New Hip Hop News

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. 

During his appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Pete Davidson discussed some pretty big career moves he’s made, including working with model Emily Ratajkowski on an ad campaign, and gearing up to share the stage with Taylor Swift on a forthcoming episode of Saturday Night Live. What he danced around discussing though, is his rumoured relationship with Kim Kardashian.

The show’s host said to his friend, “I want to address something—I feel like I want to confirm if it’s real or a rumour,” obviously hinting at the headlines that have been coming out as of late. “This is something you’ve been reading a lot about in the press. We appreciate you doing it here.”

The audience quickly began cheering, thinking that they would be getting some insight into exactly what is happening between the mother of four and her new comedian friend. “I’ve been wanting to talk about this because there’s a lot of people I walk by, people are, like, whispering and making eyes at me. But it is true,” Davidson said, teasing viewers.

“I do have a show on Tubi coming out. The Tubi. A lot of people are shocked that I could get on a show like Tubi, but it’s a real thing.” If you’re not familiar, Tubi is an app that came out last year, and focuses on telling stories through short-form episodes, but has now also expanded to include an impressive streaming library.

Davidson’s new series is called The Freak Brothers, and will also star Woody Harrelson, John Goodman, and Tiffany Haddish. We may not have gotten much new information about he and Kardashian, but at least we know he’s staying booked and busy.

See the SNL star on Late Night with Seth Meyers below.

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Many of the songs on Summer Walker’s new studio album Still Over It, especially the scathing “4th Baby Mama,” are seemingly about the singer’s relationship with producer London On Da Track. While they were dating, fans experienced every bump in their love, and Summer is exposing all of the drama in her new music. 

As many already know, London was instrumental in the creation of Summer’s first album Over It, which he executive produced. It turns out that, despite many of the songs being diss records against him on the follow-up, he also had a hand in the making of Still Over It, with his name being mentioned in the writing credits of ten tracks.

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Summer Walker’s fans continue to slide into London’s comments to bash the producer for allegedly mistreating the singer during their relationship, and London is comfortably laughing to the bank amidst it all, joking on Instagram that he’s the first person to make money off of his own diss songs.

“London on Da Track the first n***a in history to get paid off his own diss album,” wrote London on Stories, quoting one of his fans. It was recently pointed out that the producer, whose real name is London Tyler Holmes, has writing credits on ten songs on the album.

“Fair exchange,” joked London in the caption.

Summer Walker’s Still Over It is presently on pace to become the highest-selling album from a female R&B artist since Beyoncé’s Lemonade. The album is expected to sell over 200,000 copies in its first week.

What do you think about London getting paid off his own diss album?

Screenshot via Spotify

Screenshot via Spotify

Our hearts continue to be with the families and loved ones of the victims of the Astroworld tragedy. As several days have passed since the tragic events in Houston last weekend, rapper Travis Scott has issued a couple of statements, including a video message that did not receive the best reception online. Other parties involved in the festival, including Drake, who performed at the end of the night with Travis, and Kendall and Kylie Jenner, who were spotted in the VIP area during the show, have sent out their own statements about Astroworld.

More information continues to seep out as the Houston Police Department and Houston Fire Department investigate what could have led to the crowd surge. During an appearance on the Today show on Tuesday morning, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena spoke about the tragedy, claiming that he personally thinks that Travis Scott should have stopped performing to assist the crowd after realizing what was happening.

Image via HNHH. Photo shot by @frankievergara_

“The artist has command of that crowd,” said Pena to Savannah Guthrie. “In my opinion, and this is my opinion right now because everything is going to be fleshed out throughout this investigation, but certainly, the artist, if he notices something that’s going on, he can certainly pause that performance, turn on the lights and say, ‘Hey we’re not going to continue until this thing is resolved.'”

Eight people between the ages of 14 and 27 have been declared dead from the crowd surge. A 9-year-old boy is currently fighting for his life in the hospital, as his family states that his organs are damaged and his brain is swollen after being trampled. However, Pena isn’t ready to say if Scott is to blame for the incident.

Lao Chengyue/Xinhua via Getty Images — Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Pena speaks during a press conference at the Wyndham Hotel in Houston, Texas, the United States, Nov. 6, 2021

“No, not at this point, I’m not prepared to say that. I’m not prepared to say he was fully aware of what was going on,” said Pena about any evidence that Travis incited the crowd to stampede toward the stage.

We will continue to keep you updated as this develops.