Author: djfrosty
Page: 194
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Source: @WakaFlocka / Twitter
Waka Flocka Flame will be appearing at a gala hosted by Black conservatives for the second inauguration of Donald Trump, with Antonio Brown among the other featured guests.
As President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration approaches later this month, multiple events are being finalized. One of them will be the Legacy of Freedom Ball, organized by the Black Conservatives Federation, which has added Waka Flocka Flame to its lineup of guests. The federation has promised “an evening of elegance and unparalleled celebration” to honor Trump for his second presidential term. However, the addition of Waka Flocka Flame has drawn derision to the event from observers. “Embarrassing,” was the commentary from activist Deray Mckesson in a post sharing the flyer on X, formerly Twitter.
Embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/3nenAwJIdo
— deray (@deray) December 30, 2024
The other guests that have been to the gala include Brooklyn rapper Fivio Foreign, former NFL star receiver Antonio Brown, former ESPN host and sports journalist Sage Steele, former Florida Lieutenant Governor Jennifer Carroll, and evangelist Dr. Alveda King, the niece of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King and Steele will serve as honorary event chairs along with two Republican members of Congress, Florida Representative Byron Donalds and Texas Representative Wesley Hunt. Noted conservative media figure Kimberly Klacik will serve as the mistress of ceremonies.
Waka Flocka’s inclusion in the event is unsurprising, considering that he’s been an avid supporter of Donald Trump publicly since early last year. The Queens-born, Atlanta-based artist even declared that if Vice President Kamala Harris had won the presidential election in November, he would leave the United States. He defended his position in a post on X, formerly Twitter, last July.
“Trump still my president. I don’t have to stand with a red hat or dance [on] stage for money in my pockets,” he continued. “[It] Didn’t push me [in] this direction. This is my choice like I choose not to eat pork, but do that make me hate pork lovers or disrespect their character…nor will I act like [it].” Waka Flocka Flame was not alone in declaring his support of Trump either on the rap front, as Fivio Foreign was present at a Trump rally last year. They join Kodak Black, who has gone on record of supporting the president-elect after receiving a pardon from him back in 2021.
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Lil Baby last dropped a full-length album in 2022’s It’s Only Me which was a solid outing from the southwest Atlanta rapper and was thought by many to be the next step in his burgeoning stardom. Three years later, Lil Baby dropped his fourth studio album WHAM (Who Hard As Me) and the early returns on X are in with fans giving their knee-jerk opinions as expected.
Hype for Lil Baby’s latest project bubbled at a steady rate in 2024 with Young Thug dropping cryptic tweets suggesting that the pair were soon to cook up something for the masses. As the months rolled on, LB dropped a series of teasers, including sharing a partial tracklist on social media before he officially announced his new album at his birthday concert last month.
Now that the project is here, our first listen to the album reveals that LB hasn’t lost his gift for melody while keeping the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach to the music. The guests on WHAM are also perfectly hand-selected with Young Thug and Future showing up for the early standout track “Dum, Dumb, and Dumber” and GloRilla put on a scene-stealing show on “Redbone.”
Other features include “By Myself” featuring Rylo Rodriguez and Rod Wave, and Travis Scott shows up for the “Stuff” track. What many fans online are zeroing in on is 21 Savage’s feature verse on the track “Outfit” with some believing the Slaughter Gang star is shouting out Drake while throwing a slight shot toward Kendrick Lamar.
Lil Baby should get most of the credit for carrying the project as his mix of sing-song trap anthems and some rare moments of vulnerability highlight how well-rounded an artist he’s become over the years. However, and we’re not sure why, but the reactions are mixed with some believing the production doesn’t match LB’s talent while other fans are enjoying the output.
On X, the reactions to WHAM are still coming in and we’ve got them listed below.
Where I’m from, your heart and your hustle is everything.
WHAM | 1-3-25 | Pre-Save https://t.co/znTirK9Gho pic.twitter.com/HcnTYhpRcl
— Lil Baby (@whamcbfw4) December 30, 2024
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Photo: Prince Williams / Getty
PinkPantheress is prepping a return this year. The 23-year-old English singer/songwriter born Victoria Walker who cancelled all her remaining 2024 tour dates in August — including planned gigs opening for Olivia Rodrigo and Coldplay and her own Capable of Love headlining tour — to focus on her “physical health and overall wellbeing” teased a re-emergence […]
Neil Young has announced that he will be headlining Glastonbury Festival in June, just days after he said that he would withdraw from the festival and called it a “corporate turn-off.”
Earlier this week (Jan. 1), Young wrote on his website: “The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all time favorite outdoor gigs,” Young wrote in the brief update. “We were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in. It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being.”
He continued, “We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be. Hope to see you at one of the other venues on the tour.”
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The Canadian rocker made a new statement on his website on Friday (Jan. 3) posting: “Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not play the Glastonbury festival, which I always have loved. Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing! Hope to see you there!”
The festival will take place at Worthy Farm, Somerset in England on June 25-29, and he will perform with his new band The Chrome Hearts. Young previously topped the bill in June 2009.
At the time of his withdrawal, Young did not expand on the role that the BBC had played in his decision to withdraw. The BBC has been a longtime partner of the festival, broadcasting performances across television, radio and online. In 2009, the BBC broadcast a number of Young’s songs on its channels. In recent years entire sets from headliners have been broadcast live; in 2024, Coldplay and Dua Lipa’s sets were streamed globally on the BBC website.
Festival boss Emily Eavis confirmed the news on her personal Instagram account: “What a start to the year! Neil Young is an artist who’s very close to our hearts at Glastonbury. He does things his own way and that’s why we love him. We can’t wait to welcome him back here to headline the Pyramid in June.”
Young is the first headliner confirmed for 2025’s edition. Other names such as The 1975, Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles, Sam Fender and more have all been rumoured to appear. Sir Rod Stewart will take on the traditional Legend’s Slot on the Sunday afternoon.
In November 2024, Young revealed plans for a European tour, which will feature mostly outdoor venues. He followed up with another message on Wednesday (Jan. 1), telling Neil Young Archives readers that “tour announcements for the summer are coming very soon.”
The Wanted‘s Max George has given fans another update about his health. After revealing plans to spend the Christmas holiday in hospital to deal with an undisclosed heart problem, the 36-year-old former boy bander said he is headed back to deal with some additional issues.
In an Instagram video posted earlier this week, George noted that he’d had a pacemaker installed to help regulate his heartbeat before saying that he was scheduled to go back to the hospital again this week due to some issues with the device. “I’ve been getting this flicking feeling in the left side of my chest,” he said in the clip in which he’s petting his bulldog Albert.
“I’m actually getting it right now,” he said in the video. “I was wondering if you guys knew what it might be or if you’ve experienced it yourself because the doctors aren’t too sure. Maybe it’s touching a nerve and it’ll go away in time or they might have to move a wire slightly, but I’m all ears because all I’m doing is research. I know nothing about pacemakers. This came completely out of the blue. Any information I could get would be most appreciated.”
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Fans, of course, were more than happy to weigh in after George captioned the post with a request for any help his followers might be able offer. “Hubby has heart failure and has an ICD fitted (defibrillator + pacemaker in one) and he has a Boston Device on his bedside cabinet which downloads automatically and sends to the hospital. He had a shock – the hospital knew and called us straight away. They also know when he paces irregularly. Look into this Max. You’ll be okay,” wrote one.
Another said their mom is a nurse and she said that it was likely just the pacemaker’s battery regulating his heartbeat and that things should be fine, while another one had a similar device installed said they’ve had that feeling before and it’s likely a matter of needing a small adjustment.
In a December 10 update, George posted a picture of his chest after the pacemaker surgery, writing, “Say hello to my little friend! Given the last 10 days, this is the best Christmas present I could have ever wished for. Pacemaker is in. Operation took around 2 and half hours. The main issue being some of my veins had collapsed where the wires were meant to go… But the hospital surgeons, doctors and nurses at the NHS have been incredible. I owe everything to them.”
He added that the surgeon installed the device just under a “very special tattoo” on his chest, the date 04.08.1988, the birth date of his former Wanted bandmate, Tom Parker, who died in 2022 at age 33 due to brain cancer.
While it’s been a rough month, on New Year’s Eve George gave thanks for everything he has, writing, “2024.. Certainly a year I won’t forget! So lucky to have the life that I have. I can’t wait for the next chapter, no matter what challenges lie ahead. I wish everyone an amazing night tonight.. and that 2025 brings you good health and the best year!”
British boy band The Wanted – whose other members inclue Nathan Sykes, Jay McGuiness, Siva Kaneswaran and the late Parker — went on indefinite hiatus in 2014. After Parker’s death, the living members reunited to re-record their song “Gold Forever” in his honor. George and Kaneswaran got together earlier this year to form The Wanted 2.0, with the duo touring the U.K. last summer, with brief another run of English dates planned for this year, including a pair of summer festival gigs.
Check out George’s video below.
Just a few days in, Kesha is already having a killer 2025. The “Delusional” singer took to X on Thursday (Jan. 2) to crow about the fact that her debut single, “Tik Tok,” is back on top again. “It was 15 years ago that I got my first #1 song! YALL did that. And the […]
Former Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee says he’s lucky to be alive following a sepsis diagnosis over the holiday period.
The Swedish percussionist shared news of his health scare on social media on Thursday (Dec. 2), explaining that he had been hospitalized following a blood infection he described as “very serious”.
“I was admitted for three weeks but now I am home fighting this bastard bacteria,” he shared. “Thankfully, I have received fantastic care at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, my hometown.
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“So thanks a million to all the Doctors and Nurses that have been giving me the most excellent care,” he added. “After several operations, I am now back home and the numbers are all going in the right direction. Still lots of recovery and rehab in front of me.”
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In an interview with Swedish publication Aftonbladet, Dee expanded upon the experience. He told the outlet that what began as a simple sprain quickly evolved into something far worse on the weekend before Christmas.
“The ankle swelled up like hell, then it took on a weird shape and appearance and looked like an overcooked ham,” Dee said. “I became very ill so I had to go by ambulance to Sahlgrenska and there they found that I had sky-high values, so I became priority one there.
“It was surgery right away, the first of three. They cut away what was dead and infected and badly infested. It was not a good journey I was on… Another day and I’d be playing drums with Lemmy in heaven. I can say that.”
In some strange synchronicity, Dee’s brush with death occurred almost nine years to the day since his Motörhead bandmate Lemmy Kilmister passed away, on Dec. 28, 2015. Notably, his health scare also took place mere weeks after he took to social media to refute premature reports of his death.
First rising to fame as a member of Danish outfit King Diamond in the ’80s, a stint with Don Dokken saw Dee recruited by Motörhead to replace Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor on drums. Dee would remain with the group until their 2015 dissolution in the wake of Lemmy’s passing, and joined German rockers the Scorpions the following year.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is destined to always evolve, says chairman John Sykes, but while new categories could arrive in the future, a new name for the establishment is out of the question.
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Sykes’ comments were published in a new interview with Vulture, which arrived on Tuesday (Dec. 31), just one day before the 2024 Rock Hall induction ceremony hit streaming services. In the piece, Sykes opens up about the current state of the foundation, and touches on previous calls for a name change, especially given how more pop and hip-hop artists have found themselves inducted in recent years.
“I think it’s because some people don’t understand the meaning of rock and roll,” Sykes explains. “If you go back to the original sound in the ’50s, it was everything. As Missy Elliott calls it, it was a gumbo. It just became known as rock and roll. So when I hear people say, ‘You should just change it to the Music Hall of Fame,’ rock and roll has pretty much covered all of that territory. Rather than throwing the name out, it’s doing a better job of communicating to people where rock and roll came from and what it’s truly about. Once they hear it that way, they understand.
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“The best story to convey this was when a great friend of mine, Jay-Z, got inducted a few years ago,” he continued. “I was so excited. But he told me, ‘Rock is dead. It should be called the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame.’ And I said, ‘Well, hip-hop is rock and roll.’ He goes, ‘No, it isn’t.’ And I said, ‘We’ve got to do a better job explaining it. Little Richard, Otis Redding, Chuck Berry — these artists were the cornerstones of rock and roll. If you look at the sounds over the years, those artists ended up influencing hip-hop.’ Jay-Z hemmed and hawed, but he showed up to the ceremony. That made me feel like we had done our job to communicate that rock and roll is open to all.”
These comments echo Sykes’ previous recollection of the discussion, as printed in Jay-Z’s Book of HOV just last month.
“My last words, as I pleaded for Jay to come to Cleveland to accept his award, were that rock n’ roll is not any one sound, rather a gumbo,” he wrote. “To paraphrase the great Berry Gordy, rock n’ roll created the sound of young America. It’s a spirit, and the spirit of hip-hop and rap connected rock n’ roll with an entirely new generation.”
Elsewhere in his new discussion, Sykes also looked towards the future of the Rock Hall and the potential for further new categories. While the annual induction ceremony has always featured Performers, Musical Influences (previously called ‘Early Influences’ before 2023), and the Ahmet Ertegun Award (previously called ‘Non-Performers’ before 2008) as categories, it has expanded further in the past.
In 2000, the Rock Hall introduced the Sidemen category to honor those who are often overlooked in the grand scheme of things, with the category being renamed the Award for Musical Excellence in 2010. Likewise, between 2018 and 2020, roughly half-a-dozen songs were chosen each year as the singles that shaped rock history. As Sykes explains, there’s the potential to dig even deeper into the music industry to honor those who keep the industry turning.
“We’ve discussed ways we could recognize not only artists but those around them who’ve had an impact on the sound of rock and roll. Fans often don’t even know who helped break these artists,” he added. “It could be record-company presidents, it could be lawyers, it could be agents. We also want to look at specific songs that change culture. That could be another category.”
Concluding his interview, Sykes also discussed a number of artists who have been overlooked in previous years, including The B-52s, “Weird Al” Yankovic, the Pixies, and Phil Collins‘ solo career.
Labelling Yankovic a “genius” who is yet to make it “close” to the ballot, Sykes expressed confidence that the others may make it in some day.
“There’s been a group of nominees who’ve been passionate about the Pixies,” he said. “The same thing with Warren Zevon, who actually did get on the ballot one year. I’m passionate about Warren, and he’ll get in, too. But the Pixies have had a lot of support.”
Yolanda Saldívar, the obsessed fan who was sent to prison for the murder of Tejano superstar Selena in 1995, has started the parole review process, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Saldívar, who is now 64, was found guilty of murdering Selena on Oct. 23, 1995, and later sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 30 years. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s website lists her parole review date as March 30, 2025, and notes that the parole review process begins roughly six month before an inmate’s parole eligibility date for a first review, with an institutional parole officer responsible for reviewing the inmate’s file “for all appropriate documents, including letters of support and protest.” After reviewing the file and interviewing the inmate, the officer prepares a case summary for a “Board voting panel,” which “normally will vote on the case just prior to the parole eligibility date.”
A former nurse who insinuated herself into Selena’s orbit during the singer’s rise to fame, Saldívar founded the star’s official fan club and was later named manager of her Selena Etc. clothing boutiques. However, the relationship soured after Selena and her family accused Saldívar of embezzling money from Selena’s businesses and fired her from her role.
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Things came to a tragic end on March 31, 1995, during a meeting between Selena and Saldívar at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Tex., when Saldívar shot Selena in the shoulder with a .38-caliber revolver as Selena, who had come to retrieve financial records, attempted to flee. The singer succumbed to her injuries that afternoon, just two weeks shy of her 24th birthday. Saldívar surrendered after a more than nine-hour standoff with police. She has long maintained that the shooting was an accident.
Selena’s death was followed by a massive outpouring of public grief, with mourners numbering in the tens of thousands attending a viewing of the singer’s open casket ahead of her funeral. She has since been recognized as one of the most influential Latin artists in history, helping usher in the mainstream popularity of Tejano music. Following her death, five of her singles hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Tracks chart, and her final studio album, Dreaming of You, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with its title track also rising to No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her life has been dramatized in both a hit 1997 feature film starring Jennifer Lopez and Netflix’s Selena: The Series starring Christian Serratos as the late singer.
V and Park Hyo Shin got festive to wrap up 2024, and it earned them a win on Billboard‘s recent fan-voted poll for best K-pop song of the year. Getting into the spirit of the season, fans voted for V and Park Hyo Shin’s collaboration, “Winter Ahead,” which won the competition with 50% of the […]