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The late Joe Cocker is a contender for this year’s class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, and Paul McCartney is on his side.
The Beatles star wrote a letter to the Rock Hall — an international voting panel composed of more than a thousand artists, historians and music industry professionals — suggesting that Cocker be chosen for induction. “Joe was a great man and a fine singer whose unique style made for some fantastic performances,” McCartney wrote of the “Woman to Woman” singer in the letter obtained by Billboard. “He sang one of our songs ‘With a Little Help From My Friends,’ a version produced by Denny Cordell which was very imaginative.”
He continued, “All the people on the panel will be aware of the great contribution Joe made to the history of Rock and Roll. And whilst he may not have ever lobbied to be in the Hall of Fame, I know he would be extremely happy and grateful to find himself where he deserves to be amongst such illustrious company.”
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The “Let It Be” singer sweetly signed the note, “Paul (McCartney).”
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McCartney is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honoree, as he was inducted in 1988 as a member of The Beatles and in 1999 as a solo artist.
Cocker, who died in 2014, is a first-time nominee. He’s up for the Rock Hall’s Class of 2025 alongside 13 other musical greats, including Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Chubby Checker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Maná, Oasis, Outkast, Phish, Soundgarden and The White Stripes.
The Class of 2025 will be revealed in late April, and this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place in Los Angeles this fall, with more details to be announced in the coming months.
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As of late Jim Jones has been making all kinds of headlines due to his back-and-forth with his fellow Harlemnites, Cam’ron and Ma$e and even got into a war of words with Wack 100 and now Styles P?! But in true Jones fashion he’ll use this publicity to his advantage and drop off some new work while he’s the topic of discussion.
Coming through with some new visuals to “Back In My Bag,” Jim Jones shows just how big he’s balling these days by flossing enough ice to freeze an Eskimo while showing off some luxury cars that cost enough to feed a small 3rd world country. Say what you want about Jomo, but that man is truly living his best life.
Back in Detroit, Big Sean is back to show everyone he’s still got some work to bubble off himself and in his clip to “Head To The Sky,” Sean takes to the roof of a building in a fancy fur and Roc-A-Fella chain to spit his bars before strolling the streets of his neighborhood.
Check out the rest of today’s drops including work from Wiz Khalifa, Lil Tjay, and more.
JIM JONES – “BACK IN MY BAG”
BIG SEAN – “HEAD TO THE SKY”
WIZ KHALIFA – “BURGH BOY FREESTYLE”
LIL TJAY – “APEX”
FRIDAYY FT. MEEK MILL – “PROUD OF ME”
BIGXTHAPLUG – “2AM”
CRISTALE – “VOGUE”
LUH KEL – “MISSING UR LOVE”
It looks like Playboi Carti is finally ready to release his long awaited third solo album I Am Music.
The enigmatic Atlanta rapper took to his finsta account @opium_00pium to post a photoshoot carousel of images with the caption: “@spotify What we doin Lets gone clear dese ho ahh nig out.”
The streaming service responded on X by posting a series of hourglass emojis and @’d the rapper.
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Carti then responded by posting a screenshot in his Instagram Story and wrote, “Yal boys push up my n—a.”
And when a fan commented, “bro we get it u trim just drop the album already,” Playboi agreed and replied, “Fasho.”
He then posted another screenshot from X of a fan tweeting, “I genuinely think this is the most anticipated album in the history of music,” and suggested that the project will be well worth the wait, writing, “[And] the replay [value] on 10.”
Fans can pre-order I Am Music for $9.99 on Carti’s website and promises to be made available this month according to the disclaimer made available under the “Add to Cart” widget. “Album release date to be announced,” the disclaimer reads. Digital album will be available near the release date, no later than six months from September 12, 2024.”
Six months from September 12, 2024 is March 12, 2025.
We can thank Kai Cenat if he meets the deadline. The popular streamer pleaded with Carti to release the project while being interviewed on the red carpet during the Grammys. “The Playboi Carti album,” Cenat answered after Access Hollywood asked him what music was missing in 2025. “He needs to drop, for real. Carti gotta drop. I know Carti gon’ see this. Carti, just drop! I’m on national TV. Drop, gang! You feel what I’m saying? So yeah, that’s what we missing. In my world, a lot of people need that, so we need to make sure that happens.”
Playboi caught wind of the clip and reposted it on his IG Story with the caption, “Realest video I seen in 2025… BX yal got 1 with Kai. Dis video might be da one to do it.”
PLAYBOI CARTI SPEAKS ON KAI CENAT TELLING HIM TO DROP THE ALBUM 🚨 “REALEST VIDEO I SEEN IN 2025”“BECAUSE YALL GOT 1 WITH KAI THIS MIGHT BE THE ONE TO DO IT” pic.twitter.com/Lp8Cy5XIZ3— ⛤ (@unseenopium) February 4, 2025
Six months from September 12, 2024 is March 12, 2025.
Jay-Z is filing a lawsuit against the unnamed woman who accused him of rape last year, claiming she has now directly admitted that she fabricated those explosive allegations.
The new case, filed weeks after the lawsuit against Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) was abruptly dropped last month, alleges that the Jane Doe accuser and her attorney, Tony Buzbee, carried out an “evil conspiracy” to extort a settlement from the superstar by making “false and malicious” allegations against him.
Notably, the new lawsuit says the Doe accuser has now “voluntarily admitted” directly to Jay-Z’s team that the star did not assault her and that Buzbee “pushed” her to make those allegations.
“Mr. Carter does not commence this action lightly,” his lawyers write in a complaint filed Monday (March 3) in Alabama federal court. “But the extortion and abuse of Mr. Carter by Doe and her lawyers must stop.”
In a statement to Billboard, Buzbee sharply denied the allegations: “This case is baloney and has no legal merit. Shawn Carter’s investigators have repeatedly harassed, threatened and harangued this poor woman for weeks trying to intimidate her and make her recant her story. She won’t. Instead she has stated repeatedly she stands by her claims. These same group of investigators have been caught on tape offering to pay people to sue me and my firm. This is just another attempt to intimidate and bully this poor woman that we will deal with in due course.”
The blockbuster case against Jay-Z, filed in December, claimed that he and Sean “Diddy” Combs drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl at an after-party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. It represented a shocking expansion of the already-sprawling claims against Combs and came amid speculation that other stars might be implicated in Diddy’s alleged decades of abusive behavior.
Jay-Z forcefully denied the allegations, calling them a “blackmail attempt.” He accused Buzbee of trying to extort settlements from innocent celebrities by falsely tying them to Diddy and vowed to fight back and never pay his accuser.
Last month, Doe abruptly dropped the case — without explanation and without any kind of payment from Jay-Z. Though he celebrated it as a “victory,” the star hinted he would seek to further clear his name: “When they quickly realize that the money grab is going to fail, they get to walk away with no repercussions. The system has failed.”
In filing Monday’s lawsuit, attorneys for the star are essentially seeking to impose those kinds of repercussions. They accuse Doe and Buzbee of counts of malicious prosecution, abuse of process and civil conspiracy, claiming they teamed up to abuse the court system to “assassinate the impeccable and lifetime-earned character of Shawn Corey Carter” in an effort to score a payday.
“Defendants devised and executed their plan to accuse Mr. Carter of sexual assault and used national news and media outlets to disseminate the fabricated accusations to millions despite the falsity of the accusation,” his lawyers write. “Defendants’ actions were willful and purposeful in order to maximize the reputational harm to Mr. Carter and induce Mr. Carter to pay them.”
The new lawsuit is most notable in that it claims the accuser herself has admitted the allegations against Jay-Z are false. A headline-grabbing interview with NBC News exposed serious inconsistencies in her story, and Jay-Z’s team repeatedly argued the lawsuit was frivolous. But in Monday’s complaint, his attorneys now say Doe herself has confirmed to them that the bombshell charge was not true.
“Doe has now voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story,” the lawsuit says. “She has admitted that Mr. Carter did not assault her; and that indeed it was Buzbee himself … who pushed her to go forward with the false narrative of the assault by Mr. Carter in order to leverage a maximum payday.”
It’s unclear from the complaint when exactly Doe made such admissions to Jay-Z’s representatives or in what context. Reps for his attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment.
In addition to focusing on the old lawsuit, Jay-Z’s lawyers also say the star is now facing new “extortionate threats” from Buzbee. They claim Doe’s attorneys warned them last week that if they reveal Doe’s statements admitting her story was false, they’ll issue a press release claiming she’s been “harassed” by Jay-Z’s team and that she “dropped the lawsuit only because she was afraid for her life.”
“Thus, the threats of extortion and further defamation continue to this day, necessitating that Mr. Carter take action to prevent unscrupulous actors from further preying on him,” his attorneys write.
The new case isn’t the first time Jay-Z has gone on the legal counteroffensive. Weeks before the headline-grabbing rape case was filed against him in December, attorneys for the star secretly filed a preemptive lawsuit under a John Doe pseudonym accusing Buzbee of extortion and defamation. Jay-Z’s role as the mystery plaintiff in that case was later revealed after Doe filed her rape lawsuit.
At a hearing in that case last week, a Los Angeles judge said he would likely dismiss the star’s extortion claims against Buzbee but that he would likely allow the defamation claims against the lawyer to proceed toward trial.
Drake & iHeartMedia have reached a settlement in Drake’s dispute about Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” being boosted on radio airplay. Keep watching for the full story. What do you think of Drake’s lawsuit? Let us know in the comments below. Tetris Kelly: Drake has settled a radio dispute! Back in November, the “God’s Plan” […]
Abbott Elementary is halfway through its fourth season, but Sheryl Lee Ralph is teasing fans about an exciting guest star in the finale. The superstar joined Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet at the annual The Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party on Sunday (March 3), where she mostly kept her lips sealed about […]

Cam’ron and Mase had an interesting theory as to why Gervonta Davis didn’t win his fight against Lamont Roach Jr. over the weekend at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and instead left with a draw.
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To open up the latest episode of their sports talk show It Is What It Is, the first topic was about Davis walking out to the ring with Dipset members Jim Jones and Juelz Santana as they performed 2004’s “Crunk Muzik” and how that might’ve spelled bad luck for the Baltimore fighter.
“I just want to say something, to your credit,” Cam began as Mase enjoyed a big bucket of popcorn. “A lot of times I’ll be like, ‘This n—a Mase, he be bugging.’ I don’t say it out loud, because your opinion’s your opinion. Mase always says, ‘Yo, don’t bring this n—a out with you, ’cause they’re not going to win if you bring this n—a out with you.’ Talking about football games, basketball games. And I be sitting here, like, ‘I don’t really know.’ But then I got it, when the fight went on. When you got that type of energy and you breathing that energy when everybody’s sad and mad and depressed, [trying to] look happy but they really not happy. It gets into you.”
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Cam continued to elaborate on Mase’s theory, saying, “The people you with could possibly f— your energy up for some sh– that you supposed to do. You can’t come out with that energy, man, it’s bad energy, man. Nobody’s happy over there. … Tank, get outta there,” he added, referencing Davis’ nickname.
Mase then added that if Meek Mill had performed during the Philadelphia Eagles recent playoff run they wouldn’t have gone on to win their second Super Bowl in franchise history. “If Meek Mill walked them out,” he said, “They’re not going to win a championship.”
They aren’t the only ones with this theory. Former NBA player Nick Young said the same thing on social media, joking that, “Tank fight was a draw soon as I seen Juelz.”
Cam and Jim Jones have been going back and forth for weeks now, stemming from a 50 Cent appearance on Cam’ron’s interview series Talk With Flee where the two legends reminisced about their past issues.
You can watch the full episode below.
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In today’s episode of Just Checking To See If Elon Musk Is Still Racist…Yep, He’s Still Racist, the South African migrant who spent President Donald Trump’s first day in office turning the Nazi salute into a MAGA trend has, for the second year in a row, decried diversity at the Oscars.
On Sunday, Musk reposted a tweet from a fellow white-and-eternally-whiny fanboy who was being fragile over the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ diversity policy regarding Best Picture nominees.
“This is messed up,” Musk captioned his post. “Should just be who is best, not best with an asterisk!”
Oh nah, Musky, that asterisk has always been there.
You see, Musk, like millions of white people across the Western world, believes the reason white actors and filmmakers have always dominated the Oscars is due to merit, ignoring the fact that white people have always dominated the academy because no racial demographic has ever been more catered to than white people.
It’s the same false logic they use when claiming DEI is racist against white people while ignoring the fact that diversity initiatives were only ever necessary in the first place because, for the overwhelming majority of America’s history, white men were hiring white men and only white men in every single major industry. That’s not “merit,” it’s the lasting effect of patriarchy and white supremacy.
Similarly, Musky Musk and his Nazi Bunch are pretending to believe an academy full of white people who view art through a culturally white lens are likely to always find the right nominees for Best Picture — as opposed to the nominees white people are most likely to believe are the best nominees for Best Picture. White people who relate more closely to white people consistently selecting predominately white films for Best Picture is not an example of “merit.”
Art is subjective. White privilege is a demonstrable fact.
Mind you, just under a year ago, Musk was on X calling the Oscars a “woke contest” because he thought too many non-white people were winning. When it was pointed out to him that white actors and directors dominated all the major awards, which they have almost every single year since the inception of the Academy, he immediately backpedaled and admitted that he was “wrong.”
That’s right, folks, Musk was educated on the fact that the Best Picture, Best Actor/Actress and Best Director categories, among others, were overwhelmingly dominated by white people in 2024, and the Woke Boogieman that haunts his nightmares retreated back under his bed and allowed him to rest at ease. All was right in his white world once again.
So, you know, maybe Musk and his fellow fragile, diversity-hating white men are just plain bigots, and the “woke” Oscars is just another excuse for them to let their bigotry shine.
Sad.
Tate McRae is more than OK following the reveal of this week’s Billboard 200, which puts her new album So Close to What at No. 1 — her first time ever reaching the chart’s summit. And in a couple of posts on social media Sunday (March 2), the Canadian pop star reacted to the news […]
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MF DOOM’s estate can finally bring some of his personal belongings back home. They have settled the dispute with Egon Alapatt over the late MC’s notebooks.
As spotted on Hype Beast the issue regarding some of MF DOOM’s items have finally resolved. Last week the estate of the late rapper confirmed they have come to an agreement with Egon Alapatt—a former executive at Stone’s Throw Records. Jasmine Thompson, widow of DOOM, released a formal statement announcing the good news. “We are relieved to bring this chapter to a close. Over the years, there have been many public narratives concerning this matter, some of which have been misrepresented or unfairly magnified” she said.
Thompson went on to confirm that the two parties did not always see eye to eye throughout the process. “While differences did arise along the way, we acknowledge that Egon preserved DOOM’s invaluable notebooks and are grateful to now have them returned as part of this resolution” she added. “As a family, our focus remains steadfast on celebrating DOOM’s extraordinary legacy—his unparalleled artistry and his lasting impact on music and culture. We hope that this resolution serves as a step forward in continuing to honor his memory.”
Egon also commented cleared up his intentions for holding onto the notebooks. “DOOM was a dear friend to me and one of the most important artists I’ve ever known. I bought DOOM’s notebooks and kept them safe for years to ensure his powerful musical legacy could be preserved. My only goal has always been to showcase DOOM’s lasting musical genius, and the resolution Jasmine and I have reached regarding DOOM’s notebooks represents a significant triumph in protecting the genesis of a once-in-a-lifetime talent” he explained. “I am proud to have played a role in saving some precious markers of DOOM’s life in music and trust Jasmine to determine the next steps for his notebooks.”
According to the original lawsuit the 25+ notebooks contained the original lyrics to MF DOOM’s most celebrated works including Doomsday, MM…FOOD, Madvillainy and “other creative ideations.”