This week, fans reacted to news that Kendrick Lamar will reportedly appear on AZ Chike’s upcoming album, No Rest For The Wicked. Chike and Kendrick collaborated on “peekaboo” from GNX, and recently, Chike pulled his verse from The Game’s The Documentary III, which some assumed was in solidarity with Kendrick. However, with Chike’s album slated to drop on September 18th, fans believe that Dot will appear on the tracklist.

“If you ask me, he’s probably going to be talking sh*t on it. Who cares?” he said. “I’m going to be honest with you, bro, like, my understanding of this whole Kendrick thing is that Kendrick didn’t release music as frequently and was so absent because he was getting out of a deal with TDE. He wasn’t happy with TDE.”

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Akademiks Talks Kendrick Lamar

Essentially, Akademiks said that Kendrick didn’t release music during that period between DAMN. and Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers because he was trying to get out of that deal. But now that he left Top Dawg Entertainment and established pgLang, Ak doesn’t understand why he isn’t releasing more frequently.

“Two years ago, they wanted to be like, ‘yo, this is the best new rapper in the game,’ and I’m kind of looking at him like, yo bro, I ain’t going to lie, honestly, I feel the n***a lazy, bro. I ain’t gon call him like Kawhi. I don’t think he like Kawhi Leonard type of sh*t,” he said. “How is this n***a so absent in music?”

Of course, this led to comparisons between how Drake releases music frequently and Kendrick Lamar’s selectiveness about when he decides to pop out. “I don’t really care because he’s not my favorite but I do think Kendrick is important to the rap game,” he said. “There’s so many styles and all this West Coast d*ck licking that it’s great to have a Kendrick there but Kendrick don’t help none of y’all n***as. He don’t promote the fact that there’s talent there… I ain’t going to lie to you, I think Kendrick has starved his fans in the West Coast, I’m rooting for him.” Check the clip above and sound off with your thoughts in the comments. 

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The milestone was commemorated with a video posted on their Instagram pages featuring maternity photos and video footage highlighting her growing bump. “One more person to Love ,” the caption reads. The announcement offered a playful glimpse at the family’s expansion. The video features white shirts hanging from a clothesline. Four of the shirts bear the names of their kids, while the fifth one, an unmarked white onesie, remains blank, and Ciara throws up a “five” with her hands.

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The news welcomed plenty of joy in the comments section. Latto, Kehlani, Tiny, Angel Reese, and more shared their congratulations. Lala wrote, “Another beautiful blessing!!! More to love!!! Making space over at Auntie La’s house love my family. I’m just over here cheesing so hard CINCO!!!”

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Ciara Announces Pregnancy

Wilson and Ciara married in 2016 and have since welcomed three children: Sienna Princess, Amora Princess and Win Harrison. Ciara also has an older son, Future Zahir, from her previous relationship with Future, who was recently posing for a photo with JAŸ-Z.

While Ciara’s been quite busy raising her family, she was back on the road in 2024 with Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes. And she brought her kids with her. “They were like little precious babies of a tour having so much fun with Auntie Missy, and Uncle Busta,” she told PEOPLE. “I mean, it’s just the energy was just incredible.”

We will keep you posted on any further updates surrounding Ciara and Russell Wilson.

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Fortunately, no one was hurt, and there’s no indication that the shooting had anything to do with Chief Keef and his crew. The rapper later shared photos on Instagram that appeared to confirm that he was present at that exact store, though he didn’t mention anything related to the incident. “Ion know i just land,” he captioned the post.

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Chief Keef In Chicago

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The rapper’s rare cameo in Chicago came as Kanye West shut down two nights at Soldier Field in the city. Ye’s homecoming concerts arrived in the midst of his American shows, many of which have faced heavy pushback from politicians and other organizations. However, Ye pulled out all the stops, and perhaps one of the biggest highlights across both nights was Chief Keef’s appearance. The drill artist delivered renditions of “Love Sosa” and “I Don’t Like” in front of 70,000 fans during the second night of Ye’s concert. 

Ultimately, it was clearly just a teaser of what’s to come as Chief Keef gears up for the Chief Keef Live 2026 tour, which kicks off in Chicago on September 12th. From there, the rapper will also head to cities like Detroit, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, among others. Find all the details here and let us know if you’ll be going to see Chief Keef live this fall. 

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Ultimately, Pooh Shiesty has been left behind bars while his attempts to get bond were struck down by a judge. And of course, this also means that some of his items were left in police possession, including some of his jewelry. Thankfully, Big30 has continued to hold him down throughout his incarceration and recently retrieved a few of these items.

Big30 took to social media this week, where he shared a video carrying Pooh Shiesty’s chain. “All these n***as dropped dey nuts on me, I swear to God they played,” he captioned the post. “But you [know] 1 thing about it GOD GOT US.”

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Big30 Retrieves Pooh Shiesty’s Jewelry

The Last Man Standing rapper was among the group of individuals, including Pooh Shiesty and his father, to face an indictment on charges like kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and extortion. Big30 has been accused of actually recording the alleged robbery of Gucci Mane in an attempt to get Pooh Shiesty out of his contract. Big30 was later released from custody ahead of trial.

Since then, Big30 has continued to hold Pooh Shiesty down. Just last week, he and fellow Memphis native, streamer BenDaDonn, performed “FDO” for high school students. 30 also appears on Shiesty’s new album, All Eyes On Shiest, contributing to songs like “Still On Timing” and the posse cut, “CMO Freestyle,” alongside Baby Slime and K Carbon. Last month, Big30 dropped off his latest single, “First Day Back” to celebrate his release. Check out the video above and sound off with your thoughts in the comments below. 

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Most recently, he sat down with The No Bars Off Show where he dove into a few bars from his latest project that have gone over people’s heads. One in particular that he highlighted comes from “WHO TF IZ U,” which he describes as having a blatant homage to Eminem, where J Cole raps, “I’m the Carolina 910 Shakespeare / All that cap you let them —- rap is over with.” The direct connection is Shakespeare and the reference to Juliet Capulet from Romeo & Juliet. 

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J Cole Sits Down And Breaks Down His Lyrics

“There’s a line on ‘Run A Train’ where like, I know–ain’t nobody ever came up to me and say, ‘yo, boom boom,’ so I know they’re not making the connection. And that’s the only one that actually bothers me,” he said. “There’s [other] lines like the ‘cap you let,’ I’m already knowing when I’m writing it, nobody’s gonna give a f*ck outside of me and get it, and I’m at peace with that.”

Cole explained how he understands that the depth of his wordplay will only be appreciated by those who care about his craftsmanship as deeply as the hosts of the show.

“I’m not doing it for y’all. It’s a self-satisfying–I’m scratching my own itch,” he added.

It’s a pretty interesting episode overall. Check out the full episode above and sound off with your thoughts in the comments below. 

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The post J. Cole Reveals Which Bars From “The Fall-Off” Went Over Your Head appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Adam explained that he’s not sure whether this is permanent, stating that it’s a possibility that they could end up back together. However, he added that they are still married. He explained how his dedication to his professional life contributed to this decision, especially after having a kid.

“Over the last couple of years, in particular, since we had our child, that, I think my extremely one-sided lifestyle of doing podcasts all day every day and not really making myself a terribly active participant in the family life is probably like the biggest factor,” he said. “We had a child, and then she kind of just took on like all of the responsibilities of being the parent,” he added, explaining that Lena would basically be handling everything in the house, from choosing their child’s school and clothes to hiring contractors to fix things in the house.

“She said something kind of cutting to me. At one point, she said, ‘You know, you feel like your responsibility in this relationship is to go to work and come back,’ and I couldn’t even say anything,” he added.

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Adam22 & Lena The Plug Split

Adam then shared a statement on X. “Lena and I have officially separated. I hope we are able to work it out, but for the time being we are taking a break. We will continue to shoot adult content together for the time being. Thank you for your respect for our privacy during this difficult time,” he said. 

No word from Lena The Plug yet, but yesterday, she shared a post on her Story about the infamous Olympic breakdancer Raygun and her husband. The caption read, “I hope I find someone who loves me as delusionally as Raygun’s husband loves her.” 

The announcement comes weeks after Lena The Plug’s controversial appearance on Drake’s 20 v. 1 where she threw her wedding ring, and months after she claimed someone fraudulently filed for divorce on her behalf.

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The Vagabondage II is part of F.P. Journe’s exclusive Vagabondage series. This particular piece features an 18K rose gold case and movement. Also a smoked sapphire dial lets the mechanics show through clearly.

The watch skips a traditional dial layout. Instead, it uses a digital-style display with jumping numerals for the time. Small seconds sit at 6 o’clock, with a power reserve indicator placed up at 12.

F.P. Journe originally built this series in extremely limited numbers. Only a handful of pieces exist in this exact rose gold configuration. That is a big part of why watches like this one carry such steep price tags. Jay-Z closed out his London run with additional guest appearances from Dave and Sampha. The watch stood out clearly on stage, catching plenty of attention throughout the performance.

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Jay-Z’s F.P. Journe Vagabondage II

Jay-Z has built a reputation as one of hip-hop’s top watch collectors. He’s worn pieces from Richard Mille, Audemars Piguet, and Patek Philippe over the years. F.P. Journe now joins that list of brands he’s been spotted wearing on stage.

F.P. Journe itself remains one of the more understated names in high-end watchmaking. The brand builds its own movements, cases, and dials entirely in-house. That level of control is rare even among top-tier watchmakers.

Pieces like the Vagabondage II rarely appear in public settings like a concert. Most examples stay locked away in private collections or museum-level archives. Seeing one worn casually on stage says a lot about the kind of access Jay-Z has within that world.

For watch collectors, moments like this one are almost as rare as the piece itself. It’s not every day a watch this exclusive gets this much visibility.

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The post Jay-Z’s London Show Featured One Of F.P. Journe’s Rarest Watches appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Curry said that he was promised a production credit in the docuseries–he said that he pulled together the talent, largely based on the people he talked about in his book. “I was the one who put that thing together. I was promised a production credit, and the production credit said that even if the documentary was sold, I would be grandfathered into the deal because I helped produce that whole documentary,” he explained. “I saw where 50 [Cent] was like, ‘The proceeds would go towards the victims.’ I haven’t seen that yet.”

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Mark Curry Calls Out 50 Cent

He continued, “Nothing really came about. I was like, ‘This right here is worse than any deal…’ you talk about a deal with Puff; this is a worse deal than the worst deal.’”

For all the issues he’s had to face over the years, Curry explained that he believed this documentary can create change for him and his story. This also includes issues related to payments for the songs he wrote. He explained that the lack of proper licensing for “Come With Me”  would’ve helped him get paid for every time it was viewed. The documentary was reportedly streamed over 50M times.

“Had I had sync license on it, which I thought we would have in place, then I would’ve made some money off of this Godzilla song, ‘Come With Me.’ Man, I made $69 off of that song because they didn’t have a sync license,” he said. Check out the full clip above and sound off with your thoughts in the comments below. 

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The post Mark Curry Says His Deal For 50 Cent’s Diddy Doc Was Worse Than His Deal With Bad Boy appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Pink Swoosh branding shows up on both sides this time. That’s a noticeable shift from the white and blue Swoosh setup on the first release. The formula otherwise stays close to what fragment already established with this model.

Black text still runs across the midsole, reading “The Classic: BOOK 2: Fragment.” That typography and placement matches the original collaboration exactly. Fragment’s usual restrained color-blocking carries through here too.

Fujiwara posted a photo of this exact pair nearly two months back. This latest shot just gives fans a clearer look at the actual colors involved. Devin Booker appeared alongside Fujiwara in a separate photo, holding a Nike box that seems to tease even more coming down the pipeline.

There’s no confirmed release plan for this colorway yet. Fujiwara has a track record of surfacing pairs that stay exclusive for a while before ever reaching retail.

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Fragment Design x Nike Book 2

The Nike Book 2 is inspired by the Air Zoom Spiridon, a late-90s running silhouette known for its lightweight build. Fujiwara has worked with that model before, giving this partnership a natural connection. His past Spiridon projects clearly influenced the design direction.

The original fragment x Book 2 dropped as an all-black colorway earlier this year. It leaned on suede and mesh, split between white and blue Swoosh branding. That release built on an ongoing relationship between Fujiwara and Booker that started with exclusive Book 1 pairs.

This lighter version suggests fragment isn’t done with the model yet. Swapping in pink over blue gives the design a completely different mood while keeping the same structure intact. It’s a subtle way to extend a collaboration without repeating the same look.

Whether this pair ever gets a wider release remains to be seen. For now, it’s another glimpse into how far Fujiwara and Booker plan to take this partnership.

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The post Hiroshi Fujiwara Teases New Fragment x Nike Book 2 appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

The build closely mirrors the “Grape” colorway most fans already know. White leather covers the upper throughout. Deep purple hits the tongue and midsole, with teal accents running through the lining and shark-tooth detailing.

A few small differences separate this sample from the final retail version. The outsole shows a slightly different speckled treatment across the black midsole panel. That kind of detail is common in trial versions before a design gets locked in.

Deadstock laces still carry their factory tips in these photos. That usually signals this pair sat untouched since it was originally made. Samples like this rarely leave private archives or collector circles.

The “Grape” colorway originally released back in 1990. It broke away from Chicago’s usual red and black scheme entirely. Further, this sample offers a rare look at the design work that led up to that final release.

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Air Jordan 5 “Grape” Pattern Trial Sample

The Air Jordan 5 “Grape” holds a unique place in sneaker history. It’s one of the most iconic non-Bulls colorways Jordan Brand has ever released. Will Smith wearing it on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air only added to that legacy.

Tinker Hatfield designed the Air Jordan 5 with World War II fighter planes as his inspiration. The shark-tooth midsole and translucent outsole both trace back to that concept. Also the “Grape” colorway took that same shape and gave it a different identity.

Pattern samples like this one show just how much testing goes into a design before it’s finalized. Small tweaks to color placement and material treatment often separate early samples from what eventually reaches shelves. This piece also offers a rare glimpse into that process for one of the model’s most beloved colorways.

Overall it’s a great piece of design history tied to one of Jordan Brand’s most celebrated releases.

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