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Dreamville Festival 2023 wrapped up epically on Sunday (April 2), surpassing the wildest dreams of most of the fans in attendance on the first day of the weekend-long celebration alone. On the final night, Dreamville honcho J. Cole took alongside a certain Canadian superstar, who then brought out a bevy of unannounced surprise guests much to the delight of fans.
Hip-Hop Wired attended Dreamville Fest 2023, adding to the event’s well-established legacy and one of the premier annual music events on the east coast and beyond.
Since the big reveal of the star-studded lineup, most fans in attendance that we overheard were most excited about the prospect of seeing Drake rock the Dreamville stages alongside Fayettville’s native son, and they were not left disappointed.
Cole came out to raucous applause and ran through several fan favorites before pausing his set to give praise to Drake. The two were in top performance mode with Drake truly delighting the masses by bringing out GloRilla, Lil Uzi Vert, and Lil Wayne to perform some of their biggest hits.
Forgive us for the lack of a set list because we were too busy screaming our lungs out taking in the show to take notes. Put it this way. Each of the aforementioned stars has huge songs in their catalog and in that short amount of time, we heard most of the best.
We also have to add that while it is still VERY EARLY in festival season, it will be hard to top what we had the privilege of witnessing in Raleigh, N.C. Kudos to the whole Dreamville staff, label, and crew.
On Twitter, the reaction to J. Cole and Drake closing out the Dreamville Festival with a few of their famous pals is still going strong. Check out those tweets below.
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Photo: @ITCHYEYEPHOTOS/Dreamville Festival/The Parallel Agency
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BTB Savage, a rising rapper based in Houston, Texas, was reportedly shot and killed just hours after posting a photo of him standing in blood. The photo in question was reportedly the aftermath of BTB Savage and his girlfriend shooting and killing an intruder in their home.
Details are scant at the moment and there is a lot of speculation swirling on social media.
What we can say is local outlet ABC13 reports that a man was shot in killed in what appeared to be a targeted attack near the River Oaks section of Houston Thursday (March 30). According to the outlet, the unidentified man was driving a Mercedes when a Subaru pulled up alongside him and fired shots. Two suspects then exited the Subaru and fled on foot.
As seen in ABC13’s video report, several bullet casings were found at the scene and promoted local authorities to deem the attack as targeted. The investigation into the matter is still ongoing.
BTB Savage posted an image on social media that went viral of him standing in blood, which the rapper himself claimed was his handiwork in a recent DJ Vlad interview which can be viewed below. The image in question will not be shared on this page but it is easily searchable online. Further, it appears that BTB used the image to promote a new mixtape titled Too Much Motion.
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As BTB Savage explained in the video, a rapper looking to collaborate came to his home with a crew where he allegedly began casing the surroundings and, in the late rapper’s words, inquired about his chain. This sparked a fight and an exchange of gunfire. BTB’s girlfriend was present during the incident and also discharged a firearm in self-defense.
The chilling image shows the aftermath of the shooting after it was shared yesterday primarily via Twitter. The suspects are still at large. As this story develops, we will return with more details.
We’ve gathered a handful of reactions to BTB Savage reportedly being killed by gunfire from Twitter below.
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Photo: @btb_.savage / Instagram
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DJ Akademiks is definitely a notable voice in the sprawling Hip-Hop media space although some would venture to say that his style of journalism isn’t particularly hard-hitting. Ak, using his massive platform, took shots at Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole for not sitting down with Hip-Hop outlets and instead took interviews with spaces outside the culture.
DJ Akademiks took to his customary post on Twitch to talk his talk regarding the aforementioned trio of rappers who made their marks early on during the so-called “blog era” and transformed themselves into Hip-Hop megastars.
From Ak’s perspective, it appears that this current dig at Hip-Hop’s biggest names came in the wake of J. Cole recently sitting down with Golden State Warriors GM Bob Myers for a wide-ranging chat that wasn’t solely focused on his storied career. Instead, the North Carolina rapper shared tales of his upbringing, including a time when his older brother caught him smoking cigarettes at the age of 6 and disappointing his mother in the process.
It was not an interview in the vein of what is typically held today via the various Hip-Hop podcasts and the like. DJ Akademiks believes that Drizzy, K-Dot, and Cole World are behaving as if they’re too famous to work with media outlets that are, in his words, within the culture.
In that same breath, Ak called the gentlemen “weird” for bypassing hubs like The Joe Budden Podcast, Million Dollaz Worth Of Game, and other shows of the same ilk.
On Twitter, the comments from DJ Akademiks garnered some responses. We’ve got those reactions listed out below.
[h/t TMZ]
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Photo: Getty
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Jonathan Majors, one of Hollywood’s hottest stars at the moment, was arrested Saturday night (May 25) in New York on assault and other charges in the wake of a reported domestic dispute. As news of the arrest went wide, many on social media came forth adding to the allegations of abuse and the like with onlookers rendered shocked by the arrest.
TMZ was among the first outlet to report on the arrest of Jonathan Majors, this after police responded to a 911 call around 11 AM local time in Manhattan. According to corresponding police reports, Majors was booked on strangulation, assault, and harassment charges.
TMZ obtained a quote from a rep for Majors, who denies that the actor was involved in any wrongdoing.
“He’s done nothing wrong. We look forward to clearing his name and clearing this up,” the rep said.
The outlet, by way of sources, say that the woman who brought charges against Majors is his girlfriend. According to the source, the girlfriend saw another woman texting Majors and tried to look at his phone thus leading to him allegedly slapping her and putting his hands around her neck.
On Twitter, the reaction to Jonathan Majors and his arrest has been all over the place with some defending the 33-year-old star and others coming forth with their own stories of allegations.
Majors starred in two major motion pictures this year in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Creed III. As a result, Majors was seen as the newest “It” star but this current situation has many questioning their initial support.
We will update this post should further developments arise.
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Photo: Getty
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Lori Harvey and Damson Idris were celebrated just months ago as the newest young “it” couple, with many fans of the two loving their romantic connection. However, the streets say the pair have broken up and the reactions from the failed relationships segment of Twitter are out of control.
Lori Harvey, 26, and Damson Idris, 31, first made their relationship official on Instagram at the top of the year. Late last year, Harvey split with Michael B. Jordan after an intense romance between the pair went to the wayside. For Idris, the showy declarations of love and the like were just as noticeable as it was with Jordan and Harvey herself joined in on the display with photos sealing the deal.
News of the breakup came by way of a source who spoke to Media Take Out and the outlet took notice of the fact that recent public appearances of Idris feature him without Harvey on his arm. That doesn’t necessarily confirm the rumors of the breakup but it definitely has folks online talking.
As it stands, fans are making their own assumptions about what happened, even though the source that spoke with Media Take Out said there are no issues between the two and the split was amicable. Further, those same fans are taking shots at Idris over his sex scene with Chloe Bailey in the Amazon Prime thriller series, Swarm.
Yeah, we know that doesn’t make sense.
At any rate, the reactions are starting to bubble up and this latest high-profile relationship examination inspired some cringeworthy and frankly mean-spirited reactions on Twitter. We’ve got the best of the worst below.
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Photo: Getty
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Shadée Monique is just the type of beauty for us to feature in our latest edition of Baes & Baddies, a segment we’ve neglected for far too long here at Hip-Hop Wired. While most people will automatically connect Shadée Monique to her beau Joe Budden, she is definitely her own woman.
There isn’t much information out there about Shadée Monique, who posts on Instagram under the name @therealcateyes. What we do know is that she runs her own clothing boutique, Bawdy Essentials, and often appears as an off-camera voice on The Joe Budden Podcast.
Respectfully speaking, Ms. Monique is a shapely goddess of a woman with curves that will stop traffic in any major city. While we don’t know much about her relationship with Budden beyond a few photos here and there, the couple is going strong after years of dating and we always salute Black Love on these pages.
Again, thank you to Shadée Monique for allowing us to bring back Baes & Baddies in style. Check out the gallery below.
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Photo: Instagram/@therealcateyes
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Gunna hasn’t known a moment of peace since exiting prison after it was widely assumed that the rapper cooperated with authorities in the ongoing Young Thug and YSL RICO case. The rapper saw his name trending on Twitter on Wednesday (March 22) after footage of Tekashi 6ix9ine catching a beatdown in Florida went wide, thus putting the Wunna star on fade notice.
Gunna, real name Sergio Kitchens, was swept up in the Georgia RICO case brought against Young Thug and his role in leading the alleged Young Stoner Life gang. As one of the many defendants, Gunna was among the group that was let go after appearing in court and agreeing to a deal that allowed him to go free. The public at large considered the moment a snitch move on Gunna’s part and deemed him a rat from that point forward.
Tekashi 6ix9ine was in a Florida LA Fitness and was caught by a group of individuals who put hands and feet on the beleaguered rapper who actually did tell on his co-defendants and has yet to get low for some reason we’re still not able to fathom. Tekashi was bloodied and bruised as evidenced by the footage that was released, and many on Twitter believe Gunna needs to watch his back, front, and sides.
Although folks are cracking jokes that call for the fade for the 29-year-old rapper, we don’t condone such violence over here. That said, we’re here to report the news and that’s why we gathered the tweets you’re about to see below.
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Photo: Stephane Cardinale – Corbis / Getty
6. Looks Like They Would…Shrug
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Ludacris is one of the top-charting rappers of his era and has moved on to become a Hollywood star along the way. While the big screen is still a viable medium for the rapper born Christopher Bridges, music is still a centerpiece of his life as evidenced by Luda being spotted in the studio with popular Ghanaian rapper, Sarkodie.
Ludacris, 45, saw his name trending after being seen on video vibing with Sarkodie over some new tracks. At one point, it appeared that Luda found a moment of inspiration and grabbed his phone to jot down some bars.
In the clip, Ludacris is seen checking out Sarkodie’s track “Country Side” featuring Black Sherif, which has a million views for the video on YouTube.
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Sarkodie and Luda are no strangers to each other, this after the Ghanaian star rocked on Luda’s “How Low” track in 2012 during a live performance.
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It could be speculated that Luda was in Accra, Ghana to record a remix to “Country Side” and the track, as seen above, would be perfect for Luda and Sarkodie’s dextrous flows.
On Twitter, the excitement about a possible audio reunion between Ludacris and Sarkodie has the streets talking. We’ve got the best reactions to the clips below.
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Photo: Ollie Millington / Getty
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Donald Trump defiantly alerted his legion of supporters last weekend that the Manhattan DA’s investigation will ultimately lead to his arrest today (March 21) and called for protests in his honor. On Twitter, the former president’s name is trending with high-ranking GOP members and conservative pundits making a mad scramble to defend the beleaguered business mogul.
Donald Trump, 76, still holds massive sway among Republican Party voters and many of his supporters in elected positions continue to revere him. The seemingly blind support for Trump by GOP and talking heads suggest that they believe in his chances to win back the White House in 2024 despite the mounting allegations of wrongdoing and general image mismanagement.
Over the weekend, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social and predicted his Tuesday arrest while using some of the charged wording that eventually got him elected and transformed the political fabric of the country in just one presidential term. If indicted, Trump would be the first former U.S. president to have a criminal case brought against them.
The Manhattan DA’s case is centered on Trump and his handlers paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Previous investigations into Trump’s alleged wrongdoings, including impeachment. conspiring with Russia, and tampering with election results, galvanized his supporters to rally around him at a higher clip than expected.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other GOP officials believe that the Manhattan DA’s case is politically motivated and is an attempt to bring Trump down to size as he’s reportedly leading in polls according to their side. Trump is seen to be the GOP frontrunner for the presidential nomination alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
On Twitter, we’ve managed to collect opinions from all sides of the debate and we should state that Donald Trump has not been charged as of yet. When details emerge, we’ll be sure to report on the matter.
Check out the reactions below.
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Photo: Shane Bevel / Getty
3. Gotta Move That Goalpost
4. Hard To Make Goals When The Post Keeps Moving
6. Oh, Kevin
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DaBaby is persona non grata for a lot of folks these days by way of some of his public comments and previous actions, but he’s still going forward as an artist. The North Carolina rapper’s name trended on Twitter Friday (March 17) after dropping a new song and video for the track “BLANK” featuring Anthony Hamilton, which left many feeling confused at the pairing.
DaBaby kept busy in 2022 despite some believing that he fell from his higher heights after making controversial statements about the LGBTQ community and reports of violent activity that dogged him for the better part of the past two years. With “BLANK,” DaBaby returns with another of his over-the-top video treatments with Anthony Hamilton in tow for the ride.
The track is from DaBaby’s 2022 studio album, Baby On Baby 2, and produced by Charlie Heat and Rochon.
As it stands, the Twitter reactions to the new video and single from DaBaby featuring Anthony Hamilton are all over the place. We’ve got the best of them listed down below.
Check out “BLANK” for yourself below.
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Photo: Timothy Norris / Getty