This week in Hip Hop, rising star Pop Smoke was shot and killed in Los Angeles. Also, Boosie Badazz caught heat over comments about Dwyane Wade’s transgender daughter and Birdman explained what it means for Drake to have an unlimited budget.
Pop Smoke Passes Away
Brooklyn’s Pop Smoke was murdered at a Hollywood Hills home on Wednesday morning (February 19). Authorities say two masked men broke into the residence. At some point, multiple shots were fired, killing the 20-year-old artist.
Though rumors spread about Pop’s best friend Mike “Mike Dee” Durodola allegedly setting him up, Mike Dee quickly came forward to dispel any notion of playing a role in his cohort’s murder.
Redman, The Game, Juicy J, Chance The Rapper, YBN Cordae, Freddie Gibbs and many more took to social media to pay their respect to the late Pop Smoke.
Blueface posted his own tribute to the fallen Brooklyn native along with a warning for artists who come to Los Angeles.
“People think Cali/LA is beautiful sunny palm trees,” he wrote on Instagram. “Niggas die here every single day. I recommend any artist coming this way to get in touch wit the right natives just to keep you up to speed. Soon as you relax an think it’s cool this way that’s when they strike.”
Read more about Pop Smoke’s death here.
Boosie Badazz Criticized Over Transgender Comments
Dwyane Wade opened up about his 12-year-old child’s transgender journey during an interview with Good Morning America on Tuesday (February 18), prompting a reaction from the outspoken Boosie Badazz.
“I gotta say something about this shit,” Boosie said on Instagram. “Dwyane Wade, you’ve gone too fucking far, bro. That is a male. A 12-year-old. At 12, they don’t even know what they next meal gonna be. They don’t have shit figured out yet. He might meet a woman at 16 and fall in love with her, but his dick be gone.”
His comments caused him to get dragged on social media and kicked out of Planet Fitness.
Hip Hop Week In Review: Kanye West & Pusha T React To Drake & 50 Cent Beefs With French Montana
Read more about Boosie Badazz’s transgender comments here.
Birdman Explains Drake’s Unlimited Budget
Birdman visited Complex’s Everyday Struggle this week and addressed UMG CEO Lucian Grainge‘s recent HipHopDX interview about Drake having an unlimited budget.
“I got an open book,” Birdman explained on the show. “I was given an open book with Doug [Morris] and Mel at a young age in the business. When Lucian came he gave me a bigger book. So with me having an open book, I gave Wayne an open book. He opened his book for Drake and Nicki and now they’re doin the same thing. I gave Young Thug an open book so he opened his book for other people. What I mean by open book [is] you can spend any amount of money you want.”
Read more about Birdman explaining how Drake has an unlimited budget here.
Reviews
– Royce Da 5’9 — The Allegory
– Pop Smoke — Meet The Woo 2
– Key Glock — Yellow Tape
– Garren — The New (Normal)
– Che Noir — Juno
– 10k.caash — Planet Swajjur
– Lil Wayne — Funeral
– Russ — Shake The Snow Globe
– Junia-T — Studio Monk
#DXClusives: Jim Jones, DMC & Jadakiss
Jim Jones Is Showing Us A New Side To Capo
HipHopDX caught up with Jim Jones and talked to him about what fans can expect with his next album.
“Every album is a different experience,” he said. “There’s a thin line that I always kind of tiptoe on but for the most part I give every album a different experience and I just go through them.”
Read the full Jim Jones interview here.
DMC Speaks On New adidas Collab & Underlying Tragedy Of Jam Master Jay’s Murder
Darryl “DMC” McDaniels spoke with DX about adidas’ Run-DMC sneaker and found out what fans and sneakerheads alike should expect from the release.
“They gonna have a Run-DMC sneaker and a Jam Master Jay model,” he said. “Then we’re going to have a Friends and Family model…Yeah, exactly. And then it’s the Run-DMC one and then the Friends and Family ones not for sale though. Then there’s going to be a sweatshirt hoodie, t-shirts and then it’s Friends and Family leather adidas shoes, the old school ’80s leather adidas shoes. They’re making a certain amount of those. But you know the resale on the aftermarket, it’s going to be ridiculous.”
Check out the entire DMC interview here.
Jadakiss Looks Back On Studio Time With The Notorious B.I.G.
Jadakiss stopped by the DX office in Hollywood and talked about working with his favorite rapper, The Notorious B.I.G.
“Just the way he could conduct a studio session with so much going on and then the final product was incredible,” he recalled. “You just like, ‘How did he think of that?’ The girls, the old Junior M.A.F.I.A. — it’s like party session, but he was still able to focus and weed all that out, concentrate and lock in on the song or the topic or whatever he was doing and make the shit come out amazing.”
Watch the full Jadakiss interview here.
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The fact y’all called boosie transphobic let me know this site run by white supremacist and it’s immigrant minions .&
Word. This site is one of the most intolerant hiphop sites ive seen. You mention you disagree with gay, degenerate lifestyle in a ‘menacing’ way, they moderate your comment. Meanwhile you have 30 abuses of the n word either unedited in the article or comments. Site cant be ran by FBA or someone who knows black people struggles, which is the very ESSENCE of HipHop
A white supremacist would agree with Boosie. It’s the stupid left that would call him transphobic. Learn the difference.
They are not transphobic comments. He is saying don’t permanently mutilate a 12 year olds body.
FUCK L.A..CALI. ALL THAT CORNY ASS WEST COAST SHIT! NEW YORK CITY!
Wade sold his son’s soul to the devil for fame. Look at all this attention he Is getting for being a retired basketball player. Nothing is a coincidence here. Same can be said for his annoying ass wife. The amount of attention she gets from the trans loving media doesn’t match up to her extreme lack of any talent and diva like attitude. Nobody really even likes that thot.