R&B/Hip-Hop

Kelly Price has clarified her stance after offering Diddy a “prayer” following his apology in response to a 2016 surveillance video of the Bad Boy CEO assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura posted by CNN last week.

“For those who misconstrued, misinterpreted or just chose to put words in my mouth, this is for clarity. If you choose to believe otherwise that’s your choice, but I won’t let anyone call me out for something I didn’t do,” Price captioned the post to Instagram on Sunday.

She continued: “I can’t offer redemption, forgiveness or Grace because my name is Kelly, not Jesus.
Therapy+Jesus that’s doing the Soul work. What happens legally is up to the people who have that authority.”

The singer expanded on her comments in a 12-minute Instagram Live video, in which she claimed it was “more of a warning” and a push for Diddy to look inward and “do the soul work.”

“I was basically telling him you gotta change your heart, you gotta change your mind, you gotta change your direction,” she added. “I simply was saying he had to do the work.”

Price made sure to clarify that she wasn’t trying to position herself as a “Diddy cheerleader” and she’s “not OK with someone else doing something so horrific,” while seemingly referencing the gruesome footage of the assault.

“I told him, do what you need to do to get your soul right, brother,” she stated. “It’s up to the courts to decide what they do with him legally. I have nothing to do with that.”

The “Friend of Mine” singer originally offered up the comment — which was met with vehement criticism — on Instagram following Diddy’s apology before eventually deleting the remark, per Vibe.

“It is my sincere prayer that the power of the Holy Ghost overtake you so that you not not only have a change of heart but a change of mind and a change of direction,” she wrote. “I have seen you at your best and at your worst. I know what you are capable of being when you were at your best despite the seductions of this industry. I want to see you and I want to see you soon too kreate8 this in this business but I need you to pray and I need you to receive from the most high. I need for those prayers to take place sincerely. You are a unique talent, and both sides that represent light and darkness receive you anxiously. Do you know who God is! Lean not unto your own understanding but all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. [red heart emoji] KP.”

While the myriad of sexual misconduct lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs piled up, CNN posted jarring surveillance footage on Friday (May 17) of Diddy attacking his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016.

Forty-eight hours later, Combs issued an apology for his “inexcusable” actions in a video posted to social media on Sunday.

“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy said. “I was f—ed up. I mean, I hit rock bottom. But I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I’m disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I’m disgusted now.”

Drake probably won’t be cracking open any bottles of bubbly following his latest sports gamble. The Champagne Papi has lost a total of $565,000 after betting that Tyson Fury would win the Saturday (May 18) boxing match against Oleksandr Usyk, who ultimately proved victorious over his opponent to become the sport’s undisputed heavyweight champion.

Usyk’s victory comes shortly after Drake posted a screenshot of his gambling slip on Instagram Stories last week, proving that he’d put upwards of half a million dollars on Fury’s name via the online casino Stake, with which the rapper has had a long-running partnership. Had Fury won instead of Usyk, Drizzy’s payout would have been just over a million dollars.

To Drake’s credit, it was a close call. One judge at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, originally scored the match 114-113 in Fury’s favor, however, the ruling was overturned by two other judges who favored Usyk 114-113 and 115-112, respectively.

The news comes amid the Canadian musician’s unresolved feud with Kendrick Lamar, who, ironically, called out his adversary’s gambling hobby on the diss track “Meet the Grahams.” Over the course of April and May, K. Dot has also dropped “Euphoria,” “6:16 in L.A.” and the Billboard Hot 100-topping “Not Like Us” to antagonize Drake, who, for his own part, has released “Push Ups,” “Taylor Made Freestyle,” “Family Matters” and “The Heart Pt. 6” targeted at Lamar.

Fury vs. Usyk aside, Drake has had much better luck with previous gambles. In February, he bet $1,150,000 on a Kansas City Chiefs win in the 2024 Super Bowl, which turned out to be advantageous when the Patrick Mahomes-led team triumphed over the San Francisco 49ers.

“I can’t bet against the swifties,” Drake wrote on Instagram Stories at the time, poking fun at Taylor Swift’s relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams bestowed Diddy with a key to the city last September, but is now looking into the possibility of rescinding the prestigious honor after surveillance footage was leaked by CNN of Sean Combs attacking his then-girlfriend Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in March of 2016.

Adams sat down with PIX11 for an interview on Monday (May 20) where he was asked for his thoughts about Diddy receiving a Key to the City after watching the disturbing video clip last week.

“I think all of us were deeply disturbed by watching that chilling video of the young lady being assaulted by him, and the committee and the team — we’ve never rescinded a key before, but we are now sitting down to see what the next steps forward are going to be,” he said.” “We are taking everything under analysis, and the team will come back to me with a final determination.”

The physical assault appears to mirror an abuse allegation made by Cassie Ventura in the sprawling lawsuit she made against Diddy last November before settling the matter less than 24 hours later.

In the suit, she alleged that Diddy became extremely intoxicated and punched her, leaving Ventura with a black eye during an altercation at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles around March 2016.

“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs,” said Ventura’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor, in a statement to Billboard after the jarring footage was released. “Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”

Diddy then issued an apology for his actions, which he described as “inexcusable,” in a video posted to social media on Sunday (May 19).

“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy said. “I was f—ed up. I mean, I hit rock bottom. But I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I’m disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I’m disgusted now.”

Watch a clip of Adams’ interview with PIX11 below:

Juvenile was on Instagram Live over the weekend when he got annoyed by fans asking about a Hot Boys reunion. The crew consisting of Juvenile, B.G., Lil Wayne, and Turk haven’t released an album since 2003’s Let ‘Em Burn, so he’s been asked about a reunion since before Instagram was even a thing.

Well, it looks like all the pestering has finally worked, because the Cash Money Millionaire revealed that not only will the Hot Boys will be reuniting at Essence Fest in New Orleans this July, but that they’ve also been working on a new album.

“Hot Boys is back together, man. What you talkin’ about put the Hot Boys back together? Show y’all ain’t keeping up with s–t,” he says in a clip from his Live. “Turk gonna be with me tonight, I’m gonna be with B.G. next week. Me, Wayne, Turk, and B.G., all of us gonna be on stage in New Orleans with Mannie Fresh and Birdman. And we already done started working on a Hot Boys album. Any other f—king questions? Keep on askin’ put the Hot Boys together. Have some f—kin’ patience.”

It’s unclear whether or not there is a larger rollout planned for the upcoming Hot Boys reunion. It’s hard to imagine the plan was to have Juvie randomly blurt it out on Instagram Live.

Juvenile most recently found success making a video for the title track to his 1998 album 400 Degreez. The video features producer Mannie Fresh and was made to celebrate the multiplatinum album’s 25th anniversary.

Aside from creative differences, one factor that greatly effected the Hot Boys is incarceration. B.G. and Turk both served lengthy prison sentences, with the former serving 12 years and the latter serving nine.

Since being released in September, B.G. has been dropping a torrent of music, including “Gold Teeth Grizzle” and “Really Understand.” A few months after Turk came home in 2012, a remix to his song “Zip It” surfaced featuring Juvie, Wayne and B.G., making it one of their first reunion songs since 2003.

Either way, this is great news for white tee enthusiasts everywhere.