According to a familiar cliché, a picture is worth a thousand words. Your favorite celebrities—including rappers—are doing less and less press, but luckily their thumbs and smartphones still work. Instagram has provided a way for them to document their lives and/or thoroughly embarrass themselves for our collective enjoyment. The beauty of it all is that you don’t even need to join Instagram, as most rappers are perfectly fine leaving their feeds open for public viewing. And if you’d rather avoid the IG life altogether, we’ve filtered through the top rapper’s pictures and videos and consolidated all the week’s events into one convenient feed.
This week, Drake thanks Kanye West for playing his music while he was out sick, Wale proves that he supports Meek Mill, and Snoop Dogg trolls LeBron James’ return to Cleveland. Check the rest of the week’s top Instagram posts below.
Drake Thanks Kanye West For Covering His Shift
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If only rappers could call up their colleagues to cover their sets when they’re feeling sick. It didn’t exactly work that way this time. Since Drake was forced to cancel his headlining set at the Wireless Festival in London last-minute due to health reasons, Kanye West performed a second night at the summer festival to cover for Drizzy. On top of taking over his shift, Kanye also played a mini-Drake tribute so the crowd could feel like he was there in spirit. Aubrey was so happy that he shared a picture Kanye and thanked him for his generosity. He wrote, “Man I appreciate Kanye playing Trophies at Wireless so much. I want to be at all the shows more than anything in the world right now. I just keep watching the video over and over. Slow motion for me right now but I promise all the fans an incredible experience as soon as I am back. I am so sorry once again I love you all dearly. Thank you Ye for giving me that joy tonight.”
Beyonce Does The Shmoney Dance While “On The Run”
Last night (July 11) during the Carters’ “On The Run” tour stop at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Jay Z altered a line from “FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt” and according to reports he said, “Come Shmoney Dance with the Goodfellas.” The Shmoney Dance, popularized by up-and-coming Brooklyn rapper Bobby Shmurda, has become a viral dance. Jay Z recognized the dance but Beyonce gave her stamp of approval when she quickly Shmoney shimmied on stage during her performance of “Flawless.” The Carters’ co-sign is pretty much gold.
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Wale Proves That He Supports Meek Mill
It all started with a tweet. Out of the blue and in 140 characters, Meek Mill hashed out some internal feelings. He wrote, “Wale just ain’t gone tweet a thing about my album… He’s been hating on me long time now …don’t even text me cornball! #UNOTMMG.” Where did that come from? Pretty sure Wale was just as clueless as to where these angry feelings were stemming from. He snapped a screenshot of an Instagram post from seven weeks ago where he indeed promoted a Meek Mill single and included his side of the story. To sum up the lengthy post, Wale wrote about how he supports but rarely gets support back and that he’s complete fine with it because he enjoys being “different.” Click here to read the entire caption.
DJ Khaled: “I Changed A Lot”
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Rick Ross isn’t the only celeb in the rap world showing off his slim summer figure. DJ Khaled has also been shedding weight and sharing his before-and-after success story with his fans. In an interview with MTV News earlier this year, Khaled shared that he’s been in the gym and has challenged himself to lose weight. His goal is to “inspire others” through his change. The interview took place back in April and months later, we can see a noticeable difference in the hitmaker (or whatever the term is for what Khaled does).I Changed Alot, the name of his upcoming album, definitely suits his recent fitness transformation.
Joe Budden & Hollow Da Don Do Press Before The Showdown
Before the massacre of words and punch lines begins, the main contenders Joe Budden and Hollow Da Don stop by Sway’s morning show to discuss what is going down on July 12. The battle rap event is going by the name “Total Slaughter” and for those not in NYC, the battle will be available on Pay-Per-View, just like UFC fights and boxing matches are. Don’t expect a physical knockout, but since throwing punches and causing a melee is a new thing in battle rap, never say never either. “Total Slaughter” takes place Saturday, July 12, on PPV at 8pm ET. Click here for more information.
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Machine Gun Kelly Is Happy For Cleveland
Yesterday (July 11), LeBron James announced that he’s returning to Cleveland, Ohio to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team he left after seven seasons to go win championships with the Miami Heat. When he left Cleveland four seasons ago, there was an uproar with the Cavs fanbase because James left the team. Jerseys were set on fire and the internet spewed hate at the 6-foot-8-inch basketball player. Four years later, it looks like Cleveland has left the bitterness in the past and even once angry fans like Cleveland emcee Machine Gun Kelly are happy about LeBron James’ return.
Meanwhile Snoop Dogg Is Like…
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Not everyone is throwing their arms up to rejoice LeBron’s return to the Cavaliers. And not everyone is jumping on the Cleveland bandwagon. Although Snoop Dogg did congratulate the city of Cleveland on getting their “king” back, he also recognized that some professional players have loyalty to their teams. Snoop shared a picture of Kobe Bryant that came with the message, “I never left.” The picture is a play off the LeBron picture that Machine Gun Kelly posted. Some have people have to go out into the world to see what they’re missing out on, and others are satisfied with what they have (although Kobe did try to leave once upon a time).
Eminem Brings Out Dr. Dre At Wembley Stadium
Coldplay, U2, One Direction and Green Day have all performed at Wembley Stadium in London since George Michael first performed there in 2007. Somehow rap hadn’t made its way to the grand ol’ stadium, until Eminem made history last night (July 11) by being the first rapper to headline a show at the venue. He even brought out his good friend Dr. Dre to perform a medley of classic hits. Dre was the only guest to join Em last night so for those that were hoping to see Rihanna join him, they will have to wait until “The Monster Tour.”
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Chris Brown & Drake In The Studio
Chris Brown and Drake have something in common: Rihanna. Rihanna was the reason bottles flew around a nightclub in NYC and why the world spurred on a beef between Drizzy and Breezy. Now since both are exes of the Barbadian beauty, it looks like the rapper/singer and singer/rapper have settled their differences and are making beautiful music together, literally. The pair was pictured in the studio together. Drake with his red cup in hand and Chris Brown with his post-jail haircut, the picture is recent and even though their is no confirmation to when exactly it was taken, we do know that they have indeed reconciled. Any ideas for a possible collab track title?
Nicki Minaj On The Home Shopping Network
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In case you were too distracted by the plethora of selfies she was throwing on her Instagram account, Nicki Minaj joined HSN host Colleen Lopez on the small screen to convince everyone to buy her latest bottle of perfume, the Minajesty Exotic Edition. Minaj appeared on HSN on Thursday (July 10) and Friday (July 11) and of course, looked her best on both days. The Young Money emcee and entrepreneur joined the likes of 50 Cent and Mariah Carey, who have also tried convincing people to buy their products on HSN. If you want to put Nicki’s sales pitch to the test, check out one of her entire appearances here.
