genre hiphop
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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 […]
Boosie BadAzz is blaming Atlanta hospitals for some health issues he’s experienced since being involved in a nasty car crash earlier this month. On Wednesday, Boosie hopped on Instagram to explain how he’s been having chest pains since the accident, and blamed Atlanta hospitals for not taking his injuries seriously. “I keep going to the […]
Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs asked a federal judge Thursday (April 17) to exclude the infamous 2016 surveillance video of him assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura from his upcoming sex trafficking trial, arguing it would “unfairly confuse and mislead the jury.”
The headline-grabbing clip, showing Combs striking his then-girlfriend in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016, has been “altered, manipulated, sped-up, and edited to be out of sequence,” making it unusable as evidence at his trial next month, his lawyers told the judge.
“The admission of any of these inaccurate, unreliable video files would unfairly confuse and mislead the jury at Mr. Combs’s expense,” the star’s lawyers wrote in the filing. “Their admission would be infinitely more prejudicial than probative.”
In the lead up to the trial, Combs’ lawyers have repeatedly targeted the Cassie tape — likely a core piece of evidence that the government will present to jurors. In one motion, they argued that federal authorities had improperly leaked it to the press to “taint the jury pool.” Last month, they accused CNN of significantly altering the clip and then destroying the original before the network aired it last May.
With Thursday’s filing, Combs’ lawyers finally did what court-watchers were expecting: formally asking the judge to ban the clip from the trial. They cited a report from a forensic video expert that said the clip had been distorted beyond repair, including edits by CNN that Combs’ team says were intentionally made to make the video look worse.
“The manipulation of the videos was specifically designed to inflame the passions of CNN’s viewing audience, and that is what the government is hoping to leverage in this case,” Combs’ attorneys write. “The videos are sped up to make the violence look more violent. The sequence is reordered to leave the viewer with the impression that the woman has been dragged back to a hotel room. And the clips delete footage that provides important context making clear that the events were not as horrific as the government will suggest.”
Combs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation that aimed to “fulfill his sexual desires.” 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 is currently set for May 5, though Combs’ lawyers are currently seeking to push the trial back by two months. If convicted on all of the charges, which include sex trafficking and racketeering, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.
The Cassie video, which aired on CNN in May, showed him attacking her at the Intercontinental Hotel in March 2016. The clip drew far more public attention to the accusations against the star — who was then only facing a civil lawsuit — and prompted an apology from Combs shortly after it aired.
“My behavior on that video is inexcusable,” Combs said at the time. “I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry.”
Prosecutors and plaintiffs’ attorneys have criticized Combs and his lawyers over their efforts to bar the video from his trial. In one filing, the government said Combs was attacking the clip in an effort to “suppress a damning piece of evidence.” And Douglas Wigdor, Cassie’s attorney, called the star’s arguments “disingenuous” last month: “I am confident that the video fairly and accurately represents what happened, will be admitted into evidence, and that Combs will be held accountable for his depravity.”
Fat Joe and Starz are teaming up once again for a series about the Bronx rapper’s life. According to Deadline, The Book of Jose will be a rags-to-riches story about Joe’s rise to fame. Born Joseph Antonio Cartagena and of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, Fat Joe grew up in the rough-and-tumble environment of the […]
Snoop Dogg says he only works with brands and companies that support his community. In an interview with Time published on Wednesday as part of the magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2025, Snoop was asked about how he successfully dabbles in multiple brands. He said he approaches each of his collaborations with a philanthropic […]
Justin Bieber is continuing to tease his new clothing brand Skylrk, and got two of his biggest co-signs yet from Gunna and Kai Cenat. A video shared to Bieber’s Instagram on Thursday (April 17), shows Gunna and Kai standing amongst a stack of unreleased Skyrlrk sandals an sneakers. Gunna emits a brief, “yeah,” before the […]