New Hip Hop News

COVID-19 has forced teams into some unique situations this season. Every single day, players are tested for the virus and it has become a real pain for everyone involved. This new reality certainly isn’t fun although as more people get the vaccine, it seems like protocols will become a lot more relaxed. Recently, however, the Golden State Warriors experienced a situation with rookie James Wiseman, as he missed a COVID test due to a trip outside of San Francisco.

As a result, head coach Steve Kerr opted to bench Wiseman and after a loss to the Clippers on Thursday, Warriors star Draymond Green was asked about how he felt about the punishment. Green noted that he disagrees with how Kerr handled it although when his coach asked him to weigh in, he decided not to speak up.

“I’m not sure if I was the coach I would’ve suspended him over a COVID test. Not that I’m questioning what Coach Kerr did. I’m just not sure I would’ve done that. Because there’s so much testing. Tomorrow we test three times,” Green said. “You got to know when it’s your time to say something and when it’s time to shut the hell up…Ok, cool. Respect. I left that one alone.”

COVID protocols are hard to keep up with these days so it is easy to see how Wiseman could get caught up in this type of situation. Hopefully, Kerr forgives the young star, who has been one of the more consistent rookies this season.

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North America is slowly gaining traction in the world of legalized cannabis. Canada already made the move to legalize marijuana, and now Mexico is right on its heels. According to a report from the New York Times, Mexico is barreling towards legalizing the plant, which would make the country the biggest market in the world for weed. 

Mexico’s lower house has approved a bill that aims to legalize recreational marijuana use. The legislation passed Wednesday in a vote of 316 to 129. “Today we are in a historic moment,” Simey Olvera, a lawmaker with the governing Morena party, said. “With this, the false belief that cannabis is part of Mexico’s serious public health problems is left behind.” In the early 1900s, the United States used a slanderous campaign against Mexicans to demonize cannabis use, which led to many of the laws the US is still grappling with today when it comes to legalization. 

The bill is headed to Mexico’s Senate for review and revisions. If passed, the law would allow the cultivation, sale, research, transformation, export, and import of cannabis. Citizens 18 and up can indulge, and can grow up to six plants for personal use. They would also be allowed to carry up to 28 grams. 

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Famous Dex found himself in an incredibly unfortunate incident this week. According to TMZ, the rapper filed a report to police claiming that he was robbed of his watch worth $50K as well as a bunch of cash, upwards of the thousands. Dex told the police that he had linked up with one of his buddies in the San Fernando Valley to borrow a very expensive watch worth $50K for a music video is was about to film. From there, the rapper claimed that he was being followed by someone once he got in his vehicle.

Sources to the publication claim that the rapper stopped his vehicle and then he was swarmed by several armed men who pulled their guns out on him. Dex said that they took the watch as well as the cash, and then ran off. No arrests have been made in the case and police said that they’re currently looking out for the culprits. 

Dex hasn’t necessarily commented publicly about the incident but we’re hoping that things work out for him in the end. The rapper has been making an effort to turn his life around over the past few months. In late December, he checked into rehab before checking out in early January. Since then, it appears that he’s been doing well, getting to work on music, and focusing on his family. 

We’ll keep you updated as more information on the situation unfolds. 

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During a press conference on Wednesday, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts made a statement about marijuana that many found to be ridiculous and hypocritical. “This is a dangerous drug that will impact our kids,” the Governor said. “If you legalize marijuana, you’re going to kill your kids. That’s what the data shows from around the country … Big pot, big marijuana is a big industry. This a big industry that is trying not to be regulated, to go around the regulatory process. And that’s going to put people at risk, when you go around regulations that are designed for the health and safety of our society.”

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These comments come during lawmakers’ consideration of Legislative Bill 474, which would legalize medical marijuana in Nebraska. The bill does not legalize or decriminalize recreational marijuana, and would include very strict rules for consuming cannabis. 

The CDC has data that pushes back against the Governor’s claims, calling a fatal marijuana overdose “unlikely.” The CDC also points to data that conflicts with the claim of marijuana being a “gateway drug,” saying that “The majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, ‘harder’ substances.” 

Many Twitter users called out Ricketts for his remarks, calling him a fear monger or a hypocrite, especially when he refused to properly implement mask mandates in his state.

What do you think? Are Ricketts’ comments ludicrous or does he have a point? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. 

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Just a couple of days ago, on March 11th, the whole world reflected on the one-year anniversary of our lives being forever changed. It all seemingly started when Tom Hanks and his wife revealed that they had tested positive for COVID-19 while on a trip to Australia. That same night, the NBA announced that Rudy Gobert was the first player in the league to contract the virus. This was just days after he touched a bunch of media microphones as an attempt at a bad joke. With celebrities catching the virus, panic mode was initiated, and every single sports league around the world shut down as they sought to figure out the proper course(s) of action.

With Gobert’s positive test, the NBA immediately put the season on hiatus, just a few weeks before the playoffs were supposed to begin. For the next four months, the NBA carefully calculated what they would do next. In the end, they decided to bring 22 teams to Orlando, Florida, where they would get to stay on the Disney Campus, and play out the rest of the regular season, while also getting in a full playoff tournament. While in the bubble, the rules were incredibly strict. If players did anything that put their team in jeopardy, they would be recommended to go into two-week quarantines and even receive some fines. With the bubble in place, not a single player tested positive for the virus in Orlando, and the playoffs went on without a hitch. By October, a champion was crowned and the NBA looked like the biggest geniuses on the planet.

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However, these last few months have seen the NBA fall out of favor. To be fair, leagues like the NFL have also had their own share of problems, although some of the decisions made by the NBA have been curious, to say the least. When the league began in December, Adam Silver made it clear to the players that there would be no bubble. Instead, teams would travel as per usual, although the schedule would be tailored to limit any team’s possible exposure. For instance, if a Western Conference team goes out East, they will stay there for a while as they play as many teams on that coast as possible. COVID-19 protocols would still be in place, meaning players would need to be tested every single day and if they came into contact with someone who contracted the virus, they would need to sit out for a 10-day period.

All of this sounds great on paper, but so far, the rules have been so all over the place, that the NBA has struggled to maintain real consistency throughout the year. Case in point, players continue to test positive for the virus, and it has led to the cancelation of numerous games. According to the NBA’s own website, 31 games have been postponed this season, and some teams have been affected more than others. A great example of this is the Toronto Raptors, who had a game postponed on February 28th after their coaching staff reportedly broke mask protocols.

These protocols have also been applied in some suspicious ways. Perhaps the best example of this is when Kevin Durant was told he needed to sit out a Nets game after a close contact tested positive. Eventually, Durant was cleared to play as the contact underwent a second test. When that second test was confirmed positive, Durant was pulled from the game in the second half, which led to a lot of frustration and confusion. After the game, Durant was extremely annoyed, and rightfully so. In the end, the league should have forced him to sit out entirely, instead of allowing him to play during some imaginary limbo period, that did nothing but his teammates and opponents at risk. 

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Various players have been critical of the NBA’s insistence on carrying through with the season despite all of the positive tests and bizarre circumstances. With all of the positive tests that took place during the month of January, the league could have easily suspended the season for a few weeks and come up with a way to make the teams safer. Perhaps a regional bubble could have been a compromise, with teams only playing against squads that are in their immediate vicinity. However, the NBA refused to do this, and instead, decided to double down on their current course of action.

The most egregious offense committed by the league was when they went through with the All-Star Game last weekend. As many of you know, the All-Star Game brings various players from around the league into one city, where they play against each other in a fun exhibition match. With COVID-19 going around, this added travel was not necessary, and just a couple of days into the Atlanta experience, the league had to deal with a COVID-related controversy. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were supposed to take part in the game but after a visit with their barber, who later tested positive for the Coronavirus, the two Sixers stars were ousted from the All-Star Game, which ultimately cheapened the whole event. Not to mention, this put players at risk, even if there was a strict quarantine in place.

Prior to the All-Star Game, various players throughout the league were adamant about just how shortsighted having the game was. LeBron James was at the forefront of the movement, with other players calling the All-Star Game a cash grab. This, of course, is the problem. The NBA lost a lot of money during the shutdown in 2020 and now, they are looking to recoup their losses. This is understandable, however, putting players’ lives at risk simply isn’t worth the monetary gain. Guys like Karl-Anthony Towns have lost numerous family members to the virus, and other players have experienced similar tragedies. With this in mind, the NBA should be much more careful with how they treat this pandemic because despite the reduction in cases, we’re still not out of the woods.

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Moving forward, the NBA also hopes to see more fans in the arenas, as vaccines are being administered through out the world. While this could certainly be a positive thing, it remains to be seen how safe this will truly be. Once again, this is the NBA looking to get their money back, and hopefully, the league will learn from the mistakes it made over the past few months, and do everything to make sure that fans, players, and staff will remain in good hands. However, if the NBA continues to make profit their priority, they could find themselves back at square one, and absolutely no one wants that, especially after the trauma of the last year.