Hip Hop News
California Love: Tupac Museum Set To Open In Los Angeles In 2022
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Bob Berg / Getty Next January, there’s going to be an opportunity for the public to get a chance to take a look at the life of Tupac Shakur thanks to a new museum initiative. In cooperation with the late rap icon’s estate, an immersive museum that will dig deep into Tupac’s music, his life and his legacy will make its debut in downtown Los Angeles. “Tupac Shakur. Wake Me When I’m Free” will be housed in a 2,000 square foot exhibition space dubbed The Canvas at the L.A. Live entertainment complex. Related Stories The exhibition itself will be full of contemporary art honoring the rapper, as well as artifacts from his life such as notebooks, home videos, and other items along with multisensory elements. The museum’s title comes from the title of a poem by S...
Cardi B Named Host Of 2021 American Music Awards
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz Cardi B is continuing to break ground in vibrant form, this time as the official host of the upcoming 2021 American Music Awards. The five-time AMA winner broke the news through her Twitter account on Tuesday morning (November 2nd). “When I received the invite to host the AMAs, I was so excited,” the 29-year-old further expressed in a statement issued by host network ABC and co-producer MRC Live & Alternative. “I’m ready to bring my personality to the AMAs stage.” The “WAP” rapper will also be the fifth Black woman entertainer to host, following actress Tracee Ellis Ross (2017-18), R&B singer Ciara (2019), and actress Taraji P. Henson who took over last year. “We are immensely excited to have the dynamic Cardi B bri...
21 Savage Hit With Legal Action Over FreakNik Birthday Bash
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Tim Mosenfelder / Getty A birthday party for 21 Savage has landed him in some legal trouble, causing the rapper to respond to a lawsuit filed by the holders of the FreakNik trademark against him. 21 Savage held his 29th birthday party last Friday (October 22) at a club in Atlanta, Georgia, which was dubbed “FreakNik 21.” After 9 Partners, the company that owns the rights to the FreakNik name, took to Twitter on Monday, October 25th to note the event by showing a clip of it and their intent to sue the “Knife Talk” rapper and his co-manager, Meezy, for not giving them credit. Related Stories “Saw @21savage and @megameezy #Freaknik21 last night at @underground_atlanta and looked like a super dope event. Sucks we gonna have to sue them when all we asked that ...
Meek Mill’s Album Artwork On Bus Sets Off Random & Controversial Video Rant
HipHopWired Featured Video The artwork for Meek Mill’s latest album has instigated a heavy conversation about art, expression, and perspective thanks to a viral video featuring a white man ranting about the cover’s promotional placement on a city bus. For his latest album, Expensive Pain, Meek was inspired by the artwork of Nina Chanel Abney and used her piece which depicts him surrounded by three nude women as his cover. Abney, a Black female contemporary artist whose work dives into the exploration of race, gender, pop culture, and homophobia among other subjects, is widely acclaimed for her art drawing comparisons to icons such as Jean Michel Basquiat. In promotion for the album, the cover was wrapped on a bus in Los Angeles, California. This bus caught the attention of an unnamed local...
Blow The Whistle: Too Short Apologizes For “Colorist” Comments
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Paras Griffin / Getty Too Short is taking time out to clarify some comments he made in conversation with Saweetie from 2020 that had many call him out for being a colorist and call out Saweetie for appearing to co-sign his comments. The Bay Area rap legend reached out to TMZ to apologize for his words after parts of the talk he had with Saweetie via Instagram Live resurfaced on social media over the weekend. Related Stories In that initial clip, Too Short says that he loves biracial women. “Mixed heritage women have always been my favorite,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever fallen in love with a woman that wasn’t mixed.” That prompted a short response from Saweetie who is Black and Filipino, saying, “Really?” The “I’m A Player” rapper continued: “I feel ...
DJ Akademiks Launches ‘Off The Record’ Video Podcast On Spotify
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Spotify / Spotify DJ Akademiks is back with his brand new podcast. Actually, a “vodcast.” Since the forever-controversial Hip-Hop commentator parted ways with Complex, Joe Budden and Everyday Struggle, most of his drama-infused content was brought to us via Twitch, but on Monday, the Jamaica-born, New York-raised media personality officially launched his new video podcast, Off the Record, which is available exclusively on Spotify. Off the Record will release three video episodes a week. Each episode will feature “two roundtable discussions and one interview featuring an artist or celebrity driving the culture forward,” according to a press release sent to Hip Hop Wired. The podcast will also feature special live episodes on Spotify Gre...
Little Brother Asks Fans Not to Buy or Stream Early Albums Over Unpaid Royalties
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Ray Tamarra / Getty The dynamic group Little Brother is in the midst of a controversy involving their first two albums and their former label ABB Records’ shady moves behind new reissues of both. The MCs are humbly asking fans not to purchase or stream a paif of their first albums. Rapper Big Pooh broke the news of the indie label’s behavior via Twitter on Tuesday (September 21), claiming that they re-issued their second album from 2005, The Minstrel Show, without the group’s permission. He also stated that the group hadn’t been paid appropriately for that album and for their 2003 debut project, The Listening. Pooh closed by asking fans to not buy or stream those album reissues. “I see ABB Records has decided to put up a repress of The Minstrel Show on vi...
Meek Mill Claims Karen Civil Trashed His Name, She Refutes Allegations
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Prince Williams / Getty Things got rougher this past weekend for influencer, publicist, and podcast host Karen Civil after Meek Mill joined the group of artists accusing her of theft with some hefty allegations of his own. Civil was catching major heat after Joyner Lucas put her on blast for supposedly scamming him out of $60,000 in a series of tweets Saturday morning (September 18), alleging that she ghosted him after he requested her help for a marketing campaign. The accusation was similar to one that Cam’ron had made against her in 2017 regarding fellow Diplomats rapper DukeDaGod. Cam even took to Instagram to rehash those allegations. The furor wound up compelling Jessie Woo and Jason Lee to come forward with their own accusations about Civil, with a...
“Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” Star Gets 17 Years For PPP Fraud
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Paras Griffin / Getty Rapper and star of VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, Maurice “Mo” Fayne is now about to step into a new reality after being sentenced to federal prison for fraud involving government funds. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday (September 15th) that Fayne was sentenced to 17.5 years in federal prison for bank fraud by U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen in Atlanta, Georgia, and for operating a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme by stealing $2 million with a fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loan application. The reality TV star pled guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud charges in May. Fayne was also ordered by the court to pay $4,465,865.55 in restitution to his victims. “Fayne planned to use the PPP program as a cover ...
Afrika Bambaataa Hit With New Allegations of Sex Trafficking Minor In Lawsuit
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: WENN / WENN Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation are mired in controversy once again due to a new lawsuit levied against the Hip-Hop pioneer and the group with some disturbing allegations. According to records in the New York Supreme Court, a lawsuit against Bambaataa was filed on August 4 on behalf of the plaintiff referred to in the documents as John Doe, who is a separate individual from those who first alleged abuse by Bambaataa in 2016. The lawsuit was filed under New York’s Child Victims Act that came into effect in 2019, which allows for adult victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue within a limited window of time regardless of when the offense took place. The victim claims that he was “repeatedly sexually abused and sex trafficked” by Bambaataa w...
The BMW Tupac Was Shot In Is Now Up For Auction—For A Steep Price
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: CelebrityCars.com / CelebrityCars.com For those who want a lasting keepsake of Tupac Shakur, there’s one item that has just hit the market which might be of interest—but only if you’re not squeamish about the circumstances and the cost. On Tuesday (September 7), it was announced that the infamous BMW that Suge Knight was driving and that Tupac was riding in when he was shot four times on that fateful night twenty-five years ago in 1996 is now up for auction. The 1996 BMW 750IL is on display in the showroom at Celebrity Cars Las Vegas, which is a short distance away from the very intersection where the tragic shooting took place. The car was also featured on the reality TV show Pawn Stars in 2018. According to the dealership, while there have been other ow...
Jay-Z’s Made In America 2021 Coming Soon, Here Are 7 Of Our Favorite Moments Of MIA’s Past
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz83 In 2012, Hip-Hop legend and business mogul Jay-Z brought the Made In America music festival to Philadelphia, Pa., and every year since, the colossal musical extravaganza has brought us some of the biggest names across genres and has headlined artists who define the current culture. This month on Sept. 4 and 5 (aka Labor Day Weekend), the festival will be celebrating its 10th year with an exciting lineup of artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Moneybagg Yo, Griselda, Roddy Ricch and, of course, the show’s headliners Justin Bieber and Lil Baby. So, in honor of 2021 being set to cap off a decade of breathtaking performances and cultural celebration, we have compiled 7 of the best Made In America moments that have take...
