New Hip Hop News

We’re not quite sure what this scandal is called—Chickengate, we’re sure—but the food-flying argument that allegedly occurred between the former members of 3LW continues to be a hot topic of conversation. Currently, BET’s show The Encore is in the thick of its first season where they placed several hitmaking R&B veterans in a house with the hopes of forming a mega-girl group. Kiely Williams from 3LW has been at odds with ex-groupmate Naturi Naughton for years, with the latter accusing Williams of throwing a plate of chicken in her face before kicking her out of a vehicle.

What really happened during this years-old fight will forever remain a mystery, but the altercation was brought up once again on The Encore. “I didn’t throw chicken at anybody,” Kiely said on the show. “The chicken was in my hand but if you call my mother a b*tch, I’m throwing whatever.”

Nick Elgar / Staff / Getty Images

“My entire life has been turned into…” Kiely began to say before someone added, “A friend chicken meme.” After the clip was shared on Twitter, Williams retweeted it with an additional message. “Throwing hands, and whatever is in them over my mother. She is a saint,” the singer wrote. “If my phone was in my hand and not my dinner she would’ve gotten that. And none of you would’ve done any different. #betpresentstheencore.”

We previously reported on Naughton sharing her side of the story during an interview, and Williams seemed to address those comments, as well. “I saw a clip of an interview a while ago with an ex-group member talking about ‘profanities were exchanged‘ and I think the question is: what profanities were ‘exchanged’ before I popped off? Was it ‘b*tch’ and my mother in the same sentence?”

It is unknown if Naughton will respond to these latest gibes, but you can check out Williams’s posts below.

It’s not the $2 million per month that she was seeking, but Nicole Young is inching closer to finalizing her ongoing case with ex-husband Dr. Dre. Technically, the former couple was officially divorced last month, however, the ongoing dispute regarding spousal support rages on. We previously reported on Nicole seeking $2 million per month in spousal support and it is a number that gives many spectators pause.

The Blast reported today (July 21) that an agreement seems to have been reached and according to court documents, Dre has been ordered to pay his ex-wife just under $300K per month following a hearing this week.

“[Dre] is ordered to pay to the [Nicole] spousal support in the sum of $293,306.00 per month, payable on the first of each month, commencing August 1, 2021,” the court order reported stated. That means the Aftermath mogul will dish out approximately $3.5 million per year to his ex, but this won’t go on forever.

The order will reportedly stay in place “until the party receiving support remarries or enters into a new domestic partnership, death of either party.” Basically, until one of them dies or Nicole remarries, she’ll continue to receive her check on the first of the month. Dr. Dre is reportedly also responsible for paying Nicole’s health insurance and other fees, including “the expenses for the Malibu, and Pacific Palisades homes.”

According to The Blast, even this order could be temporary as the former couple, who was married for two and a half decades, continue financial negotiations. There are still alleged talks of Nicole receiving a lump sum, and if so, she could see those $300K monthly checks come to a screeching halt in the future.

Following his brain aneurysm earlier this year, Dre reportedly gave his wife $2 million. There have been rumors, and photos, to suggest that the megaproducer has moved on and is allegedly dating Love & Hip Hop star Apryl Jones.

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Months ago, Halsey took to Instagram to share her pronouns: she/they. The singer reportedly later explained the decision. “For those asking RE: my updated Instagram bio, I am happy with either pronouns,” she said at the time. “The inclusion of ‘they,’ in addition to ‘she,’ feels most authentic to me. If you know me at all you know what it means to me to express this outwardly. Thanks for being the best.”

While both “she” and “they” are acceptable to Halsey, an issue regarding pronouns arose following Allure‘s recent cover feature interview with the Popstar. After it was released, Halsey took to Twitter to call out the magazine for only using “she/her” pronouns throughout.

Kevin Winter / Staff / Getty Images

“Hey @Allure_magazine. First your writer made a focal point in my cover story my pronouns and you guys deliberately disrespected them by not using them in the article,” Halsey wrote in a since-deleted tweet. During their interview, the singer also spoke about being a “White passing” biracial person. 

“A lot of people try to write off a lot of my experiences because I present white,” Halsey told Allure. “No matter how many tears I’ve shed because I’m not connecting with my family or my culture in a way that I would like too, or because the waitress thinks I’m the babysitter when I go out with my family, none of that would compare to the tears that I would shed for presenting phenotypically Black and the disadvantages and the violence that I would face because of that.”

However, Halsey didn’t appreciate how her comments about her background were presented in the article or on social media. “Then your admin bastardized a quote where I discuss the privilege of being the white child of a black parent,” they said. “[And] Intentionally used a portion that was the antithesis of the point I was trying to make. All of this ironically on the tails of an article where I give your author the intimate admission that I hate doing press because I get exploited and misquoted. Do f*cking better…?”

Later, Halsey tweeted that they would no longer do press because of this latest experience. Check it out below.

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A mystery has Staten Island investigators working overtime after an 80-year-old man was found dead. Robert Raynor lived in an apartment home in Tompkinsville and on Monday (July 19) morning, he was found deceased. While police are still waiting for the official medical examiner’s report to find out how he died, the state in which he was found suggested foul play.

The elderly man had the words “I touch little girls” written across his chest, but those weren’t the only words located on his body. It looked as if Raynor had been beaten as there were reported visible injuries to his face, including a broken nose and swollen eyes and cheeks, and there were “injuries to both arms,” reported the New York Daily News.

Mario Tama / Staff / Getty Images

The outlet also stated that Raynor’s stomach also had a message that read, “I take dolls in my room for girls age 1-5,” while “I touch” was also written on his foot. Investigators reportedly believe that Raynor was somehow taken from the back of his apartment and left in the first-floor hallway. When looking through the sex offender’s registry, Raynor’s name was not found. His neighbor, 40-year-old Isaac Williams, was the person who stumbled upon Raynor’s body.

“I saw him lying there. I didn’t get too close. The man was just dead,” said Williams. “What was written on his chest was just disrespectful… There was a banging around the night before, like someone throwing someone around. I can’t believe it. I can’t get my head right. I don’t believe it. He was an old man. He couldn’t even get around.”

Another neighbor, Monique Simon, defended Raynor and said he “didn’t seem capable” of harming anyone because “he was very much disabled” and “had to walk with a walker.” She believes that the words written on Raynor were “to throw the case off.”

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The hit 2006 documentary Cocaine Cowboys is finding a second wind with the upcoming Netflix series. The streaming platform released the trailer for the six-part series on Wednesday, two weeks ahead of the show’s premiere.

Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami continues to dive deep into the lives of the infamous childhood friends Augusto “Willy” Falcon and Salvador “Sal” Magluto. The Cuban exiles are suspected to have brought in more than 75 tons of cocaine into the states in the 80s.

The two “world champion powerboat racers managed to skillfully outrun and outmaneuver prosecution for decades before the chase finally came to an end,” according to the official Netflix release.

Due to their Robin Hood-like approach to the extreme profits from their drug business, Willy and Sal affectionately became known as “Los Muchachos” in the bustling city and became two of Miami’s biggest celebrities of the decade. 

Fifteen years after the original film, the project remains under the direction of Billy Corben. The series will include “interviews with people who were close to the two, their defense team, and the feds tasked with taking them down.”

Tap in on Netflix on August 4 and check out the trailer below.  

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He’s the second YBN member to officially drop the acronym from his name, and now Almighty Jay has more to celebrate. While it is true that there was a more peaceful transition when Cordae decided to be known as a mononymous rapper, things weren’t as smooth with Jay. He had public arguments with YBN Nahmir but his beef with his former friend wasn’t the only thing Jay was facing.

It was made clear months ago that Almighty Jay was upset with his label and he recently announced that he is officially an independent artist now that he has parted ways with Atlantic Records.

Carmen Mandato / Stringer / Getty Images

Jay pulled a post and delete, showing the official paperwork that made him a free man. “Thank you @atlanticrecords for everything,” he wrote in the caption. “As of July 19, 2021 I official became an 100% INDEPENDENT ARTIST!! TIME FOR ME TO BE MY OWN BOSS & STAND ON BUSINESS AS A CEO [black heart emoji].”

Then, Almighty Jay tagged his new label, N2L Records, where he will now be releasing his music. In other recent news about the rapper, he has been on social media at odds with Skinnyfromthe9, an artist who reportedly just signed a record deal with Soulja Boy. Check out Almighty Jay’s posts beelow.