New Hip Hop News

All it takes is a few tweets from Nicki Minaj to turn social media upside down. In the midst of explaining her absence from both the VMAs and the Met Gala, Nicki revealed her hesitancy towards getting the COVID-19 vaccine, even after catching the virus. While she explained that she would get vaccinated before hitting the road, she said that she needed to do more research. She also made a bizarre claim about the vaccine being linked to being impotent which has yet to be proven true.

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Nonetheless, Nicki’s received a tongue-lashing from the studios of MSNBC’s Washington-based studios to the British Prime Minister’s office. During Joy-Ann Reid’s talk show TheReidOut, she put Nicki Minaj on blast which led to the two having a brief back-and-forth on social media. Though many have condemned both Joy-Ann Reid and Nicki for the dispute, Charlamagne Tha God appears to think that the talk show host missed the mark with her comments.

“I respect Joy-Ann Reid. She’s the homie but she missed a real moment to teach yesterday because Nicki never said ‘don’t take the vaccine’ but she also, in the very next tweet, said she will probably get vaccinated to go on tour. Joy could’ve used that moment on her show to correct Nicki on whatever misinformation she put out. She could’ve said, ‘Nicki Minaj is encouraging people to do their research about the vaccine,” Charlamagne said, noting that Nicki put up a poll to find out people’s preferred vaccine brand. 

“Nicki said Drake is vaccinated and she’s going to get vaccinated to go on tour. So if Drake’s vaccinated, and Nicki wants to get vaccinated, why aren’t you? That’s what Joy could’ve done,” he continued.

Peep the clip below. 

Nicki Minaj stirred up the internet yesterday with her take on COVID-19 during an explanation on why she didn’t show face at the VMAs or the Met Gala. Nicki explained that she caught COVID which prevented her from performing at the award ceremony but she hasn’t received a vaccine — a requirement for anyone attending the annual gala. She received backlash for appearing to be an anti-vaxxer, especially after claiming that her cousin’s friend got the vaccine then became impotent afterward. 

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To be clear, Nicki did encourage her large fanbase to get the vaccine but the narrative that her cousin’s friend’s “testicles became swollen” after getting inoculated has been widely condemned by medical experts. The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked about his thoughts on Nicki’s comments. “I’m not familiar with the works, or as familiar with the works of Nicki Minaj as I probably should be,” he said before co-signing general practitioner Nikki Kanani who has been informing the public of the efficacy and safety behind the vaccines. He added that he would prefer to listen to musicians who promote the coronavirus vaccine.

This didn’t go unnoticed and Nicki Minaj didn’t miss the opportunity to troll a politician. Nicki didn’t fault Johnson for appearing to diss her during a press conference. Instead, she offered a voice clip on Instagram where she put on a British accent and claimed that she was “actually British.”

“Yes hello, Prime Minister Boris. It’s Nicki Minaj. I was just calling to tell you I thought you were so amazing on the news this morning. And I’m actually British. I was born there. I went to university there. I went to Oxford,” Nicki said before joking that she knew Margaret Thatcher. 

“She told me so many nice things about you,” Minaj said in the video. “I’d love to send you my portfolio of my work since you don’t know much about me. I’m a big big star in the United States.”

Check the clip below. 

Lil Baby must not have known anybody other than Megan Thee Stallion at the 2021 Met Gala on Monday night, because the rapper was continually spotted hovering around Stalli at a few different moments during the event. Some fans have pointed out that he looked like a “lost puppy dog” following the rapper around, and you’ll see why when you watch the videos.

As Megan posed for photos, fashion designer Stuart Vevers joined her shot and, seemingly randomly, so did Lil Baby. They took a few pictures together, but as some fans have noticed, it almost looked as though Baby was unintentionally photo-bombing Megan. 

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“Now why was LilBaby standing next to Megan like that,” asked one person on Twitter. “Why was LilBaby following Megan everywhere,” questioned another.

Lil Baby was outfitted by Coach, and so was Megan. Thus, it makes sense that the two stars of the brand were walking with Stuart Vevers, Coach’s creative director. Still, it looked like Lil Baby was lost at times, and fans are having some fun with the pictures of all three.

Aside from his appearance at the 2021 Met Gala, Lil Baby has been teasing new music as of late, promising some material soon for his fans. 

Check out reactions from his Met Gala appearance below.

If you’re in the market for a new iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch, then you’re in luck because Apple has just announced their upcoming slate of new products, highlighting improvements on their wearable tech, as well as their mobile devices and tablets.

The first announcements were for the iPad, with Tim Cook introducing a low-cost iPad and a new iPad Mini. The Apple Watch Series 7 was the next to be announced, as well as updates to the Apple Fitness+ program. Then, they finally got to the main event, coming through with the official iPhone 13 announcement.

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There have been rumors about the design of the upcoming new iPhone for the last several months, and people are even already talking about what the iPhone 14 will look like, but on Tuesday, Apple unveiled the brand new iPhone 13. 

Alongside the iPhone 13, the iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max were also shown. The improvements to the iPhone 13 include a new A15 Bionic chip, Cinematic Mode for videos, night mode on all cameras, a better battery life, and more.

The new products were rolled out this afternoon, and many of them will be available to purchase online as early as today. Some products will start shipping out next week.

What’s your favorite new Apple product?

By now, it’s no secret that DONDA’s vast list of creators is almost comedically large in scope, and the mere fact that Yeezy was able to compile a thematically cohesive project is an impressive feat unto itself. And though Kanye West’s smorgasbord approach to album creation can ruffle a few feathers, it can also lead to some genuinely interesting moments of collaboration.

Take “Come To Life,” for example. The album’s twenty-second track and one of the final songs before a slew of sequels kicks off, the track features a beautiful instrumental with a prominent piano presence. Today, the Kaufman Music Center revealed that one of their students — a sixth-grader named Zen Micheline Hung, actually played piano on the emotional DONDA track. 

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“How cool is this? 6th grader Zen Micheline Hung (far right), a student at #SpecialMusicSchool, our K-12 NYC public school that teaches music as a core subject, plays piano on a song called “Come to Life” on @kanyewest ‘s new album, “Donda”!” tweets the Kaufman Music Center, sharing a picture of Kanye West and several students. 

There’s also a clip of Hung performing the piano part of “Come To Life,” showcasing her impressive musical talent at an early age. No matter how you might feel about Kanye West, it’s cool to see him actively looking to collaborate with young creatives; one has to wonder if he’ll continue down that road on future releases. 

Check out the footage of Hung’s “Come To Life” piano performance below, and much respect to Kanye West for allowing such a cool opportunity to begin with.