New Hip Hop News

McKinley Phipps, or “Mac” as he’s known to No Limit fans, has been consistently maintaining his innocence since he was convicted of shooting a teenage fan at a concert in Slidell, Louisiana, in 2000. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and has currently served 21, claiming he was never involved in the crime at all. Many have corroborated his claims since he’s been imprisoned, including another man who confessed to the shooting, a key witness who recanted her testimony in 2015, and other witnesses who said they were threatened or ignored by prosecutors. 

McKinley’s wife Angelique Phipps is confident that they are close to getting him freed. “We are nearing the finish line in a long fought battle in securing McKinley’s freedom. While he still has the upcoming parole hearing and no definitive release date, we are relieved, grateful, and looking forward to the future.”

On Thursday evening, the governor’s office in Louisiana confirmed that McKinley had been granted clemency, which the governor, Rep. John Bel Edwards (D) reportedly takes “very seriously.” McKinley appeared in front of the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole in February, who unanimously voted that he should be made eligible for parole. “I congratulate you on your efforts to turn your life around and remind you that it is up to you to make the most out of this opportunity,” the governor wrote to Phipps in late March. 

Phipps must appear before a parole board once more on June 22nd before receiving a release date. 

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Aaliyah’s name began trending shortly after the news of DMX’s passing. Aaliyah’s mother, Diane Haughton, took to Instagram after news of the rapper’s death where she shared an uplifting tribute reflecting on his legacy and the positive impact he left on many lives across the world.

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“Earl you had and still have a heart of gold,” Haughton said in the statement. “You and Baby Girl will meet again with all the beautiful people we have lost. Will never forget your kindness. NEVER! Blessing to your family! Eternally!”

Aaliyah and DMX remained close friends until her death in 2001, having starred alongside each other in Romeo Must Die. They later collaborated with each other for the movie’s soundtrack on the song, “Back In One Piece.” Following her death, DMX appeared in the video for “Miss You” where he shared a heartbreaking tribute to the late singer. 

DMX tragically passed away after he was placed on life support for nearly a week. His family released a statement yesterday confirming the news after a week’s worth of misinformation spread across the internet concerning X’s health. 

“We are deeply saddened to announce today that our loved one, DMX, birth name of Earl Simmons, passed away at 50-years-old at White Plains Hospital with his family by his side after being placed on life support for the past few days. Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end. He loved his family with all of his heart and we cherish the times we spent with him. Earl’s music inspired countless fans across the world and his iconic legacy will live on forever. We appreciate all of the love and support during this incredibly difficult time. Please respect our privacy as we grieve the loss of our brother, father, uncle and the man the world knew as DMX. We will share information about his memorial service once details are finalized.”

We’ll keep you updated on information regarding any memorial services or vigils.

R.I.P. DMX. 

Kevin Durant won two championships with the Golden State Warriors and while he won Finals MVP in both of those seasons, fans still have a lot to say about the legitimacy of his rings. Joining a superteam with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green was always going to be a risky endeavor, especially when you consider just how much fans hate this new superteam era. Regardless, Durant will always be an NBA champion and no one can take that away from him.

Recently, Durant got to speak with Rachel Nichols of ESPN and during the interview, he made a bold claim about championships. Essentially, KD is no longer motivated by winning rings. Instead, he would rather see his game develop and eventually become the best player possible.

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“I wasn’t expecting to be a happy human being from a title,” Durant explained. “I was just expecting like, you know, the ending of a movie — once you worked so hard and everybody tells you like, ‘Yo, this is what you need to be working for, is this gold ball and these rings.’ And I’m just like, ‘Alright, cool, let me lock in on that.’ And I locked in on wanting to achieve that, but I also realized it’s a lot of stuff that factors in it, that’s out of my control.

“And once I won a championship [with Golden State], I realized that like my view on this game is really about development. Like, how good can I be? It’s not about, you know, let’s go get this championship. I appreciate that stuff and I want to win to experience that stuff, but it’s not the end all, be all of why I play the game.”

Durant noted that this new mindset came to him after his Achilles injury back in 2019. Considering he is on yet another superteam, there is a pretty good chance he ends up winning another ring anyway, which will only do wonders for his legacy.

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In social media discussions of the current rap game, “female rap” is often discussed as a subgenre of the larger genre, inherently positioning the women of hip hop against each other. That being said, the “female rap” game has undeniably reached new heights in the era following Nicki Minaj’s domination of the landscape, as previously articulated by Dreezy a few days ago. Chicago rapper Cupcakke, however, offered a completely different philosophy.

Ever since Donald Trump became the President in 2016, it’s become very clear that all you need to be successful in politics is some celebrity. If people know who you are and like your brand, then you have a very solid chance at becoming the President of the United States. This has led to Presidential runs from the likes of Kanye West, and now, it appears as though Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been considering his very own campaign, sometime in the near future.

In a recent poll, 46 percent of respondents said they would vote for “The Rock” if given the choice. This is actually pretty good when you consider how he hasn’t even been able to introduce a platform yet. In fact, The Rock saw the poll and took to Instagram, where he gave his reaction to it all.

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“I don’t think our Founding Fathers EVER envisioned a six-four, bald, tattooed, half-Black, half-Samoan, tequila drinking, pick up truck driving, fanny pack wearing guy joining their club – but if it ever happens it’d be my honor to serve you, the people,” The Rock said.

At this point, there is no guarantee that he will actually run for President, although we can only imagine what kind of media firestorm it would be if he did. Not to mention, what party would he even go with? For now, no one really knows.

In a series of Instagram posts over the last few days, Knocked Up and House actor Charlyne Yi has called James Franco a “sexual predator” and Seth Rogen an “enabler” of him, noting specifically when the three worked together on the 2017 film The Disaster Artist. “Why aren’t any of James Franco’s white male ‘feminist’ peers holding him accountable for abusing women then using his power and platform to gaslight them,” Charlyne wrote. 

Allegations have poured out about James Franco since 2014, when he admitted to messaging a 17-year-old girl to come to his hotel room. After his 2018 Golden Globe win for The Disaster Artist, several women came forward, Tweeting out further allegations against Franco. Five women after that also accused him of being sexually coercive at his Studio 4 Acting School, which has since closed. 

Yi played Safowa Bright-Asare in The Disaster Artist, but has now revealed she tried to quit and break her contract after finding out Franco was a “sexual predator.” “When I tried to break legal contract and quit Disaster Artist because James Franco is a sexual predator, they tried to bribe me with a bigger acting role,” she wrote. “I cried and told them that was the exact opposite of what I wanted, that I didn’t feel safe working with a fucking sexual predator,” she continued. “They minimized and said Franco being a predator was so last year and that he changed…when I literally heard of him abusing new women that week.”

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She goes on to call out Seth for continuing to work with James Franco after these allegations came out rather than holding him accountable, specifically citing when Franco hosted SNL in 2017. “Seth also did a sketch on SNL with Franco enabling Franco preying on children,” she wrote. “Right after Franco was caught.” 

Check out all of Charlyne Yi’s posts below. 

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TikTok has proven over and over again its power over the music industry and streaming. Doja Cat’s sleeper hit “Streets” received TikTok treatment with the Silhouette Challenge, subsequently pushing her to release the year and a half old Hot Pink track as a single. Reaching back further in time, Natasha Bedingfield’s 2007 hit “Unwritten” has recently resurfaced on the app in the form of an exciting bounce remix. 

As usual, its TikTok virality comes hand in hand with a matching dance. The British songstress seems to be loving the moves and the new remix, even offering up her own take on the dance. While she absolutely nailed the dance, all eyes were focused on something else.

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The dance begins with a rhythmic rocking back and forth and continues with a cheeky flashing of the participant’s derriere. In the viral TikTok, Bedingfield rocks a neon outfit as she performs the dance before sliding down her joggers to show off her shapely figure. 

Lamar Odom has been through a lot over the course of his life although there is no denying that he had a pretty incredible basketball career, all things considered. With the Los Angeles Lakers, he was able to make it to three-straight NBA Finals and won two in a row between 2009 and 2010. His first-ever Finals appearance was in 2008 where he and the Lakers lost in six games to the Boston Celtics. In that sixth game, the Celtics won easily, and it’s something Odom will never forget.

While speaking to VladTV recently, Odom divulged on his experience after that game and how the Celtics fans harassed the Lakers. As he explains, the fans were so rowdy that they ended up trying to mess with the Lakers bus.

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“We not only lost, they beat our ass in that sixth game,” Odom said when asked about losing his first-ever Finals. “They beat us so bad they wouldn’t even let our bus leave. They were shaking our bus when we were leaving so god knows what would have happened had we won that game.”

Celtics fans are known for acting in this manner so none of what Odom is saying should be considered as surprising. Regardless, we’re glad there were no injuries during this incident, as that would have been a massive dark cloud over the NBA.

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