Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark’s Rivalry Intensifies with Controversial Hard Foul
*Welp! The heated rivalry between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark showed no signs of cooling down during the latest match between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky Sunday evening. The tension peaked in the third quarter when Reese committed a hard foul on Clark as she attempted a layup, hitting her squarely on the side of the head. At the time, the Fever were narrowly leading 63-62.
Initially, the foul seemed like an aggressive but standard play until referees called for a review. Footage from an alternative angle revealed that Reese’s swipe at the ball missed its mark completely, instead striking Clark’s face. The officials deemed the contact excessive and assessed Reese a flagrant 1 foul. However, she was not ejected from the game. Moments later, Reese committed another foul against Clark, resulting in her fourth personal foul and a trip to the bench.
In the post-game press conference, Angel Reese had strong words regarding the officiating:
“I can’t control the refs and they affected the game, obviously, a lot tonight. Y’all are probably going to play that clip like 20 times before Monday.” Reese finished the game with 11 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, and five fouls, in a game that saw her Chicago Sky fall to the Indiana Fever, 91-83.
Diddy Returns New York's Key to the City In Wake of Cassie Assault Video
Diddy's given back a major honor ... returning New York's Key to the City after Mayor Eric Adams requested it back in a letter, citing the Cassie assault video.
TMZ has obtained two letters -- one to Combs Entertainment LLC's office in New York and the other to his L.A. office -- addressed to Diddy from Mayor Adams saying he's "deeply disturbed" by the Cassie video. Adams adds he stands with survivors of domestic abuse ... before noting the Key to the City is given to individuals who act as model citizens -- a standard the selection committee no longer feels Diddy meets.
Lil Wayne Lands Dual Las Vegas Residency at Local Nightclubs
Lil Wayne can call Las Vegas his 2nd home this summer ... 'cause the legendary rap star has been nabbed for not one but TWO residencies this year!!!
Weezy will perform his first show on June 29 -- as he's scheduled to rock the house at Drai’s Nightclub -- followed by a performance at Zouk Las Vegas on July 12. While that might sound like a short "residency" for Vegas ... we've been assured there are more to come.
Blueface's Mom Karlissa Saffold Says Chrisean Rock Shouldn't Be in Jail
Blueface's mom Karlissa Saffold hates to see her family crumbling under the weight of the legal system -- but says she's going to hold it down until everyone is free!!!
TMZ Hip Hop caught up with Karlissa in Hollywood on the heels of Chrisean Rock's surprising arrest earlier this week at Blueface's court hearing -- a move Karlissa calls "bad timing" on the part of the authorities.
She says the entire world knew Chrisean had a warrant, but for cops to act on it while Chrisean was purely in court to support Blueface was a low blow. Despite their differences -- Chrisean wished death on Karlissa during an IG Live -- Karlissa tells us jail would never be on her list of punishments
After the arrest, Karlissa's grandson Chrisean Jr. is now in the custody of one of Rock's friends. Again, Karlissa begs to differ with the judge's decision on where the tyke lives while his parents are incarcerated.
Scar Lip has offered an apology to the fans who responded negatively to a clip of her latest music video, which saw her twerking in a pair of barely-there shorts.
The rising Bronx star came under fire on Thursday (June 13) after she took to Instagram and shared a few behind the scenes shots from the set of the visuals for her latest single “She’s Hot.” In the scene, she can be seen in a pair of short shorts, as she and a group of other women recreate a car wash.Fans immediately reacted to seeing ScarLip in this light, with the original post drawing comments like, “They tryna sexualize her & it don’t fit her at all stick with the gangsta image,” and “Scar… FIGHT FOR YOU… don’t let them trick you. Your more than enough Queen.”
Later on that night, just before the song hit streaming platforms, Scar took to Instagram, where she acknowledged her fans’ concerns and did her best to reassure them that the switch up wasn’t anything she had been forced to take on.
“So there’s a few things that I’d like to address with my supporters,” she starts out in the video statement. “I know a few days ago, y’all saw me shaking my booty on the internet. I wanna say I apologize to all of y’all and anybody I offended. I did not mean to. Now, I know everybody’s like, ‘No, we don’t want you doing that’ and da da da. I understand that, right? Like, I’m not just out here just wild’n. Lemme tell y’all one thing: no one’s forcing me to do anything. I promise that.
“I come up with these things in my head, these crazy ideas. I want you guys to grow with me. Don’t put me in a box. I’m always gonna give y’all that street shit. I mean, I’m the best to do it, right? We all know that! So, like, don’t worry about that, Imma always give y’all what’s needed. Imma always feed the streets, the streets is hungry. But I wanna tap into what’s in me and let it out! There’s something in me that just wants to come out.”
ScarLip concludes: “Shout out to my label. I wanna say I appreciate Swizz Beatz and my label for allowing me to explore as an artist. Like, having creative freedom to just do what I want creatively. And guys, ‘She’s Hot’ that’s about to drop tonight at midnight, really is just a feel good summer vibe. I was just like, ‘I wanna feel good this summer, lemme put some summer music out.’ It is not crazy, it is still street. I hope you guys enjoy it.”
Once the video became available on Friday (June 14), the newcomer returned to Instagram, this time, sharing a snippet of the completed music video. Yet, despite ScarLip’s statement, the second post received much of the same type of comments.
“I’m saddened you’ve decided to promote this stereotype,” one commenter wrote. “I started following you because you gave old school female rappers. Basing it on your comfortability with tired lyrical content. I hope you get back there. This makes me not even wanna listen to be honest. Good luck.”
“Nah scar this ain’t it stick to what u been doing boo,” another follower wrote. On this post, however, she wasted no time, responding to the naysayers directly in the comments, writing: “Guys, I’m literally wrapping like a man talking about putting my thumb in a girls … also, I balanced it and some scenes. I’m super hard and dominant and in one scene I’m girly [shrugging emoji, three flame emojis] let artist create freely.”
LL COOL J RETURNS WITH 'SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL' SINGLE WITH RICK ROSS & FAT JOE
LL COOL J has recruited Rick Ross and Fat Joe for a new Q-Tip-produced single titled “Saturday Night Special.”
On the old school cut, which dropped on Friday (June 14), swinging drums and woozy synths offer the perfect backdrop for the MCs to exchange bars.
Shaq Unearths Long-Lost Notorious B.I.G. Collab, 'Reign' Album
Shaquille O'Neal is updating his past hip hop hits for the digital era -- his 1996 Biggie collab "You Can't Stop the Reign" is on streaming for the first time!!!
Such will be the case for Shaq's 3rd album of the same name ... he and his Jersey Legends Productions are planning to re-release the full 'Reign' album on June 28 ... the tracks with Jay-Z, Mobb Deep, DJ Quik, Peter Gunz and Lord Tariq will also get a fresh drop on the public.
ERICK SERMON RECALLS EX LISA 'LEFT EYE' LOPES THREATENING TO LEAVE HIM FOR 2PAC
Erick Sermon has recalled his ex-girlfriend Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes once threatening to dump him for another rapper: 2Pac.
In an interview with Too $hort hosted by the Rock The Bells Cruise, the EPMD legend spoke about the time he almost lost his lady to the “California Love” hitmaker. “She gave me an ultimatum and I was laughing my ass off because I only had a thousand dollars on the American Express card,” he said. “She said, ‘Erick. Okay, now. When I go to the awards show and 2Pac hollers at me and he wants me, I gotta leave you.'”
Sermon, however, was more worried about losing a place to sleep, adding: “I ain’t have a place to go, I was worried about the room!”
Bad Bunny Concert Targeted for Would-Be Race War Mass Shooting, Feds Say
An Arizona man allegedly tried to spark a race war ahead of the 2024 election by carrying out a mass shooting at a Bad Bunny concert ... so claim the feds, who stopped it.
A new indictment alleges 58-year-old Mark Adams Prieto -- who's white -- hatched his plan to gun down Black people and other minorities at a hip hop show in Atlanta in mid-May ... and based on the dates the feds mention in their just-unsealed indictment, it lines up with BB's concert dates. The FBI says it caught wind of Prieto's alleged heinous intentions from a confidential informant and dispatched an undercover agent to get close to him during their probe.
The feds claim Prieto recruited the informant and FBI agent to help him launch his attack, thinking they were in lockstep with his racist views on Blacks, Jews and Muslims. The feds specified in the court docs that Prieto wanted to trigger a "race war prior to the 2024 United States Presidential Election." Prieto is alleged to have said he picked the Bad Bunny concert because of the high concentration of Black people that'd be in attendance. He also allegedly mentioned he'd leave behind confederate flags afterward while yelling "whities out here killing" and "KKK all the way." The feds say they finally took down Prieto on May 14 -- the day of the Bad Bunny show at State Farm Arena – by pulling over the suspect as he drove through New Mexico. FBI agents say they recovered 7 firearms from Prieto as they arrested him.
A grand jury handed down the indictment as prosecutors charged Prieto with Firearms Trafficking, Transfer of a Firearm for Use in a Hate Crime, and Possession of an Unregistered Firearm. Fortunately, the would-be alleged planned shooting never came to fruition.
