New Hip Hop News

If there is one thing that VH1 will consistently have on television, it’s some form of the Love & Hip Hop franchise. At this point, it’s nearly impossible to keep the behind-the-scenes moments during filming from reaching social media, and for weeks fans have been talking about the rumored upcoming season of VH1 Family Reunion: Love & Hip Hop Edition.

This marks the second season of this series where notable personalities from Love & Hip Hop, regardless of which franchise they belong to, come together for a vacation where they are set to mend broken relationships. It all counteracts the criticisms that Love & Hip Hop producers have received over the years regarding their portrayal of Black culture.

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This time Around, the star-studded cast features leads from Atlanta, New York, Hollywood, and Miami, including Amina Buddafly, Bobby Lytes, Booby Gibson, Brooke Valentine, Cisco Rosado, Cyn Santana, Erica Mena, Jonathan Fernandez, Juelz Santana, Kimbella, Marcus Black, Mimi Faust, Peter Gunz, Rich Dollaz, Safaree, Shekinah Jo, Stevie J, Tara, Yo-Yo, and ZellSwag.

Some of these folks know each other intimately, like Erica and Safaree who are going through a divorce, while others have never met before. They’ll engage in discussions and exercises focused on community building, mental health awareness, and self-discovery. Of course, there will be plenty of fights and hookups.

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Tune in on December 13 at 8:00 p.m. PT/ET for the premiere.

Since the public learned of the Astroworld tragedy in the early morning hours of Saturday (November 6) morning, the ongoing news cycle regarding the event has been unending. Travis Scott is bearing the brunt of responsibility as it pertains to the reported lack of safety measures at his coveted festival, and not only has he been removed from Day N Vegas, but Coachella fans have petitioned for him to be axed from that event as well.

Scott as well as his Kardashian-Jenner family and friends have all issued statements regarding the eight deaths and hundreds of injuries sustained by fans. As they all receive backlash for a variety of reasons, people like Ireland Baldwin, Alec Baldwin’s daughter, as well as Lil Duval have come forward in the rapper’s defense.

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Finding people in the industry willing to stand by Scott’s side during the scandal has been few and far between, but there are those like Duval who believe that this could have happened at any festival, anywhere in the world, at any time.

“You can’t blame Travis Scott for that astroworld sh*t,” tweeted the comedian. “That could’ve happened at any big event. I’m surprised it ain’t happened sooner. It’s damn near impossible to have that many people in one place with that much energy and nothing happens.” He later added, “Even if they would’ve stopped the event that would’ve made it that crowd stopped. It probably would’ve made it worse.”

Scott, Drake, and Live Nation have found themselves on the receiving end of lawsuits. Scott was recently named in yet another court case regarding nine-year-old Ezra Blount who is currently suffering organ failure and brain swelling after being trampled at the event.

It was a shocking case that stole the attention of all corners of the United States and the controversy surrounding Ahmaud Arbery’s slaying has only intensified in recent weeks. It was in February 2020 when the 25-year-old was jogging in his Georgia neighborhood and was chased by father and son Travis and Gregory McMichael in a pickup truck. Upon confronting Ahmaud, the McMichael’s, who were also joined by another acquaintance who followed in a separate vehicle, shot and killed the young man. They suspected that he was a thief stealing for homes in the neighborhood but Ahmaud was just out for a run.

The three suspects have remained incarcerated until the trial and it was recently shared that out of the 12 jurors selected, only one was Black. TMZ caught up with TLC singer Chilli, real name Rozanda Thomas, and asked her about the juror selection. To Chilli, the skin color or backgrounds of jurors shouldn’t make a difference.

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“We have to believe that there are kind, good-hearted people out there no matter what color they are so I would say, let’s look at it like that,” she said. “Just because it’s not the same skin color doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t be fair because to me it’s pretty obvious what happened. We can just pray and hope that they would see the same thing.”

The backlash was heavy for the music icon because people began pointing out dozens upon dozens of documented cases such as this within American history. Watch her video with TMZ and check out footage from the McMichaels’ trial below.

As Travis Scott remains on the receiving end of criticism over the tragedies that occurred at Astroworld, he has support from Ireland Baldwin. Recently, Ireland found her father, Alec Baldwin, at the center of controversy of his own. The acclaimed actor accidentally fired a prop gun loaded with real ammunition on set of Rust resulting in the death of a crew member, and immediately, people began calling him a murderer, killer, and pleading with authorities to make an arrest.

Unsurprisingly, Baldwin’s family, friends, and fans have stuck by his side and defended him publicly, including Ireland. This time, she lent her voice to Travis Scott’s scandal and called out those who have been vilifying the rapper.

“Y’all are really killing me these days. You believe everything that you see on Twitter and Tik Tok and completely bandwagon on spreading misinformation,” she wrote. “First you were armory/ stunt coordination pros when it came to the horrific tragedy involving my dad… and now Travis Scott is demonic because he ALLOWED people to die at his show?” Ireland was referencing the viral conspiracy theory videos that have circulated online.

She mentioned being “heartbroken for the families who lost a loved one” before adding that “it’s not Travis Scott’s fault.” Ireland said, “Any actual musician would validate that you can’t see or hear anyone up there. Especially when wearing in ear monitors.” She told people to “do a little research” before going after the rapper.

Read through her message below.

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Leonardo DiCaprio is one of Hollywood’s most revered actors. So, when it was announced that he would be taking on the role of cult leader Jim Jones in MGM’s upcoming biopic, there were some mixed reactions. Some people were excited while others were disgusted at the idea of a movie chronicling the cult leader’s life. Most, however, mixed up the cult leader Jim Jones to the beloved Dipset member. Memes began to flood the timeline and many began choosing other white actors that could make up for the other members of the Diplomats in this imaginary biopic.

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While neither Jones nor Leonardo DiCaprio immediately responded to the jokes, the Dipset rapper eventually issued a response to the memes circulating. “I’m a have to show him how to throw up [them] gang signs,” he commented. “He gone need some gang tutoring lol,” he added before joking about their uncanny similarities. 

“They said it would b Leo or Denzel I said Leo n me could pass for brothers. Don’t u see the resemblance[?] Box office shit,” he wrote. “Leo plays me in the new Jim Jones movie harlem we up.” 

No word on if Leonardo DiCaprio would ever accept that role but Jim Jones (the rapper) has teased a Dipset movie. Now’s a better time than any to get Leo’s agent on the phone.