New Hip Hop News

J. Cole’s been giving us varsity bars since he came into the game, drawing the parallels between his come-up in rap and the NBA. While Cole’s often mentioned in the list of rappers that could hoop, the upcoming release of The Off-Season will be a new body of work to bridge the gap between athletes and entertainers. 

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

After the announcement that he’ll be taking his talents to the Rwandan club in Basketball Africa League, beginning this weekend, the rapper has now graced the cover of SLAM Magazine. Not only has he gone platinum with no features but he’s now the first artist to be featured solo on the cover of the magazine. 

“J. Cole stands for everything SLAM stands for—the way basketball and music overlap and inspire greatness in one another,” Chief Content Officer at SLAM Adam Figman said. “This cover was a long time coming, and we’re proud that we were able to make it happen just as Cole was about to release an album influenced by his love of hoops.” 

The rare editorial interview with Cole offers a further glimpse into his new project. He explained the inspiration behind the title of The Off-Season, due out on Friday.

“The Off-Season symbolizes the work that it takes to get to the highest height,” he said. “The Off-Season represents the many hours and months and years it took to get to top form.”

Peep the cover below. Are you excited for The Off-Season?

Via Publicist

[Via]

Cam’ron has been documenting his apparent affair with his condo neighbor which has taken a few dark yet entertaining turns. The rapper’s seemingly pushing his Pink Horsepower — his all-natural male supplement — but he’s stated that this entire saga has not been staged to promote the product. Each episode has taken some dramatic turns but the season finale was certainly a cliffhanger.

Ben Gabbe/Getty Images

Last month, the rapper revealed that his neighbor was finally fed up with him not returning her calls or text messages and began throwing pennies at him from her balcony. Yesterday, he revealed that he hooked up with the neighbor’s sister and took her on a jetski as payback. The rapper hinted that she violated him and began vandalizing his property, though he had yet to elaborate. “Yea I slid.. got the neighbor sister wit me. She violated..so I had to violate,” he explained. “Ima show y’all what she did. Now ya sister getting that Blue horsepower 5.0, pray for her.”

Apparently, it was the Blue Horsepower that resulted in the messiest season finale in reality TV history (probably not) — a pregnancy scare. The rapper revealed that the neighbor had covered the interior and exterior of his pink Audi R8 with sticky notes. One of them read, “Look behind you.” 

Josh Brasted/Getty Images

“So if you seen yesterday I had The neighbors sister with me and I gave her that Blue mixed wit @pinkhorsepower She might be pregnant,” he captioned the post. “I landed and see this on my car..talking bout “maybe now You’ll get my messages” yea ight.. don’t play with my property. You going to jail!!! And you about to be an aunt. I was gonna drive to the precinct like this but then i thought how dumb I look..and I couldn’t see.. anyway.. season 2 coming with her sister.”

Check the posts below. 

Lizzo has quickly risen as one of the most recognizable musicians in pop culture. While she has been recognized for her immense talent and genuine persona, she has been subject to abuse from social media trolls for years because of her body. Electing to maintain a positive attitude and unwavering confidence through it all regardless, she is not invincible. 

In a video shared to TikTok over the weekend, the “Truth Hurts” artist admitted to feeling, “like a burden on everyone.” Her usually-upbeat attitude was swapped out as she opened up about her emotional state, expressing a different type of vulnerability. 

Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Sporting a black-and-white striped tee and a bare visage, Lizzo explained, “You know that part of sadness where you feel like a burden on everyone, and annoying, and nobody cares about you?”

She continued, “Can we get rid of that part? It’s like, ‘Yo, I’m already sad’. Gotta add insult to injury that I have no one to talk to about it. It’s crazy. Like, why do we feel this way? Why do we feel this way when we get sad?”

 “I don’t want to feel this way anymore. I want to feel like I do have someone to talk to and people do care about me. I am loved. I’m not alone. That’s how I want to feel but I don’t feel it,” she went on to remind herself, before ending the video by saying, “OK, this is embarrassing,” added Lizzo. While not specifying what triggered the minor emotional breakdown, she hinted in a follow-up clip that she was feeling much better emotionally.

“I’m feeling better. I had a really rough night and a very emotional morning just thinking about my relationships and life,” she explained. “You know how it is, it gets dark.

“I’m definitely glad I reached out in any way I could, and TikTok was one of those ways to feel perceived and seen and heard was really, really helpful,” adding that she plans to unwind with some tea and a warm bath. 

@lizzo

 

♬ original sound – lizzo

[via]

Questlove is a legend in the game, having experienced a long and fruitful career holding it down as the drummer of The Roots. And being that he’s been active for decades now, it’s no wonder he’s built up an impressive repertoire of tales and anecdotes ranging from his time in the game.

We’ve already heard him break down why emcees were straight-up terrified of getting on a track with Black Thought, and now, Quest has offered further wisdom during a substantial conversation with Mark Ronson on THE FADER Uncovered. While there’s much to unpack, one of the interesting moments arrives when Ronson inquires about The Tipping Point, prompting Quest to reflect on MCA Records “implosion” and the unlikely role Dr. Dre played in saving The Roots from the culling.

“So as promised, MCA imploded,” explains Quest, at approximately the fifty-three-minute mark. “We were without an island. The way that I heard the story went down was Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine had a breakfast meeting. Jimmy basically let Dre control the MCA guillotine. Okay, who do we save? Who don’t we save? I remember, eight of us got saved: Mary, Common. I remember our name being last on that list. So, it was like, “Phew.” The way that the email came to us is like that high school musical, you look to see if you made the part.”

Kevin Winter/BET/Getty Images 

“Because that was a question like, “Okay, so where do all the MCA acts go?” And then around February, we heard a rumor that they’re going to have a meeting to decide the future of who they’re going to save and who they’re not going to save. It was like, “Did I make it? Did I make it?” Yeah, they’ll have an official statement in March. And then come March, they said, the following acts will be transferring to Geffen-Interscope. We were last. I was like, “Phew!” And then I asked around. I was like, “What happened?” That’s when I found out that Dre knew and liked us. Wait, Dre insisted that they save The Roots? Wow.”

Having been hand-picked by Dre, The Roots were given the chance to transfer from MCA to Geffen-Interscope. Unfortunately, Jimmy Iovine did not appear to be the biggest fan of their music, with Quest implying that he wasn’t sure what to do with them. He did, however, appreciate “Don’t Say Nuthin,” which ultimately led the band to pursue a new — and not necessarily inspired– direction. “That’s the first and the last time I’ll ever create an album specifically for someone’s taste,” reflects Quest. “I’m not trying to say that Tipping Point’s my redheaded stepchild.”

Check out the full conversation with Ronson below, courtesy of The FADER. 

Will Smith appears to have kicked off a trend among Hollywood’s middle-aged men. After admitting that he was in the worst shape of his life following a year of the pandemic, the actor posted a shirtless photo and started his weight loss journey with millions of followers holding him accountable. What followed was a string of male actors and celebrities posting their own quarantine body photos, revealing that they’re on board with the Gemini Man star. 

Spotting Will’s post on social media, Dr. Dre appears to have been inspired to get back in shape himself, showing off his current physique on Instagram. The 56-year-old rapper/producer lifted up his shirt in the gym and said, “This is my COVID body. I’m about to start getting my shit together. Going in with @willsmith. Let’s Go!!!!”

Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

While Dre might not think he’s in great shape, he looks way better than the majority of men his age. He’s still got a defined stomach with muscular arms but with him saying he’s getting back to his fitness regimen, it looks like he’ll only continue to get buffer over the next few months. It’s nice to see that Will Smith has made it a trend for guys like Dre to focus on their health. Especially after his health scare this year, it definitely isn’t a bad idea for him to get back on his grind. 

Check out his latest picture below and let us know what you think. 

It seems like the Barbz may have been successful in provoking Nicki Minaj’s musical return. After the powerful fanbase was able to skyrocket fan-favorite Queen album cut “LLC” to the top of the charts, it almost seems like Minaj was rewarding them for all their hard work by announcing her return. 

She sent social media into a frenzy Monday (May 10) when she hinted that she has something in store for fans coming later this week, sharing two risqué photos on the platform to make the announcement. The caption of the post read “F R I D A Y” accompanied by a finger-crossing emoji. In addition to the announcement, Nicki may have also just mended her relationship with Rihanna. 

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for DCP

As Nicki fans and social media alike rejoiced at the possibility of new music from the hitmaker, people noticed that Rihanna was once again following the Young Money veteran. She followed the Fenty CEO back, placing the superstars back into a mutual after years of not following each other and prompting fans to believe a possible collaboration between the two could arrive. 

The two were alleged to have stopped following each other after Nicki’s beef with Remy Ma. The presumed beef went on for years, which people speculate was the reason Rih unfollowed Nicki.

Whatever the reason for the brief bump in the road in their relationship, fans are ecstatic either way about the potential of them being back on. Some speculate that this could mean there’s new music on the horizon from the duo. The two have collaborated numerous times for each other’s projects, but considering Rihanna’s extended musical hiatus, it surely isn’t worth getting your hopes up over. 

Are you looking forward to what Nicki has in store for Friday?

[via]