With the ongoing coronavirus spread causing what feels like a global quarantine state, celebratory gatherings of loved ones have temporarily become a thing of the past. Given that this past weekend was the Easter holiday, many moved to retain some semblance of tradition. That includes the hip-hop community, who took to Instagram to share family pictures and inspirational words.

“Happy Easter and keep the faith,” writes 2 Chainz, sharing a photo of his three children. “Remain optimistic and Pray.” Fresh off holding it down in a legendary producer battle against DJ Premier, the RZA chimed in with some motivational wisdom befitting of the Wu-Tang cause. “Have a Blessed Resurrection Day. Today we celebrate the resurrection of knowledge of self,” he writes. “Love of self, family, community, planet and most importantly the love of the Father of All.”

Ever the mama’s boy, Death Row’s Daz Dillinger showed some love to his mom with a heartfelt post. Even 50 Cent took a moment to showcase his softer side, teaching his young son Sire how to bake. In turn, Sire offered his father some acting tips. “This guy is so much fun, he be saying some shit,” jokes Fif. “He told me he saw my show For Life I asked if he liked it, he said it was cool but if you practice you could do better.” Cardi B also took to Instagram to share a picture of her daughter Kulture, and her husband’s cousin Quavo flooded his own driveway with a dose of Easter flair.

How did you spend your Easter holidays? 

Ever since Gucci Mane was released from prison in 2016, he's been on a positive and motivational tip. He's seemed to make peace with many people that he previously had issues with, but there are clearly others that he still has problems with. Even then, the new Gucci has been trying to motivate the people, especially after everything he's overcome in life and it's rare that we see him shed any negativity in the world.

Apparently, Easter was the day that he decided to share a little public prayer for his enemies. In wake of the Coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over 112K lives across the globe, Gucci Mane decided that the day when Jesus was resurrected from the dead was a good time to wish death upon his enemies. "I pray my haters die of corona virus," he wrote on Twitter.

Some might consider it harsh but if you think about it, it's a pretty tame insult for Gucci Mane's standards. Especially, if you consider that he once told Jeezy,  "Go dig your partner up." 

In related news, Gucci Mane has been recently building the 1017 Eskimo roster. After announcing that he has a million-dollar contract for up and coming artists, he revealed that he signed Atlanta up-and-comer Ola Runt to the label. Once the pandemic dies down, hopefully we'll be getting new music from both of them.

Vanessa Bryant shared some heartwarming footage of her daughters Bianka and Capri getting a head start on the Easter festivities this year, their first without husband and father, Kobe Bryant, and daughter and sister, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, since their tragic deaths in January. Vanessa and her three girls have been a pillar of strength since losing Kobe and Gigi in a horrific helicopter accident earlier this year. It’s never easy to spend a holiday without your loved ones who have passed, but it looks like the Bryant ladies are making the most of the somber weekend.

On Saturday, Vanessa posted a video on Instagram of 3-year-old Bianka trying to smash open a big blue Easter egg with baby Capri watching closeby. Despite Bianka’s best efforts, Vanessa decides to take matters into her own hands (literally) by using the hammer to help Bianka crack open the egg, which was sent to them by famous florist, Jeff Leatham. After pulling out a bunch of confetti, tons Easter treats are revealed to be inside the gift.

Maxx Wolfson/Getty Images

Although the oldest Bryant daughter, 17-year-old Natalia, does not make an appearance in the brief clip, there’s no doubt she’ll be spending Easter with them. Happy Easter to this beautiful family! Our thoughts are with them.

It’s been nearly a year since Kanye West and the Sunday Service took over Coachella for Easter Sunday. Unfortunately, for many who observe the holiday, Easter service likely isn’t an option due to the Coronavirus pandemic. For Kanye fans, or anyone who’s simply appreciated the rapper’s foray into gospel, Sunday Service will still go on for Easter but they’re still adhering to social distancing practices.

 Robin Marchant/Getty Images 

According to Page Six, Kanye West teamed up with Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. this weekend for a virtual edition of Sunday Service for the holiday. Pastor Wilkerson Jr. told the publication that the artist and his choir prerecorded a performance for the VOUS Church. Wilkerson’s sermon will be live streamed Facebook and YouTube, as well as the VOUS website, starting at 8 a.m. with a Spanish translation available at 11 a.m.

This announcement comes after Kanye revealed that he’d be pulling out of Joel Osteen’s Easter Sunday service. Kanye had planned to bring 100 members of his choir to perform while wearing masks and keeping six-feet apart from each other. Clearly, Kanye realized that this was still not necessarily safe and called it quits. 

Kanye still had a plan b, after all. Hopefully, once all of this is done with, Kanye will be back on the road bringing the good word of the Lord to the masses with the choir. 

Florida has always been one of the wildest states in America. Seemingly every day, there is a “Florida Man” or “Florida Woman” story that goes viral. Well, the latest one is certainly a doozy. A woman in the state, Abril Cestoni, has been arrested after filling her neighbors’ mailboxes with Easter Eggs that contained some not so wholesome insides.

Typically, you put chocolate in Easter Eggs. Cestoni decided that it would be a good idea to fill the eggs with pamphlets that contained pornographic images. In fact, Cestoni has some peculiar philosophies when it comes to religion and felt as though porn was a great way to spread those beliefs.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

“Our team did a great job in tracking this deranged offender down and taking her into custody,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “Thankfully she did not appear to be sick with COVID-19 symptoms, but she certainly needs some help. This again proves that ‘see something, say something’ works and we thank the community for being part of our guardianship policing philosophy.”

What makes this scenario interesting is the fact that it probably wasn’t even the craziest story to come out of Florida that week. Regardless, it’s good that Cestoni doesn’t have the Coronavirus because she could have endangered everyone in her community.

Cestoni is facing 11 counts for the distribution of obscene material. She also got charged for violating the COVID-19-related stay at home order.

[Via]

Over the past year or so, Kanye West has completely shifted his musical focus to gospel. The legend has transitioned to doing Sunday Service performances with his choir that has over 100 people in it. These performances are extremely popular with fans and he has been in high demand with some of the biggest churches in the world, including that of televangelist Joel Osteen. West has done performances for Osteen in the past and was even supposed to bring his Sunday Service Choir over for Easter.

Well, according to TMZ, West has decided to bow out of his scheduled performance over concerns regarding the Coronavirus. The Sunday Service Choir has over 100 members which would be almost impossible to control when it comes to social distancing. West reportedly had a plan in place that would also include wearing masks but in the end, Ye felt like it wasn’t worth it.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

The Coronavirus has put a damper on pretty well everyone’s plans over the last few weeks. It could be months and maybe even a year before we return to normal life. Musical performances and sports have suffered the biggest hit, as a result.

As for Osteen, he is expected to have other big guests like Tyler Perry and Mariah Carey. As for Kanye, we’re sure he will be working with Osteen again, in the future.

[Via]

Online Easter is about to be lit. This weekend is Easter, and typically, people would have already purchased their Sunday Best in order to show off their faith-filled 'fits at church. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused countries worldwide to clamp down on social interactions and gatherings, so church services have been canceled. There are a select few dissidents who are still calling for their congregants to meet together face-to-face, but authorities guarantee that anyone out and about during this pandemic will be cited or arrested.

Dimitrios Kambouris / Staff / Getty Images

Joel Osteen and his Lakewood Church crew are bringing a virtual Easter service to the public. Osteen is one of the most popular megachurch pastors in the world whose global audience reaches upwards of 10 million people. Viewers tune in to watch Osteen's services on television and online, but he reached a new audience after his good friend Kanye West hosted a Sunday Service musical event at Lakewood Church. The pair of famous figures were set to reunite for Osteen's big Yankee Stadium event in May, but things have obviously been sidelined for the time being.

In the meantime, TMZ reports that Osteen's online Easter service will reportedly feature Kanye, Tyler Perry, and Mariah Carey who will "deliver messages of love and support to his massive audience." The publication states that Mariah Carey will perform some sort of tribute, rumored to be her song "Hero," to thank healthcare workers for their tireless work. Tyler Perry will deliver uplifting words of encouragement, and Kanye West reportedly will return with his Sunday Service social distancing choir. It's unclear if this will be live or pre-recorded, but we're viewers won't care much either way.

This is slated to be the most interesting Easter in decades. In a non-quarantined world, Easter Sunday would see millions of people making their way to their prospectives houses of worship, but under a quarantine, people are being advised, if not outrightly told, not to gather together. However, church leaders are attempting to bypass these ordinances that have been set in place for the health and safety of citizens. Some leaders have called for drive-in services where people come together but stay inside of their vehicles, while others have told their congregations to just come to church regardless of what authorities say.

Kristy Sparow / Stringer / Getty Images

The polarizing topic has divided believers, but John Legend has used his platform to advise people against going to church for the time being. "Don't let these pastors kill your auntie or grandparent," Legend tweeted. A fan wrote that there are some pastors and church leaders who are telling their congregants that this pandemic is a "test of [their] faith." Basically, if you don't go to church, you don't trust God or have faith. John Legend doesn't care what anyone thinks, he just doesn't want people to get sick.

"I say this as a pastor's grandson and nephew. I know how hard it is for many churches to pay their mortgage and that most pastors aren't anywhere near rich and rely on the weekly offering to make things work for themselves and their congregation. BUT. DO. NOT. GO. TO. CHURCH," he added. 

Donald Trump is extending social distancing guidelines through April 30, as he announced at a White House briefing, Sunday.

Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images

“Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won. That would be the greatest loss of all,” he said. “The better you do, the faster this whole nightmare will end. Therefore, we will be extending our guidelines to April 30, to slow the spread.”

He continued to explain that the death rate is expected to peak in two weeks. This played a key role in his decision: “The modeling estimates that the peak in death rate is likely to hit in two weeks. I will say it again. The peak, the highest point of death rates, remember this, is likely to hit in 2 weeks.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci provided his rough estimate for the eventual death toll, Sunday, saying, “I mean, looking at what we’re seeing now, you know, I would say between 100 and 200,000 [deaths]. But I don’t want to be held to that.”

New York is critically low on supplies. Mayor Bill de Blasio told CNN the city has enough medical supplies to last one week: “We have enough supplies to get to a week from today with the exception of ventilators. We’re going to need at least several hundred more ventilators very quickly. But we have otherwise the supplies to get to next Sunday.”

[Via]

LeBron James and the rest of the NBA are stuck at home right now through no fault of their own. Of course, we’re all at home right now due to the Coronavirus. With LeBron off of the court, we haven’t been able to see him in new colorways of the Nike LeBron 17. Even with this being the case, Nike has still made it a point to show off new colorways, particularly of the new low top version. 

The latest offering to be revealed is this “Easter” model. As you can see, the entire upper is covered in creamy beige while the back heel has a blue crown on one foot and an orange crown on the other. These little hints of color help make this more of an Easter-themed shoe. While many of you probably won’t be hitting the court anytime soon, these could certainly be a great cop in preparation for what is to come.

If you want to scoop these up, they will be dropping in Europe on May 16th for $160 USD. A stateside release date has yet to be determined so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Image Nike

Image Nike

Image Nike

Image Nike

Image Nike