The Caribbean Music Awards are almost here — and HOT 97 is bringing you closer to the action than ever before! Hosted by the hilarious Majah Hype, the night will showcase unforgettable performances from some of the biggest names in music, including Busta Rhymes (recipient of this year’s Elite Icon Award), Kranium, Chronic Law, Lady Lava, Ding Dong, and more. The show kicks off at 8 PM sharp and promises to be a historic celebration of Caribbean culture and sound. Busta Rhymes to Receive Elite Icon Award In a landmark moment, Busta Rhymes will be honored with the Elite Icon Award, recognizing his legendary influence on music and culture. Fans can also look forward to a one-of-a-kind live performance as Busta hits the stage to deliver an unforgettable set. HOT 97 is giving fans the chance to experience the Caribbean Music Awards live! Couldn’t grab a ticket? We’ve got you covered. HOT 97 will be live-streaming from the red carpet at HOT97.com, on the HOT 97 app, YouTube, and Twitch — bringing you interviews, behind-the-scenes action, and all the fashion moments. View this post on Instagram A post shared by HOT 97 (@hot97) Don’t Miss Out If luck isn’t on your side, you can still secure your spot at this cultural celebration. Tickets are available now at CaribbeanMusicAwards.com. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Caribbean Music Awards (@caribmusicawards)

Ice-T has opened up about the death of Coolio. In his new documentary Fame & Fentanyl, he shared the devastating effects of drug use to his friend. “Coolio was healthy. I know he didn’t want to die. He spoke freely about it, but that’s the thing,” Ice-T explained. “If you’re doing drugs recreationally, you’re not trying to take your own life. Recreation is a game, but this is no longer a game.” Collio passed in 2022 at the age of 59 after suffering an accidental overdose  of fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine. The death of Michael K. Williams of The Wire actor Michael K. Williams, who also died from a drug overdose, singled to Ice-T that an epidemic was spreading. “When it hit Coolio and it hit Mike, that was the nail in the coffin. That’s when you go, ‘Yo, this shit‑‑‑ is real.’ You know what I’m saying? It’s real.” “We had never worked together, but we had planned to. I hoped to work with him. When people die of fentanyl, it’s like they got hit by a car, like they got shot,” he continued. “This is a person who’s healthy, and tomorrow they’re outta there.” Ice-T also shared that while he’s never used drugs, he had felt the effects of addiction from his family and friends “I don’t do drugs, but I never expected it. Everyone has someone in their life who has been affected by fentanyl. These are the narratives that everyone should be aware of, the Law & Order: SVU star told Entertainment Weekly. Fame and Fentanyl is A&E’s new documentary special, premiered on Monday, August 25, 2025, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. 

Black athletic excellence is coming to Walt Disney World! Several elite Black college basketball programs will participate in the first-ever HBCU Hoops Invitational at Walt Disney World Resort on Dec. 4-7. According to the press release, the women’s bracket includes Bethune-Cookman University, Hampton University, Edward Waters University, and Cheyney University. The tourney features Florida A&M University, Tuskegee University, Florida Memorial University, and Barber-Scotia College, while the women’s bracket includes Bethune-Cookman University, Hampton University, Edward Waters University, and Cheyney University.  The highly anticipated games will take place in the State Farm Field House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in a single-elimination format with the chance to claim the inaugural HBCU Hoops Invitational titles. View this post on Instagram A post shared by HBCU Hoops Invitational (@hbcuhoopsinvitational) “The HBCU Hoops Invitational is far more than a basketball tournament—it’s a powerful celebration of heritage, excellence and the limitless future of HBCU athletics,’’ said HBCU Hoops Global vice president Haywoode Workman, a former NBA veteran before becoming an NBA referee. a “We are building a legacy that extends well beyond the court to open doors to academic achievement, career readiness and financial opportunity for our scholar-athletes.”  In addition to the HBCU Invitational, the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is hosting the WBCA Showcase (Nov. 20-23) and the ESPN Events Invitational (Nov. 24-28) during the Thanksgiving holiday week.  “We are excited about the opportunities to bring thrilling, family-friendly events to ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and this HBCU Hoops Invitational adds to our lineup of high-caliber youth and college events,’’ said Jorge Senior, Disney’s Director of Sport Planning and Development. “If you’re a college basketball fan, there’s no better place to be during the holidays than at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.’’  Tickets for the HBCU Hoops Invitational are on sale now at www.hbcuhoops.org.

When it comes to sexual partners, Tyrese Gibson recently admitted that his body count is through the roof. During a revealing appearance on Kirk Franklin’s Den of Kings podcast, along with Skyh Black and DJ Montay, Gibson spoke candidly about the large number of sexual partners he’s been with and the impact those encounters had on him. “I believe my number is a little scary,” Gibson said.“I got to a point where a powerful man of God asked me a question. Without even coming at me, he just said, ‘Hey, Reese, let me ask you, man. How many more?’” Gibson shared that he was already doing introspection on himself when the question was posed to him. “I already had it in my head that I’m doing too much, too often. Too many cities, too many states, too many countries. It’s too much.” “You either a sex addict and you out here just trying to put your weewee in everything and you just losing your damn mind, or it’s coming from something,” he continued. Eventually, the singer/actor concluded that his sexual lifestyle was something that he couldn’t maintain. “What’s triggering your sexual appetite? Why do you want to do so much with so many?” he asked. “I had convinced myself that at a certain point, it’s going to be over. All of this access that I have to all of these women, it’s going to be over soon. It’s going to be another situatoisere one minute you hot, and the next minute you not.”

Death Row co-founder Suge Knight claims that Drake’s Tupac chain is not real. During a recent interview with Art of Dialogue from his prison cell, Knight claimed the Death Row Records chain formerly belonging to Tupac is fraudulent. “Well, I’m quite sure it’s not true,” said Knight. “When I came up with the idea to make the Death Row chain—one, it had never been done before. Two, it was like wearing a, you know, it was like having your flag, your rag. You can’t tuck it, It means something.” According to Knight, he was the only one authorized to give out authentic chains to represent the record label. He went on to say that Snoop Dogg was the first one to receive the but exchanged it for a “ custom dog paw believing a Death Row chain would cause too much controversy.” Knight also said Dr. Dre and a few others had chains, but others did not. “None of the b**ches on Death Row had Death Row chains. The Dogg Pound [Kurupt and Daz Dillinger] didn’t even have Death Row chains,” Knight said. After Tupac’s release from jail in 1995, Knight claimed that he would give him his own Death Row chain, but he turned down the offer. “He’s like, ‘Shit, you my big bro. Let me wear yours, that’s more important. I don’t want a first one, I want to wear the one you got,” he said. Knight recalled that “Tupac wore his diamond-covered chain immediately upon his release, and no one else had that piece.” “That’s not Tuac’s chain. It’s not a Death Row chain. Whoever sold you that chain, Drake, you need to go beat his motherf**king ass. Crazy,” Knight said.

GloRilla just added another ride to her garage after Yo Gotti pulled off yet another over-the-top birthday surprise. On Monday, August 25th, the rapper revealed that her CMG boss gifted her a brand-new Cadillac Escalade, showing fans the big moment in a video she shared online. The clip captured GloRilla’s genuine shock as she took in the sight of the luxury SUV. “Oh s**t,” she blurted out before breaking into laughter. “Thank you!” she added, before jokingly asking, “How [do] I cut this b***h on?” Gotti then stepped in to let her know it was a push-to-start vehicle. Yo Gotti copped GloRilla a brand new Cadillac for her birthday. pic.twitter.com/pj9mfg9M5I — Rap Alert (@rapalert6) August 26, 2025 The “TGIF” hitmaker captioned the post with “Work hard, play harder” and mixed in a few gym snapshots, showing both her excitement and her determination. Latto jumped into the comments to cheer her on, writing, “Aweee, Gloria, [you] make me so happy.” Another follower praised Gotti’s generosity, reminding everyone that “Gotti don’t play ‘bout Glo.” This is not the first time Yo Gotti has gone all out for her. On her 25th birthday, he surprised her with an Audemars Piguet watch. “Oh my God. I wanted one of these so bad,” she said at the time, adding, “Gotti, how did you know I wanted this?” When she turned 24, he marked the occasion with a Maybach SUV, sharing his appreciation for her hard work and trust in the CMG family. Her 26th birthday arrived on July 28th, just after she wrapped up her first-ever Glo Bash in Memphis. The homecoming show doubled as the closing date of “The Glorious Tour”

Cardi B appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom on Tuesday to answer to a civil lawsuit connected to an encounter from 2018. The complaint was filed by security guard Emani Ellis, who says she was attacked outside a Beverly Hills medical office while Cardi was pregnant with her first child. Ellis alleges the star spit on her, used racial language, and left a mark on her face with her fingernails. On the stand, Ellis described the incident as frightening. She recalled recognizing the Grammy-winning artist and blurting out, “That’s Cardi B.” According to Ellis, the rapper then came toward her in an aggressive manner. “She touched my nose but scratched my cheek,” Ellis testified, adding that the injury left her shaken. Cardi B arrives for testimony at civil trial in Alhambra, Calif., says she “never” touched the security guard suing her with claims of assault and battery pic.twitter.com/sm5XBz5wO1 — Nancy Dillon (@Nancy__Dillon) August 26, 2025 Cardi B, whose legal name is Belcalis Almanzar, firmly rejected that account. According to ABC 7, speaking outside of court, she told reporters that “nobody touched” Ellis and insisted the altercation was purely verbal. Her defense team argued that Ellis was attempting to film Cardi on her phone as she walked into the doctor’s office, despite the rapper being visibly pregnant at the time. Cardi’s lawyers emphasized that she was simply protecting her privacy during a sensitive period in her life. Legal analyst Brian Buckmire explained the defense position: “But according to Cardi’s defense, there was no physical altercation, what was a 60- to 90-second verbal altercation with no physical violence.” During cross-examination, attorneys challenged Ellis’ credibility, pointing to what they said were contradictions in her previous reports. Questions were raised about whether she was holding her phone close to her face or not, and whether she was touched on the nose or scratched on the cheek. The case names several claims, including assault, battery, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment. Ellis is pursuing monetary damages as the civil trial moves forward.

Jadakiss had some words for those who claimed he grew up like The Huxtables. During a recent episode of his podcast  Joe & Jada with Fat Joe, he shut down the idea that the social media chatter said that he was raised as a rich kid. “Some assh*les in the comments think I grew up like the Huxtables,” Jadakiss said. “I don’t know what the f*ck is wrong with these people, but coming from where we come from, it’s a beautiful thing to have both of your parents. I know in rap, they see all these people– Yeah, we had both of our parents.” “Do that mean we wasn’t in the street? No. That mean our household had gold spoons? No. My moms bust her ass,” he continued. “My pops was on drugs. He was able to shake back. I was outside doing sh*t. I was smart in school, I was athletic, but I was outside.” The legendary LOX rapper then revealed some receipts of his past life and was shocked that people attempted to discredit him for having two parents “Just ask the people, just ask the cops, just ask anybody you wanna ask. But for some reason these people… you can’t be standing up to your word if you have both of your parents. Are you some type of assh*le? It’s a blessing to have both of your parents.” JADAKISSBEANIE SIGEL KISS THE MAC COLLAB ALBUM EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY FREEWAY COMING SOON pic.twitter.com/2AvsopqGr4 — Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod (@big_business_) August 24, 2025 On the music side, Jadakiss recently announced that he was dropping a collaborative album with Beanie Sigel titled Kiss The Mac. Freeway will serve as executive producer and the album will include appearances from both The LOX and State Property.

Cardi B has expressed why she believes she receives so much hate from female rappers. “For some reason, it’s something about me that these bitches can’t stand,” Cardi told Zane Lowe in an interview. “They can’t f**k with me. Some bitches, I feel like they’re on this class right now, they’re sophomores, and I’m a senior,” she continued. “ And it’s like you want to f**k with the senior so bad. You think you’re here with the senior. You’re not even a junior.” “And it’s like you need to worry about them other sophomores before you start worrying about here, the f**king senior,” she continued. “But it’s something about it that it’s like they can’t even focus on them. They got to focus on me. And they always got to focus on throwing me shots and throwing me slings. No matter if you’re a fucking sophomore or in motherfucking college, it’s me.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Apple Music (@applemusic) As she prepares for the release of her highly anticipated sophomore album, Am I The Drama, Cardi also had some words for some men who were critical of her sampling JAY-Z  on her latest single, “Imaginary Playerz.” “For people to dog pile on me over one song,” Cardi said on X Spaces. “And when it comes to dog piling, it’s not even just like, ‘Oh well, I don’t like this song,’ because if you don’t like this song, fine, but to come at the way I speak, to make narratives of how I think I am and who the f**k I think I am, to talk about every single piece of me, to bet on my downfall is crazy.” “There’s grown men that are practically betting for me to lose. Grown-ass men that I ain’t never did nothing to, betting on my downfall,” she continued. “ And my thing is with these people, it just be like, when my record do good, when ‘Outside’ did good, people couldn’t believe it.”

Snoop Dogg recently admitted that a trip to the movies turned into something he never expected. While speaking on the It’s Giving podcast, in a segment that has since been deleted, the rap icon explained that watching Pixar’s Lightyear with his grandson brought up questions he wasn’t ready to answer. The 2022 animated film shows Buzz Lightyear’s close friend Alisha Hawthorne starting a family with her wife, which includes a short kiss between the two women. According to Snoop, his grandson immediately wanted to understand what he was seeing. “‘They just said, she and she had a baby — they’re both women. How does she have a baby?’” the child asked. Snoop admitted that he felt unprepared, saying, “I didn’t come in for this s—. I just came to watch the goddamn movie.” He confessed the situation left him rattled. “It f—ed me up. I’m like, scared to go to the movies. Y’all throwing me in the middle of s— that I don’t have an answer for.” The moment reflected a much larger conversation surrounding the film. Disney and Pixar originally considered removing the kiss, but after employee pushback over what was seen as censorship, the moment was restored. Producer Galyn Susman described the decision as important, saying the relationship was meant to be “loving and inspirational.” Despite the creative defense, Lightyear faced bans in multiple countries, including Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. Director Angus MacLane expressed frustration, telling the San Francisco Chronicle, “The controversy is whether or not you think it’s appropriate for people to love each other. That’s a thing that’s a controversy? I don’t know where to begin on that one.” For Snoop, though, the film became less about international debates and more about being a grandfather. “These are kids,” he said. “They’re going to ask questions. I don’t have the answer.”