New Hip Hop News

On Friday, the Boston Celtics announced on Twitter that forward Jaylen Brown would officially miss time with a hamstring injury. Unfortunate news for Celtics’ fans, as Brown will be sidelined for at least the team’s next game, when they travel to Dallas to take on the Mavericks tomorrow evening. 

Today, Celtics’ Head Coach Ime Udoka told reporters that Brown’s hamstring is, “still getting assessed,” and that, “we’ll know more tomorrow about the severity or length of time [he’ll miss].”

From what Coach Udoka is saying, it would be a surprise if the injury only held the All-Star wing out for just a single game. In his absence, the Celtics’ will need more from key players like Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart, to pick-up some of the scoring slack.

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Brown had gotten off to a hot start for Boston this season, averaging nearly 25.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, before aggravating his hamstring in a 95-78 victory over the Miami Heat on Thursday night. Brown has had success this season, as the star wing scored an impressive 46 points in the Celtics’ season debut against the New York Knicks, however, his efforts haven’t necessarily resulted in overall team wins, as Boston has gotten out to a sluggish sub .500 start to begin their season. 

The Celtics (4-5) take on Luka Doncic and the Mavericks (5-3) on Sunday evening, as Boston looks to steady the ship as they await news on the significance of Jaylen Brown’s right hamstring. 

New Music Friday included some massive drops this week. As usual, we highlight all of it on our weekly Fire Emoji playlist. Without further adieu, here’s your breakdown:

Though tragedy struck Astroworld on Friday night, Travis Scott prepared for the return of his annual festival with the release of two new singles, “ESCAPE PLAN” and “MAFIA” ft. J. Cole. The two new singles from LaFlame appear to be the first official taste of what he has in store with his forthcoming mixtape, Dystopia. It was only right that both records found their way on this week’s playlist.

With Memphis holding it down these days, Key Glock has proven to be one of the leaders of the new generation of rappers in the city. This week, he shared the second installment in the Yellow Tape series. “Luv A Thug” and “Channel 5” were both necessary inclusions for the Fire Emoji playlist. 

Snoop Dogg recently announced his plans to bring New York back to the rap game. And it seems he made his intention clear with the release of his new single, “Murder Music.” With some help from East Coast heavyweights, Benny The Butcher, Busta Rhymes, and Jadakiss, Snoop blessed us with a more comprehensive look at what he has in store on The Algorithm. 

Finally, we got new music from Money Man. Hopefully, a new album is on the way.

Check out the Fire Emoji playlist below and subscribe to HNHH on Spotify. 

Daniel Cormier has become a very solid UFC commentator since retiring from the sport, and he can always be heard giving his opinion on the latest UFC broadcast. Recently, however, Cormier was criticized by Justin Gaethje for being way too biased. Throughout the match between Islam Makhachev and Dan Hooker, Cormier was clearly favoring Islam, who just so happens to be a part of Cormier’s training team. Gaethje felt like Cormier’s judgment was clouded as a result, which ultimately led to the criticism.

Recently, Cormier addressed these criticisms on Vover Podcasts, where he noted that he only appeared to be biased because Makhachev was winning the fight with ease. The one-sided nature of the matchup had Cormier talking a certain way, and that it had nothing to do with being biased. Cormier also said that he would have called the fight the same no matter who was participating.

Joe Scarnici/Getty Images

“How could I be biased to Islam? What could I have possibly said positive about Dan Hooker in that fight? There is no bias whenever a fight is clearly on one side,” Cormier said. “I think it’s absurd. I don’t agree at all. I have called Khabib’s fights, Luke Rockhold, Deron Winn, Islam Makhachev, I’ve called all of their fights and I feel like I have done their opponents justice. I go out of my way to make sure that we do their opponents justice. I’m a professional and for as much as I love my teammates, I understand the difference to separate myself from that.”

Cormier seems to also believe that the criticism is a good thing as it is indicative of the fact that he is doing a good enough job to be criticized in the first place. While Gaethje might not accept this answer, you have to appreciate Cormier for at least addressing what’s going on.

Virgil Abloh’s Off-White and Nike have collaborated a lot over the past few years. Even four years deep, they still continue to work on new shoes, and over the past few months, we have seen a plethora of teasers for an Off-White x Air Jordan 2 Low collaboration. There are two colorways coming, including the “Varsity Red” model which can be found in the official images below.

As you can see, the shoe has a white base with red and black trim throughout. All of the iconic Off-White aesthetics are here including the writing on the side and the hangtag on the laces. There is also a special box for these that will contain holes and some wings graphics all the way throughout. Needless to say, this is a special collab.

If you are planning on copping this new collab, you can attempt to do so as of Friday, November 12th when these drop on the SNKRS App for a price of $250 USD. These are going to be very limited, so be sure to be ready on release day, otherwise you might miss out on your one true chance to cop a pair.

Image via Nike

Image via Nike

Image via Nike

Image via Nike

Image via Nike

Image via Nike

Image via Nike

On Friday, the Cleveland Browns released their star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. after nearly three seasons with the team.

When Odell was traded in early 2019 from the New York Giants to the Cleveland Browns, the NFL saw one of its brightest stars leave one of the biggest markets in the NFL for one of the smallest. However, Cleveland’s first year quarterback and number one overall pick, Baker Mayfield, had just set the Brown’s rookie record for passing yards, leading the team to a much improved 7-8-1 record, compared to their 0-16 finish the year prior. 

When Cleveland brought in Odell the season thereafter, things seemed to be heading in an increasingly positive direction for the Browns and Beckham Jr., who would reunite with his longtime friend from their college days at LSU, Jarvis Landry.  

However, the Odell and Baker connection never materialized on the field, and although they were friendly and cordial with one another off of it, their lack of in-game rapport steadily began to impact their relationship as a whole. 

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

ESPN reporter Jake Trotter notes that the rift between the two developed far before Tuesday’s events that saw OBJ’s father take to social media, blasting Baker’s inability to get his son the ball, with reposting an 11-minute, blooper-like compilation of the quarterback’s ineptitude in taking advantage of the star receiver. 

Trotter outlines fractures in the QB-WR duo’s relationship from as early as their initial training camp together, detailing an occasion that saw Mayfield scream at Beckham and Browns’ receivers to, “Work the f***ing scramble drill!” and spike the ball in disgust.

Jason Miller/Getty Images

Odell reportedly downplayed the emotional event afterwards, telling the media that, “Once we get on the same page, it’s gonna be scary.”

The two never quite got there, however, as Trotter highlights a Browns’ team source who said, “Odell is in his head, and [Mayfield] is pressing every time [Beckham] is around. Odell throws him off…. and it all gets [messed] up from there because Baker becomes indecisive.” 

Maybe the duo will be better individually now that they are apart, especially Baker, who’s splits even show he’s a much more efficient quarterback when not targeting Odell. Regardless of individual success, however, this situation only proves as an added example for an organization that consistently fails to make things work and retain star talent. An all too familiar reality for the Cleveland Browns and their fans.