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Source: Alvaro Keding / AMNH
Hip-Hop is at the American Museum Of Natural History. Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewelry opened at the famed New York City museum on Thursday, May 9 and it is must attend for any proper Rap fans.
The special exhibition features an impressive collection of custom-made jewelry from fashionable current and old-school Hip-Hop stars including Nicki Minaj, A$AP Rocky, Slick Rick and Jay-Z. There are also cherished pieces from artists the culture has lost including the Notorious B.I.G., Biz Markie and Young Dolph.
Source: Alvaro Keding / AMNH
The exhibit is a continuance of the celebration of Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary and its aim is to highlight Hip-Hop’s cultural influence and its indelible impact on fashion and the globe in general. The pieces, which include watches, chains, rings and more, is being held in the Melissa and Keith Meister Gallery in the Museum’s Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals.
“Bringing the Ice Cold exhibit to the American Museum of Natural History is a testament to the cultural significance of this art form and culture,” said Ice Cold guest curator Vikki Tobak in a statement. “It’s time to celebrate the artists, jewelers, craftsmen, and everyday people who contributed to the storied history of hip-hop jewelry. This exhibit not only pays homage to hip-hop’s roots with pieces from Biz Markie and Jam Master Jay for example but also highlights its enduring impact on style and society with pieces from contemporary artists like Tyler, the Creator, A$AP Rocky, and FERG.”
Ice Cold follows Hip-Hop jewelry’s evolution over its 50 years, from gold rope chains to iced-out necklaces and watches. Besides Tobak, who authored Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History, the guest curators are Kevin “Coach K” Lee of Quality Control Music, and Karam Gill, the filmmaker behind the 2021 doc series ICE COLD.
And for any haters saying the jewels were just money poorly spent, Roxanne Shante dropped some knowledge at a preview of the exhibit. “If you wanted to think of it in a negative way, it made people think we took all our money and we spent it on jewelry,” said Shante, whose Juice Crew ring is part of the exhibit. “In all reality, we didn’t. Because some of those pieces were acquired after we purchased homes. You didn’t want to have that type of jewelry, and didn’t have a safe place to go put it in.”
Other advisors involved in putting the exhibit together include familiar names like Slick Rick (who is a senior advisor, naturally), Lenny S. of Roc Nation and jewelry designer Alex Moss.
Source: aqua / hiphopwired
This writer’s favorite piece, of many, had to be Ghostface Killah’s eagle bracelet aka The Wings of the Wu. Bong bong.
Source: aqua / hiphopwired
You can see Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewelry, which runs through January 5, 2025, at the cost of general admission, which for NYC residents is “pay what you wish.” Check out some detailed photos of the exhibit below.
Source: Alvaro Keding / AMNH
Source: Alvaro Keding / AMNH
Source: Alvaro Keding / AMNH
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Source: Derek White / Getty
50 Cent is now suing his ex, Daphne Joy claiming that she defamed him with comments made in a post on social media.
According to reports, 50 Cent has filed a defamation lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend, Daphne Joy. In the documents of the filing, the rapper and entertainment mogul said that Joy “falsely and publicly” accused him of “rape and physical abuse” during their relationship. 50 Cent also claims that she made a “purposeful attempt to, on information and belief, destroy his personal and business reputation, harm Jackson’s commercial and business interests, negatively affect his custody case, and prevent him from seeing his minor son.”
50 Cent and Daphne Joy were together from 2011 to 2013, and their son Sire is now 12. The 48-year-old rapper referred to Daphne Joy’s Instagram post on March 28, where she scolded 50 Cent over his joking about her being mentioned in a lawsuit against Diddy as a “sex worker” and said, “Let’s put the real focus on your true evil actions of raping me and physically abusing me.” 50 Cent, aka Curtis Jackson, said the post has attained over 22,000 likes and threatened to harm his reputation and business. “The Defamatory Post contains false and malicious statements of fact that expose Jackson to hatred, contempt, or aversion, or induce an evil or unsavory opinion of Jackson, in the minds of the public,” the court documents continue, referring to the post’s intent to ”impact the custody case”. 50 Cent is also seeking monetary damages of $1 million.
He also attached a letter that was previously sent on April 2 to Daphne Joy, whose last name is Narvaez, demanding she remove the post. He claims that in response, her lawyers submitted a request from Daphne Joy for millions of dollars in addition to dropping his petition for sole custody of their son, Sire. The documents call the move “clearly extortive.”. Neither party has responded to press inquiries about the lawsuit.
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Source: KENA BETANCUR / Getty / Megan Thee Stallion
The girls are rapping, specifically Megan Thee Stallion. While the Hip-Hop community is still in an uproar because of Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s back and forth, the Houston rapper is getting us ready for the real HOT GIRL SUMMER.
Megan Thee Stallion is in her bag and shows no signs of letting up. On Monday, she started her #MeganMondays freestyle series by dropping a new freestyle to remind us what the Hotties always know: She’s got bars.
Thee Stallion flexed her lyrical muscle, flipping Gucci Mane’s “I Think I Love Her Freestyle” and incorporating her unique rapping flavor throughout the beat.
On the track, Thee Stallion touches on the thirsties living in her DMs, the men acting really feminine at the moment, and the rap girlies using her blueprint to get on.
“Show a new bitch that ain’t Megan coded/ Show a beat I was on and ain’t rode it/ If she think she the shit, I’m the colon/ My pen gets gutter, I’m bowling,” she rapped.
It’s Megan May
Megan Thee Stallion is not just taking over Mondays; she is gunning for the entire month, labeling it Megan May.
On Tuesday, she announced her next single, “Boa,” continuing the snake narrative from her previous singles, “Hiss” and “Cobra.”
Later this month, Megan Thee Stallion will kick off her nationwide Hot Girl Summer tour featuring GloRilla in Minneapolis on May 14 and eventually head overseas in July.
It’s Thee Stallion’s world, and we are just living in it. She has gained her freedom from 1501 Certified Entertainment, dropped collaborations with Nike and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, as well as other philanthropic endeavors like “Hotties Helping” and a mental health website Bad Bitches Have Bad Days Too.
You can see reactions to the “I Think I Love Her Freestyle” in the gallery below.
4. This actually slaps
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Source: Kitsawet Saethao / Getty
The first patient to undergo a new and innovative treatment for sickle cell disease is a 12-year-old Black child from Washington D.C.
A new commercially approved gene therapy designed to treat and possibly cure sickle therapy had its first patient last Wednesday (May 1). Kendric Cromer, a Black 12-year-old who is from a suburb of Washington, D.C., began his first treatment administered by the Bluebird Bio company at Children’s National Hospital in the D.C. metro area. The treatment is significant as Black people make up the majority of the 100,000 people in the United States that are dealing with the affliction passed on through genetics from both parents that can cause debilitating and constant pain in addition to other problems such as low oxygen and jaundice.
The new treatment, known as Lyfgenia, is an exhausting one, requiring Kendric to remain in the hospital for a month afterward just to recover from the extraction component of the treatment. He became the first to qualify after meeting the two major requirements – who was the sickest and whose insurance came through. “We always prayed this day would come,” Kendric’s mother, Deborah Cromer, said during the interview with the New York Times.
“We’re nervous reading through the consents and what he will have to go through.” But for Kendric who has suffered with the affliction since he was 3 years old resulting in five-day crises and multiple emergency room visits, he was ready to undergo the rigorous procedure. “Sickle cell always steals my dreams and interrupts all the things I want to do,” he said. “I want to be cured.”
The first step involved doctors removing Kendric’s bone marrow stem cells after administering a drug to pry them loose known as plerixafor. The extraction’s desired objective is to obtain millions of stem cells over a six to eight-hour period then transport them to a laboratory in Allendale, New Jersey, to have a healthy hemoglobin gene added to them to correct the mutation causing the sickle cell disease. The modified cells would then be sent back and reintroduced into Kendric’s bone marrow three months later.
The Lyfgenia gene therapy treatment has been touted as a revolutionary procedure and ranks near the top of the most costly treatments in healthcare at $3.1 million. Bluebird Bio has said that due to the amount of time that’s needed for the entirety of the treatment, it can only treat 85 to 100 patients a year.
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Source: Matthew Stockman / Getty / LeBron James
LeBron James continues to make sure life after basketball is very prosperous.
Variety exclusively reports that Vice TV has picked up a new unscripted basketball series produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s athlete storytelling brand, Uninterrupted.
The website reports that the series will be called Uninterrupted: The Real Stories of Basketball and will “explore iconic moments, players, and stories from inside basketball.”
In a statement, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar and future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer said, “As a lifelong student of the game and all of its iconic history and culture, I’m excited about this series that relives some of basketball’s biggest moments and the stories behind them for a whole new generation to experience.”
James’ best friend and business partner, Maverick Carter and Chief Executive Officer of The SpringHill Company, adds, “At the SpringHill Company, we are always looking to take our storytelling to the next level, and ‘Uninterrupted: Real Stories of Basketball’ allows us to do just that. This project offers us a chance to shine a light on the real, unfiltered, hoop stories, giving athletes a platform to share their voices and empower through content.”
Per Variety, the series will focus on stories from pro basketball Hall-of-Famers, getting firsthand accounts from the likes of Jason Kidd, Bill Laimbeer, Gary Payton, Bill Walton, Shawn Kemp, Richard Jefferson, Kenyon Martin, Detlef Schrempf and Spud Webb.
All The Smoke podcast co-host and former NBA hooper turned analyst Matt Barnes will be the series narrator.
LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Jamal Henderson, Phillip Byron, Bryan Terry, Joe Townley, and Michael Yudin serve as executive producers on the series.
Dan Levin will serve as showrunner and director on the series coming June 4.
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Source: Burak Cingi / Getty
Mariah The Scientist can sing but apparently, she can also throw hands. She is alleged to put the beats on a woman in Atlanta.
As reported on TMZ a woman named Cleopatra Dues filed a police report at Zone 2 precinct that the “Stone Cold” performer assaulted her on Monday, April 29. She alleges Mariah The Scientist ran up on her, attacked her, dragged her on the floor and ripped her wig off in the process. The “female grabbed her by her wig and pulled the wig off her head,” then “proceeded to drag her on the table and floor” the police report read. Dues claims she suffered injuries at the hands of the singer; specifically “bruises and cuts” and “visible bodily harm.” The incident took place at Cavo Kitchen and Cocktail Lounge; a restaurant located in the Buckhead section of Atlanta.
Customers at the venue took video of a woman snatching someone’s wig off but it is unclear if it was indeed Mariah The Scientist. The singer songwriter was arrested on Wednesday, May 1 on misdemeanor battery and simple battery charges. According to Fulton County Sheriff’s Office she posted a $5,000 bond and has since been released. Mariah The Scientist has been ordered to have no contact with the victim and not patronize Cavo Kitchen and Cocktail Lounge.
Mariah The Scientist is believed to be the girlfriend of Young Thug. You can see footage of the alleged incident below.
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Source: ROBYN BECK / Getty / Tyrese
Tyrese is the king of oversharing on social media and keeping his followers involved in all aspects of his life, good or bad. So it doesn’t surprise anyone that he has a lot to say about his ex-wife on Instagram.
The so-called “vision implementor” and star of the dragged-out Fast & Furious movie franchise had time for his ex-wife, Norma Mitchell Gibson, two days ago on his Instagram account.
In a lengthy post, Tyrese aired all of the frustrations, trials, and tribulations he continues to endure with his ex-wife, who is also the mother of his 16-year-old daughter, Shayla. He told his 20 million plus followers he would no longer live in fear of what his ex-wife might do to him next.
“I’ve got nothing to lose but my mind and my reputation… And neither one of these are no longer up for grabs..” the actor begins the ridiculously long caption. “I get it, I get it… We are living in the TIMES UP and ME TOO ERA! And as soon as a man goes public about the abuse and trauma inflicted on him by a women we are shamed into silence? I’m past that…Be yourself in my comments! STFU, MAN UP! Stop putting your personal shit out there on the timeline…. Be more private?
“Did you tell my ex to be more private in 2017 when her accusations rocked my life, my career, my marriage and every opportunity imaginable that was in motion was killed instantly? After a FULL TRIAL in 2017 with her testifying over 120 LIES was documented UNDER OATH…Did you shame her into silence? No!”
Tyrese Accuses His Ex-Wife of Blackmail, Extortion & More
The actor hit his ex-wife with all kinds of accusations like death threats, extortion, blackmail, international wire fraud, hell, basically any illegal activity you can think of.
“I’m done living my life in fear of what she might accuse me of next… I’m done with anyone having power over my life to make ALL THAT I HAVE BUILT crumble…. [ for those of you who will say ‘Cry me a river, you rich alpha MALE’…. That’s cool.
“Extortion, death threats, blackmail, tax evasion, domestic and international wire fraud, skipping 3 FULL YEARS of tuition of our daughter’s schooL OVER 25k in the rears 167 pages of the full on court documents link in bio ] …25 years of my life and me being a committed father…. No one will EVER HAVE POWER over my life and career…. Ever….”
Tyrese’s Public Relationship Woes
The actor/singer has a long history of public disputes with the women he is romantically dealing with. After leaving Mitchell, he married Samantha Lee.
Gibson and Lee are currently dealing with a messy divorce.
After Lee, he began dating Instagram influencer/model Zelie Timothy. They broke up after Tyrese once again got Instagram on Super Bowl Sunday, claiming she gave him the boot because he was recording too many songs about his breakup with his ex-wife, per Baller Alert.
Bruh.
Honestly, we want Tyrese to take us out of the group chat.
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Source: travelview / Getty
The whitest section of Baton Rouge, the Black-majority Louisiana state capital, is now the newly-incorporated city of St. George. The state Supreme Court overturned the rulings of lower courts in what advocates for the change are excited about while others, including the Baton Rouge’s NAACP chapter, are calling it a modern-day secession.
According to WGXA, Norman Browning, the St. George Transition District Chairman, called last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling “a historical and exciting day for the City of St George citizens” and vowed to “build an efficient, productive, and vibrant city while contributing to a thriving East Baton Rouge Parish.”
Well, here’s what the NAACP had to say about all of that:
“The St. George plan poses significant risks to our education system, threatens the continuity of critical programs, and challenges community representation. The creation of a new municipality introduces considerable uncertainty around funding allocation for our schools, jeopardizing the cornerstone of our community’s future: education.”
For the record, this decision was the culmination of a yearslong battle between proponents of the new city and opponents, many of whom view the move as a microcosm of recourse-siphoning colonization. Up until now, the latter group was winning that battle in the courts.
Here’s a little history on the matter reported by the Advocate:
Baton Rouge leaders took St. George organizers to court in 2019 over the proposed city, just two weeks after 54% of voters living within the proposed city’s limits voted “yes” on the incorporation in a November election.
Baton Rouge leaders argued in their petition — and had argued for years leading up to the election — that the new city would financially cripple Baton Rouge’s city-parish services and force layoffs by taking away an estimated $48.3 million in annual tax revenue. They also argued that St. George’s proposed budget was inaccurate and that it’d actually operate with a deficit.
Twice the courts have sided with Baton Rouge and shot down the proposed city, once in 2022 when a district judge ruled that St. George couldn’t operate with a balanced budget and was “unreasonable,” and again last year when the First Circuit Court of Appeal ruled that St. George organizers hadn’t followed state law for getting on the election ballot.
The fight for St. George preceded the 2019 election by a decade — it originally started out as a movement to create a separate, independent school district before evolving over the course of several years into a full campaign to create a new city.
Organizers for St. George, who reside in the predominantly White and affluent Southeast corner of the parish, said for years that the city-parish government and school system were poorly run and that they wanted more localized control of tax dollars.
St. George is comprised of 68,000 residents, only about 12% of whom are Black, which is why opponents have argued that the incorporation proposal was essentially segregation by another name and inherently racist. The Supreme Court’s ruling doesn’t really address whether or not the move is racist, the justices simply argued that the St. George organizers followed the proper steps for incorporation and that it would provide its residents with proper public services.
But the question remains: At what cost to other Baton Rouge residents?
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Source: Prince Williams / Getty / Timbaland
Timbaland is already a legendary music producer. Now, he’s ready to try his hand at television.
Deadline exclusive reports Timbaland is getting into graphic novels and television. The producer who gave us timeless records like JAY-Z’s “Big Pimpin’” and Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds album will involved with Jared Gutstadt, founder and CEO of podcast company Audio Up Media, graphic novel Neon Empire.
The website reports that Timbaland will co-produce the graphic novel’s soundtrack and will be an executive producer on the television adaptation of Neon Empire.
Per Deadline:
Timbaland will write and co-produce the soundtrack with Gutstadt with a number of country and hip-hop artists involved including Bezz Believe, who will also voice the graphic novel’s main character Kountry Boi, Colt Graves, and Clayton Johnson. The soundtrack will also feature an original track from the Beatclub ecosystem, the music creator platform founded by Timbaland.
The graphic novel will include music through QR codes.
Speaking on his involvement, Timbaland said, “This is innovative storytelling and music at its most disruptive. Jared and I think the same and have done lots of great work with one another. When we get together, the results are epic. New lanes like graphic novels create new laneways for music discovery and stars of the future.”
The website states that Neon Empire will follow “the fictional character Kountry Boi, a “hick-hop” star who goes from rap rags to hick-hop riches while coming to terms with his troubled past. The story centers around a criminal enterprise set in Nashville.”
No release date has been revealed for Neon Empire, but we are intrigued to see what this upcoming project looks and sounds like.
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Source: Robert A. Sabo / Getty
One of the most popular funeral homes in New York City will have to defend their name in court. Ortiz Funeral Home is being accused of using predatory tactics on their clients.
The Gothamist is reporting that the eight location chain is accused of taking advantage of individuals who just lost a loved one. On Monday, April 29 the New York City Department Of Consumer And Worker Protection filed a lawsuit claiming that the company regularly uses “deceptive and opaque business practices intended to keep pricing information and options obscured, in an effort to charge these consumers seemingly-random amounts for its services, often resulting in price swings of thousands of dollars for the same service.”
The DCWP states that since 2019 over 48 consumers have have filed claims to the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission about Ortiz Funeral Home. Some of the umbrages include failing to prepare the body as agreed to, deceptive pricing tactics when it comes to their caskets and even refusing to reveal where the remains are located after multiple requests from the family. Additionally, some families had to wait upwards of three weeks before receiving the cremated ashes.
DCWP Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga expressed that her team is taking the matter very seriously. “I can’t even imagine, already being in such a painful time and then not knowing where your loved ones’ remains are,” Mayuga said in a statement. “There’s a number of violations that they committed, and so we’re seeking restitution for consumers and really urging anyone who has experienced similar deceptive practices by R.G. Ortiz to reach out to us immediately.”
Representatives from Ortiz Funeral Home have yet to formally respond to the matter.
