Category Archives: Rap

Aya Nakamura thanks fans for support over Olympics racism as she wins awards

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French singer dedicates top prizes at Les Flammes ‘to all black women’ after backlash over rumoured Paris show

The French pop star Aya Nakamura, who found herself at the centre of a racist row after rumours she was going to sing at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, has thanked fans for their support after winning three big prizes at France’s Les Flammes awards for rap, R&B and pop.

“I’m very honoured because being a black artist and coming from the banlieue is very difficult,” Nakamura told the audience at the ceremony, which she opened with a medley of her songs. She dedicated her awards – female artist of the year, pop album of the year, and international star of the year – “to all black women”.

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Megan Thee Stallion accused of ‘abusive work environment’ including sexual harassment

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Former employee Emilio Garcia alleges chart-topping rapper had sex in front of him in a moving car, and made abusive comments and employment law violations

Megan Thee Stallion has been sued by a former employee who alleges she withheld payment and created an “abusive work environment”, including having sex with a woman next to him in a moving car.

Cameraman Emilio Garcia alleges “severe” and “pervasive” harassment by the chart-topping rapper following the incident, including sexual comments and fat-shaming insults, as well as a loss of earnings. He is seeking unpaid wages and interest on them, as well as damages, and wage penalties under California labour laws.

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Kanye West suspected of attacking man who allegedly sexually assaulted his wife

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Following reports of battery investigation into West against unnamed man, rapper’s team allege wife Bianca Censori was being assaulted

Representatives for Kanye West have alleged that a man physically and sexually assaulted his wife Bianca Censori in an incident in Los Angeles.

Sources previously told TMZ that West was being investigated as a suspect in a battery incident earlier this week, after the rapper was alleged to have struck a man who had grabbed Censori.

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Rapper BG had permission to perform and should not be re-imprisoned, say lawyers

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Attorneys for Christopher Dorsey asked federal judge in court filings on Friday to allow musician to remain on supervised release

Attorneys for the New Orleans-born rapper BG maintain he did have official permission to perform alongside prominent fellow musicians despite what authorities claimed when they recently arrested him on allegations of violating the terms of his supervised release from federal prison.

Lawyers for Christopher Dorsey – BG’s legal name – made those contentions in court filings on Friday that asked a federal judge to allow the artist to remain on supervised release rather than face re-imprisonment.

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Hot Boys rapper BG faces return to prison over alleged probation offense

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Christopher Dorsey, 43 accused of performing alongside other rappers without obtaining permission from authorities

About two months into his supervised release from federal prison on gun charges, the rapper who scored a hit song with Bling Bling has been charged with violating the terms of his supervision after performing alongside other prominent entertainers without authorities’ permission.

A federal judge ordered Christopher Dorsey – or BG, who once belonged to Cash Money Records’ rap supergroup the Hot Boys – released on his own recognizance on Wednesday after his arrest on the charges, records show.

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Brit awards 2024 – full list of winners

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The winners of every category at the 2024 Brits, updated as the ceremony progresses

• Brit awards 2024: women dominate as Raye scores record-smashing six wins
• Brit awards 2024: as it happened

Blur – The Ballad of Darren
J Hus – Beautiful and Brutal Yard
Little Simz – No Thank You
Raye – My 21st Century Blues – WINNER!
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy

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Third man charged in NSW over alleged plot to kill OneFour rappers

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Police charge 28-year-old over alleged criminal cell plan to murder members of Sydney rap group

A third member of an alleged criminal cell allegedly hired to kill gang rivals is being held by police.

Police believe the group is behind multiple contract kidnappings and a plan to target Sydney-based drill rap group OneFour.

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Mobo awards 2024: Central Cee tops winners thanks to megahit Sprinter

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London MC wins best male and song of the year, while Potter Payper beats stiff competition to win album of the year

Central Cee has topped the winners at the 2024 Mobo awards, winning best male for the second year in a row, and best song for Sprinter, his collaborative track with Dave, that dominated the summer months with a 10-week run at No 1.

Elsewhere the awards, which celebrate black musical artistry in the UK and globally, spread the garlands across a diverse range of music, with no one artist dominating.

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‘Diabolical actions’: Snoop Dogg and Master P sue Walmart in breakfast cereal spat

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Rappers entered breakfast market with Snoop Cereal in 2023, and allege conspiracy between manufacturer Post Consumer Brands and supermarket chain Walmart to ‘choke’ startup brand

Rappers Snoop Dogg and Master P are suing US supermarket chain Walmart and food manufacturer Post Consumer Brands, claiming that the two companies conspired to sabotage the success of the pair’s new breakfast cereal enterprise.

Snoop Cereal launched last summer, with Master P hailing parent company Broadus Foods as the first Black-owned cereal company in the US: “This has been going on for over 100 years, that we’ve been consumers and never owners, so we’re changing that game.” The rappers partnered with Post to produce the cereal itself.

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Dominican officials arrest Tekashi 6ix9ine on domestic violence charges

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US rapper scheduled to appear in court on Thursday and is being held in a Santo Domingo jail

Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested the US rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, who is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday on charges of domestic violence.

The rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernández, is being held at a jail in the capital, Santo Domingo, where he was arrested on Wednesday, officials said.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of sexual assault and revenge porn in two new lawsuits

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Allegations, which rapper and mogul denies, follow another lawsuit last week from former girlfriend Cassie, which was quickly settled

Sean Combs, the rapper and mogul known as Diddy, has been accused of sexual assault in two new lawsuits, after another he settled last week with former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, AKA Cassie.

The first, from Joi Dickerson-Neal, alleges Combs attacked her in 1991 and inflicted “substantial and lifetime injuries … as a result of being drugged, sexually assaulted and abused, and being “the victim of ‘revenge porn’ that Sean Combs or ‘P. Diddy’ created and distributed”. A representative for Combs has called the claims “made up and not credible … purely a money grab”.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and singer Cassie settle abuse lawsuit one day after filing

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Settlement to their ‘mutual satisfaction’ announced in a statement released on Friday evening without details being disclosed

Sean “Diddy” Combs and singer Cassie said on Friday that they have settled a lawsuit containing allegations of beatings and abuse by the music producer.

Combs, a hip-hop icon and the founder of Bad Boy Records, was accused of rape and abuse in a major lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, that alleges he used his powerful network to keep her trapped in a violent relationship with him.

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One of last living witnesses and ex-gang leader indicted in Tupac Shakur murder

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Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, a former Los Angeles drug dealer, was indicted Friday for one count of murder with a deadly weapon

Las Vegas police have arrested a man for the 1996 drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur, a long-awaited break for one of the most infamous unsolved murders in hip-hop history.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who has described himself as one of the last living witnesses of the shooting, was taken into custody early Friday morning after he was indicted by a grand jury for one count of murder with a deadly weapon in affiliation with a criminal gang, Marc DiGiacomo, the Clark county prosecutor, said in court on Friday. The 60-year-old was arrested while on a walk near his home in Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb.

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French rapper MHD jailed for 12 years over Paris murder

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Five of ‘afro-trap’ pioneer’s fellow defendants also imprisoned over killing in what prosecutors said was a fight between rival gangs

French rapper MHD has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the 2018 murder of a young man in Paris who was rammed with a car before being set upon by a mob and stabbed.

Five of his fellow defendants were also jailed over the killing, receiving terms of between 10 and 18 years over what prosecutors said was a fight between rival gangs. Three other men were acquitted.

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Outrage as Polish TV talent show contestants use blackface for Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé performances

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Singer Kuba Szmajkowski and actor Pola Gonciarz heavily darkened their skin on Your Face Sounds Familiar, with Szmajkowski also wearing cornrows and using the N-word

A leading Polish TV talent show has been widely criticised for featuring celebrity contestants in blackface, impersonating Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé.

Singer Kuba Szmajkowski, a star in Poland who has 163,000 Instagram followers, won the second episode of the 19th series of Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo – the Polish iteration of long-running franchise Your Face Sounds Familiar – on Saturday after performing Lamar’s track Humble in blackface, fake cornrows and a fake beard. He also used the N-word, which went uncensored on the broadcast.

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Mercury prize 2023: London group Ezra Collective secure first ever jazz win

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Band say unexpected win is ‘testimony to good, special people putting time and effort’ into helping young people to play music

The 2023 Mercury prize has been awarded to Ezra Collective, the London band whose propulsive blend of jazz, funk and Afrobeat has electrified audiences and cemented the capital’s jazz scene as one of the world’s most exciting.

“We met in a youth club,” said drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso on accepting the award for the year’s best British or Irish album for Where I’m Meant to Be, the band’s second release. “This moment we’re celebrating right here is testimony to good, special people putting time and effort into [helping] young people to play music … let’s continue to support that,” he added, citing grassroots collectives in London such as Tomorrow’s Warriors and Kinetika Bloco.

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Eminem demands Vivek Ramaswamy cease using his music on campaign trail

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Rapper sends letter to Republican presidential hopeful objecting to candidate’s use of his song

The rapper Eminem has demanded that Vivek Ramaswamy cease using his music.

In a letter reported by the Daily Mail, a representative for the rapper’s publisher told counsel for the Republican presidential hopeful that Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, objected to Ramaswamy’s use of his compositions and was revoking a license to use them.

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Leeds hospital trust apologises after rapper MF Doom Dumile Daniel Thompson died in its care

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London-born musician Dumile Daniel Thompson, 49, had a lack of oxygen to his brain after a reaction to a blood pressure drug

An NHS trust has apologised for the substandard care given to MF Doom, an underground rap icon who died aged 49 while having hospital treatment.

The artist behind songs including Accordion and That’s That, whose real name was Dumile Daniel Thompson, died in October 2020 due to a lack of oxygen to his brain after a reaction to a drug prescribed for blood pressure.

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Rapper Aitch inspired by sister to skydive for Down’s syndrome awareness

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Musician cheered on during jump by his sister Gracie, who has the condition and regularly features in his work

Rapper Aitch has skydived to raise money and awareness for Down’s syndrome, inspired by his sister Gracie, who has the condition. Gracie, 13, regularly features in the Manchester-born rapper’s music and recently joined her brother in the video for his latest single, Round 2.

Although the skydive had been scheduled to take place in March to coincide with Down’s syndrome Awareness week, windy conditions postponed the jump.

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Brit awards 2023: Harry Styles and Wet Leg triumph while Lizzo delivers the glitz – as it happened

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Fontaines DC, Aitch, Becky Hill and the 1975 also won gongs, while Tom Grennan flubbed it. Here’s all the action from the 43rd annual music awards

• Read the full report here
• The trouble with the Brits
• The night in pictures

Shania is here! And in a week where she has a UK No 1 album with Queen of Me to boot. She’s performed with Harry Styles in the past; wonder if they’ll have a redux (or if she’ll present him with one of the awards that he’ll inevitably walk away with tonight).

RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Bimini Bon-Boulash has arrived in extremely punk fashion, wearing a dress that transplants the colours of the trans pride flag onto the union jack – a nice little injection of chaos onto this year’s red carpet.

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