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Senegal has pulled the plug on Akon City, reclaiming almost all of the 55-hectare seaside concession after seven years of missed deadlines, fading crypto fortunes and a single half-finished welcome centre that now shares its lot with grazing goats. The $6 billion “real-life Wakanda” once promised luxury towers and flying-car parking is now the most expensive visitor kiosk on the continent. Ambitious Beginnings Announced with Marvel-level fanfare in 2018, Akon called it a “real-life Wakanda” inspired by Black Panther -the plan promised soaring hotels, a 5,000-bed hospital and streets that ran on renewable energy and Akoin. The project aimed to...

Rapper Akon has revealed plans for a futuristic $6 billion city in his Senegal homeland modelled on Black Panther's Wakanda. The R&B star, who boasts two multi-platinum albums, told a news conference on Monday he had laid the first stone for the city in the Atlantic Ocean village of Mbodiene, around 60 miles south of the capital Dakar. The solar-powered Akon City will offer hotels, a university, hospitals, business and leisure centres including a casino, as well as movie studios, all featuring futuristic designs by architect Hussein Bakri, with African sculptures for inspiration.

A failed rapper and Democratic socialist has emerged as the frontrunner in New York City's mayoral race. Zohran Mamdani, 33, is going head to head with former New York City Governor Andrew Cuomo in trying to secure the Democratic primary nomination. According to Polymarket, Mamdani pulled ahead to become the favorite on Monday, just one day ahead of the primary vote. The poll gives him a 61 percent chance of winning. It is a marked shift from late May, when Cuomo still had a 91 percent chance of winning, according to the cryptocurrency betting market. Mamdani is currently a three-term...

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah pharmacist is upset the man who admitted to breaking into his pharmacy has been let off the hook. On May 28, President Donald Trump pardoned 25-year-old rapper NBA YoungBoy, who had been sentenced to nearly two years in jail in Utah back in December 2024. The President didn’t explain why he pardoned the rap star. NBA YoungBoy’s record includes drug fraud and weapons charges, both federally and at the state level. “My very first gut reaction to hearing that pardon was what a terrible lesson to teach your boys,” Phil Cowley, a Utah pharmacist,...

Footage of rap group Kneecap allegedly calling for the death of British MPs is being assessed by counter-terrorism police. A video has emerged of the west Belfast trio at a November 2023 gig appearing to show one person from the band saying: "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP." The Metropolitan Police also said that another video, from November last year, is being assessed. The footage appeared to show a band member shouting "up Hamas, up Hezbollah" at a performance in London. Kneecap have said on social media that they have "faced a co-ordinated smear...

(Some F-Bombs). Posted by Elon Musk

As Democrats are politically targeting former President Donald Trump for allegedly paying hush money during the 2016 presidential election, President Obama's "illegal foreign influence operation" is flying under the radar. Earlier this week, actor Leonardo DiCaprio testified in federal court that Malaysian financier Jho Low revealed his plans to donate up to $30 million to help Obama's 2012 reelection campaign. "It was a causal conversation about what party he was in support of; I told him what party I was in support of. And he told me that he, or he and a group, were going to make a significant...

Sean 'Diddy' Combs' mother Janice Smalls Combs has issued a statement in her son's defense amid his sex trafficking indictment and more than 100 sexual misconduct allegations against him. 'I come to you today as a mother that is devastated and profoundly saddened by the allegations made against my son, Sean Combs,' Janice, 84, told Dailymail.com in a statement through her lawyer Natlie G. Figgers. 'It is heartbreaking to see my son judged not for the truth, but for a narrative created out of lies. 'To bear witness what seems to be like a public lynching of my son before...

SFGATE senior culture editor Dan Gentile watched M.I.A.'s politically provocative set at Portola Music FestivalDespite being barely a month out from the election, not many musicians at Portola Music Festival had much to say about politics. But there was one exception: M.I.A. Since her debut mixtape “Piracy Funds Terrorism” in 2004, M.I.A. has always been a political provocateur. As a child, she was displaced by the Sri Lankan Civil War, and her art has always been steeped in revolutionary rhetoric, refugee undertones and nothing-to-lose swagger. Her combative attitude, paired with frenetic club beats from the likes of Diplo and Switch,...

Rapper and hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs has been detained pending trial after pleading not guilty to three federal charges. He was charged in New York with racketeering, sex trafficking by force, and transportation to engage in prostitution. The judge overseeing the case ordered Combs to be held without bail after hearing arguments from prosecutors that he would be tempted to flee the country.

Rapper Juvenile stormed off his plane in fury after American Airlines crew tried to bump him from first class to coach. The 'Back That A** Up' hit star was furious when crew members asked him and his wife to move to economy on a Dallas-bound flight, sparking a heated confrontation caught on camera. In video footage, Juvenile, whose real name is Terius Gray, can be heard yelling at flight attendants and refusing to move to the back of the plane. 'I'm a celebrity. I'm telling you this is going to be repercussions,' the 48-year-old New Orleans native said. 'It's going...

MIAMI - Three people have been arrested in last month's deadly shooting of Jacksonville rapper Julio Foolio. Foolio, whose legal name is Charles Jones, died in an early morning shooting on June 23 in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn near the University of South Florida. A total of four people were hit by gunfire, and the 26-year-old rapper died from his injuries. Police arrested Alicia Thomas, Isaiah Chance, and Sean Gathright on first-degree premeditated murder charges. They are currently searching for Rashad and Davion Murphy in connection with the shooting.

Newly released footage shows the moment an Atlanta-based rapper stirred controversy after asking all President Joe Biden supporters to leave his concert. Musician Waka Flocka Flame, whose real name is Juaquin James Malphurs, was performing at the Club Sky in Salt Lake City, Utah on June 27 when he addressed the crowd. The 38-year-old rapper could be heard telling his Democratic Party supporting fans: 'All Joe Biden voters, get out of my concert. We're gonna party right now for T24'- referencing GOP candidate Donald Trump's 2024 Presidential campaign.

Jacksonville, Florida, rapper Foolio, whose real name is Charles Jones, was shot and killed Sunday morning in Tampa, his lawyer confirmed. Police were called to a hotel in uptown Tampa a few hours before sunrise, having received reports of a shooting at the address. Upon arriving at the scene, they found two vehicles that had been shot at in the parking lot. One person, now identified as Jones, was pronounced dead, according to the Tampa Police Department. Three additional victims are in stable condition and being treated at the hospital. Police said officers are still investigating the motive for the...

<p>A teenager in Virginia has died after shooting himself in the head while filming a social media video.</p><p>Last week, 17-year-old Raleigh Freeman III, better known on the local rap scene as Rylo Huncho, was on an Instagram livestream when tragedy struck.</p>

OTTAWA (Reuters) -A security guard was seriously wounded in a shooting at Canadian rapper Drake's Toronto mansion early on Tuesday, police said, without confirming whether the five-time Grammy award winner was at home during the incident. Police said the shooting happened around 2 a.m. (0600 GMT) and officers responding to the incident found a man with a gunshot wound who was taken to a hospital. A suspected shooter was spotted and the individual fled in a vehicle. Speaking to reporters in front of Drake's home in Toronto's lavish Bridle Path neighborhood, often dubbed "Millionaires Row," Inspector Paul Krawczyk said the...

NBA YoungBoy has been arrested after he allegedly violated the terms of his house arrest in Utah. According to a report FOX 8 in New Orleans published on Wednesday, April 17, the controversial rap artist was taken into custody on Tuesday evening by the Cache County Sheriff’s Office in Utah. Jail records confirm the 24-year-old, born Kentrell Gaulden, was booked at the Cache County jail and charged with six offenses including identity fraud, forgery, possession of controlled substances, possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, procuring or attempting to procure drug/prescription and pattern of unlawful activity. YoungBoy Never...

Diddy's homes are being raided by Homeland Security agents as the rapper and music mogul faces multiple mounting lawsuits and accusations of sexual abuse. In video circulating online, 54-year-old Diddy's LA home was descended on by federal agents on Monday - although it is unclear why they are there. Diddy - real name Sean Love Combs - has recently been hit by lawsuits over alleged sexual assaults and sex trafficking. Law enforcement sources told TMZ agents for Homeland Security are 'in the middle' of raiding the musician's properties with helicopters overhead and local law enforcement also in attendance. Law enforcement...

A Detroit charter school teacher, once named “teacher of the month,” claimed she was fired because a parent complained over her rap career — later filming a music video with her students to announce her forced departure. Domonique Brown, who performs under the pseudonym Drippin Honey, was a US history teacher at Taylor Preparatory High School in metro Detroit before she was fired earlier this month, she revealed on social media. “Recently, I was forced to leave my position due to me being a Rapper,” Brown posted on Instagram. “A single parent’s disapproval led to my dismissal.” Brown revealed the...

The billionaire owner of Washington, DC's NHL and NBA teams has decided to move their home base to Virginia seemingly due to a child's loud rapping. Ted Leonsis announced last month that he will be moving the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards out of its current home - Capital One Arena in downtown DC - to a newly developed arena in the DC suburb of Alexandria, Virginia. Virginia State lawmakers have approved the funding and the plans to build an arena in the city's Potomac Yard Neighborhood, according to the Washington Post. Despite the mayor announcing a $500 million funding...