Tag Archives: Ross

Jay-Z’s FULL “$100 Bill” Track From “Great Gatsby” + Rick Ross Meets With Reebok + Kelly Rowland & The Dream Reveal TOUR DATES

Jay-Z‘s much anticipated "$ 100 Bill" song off the Great Gatsby soundtrack has hit the net in full.  Check it inside, plus why Ricky Ross is meeting with Reebok again and Kelly Rowland and The Dream‘s upcoming tour dates…

Hov’s full "$ 100 Bill" track is out in full.  He’s executive producing the whole Great Gatsby soundtrack, but his own solo track is one for the road.  Check it out above. 

By the way, you can now stream the entire soundtrack online now HERE.

Meanwhile, Jay is doing some good for kids by offering college scholarships to underserved students.  The scholarship, pushed through The Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation, covers scholarship money for those who wouldn’t typically qualify for a usual scholarship.

He will be awarding cash to single mothers, children who attend alternative schools, students who have earned a GED, students with grade point averages of 2.0 and students who have previously been incarcerated, etc., but desire a higher educational opportunity.

 

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Rick Ross some type of way gt back into Reebok’s good graces.  Because he and Swizz Beatz just had a meeting with the CEO of the sportswear company.  No clue what was on the agenda, but are they negotiating a deal to bring Ricky back as a spokesman after dropping him due to his rape lyrics and failure to understand rape culture?

Swizzy Instagrammed the pic saying:

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Hmmm….this will be some ish….

 

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And finally, Kelly Rowland, pubbing Talk A Good Game, and The Dream, pubbing his IV Play album, have announced their tour dates for the Lights Out tour.  Kicking things off on May 23rd, the twosome roll to Minneapolis and take their concerts around the country to D.C., NYC, Chicago and will wrap it up in San Francisco in June.  All the dates for their multi-city tour are below:

 

May 23 – Myth – Minneapolis, MI
May 24 – Midland Theatre – Kansas City, MO
May 26 – Fillmore – Washington, D.C.
May 28 – Ram’s Head – Baltimore, MD
May 29 – Wilbur – Boston, MA
May 30 – Best Buy Theater – New York, NY
May 31 – Theatre of Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
June 4 – Venue to be determined – Raleigh, NC
June 5 – Center Stage – Atlanta, GA
June 6 – House of Blues – Orlando, FL
June 7 – House of Blues – Myrtle Beach, SC
June 13 – Thalia Mara Hall – Jackson, MS
June 14 – Varsity Theatre – Baton Rouge, LA
June 15 – Arena Theatre – Houston, TX
June 16 – Palladium – Dallas, TX
June 19 – Kool Haus – Toronto, Canada
June 20 – Royal Oak – Detroit, MI
June 21 – House of Blues – Cleveland, OH
June 22 – Bogarts – Cincinnati, OH
June 23 – House of Blues – Chicago, IL
June 26 – Woodlake Hotel – Sacramento, CA
June 28 – Regency/Mezzanine – San Francisco, CA

Who’s going?

MUSIC: Azealia Banks’ “Yung Rapunxel” Video + “No New Friends” Ft. Weezy, Drake & Rick Ross + Jason Derulo’s “The Other Side”

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Azealia Banks just dropped her brand new video for "Yung Rupunxel".   We’ve got the Harlem chick’s first video off her upcoming studio album inside, plus music from DJ Khaled and his homies Rozay, Weezy & Drizzy, plus Jason Derulo returns to the scene…

 

Yung Rapunxel is here.  Azealia Banks took time away from her many Twitter Beefs to actually drop a hot video for her lead single "Yung Rapunxel."  The breathy and dance tempo track gets laced with her usual hard core flow we love.  And the video is giving us a Crystal Waters 90′s vibe.  Check it out above.

Jason Derulo is back on the scene and just released a teaser for his brand new single "The Other Side."  Check out the lyric video above.

 

And finally, Drake, Weezy and Rick Ross aren’t feling having any new friends.  They’re on top of the game, and they’re only dealing witht he folks who rode with them to get there.  Check out their new track, pushed out by DJ Khaled, below:

Rick Ross’ Formal Apology…Does He Finally Get It?

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Rick Ross has attempted an apology for a third time.  But he just may get it this time.  Check out his formal statement of apology over his controversial rape lyrics inside…

 

"Amsterdam" rapper Rick Ross has attempted a few times to apologize for his lyrics on a mixtape track called "U.O.E.N.O." where he speaks about slipping a chick a molly and having sex with her….without her even knowing.

Ricky’s previous apologies blamed others for "misinterpreting" his lyrics and he claimed he doesn’t condone rape…since he never said the word rape.  But now, it seems he’s taken a class on rape and now knows you don’t have to say RAPE in order for it to BE rape.

Here’s his new apology where he finally takes full responsibility:

“Before I am an artist, I am a father, a son, and a brother to some of the most cherished women in the world. So for me to suggest in any way that harm and violation be brought to a woman is one of my biggest mistakes and regrets. As an artist, one of the most liberating things is being able to paint pictures with my words. But with that comes a great responsibility. And most recently, my choice of words was not only offensive, it does not reflect my true heart. And for this, I apologize. To every woman that has felt the sting of abuse, I apologize. I recognize that as an artist I have a voice and with that, the power of influence. To the young men who listen to my music, please know that using a substance to rob a woman of her right to make a choice is not only a crime, it’s wrong and I do not encourage it. To my fans, I also apologize if I have disappointed you. I can only hope that this sparks a healthy dialogue and that I can contribute to it.”

–William Roberts (a.k.a “Rick Ross”)

But is it too little too late?  Ricky’s verse has already been snatched off the mixtape track, and Reebok has dropped him as a spokesperson.  He said about his split with Reebok today:

I want to thank Reebok Classics for their hard work and dedication over this past year. Good partners,good shoe.continued success.

Does he finally get it?

DUMPED! Reebok DROPS Rick Ross From Its ROSTER!

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After weeks of mounting criticism and protests, Reebok has dumped rapper Rick Ross from its roster following controversial lyrics the rapper touted about rape. Read their statement inside…

Shoe-giant Reebok has taken note of the negative publicity it’s received since Rick Ross released his controversial "U.O.E.N.O." song, and dropped the rapper’s endorsement deal.  

In a statement to TMZ, Reebok said,

"Reebok holds our partners to a high standard, and we expect them to live up to the values of our brand. Unfortunately, Rick Ross has failed to do so.

While we do not believe that Rick Ross condones sexual assault, we are very disappointed he has yet to display an understanding of the seriousness of this issue or an appropriate level of remorse."

It will be interesting to watch how Rick responds to being dropped from the brand since he’s already offered two half-assed apologies showing he has no clear concept of women’s rights, civil rights or just what it means to not be an a**hole.  So we couldn’t agree more with Reebok’s statement.

We suspect he’ll act like a typical cocky rapper and throw jabs at Reebok on his next mixtape and claim that the women’s groups, rape survivors and other critics are simply "haters." 

But all jokes aside, we hope Rick Ross uses this as a wake up call and educates himself about the rape culture, and uses his huge platform to simply do better.

VIDEO FAB: Nicki Minaj’s “Up In Flames” (VIDEO) + Meek Mill DEFENDS Rick Ross’ Rape Lyrics

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Rapper Nicki Minaj is back with a video for "Up In Flames."  Watch the clip inside and see what Meek Mill had to say while defending the lyrics of Rick Ross.  

 

Although her "High School" video is barely a week old, Nicki keeps the momentum going with "Up In Flames", another visual from Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded the Re-Up. The Grizz Lee-directed clip focuses on Nicki’s creative process as she works on lyrics in the studio, sits at a piano (which she never plays), poses in front of a room of candles and includes several scenes of rumored boyfriend Sarafee.  Since he’s trying to get on with a solo rap career himself, it makes sense.

Watch the "Up In Flames" video here:

 

 

In other music news…

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As rape survivor groups pressure Reebok to drop rapper Rick Ross from their list of spokesmen, Rick’s protege Meek Mill has stepped up to the plate to defend him and his controversial lyrics. 

During an interview with the Urban Informer, Meek defended the "U.O.E.N.O." song saying, “I don’t even care about nobody criticizing no lyrics. People rap about killing stuff all day. Biggie said, Rape your kid. Throw her over the bridge.’ It was nothing, it was just hip-hop.”

Meek totals blows off the concerns of rape survivors and other activist groups saying, 

"Now you got all these weirdos on these social sites voicing their opinion about something anybody say. I don’t care. I’m from the ‘hood. I never really cared about what nobody say in no rap. Rap’s always been talking about killing, drugs, all types of stuff.”

Smh….that’s a very mature way to look at things Meek.  

He went on to explain that Rick was just being creative and people shouldn’t take it so literal.  “It’s imaginary visual. If a writer write about somebody getting raped in a movie, that mean he a rapist or he want girls to get raped? No, he just wrote about that in a movie.”

Unfortunately, Meek’s "I don’t care" attitude seems right in line with Rick’s half-assed apologies from a few days ago.   These dudes just don’t seem to make a mental connection between what they are rapping about the impact it might have on their audience or just society in general.  It’s pretty sad that they don’t take their own lyrics more seriously.  

 

Listen to the interview here:

 

Lil Wayne’s First Public (Party) Appearance Post-Seizures + Rick Ross’ Second Half Assed Apology Over Rape Lyric

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Lil Wayne made his first public appearance after his severe seizures that landed him in the hospital a few weeks ago.  Check out Weezy back to partying it up, plus Rick Ross’ second apology he really could have kept to himself…

Weezy’s back in party mode.  At least when it comes to supporting his homies.  He made his first public appearance (above) this week at Miami hotspot Mansion’s EXCESS MONDAYS party for rapper Rocko’s release. Weezy had Birdman at his side and looked healthy and fresh-faced…as fresh faced as he could look. 

And sources at the party say it was only bottles of water at a VIP table.  We’re going to keep hope alive that his lil self keeps it that way.  He stayed out till around 3AM party with Busta Rhymes and the rest of his crew.  We’ll see how all this goes…
 

 

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And just when we were about to give Rozay a second chance at redemption since he’s now been thoroughly schooled on the FULL definition of rape…..he goes and displays his idiocy again.

After issuing a non-apology via Q93 in New Orleans last week for his "U.O.E.N.O." lyric that was a description of a rape situation, he’s tried again.  And failed. 

Previously he told the radio station he never said the WORD rape.  So that means he wasn’t talking about rape at all when he says he drugged a woman and had sex with her without her even knowing about it.  Yes, he actually said this.

So today, he’s taken to his twitter to show us he hasn’t learned a damn thing.  He said:

I dont condone rape.  Apologies for the #lyric interpreted as rape. #BOSS

And if you’re wondering why he issued this half assed apology a second time, it’s because protests are growing against Reebok. Rick Ross is a brand spokesperson for the sneaker company and a release of a new Rozay design is out this week.  With all the growing negative publicity and boycotts outside the Reebok stores, Ricky tweeted today:

Apologies to my many business partners, who would never promote violence against women. @ReebokClassics @ultraviolet

I really wish people would either completely take FULL responsibility for the wrong things they say and pledge to never let it happen again because they have learned the error of their ways….or just completely shut it up.  Pick one and stick with it. No safe middle ground.  We’d respect you more.

 

The Randomness:

1.  DJ Clue released from jail.  STORY

 

Photo Credit: AllTheParties.com

VIDEO FAB: Cassie’s “Numb” Featuring Rick Ross, REVEALS “RockAByeBaby” TRACKLISTING

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Cassie called on Rick Ross to bless the "Numb" video off her upcoming mixtape RockAByeBaby. Watch the clip inside and see who’ll appear on the album…..

 

Since Faith Evans made her exit a few years ago, Cassie’s first in line to claim the title of Bad Boy’s First Lady (if you exclude Janelle Monae). And as fans wait to grab a copy of her RockAByeBaby mixtape (April 11), which features Meek Mill, Wiz Khalifa, Pusha T, French Montana, Too $ hort, and Fabolous, she’s unleased a video for "Numb."

The trip-hop flavored Alex Nazari-directed clip, shows the side-shaven beauty strolling through LA and smoking with Rick while singing “I make music to numb your brain.”  She spoke about the upcoming project saying,

"This mixtape is about more than just music, it’s about the art, the visuals and the people. I wanted to release RockaByeBaby to show my appreciation to the supporters that have been there from day one and always believed in me and my art. My goal was to make a tape that you could vibe too and that people could enjoy from the beginning until the end. I want this to be what you listen to when you need to escape.”

Check out the RockAByeBaby tracklisting here:

1. “Intro”
2. “Paradise” feat. Wiz Khalifa
3. “Take Care of Me Baby” feat. Pusha T
4. “Addiction” feat. French Montana
5. “Numb” feat. Rick Ross
6. “Sound of Love” feat. Jeremih
7. “I Love It” feat. Fabolous
8. “RockaByeBaby”
9. “I Know Whatcha Want”
10. “Turn Up” feat. Meek Mill
11. “Do My Dance” feat. Too $ hort
12. “Bad Bitches” feat. Ester Dean
13. “All My Love”

Watch "Numb" here…..

ON THE SET: Keke Palmer, Chilli, T-Boz, Lil’ Mama and Evan Ross SHARE PICS From The “Crazy, Sexy Cool: The TLC Story” MOVIE

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The cast and executive producers of  “Crazy, Sexy Cool: The TLC Story" have shared a few flicks from the set. See photos of Keke, Lil’ Mama, Chilli, T-Boz and more inside.  And you may just be surprised at how much KeKe now looks like Ms. Chilli….

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A few photos from the set of the TLC biopic “Crazy, Sexy Cool: The TLC Story" have emerged and the cast seems to be enjoying the gig.  Keke Palmer posed with Chilli–who’s on the set as an Executive Producer and who she’ll be portraying in the upcoming flick.

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Lil’ Mama, who’s playing the late Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, posed with Chilli in between takes.

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And Evan Ross is playing the role of Chilli’s baby daddy/producer, Dallas Austin.

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Keke also posed a pic she shot with Evan during his last day of shooting.  

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Chilli’s is still carrying around those hand bags with her son Tron’s face on them.

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And the real T-Boz was spotted posing for pics in the wardrobe department as she covered up her famous sideburns and looked at the camera with her "left eye."  Ahhh…this outfit is binging back memories of "Waterfalls"….

Pics via Instagram

 

ON THE SET: Keke Palmer, Chilli, T-Boz, Lil’ Mama and Evan Ross SHARE PICS From The “Crazy, Sexy Cool: The TLC Story” MOVIE

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The cast and executive producers of  “Crazy, Sexy Cool: The TLC Story" have shared a few flicks from the set. See photos of Keke, Lil’ Mama, Chilli, T-Boz and more inside.  And you may just be surprised at how much KeKe now looks like Ms. Chilli….

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A few photos from the set of the TLC biopic “Crazy, Sexy Cool: The TLC Story" have emerged and the cast seems to be enjoying the gig.  Keke Palmer posed with Chilli–who’s on the set as an Executive Producer and who she’ll be portraying in the upcoming flick.

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Lil’ Mama, who’s playing the late Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, posed with Chilli in between takes.

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And Evan Ross is playing the role of Chilli’s baby daddy/producer, Dallas Austin.

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Keke also posed a pic she shot with Evan during his last day of shooting.  

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Chilli’s is still carrying around those hand bags with her son Tron’s face on them.

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And the real T-Boz was spotted posing for pics in the wardrobe department as she covered up her famous sideburns and looked at the camera with her "left eye."  Ahhh…this outfit is binging back memories of "Waterfalls"….

Pics via Instagram

 

Rick Ross “Explains” Controversial “U.O.E.N.O.” Lyric Saying “We Don’t Condone Rape”….But We’re Still Not Feelin’ It

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Rick Ross was put on the spot earlier today and was forced to address the growing controversy surrounding his "U.O.E.N.O" lyric, which many felt condoned rape.  Watch him dig himself into a deeper hole inside…..

 

The Teflon Don, Rick Ross, was backed into a corner earlier today, as Q93′s Wild Wayne confronted the rapper about the controversial language used in his "U.O.E.N.O." record during an interview in New Orleans.  

In case you’ve been under a rock, the line in question goes:

"Put Molly all in her champagne, she ain’t even know it/ I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain’t even know it."

So what exactly did that line mean?  Well, most of us took the line for exacly what it said.  He drugged a girl without her knowing and had sex with her, without her knowing.

Ricky said it was a "misinterpretation" telling Wild Wayne,  "I feel like us being artists, that’s our job to clarify the sensitive things, the things that we really know need to be clarified such as a situation as this."

He continued:

"Woman is the most precious gift known to man.  I would never use the term ‘rape’ in my records and as far as my camp. Hip-hop don’t condone that, the streets don’t condone that, nobody condones that. So I just wanted to reach out to all my queens that’s on my timeline, all the sexy ladies, the beautiful ladies that have been reaching out to me with the misunderstanding: We don’t condone rape, and I’m not with that."

Well….Officer Ricky….no one said you "used" the term rape.  What folks were up in arms about was that the scenario described in the lyric IS "rape", whether you choose to "use" the word or not.  

So far, some radio stations (like WUVS-LP 103.7) have turned their back on Rick Ross since the release of the song and a petition has been started at Change.Org that demands an apology.  

Was the definition of rape NOT on his Corrections Officer admissions test?  Deep sigh.

Watch the interview here and his response at "4:28":