Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
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Taylor Swift has long been known for surprising her fans with presents, whether going on a holiday gift-buying spree back in 2015, or donating funds to their GoFundMe campaigns over the years.
On Dec. 12, when Swift visited Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Hospital, among the patients she met was a fan named Naya. During the visit, as Swift signed a copy of her Eras Tour book, Naya mentioned how much she loved Swift’s outfit, calling the plaid top and pleated skirt outfit “tea.” Swift responded by saying, “You made my day with that. Walking in, you were just so sweet, so friendly and so lovely.”
Swift remembered the exchange, and on Dec. 22, Naya posted a TikTok video showing that she received a holiday gift from the 14-time Grammy winner — a Miu Miu outfit that matched the one Billboard‘s Top Artist of 2024 wore during her visit to Children’s Mercy Hospital. Another video from Naya also showed that alongside the outfit was a note from Swift, which read in part, “I loved meeting you … when you asked where I got it, I purposely didn’t tell you because I had a plan. Picked you up a few things that I hope you’ll think are tea, ha. Merry Christmas, love Taylor.”
Billboard has reached out to Swift’s rep for confirmation.
Naya captioned the video, “She is soo amazing im soo blessed, I love you Tay Swizzle you’re literally the Best,” along with two pink heart emojis. During Swift’s initial visit to Children’s Mercy Hospital, she also filmed a TikTok video with Naya and her cousin, with the three of them dancing to the star’s “Bad Blood.”
Swift recently wrapped her Eras Tour on Dec. 8 with a finale concert in Vancouver, B.C. The massive, two-year trek, which has become the largest-grossing tour of all time (grossing more than $2 billion), spanned 150 shows across five continents. Swift’s The Eras Tour launched in March 2023, with each 3.5-hour show including more than 40 songs and highlighting different eras in Swift’s career.
Swift also recently picked up 10 new Billboard Music Awards trophies this year, bringing her career total to 49, winning more BBMAs than any other artist in history.
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Dame Dash has revisited the dispute that fractured his and JAY-Z‘s once-successful business relationship.
In an interview with The Art of Dialogue, the Harlem rap mogul explained how he walked away from Roc-A-Fella Records after Hov began working closely with R. Kelly, who infamously married Dash’s ex-girlfriend Aaliyah when she was just 15.
“The fact that Jay was fucking with him is what used to blow my mind more than anything. I don’t know why he wanted to fuck with this guy so much. Like why? I’ve never understood it,” he said.
Dame then revealed that he confronted JAY-Z about his grievance: “Everybody knew R. Kelly married Aaliyah at 15. Everybody knew that. So was the conversation had like, ‘Yo, how you gonna go and do something with this dude?’ Hell yeah that conversation was had!
“You think I’m soft? Pause. I was like, ‘Yo, how you gonna do a project with a n-gga that raped my muthafucking girl?’ We had the conversation. Would you still fuck with a n-gga that fucked with someone that raped your girl? So why would anyone expect me to?”
He added: “There’s a lot of other shit but that alone was the nail in the coffin for me. I was outta there, I was gone. I knew that shit was gonna blow up. I wanted no parts of that shit. So I was done with him for that.”
Asked how Jay responded, Dame said: “You know how he is. He was like, ‘Yo, I ain’t have nothing to do with that.’ What I would love is for someone to ask him, ‘Why would you still do a project with that man knowing that he raped Aaliyah?’
“That right there was bridge burned […] I left Roc-A-Fella. It wasn’t that I got kicked out of Roc-A-Fella; I left Roc-A-Fella. I was done. I said, ‘Fuck all the money, fuck all this shit, I’m out.’ I was left no choice.”
The 53-year-old also claimed that JAY-Z himself was “in love” with Aaliyah and said he found it “even more disrespectful” that the rapper began working with R. Kelly on The Best of Both Worlds shortly after her death in 2001.
Dame Dash and JAY-Z’s tumultuous relationship has been back in the spotlight of late thanks to the sale of the former’s shares in Roc-A-Fella, Inc.
After a much-publicized back-and-forth, Dash’s one-third ownership stake in the company (which owns the rights to Jay’s Reasonable Doubt and is separate to Roc-A-Fella, LLC, which houses the rest of the label’s catalog) was ultimately sold for just $1 million at auction.
The auction was held to help satisfy the record executive’s extensive debts, which include $8.7 million in back taxes, an $800,000 lawsuit settlement to filmmaker Josh Webber and $145,000 in unpaid child support.
The shares were purchased by the state of New York, who are expected to flip them for a higher sum to pay off Dash’s sizeable tax debt.
Following the auction, Dame wasted little time in swiping his former business partner, saying on his America Nu Network platform: “What this really taught me was that, in the world, homie isn’t as big as he portrays.
“I thought more people would be interested in buying it […] I thought people would at least show up. No one even showed up! […] Jay didn’t even make a bid. He didn’t think it was worth $3 million. A billionaire, supposedly.”
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