New Hip Hop News

Not everyone was praising Mase for his recent comments regarding gang culture. The former Bad Boy artist has left his Rap life in the dust as he’s opted to continue his career as a pastor, and like many others, he’s using social media to share his message. Last week, Mase popped up on Instagram with a lengthy post about how the “weakest thing a Black man can do” is “join a street gang.”

“Think about it what type of person would ask you to hurt your own people and take an oath to be there for your gang only to end up not being there for your children and family. I NEVER UNDERSTOOD THAT,” wrote Mase. While many co-signed his comments, Glasses Malone wasn’t impressed.

The Los Angeles artist expressed his disappointment and frustration with HipHopDX. “Over the years I’ve noticed different things with Ma$e. Being critical of people that come from the kind of background that he comes from and him to act totally clueless and ignorant to it, it’s kind of ridiculous. I kind of feel bad for him for even saying that,” said Malone, who grew up in Watts and Compton.

“Ma$e is f*cking tripping. He knows why [kids join gangs]. This is not new,” he added. Especially since everybody’s reason for joining is different. Most of the time, you from where you from before you claim. Everybody else is going to tell you where you from, for the most part. And if people are your friends, like gangbanging ain’t nothing but a bunch of players who are trying to survive.”

“Now you see a bunch of strangers getting together and then uniting under a street moniker or street sign, but real gangbanging in its essence, or the one I participated in is really a bunch of friends trying to survive in the place having a different franchise and it completely lacks opportunity altogether. That’s all a gang is where I’m from. And representing the gang is representing your friends, representing y’all background, y’all struggle, y’all cultural togetherness. That’s all it is.”

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Malone added that Mase is “too f*cking educated” to make such remarks and is willing to speak one-on-one with him about this topic. Still, he was baffled that at Harlem World artist. “I think maybe just somebody needs to jar his f*cking memory back so he can remember exactly what’s going on and then if he really wanted to help with it, but he still and the problem is, he can actually help instead of just sitting back there on his brass throne at that church, criticizing somebody.”

Do you agree with Malone or believe Mase was correct in his assessment of gang culture?

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The build-up to the release of Eternal Atake was agonizing for diehard Lil Uzi Vert fans. There seemed to be controversy regarding the album’s delivery, and we later learned that there were delays that caused Uzi to have to hit the studio to refine his project. Eternal Atake made an unsurprising debut at the top of the charts, but even with a No.  spot secured, the rapper recently revealed that it wasn’t as powerful as he’d wanted.

Uzi chatted with W Magazine and discussed his acclaimed project, admitting that the final product wasn’t as impressive as his initial vision for the album.

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“All of my music for Eternal Atake got leaked, so I had to redo it,” said Uzi. “It didn’t reach its full potential—I just knew it wasn’t the sound I was going for. Let’s just say ‘Eternal Atake,’ for another artist, would have been really good, because it was super dumbed down to where everyone could enjoy it, but that’s not my artistry. I want my new music to be more intimate to my real fans. I wanted it to be almost cultlike.

Uzi also revealed that he’s switched up how he approaches creating music. “No, I’m just leaving songs how they are instead of trying to make the perfect song. I was following the other guys too much,” said Uzi. W wanted to know what “guys” the rapper was referring to. “I was listening to all the industry guys and their formats—it was confusing me, because these guys are getting No. 1’s.”

“But I realized the music ain’t even living; their No. 1’s are real quick,” he added. “I had to realize this is their beginning; they’re younger than me, so they have room to do that. I don’t have room to do that. I used to always look at all the young guys and be like, ‘Oh, shout out this guy.’ I ain’t shouting out nobody no more.”

Do you think Uzi’s formula should be the new approach? Revisit Eternal Atake below.

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21 Savage says he has an EP dropping this Friday titled Spiral, a partnership with the upcoming film, Spiral: From The Book Of Saw. The Chris Rock-produced film is set to release on May 14 as well.

“#Spiral Ep Drop Friday I Don’t Think Y’all Ready I Ain’t None To Play Wit,” he wrote on Instagram.

The theme song to the film, “Spiral,” was released on April 30th.

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Savage’s last project, Savage Mode II, a collaborative album with Metro Boomin, released back in October. The “I Am > I Was” rapper recently appeared on DJ Khaled’s newest album. Khaled Khaled, on “Let It Go,” featuring Justin Bieber. Khaled Khaled hit number one on the Billboard 200 Chart last week.

The ninth installment in the Saw film series will star Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Max Minghella, and more in a story that follows police efforts to track down a criminal mastermind. Rock’s character, Zeke, will find himself “at the center of the killer’s morbid game,” according to the official plot summary.  

Spiral is Rock’s latest foray into non-comedic roles. In 2020, he received praise for his starring role in the fourth season of Fargo.

The first Saw film was released in 2004.

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Last month, it was reported that a series of words associated with AAVE, or African American Vernacular English, would be added to the dictionary. Language including “finna” and “chile” have been staples in Black culture for over a century, and throughout history, with the help of the popularization of the entertainment industry, those words have become cornerstones of what many deem to be “slang” in pop culture. Recently, scholars and educators began recognizing AAVE as its own language, more popularly promoted in previous years as Ebonics, and some people have insisted that certain terms, and even new slang words promoted by the Black community, shouldn’t be made fun of or misattributed. Hence, why Saturday Night Live found itself facing backlash on social media.

Last Saturday (May 8) was a controversial episode of the long-running series due to Elon Musk acting as host, but it was the “Gen Z Hospital” sketch, written by Michael Che, that irritated some viewers. 

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In the sketch, Musk acted alongside Kate McKinnon, Mikey Day, and Melissa Villasenior as they portrayed Gen Z teens who used words like “sis,” “on gang,” “catch hands,” “facts,” “the tea,” “taking a major L,” “sus,” and “cap.” The show was accused of mocking AAVE, and Che addressed the controversy with a joke or two.

“I’ve been reading about how my ‘gen z’ sketch was misappropriating AAVE and I was stunned cause what the f**k is ‘AAVE’? I had to look it up,” said the comedian. “Turns out it’s an acronym for ‘African American vernacular english.’ You know, AAVE! That ol’ saying that actual black people use in conversation all the time. Look, the sketch bombed. I’m used to that. I meant no offense to the ‘aave’ community. I love aave. Aave to the moon!”

Yet, critics were also targeted as they were accused of being overly sensitive about a comedy series and the point of SNL has always been about making fun of popular culture. Check out the sketch below.

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Seth Rogen recalled meeting Tom Cruise back in 2006 in an interview on Howard Stern’s radio show, Monday. Rogen says the weird encounter began with him peeing in a Snapple bottle and included Cruise giving him a lecture on Scientology.

Rogen explained that he didn’t want to ask Cruise to use his restroom immediately after meeting him.

“I stopped halfway up the driveway, [which was] kind of in the woods above Sunset Boulevard, and I peed in a Snapple bottle in my car,” Rogen told Stern. “I sealed the bottle and left it there, and went on to have a very absurd meeting with Tom Cruise.”

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He went on to explain that he realized later that there was a security camera watching him.

“I was passing the exact spot that I peed in,” Rogen said. “I noticed a red light in the woods and looked up and there was a security camera literally pointed at the same spot.”

He went on to talk about how Cruise pitched him on Scientology: “And it’s like with Scientology, he said, ‘If you let me just tell you what it was really about, if you let me, just give me 20 minutes to really just tell you what it was about, you would say no fucking way, no fucking way.’ Is that a good thing to be saying? Is that a bad thing to be saying?”

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