May 4, 2024

About the author  ⁄ Rob Markman

Jay Z And Beyonce Go Guns Blazing In ‘Run’ Trailer

by 05/18/14

Who wants the perfect love story anyway? A Jay Z and Beyoncé romance is much more exciting.

The Carters once again flexed their muscle late Saturday night when they dropped a star-studded trailer for “Run,” a film based off of their upcoming tour and 2013 collaboration “Part II (On the Run).”

Not only do we get to see the “Drunk in Love” couple shooting guns and evading the law, the Carters recurited a gang of A-list Hollywood talent to help tell their story. Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, Guillermo Díaz, Emmy Rossum, Jake Gyllenhaal, Blake Lively, Rashida Jones, and Kidada Jones, all play roles.

We’re guessing that the trailer, which was directed by Melina Matsoukas, would surely draw a crowd to the box office, except it appears that Hov and Bey have no plans of ever releasing it. Just when the adrenaline-pumping clip draws to a close the words “coming never” flash across the screen.

Mentally been many places, but I'm Brooklyn's own. Hip-hop gives me life! @RobMarkman

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What Surprises Does Nicki Minaj Have For L.A.’s Powerhouse Concert?

by 05/17/14

Nicki Minaj loves the big stage, and on Saturday (May 17), the reigning rap queen will perform at Power 106′s Powerhouse concert at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Minaj won’t be alone; the all-star lineup also includes Jennifer Lopez, Schoolboy Q, Wiz Khalifa, YG, Childish Gambino, Trey Songz, Juicy J and Sage the Gemini. If fans weren’t excited already, Nicki stirred the pot when she began taking requests on Twitter on Friday.

She asked her faithful flock what they would like to hear at the concert, but the Barbz quickly focused their attention on the new single that Nicki promised to us exactly two weeks ago in “Yasss Bitch”.

Will Ms. Minaj debut the song tonight? She won’t say, but you could bet we’ll be tuning in, just in case.

Mentally been many places, but I'm Brooklyn's own. Hip-hop gives me life! @RobMarkman

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Did Tyler, The Creator Really Apologize For His Iggy Azalea ‘Fake’ Booty Shot?

by 05/16/14

Tyler, the Creator has a wild sense of humor, but Iggy Azalea didn’t find his “106 & Park” appearance so funny.

Wolf Haley and the Odd Future crew walked on to the popular BET show to promote the new season of their Adult Swim show “Loiter Squad,” but before they got down to business the show’s hosts invited them to play a game of “Marry, Kiss, Dis.”

Tyler and OF were given a choice of M.I.A., Rita Ora and Iggy, then had to choose which to marry, kiss and dis. Unfortunately, Azalea came up on the short end of the joke. “I don’t want Iggy, she stink,” Tyler said, clearly making fun and playing an exaggerated version of the rapper cliché. “She got shots in her thump — I want real booty, you feel me?”

Iggy didn’t appreciate the poke though and jumped on Twitter to call Tyler “rude.”

But Tyler then did something he rarely does: he apologized.

Mentally been many places, but I'm Brooklyn's own. Hip-hop gives me life!

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7 Celebrity Feuds That Need T.I.’s TLC

by 05/15/14

T.I. is a man of many talents; rapping, acting and lately, squashing beef.

On Wednesday, Tip tweeted that he got Game and LEP Bogus Boys’ G Count on the phone to put their differences aside, but that wasn’t the first time he played peacekeeper.

Back in February, T.I. helped to broker a truce between longtime rap foes Jeezy and Rick Ross. The King of the South has us convinced, maybe, just maybe he can settle all of the world’s conflicts, but we’d be happy if he just started with these feuds.

Jay Z Vs Solange

Chances are whatever is going on with Hov and his sister-in-law will get sorted out, if it hasn’t been already, but if they need a little mediation then T.I. is the perfect guy. We watch him solve family problems every week on “T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle.”

Lil’ Kim Vs. Nicki Minaj

Tip helped Jeezy and Rick Ross to bury the hatchet, so maybe he can work his magic with Nicki and Kim? Here’s to hoping.

Justin Bieber Vs. Drake Bell

T.I. knows how to deal with haters, so maybe he can assist his pal Justin Bieber and settle things with Drake Bell.

Carmen Vs. Antwane

Wednesday night’s “Catfish” was a doozy. Nev and Max tried their best to figure out why Carmen would catfish her own cousin; but maybe it’s time for T.I. to step in and get to the bottom of it all.

50 Cent Vs. G-Unit

Fif and his merry band ...

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Drake’s ’2 On’? Tinashe Prefers Her Version — Just A Little Bit

by 05/15/14

With reporting by Nadeska Alexis

Things are going good for Tinashe. Her breakout single “2 On” is currently climbing up the Billboard charts, and now that Drake decided to make his own remix, who knows what heights the track will reach.

“I honestly was not expecting that Drake remix,” Tinashe told MTV News on Tuesday, just a day after Drizzy and his boy OB O’Brien dropped their “2 On/Thotful” remix.

The California-bred singer had no idea that Drake was planning to touch up her DJ Mustard-produced, Schoolboy Q-assisted single and she found out the same way most of us did: on Twitter.

“I was in the car, in the morning, on the way to a photo shoot or something like that. I was just looking through my mentions, and the first mention said: “@Tinashe OMG Drake just covered your song ’2 On,’ ” she recalled with excitement.

Once Tinashe finally got to listen, she gave it her immediate approval. “Wow this is pretty sick,” she remembered saying to herself.

Still, if she had to choose her favorite version, Tinashe — of course — has to go with her own. “I think he did it justice, he put his own spin on it obviously,” she said before joking: “I prefer the original version, but I may be a little bit biased.”

Mentally been many places, but I'm Brooklyn's own. Hip-hop gives me life!

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So Why Was Mack Wilds Dressed Like A Pimp At His Prom?

by 05/15/14

The perfect date and the right outfit is pretty much all you need to make prom night memorable, but unfortunately for Mack Wilds he had neither. Still, the “Henny” singer had a prom night that he’ll never forget.

“It’s a funny story about my prom,” Mack recently told MTV News about his big night. Before he was cutting Grammy-nominated LPs, Mack was busy acting, playing Michael Lee in the Baltimore-based HBO hit series “The Wire.” But being a teenage TV actor came with some sacrifices.

“I kept on asking the producers if I could actually get time to go to prom and if I was able to go,” Mack recalled. “Last minute, literally, a week before prom they moved everything and they were like, ‘You can go — you just can’t cut your hair and you have to make sure you’re back here right after prom.’”

Mack Wilds

Mack — who was sporting a small afro for the role — knew he didn’t have much time before the big night, and he was having trouble finding a suit. He was left to rely on his father … and his father’s specific tastes.

“My dad took me Downtown Brooklyn to get one of his Steve Harvey classics,” Mack said, poking fun at the over-size suits the comedian and daytime television became know for.

“It was crazy, it was like a beige suit and a top hat and a pimp cane,” Mack recalled. “It was terrible. It sounds like something out of a ...

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LEP Bogus Boys Rapper Count Has ‘No Personal Issue With Game’

by 05/14/14

LEP Bogus Boys take real pride in their native Chicago, and it was that same pride which drove group member Count to join in the fray when Game threw verbal shots at Chi-Town rapper Lil Durk.

“First off, I ain’t got no personal issue with Game or nothing like that or with the bloods or no sh– like that,” Count told MTV News on Tuesday over the phone, confirming that he doesn’t know Game personally. “Basically, he’s speaking on issues and names that shouldn’t be spoken upon, that we don’t even speak upon. I was just pulling his coattails man, that’s about it.”

The tiff, which began with just Durk and Tyga at odds, promoted Game to stick up for his fellow Californian with a spirited verse on Tyga’s “Chiraq to LA” on May 6. In his verse Game humorously (and purposely) confused Durk with one-time NBA champion Dirk Nowitzki, and also sent shout-out to a bunch of Chicago street figures.

Game also shouted out “L.E.D.,” most just assumed he mispronounced “L.E.P.” though the rapper claims he was referring to a friend Low End Derrick. Regardless of his intent Count took it upon himself to respond with “F— the Game Up” the next day.

“I’m not no opportunist, I didn’t do this to capitalize,” Count said. “It’s just when I heard it, it was a natural reaction. It wasn’t planned or nothing, it was a natural reaction. I said what I had to say, it wasn’t no dis record, I’m pulling ...

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This Man Says He Kept Jay Z Out Of Jail In The 1980s

by 05/12/14

Jay Z diehards should recognize the name Calvin “Klein” Bacote. Hov famously rapped about the Brooklyn street legend on “Allure,” off his The Black Album LP. The lyric was memorable and mysterious at the same time.

“I never felt more alive/ Than riding shotgun in Klein’s green Five/ Until the cops pulled guns,” Hov spits, without divulging much more info. Now the man immortalized in the line has come forward to speak on it.

“That came from a case that he and I caught in ’89,” Bacote told VladTV in a video interview that was posted to the Internet over the weekend. “We were at a party; mayhem just broke out crazy.”

Bacote, who recently wrote the book “Neighborhoods Under Siege: Neighborhoods Under Siege: Memoirs Of A Brooklyn Don,” noted that the party was in Maryland, but didn’t detail exactly what happened besides a fight in which he, Jay and their crew of about a dozen were significantly outnumbered. According to Bacote, when all was said and done, he and the then-unknown rapper were in hot water.

“Long story short, Jay and I wound up being the ones who got caught,” Klein claimed. “We actually got locked up, charged with [attempted] murder, [attempted] murder to maim, battery assault, possession of a deadly weapon.”

Bacote alleged that he got the victim to agree to drop the charges on either himself or Jay — but not both. Bacote already had prior convictions, so Jay offered to stand trial in his place. “Jay was like, ‘Yo, ...

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Dr. Dre And Apple Founder Steve Jobs Go Way Back, Check This 10-Year-Old Clip

by 05/12/14

There are still so many questions surrounding Apple’s proposed acquisition of Beats Electronics. Will the alleged $3.2 billion dollar deal make company co-founder Dr. Dre hip-hop’s first billionaire? Will Dre and Jimmy Iovione take on senior positions at Apple? Will we get some cool, high-powered headphones with the iPhone 6?

While we play the waiting game, let’s go back to that one time that Dre and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs hooked up on iChat about 10 years ago to discuss the launch of iTunes, the iPod and of course Detox.

“When can we get it on the store,” Jobs asked Dre of his long-awaited LP, before the legendary music producer answered with a laugh: “As soon as possible.”

Well, we’re still waiting on Detox, but can’t help to think that this short convo helped foreshadow just a little bit of where we are now.

Mentally been many places, but I'm Brooklyn's own. Hip-hop gives me life!

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Is Dr. Dre Hip-Hop’s First Billionaire? Not So Fast

by 05/09/14

Dr. Dre is on his way to a billion, but he isn’t quite there yet.

The legendary hip-hop producer is excited about the expected $3.2 billion sale of his Beats Electronics company to Apple, but he may have prematurely declared himself “the first billionaire in hip-hop” in a Instagram video, which has since been taken down.

According to Forbes.com, if Apple acquires Beats for the reported $3.2 billion and Dre cashes in on his 20 to 25 pecent stake of the company, his net worth would go from an estimated $550 million to an estimated $800 million.

The move would make Dre hip-hop’s richest man, ahead of Diddy, Jay Z, Birdman and 50 Cent, but leave him a cool $200 million shy of a billie.

Check the stats:

Hip-Hop's Billion Dollar Race

Mentally been many places, but I'm Brooklyn's own. Hip-hop gives me life!

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