New Hip Hop News

Mo Fayne is most known for his stint on season 8 of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta as the boyfriend of Karlie Redd. Their tumultuous union ended last year during quarantine when she quietly filed for divorce. Fayne has made a name for himself in the headlines for being accused of being involved in numerous fraud activities.  

Last May, he was arrested on $2 million worth of bank fraud charges in connection with a PPP loan. In June, he was accused of running a massive $5 million Ponzi scheme. Now, according to TMZ, the former reality star could be facing some serious time behind bars in his PPP loan fraud case.

Fayne pled guilty to six different counts of federal bank fraud after prosecutors accused him of funding the lavish lifestyle he was displaying over social media during the pandemic was with a Paycheck Protection Program loan. These PPP loans are intended to help employees and small businesses most hit hard by COVID.

In court documents obtained by TMZ, Fayne was ordered to give up nearly $100,000 dispersed across several bank accounts, as well as all eight of his 2015 Kenworth T680 trucks that he purchased with the extra money. 

Paras Griffin / Contributor / Getty Images

 In exchange for his guilty plea, federal prosecutors dropped 14 other charges they originally had against him and instead agreed to recommend Fayne get a 151-month prison sentence–or about 12.5 years. Before the deal, he was facing a potential maximum sentence of 30 years. 

As explained briefly, Fayne was accused of using a PPP loan of over $2 million to buy $85,000 worth of jewelry and pay off indebted child support. He’s been in prison since December for violating bond terms, but his defense is currently looking to get him released before his September sentencing. We’ll keep you updated as this case develops. 

[via]

J. Cole fans were eagerly awaiting his next album and on Friday, the North Carolina artist finally delivered with The Off-Season. So far, the project has been praised by his fanbase and they have certainly been running up the streaming numbers. Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj also dropped a project of her own, although it’s something that fans have already been acquainted with. The artist dropped a repackaged version of her 2009 tape Beam Me Up Scotty, all while bringing through three new tracks.

Both of these artists are superstars in the rap world and their numbers certainly reflect that. According to Hits Daily Double, Cole is projected to sell between 280,000 and 310,000 units in the first week, while Nicki is going to do between 65-75K. Considering Nicki’s project is from 2009, this is pretty impressive.

Jeff Hahne/Getty Images

Over the course of the week, these numbers could fluctuate either up or down, however, the streams that took place throughout the first few days are promising for what is to come. Cole and Nicki have fanbases that are always eager to support whatever they put out, and these numbers are definitely proof of that.

Let us know what you thought of these projects, in the comments below. Also, keep it locked to HNHH for more updates from the hip-hop world.

Rich Fury/Getty Images for Billboard

Tony Ferguson used to be one of the most feared men in the entire UFC and for a while, he was trying to get himself that elusive title fight against Khabib. Unfortunately, Ferguson was on a bit of a losing streak, and last night, he had an opportunity to get back in the win column. The fight was against Beneil Dariush and while many fans felt like Ferguson would win, it became clear that Dariush came to dominate from start to finish, and that is exactly what he did.

Ferguson ultimately lost the fight in a unanimous decision that saw Beneil pummeling Ferguson for the majority of the 15-minute runtime. It looked like Ferguson was simply out of gas throughout the match and Dariush was just too hungry to not get the victory.

Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

For Ferguson, this loss brings up the question of what’s next. With Khabib out of the UFC forever, a fight against the former star is pretty well out of the cards. Not to mention, losing three in a row pretty well guarantees the fact that he won’t be getting a shot at the title, anytime soon.

Considering Ferguson’s former reputation, it’s a sad state of affairs but just like in every sport, age eventually catches up to you.

Police have confirmed that 28-year-old Chicago rapper Lil Reese was grazed in the eye by a bullet, Saturday, and has been taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in fair condition. Video of the shooting went viral on social media, earlier Saturday.

The Chicago Tribune reports that “Lil Reese told police that he met the people in the Durango outside of the garage and directed them where to drive so he could buy cannabis from them, the report said. The other people shot gave police little information.”

Johnny Nunez / Getty Images

Two other individuals, ages 20 and 27, were involved in the shooting as well. The 20-year-old man was shot twice in the knee, but is currently in “good condition.” The 27-year-old man was shot multiple times in the body and is in “critical condition.”

This is the second time Lil Reese has been shot in the past year and a half. In November 2019, the Chicago rapper was left in critical condition after being shot in the neck and was unable to properly speak for two months during his recovery.

Reese’s manager asked fans to keep the rapper and his family in their prayers, Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night, TMZ obtained photos of the car in question which you can find here.

[Via]

Houston Texans coach David Culley refused to answer whether he expects quarterback Deshaun Watson to attend the team’s offseason workouts, when asked by reporters, Saturday. Watson is facing 22 lawsuits that allege he committed sexual assault and misconduct. 

“We have nothing to say about that situation at this time,” Culley said Saturday, according to ESPN. “[Texans chairman Cal McNair] and ownership a few weeks back indicated about how our organization feels about the situation. I think when [general manager Nick Caserio] was on not long ago, he also mentioned that the legal process was in effect right now and we’re going to respect that and go from there.”

Carmen Mandato / Getty Images

Watson has also previously requested a trade from the Texans, but any moves on that front stalled amidst the pending lawsuits.

Culley last spoke with the media on March 11, before the allegations against Watson broke. At that time, he sounded optimistic about Watson’s future with the organization.

“He is our quarterback,” Culley said at the time. “He’s the only guy we got under contract at this time, right now.”

He added that the Texans were “very committed to Deshaun.”

The NFL is currently conducting an investigation into Watson.

[Via]

Dan Harmon has opened up regarding the long-rumored Kanye West episode of Rick and Morty and why it hasn’t come to fruition, despite West being a big fan of the series.

“Time will tell,” Harmon said during an interview on MSNBC, this week.. “I think that when Kanye signs on, as he did, to do an episode, it won’t just be Kanye doing a guest voice or Kanye doing a song. We agreed that it needed to be really interwoven with the Rick and Morty franchise having its own integrity and Kanye having his own, without spoiling any details of what that story would be. Suffice it to say, the end result was going to be a lot of original music.”

Tommaso Boddi / Getty Images

Harmon says that there were solid ideas for an episode “within minutes” of West meeting the writing team, but network executives told them to reel it back in.

“At that point, that was when seven different corporations — and I don’t fault them for this because this is their job — they have to say, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. Slow down psychos. What are you doing,'” Harmon continued.

[Via]