New Hip Hop News

Back in 2019, there was this wild story of an aspiring Baltimore-rapper, named Chad “Focus” Arrington, who allegedly stole over $4 million dollars from his then employer to help fund his music career. At the time he was being charged for “federal charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft” and faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Well it appears he’s getting a two and half year sentence.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, 33-year-old Chad Arrington, aka “Chad Focus,” received his sentence Wednesday, getting 30 months for his role in the crime. And after completing his prison sentence, Chad will serve 12 months of home confinement as part of three years of supervised release. The judge also ordered him to pay back $4,142,435.31 in restitution to cover the victim’s losses.

Prosecutors say he had used the stolen money to buy billboards across the U.S., including one in Times Square that touted him as the “#1 recording artist in the world.” He is also accused of using some of that money to purchase social media followers as well as services that artificially increased online streaming of his songs. He allegedly conducted the scheme from at least January 2015 to August 2018.

“Chad Arrington illegally used a company credit card to spend more than $4 million to promote himself as a hip-hop artist and to promote his company,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner. “Now Arrington will spend more than two years in federal prison. The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland will continue to utilize our resources to prosecute this type of costly fraud.”

[Via]

On April 21, a 42-year-old Black man named Andrew Brown Jr. was fatally shot in the head by North Carolina police as they were allegedly carrying out a warrant for Brown’s arrest. In the weeks following the tragedy, residents of Elizabeth City, North Carolina have taken to the streets to protest the police shooting, especially after the Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble has claimed that Brown Jr. was threatening the officers involved with his car prior to the shooting.

As previously reported, the sheriff’s office has stated that it’s legally prohibited from releasing further details, including bodycam footage, without having an order from the court, but the family of Andrew Brown Jr. has continued to do the legwork to properly represent him in court. After conducting a private autopsy that revealed that Brown had been shot by police five times, the family’s lawyer, Chance Lynch, has spoken out against the district attorney’s allegations in an interview with TMZ.

Sean Rayford/Getty Images

“I don’t know where the elected got his recollection of facts or what video he saw,” Lynch tells TMZ. “What we saw, was an unjustified killing, and we never saw Mr. Brown pose a threat to law enforcement at any time while he was there in his vehicle. 

Reiterating that the misleading accusations made by District Attorney Andrew Womble can still be easily resolved, Lynch says, “What I’ve said from the beginning is this: I’m not sure what the elected is saying he saw because [it] clearly doesn’t match what we saw. There’s one way that we can dispel the myths, and it’s one way that we can clear any discrepancies: release the footage.”

At the time of writing, the body cam footage from Andrew Brown Jr.’s fatal encounter with police in Elizabeth City, North Carolina has not yet been released, so stay tuned for updates.

[via]

It appears Prince Harry has joined the chorus of backlash against Joe Rogan’s recent comments about the coronavirus vaccine, arguing that the influential podcast star should have chosen his words more carefully. If you missed it, Joe Rogan made a controversial statement about the covid vaccine last month, telling his millions of Spotify followers that he doesn’t believe a young, healthy person should worry about getting the vaccine.

“If you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, ‘Should I get vaccinated?’ I’ll go no.” Rogan said. “If you’re a healthy person, and you’re exercising all the time, and you’re young, and you’re eating well, I don’t think you need to worry about this.” He later clarified his remarks, explaining: “I said, ‘I believe [the vaccines are] safe,’ and I encouraged many people to take them… My parents were vaccinated. I just said, ‘I don’t think that if you’re a young, healthy person, that you need it.’”

Appearing on Dax Shepard and Monica Padman’s Armchair Expert podcast on Thursday, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex said “the issue is in today’s world with misinformation endemic, you’ve got to be careful about what comes out of your mouth.”

Taking aim at Joe, Prince Harry said it would have been better for Rogan to “just stay out of it” and that “with a platform comes responsibility.” His intervention is notable given that he and Rogan are podcastmates at Spotify, where they both have exclusive deals.

Prince Harry appeared on Armchair Expert to promote his Apple TV+ series with Oprah Winfrey, The Me You Can’t See, which premieres next Friday, May 21.

Douglas P. DeFelice/ Getty Images

[Via]

Despite the momentum burst from Isaiah Rashad’s triumphant return with the Duke Deuce-assisted “Lay Wit Ya,” it feels premature to declare it anything close to TDE season. At least, not yet. The legendary label has been in the midst of a lengthy lull, with many of its biggest artists having taken some serious time off. Last we heard, from Ab-Soul was 2016, while Kendrick and SZA’s latest albums came in 2017. Jay Rock blessed us with Redemption in 2018, while ScHoolboy Q dropped off CrasH Talk in 2019.

On the topic of Q, the rapper actually teased a quick follow-up to CrasH Talk, prompting fans to assume he’d be coming through with a proper back-to-back. Unfortunately, the months quickly passed with no word of a new Q album, and soon enough his once-teased album became part of the TDE purgatorial pause. At least, until recently. It would appear that Q has decided to hit the reset button, seemingly beginning work on an entirely new project. 

 Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

In fact, all signs suggest that Q’s motivation is at an all-time high. He recently shared a promising Instagram story, which can currently be seen right here, that provides insight into his work ethic. “I been walking str8 to the booth lately,” he states, alongside a clip of himself doing exactly that. “3 hrs at a time.” Though not much to go off, it certainly suggests that Q has been focused on his craft, a promising sign that he’ll be plotting a proper return before long.

Though it’s likely Isaiah will be the first TDE artist to drop something new, as The House Is Burning is certainly overdue, perhaps we’ll be receiving a new Q project before the end of the year. It would certainly go a long way in reasserting TDE’s dominance, as many fans have been eager to see what hip-hop’s most esteemed golf connoisseur has been cooking up. Are you among those excited for some new Q?

Whether it’s Nas reuniting The Firm on nostalgic album cuts or J. Cole returning to his roots and pursuing a basketball career in the Basketball Africa League, popular culture loves a great full-circle moment. Now, after years of The Cosby Show‘s legacy tanking due to Bill Cosby’s legal woes, fans of the classic Black sitcom finally have something to celebrate.

Award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad, who famously played Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show, is making the jump from the entertainment industry to the world of academia, as she has recently been named a dean at one of the most prestigious HBCUs in the United States.

Amy Sussman/Getty Images

According to CNN, notable Howard University alum Phylicia Rashad will be returning to her alma mater as the Dean of Howard’s recently reestablished College of Fine Arts, and she will start her position on July 1. Among several other colleges, the 72-year-old actress has previously served as guest lecturer and adjunct faculty member at Howard University, where she once taught and mentored a young Chadwick Boseman.

In response to her being recent appointment, Phylicia Rashad has released a public statement, saying, “It is a privilege to serve in this capacity and to work with the Howard University administration, faculty and students in reestablishing the College of Fine Arts.

Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick has also expressed his excitement for Rashad’s new role, stating, “I can think of no individual better suited to take on this role than Ms. Phylicia Rashad. Under her leadership, Howard will continue to inspire and cultivate the artists and leaders who will shape our niche and national cultures for generations to come.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Phylicia Rashād (@phyliciarashad)

Congratulations, Phylicia Rashad!

[via]

In celebration of this past Mother’s Day weekend, Lil Wayne’s daughter, Reginae Carter, decided to show some love to her mother, Toya Johnson, on Instagram the other day, and the resemblance between the two is crazy. Hell, it’s hard to tell who is who.

Taking to Instagram, Reginae shared a photo of her & her mother donning similar black dresses and leaving the caption “If ‘I get it from my mama’ was a picture.” And man she isn’t lying. Looking damn near identical, Reginae and Toya have the same face, body style, and mannerisms, looking more like twin sisters than a mother-daughter power duo. The two have always been mentioned together as looking alike, but this is getting eerie now that Reginae is getting older and recently got a boob job. Check out the resemblance (below) and let us know what you think.

This photo comes just a couple months after Reginae got her first breast implants, which she’s wanted for years but was finally able to get on her own.

“I’ve wanted to enhance my boobs since I was like 16, 17, but my mom was always like, ‘Girl, no.'” She explained that her mother urged her to wait until after she has children of her own to get a better picture of what she is going to look like. “‘Just wait until you have your first child because you don’t know how everything’s going to be.'”

“I’m 21 now, so she was like, ‘I can’t tell you what to do. You look perfect the way you are, but it’s whatever you want to do,'” she went on. “So I finally got to do it, and I’m so excited about it.”