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A Manhattan federal judge on Friday denied a bid by Sean “Diddy” Combs to delay his sex trafficking and racketeering trial by two months, ruling that the request was made too close to his trial date.
The star’s lawyers asked for the delay on Wednesday (April 16), arguing they didn’t have enough time to prepare for trial after prosecutors added new charges earlier this month. But according to Reuters, Judge Arun Subramanian denied that motion at a court hearing on Friday (April 18).
Endorsing an argument made by the prosecutors, Subramanian said that the new indictment largely overlapped with earlier charging papers. According to CNN, the judge told Combs’ lawyers that it was “unclear why there isn’t sufficient time to prepare.”
Friday’s ruling means that, barring any last-minute disruptions, jury selection will begin on May 5 and testimony will begin on May 12. Representatives for Combs’ legal team did not immediately return a request for comment.
Combs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation that aimed to “fulfill his sexual desires” by subjecting numerous women to abuse. The case centers on elaborate “freak off” parties in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex, as well as on alleged acts of violence to keep victims silent.
A trial has long been set to start in May. If convicted on all of the charges, which include sex trafficking and racketeering, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.
In a letter to the judge filed Wednesday, the star’s lawyers claimed the feds were dragging their feet on turning over crucial evidence, and that the extra two months would give them “the necessary time to prepare his defense” for a new superseding indictment filed April 3.
The request — far longer than the two-week delay Diddy’s lawyers had hinted they might seek — was opposed by prosecutors, who said the new charges were not sufficiently different to require any delay at all, and that Combs was not entitled to the evidence he claimed he was owed.
In addition to denying the delay, Subramanian made another important ruling Friday. According to Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press, the judge granted a request from prosecutors to allow three alleged victims to testify under Jane Doe pseudonyms. Diddy’s lawyers had called the move “a blatant violation of Mr. Combs’s Sixth Amendment rights to confront witnesses,” but prosecutors said it was necessary to protect them from harassment and embarrassment.
The judge seemingly left at least one big pretrial issue unresolved: a motion filed by Combs on Thursday seeking to ban prosecutors from showing jurors the infamous 2016 surveillance video of him assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura. Combs says the clips has been edited and will “confuse and mislead the jury”; prosecutors says it’s a “damning piece of evidence” that must be admitted.
TDE’s Punch claims Kendrick Lamar took out even more harmful disses aimed at Drake on the song “Euphoria.” In a three-hour conversation with Curtiss King on Thursday (April 17), Top Dog Entertainment’s president spoke on all things TDE, including the high-profile rap battle between Drake and K-Dot. When asked about the rumored 18-minute version of […]
Whens she’s not making music, chances are you’ll find Tinashe (aka SniperNashe) sniping away at bad guys in Call of Duty: Warzone. The singer loves to talk about her obsession with the game — including with Billboard last August — and all that chatter has paid of in a new promo featuring Tinashe hyping the return of the Verdansk map.
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And even if some people still look sideways at her game skills, she’s not sweating it. “I think it’s something that you kind of expect with the territory and within the culture, and something that I’m definitely used to,” she told Rolling Stone of the side-eye women gamers still get sometimes. “Gaming culture is super huge, and especially women — young women — [are] an underappreciated fan community. So, it’s really nice to be able to represent that. And yeah, hopefully with more representation, the less we’ll have those kind of stigmas.”
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Because of her obsession, the “Nasty” vocalist told the magazine that she always brings her PlayStation console on tour to set up in venues before her shows. “It’s one of the ways that I can still stay connected with the things I love to do at home, because you have so much downtime on the road before shows,” she said. “If I’m flying show to show, I probably won’t bring it because it’ll just be a little bit of a hassle going through security, but whenever we’re on a bus tour, I definitely always bring it.”
Her focus on the game is so intense, in fact, that she admitted she’d rather play than work on new music when she’s on the road. “I’m not really a big fan of recording while I’m touring because it’s hard for me to split my energy and attention that way,” she said of her attention to Call of Duty‘s free-to-play first-person shooter game that debuted in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic when she, and everyone else, had a lot of free time at home. “But now the Match My Freak Tour is done, and I’m just doing more spot dates, a couple here and there. So, now I’m really kind of more focused on creative mode.”
At Billboard’s Women in Music 2025 event in March, the Tinashe promised now that her dates are over she “excited to get in there [the studio] and work on what’s next musicwise.”
Watch Tinashe describe the sniper tower rampage that earned her her killer nickname in the promo video for the return of the beloved original Verdansk map below.
The Weeknd gave fans another sneak peek at his upcoming Hurry Up Tomorrow movie through the lens of his “Drive” music video, which arrived on Friday (April 18). Directed by Trey Edward Shults, who also helms the movie portion, the heart-racing clip will give viewers goosebumps as they go from a state of euphoria to […]
It’s been seven years since Public Enemy leader Chuck D released a solo single. But on Friday (April 18) the lyrical Hard Rhymer came back into the frame with the psychedelic bomb track “New Gens.” A swirl of PE’s signature hard-hitting beats, layered samples and D’s twisty wordplay, it opens with the rapper borrowing last presidential election’s Democrat diss of choice.
“Weird, I’m weird too/ But damn, you weird/ Can’t stand the way you, goddamn you weird/ Oh way you can’t see, but can you listen for a minute?/ If you cannot see it, but cannot hear it/ Whoa, new gens can’t dance to this,” he booms over the free jazz-like track featuring rock guitar, vintage VHS tape educational videos samples, blaring horns and a disjointed drum track.
“Here right now the place to be/ Why everybody’s always pickin’ on we?/ We the people, ‘crossed all ages/ Now joined by a screen between/ Called screenagers,” he intones in the video that features a collage of stock b-boy and rollerskating footage from the 1970s and ’80s, news reels and fresh film of Chuck chilling on a couch having a drink. “And don’t forget, new gens I love y’all/ Have a ball,’” D says in a shout-out to the current crop of MCs.
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Stetsasonic legend Schooly D jumps into frame in the final stretch to amp things up with a frenetic guest spot.
“They say I got no filter/ I’m wonderin’ if it’s true/ But when you speak the truth/ Some punks ain’t into you,” he raps before adding the cold hard coda, “Some people claim they legends/ But don’t put nothin’ out.”
The single is the first taste of D’s upcoming solo album, Radio Armageddon, which is due out on May 18. The 14-track follow-up to 2018’s Celebration of Ignorance will find Chuck surrounded by some of his old school microphone brethren, from Schooly D to Philly rapper Phill Most Chill and Donald D and Jazzy Jay of the Universal Zulu Nation. Other guests include hip-hop’s original hype woman, Son of Bazerk’s 1/2 Pint, ULTRAMAG7, N.Y. MC Miranda Writes and artists from D’s SpitSLAM Record label, The Impossebulls and Blak Madeen.
Chuck will be on the road with PE this summer, playing a run of festivals in the U.S. and Europe in May and June before joining Guns N’ Roses for a run of European shows this summer.
Check out the video for “New Gens” and the album’s track list below.
Radio Armageddon tracklist:
“Radio Armageddon”
“What Rock Is”
“Black Don’t Dead”
“New Gens”
“Station Break”
“Rogue Runnin”
“Is God She”
“Station Identification”
“Here We Are Heard”
“Superbagg”
“Carry On”
“What Are We To You”
“Sight Story Style Sound”
“Signing Off”
Doechii‘s “Anxiety” music video is like a dream come true — but not a good one. The video, which arrived Friday (April 18), starts out totally normal, with Doechii working on music on her bed — a visual callback to the setting of her old Coven Music Sessions, from which “Anxiety” originated in 2019. But […]
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Hi Gary,
Here’s a sports angle that’s timely as Drake’s “Nokia” hits No. 2 on the latest Billboard Hot 100. In the song, he flirts, “Is that your bestie? Im’a ice both y’all like Gretzky.”
Fellow Canadian Wayne Gretzky, aka The Great One, held the National Hockey League record for the most regular-season goals scored — 894 — for 31 years. On April 6, Alex Ovechkin scored his 895th. With Gretzky, whose uniform No. 99 is retired league-wide, now at No. 2 in terms of that record, well, that’s a connection to Drake being at the Hot 100’s runner-up position.
Three other related stats, with “Nokia” at No. 2 and Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” at No. 1:
Ovechkin’s nickname is Ovi. Drake co-founded the OVO Sounds imprint. (OVO stands for October’s Very Own; Drake was born in that month.)
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A drake is a male duck. Lamar’s full name is Kendrick Lamar Duckworth. Also can’t duck from this hockey history: The name of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks originated from Disney’s 1992 movie about the sport, The Mighty Ducks. (You can double-check that on the web.)
Plus, despite their rivalry, both Lamar and Drake share incredible smiles. I’m guessing that neither lost any teeth due to playing hockey. I’m just trying to make hockey connections, this coming from someone who knows more about Shakespeare’s Puck, that mischievous muse from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, than a hockey puck.
Pablo NelsonOakland, Calif.
Hi Pablo,
You shot and scored with a look at how Drake and Gretzky are in some ways linemates. (Ovechkin, too. Notably, in the late 2000s/early ‘10s, the name that Nokia used for its software services? Ovi.)
Despite Gretzky now ranking second in NHL goals, he still leads for the most points – 2,857 – thanks to 1,963 assists along with his 894 goals. (Even without any goals, he’d have the most points; Jaromír Jágr ranks second with 1,921 points.) Somewhat similarly, Drake hasn’t notched the most Hot 100 No. 1s (with 13, he’s tied for the fourth-most), but he holds the marks for the most top 10s (80) and Hot 100 hits overall (358), through the April 19 chart, among other unprecedented feats.
Gretzky established the records for the most goals (92), assists (163) and points (215) in a single NHL season. He is also the only player with at least 200 points in a season, a milestone he achieved four times. On the Hot 100, Drake became the first soloist with at least 200 hits.
Meanwhile, Gretzky perhaps sensed his ties to Drake from the night that Drake was born. On Oct. 24, 1986, his Edmonton Oilers were 6 gods, as they beat the Boston Bruins, 6-2. Gretzky scored the winning goal, on the way to a hat trick.
Noted the Edmonton Journal the next day, “This was a night for shooting stars. And Gretzky’s the brightest.”
Also like Drake, Gretzky has even sung on a Hot 100 hit: He’s among the chorus (along with his wife, Janet) on the all-star charity single “Voices That Care,” which reached No. 11 in May 1991. It debuted on the chart dated that March 16, a day in which he showed off multiple talents: Then playing for the Los Angeles Kings, he tallied two assists, including on the game-winning goal over the Calgary Flames.
More record-holders on that record: Michael Jordan also contributed to “Voices That Care,” teaming Gretzky with the player with the highest NBA career scoring average (30.3 points).
Bringing things full circle (like a basketball or hockey puck, or a record or CD), Jordan in 2017 praised Drake. “Right now, I’m a Drake fan,” he told young attendees at his camp.
In March, Drake even boasted of outperforming Jordan — in sports! “I beat him at ping-pong a couple times, and he just wouldn’t leave the ping-pong table,” he shared of Jordan (with whom he has professionally partnered). “He kept just betting me, because he just couldn’t stomach the loss, you know? He’s definitely not a quitter. I respect him deeply for his gambling nature. So, yeah, I’d say Michael Jordan’s definitely one-of-one.”
Tommy Richman and Sexyy Red are “Actin Up” together on the new remix that dropped on Friday (April 18).
“Bend it over, shake that a–, show that print/ Clean a– bi—, smell good, I ain’t got no scent/ Everybody lookin’, I’m the baddest in this b—h/ Got some booty shorts on, coochie fat, I’m feelin’ thick,” she raps on her verse.
Richman originally released “Actin Up” in February via Brent Faiyaz‘s ISO Supremacy and Pulse Records. “Actin Up,” which employs a steel drum pattern similar to that of Soulja Boy’s 2007 pop-rap smash “Crank That,” arrived months after his debut studio album, COYOTE. The 11-track project included the Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 hit “Million Dollar Baby” and “Devil Is a Lie,” which hit No. 2 on Rhythmic Airplay.
“This is a big record, but this s–t doesn’t define me,” he told Billboard about “Million Dollar Baby” in his Chartbreaker interview last June. “I’m using this as ‘We’re here. We arrived.’ Not as ‘We made it!’ This is the start of a run.”
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The Woodbridge-based artist is currently on the Coyote Tour, with a handful of upcoming international stops left in Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and London.
On the other hand, Redd has released a handful of singles this year, from “Fat Juicy & Wet” with Bruno Mars, “YN” with PlaqueBoyMax, BabyChiefDoit, LAZER DIM 700 and Baby Kia, and “Hoochie Coochie.” The St. Louis rapper rang in her 27th birthday earlier this week with Justin Bieber, her “WHATCHU KNO ABOUT ME” collaborator GloRilla and more at The Players Club.
Listen to “Actin Up” remix below.
Akon is the latest hip-hop artist to venture into the world of country. TMZ caught up with Akon as he was signing autographs in New York City and asked his thoughts about artists like Snoop and BigXthaPlug collaborating with country artists. That’s when he revealed that he’s been working on remixing songs from his catalog […]
Spike Lee gave fans some new details about his upcoming movie Highest 2 Lowest starring Denzel Washington and A$AP Rocky. During a recent conversation on Carmelo Anthony’s podcast 7PM in Brooklyn, Lee praised the Harlem rapper’s acting skills and said he’ll be playing Denzel’s son in his “reinterpretation” of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic […]