Latest news with #hiphop
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
50 Cent name-dropped during ex-Diddy assistant Capricorn Clark's bombshell testimony about rap feud: ‘I like guns'
Rapper 50 Cent was name-dropped at Sean 'Diddy' Combs' bombshell federal trial Tuesday — during shocking testimony that touched on the longstanding feud between the hip-hop legends. The Bad Boy Records founder had griped to his former manager Chris Lighty about his feud with 50 Cent after the two rappers left an MTV press event, Combs' ex-assistant Capricorn Clark told jurors in Manhattan federal court. 'I don't like all the back and forth … I like guns,' Clark recalled Combs telling Lighty in an elevator leaving the event. 50 Cent – who famously took nine bullets during a 2000 shooting in Queens – responded to Combs' alleged veiled threat with mocking faux fear. 'Wait a minute PUFFY's got a gun, I can't believe this I don't feel safe,' the New York City native posted on Instagram later Tuesday. 'LOL.' The tale from Clark adds yet another wrinkle between the hip-hop stars' beef, which began nearly 20 years ago. 50 Cent, real name Curtis James Jackson III, released a diss track — 'The Bomb' — in 2006 that accused Combs of knowing who killed the Notorious B.I.G. He has since gleefully roasted Combs over the torrent of accusations that erupted after the 'Mo Money Mo Problems' singer's ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura dropped a bombshell lawsuit outlining alleged abuse and degrading 'freak-off' sex parties. The trolling continued over Combs' racketeering and sex-trafficking trial, as Ventura alleged he once made her climb into an inflatable pool filled with baby oil. 'This s–t crazier th[a]n regular crazy,' 50 Cent posted on Instagram, along with two AI-generated images of Combs in a pools brimming with baby oil. Diddy trial live updates: Ex-assistant Capricorn Clark testifies Sean 'Diddy' Combs' posse threatened to murder assistant Capricorn Clark after his jewelry vanished: 'They're going to throw you in the East River' Sean 'Diddy' Combs said he was going to 'kill' Kid Cudi after finding out about Cassie Ventura relationship, assistant Capricorn Clark testifies Sean 'Diddy' Combs once implied he might use a gun on 50 Cent over longstanding beef: testimony The 'Candy Shop' hip-hop legend — besides razzing his rival's love of lubricants — is producing an as-yet-unreleased Netflix documentary about the sexual assault accusations against Combs. He has said the proceeds will go toward victims of sexual assault and rape. Lighty, the manager to whom Combs allegedly made the gun remark, died in 2014 from a self-inflicted gunshot, police have said. 50 Cent, however, had hired a private investigator to dig into Lighty's death, Ebony reported. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
50 Cent vows to dissuade Trump from potential Diddy pardon after prez teased possibility: ‘No room for distraction'
Rapper 50 Cent will contact President Trump to deter him from considering a pardon for disgraced hip-hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs, according to a social media post. Trump shockingly said Friday that he would be open to pardoning Combs if he is found guilty at his ongoing federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial. 'Nobody's asked. But I know people are thinking about it. I know they're thinking about it. I think some people have been very close to asking,' Trump, 78, said during an Oval Office press conference with Elon Musk. 'First of all, I'd look at what's happening, and I haven't been watching it too closely, although it's certainly getting a lot of coverage,' Trump said of the blockbuster trial unfolding in Manhattan Federal Court. 50 Cent, who was named-dropped during Combs' trial Tuesday over their longstanding beef, vowed not to let Trump issue a pardon in an Instagram post Friday. 'He said some really bad things about Trump, it's not ok. I'm gonna reach out so he knows how I feel about this guy,' the 'In Da Club' rapper wrote. 'Donald doesn't take well to disrespect, and doesn't forget who chooses to go against him,' he doubled down in a second post. 'While working tirelessly to make America great again, there is no room for distraction. He would consider pardoning anyone who was being mistreated, not Puffy Daddy,' he wrote. Combs had griped to his former manager Chris Lighty about his feud with 50 Cent after the two rappers left an MTV press event, Combs' ex-assistant Capricorn Clark told jurors in court Tuesday. 'I don't like all the back and forth … I like guns,' Clark recalled Combs telling Lighty in an elevator leaving the event. 50 Cent – who famously took nine bullets during a 2000 shooting in Queens – responded to Combs' alleged veiled threat with mocking faux fear. 'Wait a minute PUFFY's got a gun, I can't believe this I don't feel safe,' the New York City native posted on Instagram later Tuesday. 'LOL.' The tale from Clark adds yet another wrinkle to the hip-hop stars' beef, which began nearly 20 years ago. 50 Cent released a diss track — 'The Bomb' — in 2006 that accused Combs of knowing who killed rapper Christopher Wallace, better known as the Notorious B.I.G. He has since gleefully roasted Combs over the torrent of accusations that erupted after the 'Mo Money Mo Problems' singer's ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura dropped a bombshell lawsuit outlining alleged abuse and degrading 'freak-off' sex parties. The 'Candy Shop' hip-hop legend — besides razzing his rival's alleged love of lubricants — is producing an as-yet-unreleased Netflix documentary about the sexual assault accusations against Combs. He has said the proceeds will go toward victims of sexual assault and rape. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pardoning celebs like NBA YoungBoy doesn't mean Trump is after the Black vote
I like the rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again, also known as NBA YoungBoy. Not in a recite-his-lyrics sense, but if I hear him at LA Fitness, his melodic delivery can carry me through a tough bench press. And frankly, if you like rap music, he's impossible to avoid. He's a chart-topping platinum-selling — well, what are 'platinum sales' in an era where everyone streams (read: rents) music? — artist, and he's got a 28-city tour planned. So, the success and popularity is real. When Donald Trump pardoned NBA YoungBoy, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden, from his gun-related charges, some might imagine the president was trying to reach me. Trump's clemency also included commuting the federal sentence of Larry Hoover, an aging Chicago gangster whom rappers like Drake, Chance the Rapper and Kanye West have long advocated for, further advancing the idea that he's making for my demo. After all, I'm Black. I only yawned, like, four times at my last rap concert, which means I can still claim youth-adjacency until the grays take over. I'd rather our country's criminal legal system pursue alternative means of holding people accountable for serious misconduct than stuffing them in a prison cell. I'm glad YoungBoy is home. Rolling Stone's Andre Gee, the strongest modern chronicler of the intersection of hip hop, politics and the potential for a rightward shift, described it as a 'cheap appeal to Black voters.' If Gee is right, this move was particularly destitute. For starters: Hoover still has to serve his state-level multiple life sentences. Though just a few months into his second term, Trump has sought to censor the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture's frank chronicling of racial history and promised to 'Strengthen and Unleash America's Law Enforcement' by reducing measures for police accountability. (What was that NWA song? 'Hug Tha Police'? Forgive me, I only heard the Kids Bop version.) Who really wants a president who pardons the occasional Black celebrity but bans your ability to explain how they ended up behind bars and why you want them freed? This administration doesn't merely demand cognitive dissonance; its contradictions are enshrined in law. The Trump regime has attacked diversity initiatives at every chance, smearing efforts intended to increase Black (among other underrepresented groups) opportunity in business and education and defunding scientific inquiry intended to benefit Black people. Which is why I'm unsure that I am in Trump's target audience. I don't believe he's after my demographic of young, Black male rap fans eligible to vote, either. But, if you're reading this and you don't identify as a young minority, I think he's going after you. In February, I watched a right-wing PAC-sponsored Black History Month teaching event and left with a different education than they intended. Rather than hearing thoughtful analysis of Martin and Malcolm, Rosa and Fannie, Sojourner, Harriet and the intertwined legacies of Black scholars, politicians, activists, and entertainers of the past, I witnessed a Black man teach his mostly white audience how to persuade Black people to vote for Republicans. I wrote at the time that persuading Black people to adopt racially conservative politics was an 'uphill battle.' A few months passed, and I no longer believe that was the primary concern, the more important goal was validating and reinforcing the worldview of people who were already racial conservatives. Trump's onslaught of plainly discriminatory, violent policies might be the greatest threat to racial conservatism. Many of Trump's anti-DEI pushes have loudly backfired — the administration was more or less shamed out of stripping Jackie Robinson's military history from the Department of Defense. Retail giant Target's compliance with the Trump administration provoked significant boycotts with plummeting earnings. The ugly, often illegal and frequently terrifying disappearances, including graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, Real Madrid superfan Jerce Reyes, and makeup artist Andry Hernandez Romero, is hardly winning friends to the movement. Some Trump voters won't care. As Tarrant County Republican chair Bo French loves to remind his X (formerly Twitter) followers, he voted for this! You might enjoy, for example, that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the father of three who was mistakenly deported still remains in a Salvadorian cell, despite the pleas of his wife and community. But maintaining such a stance probably puts you in the minority: a recent NYT/Sienna poll found that just 31% of Americans approve of how Trump handled Abrego's case, and 51% overall disapprove of his approach to immigration, an issue that was once a winning part of the Trump campaign's appeal to voters. Which brings me back to understanding the political utility of pardoning YoungBoy or Hoover. (Or, from Trump's first term, Lil Wayne and Kodak Black.) Positive press and a photo op around a Black celebrity isn't recruitment so much as it rallies the troops, allowing those who desire a chance to rationalize what they've done. Such stunts may pick up a few Black supporters. Not that many, but some. But whatever gains Trump may make with Black Americans pale in comparison to what it means symbolically for his base. Establishing his soft spot for the occasional Black celebrity indicates that maybe he's not so bad. And if he's an all-right guy, well, so are his voters. 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BBC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Birmingham hosts New York graffiti train photography exhibition
Respected New York photographer Henry Chalfant is clearly delighted by how Birmingham is showcasing his work in a new flown into England's second city to give his seal of approval to The Epic Story of Graffiti."This is amazing, this is really spectacularly beautiful and so impressive and grand. And for me to see that entrance, coming across the plaza, was like mind-blowing."The 85-year-old was in New York at the time the city gave birth to hip-hop, and travelled around the city in the 1970s and 1980s documenting young men creating an art movement with graffiti on the New York subway. "I think we've proved now that this is an artform that has exploded beyond the kind of boundaries that people try to confine this artform with," said The Epic Art of Graffiti curator Mohammed Ali from Birmingham-based Soul City Arts. "I saw Henry many years ago, over 10 years ago in New York and I said: 'We've got to bring this to Birmingham' where I was born and raised, and I feel really, really blessed and privileged that Henry has trusted me with these pictures." Chalfant, originally from Pennsylvania, moved to New York in the early 1970s at a time when the city had a fearful reputation. "It was when New York was at the bottom, already going down the drain," he said."The middle class was fleeing, the Bronx was burning, and East New York was burning. It was terrible and pretty scary to go there."But it never ceased to blow my mind living in New York. There was already graffiti on the trains and I wanted to take pictures to show my friends outside of the city to say 'see it's not so bad, it's actually exciting'."Chalfant started photographing the train painters in 1977 and spent the next eight years capturing their work, once he had convinced them "I wasn't an undercover cop".He added: "The graffiti movement has been culture-changing and I was there at the start and I feel very happy and lucky and proud of that." The exhibition has been launched to coincide with the B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival, which takes place this weekend, and is celebrating its 10th three-day festival takes place at Birmingham Hippodrome, Southside and Bullring. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
André 3000's No Bars Era: What It Means For Hip-Hop And Jazz Fans
As André 3000 turns 50, the backlash over his refusal to rap on recent projects like 'New Blue Sun' and '7 Piano Sketches,' reveals more about the hip-hop community's resistance to artistic growth than any failure on his part. People were expecting the 'Da Art of Storytellin'' 3K. The 'Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik' 3K. The 'Ms. Jackson' 3K. The 'Hey Ya!' 3K. However, that was over two decades ago. André was in his early thirties when Outkast released their last album, Idlewild, in 2006. Before dropping his first solo album, he certainly dropped bars across the hip-hop universe. Three Stacks and Big Boi reunited Outkast for the highly anticipated 2007 UGK collaboration 'International Players Anthem,' hopped on Erykah Badu's 2015 'Hello,' worked with Frank Ocean twice ('Pink Matter' and 'Solo'), appeared on N.E.R.D.'s 'Rollinem 7s,' and made several more surprise features with Rick Ross, Anderson .Paak, and James Blake. His last collaboration before 2023's New Blue Sun was with Kanye West, where he dropped bars on 'Life of the Party,' once again fueling hip-hop fans' desire to witness a living 3 Stacks bless the masses with profound, modernized bars. However, they were not prepared for what the Outkast emcee had in store. On Tuesday, the world commemorated André 3000 as he welcomed the ripe age of 50. For an adult man, this is typically a time for thorough self-reassessment. According to a German study by Dr. Kurt Seikowski on men and midlife crisis, as a man approaches 50, he is poised to qualitatively reorient himself. I am not suggesting that André 3000's recent projects are a reflection of the negative aspects often associated with a midlife crisis. Rather, I advocate the view that these works are the product of a legendary emcee's personal reinvention as he officially enters the next phase of his life—also a testament to his intellectual rigor. Moreover, the backlash that New Blue Sun and its successor EP, 7 Piano Sketches, received from a fraction of the hip-hop community suggests a growing forgetfulness of hip-hop's long-standing relationship with jazz. New Blue Sun was foreseen as the highly anticipated solo debut of André 3000, a man who, alongside Big Boi, is solidified as a hip-hop legend as a member of one of the most influential duos in hip-hop history, Outkast. Of course, it is 3 Stacks' signature cadential flow, displayed throughout the Outkast discography, that hip-hop heads were anticipating an aural blessing from. As warned on the cover of the work—adorned with an outline of the seasoned flutist and featuring a hard-to-miss lime green label: No Bars. The album is almost entirely instrumental, featuring a polyphonic blend of percussion, strings, keyboards, synths, and woodwinds, with André's flute driving the downbeat. There are only faint, textural vocals performed by Mia Doi Todd. Other than that, no vocals. No bars. This ruffled some hip-hop heads, who utterly dismissed André's official foray into jazz musicianship. Not only did a portion of hip-hop heads criticize the lack of rapping, but others accused the album and its various movements of lacking rhythm—a critique reminiscent of Western composers who once dismissed the advent of jazz. This is ironic, given that jazz is a precursor to hip-hop culture, forms a subgenre within it, and is heavily in classic hip-hop records, from Duke Ellington and John Coltrane to Miles Davis. The defining mark of jazz music is the act of improvisation. André 3000's recent works, including 7 Piano Sketches, feature an elementary approach to improv, as the hip-hop icon describes it, he simply spreads his 'fingers out on the keys and randomly but with purpose moves them around until' he found 'something that feels good or interesting.' This same 'feel good' spontaneity is present in Louis Armstrong's trumpet cadenza on 'West End Blues,' in Miles Davis' open trumpet solo on 'So What,' and in the four-note motif John Coltrane springs in 'A Love Supreme.' For those who listen to Fela Kuti, the Afrobeat pioneer and jazz enthusiast—improvisation is also the signature of his infectious musical movements. Some 20th-century critics held biased views about jazz, deeming it unoriginal, nonlinguistic, and musically untutored, ultimately suggesting a certain feebleness in the genre due to its embrace of improvisation. Sociologist William Bruce Cameron described jazz 'non-literate,' while others, such as British composer Constant Lambert, initially expressed a racist, anti-jazz bias. Lambert later conceded that a 'small section' of the jazz technique was 'genuinely negroid' and based on 'sophisticated material,' ultimately acknowledging its intellectual rigor. The criticism of the lack of rapping on André 3000's recent works is telling as to a certain forgetfulness, or perhaps unawareness, among some hip-hop heads, particularly those who value lyrical virtuosity, regarding hip-hop's historical connection to jazz. During hip-hop's golden era in the late 1980s and early 1990s, jazz rap emerged just as gangsta rap and pop rap were dominating the airwaves and climbing the charts. Thanks to crews like the Native Tongues (A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, etc), Digable Planets, and Gangstarr, jazz class acts like Ron Carter, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Herbie Hancock, alongside a plethora of jazz-infused funk records (including the drum breaks on Bill Wither's 'Use Me' and the horn licks from Kool and the Gang's 'N.T')—jazz rap came into fruition through sampling and brewed a profound subculture. This subgenre stands out for its socially, politically, and spiritually charged lyrics and themes rooted in Afrocentricism. The culture of jazz rap often thrived in underground cafés, jazz clubs, record stores, niche unauthorized radio stations, and college campuses—including HBCUs like Howard, R1 institutions like NYU, and Ivy Leagues like Columbia. Its grand favor among college students is attributed to the subgenre's lyrical complexity, philosophical depth, and pro-Black rhetoric, all of which are seen as intellectually engaging. Jazz rap has frequently been regarded as an elite cerebral art form, with a magnetic pull for a highbrow, cultivated, and educated audience. With the documented history between jazz and hip-hop, it's reasonable to expect any practitioner of the genre to pursue a jazz musicianship in singularity. André 3000 appeared at this year's Black Dandyism-themed Met Gala, dawning a seven key piano shaped ensemble—a clever marketing ploy for his latest work, 7 Piano Sketches. Time and space are central to this work, as André revealed, most of the album was recorded over a decade ago on his iPhone and laptop while he and his son were renting a house in Texas. The music was recorded through pure emotional trial and error, rendezvousing his favorite piano composers, including Thelonious Monk, Phillip Glass, and Joni Mitchell. Though the release may have seemed sporadic and impromptu, it ultimately moreover solidifies the Outkast emcee's commitment to creating and releasing instrumental movements, professionally. These last two works are not the first time he is showcasing this ability. It has been burgeoning since the prime of Outkast. On Outkast's 2003 'My Favorite Things,' 3 Stacks played and arranged the piano which was a tribute to the great John Coltrane. In 2018, he released the EP Look Ma No Hands, featuring James Blake on the piano, which André himself on the base clarinetist—a straight up jazz piece and ode to his late mother, marking his first true jazz project which also shocked hip-hop heads. Over the past decade, he has also been spotted amid the wilderness of American civilization, unapologetically playing his flute on the corners of Soho, on church steps in Philly, and at airports throughout. New Blue Sun was nominated for two Grammys this year—Album of the Year and Best Alternative Jazz Album. While a portion of hip-hop heads disfavored the absence of rapping, jazz enthusiasts and abstract music lovers embraced the work. It is a reality to face regarding the nature of this backlash: although hip-hop heads are under no obligation to favor the work, it is fair to suggest that objectivity should be applied when evaluating the work. Consider the stage of life 3 Stacks is in, and acknowledge a potentially haunting reality for hip-hop heads: one of your top three might just evolve out of rap.
