Hip Hop Week In Review: JAY-Z's NFL Deal Aftermath & Little Brother's Return

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HipHopDX – This week in Hip Hop, JAY-Z continued to deal with the backlash of his NFL partnership. Also, Tee Grizzley lost his aunt, who was also his manager, and Little Brother released their first project in nearly a decade.

JAY-Z’s NFL Partnership Controversy Continues

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JAY-Z recently announced a partnership with the NFL and was met with backlash for the deal due to the belief that Colin Kaepernick was blackballed by the league.

Over the past week, it’s been revealed a simliar deal was offered to Jermaine Dupri, but Hov advised him to not take it. The Roc Nation boss was also reported to be on the verge of becoming a co-owner of an NFL team, yet a CBS Sports report contradicted those claims and said it’s not in the cards right now.

Amid the drama, Jigga’s former business partner Dame Dash spoke about the situation on the No Jumper podcast.

“Everyone knows Jay ain’t shit,” he said. “Listen, if you ask anyone in the industry, it’s common knowledge that Jay ain’t shit. He’s about the bag. We all know that. He’s self-preserving. Period.”

Read more about the JAY-Z’s NFL partnership here.

Tee Grizzley Loses Aunt/Manager

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Tee Grizzley is morning the death of his manager and aunt Jobina “JB” Brown. Brown shot and killed last Tuesday (August 20) in Detroit. She was 41.

Grizzley was reportedly sitting in the passenger seat when shots rang out. However, he was able to escape the vehicle as the shooter approached.

DX sends our condolences to Grizzley and all of Brown’s family and friends.

Read more about Tee Grizzley‘s late family member here.

Little Brother Drops 1st Album In 9 Years

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The last time Little Brother blessed the music world with a full-length album was in 2010. This past week, Phonte and Big Pooh returned by releasing May The Lord Watch to much fanfare.

A few days after the surprise LP, they also dropped the video for the project’s track “Black Magic (Make It Better).”

Stream Little Brother’s May The Lord Watch here.

DX Reviews

– Rick Ross — Port of Miami 2
Snoop Dogg — I Wanna Thank Me
Rucci — Tako’s Son
Murs, 9th Wonder & The Soul Council — The Iliad Is Dead & The Odyssey Is Over

#DXCLUSIVES: Guapdad 4000, Dre, Rapsody & Big K.R.I.T

Guapdad 4000 Says His Star-Studded “Dior Deposits” Album Is The Biggest Scam In The World

When HipHopDX asked Guapdad 4000 what thought the biggest scam in the world was, he said it’s his upcoming album Dior Deposits.

“I got all the top streaming artists in Hip Hop on it for free and they gave me their best verses,” Guap explained. “Chance the Rapper, Tory Lanez, 6LACK, G-Eazy … They did it for free out of love and fucking with me. We got good energy.”

Read the full Guapdad 4000 interview here.

Fat Joe Wanted Dre Of Cool & Dre To Drop A Solo Album — & He Finally Listened

Dre from Cool & Dre is releasing a solo album thanks to the encouragement of Fat Joe following their upcoming collaborative project Family Ties.

“We have an album it’s called Family Ties and we just released the first single off the project featuring Lil Wayne and it’s called ‘Pullin,’” he told DX. “We plan on dropping the album, hopefully, before the summer’s over. Shortly after that, I’m gonna drop my solo album.”

Read the rest of the Dre interview here.

Rapsody On Embracing Aaliyah’s “Tomboy Femininity” For New “EVE” Album

Rapsody’s album EVE was released this pas week and DX got a chance to speak with her about the album’s tracks, specifically “AALIYAH” and what it means to the Roc Nation MC.

“Being a woman and what’s sexy comes in all different forms, and it looks different in many different ways,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with showing your body, but there’s nothing wrong with being a tomboy either. There’s sexiness in that, too. To me, the best and most creative way that I could do it was to do it through Aaliyah. So, that’s why I chose her. She was one of my inspirations.”

Read the full Rapsody interview here.

Big K.R.I.T. Is Only Battling Himself These Days

In part two of HipHopDX’s interview with Big K.R.I.T, he explained Rico Love’s key role in his K.R.I.T. Iz Here album.

“Rico pretty much challenged me in front of 500 people,” he revealed. “He was like ‘Man, I feel like you’re doing a disservice to your supporters by not making bigger music that you could make [and] getting out of your comfort zone.’ He felt like I belong up there with my peers, the Kendrick Lamar’s and J. Cole’s. He wanted to see me there. I’m on stage, Mase is on stage too, and there’s all these up-and-coming amazing artists and everybody’s talking. I’m like, ‘Wow.’ I told him, ‘Man, you know what? You’re right. Let’s go!’”

Read the entire Big K.R.I.T. interview here.


Source: Hip Hop DX