The Golden State Warriors hold a 3-1 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2017 NBA Finals. Photo Credit: The Huffington Post

The Cleveland Cavaliers avoided a sweep in the NBA Finals Friday night, beating the Golden State Warriors 137 -116. The Cavs handed the Golden State Warriors their first loss of the postseason and the Warriors still hold a 3-1 lead in the series.

With the NBA Finals prolongoing to a game 5 after the heroics of the Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving’s 40 points and LeBron James’ triple double in game 4, the scene shifts back to Oakland, where the Warriors won the first two games of the series.

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving, his dad, Drederick Irving & sports and entertainment journalist Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson. Photo Credit: Will Robertson

Earlier this week, I checked in with DJ Tarzan and Cliff Po on the Henny & Redbull Podcast, to talk about the NBA Finals, LeBron James’ Michael Jordan comparisons and more.

Check Out The Conversation With RESPECT Magazine’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson and The Henny & Redbull Podcast.

The NBA Finals resumes Monday with Game 5 in Oakland.

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The post Scoop B: NBA Finals, Kevin Durant & LeBron James On Cliff Po & DJ Tarzan’s Henny & Redbull Podcast appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Roc Nation recording artist, Rihanna and sports and entertainment journalist, Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson posing for selfies during CC Sabathia & Robinson Cano’s Roc Nation Celebrity Basketball game. Photo Provided By: Angie Vasquez

From one Brandon to another, I catch up with Brandon Nix on the B.Nix podcast and talk about round three of the 2017 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

I also talk about the time I sat courtside with Rihanna.

Check out Brandon Nix of the “B.Nix Podcast” chatting with RESPECT Magazine’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson.

On Rihanna’s love for basketball, I told Brandon Nix

“You can sit and have a conversation with her about it and she knows what she is talking about. She’s a sweetheart, she doesn’t forget a face. But the thing about it is she talks just like a fan. She says four letter words just like anybody else she yells ‘Switch on D,’ do this, do that. Rihanna knows the game of basketball, that is one thing I can firmly say about her. She knows the game of basketball and she, I think there are so many parallels on the entertainment side of things, you know, be it sing or dancing and these sports side of things.There is a timing there is a knowledge using instincts to get things done and its entertaining a crowd there are so many parallels and she gets it.”

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The post Scoop B: Talking NBA Finals, Rihanna Courtside & More on “B NIX Podcast” w/ Brandon Nix appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Remember that time DeShawn Stevenson called LeBron James overrated?

Think back: 2008 NBA Playoffs, Stevenson, a member of the Washington Wizards at the time, said that  James, then in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers was an overrated basketball player. James, seemingly unfazed and chasing his first NBA title at the time, replied stating that Stevenson would be like “Jay-Z responding to Soulja Boy.”

Soulja Boy used that statement to his advantage and attended a playoff game between the two teams. He even cheered on Stevenson while sitting courtside and did the Superman dance from his seat.

That’s when Jay-Z stepped in. Sampling the instrumental and vocals from Too Short’s Blow The Whistle, Hov went ham!

For those with amnesia or tardy to the party, he said in the diss track:

“Ask my n**** LeBron! We so big we ain’t gotta respond. When you talkin to a don, please have respect like you’re talking to your mom. We let the money do the talkin. As you see we be talkin rather often. The ROC Boys in the buildin. Another hundred fifty million don’t it sound like we yellin?!!! Who the f*** overrated?! If anything they underpaid him. Hatin that’s only ‘gonna make him spend the night out of spite with the chick you’ve been datin. We the best of the best. We ‘gon be here so the rest could take a rest, I gotta get this off my chest, No pause none of that s***, get off my d***”

The Cavaliers would eventually eliminate the Wizards in that playoff series and Jay-Z would get his point across without LeBron saying a word. Too $hort’s song also got new life.

So much life, that eight years later, Drake’s vocals came in on For Free, a single on DJ Khaled’s Major Key album. On it, Drake would rhyme $hort’s classic, ‘on and on’ as his opening verse.

Simply putL Drizzy and Hovi gave it the old Toronto and Brooklyn one-two punch!

“It just gave the song a new audience every now and then,” Too $hort shared with me.  “Like every two or three years some new area just discovers Blow The Whistle and it’s like a new song all over again.”

Check Out Too $hort and Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson Discussing The Whole She-bang on Scoop B Radio

But we digress!

Appearing on today’s episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Too $hort walked listeners through the inter-webbing of Jay-Z’s request to use the track and his decision to side with LeBron. Too $hort indicated that Jay-Z had a concert in Oakland after James and Stevenson were going back and forth. Too $hort says that Jay-Z decided to play the song at the concert.. “I didn’t come on stage but he played it and like sent me a shout out and the crowd went crazy when he played the song,” Too $hort told me on Scoop B Radio.

“So I guess in his mind he was gearing up to, at that point I think he was thinking about signing LeBron and having him play for the Nets and he was courting LeBron and LeBron was special to him and ‘ol boy [Stevenson] stepped on LeBron’s toes talking shit and Jay was like I’m going to shut this down. And he probably saw the moment where the crowd reacted to the song and then that was on his mind.”

If you recall, Jay-Z, a close friend and confidant of LeBron was a minority owner of the Nets at that time. A non-issue, but good for theater, nonetheless.

Seizing the opportunity, Too $hort said Jay-Z called him, asked for his blessing and requested the Blow The Whistle beat.

“He was like: ‘could you send me the instrumental to that?’ If a rapper called me and said: ‘send me the instrumental,’ I’ll probably say something like: ‘we didn’t even bounce the instrumental, so we don’t even have one.’ When Jay called, I was like: ‘ it will be there in a couple of hours man.’ I had no idea what he was going to do with it, but I am glad he did.”

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The post “Jay Was Like: ‘I’m Going To Shut This Down'” – Too $hort On LeBron James, Jay-Z, Soulja Boy, DeShawn Stevenson’s 2008 Beef appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Since Iman Europe‘s latest release of her EP, “Caterpillar,” she has kept her focus on creating in the studio and performing weekly in Los Angeles. Yesterday (August 4), Iman revealed her new single “Oakland.”

Oakland, CA has become a destination for the young songstress to unwind from the Hollywood grind, bringing the perfect opportunity to create her new record –an ode to Oakland.

Iman has received nothing but great responses from fans nationwide:

We should go to Oakland @ImanEurope 👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾

— AP (@tweetasiap) August 5, 2015

@ImanEurope just letting you know about 20 of those plays on "Oakland" are by me. Keep it up!

— M. J. Withers (@MJWithers) August 4, 2015

Oakland is so hot🔥 @ImanEurope

— DP✨ (@dp_theunknown) August 4, 2015

Stream “Oakland” below, and stay tuned to Iman Europe‘s adventures in the West Coast.

The post New Music: Iman Europe – “Oakland” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Dope City Saints drop a picturesque visual for “Represent.” Coming off the release of their latest project, “City Of Dope,” the Oakland crew (WORDUP, Kasi RocsWell) offer a visual transplant from their hometown to Queensbridge, creating both a scenic and lyrical tribute from the west coast to the art form’s birthplace. Dope City Saints’ conscious rhymes relocate the modern listener to a coveted time in rap culture and “Represent” embodies the group’s essence and mission to uproot the current state of Hip-Hop.

Download “City Of Dope” – HERE

The post Premier: Dope City Saints: “Represent” (Video) appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

This slapper from Oakland-bred rapper, Xcel, features the Bay Area’s crooner-of-the-moment, Rayven Justice. With its synth-heavy beats and lighthearted, flirtatious lyrics, it’s the perfect end of summer anthem. Not only is it about every young person’s dream— having a whole house to yourself—but it’s sure to get the party cracking.  And if you didn’t know better, you might even think it was a Teeflii or Ty Dolla $ign banger. Not bad. Not bad at all.

The post New Music: Xcel Featuring Rayven Justice and D. Rhoades — “House To The Neck Pt. 2” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

The last time we heard from YOGY, he was hard at work on his latest project, 88′ Hooligan. Now he’s back with the first single in the form of “Almighty Dollar”, which is produced by Strong Symphony. YOGY wanted to evoke some consciousness in our material-driven lives, so the triangle symbolizes the US, as we are the eye of the pyramid. YOGY embodies west coast culture and the late 80’s generation rebellion with his visuals and lyrics. Check out the clip below.

The post New Video: Yogy – “Almighty Dollar” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.