Last week Lil’ Kim, Mya, Chilli, B.Simone, Pretty Vee, and two of Kim’s best friends set sail on their vacation through the Caribbean. Today the ladies and the crew of the extravagant yacht end up in Barbados for some fun on this week’s episode of Girl’s Cruise.
The episode opens up with B.Simone and Pretty Vee grabbing breakfast. When they sit down to eat, they notice Chef and Dreads strategically in their line of sight working out. Wanting to focus on the most important meal of the day, they get the two fit crew members to leave. The two Wild ‘N Out cast members bond over a conversation about confidence and being who they are unapologetically.
They later meet up, and B.Simone reveals she is going to shoot her shot at Dreads, unbeknownst to her, she will get her chance cause Kim is going to invite the boys out. Vee is a hater though and claims she knows that B.Simone’s crush is broke because of his footwear.
The next stop on the Girl’s Cruise is Barbados the home of Kim’s “homie” Rihanna. Before they disembark, Rome breaks down the itinerary that we know right off the bat Chilli will not participate in. He also reveals to Mya that he’s gonna need her to perform when they get to one of their destinations, she is taken by surprise but is ready to put on a show.
When they arrive at the club, the boys immediately hop on the mechanical bull and put their riding skills on display. Rome and Chef fail miserably at riding the bull except for the one gay crew member who boasts that he’s pretty good at riding bulls.
Moving on, Rome hits the stage to get the party started, and he calls out Chilli to come dance with her. Shockingly the now super conservative popstar lets loose for once and shows she still has a few dance moves left while rocking her Madea drip. Now it’s time for Mya’s performance, and even though the singer is a seasoned vet, Mya was very anxious leading up to it. Her concerns at first were justified, as she begins singing the power cuts off her during her set forcing her to walk off stage. She comes back to finish the small show, and she does not disappoint with a thrilling performance of her classic single “Fallen.”
As promised though we get our first taste of drama among the girls. While shouting everyone to come to the stage, Mya seemingly forgets Lil’Kim’s best friend Tiffany’s name. She smoothly plays it off by handing the microphone off to Kim, giving her the honor to call up her bestie. It’s too late though because everyone noticed.
During another excursion to Rihanna’s home where she grew up, Kim pressed Mya about the flub at the concert. While Kim thinks the singer could have handled things better, Mya clearly isn’t bothered about the situation. It looks like the situation will carry over into next weeks episode of Girl’s Cruise.
But until then hit the gallery to see the reactions to Chilli’s grandma attire, Mya forgetting Tiffany’s name and the other shenanigans that took place.
VH1’s latest show Girl’s Cruise set sail this week on the network. The show, which is basically like Girl’s Trip on a boat sailing across the Caribbean seas features Lil’ Kim as the captain. She is joined by singer Mya, TLC’s Chilli, Wild ‘N Out regulars Pretty Vee and B.Simone plus Tiffany Panhilason and Char Defrancesco.
In the first episode, we meet each of the cast members before they set sail on their fantastic voyage. It promises to showcase “self-exploration and sisterhood” with a mix of drama, emotional breakthroughs, and romantic linkups. Right off the bat what each cast member is going to bring to the new reality series.
Lil’ Kim is basically is in charge as far as dictating the group adventures while they travel to different locations while on the luxurious yacht. Mya is down for whatever and just wants to have fun with her friends, mind you, she still looks fine as hell. Chilli, on the other hand, is basically Jada Pinkett-Smith’s character from Girl’s Trip. She is the Debbie Downer of the group and doesn’t really want to partake in any of the activities. Viewers basically began to question why is she even on the boat in the first place. B. Simone and Pretty Vee are just happy they got chosen to be the boat while Tiffany and Char are…just there.
After we meet the cast, we also meet the crew who is comprised of attractive men who will come into play later on in the season.
With all the formalities out of the way it’s time to embark, we learn immediately that Chilli has basically given her life to the lord and is celibate. Kim will be basically testing how strong her will is the entire trip as she refuses to sip alcohol, or as she calls it “devils juice.” She also balks at every activity they do in the episode which included using hydro jet pack and taking a dip in the ocean via a slide attached the luxe yacht.
Despite Chilli saying nah to everything, Lil’ Kim put on her boots literally to participate. Her hydro jet pack moment got off to a rocky start, unfortunately.
The episode closed out with everyone not named Chilli sliding down the huge slide into the ocean with Kim doing in epic style. For the most part, viewers enjoy all of the positivity but are definitely wondering why in the world is Chilli even on the boat if she is not gonna partake. You can hit the gallery below to see all the reactions to the premiere episode of Girl’s Trip.
Last week, Ryan confronted Van for this struggle tattoos that resulted in the shop being sued and landed another person in the hospital. This week the crew prep for another tattoo convention, this time in Chicago and yes it went precisely as you thought more drama.
Ryan is a hard working business owner, he is exhausted, and who can blame him, he has to run not one but two shops and at the same time have to deal with some ratchet employees. On top of that, he is busy prepping for the tattoo convention coming up in his hometown with only adds to his exhaustion, but he is all about his money and knows the work doesn’t stop. With that said Ryan has to pick and the artist he wants to rep the 9Mag brand he goes with Phor and Van despite his ass getting sued for his terrible work, but they are more confident about this convention this go-around because Charmaine is not in charge of putting it together.
Speaking of Charmaine, it’s her birthday, and even though she no longer works for 9Mag, she still is family, and the crew comes together to celebrate. Ryan salutes her for stepping away and understands she needed a break when he asked her if she was coming back to the shop, Charmaine quickly shut that down with an emphatic nah. But she expresses she still lovers her 9Mag bros.
Back at the shop, Bella, Lily, and Slam catch up. During their conversation, Bella reveals that she has been struggling as a single mother. Her daughter’s father has been non-existent and mentions she wants to take him to court for child support, as she should. The situation is clearly taking its toll on her, and she breaks down in tears talking about it, and who can blame her when you been trying your best to raise a child on your own for 2 years with no help from your baby daddy financially you will eventually break down.
Fast forward, Bella reveals that she managed to get in contact with her daughter’s dad, and he agreed to come to see her. While waiting for him at the shop, she is quickly disappointed to learn that he flaked on his child and instead sends his sister to meet Bella and the child. Bella, even though disappointed, is happy to see her daughters aunt, but now she knows she needs to take his sorry ass to court to get those coins.
It’s convention time, and it turns out to be sort of a reunion. Lily, who wasn’t invited to join the 9Mag crew, decided to show and open up her own booth alongside Reese. Now to refresh your memory, Reese accused Junior — who also conveniently showed up at this tattoo convention — of hitting her in a previous season, video evidence later cleared him any wrongdoing. Another former 9Mag employee, Cobra who is also at the convention working also claimed she saw Junior put hands on Reese and despite seeing the footage double-downed on her accusation claiming it was doctored. So you can already sense where the energy is going, Van doesn’t make the situation any better when he tells his former co-worker that both of his accusers are there.
Both Junior and his girlfriend are walking around the convention drunk out of their minds, so they are both already on ten. Junior confronts Cobra and the two step outside to have a conversation about the incident. Again Cobra doesn’t apologize and seemingly sticks to her claims that Reese was a victim and Junior doesn’t deserve an apology. The inebriated tattoo artist heard enough and ends the “heart to heart” and heads back inside.
Now, this is where things get spicy, Junior tells his girlfriend what happened, she already doesn’t like Lily after the incident between the two last season. Despite Junior telling her not to approach his former employee, she does so anyway, and an argument breaks out. At first words and drinks were being thrown back and forth before security can get between the both of them.
Things seem to calm down, but somehow security allows Junior’s girlfriend to get close enough to Lily and she grabs her hair and yanks her ponytail. Despite her getting sneaked up on, Lily manages to hold her own. A brawl ensues with Ryan and watching in disappointment and working at the same time. He knows even though Lily and Junior are not there repping the 9Mag, he is somehow gonna be connected to the mess and he is absolutely right. He packs up his gear and bounces understandably upset with what transpired.
Welp, as you can imagine the ratchet shenanigans that went down at the convention plus the Apryl Jones shooting her shot at Ryan on next week’s episode already have #BlackInkChi fans talking. You can peep all the reactions in the gallery below.
It’s been exactly one week since the 9Mag team’s trip to Miami. Instead of coming back together, the crew came back one short with Charmaine leaving after her brothers chose Lily over her. They are now back home being down one team member is the least of Ryan’s worries.
The episode opens up with Charmaine formally of 9Mag back at her radio station gig. While reflecting on the passing of Nipsey Hussle, she realizes that life is too short for her to be worried about “petty ass drama.” She still feels some kind of way after her “brothers” chose the n-word abuser over her, and we don’t blame her one bit. ‘
Back at her old job, the crew is embracing Lily already. After begging her ass off for a booth in Ryan’s new shop, she decided that new rules and professionalism was not her cup of tea and she rather be knee deep in the drama. Van is sad to see Charmaine go, but he’s happy to have Lily back in the shop because she is a talented artist. Meanwhile in the new 9Mag, while going through his mail Ryan gets a surprise, instead of fan mail, he learns himself, the shop and Van are getting sued for a struggle cover-up tattoo the manager of old 9Mag did on a client that looked like something Donna would have done.
Van’s problems don’t stop there while learning from Ryan about the lawsuit the 9Mag owner informs his brother about another tattoo he did that landed another client in the hospital after it got infected. Ryan is not too happy cause he feels this is making him and his business look funny in the light and in his confessional states if it happens again Van will be “tattooing in a parking lot.”. Ryan also reveals that the client is on the way to talk to Van about the tattoo of his deceased brother that became infected. After a discussion, the client decides he won’t sue due to 9Mag being a black-owned business and to ease things over, Ryan agrees to do his tattoo.
RIGHT after Van got hip to the lawsuit for his black out tattoo, Ryan tells him that he did ANOTHER TATTOO that landed someone in the hospital! #BlackInkCHIpic.twitter.com/xfIyjPAIBS
In more Van news, he is also got some drama going on at home. When he wanted to surprise his daughter with the keys to a Land Rover he bought for her birthday, he finds out that his daughter has been smoking weed in the house. Of course, he is upset and decides to not give her the car due to feeling disrespected.
"You smoking weed in my m*****f****** HOUSE?!?!?!"
Shine is back on the scene after leaving due to the unprofessionalism he saw first hand. Ryan invites the tattoo artist to do some guest work in his new shop, and he is impressed with how Ryan is running things. While the 9Mag owner is happy to see Shine is back, Van and Don are not too thrilled. Shine could care less how they feel anyway, he is more focused on shooting his shot at Lily.
Last but certainly not least, Don and Ashley are doing house shopping. The couple’s agent takes them to a two-story home, and they immediately fall in love with it. BUT when Don learns the house will cost him damn near $900,000 he realizes that Ashley’s dream home is out of his price range.
Unfortunately, the agent informs Don that they were declined but was approved for a $200,000 loan. Despite the bad news, Don is more determined than ever to get his wife the home she wants.
As you can imagine, there were plenty of thoughts on this episode, especially about Van’s struggle tattoos. You can see all the reactions in the gallery below.
The smoke has settled and Rare Breed Entertainment’s Lift His Soul 5 was a huge success. Highlighted by the generational collision between Harlem’s returning veteran Jae Millz and the new kid running the block, K-Shine, LHS5 proved that if you are an industry cat coming into this arena… you better be ready to play.
Despite all the tough talk at the press conference, video blogs, social media tirades, not everyone could deliver the win that they promised at the event at Club Drom on Saturday.
Drom was packed, wall to wall. The tight squeeze did not stop the fans from enjoying the show. Kicking off the show was the one round SK battles. Eyse Kold came out swinging against Zay Smoove. Both men delivered a valiant effort but it seemed like Eyse’s bars hit harder (especially after he won the crowd over). Then, there was KD vs Butta From Da Block. Butta held it down for the block as he seemed to overpower KD with delivery, bars, and performance.
Transitioning to the three-round format, Shooney Da Rapper took on QB Black Diamond. As the only women on the card, they proved to be just as disrespectful and lyrical as their aggressive male counterparts. As an illustration, during the press conference, Shooney appeared as the pretty one with the sharp tongue. Looking pretty, she slighted QB for taking battles at “hole in the wall” spots. Meanwhile, QB came back hard with the statement that could simply not be scoffed at, “For four bands, I’m focused on the bag.” The disrespect was on high and continued on the Saturday stage. QB represented Connecticut well. Even pointing out that Shooney had relocated to CT, suggesting that she wanted to be like her. Not letting any slick shots slide, QB turned up the disrespect more than a few notches and swayed the crowd. With momentum on her side, she was persistent with bars, and aggression throughout her performance. Both ladies not only gave a good show but demonstrated that female battle rap is still alive and well. We score it 3-0 for QB.Fans have been saying that the battle is debatable. While you heard more people saying QB won, those who give it to Shooney did so because she possessed the fuller package. Queen of The Ring owner, Debo, gave it to Shooney and the two of them have been at odds for a while now.
Then there was the long overdue meeting between Jimz and Kitchen Qleen. All weekend, Qleen maintained that this was a battle that no one wanted to see. In fact, at the press conference, he told Jimz, “don’t nobody give a fuck about this. Y’all know who they here to see.” He continued, “The only reason this battle got any hype is because I no-showed you twice.” If you thought that was funny, he took the cake when he said, “I took this battle so I could watch Jae Millz vs K-Shine live, for free.”
Fast forward to the main stage Jimz came out punching in round one. Clearly, he was relieved to get a few things off his chest. Still, Qleeen seemed to laugh it off as he kept churning out comical-aggressive bars. Even so, Jimz kept firing back. In the third, Qleen, got a little personal and the crowd responded to his effort. And that is it in a nutshell. If anyone says that Jimz won (and no slight to Jimz cause he gets busy), it is a lukewarm win because QP did not come to cook the entire battle… though he did better than what people thought he would. Jimz is an incredible rapper that understands his craft. He just needs opponents that respect him enough to not make him always look like he is over prepared for people who feel like they could roll out the bed and beat him. 2-1 either way.
Next, was the main event Qleen said we all came to see: Jae Millz vs K-Shine.
It seemed like the walls were beginning to sweat as the crowd multiplied and the heat was introduced. Sporting his “Showtime” grey, purple and gold Zip Em’ Up sweatsuit, Shine was ready to work. Millz stayed true to his era as he took the stage wearing the classic Larry Bird Celtics warm-up. Millz revealed later revealed boxer Adrien Broner bet $10k on Shine to win. (Dang… sorry bro!)
Shine won the toss and dictated the pace early on. Describing this verbal fight like a boxing match: Shine was throwing haymakers, uppercuts and sticking the jab, mixing up the combos. His delivery won the crowd. Though the first round was his best round, Millz seemed to be limited in what he could do in this era of clever spit kickers. Shine locked up the momentum, tapping into his well seasoned arsenal of battle tricks. Pulling charisma and punching out of the bag (time and time again), he made Millz seem old and out of date. It did not help that Millz kept saying, “Y’all sleep,” further dismissing the crowd for not getting his rhymes.
The crowd held no punches as the 3-0 chants echoed through the building. We could not help but reflect on what Millz said exclusively to The Source at the RBE LHS5 press conference and he said, “After I show y’all I can do it in this era, what’s the conversation? I’m back, battle rap ain’t safe!” Too bad it did not go his way.
We were not the only ones excited to see Millz return to battle rap. Actually, we salute him for aiming at the top. But the hard truth is he will need to sharpen his steel if he wants to be a threat in this era. Perhaps, he should speak to Goodz. He has been able to compete in several eras and not be seen as an old head but as a competitor. Goodz was there in the classic street battle days (think about when he told Aye Verb he had to go attend to a lady and would not be battling in the street), and just had a debatable battle with Tay Roc (many said he won) earlier this year.
DNA spoke with 15 Minutes of Fame Radio and he acknowledged the significance of winning the crowd. “In battles it be momentum… It be shit I be saying, but if I don’t have the crowd its over. Whether they got it or not, that thing was clear [3-0].”
We also spoke exclusively with Jimz after the battle regarding the winner of Millz vs Shine. He said, “Quote me: Shine dirty 30.”
Last was supposed to be Ill Will vs Calicoe. However, due to time constraints, the show continued outside the venue. Taking things back to the essence, they battled in the traditional circled crowd. Though not planned, this is a nod to a gloss down direction in battle rap that we adore. URL does this well with their new series Banned and the Volume series. Salute to A.R.P. for making sure we received the link to this battle. Millz vs Shine was cool for the culture, but Will vs Calicoe was indeed a classic.
Bar-for-Bar, showmanship-for-showmanship, even with no additional crowd, both men brought their best.
Two Michigan men, anytime two titans of the same city battle, the energy is electric. Ending round one, Will makes it clear he didn’t come to play.
“I saw what you did to[Tay] Roc and [Pat] Stay and the lack of damage they done. But I’m not Roc, nor Stay… You better handle that son! Play me like Roc and Stay, You gon’ get Rocked and Stay on the ground till the ambulance come.”
Calicoe stood his ground in the second round.
“In yo trailer, you said, ‘Calicoe never liked me.’ You sound like a bitch. He from the Mich–Why wouldn’t I fuck with him? X called me like, ‘You notice Will start dissin’ Team Homi’ At the time we still tryna’ kill New York niggas–you siding with em’. So it ain’t like I just didn’t like you. I said fuck you-you NY nigga, you dying with em’ don’t get sidetracked.”
Both men maintain they have no issues beyond rap. Even so, Cal got a little too close to Will by the end of round two and a brief struggle ensued. With everything unfolding on camera, A.R.P restored order and the third round commenced. An all-around classic battle, to say the least. We have to call this a 2-1 either way.
In closing, 2018 has been an amazing year for the battle rap. Salute to A.R.P. and RBE for continuing to elevate the soul of the culture.
#GirlsCruise @TheBSimone pic.twitter.com/zeEMXU7E2X
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Fly high, babe!!! 
