New Hip Hop News

Fans were disappointed to learn of Teyana Taylor’s retirement. The singer shared the news back in December 2020, just five months after releasing her acclaimed, stacked project, The Album.Taylor poured her heart and soul into the record, but within those few months, something occurred behind the scene to make her feel as if it was time to bow out of her career—at least, temporarily.

The wife and mother of two recently sat down with Cam Newton on his Sip ‘N Smoke series to share bits about her career, including an explanation as to why she felt “underappreciated” by her record label.

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“At the end of the day, I’m a mom first,” said Taylor. “A mom, a wife, a woman. And I think for me, I put in a lot of work. I work very, very hard. So, if you feel unheard and unseen—like how I said earlier with my husband. He sees me, he hears me. I take that sh*t serious. Everything that I do. So if you’re my husband, or I’m signed, everybody that I’m aligned with should see me. They should hear me. They should feel me. If you don’t see me, hear me, or feel me, it’s a dub for you.”

“And I felt like the label wasn’t really hearing me and seeing me,” she continued. “I felt underappreciated. So, for my mental health, my mental well-being, for my kids, let me just put this on ice for a little [bit]. It’s not that I retired permanently. It’s more like, I just don’t feel like I want to move another inch for a company.”

Watch Teyana Taylor’s insightful Sip ‘N Smoke episode below.

The Rap industry isn’t unfamiliar with artists having trouble with the law. It feels as if we’re hit daily with news about someone being harassed, charged, or arrested, but there are a select few that steer clear of conflict altogether. Cordae is a rapper who doesn’t involve himself with beefs, animosity, or legal trouble, but last summer, he found himself in custody.

In July 2020, Cordae joined the millions of others who took to America’s streets to protest against police brutality and systemic racism. Specifically, he made his way to Louisville, Kentucky to support others who took camp outside of Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s home. The protesters wanted Cameron to address the movement of Breonna Taylor’s case, or lack thereof, and why the officers involved had yet to be charged for her death.

Several arrests were made, including Trae Tha Truth, Real Housewives of Atlanta‘s Porsha Williams, Love & Hip Hop‘s Yandy Smith, and Cordae. It was reported that they were each tacked with felony charges for peacefully protesting, but Cordae shared on Twitter that his attorneys have been working overtime.

“My felony finally got expunged today S/O to my lawyer [fingers crossed emoji],” Cordae tweeted. We’re sure it’s good news for the others who were detained, as well. Check out a few posts below.

Instagram users are often confronted with new features or changed designs, but one thing that hasn’t changed too much is their DMs. Songs have been made about things “going down in the DM,” and in an effort to help navigated friends and followers from strangers, there is a request folder for those who have sent messages to people they don’t know. Plenty of collaborations, especially in the Rap industry, have begun with a DM message, but it looks as if T-Pain has missed out.

Nearly every IG user has tapped into their request folder at one time or another, but T-Pain revealed that he wasn’t even aware that it existed, and he shared a glimpse into his messages.

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The “Buy U a Drank” star shared a post to his Instagram via his TikTok where he quickly scrolls by unread messages from several celebrity accounts including Diplo, Fergie, Kway, YBN Nahmir, Viola Davis, Nickelodeon, and Keri Hilson. Some of the messages were to alert T-Pain that he was mentioned in someone’s IG Story, but others were personally reaching out to the musician.

“I was today years old when I found out about the request folder on instagram that’s full of celebs trying to reach me,” he wrote over the clip. “I’ve been accidentally straight up ignoring all these people for like 2 years. I thought DM’s are supposed to just show up in the normal folder and you don’t have to go digging for all these.”

Some people couldn’t believe that T-Pain didn’t see the glaring notification in his DMs. “I swear!! I’m just now seeing all these messages and mentions TODAY!!!!” T-Pain wrote in the caption. “How do I super apologize? Press conference? Town hall meeting? I’m dumb.” His famous friends laughed at him in the comments.

“U done ignored some millions [sideways crying laughing emoji],” wrote Yung Bleu. Check out T-Pain’s post below and let us know if you believe he didn’t know about these hundreds of messages.

He may not be able to tweet, but the office of former President Donald Trump is open for business. It has been reported that Trump has set up shop in Florida and following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, Trump has remained relatively quiet. His departure from the Oval Office, ban from Twitter, and the dissolution of Parler hasn’t given Trump the same internet reach as he once had. However, within the last few weeks, we’ve received a few bizarre press releases and statements from America’s former Commander-in-Chief.

Last Sunday (April 24), we witnessed the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, and while the winners are celebrating their accolades, it was a rating disaster. It’s reported that approximately 9.85 million people watched the star-studded show—a 58 percent drop from last year. After the numbers were announced, Trump issued a press release.

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“What used to be called The Academy Awards, and now is called the ‘Oscars’ —a far less important and elegant name—had the lowest Television Ratings in recorded history, even much lower than last year, which set another record low,” reads the statement. For the record, the ceremony is still officially referred to as The Academy Awards.

“If they keep with the current ridiculous formula, it will only get worse—if that’s possible,” Trump added. “Go back 15 years, look at the formula they then used, change the name back to THE ACADEMY AWARDS, don’t be so politically correct and boring, and do it right. ALSO, BRING BACK A GREAT HOST. These television people spend all their time thinking about how to promote the Democrat Party, which is destroying our Country, and cancel Conservatives and Republicans. That formula certainly hasn’t worked very well for The Academy!”

The Academy has yet to respond to Trump’s grievances. Watch a few highlights from the 93rd ceremony below.

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Regardless of the legal issues that both he and his wife are facing, T.I. is unwavering in his activism. The Atlanta icon has often used his voice, social media platforms, music, and wallet to support various anti-racist causes. In recent months, Tip and Tameka “Tiny” Harris have been battling accusations of coercion, sexual assault, and drugging women. They have both continued to categorically deny the allegations set against them, but T.I. resurfaced to launch a new conversation on social media.

Throughout the years, T.I. has taken to Instagram to post messages pertaining to social justice issues affecting not only his local community with the Black community at large. On Wednesday (April 28), the rapper returned with a reposted image with a message for White allies.

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“To my white, NON RACIST friends, I love y’all !” reads the text image. “Don’t get it twisted. Me loving and protecting my race does not mean I hate or fault you. We know exactly who our enemies are, they’re no longer hiding it. Thank you for standing with us.” In the caption, T.I. dropped off one last thought.

“Top of the top people,” he wrote. “I love & respect all who love & respect US. @UsorElsenow.” T.I. tagged Us or Else, a charitable organization described as: “Founded by Tip ‘T.I.’ Harris, Us or Else fights for the liberation of blacks and all other oppressed people.” Us or Else: Letter to the System is an EP that the rapper released back in 2016. You can check out T.I.’s post, as well as a few more from Us or Else, below.

Music fans love a good collective. If a group of artists can come together and create beautiful music together, fans will embrace them all, picking their favorites in the band and dishing out dollars for live shows. The Roots have been one of the most celebrated groups in Hip Hop, if not music history, but drummer Questlove revealed that there were several times when they were *thisclose* to disbanding.

The acclaimed musician recently chatted about his career on Unbothered with Jemele Hill and during the conversation, Questlove shared a few tales of The Roots nearly breaking up.

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“The inside joke is this album, ‘End Game,’ will probably the first album where I didn’t threaten to leave the group,” said Questlove with a laugh. “The rest of The Roots will say that I hold the record for the longest [holdout]…after three records, it’s like ‘The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf,’ like yeah, he’ll be back next month, don’t worry about him.”

“During ‘Illadelph Halflife,’ we didn’t exactly have a conversation about evolving. Longtime Roots fans will know like, ‘This album sounds this way, and this album different than the album before,'” he added. “I think at the beginning of ‘Illadelph Halflife,’ I was the last to know that Tariq and Malik desired to rhyme over a more traditional Hip Hop backdrop. And after a while, it was like, ‘Wait a minute? Am I the bad guy here? Did I kill my own group? Are you saying the live music angle is what’s killing us right now? It’s my fault?’ I took it mad personal.”

The crew was able to amicably resolve their issues before things took a turn for the worst. Illadelph Halflife, released in the Fall of 1996, became one of the band’s most beloved projects. Listen to Questlove’s compelling conversation with Jemele Hill below.

People gave Pfizer the side-eye when it was shared that a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine may be needed in six months to a year, but the company’s CEO claims they are working on an even more effective solution. Albert Bourla spoke with CNBC yesterday (April 27) to discuss the controversial vaccines and was asked if there were going to be alternative, possibly more permanent solutions in the future, like a pill that the public can take.

“If all goes well, and we implement the same speed that we are, and if regulators do the same, and they are, I hope that by the end of the year,” said Bourla.

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He shared a bit of insight into what they have been developing at Pfizer. “One of them is you don’t need to go to the hospital to get the treatment,” he added. “You could get it at home. That could be a game-changer.” This new form of treatment is currently in its “early-stage clinical trial testing a new antiviral therapy for the disease,” according to CNBC.

The outlet added that “the drug is part of a class of medicines called protease inhibitors and works by inhibiting an enzyme that the virus needs to replicate in human cells.” There have been multiple reports worldwide of several other variants of COVID-19 being discovered, leaving concerned citizens to wonder if their vaccine will protect them from new strains.

Bourla also told the outlet that this pill form has the possibility of being “way more effective against the variants.” Watch Bourla’s feature with CNBC below.

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Hoping to put his legal troubles behind him, Kodak Black has copped to a plea deal. We previously reported that the Florida rapper was being investigated in South Carolina after a young woman claimed that he sexually assaulted her. On Wednesday (April 28), Kodak pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault.

“Today Bill Kapri took a plea to the legal charge of assault, a non sex offense, and received 18 months probation,” a statement from the rapper’s legal team reads. “This was a change of charge from the original charge. Having consistently denied these 5 year old allegations, he entered this plea in order to resolve the matter.”

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Later, Kodak took to Twitter to send off a few thoughts about the resolution of his latest case. He received support from his fellow rappers in the industry, including Yung Bleu who addressed conversations about Kodak agreeing to a guilty plea. “N*ggas plead guilty all the time for sht they didn’t do. cuz they dnt wanna take the chance of getting 20 years taking it to trial when u can get probation for a year ?” tweeted Bleu.

“Everybody situation different but Sometimes u gotta take a L to get a W. Not saying anyone guilty r not I’m js.” A Twitter user chimed in and told Yung Bleu that it was “goofy” to plead guilty to something you didn’t do. “If u not in the streets I can’t expect u to understand what I mean,” the rapper responded.

Do you agree with Bleu or the Twitter user? Check out the tweets below.

As rumors drift about J. Cole joining the NBA, Bas is dropping off hints regarding the North Carolina star’s next album. We know that Cole has been cooking up something nice in the studio and last month, DJ Akademiks suggested that NBA YoungBoy was slated to connect with Cole in the studio but pulled a no-show.

In January, J. Cole’s manager shared a photo said to be from a music video shoot for The Off-Season, but there haven’t been any real updates about the project coming from the Dreamville camp—until Bas pulled a post-and-delete move over on Instagram today (April 28).

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“[Mind blown emojis] The Off-Season. pack your bags. [rocket emoji] in two weeks,” Bas wrote in the caption of a photo of J. Cole in the studio. Fellow Dreamville artist Cozz liked the post, further solidifying for fans that The Off-Season will arrive in mid-May. We were already expecting a J. Cole album arrival sometime this year, especially after the rapper shared an enigmatic post of a to-do list back in January with several other goals crossed off. 

Check out Bas’s post below and let us know if you’re looking to the next J. Cole wave that may or may not arrive next month.