New Hip Hop News

Travis Scott discussed the tragedy which resulted in the deaths of eight fans at his Astroworld festival, in a video on his Instagram Stories, Saturday night. Scott says that he’s working with the city of Houston, local police, and the fire department to figure out what went wrong.

As for why Scott didn’t stop the show, he explained: “Any time I can make out anything that’s going on, I stop the show and help them get the help they need. I could just never imagine the severity of the situation.”

He continued: “We’ve been working closely with everyone to just try to get to the bottom of this. City of Houston, HPD, fire department — you know, everyone to help us figure this out. If you have any information, please just contact your local authorities. Everybody, continue to just keep your prayers.”

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The Houston rapper also said that his fans “mean the world” to him and Scott always wants them to have the best experience.

“I mean, I’m honestly just devastated and I could never imagine anything like this just happening,” he added. “I’m gonna do everything I can to keep you guys updated and keep you guys informed on what’s going on.”

Check out Scott’s video below.

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N.O.R.E. celebrated the success of his new interview with Kanye West for the podcast, Drink Champs, in a post on Instagram, Friday. Noreaga shared a screenshot of him face-timing with West after the interview was published.

“Yeah they saying interview of the YEAR YE!!! They also calling me NORE YE Ga!!!” he wrote on his Instagram. “The yalla getting to the yande!!! Yalla to many views to count imma stay home and drink water !!! praise gawd!!!”

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West’s interview on Drink Champs went viral for multiple comments he made throughout the discussion. 

The Donda rapper spoke candidly about numerous other artists, including Big Sean, who West says he regrets signing.

“No, I’m saying that the worst thing I’ve ever done is sign Big Sean,” West remarked. “Nah man, they let that—I know this man mama, bro. You know what I’m saying? I changed this man family and both John Legend and Big Sean when I ran for office got used quick by the Democrats to combat they boy that actually changed they life. And that’s some sell-out sh*t and I don’t rock with neither of them and I need my apology.”

West also called out Just Blaze during the interview.

Kayla B, sister of the late rapper King Von, reflected on his passing, on the one-year anniversary of his death, Saturday. Von was shot and killed at 26 years old after a dispute with Quando Rondo’s crew in Atlanta, Georgia.

In a post on Instagram, Kayla wrote: “A YEAR WITH OUT HALF OF MY HEART MY FAVORITE PERSON COULDNT TELL ME NOTHING ABOUT HIM IM SO HURT STILL @kingvonfrmdao 4L WITH ME STILL HOLDING YO SECRETS.”

She also shared a photo of herself and Von. On her story, Kayla posted several more photos of Von.

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Von would currently be touring with 42 Dugg and Pooh Shiesty, had he been alive today, according to Dugg.

“I miss my n***a @KingVonFrmdaWic and my n***a @pooh_shiesty we all suppose to be on TOUR RITE NOW GOING CRAZY RIP MY N***A VON AND FREE SHIESTY,” Dugg recently tweeted.

Earlier this year, Kayla called out Von’s girlfriend, Asian Doll, saying that “there is no queen Von.”

“Wow you bitches really be cap on this internet,” Kayla tweeted back in June. “Ain’t no queen Von [laughing emoji] because Von was single… Bitches live a whole fuckin lie & messy af hiding they hand!”

Check out Kayla’s tribute to Von below.

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Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist appeared on NPR’s The Formula, this week, to discuss their critically acclaimed collaborative album, Alfredo, and detailed what went into making their hit track, “Skinny Suge.”

Alchemist revealed that some of the music was inspired by A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip.

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Gibbs praised Alc’s work on the beats as something that allowed him to operate freely when crafting the lyrics: “The beats on the album let me be so free, I was rapping so good, I wasn’t even worried about structure. I don’t even think I wrote a hook! There wasn’t nothing pretty about this shit. That’s why … we dressed this shit up, put a bowtie on it, and took it to the Grammys.”

He continued: “That’s amazing! That just shows you this real rap shit ain’t dead. You can do what you wanna do and still be put up there with the top [artists in the game].”

Alfredo marked the second full-length project on which the two artists collaborated, following 2018’s Fetti.

Gibbs didn’t confirm specifics for a follow-up to Alfredo, but did joke that it will be recorded in Hawaii: “Next [album] I want to go to Hawaii. We can record in Hawaii. I’m going to bring in like 20 strippers. I need it for my mindset.”

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Donald Trump erroneously suggested that Alec Baldwin loaded the gun that killed Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust, during a podcast interview with Chris Stigall on Thursday. Baldwin shot and killed the cinematographer by shooting her with a prop gun, which he claims to have believed was loaded with blanks.

“He’s a troubled guy,” Trump said of Baldwin, according to Business Insider. “There’s something wrong with him. I’ve watched him for years. He gets into fistfights with reporters.”

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Trump also theorized that Baldwin “had something to do with it” and called him a “cuckoo-bird,” and a “nutjob.”

“But if nothing else, how do you take a gun and just, whether it’s loaded or not loaded, how do you take a gun, point it at somebody that’s not even in the movie and just point it at this person and pull the trigger and now she’s dead?” Trump continued.

“As bad as it may have been kept, meaning you know the people that take care of the equipment and the guns and everything else,” Trump said. “… But even if it was loaded, and that’s a weird thing—maybe he loaded it.”

Hutchins’ father recently said that he doesn’t believe Baldwin is to blame for his daughter’s death.

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Joey Bada$$ recently revealed how he landed a songwriting credit on Post Malone’s massively successful single, “Rockstar,” featuring 21 Savage. Bada$$ says he helped come up with the melody while freestyling with Malone in the studio.

“See let me clear that up, because me and T-Pain didn’t make that song,” Bada$$ told HipHopDX at Rolling Loud NYC. “Me and Post made the song together one night. We were actually, it was me, Post and Tankgod, we were actually just freestyling and fucking around in the studio. And its like, I kind of came up with this melody, and then it was like it was really just a freestyle — Post recorded it on his phone or whatever.”

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He explained that he later collaborated with T-Pain for verses on the song after running into him at Yams Day in 2018. Bada$$ says that despite loving the track, he wasn’t confident enough in his own performance to keep the verse. 

“Shout out to Post that’s my man he’s such sweetheart, he’s a cool dude,” he said. “I didn’t really want to be on the song, I thought my verse was trash. At that time I didn’t experiment enough to be confident to approach a song like that. So I was kind of just cool with having a part of it or being a part of it or whatever. So that’s kind of how it happened and then that version came out and people thought that me and T-Pain originally did the song — which is not the case.”

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A 14-year-old and a 16-year-old were reportedly among those killed at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival, Friday night, after a crowd surge resulted in the deaths of eight attendees. At a press conference, Saturday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner also revealed that the ages of the remaining victims to be between 21 and 27.

Another 10-year-old is injured and currently in critical condition.

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Turner says that the incident is currently under investigation: “This incident is being thoroughly investigated and reviewed. It is important for us to ascertain, from last night, what took place, what happened, where missteps may have occurred.”

“And so perhaps the plans were inadequate,” she continued. “Perhaps the plans were good but they weren’t followed. Perhaps it was something else entirely.”

Twenty-three people were arrested for trespassing at the event.

“I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night,” Scott said in a statement posted to his social media accounts. “My prayers go out to the families and all of those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival. Houston PD has my total support as they continue to look into the tragic loss of life. I am committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need.”

The second day of Astroworld has been canceled.

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Kanye West says that Jay-Z was “selfish” while the two were making Watch The Throne, during his recent appearance on the Drink Champs podcast with N.O.R.E and DJ EFN.

West says that Jay refused to put his track, “Holy Grail,” on Watch the Throne, despite West already putting forth multiple of his own songs for the project. Jay went on to use “Holy Grail” on his following album, Magna Carta Holy Grail.

West begins: “I took a track off of what was gonna be my album, the follow-up to [My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy], that I heard when we all was at dinner, and it was the ‘Otis’ sample. And I chopped it up and I was gonna go to Milan to do something in fashion and I was about to be late for the flight … ‘Cause I was like, ‘Yo, we not gonna lose this game. We not gonna lose this game no matter what. I’m gonna give you all this.’

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“I took ‘New Day’ off of my next album, I took ‘Otis’ off of my next album,” he continues. “And we got into this big argument because he had this song called ‘Holy Grail’ that he had Justin Timberlake singing on. And I was like, ‘We need to put this on this album.’ And then he was like, ‘Nah.’ Everybody knows Jay is very selfish … We all love him but, you know, he’s very selfish. He’ll say like, ‘Man, I’m selfish.’ So he wouldn’t give that song. I’m like, ‘Man, how I’m giving all of this?’”

West also called out Just Blaze, something Jay recently said was uncalled for.

Check out West’s Drink Champs appearance below.

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