While on Hot 97 on May 22, 2021, DJ Funkmaster Flex decided to take a jab at Power 105.1 radio personality Charlamagne tha God by bringing up rape allegations from 20 years ago. On his show, he played an audio clip of a woman saying that Charlamagne, born Lenard Larry Mckelvey, raped her then 15-year-old daughter Jessica Reid in 2001 and that he was “getting away with it.” 

Before the NFL’s JaMarcus Russell there was the NBA’s Kwame Brown. Like the former Raiders quarterback, Brown was a top draft pick whose bevy of physical gifts marked him as the kind of transformational player who only comes along once in a generation. But unlike Russell, who was a star in college with LSU first, Brown had that burden placed upon him while still a teenager. Brown made history as the first NBA player to go No 1 straight out of high school when Michael Jordan’s Washington Wizards came calling in 2001. 

Every few months, there’s a new profile written on Atlanta and New York’s respective positions in hip-hop. For over a decade, The A has been labeled the new Motown, the cultural capital, and other glowing accolades. Meanwhile, New York rap is often criticized for failing to maintain the control it once had.

The estate of Tupac Shakur is celebrating Pride Month in style. Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the hip hop icon’s birth, a new LGTBQ+-inspired merchandise collection has gone on sale. Comprised of three pieces (a $70 black hoodie and two T-shirts in black or white) highlighting the 2Pac’s Grammy-nominated track “Changes,” all three items in the capsule collection feature the song’s title in a rainbow motif and his stage name, as well as stencil illustrations of the artist in similar colors.