New Hip Hop News

Elgin Baylor is a legendary basketball player who spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers organization. From their days in the mid-west to the west coast, Baylor was one of the most iconic players in the history of the franchise. On Monday, Baylor passed away due to natural causes as he was surrounded by his family. 

The announcement was made on the Los Angeles Lakers website where his wife Elaine offered a touching tribute to the legend. Team owner Jeanie Buss also offered some kind words as she explained just how much Baylor means to the Lakers and everything they stand for as an organization.

“Elgin was THE superstar of his era – his many accolades speak to that,” Jeanie Buss wrote. “He was one of the few Lakers players whose career spanned from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. But more importantly he was a man of great integrity, even serving his country as a U.S. Army reservist, often playing for the Lakers only during his weekend pass. He is one of the all-time Lakers greats with his No. 22 jersey retired in the rafters and his statue standing guard in front of STAPLES Center. He will always be part of the Lakers legacy. On behalf of the entire Lakers family, I’d like to send my thoughts, prayers and condolences to Elaine and the Baylor family.”

While he never won a title, Baylor was able to make 10 All-NBA teams and was an all-star 11 times. He averaged 27.4 points per game throughout his career and he also notched 13.5 rebounds. He is a legendary superstar and we send our condolences to his family and friends during these difficult times.

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Kodak Black was released from prison this year but even when he was behind bars, he managed to ruffle a few feathers. There was the incident with T.I. stemming from his comments towards a newly widowed Lauren London that he later apologized for. However, it seems that one feud that began while he was away that never got squashed was with NBA Youngboy. 

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The pair traded words over the Internet nearly one year ago, though it seems that Yak has been cooling out on that specific beef in recent times. Instead, he’s been taking aim at artists like Megan Thee Stallion, who he adamantly claims stole his swag with her ‘drive the boat’ slogan, and Pooh Shiesty, who he accused of doing the money spread without offering the proper credit. Now, it seems that Yak has returned fire on NBA Youngboy out of the blue as part of his campaign to receive his proper dues from the artists that came after him. 

Akademiks shared a video of a basketball coach dancing in the locker room with his players to NBA Youngboy’s “Right Foot Creep.” The coach was doing a one-foot shuffle of sorts, though it’s truly difficult to provide a precise description of what he was doing. The players were hyped, as well as Youngboy fans, but it was Kodak Black who, once again, demanded his credit. “But They Doing My Dance Tho,” he wrote along with a laughing emoji.

What do you think? Is the coach jocking Kodak’s style or is it a reach?

Aaron Gordon has been a solid player for the Orlando Magic over the last few years although, over these past few months, it has become almost a certainty that he would be going somewhere else in the not-so-distant future. The Magic haven’t been able to maintain any real success over the last decade, and for players like Gordon, going to a contender is always a better draw.

According to Sam Amick and Jared Weiss from The Athletic, Gordon has asked the team for a trade. The Magic have been expecting this for a while now and have told prospective teams that they would want multiple first-round picks or some good players in return.

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There is a multitude of teams who have already reached out when it comes to Gordon, including the Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, and Portland Trail Blazers. Back in August, the Golden State Warriors were reportedly contemplating a trade for Gordon but as it stands, they are not in the running for the star, at least for the time being.

The NBA trade deadline is set to take place on Thursday, March 25th and it seems like there are a ton of trades that could be made. This is a huge time of year for NBA fans, and their favorite teams will most certainly be looking to improve. Keep it locked to HNHH, as we will be sure to bring you all of the latest updates.

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Recently, Mike Tyson came out and said that he would be back in the ring on May 29th although he didn’t give fans any insight into who he would be fighting. Most people agreed that Tyson would probably be fighting Evander Holyfield for the third time, especially since the two have thrown the idea around, and are now on good terms.

According to TMZ, people from Holyfield’s team are now saying that a deal was in place but it ultimately fell through. They say Tyson and Holyfield were down for a 50-50 split, but in the end, Tyson went back on his word and even declined a $25 million deal. 

“Team Holyfield sincerely believed a deal was imminent, especially after the Hard Rock threw its support behind the project, and there were multiple other offers conveyed to Team Tyson,” Holyfield’s camp explained. “However, Team Tyson’s demands recently became untenable, and not what Mike Tyson had originally agreed on in direct conversations with Holyfield.”

The business of boxing has always been fascinating so it isn’t a surprise that something like this could be done away with so quickly. For now, however, there is still a sliver of hope that Tyson’s camp can come back with an offer that works for both sides.

In the meantime, Tyson will continue to train as he fully expects to have an opponent in two months from now.

Larry Busacca/Getty Images for the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival

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Talib Kweli and co-host Jasmin Leigh’s The People’s Party podcast has officially welcomed the wise and endearingly tangent-prone Questlove to the fold, and one of the highlight moments arose when the conversation shifted to Black Thought’s status as a bonafide GOAT contender. 

“Dude, that Hot 97 Freestyle ain’t shit compared to his Thanksgiving dinners,” jokes Quest, as Talib proceeds to praise Black Thought’s penmanship on “Act II: Love Of My Life.” After, Talib shares a startling revelation — that after slaughtering ten minutes of bars on Funkmaster Flex, Black Thought called him and seemed surprised at the positive response. He proceeds to ask Quest why the masses seem hesitant to recognize Black Thought as the game’s greatest emcee. 

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“There’s a moment when Kid A came out by Radiohead, and the buzz was so heavy on Radiohead in a deafening undeniable way, that you almost weren’t cool if you weren’t down with Radiohead,” begins Quest. He explains how he always felt “the idea of The Roots was always bigger than the actual Roots,” which didn’t always translate to direct knowledge about the music itself. “With The Roots, the idea of liking us is cool. We structure it so there’s something for everybody…but oftentimes, [Black Thought] is too good for his own good.”

“That rule in The 48 Laws Of Power where you’re not supposed to outshine the teacher, I definitely know there’s some of that going on as well,” he continues. “Often with our peers. I think Jay told me once…When Jay heard Tariq’s verse on “I Will Not Apologize,” Jay had this wide-open thing like ‘finally! Ya’ll listened to me.’ Tariq does such a simple rhythmic pattern there, and that’s one of the rare times he spoon-feeds you a simple rhyme pattern that your brain can follow. Normally it’s like Crazy Taxi.”

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“I was kind of asking, to Jay, can’t you use your influence to get him on more features,” reveals Quest, reflecting a meeting he had with the then-Def Jam President. “And he was just like — the logic of that thinking is, people will want to co-sign something new. He tells me, the problem with Thought is its one thing for a super-established artist to pull a move. He was sort of suggesting the ‘Renegade’ situation. That Nas line ‘Eminem murdered you on your own shit.’ That did a lot to establish emcees at the time. It’s one thing to get sonned by an established person, but the days of allowing Busta to [steal the show on ‘Scenario’] are far and few between.”

“Jay told me in no certain terms that no rapper can afford to look bad in front of him, so it’s almost why we gotta blackball him,” says Quest. t.” 

Check out the full conversation below, and show some love to Questlove in the comments — do you think artists were too scared to get on a track with Black Thought?