong
3. Gave It Ft. Big Homiie G
4. This Feeling ft. Bleu & Janiyah
5. Scorpio
6. Another One ft. DJ Khaled
7. Wockesha (Remix) ft. Lil Wayne 

Bobby Shmurda loves to show off his dance moves. Ever since he was released from prison earlier this year, he’s been celebrating on social media by busting a move, but some people think he’s dramatically changed since getting out. On many of his dance videos, you’ll find top comments criticizing the rapper for “twerking” or “belly-dancing” in his new music previews, which is exactly what happened when he started to tease his next single.

Showing off a new sound in the preview for his upcoming release, Bobby bragged about having threesomes and trapping, but his lyrical content wasn’t enough to keep fans from voicing their negative opinions on the music, his dancing, and more.

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“He was rocking them hips,” remarked one person in the comments, with over 8,000 others agreeing. “Waited dis long for sum bs” complained another. “Bobby rly had one of the worst comebacks of all time,” teased one of his haters.

It’s not a new trend for people to be attacking Bobby Shmurda unprovoked like this. With the delay in his new music releases, fans have been impatiently turning on the rapper, calling him out for his sometimes questionable dance moves, and tearing him to shreds on social media. While the world is happy that Bobby is free, many aren’t looking forward to his new music after he shared this preview, asking for the old GS9 Bobby to come back.

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Check out what people are saying below.

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On October 5th, Netflix released their Dave Chappelle led comedy special, The Closer. Since then, it’s remained in the news and has been heavily criticized for the 48-year-old’s controversial jokes surrounding transgender folks, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and more.

People from all over the world have weighed in with their opinions on the Netflix original, including Joe Rogan, who defended Chappelle during a recent episode of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.

The host shared that he and the Washington, D.C. native had been texting back and forth about the drama, saying that his friend is currently “riding out the storm.”

“He’s not a homophobic or transphobic person. He makes fun of himself. There’s a bit in that special about him getting molested and jerking off on a man’s face or cumming in a man’s face. Look, it’s fun,” Rogan said during his sit down with guest host, Michael Malice.

“It’s just making jokes. That doesn’t mean hate. This is the problem with today: if you don’t have an enemy, you make an enemy. And this is a real problem with people. We look for things.”

Another person to adamantly speak out in defence of Chappelle is Netflix’s co-CEO, Ted Sarandos. Earlier this month, he was quoted as saying, “several of you have also asked where we draw the line on hate. We don’t allow titles Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe The Closer crosses that line.”

Sarandos also confirmed that the streaming service would not be removing The Closer from its library, despite receiving several requests to do so.

Hear Joe Rogan’s thoughts on Dave Chappelle’s most recent cancellation in the clip below.

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Kanye West was seen meeting with former Donald Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen, in the Upper East Side neighborhood of New York City, Tuesday, rocking a strange prosthetic mask.

“We were just getting together,” Cohen told Page Six when asked for the topic of the meeting.

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He explained that West’s mask was merely designed to hide him from fans and paparazzi: “The purpose [of the mask] was so that people would not recognize him … the first 10 minutes we sat down, he was mobbed by people … who wanted photos, and to say hello. So he put on this mask to give him some anonymity, which interestingly enough, did not really work.”

NYC’s mayoral candidate Eric Adams had reportedly planned to attend the meet-up as well but was caught up in meetings in Midtown.

5WPR CEO Ronn Torossian told Page Six that the mask allowed West to traverse NYC without the need for security: “Kanye was very calm and relaxed with no security. He was wearing the mask most of the time and said he was wearing it so he could walk around freely. There was no security, he was just wandering the streets with the mask. He was a pleasant guy. He and Michael Cohen were talking about real estate.”

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Last month, zookeeper and Tiger King fan favorite, Erik Cowie, was found dead in a friend’s New York apartment. Cowie, who had no living family at the time of his death, was at risk of being buried in a mass grave until Jeff Lowe, who had previously taken control of the tiger park featured in Tiger King, claimed his body and sent him off properly.

At the time, no cause of death was revealed, but it was rumored that Cowie was found with a large bottle of vodka and today, nearly six week’s since his passing, TMZ has reported that Cowie died from acute and chronic alcohol abuse. According to New York City’s Chief Medical Examiner, Cowie had drank too much alcohol at once, and over time, and his death was classified as “natural.” 

Cowie, who was quickly beloved by Tiger King fans, has unfortunately become yet another tragedy associated with the Netflix docu-series that took the nation by storm at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. From lost limbs to on-camera suicides to Cowie’s death, Tiger King has transformed from a bizarre two-week viral moment to more of a disgusting commentary on the value of American entertainment. 

Despite Cowie’s death and Joe Exotic’s imprisonment for allegedly paying for Carole Baskin, fellow Tiger King star and Exotic’s arch nemesis, to be killed, Netflix announced, earlier this month, that Tiger King 2 would be arriving sometime before the end of 2021. What exactly will be featured in Tiger King 2 is yet to be seen, but Netflix has promised “just as much mayhem and madness” as was displayed in  the program’s first season. 

Our thoughts are with Cowie and his loved ones.