Drake doesn't speak publicly about many social issues, but he felt compelled Wednesday, July 6, to respond to the shooting death of 37-year old Alton Sterling by a Baton Rouge, Louisiana police officer.
The "One Dance" hit maker penned an open letter and posted it on his Instagram page.
I am grateful to be able to call America my second home. Last night when I saw the video of Alton Sterling being killed, it left me feeling disheartened, emotional and truly scared. I woke up this morning with a strong need to say something. It's impossible to ignore that the relationship between Black and brown communities and law enforcement remains as strained as it was decades ago. No one begins their life as a hashtag. Yet the trend of being reduced to one continues.
This is real and I'm concerned. Concerned for the safety of my family, my friends, and any human being that could fall victim to this pattern. I do not know the answer. But I believe things can change for the better. Open and honest dialogue is the first step. My thoughts and prayers are with the Sterling family and anyone that has lost someone to this cycle of violence.
Be safe out there. More life.
Aswe previously reported, Sterlingwas shot 6-7 timesin the neck and back on Tuesday, July 5, by one of two police officers who were responding to a call of a black male wearing a red shirt threatening someone with a gun, in front of a convenience store.
Things quickly spiraled out of control when Sterling was confronted. One of the officers tackled him to the ground. While both cops held him down, he was tasered.
After yelling that the downed man had a gun, one of the cops pulled out his own weapon before firing the fatal shots.
Sterling did have a gun in his pocket, but the store owner,Abdul Muflahi, who witnessed the shooting told various news outlets that he didn't reach for it.
He added that he saw cops remove the weapon from the dead man's pocket after shooting him.
The U.S. Justice Department is leading a civil rights investigation into the case.
Taylor Gang recording artists Ty Dolla $ign and Tuki Carter combine their talents on a new song titled "PWG." The track was produced by Ricky P and DP Beats.
Chicago and Harlem connect as G Herbo a.k.a. Lil Herb and Dave East step in for the third 2016 XXL Freshman cypher. Check it out below and let us know what you think.
Termanology links up with Saigon for a new collaboration titled "We're Both Wrong." It was produced by Q-Tip. This is off of Term's forthcoming "More Politics" album.
Interim UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is out of UFC 200. His fight against champion Daniel Cormier has been scrapped.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency informed Jones yesterday that a June 16, 2016, out-of-competition sample came back positive for a possible banned substance.
The Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt three-round heavyweight fight is now the main event on the card, which will be held on Saturday, July 9, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Cormier was devastated upon hearing the news. He desperately wanted to avenge his previous loss to Jones.
After learning that Jon Jones was pulled from UFC 200, a devastated Daniel Cormier spoke with media in Las Vegas.https://t.co/n18o1YWfBP
"I'm very disappointed. I worked really hard to prepare for this," Cormier said at a Wednesday press conference. "I put myself in a position where I felt like I could win this fight. To hear something like this, it's very sad. From a competitive standpoint, from a financial standpoint ... there are a number of ways in which this is disappointing."
Other UFC fighters weighed in on Twitter and Instagram.
Dan Henderson: @dc_mma @ufc, I feel for ya. I know it feels to have your opponent get pulled 3 days before the fight due to being dishonorable. #norespect
Antonio "Big Foot" Silva: It's extremely shameful and direspectful, to his fans, to the public, to the UFC, and to his opponent who trained hard for months to face him, for Jon Jones to have been caught again!! This man should be banned from the sport, he is a shame to all of us!
Chris Weidman: Gotta feel real bad for DC right now. He had a lot to prove with Jones. Needs to get a fight and that PPV cut to make him feel better.
Anthony "Rumble" Johnson: Flying to Vegas and my jaw dropped once I got WiFi... Speechless is all I can say!
Jeremy Stephens: @JonnyBones doesn't wanna be saved don't save em he don't wanna be saved don't save em.
Michael Chiesa: As a fan I'm disappointed in Jon's recklessness, again. As a fighter, I feel bad for DC not getting to unify his belt & get that big payday.
Colby Covington: Can't say I'm surprised.
Sergio Pettis: Shit was looking forward to that war!
Check out more reactions below.
Sad day for MMA
— Big Ben Rothwell (@RothwellFighter) July 7, 2016
Feels kinda good knowing I could shit my pants in the cage, or trip walkin up the octagon steps & still not fuck up as bad as Jon Jones has
(ESPN) LAS VEGAS -- Interim UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been pulled from his title unification bout against Daniel Cormier at UFC 200 on Saturday, after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency informed Jones of a potential doping violation Wednesday.
UFC president Dana White announced the move Wednesday during an impromptu news conference at the MGM Grand.
Jones tested positive for a banned substance in an out-of-competition sample taken June 16 by USADA, said Jeff Novitzky, UFC's vice president of athlete health and performance. USADA administers UFC's anti-drug policy.
"It is important to note that under the UFC anti-doping policy, there's a full, fair legal-review process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed," Novitzky said. Novitzky added that there wasn't time for a "full review before the scheduled bout." White said he has not spoken to Jones yet and that he wasn't aware whether the substance in question was a performance-enhancing drug. A heavyweight fight between Brock Lesnar and Mark Hunt will now headline UFC 200, which takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
Jones has the right to appeal any positive test. He has never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs but did test positive for traces of cocaine before a fight against Cormier in January 2015.
Jones also served a suspension from April to October after his involvement in a hit-and-run accident.
He is scheduled to address the media Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET at the MGM Grand.
Under UFC's anti-doping program, which went into effect last July, a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug carries a standard two-year suspension.
In an interview with ESPN last week, Jones had expressed hope he could turn his legacy into a positive one.
"I want to show the world that you can be down but never out," Jones said. "I want to be a story where someone risked losing so much but ultimately turned everything around. A lot of times you hear these stories about athletes who ruined their career and they go away and no one knows what happened to them or they're bankrupt or they end up in jail. They just ruined a great career. I want to be one of the few stories you hear where I was ruining things but ultimately turned things around and became a hero. That's my vision for the way my story is going to play out."
White said he would like to find Cormier, the defending light heavyweight champion, a new opponent, but that would be difficult because of the timing.
"When you have the biggest, baddest fight card ever assembled, you know, it doesn't sting as bad when you lose a fight," White said. "But it stings real bad for Daniel Cormier. This is devastating to him, his family, and I'd like for him to fight another guy."
Cormier appeared next to White during the news conference.
"I've trained hard and long," Cormier said. "If anybody would fight, I would fight. Why not? I understand the difficult task it would be to find me a fight on two days. I'm willing to fight up, put on some weight, 225, 220 [pounds]. I'll fight. It doesn't matter. I just can't fight a really big guy, because I've been shrinking my body."
Cormier said he would put in the effort and would accept a new fight if UFC could find one that "made sense."
"I've worked really hard to prepare for this," Cormier said. "You take care of what you need to take care of. That's what I did. More than anything, it's really disappointing."
After learning that Jon Jones was pulled from UFC 200, a devastated Daniel Cormier spoke with media in Las Vegas.https://t.co/n18o1YWfBP
Cormier said having USADA as UFC's partner in the administration of drug testing "changes a lot of things" and that UFC made a conscious decision to bring in USADA.
"They didn't have to do this," Cormier said. "They decided to clean up the sport. You're going to have casualties."
Cormier said he got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach when White texted him Wednesday, asking him whether he could make it to the news conference.
"This guy always gives me good news," Cormier said of White. "You know, this guy calls you with a seven-figure check -- 'dude, you're rich now' -- you know, he calls you with good news. And the mood didn't feel very good. It was scary. So I came here, and I was actually early. It's probably the first time I've ever been early. I needed to know. But he's usually the good-news guy. And today he had to give me some pretty bad news."
Information from ESPN senior writer Arash Markazi and The Associated Press was used in this report.
Gucci Mane will release his first album since getting out of prison last month. The title of the project is "Everybody Looking" and it will drop on July 22.
Big Guwop locked down features from Kanye West and Young Thug. Peep the full tracklist below.
Everybody Looking Tracklist
1. No Sleep (Intro) 2. Out Do Ya 3. Back On Road 4. Waybach 5. Pussy Print (feat. Kanye West) 6. Pop Music 7. Guwop Home (feat. Young Thug) 8. Gucci Please 9. Robbed 10. Richest Nigga In The Room 11. 1st Day Out Tha Feds 12. At Least a M 13. All My Children 14. Pick Up The Pieces (Outro)
Joe Budden has penned what sounds like a pep talk to Drake only hours after throwing a second round of verbal abuse the Toronto tapper's way, via a diss track titled "Wake."
Check out what Jump Off Joey had to say to Drizzy below.
"The MC's tho kid, they'll always be for the culture, we'll support & champion you as you continue to push the needle and move the genre forward to newly discovered heights, real MC's can never hate you," Joe captioned a photo of himself sitting next to Drake. "We'll always want tomorrow to be better than yesterday, I see u as that "tomorrow"... I'm proud of that, for I know you're 1 of us deep down, success never changes that, ask Em & Hov.... But the second your arrogance gets the better of you and you start to believe you're above the very cloth you're cut from, the cloth that changed life for your entire lineage, the MC's will be there to remind you, success or not."
Maybe Joe's done dumping on Drake and is ready to move on to another target. I just want the new music to keep coming because lyrically he's on his "A" game right now.
Lots of reactions are coming in as people see the video footage from the Tuesday, July 5, incident of a Baton Rouge, Louisiana police officer shooting 37-year old Alton Sterling 6-7 times in the chest and back, killing him.
Sterling had been selling CDs in front of the store at the time the incident began.
Here are the facts as we know them right now.
1. Cops responded to an anonymous call by someone who said a black male selling CDs and wearing a red shirt threatened him with a gun.
2. Sterling had a gun and as a convicted felon, wouldn't be permitted to have one. Those who knew him said he kept one to protect himself from robbers.
3. The two police officers that arrived on the scene both had body cameras that somehow got turned off by accident.
4. Witness, Arthur Reed, started filming from his car when police confronted Sterling.
5. The officers can be heard telling Sterling to get on the ground, before one of them tackles him, taking him to the pavement.
6. Sterling is face down on the ground with both officers holding him down. He gets tasered.
7. An officer yells: "He's got a gun! Gun!"
8. One officer pulls his own weapon out of it's holster and points it at Sterling. Seconds later a couple of shots are fired, followed by several more.
9. Sterling died on the scene.
10. Store owner, Abdul Muflahi, told WAFB-TV, that Sterling did not have a gun in his hand at the time but he saw officers remove a gun from Sterling's pocket after the shooting.
11.Store employee, Mufleh Alatiyat, said Sterling "was a very nice guy" who. "helped a lot of people" by giving away CDs or petty cash or buying food or drinks.
On Wednesday morning, July 6, Hot 97'sPeter Rosenbergwas fielding calls from listeners about the incident. A cop called in and Rosenberg said that on the surface the shooting looked bad. He asked the officer if he agreed.
The officer wouldn't say it looked bad, which enraged the radio host.
"Can you say the words it looks bad? Rosenberg asked. "This is the problem I have with cops. Y'all don't ever wanna point at some else and say you can't do your job well. Police officers never wanna say when y'all do a bad job. That's the reason the public thinks all of you are bad! Because you won't ever call someone out and say they murdered someone, in cold blood. It happened again and until you guys start taking responsibility for your own, people in the street are going to be upset instead. How about y'all lead the movement instead? How about instead of people rioting, police officers get out in front of it themselves! And you guys are the first ones on the front lines? They murdered that man! We just saw it!"
What are your thoughts on this situation and Rosenberg's comments? Let us know in the comment section below.
Check out the second 2016 XXL Freshman cypher featuring Kodak Black, 21 Savage, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty and Denzel Curry. Special guest appearance by DJ Drama.
The woman Nick Young got pregnant while engaged to Iggy Azalea is about to pen a tell-all book.
Iggy's lawyer, Howard King, has already fired off a letter to Keonna Green's legal team, warning that if his client is mentioned anywhere in the printed work it's going to come at a steep price.
"Ms. Green has done enough to embarrass herself by her pathetic efforts to profit from Iggy's hard-won celebrity, all in exchange for whatever paltry sums she can garner in exchange for peddling tales of her tasteless exploits," King wrote in a letter obtained by TMZ. "Any mention of Iggy in your client's efforts to sell a story to whatever tabloid needs to fill its pages with the fetid story of your client's classless antics will be considered a violation of Iggy's rights of publicity ... subjecting Ms. Green and any publication that airs your client's soiled laundry to significant liability."
Aswe previously reported, Iggy called off her engagement to Young last month after theLos Angeles Lakersplayer was caught on camera with another woman in the home the two shared.
That incident came on the heels of leaked footage shot by Young's teammate, D'Angelo Russell, in which he admitted to cheating on his Australian ex-fiancee.
Green is Young's ex-girlfriend and already the mother of one of his children. She is now expecting a second child as the result of their affair.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana police officer shot and killed a black man during a confrontation outside a Baton Rouge convenience store, authorities said, prompting hundreds to protest at the site where the man died.
An online video that surfaced purporting to show the killing of Alton Sterling, 37, of Baton Rouge on Tuesday added to protesters' outrage. The protest lasted into the night, with people chanting and holding up signs.
The Associated Press has not been able to authenticate the video. But the appearance of the store in the video matches the front of convenience store where the shooting occurred. The man being subdued by police was wearing a red shirt, matching the description given earlier by police.
In the video, which appears to be shot from inside a nearby parked car, one of two police officers outside the store can be seen tackling the man in the red shirt and wrestling him to the ground. Then the other officer helps him hold the man down.
At one point someone can be heard saying, "He's got a gun! Gun!" and then one officer on top of the man can be seen pulling his weapon from his holster. After some shouting, what sounds like a gunshot can be heard and the camera pulls away. Then another four shots can be heard. At one point, a person in the vehicle asks "They shot him?" as a woman can be heard crying.
The Advocate reported the crowd that gathered late Tuesday afternoon at the store where Sterling died grew to more than 200 people. They chanted "black lives matter" and "hands up don't shoot" and waved signs late into the night, according to the newspaper.
By dawn Wednesday, protesters and friends had created a makeshift memorial to Sterling on the white folding tables and fold out chair he had used to sell homemade music compilations on CD's.
Arthur Baines came by to pay his respects. He said Sterling had stayed with his sister at some point.
"He never bothered nobody. He was just trying to make an honest dollar," Baines said. He said he thought Sterling was out late on July 4th because more people were out on the holiday: "That's really how he made all of his money,"
Mufleh Alatiyat, a 25-year old employee of the store described Sterling as generous and said he often gave away CDs or petty cash or bought food or drink for some people.
"He was a very nice guy," he said. "He helped a lot of people."
An autopsy shows Sterling died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back, East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Dr. William Clark said.
Officers responded to the store about 12:35 a.m. Tuesday after an anonymous caller indicated a man selling music CDs and wearing a red shirt threatened him with a gun, Cpl. L'Jean McKneely said.
Two officers responded and had some type of altercation with the man and one officer fatally shot the suspect, McKneely said. Both officers have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard department policy, he said.
The store's owner, Abdul Muflahi, told WAFB-TV that the first officer used a stun gun on Sterling and the second officer tackled the man. Muflahi said as Sterling fought to get the officer off of him, the first officer shot him "four to six times."
The owner said Sterling did not have a gun in his hand at the time but he saw officers remove a gun from Sterling's pocket after the shooting.
McKneely said late Tuesday that he could not confirm Muflahi's description of the event or any other details of the investigation.
Kimberly Lang said she purchased CDs from Sterling on occasion and said he did not have a reputation for violence, according to a report by NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune. If Sterling did have a gun on him, Lang said, it was probably because he feared being robbed while peddling his CDs late at night, not because he wanted to threaten anyone.
Big K.R.I.T. and Def Jam Recordings have parted ways.
The Mississippi rapper and producer made the announcement Tuesday, July 5, via his Twitter account.
"I want to thank each and every one of you for following & supporting me through out my career up until this moment," he wrote. "And at this moment right now, I want to share with you, that I am no longer with Def Jam."
I want to thank each and every one of you for following & supporting me through out my career up until this moment. #12FOR12
Gucci Mane gets golden vocals from the late, great Tupac Shakur on his latest song titled "On Me." Check it out up top and be on the lookout for Big Guwop's"Everybody Lookin" album, due out July 22nd!
Joe Budden is showing no signs of letting up as he continues to go after Drake. The New Jersey spitter follows "Making a Murderer Pt. 1" with an araabMUZIK-produced diss song titled "Wake."
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