GALLERY
Page: 40
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Claire Melendez, a woman who was featured on the cover of WWCD, the studio debut album of Griselda, has died. Westside Gunn, the co-founder of the Griselda collective, shared news of the passing of Claire Melendez, showcasing a number of photos within the process.
According to a report from Syracuse.com, Claire Melendez, also known as Claire Mel, was an unhoused woman who was known across the Buffalo, N.Y. region. While a cause of death wasn’t shared in the article, the chatter online appears to put to a hit-and-run incident.
Melendez graced the cover of WWCD (What Would Chine Gun Do), an album released in 2019 on Eminem’s Shady Records imprint that featured no samples. The production was handled by longtime Griselda cohort Daringer and Beat Butcha, using live instrumentation throughout the project.
“My fav Buffalo Kid. You’ll be Loved Forever,” Gunn wrote via Twitter with a brief collage of photos and the hashtags “#IMMORTAL” and “#RIPCLAIRE.”
Melendez was referenced on the track “Connie’s Son” from Gunn’s HWH7 project with production from King JBY B. According to a Facebook post, Melendez graduated from Burgard High School in Buffalo back in 1993.
Gunn referred to Melendez as a beloved figure in interviews, and there has been an outpouring of love and respect occurring across Twitter. We’ve got those reactions listed below.
Rest in powerful peace to Claire Melendez.
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Photo: Instagram/@crackheadclaire__
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Black Americans are gathered in solidarity today on Twitter in taking out their anger against a Jamaican business owner who said she no longer wants to do business with the group. Known as The Barefoot Island Lady (TBIL), the owner of Rustic Mountain Living sparked outrage after saying she will no longer rent out her cottages to Black Americans for short-term stays because, in so many words, Black Americans lack couth.
Twitter user @NikkiThaGodB1 was among the first people to share videos regarding the Barefoot Island Lady’s stances against Black Americans and we did some digging on her TikTok page to discover that she’s held this position for a few days now.
In one video, TBIL opens up by sharing that she will no longer offer short-term rentals of her properties and put the blame on the. aforementioned group. The video can be viewed below.
In the following video, TBIL doubles down on her stances and even begins the video by admitting that she doesn’t think all Black Americans are the problem. That said, she continued to blast the group by saying that they were fighting amongst each other on her properties. She also called these particular guests “disrespectful” and “unappreciative” among other choice words.
If that wasn’t enough, TBIL tripled down and said she isn’t apologizing for vocalizing her disdain for the group despite the negative press and comments that have come her way since the airing of the videos.
On Twitter, Black Americans are naturally taken aback by The Barefoot Lady and her viewpoints. One user even dug up an alleged exchange between TBIL and a white customer with the pair sharing their displeasure of Black people.
As the saying goes, all press is good press but we’re wondering how this will play out for the business going forward.
Check out the reactions below.
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Photo: Instagram
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LeBron James will have to endure a long offseason of people questioning his greatness from the comfort of their couches and game controllers despite willing the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers to the Western Conference Finals. The Denver Nuggets, the top-seeded team in the Western Conference, swept the Lakers in their best-of-seven series and some NBA fans are unfairly making LeBron James the fall guy.
LeBron James, who turns 39 this year, spent years carrying the Cleveland Cavaliers on his shoulders and doing so at an elite level for years. After two decades of basketball, wear and tear is natural and the high-flying exploits aren’t there every night but all of the greats have off nights.
James didn’t have an off night on Monday, leading all scorers with 40 points and remaining on the floor for the entire game. James supporting cast of Davis and Reaves did what they could but they were outmatched by Nikola Jokic, who led all Nuggets scorers with 30 along with 13 assists and 14 rebounds, and Jamal Murray, who poured in 25 points and was electrifying in the WCF.
You don’t even need to be a fan of James or his team to realize what he was able to do while pushing the age of 40 is incredible. There are a few NBA players who spent 20 seasons in the league and many of them are in the Basketball Hall of Fame. James will join those ranks once he decides to hang up his sneakers for good and hopefully, he holds off on doing so after the bitter sting of the loss settles down.
The comparisons to the great Michael Jordan are inevitable and people making a case for LeBron being an inferior player will have all their stats ready for an imaginary showdown neither man asked for.
The jeers from the armchair athletes of the world will cease to matter and besides, anyone who needs to take off their shoes and then put them in their laps to tie them can’t rightly call LeBron James a bum.
But they’re certainly going to try.
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Rick Ross taking on DJ Envy was not in anyone’s bingo card for 2023, but that’s exactly what’s unfurling in hilarious fashion on social media and abroad. After Rick Ross fired a shot at DJ Envy over hosting an upcoming car show in Memphis amid his own battle to get a permit for a car show, the beef between the pair has heated all the way up with Rozay seemingly getting the better of the exchange.
Based on what we’ve seen play out online, Rick Ross set off the beef by throwing a shot at DJ Envy for The Breakfast Club host’s upcoming car show, Drive Your Dreams, in Memphis, Tenn. this coming weekend.
The following weekend, Rick Ross will be hosting his own car show at his Promised Land estate in Fayetteville, Ga. despite resistance from neighbors and unsigned permits according to recent reports. The announcement of Envy’s show seemed to rankle Ricky Rozay, and he fired off a number of Instagram Stories slamming his car show rival.
Envy, a man of pride, fired back and tried to give it as good as he got it but it’s really getting personal after Ross invited Envy, his wife, and his sons to come “mop the marble” of his pool after Envy claimed Ross “Airbnb’s his crib,” in no doubt a reference to the fact that Ross rents out the property to production studios. How is that a diss? Anyway.
Ross upped the ante by inviting Envy and his sons to come clean and then breakdance at the pool to the tune of Beastie Boys’ “Brass Monkey” track along with other shots that’d be difficult for anyone to recover from.
Based on the chatter from Twitter, it appears that Rick Ross has been kicking DJ Envy’s back in about the car show for 24 hours. We’ve got the reactions from all sides below.
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The NBA playoffs are winding down with the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Finals in full swing. In the east, the Boston Celtics are now down 0-3 in their best-of-seven series against the Miami Heat, with the Los Angeles Lakers sharing the same record against the Denver Nuggets.
In NBA lore, few teams are as notable as the Celtics and Lakers given the long length of their rivalry and dominance on the court in different eras. In fact, it was expected by some that the two teams would meet in the 2023 NBA Finals, but both teams are on the brink of elimination.
On Sunday (May 21), The Celtics headed down to Miami to face the Heat in a must-win game after going 0-2 at their home arena. It was expected that the trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart would have an offensive explosion.
Instead, it was Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Gabe Vincent, who led all scorers with 29 points, owning the night. It was also a night that saw Tatum and Brown shoot 33 and 35 percent from the field respectively, and they didn’t get much help elsewhere although Grant Williams did give 12 off the bench. Butler scored 24 for the Heat but did so on 5-13 shooting, and got to the line seven times and sinking six.
On Saturday (May 20), Jamal Murray went off for 37 points against the Lakers, with Nuggets big man passing wizard Nikola Jokic dropping 24 with eight assists. The Lakers have been competitive in spurts but each game in the series has been huge swings and momentum changes that LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and coach Darvin Ham haven’t been able to figure out.
Tonight, the Lakers will take on the Nuggets in a win-or-go-home game for King James and Los Angeles. Even still, they would need to win four games to climb out of this major hole they’ve built for themselves. On Tuesday, the Celtics and Heat resume their series in a must-win for Boston.
On Twitter, the reaction to how the NBA Playoffs are currently playing out is all over the place. We’ve got reactions from NBA fans below.
[h/t NBA.com]
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Summer Walker is one of the premier vocal and songwriting talents of her era as evidenced by her loyal fanbase who pack out her shows and support the projects she drops. With the release of her latest body of work in Clear 2: Soft Life, Summer Walker is getting some comparisons to a legendary songstress known for the heady vibes after fans gave their first impressions.
Summer Walker, 27, delivered her third EP, Clear 2: Soft Life, on Friday (May 19), a 9-song offering that features J. Cole and Childish Gambino. The EP is the sequel to Clear, released in 2019, and is the first release in two years since Walker’s Still Over It album. Steve Lacy and Solange Knowles add their production touch to the EP’s outro, “Agayu’s Revelation.”
After its release, fans of Walker began comparing the album’s vibes to the great Erykah Badu, who is still very much a leader in the music space and serves as a living inspiration for several other artists. Along the way, the comparisons then morphed into praise for Badu but fans made sure to center Walker as she embarks on a new audio journey.
From the reactions, it appears that Walker is moving away from the vibes of Over It and Still Over It, although the track “New Thoughts” harkens back to some of that earlier material in its own way.
Check out the project below and keep scrolling to check out reactions from Twitter.
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LeBron James is no stranger to criticism after a tough loss considering he remains as one of the most recognizable figures in the NBA. After the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Finals, fans on Twitter are giving LeBron James and Anthony Davis the business.
Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic is the top name for Denver but it was the exploits of Jamal Murray that lifted the team over James and company. Murray poured in 37 points in a fourth-quarter explosion where he scored 23 points after his team was down in the second half. Jokic, continuing his uncanny triple-double production, dropping 23 points on 9-21 shooting and hauling in 17 rebounds with 12 assists.
On the other side, James scored 22 points on 9-19 shooting and dropped 10 assists, and pulled down nine boards. Davis made just four of 15 shots to score 18 along with 14 rebounds. Austin Reaves, once again showing expert poise went eight for 16 from the field with 22 points and was joined by Rui Hachimura who dropped 21 points.
Nuggets head coach Mike Malone expressed some frustration on how his team has been covered in the press with all the attention going towards the Lakers. While Los Angeles remains to be a marquee team, few analysts predicted them to be squaring off with anyone this deep into the playoffs.
After Nikola Jokic’s monster game in the opener, his pick-and-roll partner Jamal Murray took the spotlight in the Western Conference finals Thursday night.
“You win Game 1 and all everybody talked about was the Lakers,” Malone said. “Let’s be honest, the national narrative was, ‘Hey, the Lakers are fine. They’re down 1-0, but they figured something out.’ No one talked about how Nikola just had [a] historic performance. He’s got 13 (playoff) triple-doubles now, third all-time. What he’s doing is just incredible.”
On Twitter, LeBron James and Anthony Davis are getting blasted for their performance. We’ve got the tweets below.
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Victor Wembanyama will have all eyes on him after it is widely understood that the French basketball phenom will be selected first overall in the 2023 NBA Draft this summer. On Tuesday, the NBA Draft Lottery concluded with the San Antonio Spurs landing the top pick and NBA fans have plenty to say.
Victor Wembanyama, 19, currently plays for the French professional basketball team Metropolitans 92 of the LNB Pro A. Wembanyama, who is listed at 7-foot-4 although online reports list him at ranges of 7-foot-5 and 7-foot-2, is thought to be the greatest basketball prospect to emerge in quite some time. Despite his long frame, Wembanyama has the dribbling and passing skills of a guard which had every team in the NBA hoping to land the big man.
The good fortune experienced by the Spurs couldn’t have been more timely considering that the team, coached by Gregg Popovich, isn’t the elite team it once was during the David Robinson and Tim Duncan era. Under Popovich’s tutelage, the Spurs won five NBA championships, the last coming in 2014. It should also be noted that the last time the Spurs had the top pick of the draft, they selected Duncan.
With Wembanyama all but certain to be selected by the team, the fortune of the Spurs is expected to change almost immediately. It will be interesting to see how Wembanyama plays alongside the young core of Keldon Johnson, Tre Jones, and Devonte’ Graham.
On Twitter, both Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs see their names trending with all kinds of reactions. We’ve got the best of them listed below.
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Photo: Christian Liewig – Corbis / Getty
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George Soros, the target of several conspiracy theories from right-wing critics and pundits, finds himself at the opposite end of Elon Musk‘s wrath this week. After the investment firm owned by George Soros sold off its Tesla stock holdings, Musk seemingly went on the offensive and referred to the billionaire businessman as Magneto of X-Men fame.
On Monday, Soros Management Fund sold off its Tesla stock holding after the company reported a high rally of its stock position in the first quarter. In what was probably a savvy business move in contrast to a personal preference, it was expected that the Soros family business would enjoy hefty gains as a result.
While it isn’t known what Musk meant by referring to Soros as Magneto via Twitter, Musk was quickly schooled about Magneto by Twitter users who explained that the conflicted supervillain believed in the liberation of mutants due to his experiences as a Holocaust survivor, similar to Soros.
Journalist Brian Krassenstein attempted to give a lesson in a tweet but was met with a muted response from Musk.
“Fun fact: Magneto’s experiences during the Holocaust as a survivor shaped his perspective as well as his depth and empathy. Soro, also a Holocaust survivor, get’s attacked nonstop for his good intentions which some Americans think are bad merely because they disagree with this political affiliations,” Krassenstein tweeted.
Musk responded, “You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.”
As it stands, what Musk said in response to the tweet mirrors many talking points from conspiracy theorists who believe Soros is behind a number of left-leaning organizations and funnels money into groups to stamp out conservative ideals and the like. Further, the jab reads as an antisemitic dog whistle to some
On Twitter, the reaction to Elon Musk’s jab at George Soros is ongoing. We’ve got the reactions listed below.
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Jonathan Majors was at the moment of superstardom after a show-stealing turn as Kang The Conqueror in Marvel’s latest Ant-Man film and a major role in the boxing drama, Creed until domestic violence allegations surfaced. Amid the drama, it is being reported that Jonathan Majors and Meagan Good are now dating, prompting some reactions from Twitter.
TMZ was the first to exclusively report that Jonathan Majors, 33, and Meagan Good, 41, are romantically involved. Sources tell the outlet that Majors and Good are spending time in Los Angeles and aren’t hiding their romance from the expected paparazzi.
Dating back to March, Majors is still facing criminal charges after he allegedly slapped and harmed his ex-girlfriend after an altercation got physical. He faces three counts of attempted assault along with assault, one count of aggravated harassment, and a single count of harassment.
Folks online believe the timing of the budding relationship is curious considering the legal hill Majors will have to climb as the case in New York continues to take shape. It isn’t clear how dating Good helps Majors as some might allege, nor does it explain where his case is headed.
Still, the comments online are all over the place regarding Majors and Good as a couple and we’ve got all those reactions below.
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