New Hip Hop News

Talib Kweli and co-host Jasmin Leigh’s The People’s Party podcast has officially welcomed the wise and endearingly tangent-prone Questlove to the fold, and one of the highlight moments arose when the conversation shifted to Black Thought’s status as a bonafide GOAT contender. 

“Dude, that Hot 97 Freestyle ain’t shit compared to his Thanksgiving dinners,” jokes Quest, as Talib proceeds to praise Black Thought’s penmanship on “Act II: Love Of My Life.” After, Talib shares a startling revelation — that after slaughtering ten minutes of bars on Funkmaster Flex, Black Thought called him and seemed surprised at the positive response. He proceeds to ask Quest why the masses seem hesitant to recognize Black Thought as the game’s greatest emcee. 

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“There’s a moment when Kid A came out by Radiohead, and the buzz was so heavy on Radiohead in a deafening undeniable way, that you almost weren’t cool if you weren’t down with Radiohead,” begins Quest. He explains how he always felt “the idea of The Roots was always bigger than the actual Roots,” which didn’t always translate to direct knowledge about the music itself. “With The Roots, the idea of liking us is cool. We structure it so there’s something for everybody…but oftentimes, [Black Thought] is too good for his own good.”

“That rule in The 48 Laws Of Power where you’re not supposed to outshine the teacher, I definitely know there’s some of that going on as well,” he continues. “Often with our peers. I think Jay told me once…When Jay heard Tariq’s verse on “I Will Not Apologize,” Jay had this wide-open thing like ‘finally! Ya’ll listened to me.’ Tariq does such a simple rhythmic pattern there, and that’s one of the rare times he spoon-feeds you a simple rhyme pattern that your brain can follow. Normally it’s like Crazy Taxi.”

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“I was kind of asking, to Jay, can’t you use your influence to get him on more features,” reveals Quest, reflecting a meeting he had with the then-Def Jam President. “And he was just like — the logic of that thinking is, people will want to co-sign something new. He tells me, the problem with Thought is its one thing for a super-established artist to pull a move. He was sort of suggesting the ‘Renegade’ situation. That Nas line ‘Eminem murdered you on your own shit.’ That did a lot to establish emcees at the time. It’s one thing to get sonned by an established person, but the days of allowing Busta to [steal the show on ‘Scenario’] are far and few between.”

“Jay told me in no certain terms that no rapper can afford to look bad in front of him, so it’s almost why we gotta blackball him,” says Quest. t.” 

Check out the full conversation below, and show some love to Questlove in the comments — do you think artists were too scared to get on a track with Black Thought? 

Kyrie Irving is one of the best point guards in the NBA right now and he has been having himself a great season with the Brooklyn Nets. At this juncture, the Nets are second in the Eastern Conference and almost every single pundit has them going to the NBA Finals to represent the East. With James Harden, Kyrie, and Kevin Durant at the helm, this team is legit and for these past few weeks, Irving has acted as the anchor keeping the team together.

According to Shams Charania, Irving will actually be taking a leave of absence from the Nets, as he will be dealing with some family issues. The road-trip is set to last just three games, which means James Harden will have to handle things on his own, especially with Kevin Durant dealing with an injury.

Irving has been criticized in the past for his absences although it is important to mention that one of his absences had to do with his mental health, which should always come before the game of basketball. Not to mention, in times likes this, being around family is more important than ever before, and Kyrie should be allowed to take these absences whenever he sees fit.

James Harden is more than capable of picking up the slack, and we’re sure the Nets will be motivated for some wins ahead of this road-trip.

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On Friday morning, Justin Bieber released his long-awaited studio album Justice. On the album, Justin has scattered bits and pieces of audio from Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches, including the “MLK Interlude.” He was quickly criticized for using MLK Jr.’s speeches, as many believed it was an example of “performative activism.“

The day before the album’s release, Bieber took to Twitter to express that he was “supporting organizations that embody what justice looks like in action,” one of them being The King’s Center, which is a nonprofit organization founded by MLK’s family. MLK’s daughter Bernice King, who is also The King’s Center CEO, later publicly thanked Bieber for his support. “Each of us, including artists and entertainers, can do something,” King wrote. “Thank you, @justinbieber, for your support, in honor of #Justice, of @TheKingCenter’s work and of our #BeLove campaign, which is a part of our global movement for justice.”

Bieber attempted to explain his use of the samples in a recent interview with Vogue, saying,

“What I wanted to do with this was amplify [Dr] Martin Luther King Jr’s voice to this generation. Being Canadian, it wasn’t so much a part of my culture […] this speech was actually during the time when [he had] a feeling that he was going to die for the cause, and what he was standing up against was ultimately racism and division. I think his message was that a lot of people can be afraid to stand up for what is right, but if you’re not standing up for justice — for what is right — what are you doing with your life?”

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On Sunday, artist Akbar V got into an altercation with a flight attendant while on board a flight on American Airlines. 

Akbar went live on Instagram to record the entire incident. As the video starts up, we hear the flight attendant demand to see her ID, and pointedly asked “is that your seat?” which prompted Akbar to look to her fellow passengers and ask if the flight attendant’s actions were standard protocol. “And I’m gonna need your information ’cause you don’t know who you talking,” Akbar said to the flight attendant after he asked for her information. 

The flight attendant denied that he was racially profiling her in the video, but continued to argue with her.  She told the flight attendant to “get out of her face” after he said he “don’t tell me about racial profiling.”

Later on, Akbar V said to her fellow passenger, “Nah, he just didn’t think I was in first class. That’s all that is.” The flight attendant clearly overheard and quickly interjected, saying, “I don’t care…. ma’am stop talking please.” The two continued to bicker back-and-forth before Akbar finally stopped the video.

The Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta cast member has been known for her temper, and thus, fans commented on the video that Akbar handled the situation in a decent manner considering her temperament. 

This isn’t the first unpleasant encounter Akbar has had at an airline. She also said she felt “racially profiled” when flying with Delta Airlines last month. She posted a video on Instagram of a conversation with a Delta employee. According to the conversation, Akbar was pulled off the plane due to suspicion of drinking, although Akbar said it was just RedBull. 

While we have seen some airline incidents go terribly wrong, we’re glad that this one didn’t escalate to a point of no return. How do you all think Akbar handled the situation? Let us know in the comments. 

Check out the series of videos below.

Steve Harvey is set to appear on Monday’s episode of the TheEllen Degeneres Show, and during their conversation, Steve couldn’t help but talk about daughter Lori Harvey’s relationship with “sexiest man alive” Michael B. Jordan. 

“You know, I have tried not to like him,” Steve told Ellen in the episode’s preview trailer. “I have tried to find something wrong with him that I could dig in and go. ‘Cause I done got rid of all of them. All of them. Some of them that snuck in the back door on me and lasted a lot longer than I wanted it to.”

While Steve doesn’t specify which ones of her exes he particularly didn’t like, some of her other high-profile romances have included Trey Songz, Justin Combs, his father Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Future. 

“This guy is such a good guy, man,” Steve continued speaking to Ellen. “He is one of the nicest guys, man. I’ve met his father. I’ve set up with him, we’ve talked for hours. I just can’t find nothin’ wrong with him. Between me and you, I’m hoping this lasts ’cause this is a really, really good guy, man. I can’t whoop him. Most guys, I say I can jump on ’em and take ’em out, but he just looks like a real ass-whoopin’ in the making. So I’m just hoping they make it.”

Ellen seemingly agreed, telling Steve that she expected Michael would be in Lori’s life for quite some time. Aw! How sweet.

Check out the clip below.

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LeBron James recently twisted his ankle and now, he will have to miss “several weeks” with the injury. This is awful news for the Los Angeles Lakers who are currently battling for a top spot in the Western Conference standings. With Anthony Davis and LeBron James out of the lineup, there are plenty of other teams who stand to benefit, including the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, and Los Angeles Clippers.

While speaking on ESPN’s First Take today, Stephen A. Smith had some strong words about LeBron’s injury and how some of the other teams in the league should be reacting. In fact, Smith issued a challenge to the likes of Kawhi Leonard, saying that the star should be looking to guide the Clippers to a deep playoff run.

“You demanded that the Los Angeles Clippers pay the farm, mortgage the farm and everything else in between just so you could get Paul George,” Smith said. “This is not about his numbers. This is about willingness to lead, to galvanize, to maximize the potential surrounding you so that you can take this organization to heights it has never seen before.”

Leonard and the Clippers had a disappointing end to their season all the way back in 2020 and moving forward, they’re going to want to prove that their superteam is worthy of attention. If Kawhi accepts Smith’s challenge, we could be seeing a motivated Clippers squad to end out the year.

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Summer Walker and London On Da Track are expecting their first child together, and it seems like their daughter will be arriving shortly. Earlier this week, the two posed for some ruby red pregnancy photos together and announced that they would be having a girl, sweetly referring to her as “Princess Bubblegum.” It looks like the two are really starting to prepare for the arrival of their baby girl, as they’ve already created an Instagram account for her under the username @1princessbubblegum. 

There’s only one post up on the account so far, and it’s of a black loading bar, seemingly indicating that the couple are coming to the end of Summer’s pregnancy and the baby should be here soon. People were quick to point out that the username and the pink profile photo were likely a reference to the TV show Adventure Time, where there is a character named Princess Bubblegum. Many hoped, however, that they were not planning on naming their daughter Bubblegum. 

“i know you ain’t name that baby PRINCESS BUBBLEGUM… i know it for a fact,” one commenter said on the post. “Her name probably is bubblegum knowing how celebrities name their child anything,” said another. Some speculated that there’s no way Summer would name her daughter Bubblegum, writing, “Y’all do know princess bubblegum is from adventure time I don’t think they actually named that baby that it’s probably a nickname.”

We’ll likely get more news about the baby’s name once she arrives. Congrats Summer and London!