New Hip Hop News

Lil Baby and Lil Durk have experienced their fair share of success in the past year alone. Baby’s My Turn and Durk’s The Voice have been in steady rotation since their respective releases but their track record as collaborators spurred the demand for a joint effort. The two rappers finally arrived with their new collaborative project, The Voice Of The Heroes at the beginning of June, kicking the summer off with an 18-track body of work filled with bangers.

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Now, the convergence of two of trap’s hottest names was bound to do some major numbers on the charts. Initial first-week projections predicted that their joint project would top the Billboard 200 with 165K to 185K. Unfortunately, they missed the mark but their first week sales are impressive nonetheless. Durk and Baby’s TVOTH went on to move 158K this week, easily shooting to the top of the Billboard 200 which would earn Durk his first #1 album.

The release of the album was delayed by one week. The two rappers initially had plans to release The Voice Of The Heroes at the end of May but pushed it back out of respect for DMX.

As the two rappers continue to push their new collaborative album, perhaps we’ll be seeing the two hit the road for a co-headlining effort in the near future.

Check out our review of The Voice Of The Heroes here. 

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Saweetie is gearing up to release her highly anticipated debut album Pretty B*tch Music, expected to arrive sometime this summer. With such a storied history in the industry, it’s hard to remember she’s yet to even unleash her first full-length offering. She’s preceded the album with the singles “Tap In,” “Back to the Streets,” with Jhene Aiko, “Best Friend” with Doja Cat, and her latest single “Fast (Motion).” 

The California native has been vocal about how much care she’s putting into perfecting her craft. Earlier in the year, she revealed she was at an Artist Bootcamp to work on refining areas of her craft she struggles with. In a new interview with Teen Vogue, she explained how the COVID-19 pandemic made her rethink her career, taking time to consider the kind of music she wants to make. Elsewhere, she touched on her “masculine energy.” 

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“After ‘ICY GRL’ hit, I was in such high demand, and it really was like night and day. I had no artist’s development. I realized that I never equated attention with happiness, so all that attention I was getting was overwhelming for me and I didn’t know how to handle it,” she told Teen Vogue

She continued, “Which is why – fast forward to last year and this year in quarantine, I had a lot of time to reflect, and that made me want to take back my power of being confident and made me want to rethink my career.”

She added she wants her debut album to reflect who she is and where she came from. “Icy Girl,” she explains, only tells a small part of the story. “I went from only wanting to write freestyles to having to create a hit. Now I know how to make the hits,” she explained.

The “Best Friend” artist furthered, “I need to let people know that I’m a West Coast girl. I’m tri-racial. I come from a poppin’, big, male-dominated family, which explains my masculine energy at times. People were only seeing ‘icy girl,’ but who was the girl under the blonde wig?”

Hopefully, Pretty B*tch Music gives Saweetie the chance to introduce the real her to the world. Read the full profile here. 

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The entire soccer world has come together today after a terrifying incident during a Euro Cup group match between Denmark and Finland. Christian Eriksen, a 29-year-old star player for Denmark, collapsed on the pitch near the end of the first half as he was receiving a pass from a teammate. As soon as he fell to the pitch, his teammates went to check on him and that is when they urged medical professionals to come onto the pitch.

His teammates immediately formed a shield around him as paramedics performed CPR for quite a few minutes. The entire event was televised and there were moments in which the UEFA feed showed the life-saving efforts. Eventually, Eriksen was placed on a stretcher and taken off of the pitch. 

According to UEFA, Eriksen was brought to the hospital and is now in stable condition. As for the game, it has been suspended and a crisis meeting will be held to determine the next course of action.

This was truly a devastating moment for everyone involved, and our prayers are with Eriksen and his family right now. The game was held in Copenhagen and the Danish fans were visibly shaken up by what had happened. Some things are more important than sports, and this is an example of that.

We wish Eriksen a healthy and speedy recovery.

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Late singer Amy Winehouse’s story has been one shadowed by tragedy since the talented vocalist passed away of alcohol poisoning in 2010. Now her lifelong best friend, Tyler James, is speaking out about the tension between them in the weeks preceding her death at the home they shared in London. White spoke about the “massive argument” the pair had before her death about her dangerous and lethal alcohol problem on the UK television program This Morning on Wednesday. 

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James would apparently storm out of the home for days at a time whenever Winehouse would relapse, only to return days later when she would call him for help. “Whenever she relapsed, I’d leave because I was worried she would think I was supporting that. So I’d leave, and within two or three days, she would say, ‘Tyler, come home,’ and I would come back,” Tyler said. 

Though she had stayed away from other drugs in the “last three years” of her life, James recalls lashing out at the singer because of her alcohol problem. “I had a massive argument with her because there were letters from the doctor saying if she drank any more, she’d die,” he added. 

One of the times James angrily left the home after one of these arguments ended up being the last. When he returned to their home, he was greeted by ambulances and media fanfare. “It was like a film premiere out there,” James said. Winehouse, James’ “soulmate” and “best friend” was found dead in her bedroom from alcohol poisoning. She was only 27-years-old. 

James still hasn’t fully recovered from the tragedy, stating that, “We were two halves of the same person. I never envisaged life without her.”

Rest In Peace Amy Winehouse.

So far, the NBA playoffs have been a whole lot of fun and there have been some pretty great matchups to kick things off. The Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns promised to be a solid series, although it has proven to be a bit of a dud thanks to the fact that the Nuggets are dealing with a plethora of injuries. The Suns are now up 3-0 in the series and it seems pretty likely that they will finish off the series this weekend.

Unfortunately, it seems like even Nuggets fans are taking Ls right now, as seen in the video clip below. As you all know, fans tend to get rowdy during the games and in this instance, a Suns fan challenged a Nuggets fan to a fight. Despite having the higher ground, the Nuggets fans ate quite a few punches to the face, and eventually, he had to retreat.

These types of fights happen all the time at games although they aren’t always caught on camera, which is why this clip has been so highly circulated. It’s clear that there is no love lost between these two fanbases, although Suns fans can rest assured that they are probably going to come out of this victorious.

As for the Nuggets fans, hopefully, they stop fishing for fights during future games.

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When Jake and Logan Paul entered the boxing world in 2018, they ended up setting a trend that has yet to come to a close. These days, celebrity boxing matches are all the rage and they are being done by celebrities from all walks of life. For instance, Lamar Odom and Aaron Carter recently got in the ring, although it was a pretty pathetic excuse for a boxing match. Regardless, these kinds of events are making a lot of money and many creators are looking to cash in.

On Saturday, there will be a very special event that is meant to be a showdown between YouTubers and TikTok stars. The two big fights here are between Austin McBroom and Bryce Hall, as well as AnEson Gib and Tayler Holder.

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When it comes to the rules for this fight, it is all quite simple. Each match will be five rounds long and they will, in fact, be judged. This means a winner will most certainly be declared at the end of the fight. These rounds are two minutes each, and when it comes to knockdowns, they will be counted towards the fighters’ scorecard. 16 oz. gloves will be worn throughout the fight and knockouts will be allowed.

For many, this is most certainly going to be a bit of a gong show although this is what entertainment has become these days.

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The release of Culture III was a make-or-break moment for the Migos. After their meteoric ascent into the limelight with the first installment in the Culture trilogy, it seemed as if they lost the fire in their belly. Fans found Culture II bloated and repetitive which made the stakes high for the follow-up. In the time between their respective solo albums and the release of their new project, they found themselves under pressure to deliver on Culture III.

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Migos were rapping like they had something to prove on Culture III but they came through with even more bars for their L.A. Leakers Freestyle. The boys joined Justin Credible and DJ Sour Milk where they swapped bars over original DJ Durel production. Offset kicks things off with some breezy bars reflecting on their success and their journey. What was even better about Set’s freestyle was the dance moves that he pulled to ride the beat.

Takeoff, with his usual deadpan face, casually assaulted the beat with a pristine triplet flow which ultimately wow’d Offset who offered organic ad-libs in response to Take’s bars. “Don’t do the sneak dissin’/ I’m startin’ to think n***as wear panties, you n***as some bitches/ While you n***as run out of money, my n***as gon’ get it ’cause everyday government printin’,” Take raps during his verse.

Quavo, who has arguably faced the most criticism in recent years, surprisingly delivered a stand-out verse. The rapper closes out the near 3-minute freestyle with massive flexes as he compares his ability to finesse the bag to the Grinch.

Peep the freestyle below and let us know who had the best verse out of the three Migos. 

Earlier in the year, it was reported that Ja Rule and his wife, Aisha Atkins, owed the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over $3 million in unpaid taxes. Attorneys for the feds filed a lawsuit against the couple that claims they owe the country unpaid taxes from 2005 to 2010, as well as for 2012 to 2017.

Back in 2011, Ja was sentenced to 28 months in prison for failing to file income tax returns with the agency. Despite the allegations, the rapper claimed he, “pays plenty of taxes, millions of dollars in taxes. I owed them a little bit more,” blaming his financial issues on his split with Murda Inc. Luckily for the rapper, he’s allegedly struck a deal with Uncle Sam to pay off his $3 million debt with one check, subsequently avoiding any jail time. 

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Court documents obtained by publications show that Ja Rule, née Jeffery Atkins, and his wife Aisha have been doing everything they can to make their tax debt right and avoid serving any more time behind bars. Federal lawyers have petitioned a judge to “enter a judgement” of the $3.1 million Ja owes, stating in the filing, “as of October 12, 2020, plus statutory interest and additions to tax accruing after that date for 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 tax years.”

The IRS explains that the couple owe back taxes for ten years, five between 2005-2010 and five more between 2012-2017. The breakdown is as follows:  $357,421.23 (2005), $518,700.88 (2006), $348,087.49 (2007) $267,193 (2008), $198,817.99 (2009), $47,901.53 (2010), $128,926.37 (2012), $116,720.65 (2013), $229,577.62 (2014), $212,270.42 (2015), $526,431.46 (2016) and $187,188.52 (2017).

They signed the deal on May 21, which a judge has to approve before anything is official. There’s no word right now on how the longtime couple will fork over the massive fortune they owe and whether or not they’ll need a payment plan. Pending approval, at least they’re in the clear for now. 

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