State Champ Radio Author: djfrosty
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Trending on Billboard
Former Dancing With the Stars pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd didn’t dance around their feelings on the subject of Taylor Swift backup dancer Jan Ravnik being cast as a professional dancer on the show.
On a recent episode of Murgatroyd’s The Penthouse With Peta podcast, she and Chmerkovskiy — who both previously served as resident pros in past seasons of the competition series and have been married since 2017 — questioned Ravnik’s place on the program. After accompanying the pop superstar on her global Eras Tour for nearly two years, the Slovenian-born dancer joined the cast of DWTS as a coach in August.
“Jan has absolutely no business being a pro on Dancing With the Stars,” Chmerkovskiy said frankly. “There’s zero foundation, technique, quality, understanding of the partnership.”
“Bro, I’m getting emotional,” he continued, rejecting Murgatroyd’s claim that Ravnik should be given “grace” as it’s only his first season on the show. “It is absurd. It’s unreal how blind we have to be, and God forbid say what’s obviously there. He had no idea what the foxtrot is supposed to look like. How are you going to expect him to teach it and deliver that message in a format that is completely different?”
Billboard has reached out to DWTS producers for comment.
The podcast comes shortly after Ravnik advanced to the next round of DWTS with his celebrity partner, Jen Affleck of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, following their performance on a Wicked-themed episode of the show featuring guest judge Jon M. Chu. The duo scored 8’s across the board — but Murgatroyd said she thinks Affleck is at a disadvantage with the Eras Tour alum as her partner.
“I feel bad, because she’s not getting taught the basics that she needs to,” said the podcaster. “He’s a Taylor Swift dancer, it’s the obvious reason why he was hired — apart from that, he’s a lovely guy, he looks great, he’s a great dancer.”
Despite Ravnik’s positive qualities, Murgatroyd added: “Hiring a non-ballroom dancer to teach ballroom dancing to a celebrity as a job is outrageous.”
The 34th season of DWTS kicked off in mid-September. In addition to Affleck, Whitney Leavitt — also of Mormon Wives fame — as well as Alix Earle, Robert Irwin, Scott Hoying of Pentatonix, Lauren Jauregui of Fifth Harmony, Jordan Chiles, Hilaria Baldwin and Danielle Fishel were cast as the show’s latest flock of celebrity amateur dancers.
And despite still coming down from the high of Swift’s groundbreaking Eras trek, Ravnik expressed how excited he was to be joining DWTS as a pro following his casting announcement in August. “I traveled all around the world with Eras Tour, and now I’m coming to the ballroom stage for Dancing With the Stars,” he said at the time in video statement on Good Morning America. “Mirrorball never goes out of style, and we are ready to win it.”
See Chmerkovskiy and Murgatroyd’s full discussion about Ravnik on DWTS below.
Trending on Billboard
Freestyle Fellowship rapper P.E.A.C.E. has died. The West Coast hip-hop group confirmed the rapper’s death in a post to Instagram over the weekend.
“Rest well brother P.E.A.C.E You had a great heart and you were authentic,” the post reads. “One of West coast Hiphop royal treasures. You will be surely missed my friend.”
His age and cause of death are unknown.
P.E.A.C.E. (real name: Mtulazaji Davis) was born in Dallas but raised in Los Angeles. He met Myka 9, Aceyalone and Self Jupiter at the Good Life Café in L.A. and formed the pioneering alternative rap group Freestyle Fellowship in the late ’80s.
The group broke through, showcasing an underground conscious side of West Coast rap with its 1991 debut To Whom It May Concern…
They followed up with Innercity Griots in 1993. Delayed due to Self Jupiter’s incarceration, the group released Temptations in 2001 and 2002’s Shockadoom EP. They returned nearly a decade later with The Promise in 2011, which serves as Freestyle Fellowship’s final release.
There were no details revealed surrounding the cause of P.E.A.C.E.’s death. Fans and plenty of peers paid their condolences with heartfelt messages on social media.
“The heavenly cypher just elevated rest in P.E.A.C.E all love,” rapper Saul Williams commented.
Dilated Peoples member Rakaa added: “This is heavy. RIP P.E.A.C.E. You will always be remembered and celebrated as one of the best to ever touch a mic, an architect of style(s), and a creative force of nature. Thank you for the inspiration, motivation, and laughter, my brother. Love. Strength and guidance to your family, friends, and @freestylefellowship.”
Myka 9 paid tribute to his Fellowship group member. “P.E.A.C.E. is the illest emcee from the most infamous Freestyle Fellowship,” he wrote. “There will never be another. Peace P.E.A.C.E., rest in power & paradise.”
P.E.A.C.E. released a pair of solo albums in the early 2000s with Southern Fry’d Chicken (2000) and Megabite (2004).
He notched collaborations over the years, ranging from Diplo to Abstract Rude and Orko, and he made an appearance in Ava Duvernay’s This Is the Life documentary about Good Life Café.
Getty Images / Lena Waithe / Issa Rae
Will we be seated for this? Lena Waithe opened up about a new movie she is developing, and will star Issa Rae.
Waithe revealed that she is developing a film that will turn her “troubled friendship” with Issa Rae into a buddy comedy, and it will star both of them.
On a recent episode of Bustle’s One Nightstand podcast, Waithe described the movie as “funny and silly,” inspired by their “friendship breakup.”
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“I’m working on this movie for myself and Issa Rae,” Waithe said. “It’s a really cool idea about us being friends and having a bit of a friendship breakup, and it’s really funny and silly. I was supposed to be writing beats for her, but I ultimately just started writing the script.”
She also revealed the she and Rae have been discussing plans for the movie over Zoom adding the characters in the film will be “thinly-veiled versions” of themselves while also adding “The characters’ names [are] Lena and Issa, I’m not even being that imaginative about it.”
Waithe added, they “want to” play themselves in the film. “Issa’s going to be like, ‘Oh s***, well now we got to do it.”
This Will Mark Lena Waithe’s First Film Since 2019’s Queen & Slim
This latest news comes on the heels of Waite wrapping up her Showtime drama, The Chi, which will finally end after eight seasons, putting it in the same category as other Showtime series Dexter, Homeland and Weeds as the network’s second-longest running series.
Whenever this film begins production, it will be the first project since the controversial 2019 film, Queen & Slim that starred Daniel Kaluuyah and Jodie Turner-Smith which sparked alot of dicussions about its plot revolving around a Black couple on the run after shooting a cop accidentally following a blind date.
Despite the fallout, speaking with Deadline, Waithe said she is still making films telling the website in an interview “As for what the future holds, I still plan on telling stories, continuing to build community, and making space for us all to be seen.”
For Rae, she is coming off 2023’s box office hit Barbie and the critically acclaimed American Fiction.
Getty Images / Lena Waithe / Issa Rae
Will we be seated for this? Lena Waithe opened up about a new movie she is developing, and will star Issa Rae.
Waithe revealed that she is developing a film that will turn her “troubled friendship” with Issa Rae into a buddy comedy, and it will star both of them.
On a recent episode of Bustle’s One Nightstand podcast, Waithe described the movie as “funny and silly,” inspired by their “friendship breakup.”
Love Movies? Get more! Join the Hip-Hop Wired Newsletter
We care about your data. See our privacy policy.
“I’m working on this movie for myself and Issa Rae,” Waithe said. “It’s a really cool idea about us being friends and having a bit of a friendship breakup, and it’s really funny and silly. I was supposed to be writing beats for her, but I ultimately just started writing the script.”
She also revealed the she and Rae have been discussing plans for the movie over Zoom adding the characters in the film will be “thinly-veiled versions” of themselves while also adding “The characters’ names [are] Lena and Issa, I’m not even being that imaginative about it.”
Waithe added, they “want to” play themselves in the film. “Issa’s going to be like, ‘Oh s***, well now we got to do it.”
This Will Mark Lena Waithe’s First Film Since 2019’s Queen & Slim
This latest news comes on the heels of Waite wrapping up her Showtime drama, The Chi, which will finally end after eight seasons, putting it in the same category as other Showtime series Dexter, Homeland and Weeds as the network’s second-longest running series.
Whenever this film begins production, it will be the first project since the controversial 2019 film, Queen & Slim that starred Daniel Kaluuyah and Jodie Turner-Smith which sparked alot of dicussions about its plot revolving around a Black couple on the run after shooting a cop accidentally following a blind date.
Despite the fallout, speaking with Deadline, Waithe said she is still making films telling the website in an interview “As for what the future holds, I still plan on telling stories, continuing to build community, and making space for us all to be seen.”
For Rae, she is coming off 2023’s box office hit Barbie and the critically acclaimed American Fiction.
Getty Images / Lena Waithe / Issa Rae
Will we be seated for this? Lena Waithe opened up about a new movie she is developing, and will star Issa Rae.
Waithe revealed that she is developing a film that will turn her “troubled friendship” with Issa Rae into a buddy comedy, and it will star both of them.
On a recent episode of Bustle’s One Nightstand podcast, Waithe described the movie as “funny and silly,” inspired by their “friendship breakup.”
Love Movies? Get more! Join the Hip-Hop Wired Newsletter
We care about your data. See our privacy policy.
“I’m working on this movie for myself and Issa Rae,” Waithe said. “It’s a really cool idea about us being friends and having a bit of a friendship breakup, and it’s really funny and silly. I was supposed to be writing beats for her, but I ultimately just started writing the script.”
She also revealed the she and Rae have been discussing plans for the movie over Zoom adding the characters in the film will be “thinly-veiled versions” of themselves while also adding “The characters’ names [are] Lena and Issa, I’m not even being that imaginative about it.”
Waithe added, they “want to” play themselves in the film. “Issa’s going to be like, ‘Oh s***, well now we got to do it.”
This Will Mark Lena Waithe’s First Film Since 2019’s Queen & Slim
This latest news comes on the heels of Waite wrapping up her Showtime drama, The Chi, which will finally end after eight seasons, putting it in the same category as other Showtime series Dexter, Homeland and Weeds as the network’s second-longest running series.
Whenever this film begins production, it will be the first project since the controversial 2019 film, Queen & Slim that starred Daniel Kaluuyah and Jodie Turner-Smith which sparked alot of dicussions about its plot revolving around a Black couple on the run after shooting a cop accidentally following a blind date.
Despite the fallout, speaking with Deadline, Waithe said she is still making films telling the website in an interview “As for what the future holds, I still plan on telling stories, continuing to build community, and making space for us all to be seen.”
For Rae, she is coming off 2023’s box office hit Barbie and the critically acclaimed American Fiction.
Source: Denise Truscello / Getty
As if No Limit Records wasn’t already stacked in their VERZUZ battle with Cash Money at ComplexCon, leave it up to Snoop Dogg to add more fuel to the flames.
During the highly anticipated matchup between the NOLA rap powerhouses over the weekend, the West Coast rap OG popped out as only he could. With his iconic flow, Uncle Snoop slid through his verse on the C-Murda classic, “Down 4 My N*ggaz.”
Snoop’s career received a major boost after signing with No Limit following his departure from Death Row Records in the late 90s. His first album with “Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told“, would become the second best-selling album in his career, behind only his 1993 debut, “Doggystyle“. Snoop’s pop-out was a welcome surprise from No Limit, which was already stacked with performances from Master P, Silkk The Shocker, Mia X, and more. Cash Money also came with their heavy hitters, including Juvenile, B.G., Birdman, and Mannie Fresh.
While both labels came with heat, many fans saw Snoop’s performance as the turning point in the battle, and many fans on social media declared No Limit as the “winner” of the rap war. “Snoop Dogg coming out for ‘Down For My N’s’ was a top-tier moment,” one commented on X. “His tone in his performance sounded harder than his tone on the actual song. That sealed the deal!”
Another commented, “Snoop Dogg pulled up for No Limit and shut the whole Verzuz down! West Coast energy unmatched.”
Source: Denise Truscello / Getty
As if No Limit Records wasn’t already stacked in their VERZUZ battle with Cash Money at ComplexCon, leave it up to Snoop Dogg to add more fuel to the flames.
During the highly anticipated matchup between the NOLA rap powerhouses over the weekend, the West Coast rap OG popped out as only he could. With his iconic flow, Uncle Snoop slid through his verse on the C-Murda classic, “Down 4 My N*ggaz.”
Snoop’s career received a major boost after signing with No Limit following his departure from Death Row Records in the late 90s. His first album with “Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told“, would become the second best-selling album in his career, behind only his 1993 debut, “Doggystyle“. Snoop’s pop-out was a welcome surprise from No Limit, which was already stacked with performances from Master P, Silkk The Shocker, Mia X, and more. Cash Money also came with their heavy hitters, including Juvenile, B.G., Birdman, and Mannie Fresh.
While both labels came with heat, many fans saw Snoop’s performance as the turning point in the battle, and many fans on social media declared No Limit as the “winner” of the rap war. “Snoop Dogg coming out for ‘Down For My N’s’ was a top-tier moment,” one commented on X. “His tone in his performance sounded harder than his tone on the actual song. That sealed the deal!”
Another commented, “Snoop Dogg pulled up for No Limit and shut the whole Verzuz down! West Coast energy unmatched.”
Source: Denise Truscello / Getty
As if No Limit Records wasn’t already stacked in their VERZUZ battle with Cash Money at ComplexCon, leave it up to Snoop Dogg to add more fuel to the flames.
During the highly anticipated matchup between the NOLA rap powerhouses over the weekend, the West Coast rap OG popped out as only he could. With his iconic flow, Uncle Snoop slid through his verse on the C-Murda classic, “Down 4 My N*ggaz.”
Snoop’s career received a major boost after signing with No Limit following his departure from Death Row Records in the late 90s. His first album with “Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told“, would become the second best-selling album in his career, behind only his 1993 debut, “Doggystyle“. Snoop’s pop-out was a welcome surprise from No Limit, which was already stacked with performances from Master P, Silkk The Shocker, Mia X, and more. Cash Money also came with their heavy hitters, including Juvenile, B.G., Birdman, and Mannie Fresh.
While both labels came with heat, many fans saw Snoop’s performance as the turning point in the battle, and many fans on social media declared No Limit as the “winner” of the rap war. “Snoop Dogg coming out for ‘Down For My N’s’ was a top-tier moment,” one commented on X. “His tone in his performance sounded harder than his tone on the actual song. That sealed the deal!”
Another commented, “Snoop Dogg pulled up for No Limit and shut the whole Verzuz down! West Coast energy unmatched.”
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