New Hip Hop News

Diddy is easily one of hip-hop’s most accomplished moguls. As such, he’s been constantly held as a prime example for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to stake their claim in the music industry. 

Today, Billboard has reported on a new addition to Diddy’s team, confirming that he has officially signed Wassim “Sal” Slaiby to be his new manager. Slaiby is best known for managing The Weeknd, easily one of the biggest superstars in the world; it’s unsurprising that Diddy was impressed by his new manager’s resume. 

 John Lamparski/WireImage/Getty Images

In addition to The Weeknd and Diddy, Slaiby also manages an impressive lineup of talent, including Doja Cat, French Montana, Belly, Bebe Rexha, Ty Dolla $ign and Swedish House Mafia. In addition to his expanding roster, Slaiby founded SALXCO and co-founded XO Records (where he is currently CEO), an impressive feather in his cap to be sure. Billboard also notes that he was named Varietys’ Manager of the Year in 2020. 

Given his many accolades and accomplishments, it’s no wonder Diddy decided to connect with Sal. At this moment, neither have issued any words on the signing, though it will certainly be interesting to see how it unfolds. Perhaps we’ll see Diddy linking with The Weeknd and Doja Cat in some capacity; though Diddy has largely strayed away from releasing music, that’s not to say he’s given up on laying down vocals entirely. 

Jerritt Clark/Getty Images. Doja Cat, The Weeknd, and Wassim Slaiby. 

Congratulations to Diddy and Slaiby for their new partnership — may it be a long and successful one. Stay tuned for more news on Diddy’s next endeavors, as well as developments from Slaiby’s XO Records right here. 

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Before Kobe Bryant had a legendary sneaker run with Nike, the late hall of fame great stepped onto the court in Adidas. He was signed to Adidas from his rookie season until 2002, and he made the jump over onto the Beaverton, Oregon-brand in 2003. Before he left the German brand, a few signature sneakers were made in his name – and they’ll be hitting shelves again sometime next year.

Sources closely tied to Adidas’ slate of upcoming releases told Complex to expect two shoes to return in 2022 – the Kobe 1 and the EQT Elevation, both shoes that Bryant wore during pivotal moments of his early professional basketball career. But because Bryant hasn’t been signed to Adidas for almost twenty years now, the company will not be using his name or likeness in promotion of the shoes. The brand has already done this a few times even while Kobe was still alive, and looks to be continuing it next year as well. These silhouettes will instead be renamed to the “Crazy 1” and the “Crazy 97 EQT,” according to a brand document for Adidas’ upcoming releases.

adidas “Crazy 1” in “Sunshine” – formerly Kobe 1 – image via Complex 

The plan is for Adidas to release two colorways of the Crazy 97 in time for next year’s All-Star Game in February. The inspiration behind that choice comes from Kobe wearing them in his 1997 appearance at the Cleveland All-Star Game in which he took home the win during the Slam Dunk Contest. The 2022 All-Star Game will be returning to Cleveland, so Adidas will be commemorating the moment with a colorway inspired by the 1997 All-Star Game’s court colors, while another colorway will be in the classic style of the Lakers’ purple and gold.

adidas “Crazy 97 EQT” in “Lakers” – image via Complex 

For the Crazy 1, Bryant’s first signature shoe that’s bulky in design but iconic for its nods to the Audi TT luxury car, two colorways are in the works as well. The yellow “Sunshine” colorway is reportedly slated for an April 2022 release with its connection to the high school McDonald’s All-American Game, while the other colorway will be a classic white and black “Stormtrooper” pair.

adidas “Crazy 1” in “Storm Toopers” – formerly Kobe 1 – image via Complex 

Following the Laker great’s death last year, his wife Vanessa has had a bumpy relationship with Nike as his contract came to an end with them earlier this year. His estate has yet to enter a new deal with either brand to keep his sneaker legacy alive.

Let us know what you think of these upcoming retro shoe releases, and check out a photo of a young Kobe from the iconic 1997 All-Star Weekend, wearing the adidas sneakers in question, below.

Koby Bryant during the NBA Slam Dunk contest in Cleveland, Ohio – MATT CAMPBELL/AFP via Getty Images

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Chrissy Teigen’s world turned upside down after she was dragged into a bullying scandal this year. The entertainer allegedly sent rude messages to fashion designer Michael Costello and model Courtney Stodden, which were leaked, prompting immediate backlash for Teigen. A few weeks have gone by and Teigen says she’s been dealing with depression after being canceled by the public — she shared a lengthy post on Wednesday night about her mental health.

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

“Iiiii don’t really know what to say here…just feels so weird to pretend nothing happened in this online world but feel like utter shit in real life,” she wrote on a picture of her sitting on the couch at home. “Going outside sucks and doesn’t feel right, being at home alone with my mind makes my depressed head race. But I do know that however I’m handling this now isn’t the right answer. I feel lost and need to find my place again,I need to snap out of this, I desperately wanna communicate with you guys instead of pretending everything is okay. I’m not used to any other way!! Cancel club is a fascinating thing and I have learned a whollllle lot. Only a few understand it and it’s impossible to know til you’re in it. And it’s hard to talk about it in that sense because obviously you sound whiney when you’ve clearly done something wrong. It just sucks.

There is no winning. But there never is here anyhow. All I know is I love you guys, I miss you guys, and I just needed an honest moment with you because I’m just…tired of being sick with myself all day. I don’t even know if it’s good to say any of this because it’s gonna get brutally picked apart but I dunno. I can’t do this silent shit anymore! If you or someone you know has also been cancelled please let me know if there is a cancel club reunion because I could use some time off my couch! Thank u and goodbye I love u.”

As she expected, her message was indeed picked apart by a few people, including conservative political commentator Candace Owens. She tweeted, “Cubans are being slaughtered by their government in the streets but did you know that Chrissy Teigen is sad because nobody is paying attention to her on Instagram anymore?”

Read through Chrissy Teigen’s post below, as well as Candace Owens’ response underneath.

Twitter

Everyone once in a while, the Hip-Hop community is treated to an entertaining rant from a frustrated artist, and following in the footsteps of Kanye West’s iconic “You ain’t got the answers, Sway!” rant in 2013, T-Pain recently went viral for calling out all of the unoriginal artists who have been flooding the music market in recent years.

As seen below, the Florida artist recently let off some steam in a hilarious episode of his Nappy Boy Radio podcast, and his rant stemmed from artists blatantly copying other artists in an attempt to get famous. “Stop doing that,” he notably says at the start of his rant. “Stop! You’re not original! Give me some original sh*t!”

Apparently, not everyone found his rant entertaining, and several fans have been responding to his comments about other artists by saying that T-Pain is ultimately just hating on new rappers because he doesn’t have any hits. Of all the backlash that he has received, that jab at the 1UP artist’s accomplishments seems to have especially rubbed T-Pain the wrong way because he recently hit Twitter to respond to that arguments specifically.

“I undrstnd not every1 likes me and may not agree with my opinions,” T-Pain clapped back in one tweet, “but by all means don’t make up dumb shit like ‘he just mad because he ain’t got no hits’ I’m in all different genres. Got 2 legit Grammies in the last 3 years and got a song out rn that’s top 15 on radio in the US.”

He continued, saying, “I’m not explaining myself I just don’t like ppl being content with being stupid and uninformed. If some rando talked shit on your page you’d look up all their SM pages to see what dirt you can get…just do a little research before you think you hittin me wit somethin.”

As T-Pain mentioned in his rant, he is a Grammy-winning artist, and while one overzealous fan was quick to point out that he has only scored two Grammy trophies as a solo artist in the late 2000s, reports do reveal that the “Buy U A Drink” singer actually earned a Grammy for Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic as a songwriter on “Straight Up & Down” in 2018. Check out his full tweets below.