Macklemore rose to fame in 2012 on the strength of his frugal anthem “Thrift Shop,” a catchy hip-hop tune with an anti-consumerist bent that managed to get serious radio play. After its release in August, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 in January, and still remains there today. Those who associate hip-hop with commercialism hailed the rapper as a radical new voice in the genre—while others pointed out that plenty of rap artists have challenged consumerism before, even if they didn’t have number-one singles.
Success is rarely simple, and Macklemore’s anti-consumerist fans may want to watch his three-minute promo for the NBA’s All-Star week, featuring “Wing$,” the second single from the rapper’s debut album, The Heist. In its original form, “Wing$” is a critique of Nike and the obsessive sneaker culture that triggered $200 shoe prices. “I look inside the mirror and think Phil Knight tricked us all,” Macklemore declares, “Will I stand for change or stay in my box?” In the song, Macklemore describes his realization that expensive footwear didn’t make him cooler, as he once thought as a kid.
Given those lyrics, you may be confused why the NBA, a key player in the rise of the big-time sneaker industry, would choose the song to hail its product. But that’s because it’s not the same song anymore: In the promo, Macklemore drops all the lyrics that criticize Nike and consumerism. The compromised version finishes with Macklemore sitting on top of a hoop rapping, “They started out with what I wear to school/ That first day, like these are what make you cool/ And this pair, this would be my pair of shoes/ Gonna make me fly.” The last line was edited in from a different part of the song; in the original, the verse ends: “Consumption is in the veins/ And now I see it’s just another pair of shoes.” That sentiment presumably didn’t quite fit with the NBA’s marketing program.
Macklemore is clearly a fan of basketball and the NBA. But ultimately, All-Star weekend is a glossy infomercial for the league and its best employees. Reporters will interview players about their new sneakers; Q scores will rise; money will be made. Adapting a formerly anti-consumerist song in order to promote that endeavor is what some would call selling out. The song is still catchy, and if that’s what matters most to you, then the spot serves its purpose. But those who loved Macklemore for his smart, socially conscious lyrics may want to revise the tune they’re singing about what the rapper supposedly represents.
Lil Wayne made some pretty heavy claims this past weekend before he went on a rant that has now since gone viral.
Weezy’s tirade occurred at the Beats By Dre party in Houston, TX after the NBA All-Star Game where the rapper claimed he had been banned from all NBA events courtesy of the Miami Heat.
Wayne was escorted out of the American Airlines Arena last week after allegedly making a threatening gesture towards a fan. The Grammy Award-winning rapper claims that the defending NBA Champions made sure he was banned from all NBA events.
Wayne went on to claim that he slept with Chris Bosh’s wife before performing his latest single “Love Me.” Now the National Basketball Association is stating that Wayne’s remarks about the league and it’s defending champions are simply untrue.
According to TMZ, NBA Senior Director of Basketball Communications Mark Broussard says that there is “no truth at all” to the claims Weezy made during the performance in Houston over the weekend. The NBA also went on to say that Tunechi was not asked to leave the Heat/Lakers game last week, and the multi-platinum rapper left voluntarily.
Awkward.
Wayne remained adamant about his claims, while Bosh’s family nor the Heat organization refused to officially comment on the situation. However, reigning NBA MVP LeBron James left this cryptic Tweegram on his Instagram page stating: “Just know that when you’re hot, something cold will try to ignite themselves off of you to try to stay relevant,” James wrote. “Don’t even engage! Don’t look backwards. Push forward.”
If you didn’t see the rant from the show, check it out down below.
Atlanta, Georgia rap Star Young Jeezy took a break from NBA All-Star Weekend festivities, to be honored by Congress.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of the 18th Congressional District of Texas, honored Young Jeezy for his contributions and hard work to better the city of Houston.
“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to them their own,” the certificate reads.
Immortalized rap legend Tupac Shakur will be remembered with more material set to be released according to the iconic rapper’s mother, Afeni Shakur.
In a recent move to get more music to the fans, Tupac’s mother will release the material in conjunction with Jampol Artist Management, who have worked with The Doors, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Peter Tosh and Henry Mancini to name a few.
“I believe it is our responsibility to make sure that Tupac’s entire body of work is made available for his fans. My son left many incomplete pieces and even more unfinished ideas. Using the blueprints he gave us, I am committed to fulfilling this duty,” Afeni Shakur said in a statement to Billboard.
To date, Tupac is responsible for having had 11 albums reach #1 on the Billboard Charts, as well as 7 posthumous albums that have all reached at least multiplatinum status with the exception of his last album released in 2006.
“It’s our responsibility — and our privilege — to ensure that new generations of fans experience the power of Tupac’s music, his ideas and his storytelling,” Jampol said in a statement.
Afeni Shakur noted Jampol “will find innovative ways to continue to keep his music, his message, and his legacy alive.”
Tupac was shot on September 6, 1996, and he died seven days later, on September 13, spawning many rumors that had Tupac faked his death, fulfilling prophecies he spoke about in his music heard on his album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.
No word on what the first new album will be called at the time of print, more news as details emerge.
Young Jeezy says he doesn’t even know the man suing him for millions.
A man has claimed responsibility for helping kick-startYoung Jeezy’s career – and is seeking to be paid for it.
TMZ reports that Ellerbee Demetrius sued Jeezy for $5 million last year, claiming that he helped form a number of record companies and assisted with the release of multiple mixtapes together.
Demetrius even claims to have executive produced Jeezy’s Def Jam studio albums.
Despite the fact that Demetrius claims to have known Jeezy since 1995, Jeezy denies ever having known the man.
In recent legal documents Jeezy denies Demetrius’ claims that the two were best friends, that the two formed record companies together, or that the two entered into agreements to share half of the profits.
SOURCE:(AllHipHop News) Fresh off winning his second consecutive MVP in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game on Friday night, comedian Kevin Hart is about leave his mark on late night televison.
It was announced on Saturday that the star of Real Husbands of Hollywood and Laugh at My Pain will serve as the host of the March 2nd episode of Saturday Night Live. This will be the comedic superstar’s first time hosting the long-running late-night sketch comedy show.
Hart will be the second African-American comedian to host SNL this season. In Living Color alum Jamie Foxx hosted the show on December 8th.
Hart joins an exclusive list of black stand-up comics that includes Foxx, Tracy Morgan, Bernie Mac, David Alan Grier, Damon Wayans, Martin Lawrence, Sinbad, Eddie Murphy, and Richard Pryor that have been tapped to lead the program during its 38-year run.
Hart’s episode will also feature musical guests Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. The Seattle, Washington based rapper/producer duo are the creators of the breakout number 1 hit “Thrift Shop” off the their debut studio album The Heist.
The Heist managed to reach the top spot of the iTunes albums chart and number 2 on Billboard albums chart even though the LP was released independently and did not garner much mainstream media attention prior to its release. It has gone on to sell over 300,000 copies.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis will be the second rap act to perform on SNL this season. Three weeks ago TDE emcee Kendrick Lamar performed his hit singles ““Swimming Pools (Drank)” and “Poetic Justice” on the January 26th episode.
Exclusive: Gobi M. Rahimi reveals some startling information surrounding the final days of Tupac’s life, including Suge’s imaginary bullet wound and Las Vegas Police’s stunning indifference.
One of the few witnesses to Tupac Shakur’s struggle to survive for several days following the drive-by shooting that would eventually claim the now iconic actor/rapper’s life at the young age of 25 is contradicting a long-maintained claim by the former head of Death Row Records, Marion “Suge” Knight, that the then Row CEO was also struck by a bullet in that attack, which is somehow still lodged in his head.
In the trailer to 7 Dayz, the forthcoming documentary from onetime Tupac videographer, Gobi M. Rahimi, the man ‘Pac agreed to let film what would be the final months of his life recalls in the immediate aftermath of that September 7, 1996 shooting, says he witnessed a nurse at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada inform Suge Knight’s mother that her son “is fine,” as he was just cut by either flying glass or a piece of shrapnel and would require only stitches for his injuries.
“A little quick ultrasound would show whether he’s got a bullet or not in his skull,” Gobi told HipHopDX on Monday (February 11th) in response to Knight’s more dubious recollection of that event. “I just remember what I heard. So, unless they went in afterwards and they found a bullet … I’m just repeating what I heard her say.”
Some have theorized that Knight lied in interviews following the shooting regarding the extent of the injuries he sustained during the attack on Tupac to cover up his involvement in the murder of Death Row’s then marquee artist.
Speaking to HipHopDX via phone while spending time with family in the South of France, the director of some of Tupac’s final music videos (“2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted,” “Made Niggaz”) documented in detail the trauma-filled nights he spent alongside Gobi’s then girlfriend/production partner Tracy Robinson, ‘Pac’s aunt and assistant Yaasmyn Fula, mother Afeni Shakur, longtime friend Molly Monjauze and proteges The Outlawz as the small but dedicated collective held vigil over the mortally wounded star in the waiting room of UMC’s emergency room.
“I was there for six of the seven nights, from 12 to 8 in the morning,” recalled Gobi. “Me and Noble [of the Outlawz] did the graveyard shift pretty much every night.”
Tupac’s videographer and one of his teenage pupils found themselves in the ill-equipped position of having to help guard, unarmed, their beloved leader due to death threats coming in to Death Row Records warning that the perpetrators of the shooting were planning to come to the hospital to “finish him off,” combined with the apparent ineptitude on the part of Death Row’s security arm, WrightWay.
“Frank Alexander… Couldn’t find him for a few days,” revealed Gobi. “Getting Kevin Hackie out there was difficult. He got stopped by Vegas P.D.”
“After the first day they had a guy sitting outside [Tupac’s] door,” he added. “But, you know, being from [Suge’s] team – I guess he didn’t trust anyone. So, Yaasmyn Fula, Black Panther, the way she kinda was in the whole situation is that she wanted to make sure he was secure with people she trusted. And I think on the fifth or sixth night, the Fruit of Islam finally showed up and that’s kind of when I left. It was a day and a dollar too late. But, thankfully they got there. And it was almost like they were people she trusted. So, it seemed like it was finally secure, after five or six days of not knowing who we could trust.”
The paramilitary arm of the Nation of Islam previously provided security to Tupac in 1994 following his shooting at the Quad Recording Studios in New York City.
Prior to the F.O.I.’s arrival, Gobi personally phoned the Las Vegas Metro Police Department to attend to the threats still being made on Tupac as he lie unconscious in the hospital, but was met with surprising indifference towards protecting the life of one of the most popular recording artists in the world.
“I think the third or fourth night is when the marketing guy [from Death Row] came up to me and was like, ‘They just called, the guys who shot him, they’re loading their guns, they’re gonna come and finish him off,’” recounted Gobi. “And I called Vegas P.D. I’m like, ‘Yo, they’re about to come take him out.’ And they were like, ‘Well, sir, there’s a foot patrolman in the hospital, if something should go down you can just get a hold of him.’”
The only hospital security seen by the man Tupac fondly dubbed “The Crazy Iranian” was one older Caucasian gentleman stationed in the corner of the ER waiting room.
“And when he heard me get off of that call,” remembered Gobi, “he was like, ‘I gotta tell you, that’s crazy. Last year, there was a rodeo star that broke his leg and they gave him four Winnebago’s for his family and he had like five or six policemen around the clock to guard him.’”
Luckily for the defenseless Gobi, the threats made against Tupac while he lay fighting for his life were never actually acted on. Unfortunately, the bullet lodged in ‘Pac’s right chest cavity was tragically taking care of the rapper for his then unidentified attackers, causing him to hemorrhage blood and forcing doctors to put him into a medically induced coma to take pressure off of his ravaged body.
Unlike onetime Tupac love interest and fellow artist Yo-Yo, who has previously claimed that she witnessed ‘Pac regain consciousness at one point after being stabilized by life support machines, Gobi revealed to DX that he never personally saw Tupac open his eyes.
“I only saw him on the fifth night, ‘cause I, for whatever reason, didn’t go in to see him,” he explained. “And then the nurse finally on the fifth night she was like, ‘Listen, you’ve been here all these nights, do you wanna go see him?’ And, he was out. He was cold. He was out.”
Gobi also did not personally see the valiant struggle Tupac waged against his own body to survive.
“I never witnessed it; the nurse came out and told me,” he explained. “She came out and she was like, ‘That ‘Pac of yours is a fighter, man. We almost lost him. We just got him back. I just gave him 500 cc’s of adrenaline.’”
“I personally didn’t think he would make it after hearing that he’d been shot,” continued Gobi, “only because twice through the same thing just seemed incomprehensible to me, for anyone to survive that. But, having said that, after three, four, five, six days, I was like, ‘Wow, maybe he is gonna survive.’ So I was shocked when I found out he passed.”
Gobi Recalls Tupac Having A Hard Time Getting Money From Death Row
Gobi initially arrived in Las Vegas to celebrate Tracy Robinson’s September 7th birthday with Tupac, their partner in the then newly formed 24-7 Productions, and was waiting for ‘Pac to arrive for a post-fight performance at Suge Knight’s club, 662, when he got news of the shooting.
But while no footage was filmed by Gobi of Tupac while he was in Vegas, the current head of Static Free Films is in possession of plenty of film, photos and memories of the months leading up to ‘Pac’s passing, including recollections of the long-rumored battles the star waged with his notorious recording home.
“It seemed like [Tupac] always had a tough time getting his money,” recalled Gobi, “on a weekly basis. So, whether it was him or Yaasmyn Fula making the calls, there always seemed to be a struggle getting the loot. … A few times I heard Yaasmyn, a few times I heard him, just asking for his money.”
“They weren’t happy,” replied Gobi when asked if the calls he overheard were confrontational. “I think once even one of his Gridlock’d checks got sent to [the label], or Death Row was asking for his acting checks to be sent to [them]. So he was a little [upset] about that as well.”
Battles between Death Row and Tupac over ‘Pac’s acting proceeds were likely taking place due to the fact that the star of stage and screen’s income from films was far exceeding any amount of money he had received from his recording home. According to Gobi, 24-7 Productions was working to secure a three-picture deal for the budding actor a week before ‘Pac passed.
“Paramount and New Line at that point were both interested in doing a deal with him,” revealed Gobi. “And he had specific films that he wanted to do.”
One of the co-stars of the classic hood-film Menace II Society, MC Eiht, recently revealed to HipHopDX that New Line Cinema only green-lit the directorial debut of the Hughes brothers with the guarantee that the star of Juice and Poetic Justice would appear in their movie. According to Gobi, the studio that distributed Menace II Society still eagerly sought to work with Tupac even after he was, according to Eiht, essentially setup to fail by the Hughes brothers at portraying a gangbanger-turned-Muslim and subsequently fired from the film.
“He was bondable after Gridlock’d, so it was like everyone was coming after him,” revealed Gobi of the reasoning for the studios’ renewed interest in the often troublesome talent. “‘Pac was supposed to be in Higher Learning as well, but I think he had an issue with [John] Singleton at one point and he got dropped from that. But, ‘Pac was one of the hottest commodities at that point. There wasn’t anyone else that could fill those shoes.”
Gobi Explains Current Standing With Tupac’s Estate
Around the time Tupac was ascending into the actor stratosphere, he was also expanding his musical ambitions by attempting to repair his fractured relationship with East Coast Hip Hop fans by working with an all-star assemblage of New York emcees for an audacious project he billed simply One Nation. And following him every step of the way in that reconciliatory process, cameras in tow, was Gobi.
And with so much valuable footage from the final months in the life of one of the most revered rappers of all time, thankfully for Gobi he doesn’t anticipate any encroachment on his intellectual property by the gatekeepers of Tupac’s legacy.
“Thus far I’ve had a decent relationship with the family and the estate, and hopefully it will remain that way,” he carefully replied when asked about any cease-and-desist concerns he might have.
As for funding concerns, Gobi assured DX that he will utilize private financing to see to it that the documentary is still released if the current Kickstarter campaign for the film doesn’t meet its financing goal. He encourages Tupac supporters to still check out the campaign that is offering exclusive goodies, including never-before-released photos and video clips, in exchange for contributions to the film.
One of the initial respondents to Gobi’s Kickstarter post was none other than the legendary Chuck D. One of Tupac’s personal Hip Hop heroes has since agreed to narrate the documentary. Recently, thePublic Enemy front-man took to Twitter to discuss the praise-filled letter sent to him by Tupac (but unfortunately failing to reach Chuck at the time) while the Westside rider was incarcerated in Dannemora, New York on sexual abuse charges.
The most powerful baritone to ever breathe into a microphone will be heard guiding viewers through the “living documentary” Gobi initially set out to make on Tupac way back in 1996.
“I guess I wasn’t ready to delve into the world of ‘Pac,” replied Gobi when asked about the long delay of the doc. “It’s a sensitive area. And, I guess I just wanted to wait until the right time, and it just seemed like now is the right time to tell that story.
“I think it’s the one area that has not been covered adequately on a human level,” he added about Tupac’s final months, “not a sensationalist level. I wanna share more about who he really was above and beyond the artist, and hopefully show aspects of him that have not been exposed completely or enough in other docs. I just think there was a lot more to him …. I think there are enough stories that have not been told that could conceivably be told in this doc. And I think it’s worth a shot.”
But following in the footsteps of Frank Alexander by releasing a book (Gobi’s 2005 ‘Pac photo journal,Thru My Eyes) and now a film will undoubtedly raise the eyebrows of those who might view the motives of another Tupac associate as less than genuine.
“My intentions as far as I’m concerned are honorable with this,” Gobi declared to any detractors. “I just wanna, again, try to share some stories that have not been shared.”
“People say feeding off of the dead,” he added in response to the “vulture” label that has been assigned to many of the ‘Pac profiteers of recent years. “They say history is written by great people’s contemporaries. I just happened to be there. And, if I can share stuff with you and with fans, or have other people share stuff who [actually knew Tupac], then we have a hand in adding to the legacy. Why is that a bad thing? He would have wanted that. He absolutely would have wanted that. He left me with a treasure chest of stuff and I guarantee you he would be mad at me if I didn’t tell whatever stories that I had. That’s what I was battling with for so long [that delayed this.] I don’t think he would be mad at it, so I don’t see why anyone else would be mad.”
7 Dayz is tentatively slated for release on what would have been Tupac’s 42nd birthday, June 16, 2013.
Drake could not enter due to prior club incident with Chris Brown.
History was enough for one Los Angeles nightclub to deny Drake entry into its doors. According to TMZ, Playhouse in Hollywood did not let the Toronto native in because Chris Brown was already inside.
Sources say that Brown was already inside partying and that the club’s bouncers were aware of his presence, which held Drizzy at bay. Rihanna was also supposed to show up, which could have also added possible gas to the fire. Drake apparently took the unfortunate news in stride and moved on.
Last June, the two parties were involved in the infamous fight at W.i.P. nightclub in New York City. Recently, Drizzy and Breezy decided to sue each other over the injuries incurred during the bottle-throwing incident.
Rappers and tax issues go together like peanut butter and jelly, and Snoop Dogg is the latest in the long line of artists to lien with it and rock with it.
According to TMZ, the Internal Revenue Service is coming for Snoop Lion after claiming that the rapper owes $546,270.29 in unpaid tax bills. Documents that were retrieved by the gossip site claim that Reincarnatedrapper turned rasta owes for two separate years, 2009 ($101,952.44) and 2011 ($444,317.85).
This isn’t the first time that the “Drop It Like It’s Hot” artist has had a brush up with the IRS. In 2008, The Doggfather reportedly owed over $476,000 in back taxes. The issue was resolved quickly once the lien was brought to his attention. Nas, Lauryn Hill, Jermaine Dupri and Katt Williams are just a few of the celebrities who have recently had run-ins with Uncle Sam.
Snoop is currently promoting his new movie and album called Reincarnated which chronicles the gangster rapper’s transformation into embracing the Rastafarian faith. In an effort to reclaim his happiness and inspiration, Snoop & Co traveled to Jamaica where they stayed for one month creating his album.
SOURCE: (AllHipHop News)“If you want to reach those kids on the street/you gotta do a rap to a Hip Hop beat.”
There are these times when brain does not know whether to laugh, cry or get enraged. Pastor Jim Colerick from West Dubuque, Iowa’s now defunct West Dubuque 2nd Church of Christ took one of these times to let the youth of Iowa know Jesus Christ was his “n*gga.”
In a video, which looks as dated as America’s Funniest Home Videos entrants, the Pastor and his wife bounce, mean mug, booty shake and an assortment of other maneuvers while a they rap over a beat fresh from 1971. According to the pastor’s wife:
If another MC says you’re a freak, you’re a lame-butt rapper and your rhymes are weak.
‘I don’t get mad and I don’t critique, I forgive him and turn the other cheek.
‘I don’t blaspheme and I don’t brag, I don’t cuss and my pants don’t sag.’
What she refers to as “Christian swag”.
With an elderly man manually operating a smoke machine behind him, Pastor Colerick uses his verse to denounce sinful individuals and take on a certain Hip Hop legend:
I preach the word, that’s my gig
And I rhyme better than Notorious BIG
All the other MC’s, I wish them well,
But if you live in sin, you’ll burn in hell.
A self-proclaimed “honest, peace loving n*gga”
The video was uploaded a few weeks ago by YouTube user Brian Spinney and he claims to have helped the Pastor Colerick and his wife produce the video while he was in High School. That would have to be before late 2004, as West Dubuque 2nd Church of Christ’s official website announced its closing on June 15th, 2004. The website has no previous news, physical address, pictures of the Pastor and/or his wife yet has running for over eight and a half years.
While it is not sure if this is a parody or not, what is clear is that Pastor Colerick and his wife took Christian rap to a different(read: awkward) level. Check below for the full video:
Future speaks on Lil Wayne’s use of Emmett Till in a derogatory fashion.
It was the line and reference that was heard all around the interwebs and would eventually be pulled from it. Lil Wayne’s reference to Emmett Till on Future’sremix of “Karate Chop” sparked a controversy soon after its release and now, the song’s creator is breaking his silence on the matter.
In an interview with MTV, Future says Wayne had no negative motives with the line and are both trying to move past it.
“He had no bad intentions, [he] wasn’t even thinking about it like that,” Future said. “It was used in a different way but I understand the work… at the end of the day we going to move on from it and find a way to build.”
Shortly after the song’s release, Till’s family responded to the track and slammed the reference. Epic Records later apologized for the line and promised to pull the cut from the web.
SOURCE:(AllHipHop News) Rap star 2 Chainz is facing drug charges after an arrest by the Maryland State Police late last evening (February 14th).
According to reports, the rapper was traveling in a white van, on the way to a performance at University of Maryland Eastern Shore, when police stopped the vehicle on Route 50, around 10:00PM.
Although there were seven people in the van, only 2 Chainz, was arrested, charged with marijuana and paraphenelia possession.
According to 2 Chainz, the police were “f**kin” with him when they arrested him, since they recognized him and wanted pictures.
Stevie Wonder comments on Lil Wayne’s reference to Emmett Till on the “Karate Chop” remix.
It looks like Lil Wayne isn’t quite out of the woods with regard to his controversial lyric in the remix of Future’s“Karate Chop.” Now, one of R&B’s most celebrated figures is taking Weezy to task over his notorious reference to Emmett Till.
In a recent report from the Associated Press, legendary singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder commented on Wayne’s infamous lyric that he “beat that pussy up like Emmett Till.” Wonder said that the YMCMB rapper crossed a line in equating Till’s racially motivated murder to sex, and added that someone should have been there put Weezy in check before the track’s release.
“You can’t equate that to Emmett Till. You just cannot do that,” he explained. “I think you got to have someone around you that – even if they are the same age or older – is wiser to say, ‘Yo, that’s not happening. Don’t do that’…sometimes people have to put themselves in the place of people who they are talking about. Imagine if that happened to your mother, brother, daughter or your son. How would you feel? Have some discernment before we say certain things. That goes for me or any other writer.”
In the wake of the song’s release, the family of Emmett Till released a statement condemning the song and demanding an apology from Lil Wayne. Epic Records ultimately pulled the “unauthorized” remix and issued an apology.
SOURCE:(AllHipHop News) The Chicago Police Department has announced that they are targeting the members of a gang called SUWU, in the aftermath of the murder of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton.
Hadiya Pendleton was the teenaged baton twirler who participated in Barack Obama’s most recent inauguration.
Pendleton was shot and killed on January 29, in Harsh Park, after being caught in the crossfire between two rival gangs.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago police are targeting the SUWU gang, whose members took their name from a Lil Wayne song.
Police acknowledge that the “Su Wu” saying was a greeting created by members of Los Angeles Bloods. But they also said that the Chicago gang used the saying as their name, yet had no relation to any other factions.
According to Chicago Police Department, the gang, which has about 40 members, took their name from Lil Wayne’s song “Promise.”
Two men have been arrested for the murder of Pendleton: Michael Ward and Kenneth Williams.
Police believe the SUWU gang was feuding with members of a gang called 4-6 Terror, since a member of that gang had shot Williams earlier in July.
Michael Ward, 18, is charged with being the trigger man in Hadiya Pendelton’s murder, while Williams, 20, allegedly acted as the getaway driver.
The Chicago police have vowed to target every member of the SUWU gang in the aftermath of her murder.
The department will launch a strategy called “group accountability,” which will allow officers to target every member of the gang for minor infractions, to violent offenses.
Lil Wayne makes Young Money a family affair with the signing of his 14-year-old daughter.
Lil Wayne has signed his 14-year-old daughter Reginae Carter to his Young Money imprint.
During an interview with Rap-Up.com, YM president Mack Maine said that in addition to signing PJ Morton, Torion Sellers and We The Future, the label has snatched up Reginae and expects her to be a “megastar.”
“Wayne’s daughter, Reginae, is actually signed to Young Money now,” he said. “Just expect greatness. She’s Toya [Wright’s] daughter and Wayne’s daughter, so that’s a great combination. She’s a star, put it like that. A megastar.”
Reginae was previously a member of the OMG Girlz, a girl group put together by Tameka “Tiny” Cottle and Kiesha Miles in 2009. In November, she celebrated her 14th birthday with a skate party attended by Wayne, Lauren London and Nivea.
Her famous father is currently prepping the release of his upcoming album I Am Not a Human Being II, releasing March 26th.
