According to similar reports, Lil Mari had been disrespectful towards BloodHound Q50 in the days following his death. He allegedly went to the spot of BloodHound Q50’s murder and mocked him. These actions could be seen in a video which was reposted by No Jumper.

At this time, it is unknown whether or not this video had anything to do with his murder. A police investigation is reportedly underway, and no arrests have been made.

Read More: Is Kendrick Lamar’s Feature Run Hurting Or Helping Him?

Lil Mari Killed

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The Chicago artist had been building his rap career over the past few years and was amassing millions of views with his music videos. He even did an On The Radar freestyle, which has close to two million views.

When it comes to the death of BloodHound Q50, there is an active investigation in that case as well. A couple of weekends ago, the artist was gunned down while in his Tesla at a gas station in Chicago. No arrests were made at the time, although there is security footage of the incident.

Both of these stories are incredibly unfortunate, and the reactions on social media have been quite strong. In the aftermath of Q50’s death, many of his rivals took to Instagram and other platforms mockingly. Meanwhile, his girlfriend took to Instagram to claim that a Tesla safety feature led to his demise.

These are both developing stories, and we will continue to provide updates as soon as they become available.

Read More: Lil Durk’s Racketeering Charges, Explained

The post Lil Mari Reportedly Killed Just Days After Mocking BloodHound Q50’s Death appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: September 23, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop

Album: N/A

Quotable Lyrics from Last Time

I pray to god that the last time we touched ain’t the last time
I wasn’t even mad, you just caught me at a bad time
If I die to young think about me in your past time
And i’ll do it all again, i’m the one who said it the last time

The post Last Time – Song by Lelo appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

The relationship gets more complicated when Hip Hop turns out to be temporary. There are the artists who spent years rapping before realizing another genre suited them better. Some entered Hip Hop after they were already famous, borrowed heavily from its sound and aesthetics, then moved on once the experiment had run its course. A few built their first substantial audience within Rap while insisting they never really belonged there in the first place.

None of those paths are automatically an indictment. Artists change. Tastes change. Someone who made mixtapes at 20 is allowed to discover Country music at 30 without filing paperwork with the culture first. Everlast, Mod Sun, Shaboozey, and plenty of other genre wanderers make the boundaries even harder to police because Rap never disappeared completely from what they became.

The more interesting question is what happens when Hip Hop appears to function as a temporary home until something else becomes available.

Miley Cyrus used it to dismantle her Disney image before later criticizing parts of the music she had so enthusiastically embraced. Post Malone became famous through records the industry and audience largely understood as Hip Hop while repeatedly resisting the rapper label. Jelly Roll spent years grinding through Southern Rap before country gave him the career he had been chasing. Machine Gun Kelly made his name battling and rapping before Pop Punk became his biggest commercial reinvention. Kid Rock and Uncle Kracker offer earlier versions of the same migration, while Chanel West Coast is making her own turn toward country in real time.

Their stories are not interchangeable. That is exactly what makes them worth putting side by side. This isn’t simply about who “left Rap.” It is what Hip Hop represented to each of them while they were there, and what their departure revealed once they decided they would rather be somewhere else.

Miley Cyrus: Hip Hop As Reinvention

Although Miley Cyrus did not need Hip Hop to become famous, she used it to become someone else. During the Bangerz era, she worked closely with Mike WiLL Made-It, leaned into Trap production, collaborated with Future and Big Sean, and built an adult image around twerking, grills, and Black dancers. The shift helped tear down what remained of Hannah Montana, but it also sparked criticism that Cyrus was using pieces of Black culture as props for a reinvention she could eventually leave behind.

That criticism followed her into 2017, when Cyrus told Billboard that lyrics about sex and luxury lifestyles had “pushed me out of the Hip Hop scene a little.” The complaint landed awkwardly from an artist whose Bangerz era had thrived on sexual provocation and excess. Two years later, Cyrus acknowledged that contradiction after watching YouTuber Kenya Wilson criticize the racial implications of her comments. As USA Today reported, Cyrus apologized in the comments and admitted that “it is a privilege to have the ability to dip in and out of ‘the scene.’”

That admission gets closer to why her Hip Hop period remains so contentious. Cyrus didn’t just try Rap-influenced music and decide she preferred something else. She entered the culture when its sound and imagery helped her manufacture distance from her Disney past, then criticized parts of that culture once she was ready to move on. To her credit, she later recognized the privilege embedded in being able to make that choice at all.

Post Malone: Rap Opened The Door, But He Never Loved The Label

“White Iverson” made Post Malone famous inside a Hip Hop ecosystem he soon seemed reluctant to claim. The 2015 breakout was followed by Stoney, where melodic Rap and Trap production helped establish him as one of the genre’s biggest new artists. Still, he repeatedly resisted being called a rapper. A 2017 GQ profile even headlined the tension: “Don’t Call Post Malone a Rapper.”

His comments about Hip Hop only complicated that relationship. During a 2017 interview with NewOnce, The Fader reported that Post told listeners, “If you’re looking for lyrics, if you’re looking to cry, if you’re looking to think about life, don’t listen to Hip Hop.” He later clarified that he loved Hip Hop and felt his remarks had been taken out of context, but his music was already widening outside the genre.

Hollywood’s Bleeding made that expansion obvious. “Take What You Want” paired him with Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott over a track that veered toward Heavy Metal, while “Circles” became one of his biggest Pop-Rock records. Austin pushed even further into Rock and Pop before F-1 Trillion completed his move into Country. Rap opened the door, but Post spent much of his career making it clear he never intended to stay confined there.

Read More: What Post Malone’s Hip-Hop Commentary Says About The Artist Himself

Jelly Roll: Rap Was The Grind, Country Was The Breakthrough

Selling mixtapes out of a car came long before CMA stages and country radio. Jelly Roll spent years working as a Southern rapper, building an audience well outside the mainstream before singing became a serious part of his music. He told GRAMMY.com that he had always loved country, but simply did not know he could sing. That changed after a karaoke performance convinced a producer to push him toward vocals.

“Save Me” became the bridge. Released in 2020, the stripped-down record opened a path that Rap alone had not, and 2021’s Ballads of the Broken pushed him further into country without completely erasing where he came from. Whitsitt Chapel made the transition official in 2023 as his first full-length country album. GRAMMY.com later noted that the success of “Son of a Sinner” helped accelerate that pivot, even as Jelly continued performing older Rap material and openly crediting Hip Hop for teaching him how to tell his story.

His place in this feature is less cynical than Miley Cyrus or Post Malone. Jelly Roll never seemed embarrassed by being a rapper, and he has continued to acknowledge what Hip Hop gave him. Country simply became the format that fit his voice and widened his audience. In his own words, “I learned every trick I had from hip-hop.” That makes his move away from Rap feel less like rejection than a career finally landing in the genre he had wanted to explore all along.

Read More: Joyner Lucas & Jelly Roll Pen A Poignant Message About Addiction On “Best For Me”

Kid Rock: Hip Hop Came First

A high-top fade, turntables, and a Beastie Boys-influenced flow came years before the cowboy hats. As a teenager in Michigan, Kid Rock immersed himself in Hip Hop, DJing parties and rapping with Detroit-area artists before opening for Boogie Down Productions. That exposure helped land him a deal with Jive Records, which released his 1990 debut Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast. The project was squarely Rap, not the Rock-Country hybrid that would later define him.

The transition happened gradually. Devil Without a Cause blew up in 1998 by welding Rap to Hard Rock, giving him hits like “Bawitdaba” and “Cowboy” without abandoning rhymes altogether. Cocky pushed farther outside Hip Hop, especially after “Picture,” his duet with Sheryl Crow, found success at country radio. His 2003 self-titled album completed much of that transformation, with Kid Rock increasingly modeling himself after Country and Southern Rock figures rather than the Rap influences that shaped his early records.

The version of Kid Rock most familiar today can make his beginnings seem like trivia, but Hip Hop wasn’t a quick detour. He spent close to a decade trying to make it as a rapper before Rap-Rock finally broke him nationally. Country and Heartland Rock eventually became his stronger identity, leaving his Rap career as the foundation of a public persona that moved farther and farther from where it started.

Read More: Kid Rock Labels Jay-Z A “DEI Hire” For The NFL

Machine Gun Kelly: The Pop-Punk Pivot Became Bigger Than The Rap Career

Four Rap albums came before the pink guitars. The popular internet version says Eminem embarrassed Machine Gun Kelly so badly in 2018 that he fled Hip Hop, but the timeline is messier. MGK followed their feud with 2019’s Hotel Diablo, still largely a Rap album, while “I Think I’m Okay” with Yungblud and Travis Barker hinted at where he was headed. A year later, Barker produced Tickets to My Downfall, and the full Pop-Punk turn gave MGK his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. Rolling Stone described the record as a wholesale move into the late-’90s and early-2000s Pop-Punk sound he was a fan of before the fame.

Meanwhile, MGK rejected the idea that he had abandoned Rap at all. “I didn’t ‘switch genres’; I’m versatile,” he told Kerrang!, according to NME, arguing that four Rap albums should not prevent him from making a fifth in another genre. He doubled down with Mainstream Sellout in 2022, another guitar-heavy No. 1. The success made his Rock persona so dominant that casual listeners could be forgiven for forgetting how aggressively he once fought to establish himself as a rapper.

Unlike some artists here, though, MGK never completely shut the door behind him. His case is less about disowning Hip Hop than discovering that another sound could make him substantially bigger. Rap built the first version of Machine Gun Kelly. Pop-Punk turned the reinvention into the version most of the mainstream came to recognize.

Chanel West Coast: Country Feels More Like Home

Years of trying to prove herself as a rapper never gave Chanel West Coast the musical breakthrough she wanted. She released her first mixtape in 2010, signed with Lil Wayne’s Young Money in 2012, and continued pursuing Rap while her television career on Love & Hip Hop Hollywood and Ridiculousness made her far more recognizable than her records. Now, she is preparing a Country album after hearing herself in the genre and having a surprisingly blunt realization. “Okay, this is what I should have been doing all along,” she told People.

The change is also tied to how she sees herself. Chanel West Coast was created as a tougher alter ego for Chelsea Chanel Dudley, while she describes “Chelsea” as more relaxed and personal. Country, she says, gives her room to write about motherhood and tell stories she did not explore during her Rap years. Her first country single, “Down to the Filter,” still carries some of the attitude associated with her previous music, and she has said she intends to keep “a little bit of the Hip Hop flavor” rather than erase it completely.

Read More: Chanel West Coast Met Lil Wayne After Lying Her Way Into His Green Room

Hip Hop Was Never The Same Thing To All Of Them

Changing genres is not inherently suspicious. Musicians are supposed to experiment, and spending years making Rap does not create a lifetime obligation to keep doing it. Hip Hop has always made room for outsiders and artists still figuring out what they want to sound like. Leaving Hip Hop does not mean the relationship was insincere. The distinction is in whether the culture remained part of the artist’s identity once its sound was no longer useful to their career. The difference usually becomes clearest in how they talk about the culture once they no longer need it.

The post Artists Who Left Hip Hop Behind For Other Genres appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

High Schoolers LLC filed the complaint against Ovrkast, whose real name is Silas Wilson, on Sept. 16 in the Northern District of Georgia. The federal docket confirms the trademark case and identifies the company as the plaintiff. According to AllHipHop, Outkast’s attorneys initially sent Wilson a cease-and-desist in June 2025 before the two sides reached an agreement that would have him retire OVRKAST and begin using OVERKXST instead.

The complaint claims that switch was supposed to happen by July 15, 2026. Outkast alleges Wilson missed the deadline and continued releasing music under his original name. A Sept. 10 single, “Knock,” still appeared under Ovrkast, according to KQED.

The filing also points to Wilson’s own comments about confusion between the two names. In a 2025 Rolling Stone interview cited in the lawsuit, he acknowledged that people sometimes mix up their names. “They read Ovrkast [as] Outkast,” he said. “They’re like, oh my God, I thought they said Outkast.” Outkast’s attorneys are using that admission to support their argument that the similarity can mislead listeners.

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Ovrkast Says He Thought It Was Love

Wilson didn’t sound thrilled when news of the lawsuit hit social media. He reacted with “Ouch” on X before posting about the case on Instagram. “I thought it was love @andre3000 @bigboi (yes this is real),” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Outkast is asking the court to stop Wilson from using OVRKAST or another confusingly similar name. The lawsuit also seeks damages tied to the alleged infringement. According to the complaint, Wilson received a breach notice in August after failing to complete the agreed transition.

The dispute is not Outkast’s first recent fight over its intellectual property. The duo sued electronic act ATLiens in 2024 over a name taken from Outkast’s 1996 album ATLiens. That case was settled in February 2026. The new lawsuit remains pending before U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross in Georgia, with Outkast requesting a jury trial.

Read More: The 10 Best Outkast Songs

The post Outkast Takes Ovrkast To Court Over Rap Name Dispute appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

A representative confirmed the procedure to People, saying Richie underwent an ablation and that “everything went perfectly.” The rep added that he is “doing great” but will take some time away from performing before returning to the stage. The cancellations affect the Sept. 26 stop in San Francisco and the Sept. 30 show in Chicago. An Oct. 2 performance in Columbus is also off the schedule. TMZ first reported the hospitalization and described it as Richie’s third hospital stay in as many months.

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Read More: Lionel Richie Hospitalized Again After Health Scare During Tour

Richie’s Tour Is Interrupted

Concerns about his health surfaced again in late August, when Richie checked himself into a St. Louis hospital after performing at The Muny. He spent three days there while doctors conducted cardiac tests before returning home. People reported that he was back in Los Angeles by Sept. 2 and doing well.

A separate incident in June forced Richie to stop a St. Paul concert after becoming dizzy onstage. He later postponed two performances on doctors’ advice before resuming the tour. His next scheduled appearance is currently Oct. 14 at the Encore Theater in Las Vegas. Wynn Las Vegas still lists that performance, along with additional October dates, while Richie’s representative says he plans to return once he has had time to recover.

Read More: Lionel Richie Had Some Harsh Words For Chris Brown & Usher

The post Lionel Richie Cancels Upcoming Dates After Cardiac Procedure appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

In her new Lifetime documentary, Kimora Lee: On Her Own, Lee recalls Simmons repeatedly showing up at her fashion shows before sending flowers and calling her. She told People that Banks once kept her at her apartment for an entire weekend so she could not go home and check her voicemail. At the time, Lee interpreted that interference as jealousy. “I thought she was a little bit hating,” she said. “She was trying to protect me.”

Lee says she was 16 when she met Simmons and that he was 18 years older. She now views their relationship much more critically, telling People that she did not fully recognize what she describes as abusive behavior until later. Simmons has denied allegations of abuse against him.

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Read More: Russell Simmons Takes Credit For Making Kimora Lee Famous

Russell Simmons Disputes Kimora Lee’s Timeline

A spokesperson for Simmons challenged Lee’s account in a statement. According to the representative, the two first met at a Mary McFadden fashion show in February 1993. Because Lee was born May 4, 1975, the spokesperson argues she would have been 17 years and nine months old then, not 16.

The statement also points to older profiles about their relationship. A 2004 Observer profile described Lee as 17 when Simmons first noticed her on the runway. His representative also cited a 2005 Vanity Fair interview in which Lee said, “We didn’t do anything until I was 18.” Simmons’ spokesperson added, “I hope this clears up any misunderstanding.”

That response does not challenge Lee’s account of Banks trying to keep her away from him. It also does not address her newer claims about the marriage itself. Instead, Simmons is disputing whether she was 16 or nearly 18 when the pursuit began. Lee and Simmons later married in 1998, separated in 2006, and finalized their divorce in 2009.

Read More: Russell Simmons & Kimora Lee: A Complicated Relationship Timeline

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The woman, identified as Jane Doe, sued Williamson in May 2025 and accused him of rape, sexual battery, and a broader pattern of abuse between 2020 and 2023. According to the original complaint, which was also reviewed by ESPN, she alleged that Williamson raped her twice in Beverly Hills in 2020 and later subjected her to physical violence and controlling behavior. Williamson has denied those claims from the beginning, calling them “categorically false and reckless.”

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Williamson Challenges Several Claims On Legal Grounds

His latest response does more than reject the allegations. TMZ reports that Williamson argues several of Doe’s claims are barred by statutes of limitations and contends that California laws covering sexual battery, domestic violence, and stalking cannot be applied to alleged conduct she says occurred in North Carolina, Texas, and Louisiana.

Williamson also disputes Doe’s characterization of their relationship as domestic. He calls that claim “nonsensical,” arguing that they neither lived together nor interacted frequently enough to meet that definition. He maintains that no misconduct occurred in California or anywhere else.

Doe’s lawsuit seeks monetary and punitive damages. Her attorney previously told TMZ that she looks forward to presenting her case in court. Williamson’s attorneys, meanwhile, have accused her of attempting to extort him and previously said the matter had been reported to law enforcement. Williamson is now asking the court to dismiss the civil case in its entirety.

Read More: Chris Brown Tells Zion Williamson To Be “The Best Man You Can Be”

The post Zion Williamson Seeks Dismissal Of Rape & Abuse Lawsuit appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Dennis, a senior writer for Andscape, argued in his video that fans often defend Brown by treating the Rihanna assault as an isolated event from nearly two decades ago. Brown responded by narrowing the question to criminal convictions. “Can you show me where I’m actively abusing women to this day,” he wrote, asking Dennis to provide “charges and convictions” involving violence against women from the past 17 years.

Dennis answered by asking Brown directly whether every subsequent accusation and restraining order involving women was false. The exchange quickly spread past the original post, with social media users circulating screenshots of Brown’s lengthy Wikipedia section documenting arrests, lawsuits, restraining orders, and allegations. Those matters do not all carry the same legal weight. Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault in the 2009 Rihanna case, while other accusations have resulted in civil proceedings, dismissals, or no conviction. In 2017, Karrueche Tran was granted a five-year restraining order against him after presenting the court with threatening messages, The Los Angeles Times reported at the time.

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Read More: Chris Brown Can’t Be Canceled, Regardless Of Your Outrage

Brown Wants The Conversation Limited To What Was Proven

That distinction sits at the center of Brown’s defense. He argued that allegations should not be treated as convictions simply because they generated headlines. Dennis’ criticism, however, was broader than Brown’s criminal record and focused on the repeated accusations of violence that have followed him since the Rihanna case.

Brown’s recent legal history is not limited to allegations. In July, he pleaded guilty in London to affray stemming from a 2023 nightclub confrontation involving music producer Abe Diaw. The Guardian reported that the plea was to a lesser offense and involved a male victim, making it separate from Dennis’ specific claim about violence against women.

The online argument appeared to leave Brown fed up with more than Dennis. He later posted on his Instagram Story, “I don’t want your fake love. I hate the music industry,” as criticism of his response continued circulating.

Brown has repeatedly objected to having past allegations folded together with conduct for which he was actually convicted. The latest exchange shows why that argument remains contentious. His 2009 felony assault conviction is established, while the years that followed include a mix of accusations and civil cases with very different outcomes. Brown wants those categories separated. His critics argue that the broader pattern is precisely what should not be ignored.

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Read More: Chris Brown’s Sordid, Long History Of Arrests, Violence, & Legal Troubles

The post Chris Brown Calls Out Journalist Over Claims About His Abuse History appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Dark charcoal covers most of the upper this time around, replacing the deep black leather used on past releases. Red and purple accents run through the midsole, tongue, and heel tabs, staying true to the original color-blocking. Some geometric patterns also return across the tongue and outsole, keeping that early ’90s look alive.

This marks the shoe’s 3rd-ever retro, following its last release back in 2012. That 15-year gap has made this one of the more anticipated Jordan 7 comebacks in recent memory. Sneaker leakers first reported the news months ago, though Jordan Brand has yet to confirm anything officially.

The timing also lines up perfectly with the shoe’s 35th anniversary. Jordan Brand seems intent on celebrating that milestone properly, rather than rushing out a quiet re-release. Landing during NBA All-Star Weekend only adds to that sense of occasion.

Expect strong demand once this one actually lands, given how long collectors have waited for its return.

Read More: Jaidyn Alexis Reveals She Slept With Blueface Amid His Nevaeh Breakup

Air Jordan 7 “Playoffs”

This colorway holds real weight in Jordan history. Michael Jordan wore it throughout the 1992 playoffs, capturing his second championship with the Bulls that same season.

It’s also connected to “The Shrug,” one of the most famous moments from that entire Finals run. That single image helped cement this specific pair in basketball lore.

The “Raptors” nickname also actually came later, tied to how closely the colors resembled Toronto’s early team uniforms. No official connection to the franchise ever existed, but the name still stuck permanently.

Beyond color, the Jordan 7 itself marked a real shift in design. It dropped the visible Air unit entirely, introducing a Huarache-style inner sleeve instead.

Further, that change pushed Nike Basketball toward lighter, more secure builds during that era. Bringing this specific pair back only adds to that legacy.

Read More: Shannon Sharpe Claims Agents Are Telling Athletes To Avoid His Show

The post Air Jordan 7 “Playoffs” Coming Back After 15 Years appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Since coming home from jail last year, Blueface has gotten into relationships with various women. He has had a child with Nevaeh, whom he recently broke up with in very public fashion. Meanwhile, he has renewed flings with the likes of Chrisean Rock and now, Jaidyn Alexis.

During a livestream rant, Alexis addressed Nevaeh and the drama surrounding getting her kids to school. From there, she let it slip that she recently slept with Blueface. However, she also made it a point to say that the two are not getting back together anytime soon.

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Jaidyn Alexis Goes In On Nevaeh

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Given everything we have seen from Blueface as of late, none of this should come as a surprise to anybody. The artist has been moving in this kind of manner for years, and now that he has become a viral star on Kick, this has just become another way for him to get content.

As we have reported, Blueface’s earnings have skyrocketed as a result of his new endeavor. However, it has also come with some downsides. Every few days, he gets swatted by some crazed fan who wants to inconvenience him. It just goes to show where we are as a society.

As for Jaidyn Alexis, it remains to be seen whether or not she will become a regular on Blueface’s streams. For the most part, she has been able to avoid such a fate. Moving forward, that might not be the case.

Read More: Lil Durk’s Racketeering Charges, Explained

The post Jaidyn Alexis Reveals She Slept With Blueface Amid His Nevaeh Breakup appeared first on HotNewHipHop.