Nicki Minaj stunned her fans when she announced her retirement earlier this month.

But before revealing that she was hanging up the mic to focus on starting a family, she had been working on a new album. During an interview for the October issue of ELLE, which was conducted prior to her retirement tweet, Minaj opened up about the highly-anticipated project, which she describes as “fierce, fun, and unapologetic.”

“It’s probably the most excited I’ve been about an album release in a really long time,” she told the magazine. “This one incorporates all the things people love about Nicki, but it also just has a way bigger sound, so it goes perfectly with the [Fendi] collection.”

But unlike the four years between The Pinkprint and Queen, she won’t make her Barbz wait as long for her next project. “I’m happy that we’re not making my fans wait for another album, like I’ve done in the past.”

Minaj had previously discussed her fifth album on her Queen Radio show and revealed that she was working with a mystery executive producer. It’s unclear if she still plans to release it or if it will be her final album. Up until recently, she had been busy in the studio working on new music and made plans to record with several artists.

While her music career remains up in the air, Nicki is gearing up to launch Fendi Prints On, a 127-piece collection with Italian fashion house Fendi. The collaboration, which hits stores in October, came together after Minaj wore a Fendi fur bomber jacket with a matching Fendi bikini bottom on the cover of her “Chun-Li” single.

“I can’t believe that when I was doing that little picture that day, with the Fendi jacket and Fendi panties on…” she said. “I didn’t think that the actual company would think that that was dope. To know that they liked it that much, and now it’s on a T-shirt, is so iconic to me.”

And she is excited to launch her own fashion brand in the future. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes!” she said. “I’ve been really strategic and picky on purpose, turning some things down and waiting for the right opportunities. Once people see that you have selling power and you are able to impact a brand in such a positive way, then I think it’s only a matter of time. The Fendi collection alone made me feel like I would love to continue doing this–getting to that boss status. That’s where I would like to take fashion, for sure.”

Source: Rap-Up.com

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6ix9ine takes the stand.

The “FEFE” rapper completed the first day in his Manhattan federal court trial on Tuesday where he testified against fellow gang members of the Nine Trey Bloods. According to TMZ, 6ix9ine spent nearly two hours on the stand, wearing blue prison scrubs, a white undershirt, and his rainbow-colored hair in pigtails.

As current or former Nine Trey members looked on, he revealed that he joined the gang in November 2017, and participated in violent crimes including shootings, assaults, and drug trafficking. At one point, Tekashi nervously ID’d the defendants, Aljermiah “Nuke” Mack and Anthony “Harv” Ellison, as affiliates of the Nine Trey Bloods.

He revealed that he met many of the Nine Trey members on set of his “GUMMO” music video in August 2017. That is also the day he met his manager, Kifano “Shotti” Jordan. Prosecutors showed stills from the video, and Tekashi identified various gang members who appeared on camera.

Tekashi testified that he never had to be initiated or shoot anyone to join the gang. They simply wanted him to release music in order to bankroll their gang activities.

At one point, 69 also ID’d Trippie Redd as a gang member from a rival Bloods sect.

6ix9ine agreed to snitch as part of a plea deal, which will provide key testimony for prosecutors. He said that he started cooperating with the feds the day after he was arrested on racketeering charges in Nov. 2018. Tekashi was facing a minimum of 47 years in prison, but he cut a deal in return for his full cooperation.

Tekashi’s safety has become of concern. U.S. Marshals took Tekashi through a secure tunnel to the courthouse, and he’s been placed under heavy guard in a facility with other snitches.

His snitching has not fared well with others in the hip-hop community including Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and Meek Mill, who have all publicly disapproved. “69 going up in s federal courthouse today kids! Message of the day don’t be a Internet gangsta… be yourself! #cloutisnottheroute get money,” tweeted Meek, while Snoop posted a photo of the rapper and captioned it with emojis including a rat and police officer.

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It’s been over 10 years since Keri Hilson released an album, but fans will have to wait a little longer.

On Monday, the R&B songstress took to Instagram to provide an update on her long-awaited third project. “I don’t share much, but I’m working my ass off to get you this project,” she wrote alongside photos of her looking in the mirror. “Turns out I’ll be a tad behind Summer, but we’re almost there!!”

In March, Hilson said that she was ending her decade-long hiatus. “I didn’t mean to be gone so long, I only needed my real world to be perfect…it is now,” she wrote. “Thank you for your patience. The wait is over. I’m ready. Summer 2019.”

The 36-year-old singer-songwriter released two albums, her 2009 debut In a Perfect World… and 2010’s No Boys Allowed, but has been mostly quiet since then. Last month, she opened up about the reason for the lengthy delay.

“My truth is, I’d love nothing more than to release this incredible music I’ve been ‘sitting on,’ and I’ve been trying for years for that to occur,” she told her Instagram followers. “There have been so many blockages I have constantly fought myself to not directly speak about…wisdom. I’ve lost some pivotal characters in the process of stepping away for my wellbeing…though I was prepared for the possibility that some wouldn’t understand or lose faith in me as an artist while I dealt w/ the trials of my life, it still hurts.”

In a 2017 interview with “The Real,” she revealed that her third album would be titled L.I.A.R., an acronym for Love Is a Religion. “There are so many similarities between religion and love,” she explained. “If we believe this will work, then we will do what it takes and we will be obedient. We’ll do what it takes to make it work. It’s religious. You gotta be that committed to making love work.”

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Mac Miller is leaving behind an $11 million fortune.

The late rapper’s estate has been appraised at about $11.3 million, which will be divided among his closest family and friends.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ, Miller’s assets include his personal property and cash on hand. His friends will inherit a vast majority of his belongings, including his jewelry, while his family will get the rest.

Mac’s friend Bryan Johnson will receive all of his clothing and electronics, including his TV, laptop, and iPads. His other friend, Q Chandler-Cuff, is the benefactor of 20 pieces of jewelry, which is valued at several tens of thousands of dollars.

Musician and producer Dylan Rectenwald will receive Mac’s musical instruments and equipment, including a $5,000 guitar. Mac’s household furnishings, valued around $20,000, will go to someone named Jimmy Murton.

Mac’s family, including his mother, father, and brother, will receive over $5 million in bank and brokerage accounts, in addition to whatever else he had to his name.

Miller died from a lethal combination of fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol at his home in Studio City, Calif. home on Sept. 7, 2018. Earlier this month, a Hollywood Hills man was arrested and charged in connection with Miller’s death. Cameron James Pettit allegedly supplied Miller with counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl.

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50 Cent and Eminem are back in the lab.

The frequent collaborators, whose past hits include “Crack a Bottle” and “Patiently Waiting,” are cooking up new music. During a visit to Bootleg Kev and DJ Hed on REAL 92.3, the “Power” mogul revealed that he is collaborating with Em on a song for the Detroit rapper’s upcoming album.

“He sent me a record now. He working now,” said 50, adding, “That’s what I’m doing with him now or sooner.”

While 50 has had beef with everyone from Wendy Williams to Ja Rule, his bond with Em is unbreakable. “I fuck with Em regardless. He’s the reason why I’m here,” he said before noting that Eminem is “still the highest-selling rap artist in the world.”

One rapper he won’t be collaborating with anytime soon is his longtime rival Rick Ross. When the hosts mentioned that Ross dropped his new album Port of Miami 2 and it went No. 1 on the hip-hop chart (with 80,000 equivalent album units in its first week), 50 questioned the numbers.

“How much did it sell? No. 1, c’mon. What week was it?” he asked. “Some weeks 10 purchases make you No. 1, depending on what week it is.”

When asked if there’s anything he respects about the Maybach Music mogul (“I don’t know what his value is to music culture at this moment,” he recently said), he went silent. “No, there’s nothing there,” he finally responded. “I’ve never wanted to work with him.”

He also once again called into question Rozay’s past as a corrections officer. “Does it matter that he’s a corrections officer? Does that ever matter? Look at the irony of the artists that come under him.”

50 cited Ross’ MMG artist Meek Mill and his fight for prison reform. “Prison reform and all of the wrongfully convicted and wrongfully treated people in the prison system while he’s on the whole other side of that.”

Plus, watch him speak on 6ix9ine, G-Unit, and the final season of “Power.”

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A year after the release of his Dime Trap album, T.I. debuts the cinematic video for “You (Be There)” featuring Teyana Taylor.

After directing videos for Monica, Lil Durk, ScHoolboy Q, Teyana “Spike Tee” Taylor steps behind and in front of the camera in the nearly 13-minute clip, which doubles as a visual for her T.I. collaboration “You” and the London Jae-assisted “Be There,” two tracks off Dime Trap.

The rapper and R&B singer play a couple of armed vigilantes who are out to fight evil and save their community from sexual predators including a pastor who preys on children. They take matters into their own hands, bursting into the church and shooting the preacher in the head in front of his congregation. They then free a group of women who are being held against their will and gun down a corrupt cop.

In between fighting bad guys, they reflect on their romantic relationship, which goes back to childhood. During their violent encounter with the cop, Teyana gets shot and dies in front of Tip’s eyes. The video ends with a powerful message about sexual abuse and child sex trafficking in Atlanta, which has one of the highest incident rates in America.

Next up, Tip will appear alongside Cardi B and Chance the Rapper on Netflix’s new hip-hop competition series “Rhythm + Flow.” The 10 hour-long episodes will roll out over the course of three weeks starting Oct. 9.

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It’s been three years since Alicia Keys released an album, but the 15-time Grammy winner returns with her new single “Show Me Love,” a duet with Miguel.

Keys shows a sensual side on the mellow cut, which arrives just in time for cuffing season. The R&B powerhouses go back and forth, bringing their chemistry to life as they yearn for each other’s love.

“Show me love like / You see red lights / You crashed in it like / A deer inside of headlights,” sings Alicia, while Miguel responds, “Yeah I show you love like / It was passionate / I just wanna bask in it / Winning like a championship.”

Keys is now working on a new album, the follow-up to 2016’s Here. “It reflects where I am today—the deeper acceptance I have of who I am as a full human being, the flaws, the pieces that I used to push aside because I wasn’t ready to embrace the anger or the fear or the crazy,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.

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In honor of the 23rd anniversary of Tupac Shakur’s death, MTV News reaches in the vault and unearths a rare interview with the late rap legend.

In the 20-minute clip, which was filmed in 1995, one year before his death, Tupac and MTV News correspondent Tabitha Soren take a stroll down the Venice boardwalk for an in-depth conversation about his past and future.

He starts off by explaining the origins of his name before discussing his move to the West Coast and why he dropped out of performing arts high school.

Tupac also opens up about his mother Afeni Shakur’s cocaine addiction. “I love my mom. She the bomb to me so I love all her mistakes,” he says, while admitting, “It was hard ’cause she was my hero. She is my hero.”

During the interview, Pac tries on sunglasses (“I ain’t my style. They not Gaultier”), gets a tattoo, and signs autographs for fans while reflecting on his childhood. “I was the total opposite of what I am right now. I was quiet, withdrawn, I read a lot, I wrote poetry. I kept a diary,” he says.

He also gets candid about his biological father (“I still don’t know who it is. I have never taken any blood tests”) and how his life would have been different if his dad was around. “I’d have some discipline. I’d have more confidence,” he says. “Money gave me confidence. The screams of the crowd gave me confidence. Before that I was a shell of a man.”

Elsewhere, he admits that he tried selling drugs for two weeks, but stopped because he didn’t know how to do it. He also shares his desire to have kids (“I think I’ll be a very, very good father because I love kids”).

At the end, Pac is asked if he will ever be able to live a normal, happy life. “No, but I’m going for it. I’m trying for it,” he says. “And until then, I have to make the life that I do live as happy as I can and try to do the best with what I have.”

Watch the full interview below.

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Cardi B is not slowing down.

Fresh off the $33 million debut of Hustlers at the box office, the rapper-turned-actress went on Instagram Live to give her fans an update on her big plans for 2020, which includes new music, a tour, and even a baby.

The Grammy-winning rapper plans to take the next couple months to work on the follow-up to her 2018 debut Invasion of Privacy. “I’ve been in album mode lately,” said Cardi. “I feel like I already got two songs that I definitely want to put on my album.”

After she wraps her sophomore album, she will return to the road on her own headlining tour. “I’m already working on a tour deal. I feel like I have proven myself enough that I sell enough tickets,” she said. “Yeah, Cardi sell shit. You’re lucky I’m not a drug dealer. I take over ni**as’ blocks ’cause Cardi be selling.”

In addition to her busy work schedule, she and Offset want to expand their family. “After my tour, I want to have another kid,” said Kulture’s mother. “And I’m really planning to do all of that in less than a year.”

But first, Cardi will appear alongside Chance the Rapper and T.I. in Netflix’s hip-hop competition series “Rhythm + Flow.” The 10 hour-long episodes will roll out over the course of three weeks starting Oct. 9.

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Slime season continues as Young Thug unleashes the video for “Just How It Is” off his chart-topping album So Much Fun.

The clip, which he co-directed with Leff, opens with the YSL rapper laying in a hospital bed in a pink hoodie. A nurse tends to him and monitors an IV, while his homie plays guitar by his bedside. A shirtless Thugger also lets his hair down and raps alongside a goat and a giant snake.

The Wheezy-produced track appears on So Much Fun, which became his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Thug, who recently underwent surgery, is already hard at work on his next album Punk. “This album Punk that I’m going to put out soon is probably going to be the best album, because it really teaches you, gives you life situations, it’s teaching I’m human. I am you,” he told Rolling Stone. “I am him. It’s very verbal. I think it’ll probably be the best album even though it’s not out.”

But first he will hit the road with Machine Gun Kelly. Their joint tour kicks off Sept. 30 in Toronto and wraps Nov. 18 in L.A.

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