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18 Apr 2024

Cash Cobain on His Hit ‘Fisherrr’ and What We Can Expect from a Slizzy Summer

The Summer of Slizzy is upon us.  

As soon as the weather starts to get nice, New York City becomes a playground. People from all walks of life are seemingly outside eating, drinking, smoking and blasting music. And one song that’s sure to be in heavy rotation this summer is Cash Cobain’s “Fisherrr” featuring Bay Swag. You already hear the song coming from cars as they pass by, or being used in countless Instagram Reels and TikToks, usually accompanied by its official dance, The Reemski.

Cash has teased the track on social media, feeding fans little bites here and there, but it wasn’t until he and Bay performed the song on the YouTube series From the Block that the song took off. The Instagram clip and the YouTube video each have one million views and the song currently has 3.6 million plays on Spotify. There’s also whispers of a “Fisherrr” remix being in the works with a certain New York City superstar. I’ll let you work out who that may be for yourself. 

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With the song of the summer already locked down, Cash Cobain has the city on smash. I was one of the hundreds of people waiting in line for almost two hours to get into his Irving Plaza show on April 1. The lines wrapped around the block and the anticipation was intoxicating. The air was buzzing with rumors of a Drake appearance, and questions about what the hell was taking so long while little clouds of weed smoke popped up like NYC chimneys in the wintertime.

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The NYPD was deep out there, too, but they didn’t bother anybody until the crowd grew impatient and tried to bumrush the entrance. That’s when the venue officially shut Slizzyfest down and Cash took all those remaining outside up the street to Union Square Park for an impromptu performance. Hip-hop started with park jams, so it’s dope to see a younger artist like Cash carry on the tradition. Being able to control a crowd is the definition of a true MC. 

I was talking to my tax guy who’s based in Atlanta as I was putting the finishing touches on this interview when he asked me what I was working on. I mentioned Cash Cobain, and he started laughing. He then sent me a screenshot of him listening to the Cash Cobain and Bay Swag performance on Hot 97’s Funkmaster Flex show. When an accountant living in another part of the country is up on you, it’s safe to say you’re on the way to becoming a star. 

Billboard spoke with April’s R&B/Hip-Hop Rookie of the Month about making sexy music, working with the likes of Drake and Frank Ocean, plus much more.  

How does it feel to have the song of the summer already? I feel like “Fisherrr” is only getting bigger. That From the Block video took it to another level. 

It feels amazing. It feels like a moment. We haven’t had a real movement in New York in a little minute. 

The energy outside of your show at Irving Plaza was electric. It’s hard to put into words, but I haven’t felt that type of excitement outside of a show in NYC in a long time. Did feeling the love from the fans outside make you want to take them up the street to Union Square Park? 

They canceled my show, so I just wanted to give them something. I wanted to be seen. I was upset and decided to go outside, and everyone started gathering around me, so I started walking. I didn’t even realize Union Square Park was that close. As I’m walking, I was like, “Nah, I need to stand up or something, I need to be seen, I need some music.” You know Manhattan got them long ass blocks, so I see like a park. It was perfect. We had a good time, and nobody got hurt.

Let’s talk about the dance that’s been going viral: The Reemski. La La Anthony and her son did a video and so has former NBA guard Lance Stephenson. That’s when I knew “Fisherrr” was different. Were you going to do that dance during your set? 

Yeah, once a song gets a dance, it’s outta here. I be trying to do the dance, but I don’t know, I have to be in the mood. 

Can you describe Sexy Drill? Did you come up with that name? 

Everything gotta be sexy. I like sexy s–t. Chow Lee and Lonny Love really put Sexy Drill on the map. 

You and Bay Swag were on Hot 97 with Funkmaster Flex recently, which got some mixed reactions. Was that a big deal for you growing up in NYC? 

Flex? Hell yeah. The radio, period. It wasn’t a freestyle, though, it was more like a performance. We be saying little slick s–t in our raps, it may sound like we’re playing around, but when you say some slick s–t, you might catch someone’s attention. 

Flex seemed into it. That s–t was funny because he was making funny faces after certain lines. 

He was like, “I understand it, I don’t need to see it twice. Y’all some nasty motherf—kers.” 

You and Bay are like horny Jada & Styles with the back and forth. Your lyrics are always raunchy. Why are you so horny? 

[Laughs.] That’s just who I am for real. I wanna f—k all day. 

I should use that as the headline: “Cash Cobain Wants to F—k All Day.“

That’ll go viral. 

I’m not sure if people realize how versatile you are. You’ve worked with PinkPanthress. How did that link up happen? 

The managers did what they do. The managers were managing and managed to get us in the studio. We linked in LA in person, man, we were just cookin’ up, vibin’, talkin’ and stuff. That was my first time meeting her. 

You guys have similar styles, so it makes sense. 

Yeah, and I didn’t know she made her own beats. So, when I locked in with her, she was like, “Let me hop on the keys right quick” and I was like, “Huh, what? You make beats?” And she was like, “Yeah, I make all my stuff.” 

 
You guys plan on working together in the future? 

Of course. I want her on my album. 

Speaking of albums…i s “Fisherrr” the lead single? 

Nah, that’s for my Play Cash Cobain EP that should be coming out soon. “Dunk Contest” is going to be on there too, along with some other songs like “Candle” and “Act Like.” 

Ok, so is Drake going to be on the EP or the album? 

[Laughs.] He made the album cover for the EP, though!

Cover art for the upcoming Play Cash Cobain EP.

There were rumors that he was supposed to pop out at your show in New York. 

I don’t know about no rumors. He was already in town. He had a show [in] Long Island, and he posted the picture I’m using as the cover, so people put two and two together. 

So, what’s next for you? 

I have the Play Cash Cobain EP coming up and we’re just going to keep dropping music. We got some placements on the way. 

Anything you can talk about? 

Travis Scott. Me and Don Toliver were in the studio, we got some crazy sh—t coming. Me and Boat [Lil Yachty] are about to come out with some sh-t. And I should be doing something with Frank Ocean soon, too. He really f—ks with my music. 

How do you envision your wave taking over the city once the weather breaks? Because I’ve predicted that a Slizzy Summer is in our future. 

Aight, boom, we been outside. I don’t care if it’s summer, winter, we been outside odee. So, for Slizzy Summer I wanna do like a Slizzy pool party vibe, like Freaknik. We gonna call that s–t Slizznik. I wanna do a summertime show outside. I wanna make things like slizzy this, slizzy that. I just wanna have fun, I don’t want nobody to get hurt. 

So, you definitely plan on doing another show in New York soon to make up for this last one? 

Yeah, ASAP. 

The ladies love your music. You’re putting fat boys back in style like Biggie did. Was he someone you grew up listening to? 

Biggie was the first rapper I was introduced to. I listen to a lot of Biggie, Aaliyah, and Michael Jackson. I really love 50 Cent too. I grew up listening to everything: Hip-Hop, R&B, like old R&B. I’ve been listening to “Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul. You know? Meeting at the same spot at the same time every day. My grandparents and parents had all those CDs like Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson’s greatest hits. 

How about on the production side of things? How did you come up with this sound? 

Trap and Drill really inspired me, but I wanted to add my own flavor. I didn’t want to bite guys like Southside and Metro. I didn’t want to capitalize off a Metro-type beat. I wanted to come up with my own flavor. 

How do you decide on certain samples to use? 

Things catch me. I can be in the elevator and hear a song, or be watching a movie, and if I like the song or hear a part that I can use, I would Shazam it. I find things when I’m listening to music on YouTube. It could be familiar songs or unfamiliar songs. 

Who taught you how to make beats? 

I’m self-taught, just f—kin’ around on FruityLoops. I always wanted to make beats, though. It was the perfect match, I just had to figure it out. I was confident because my mom used to buy me drum pads, Yamahas, and s—t like that. 

And what made you rap about the things that you rap about? I was surprised to see the NYPD outside of your show so deep because you don’t make that type of music. 

Because I know n—as that rap about street s–t and are dead p—y. [Laughs.] They dead soft. I’m going to be true to myself. I’m not trying to incriminate myself. I have made rap songs like that, but this is what I wanna do. I wanna play autotune, I wanna sing, I wanna melodize, I want it to be sexy. 

You want to be a heartthrob and not a thug. 

I wanna be slizzy. 

Can you define “slizzy” for the people? 

Freedom. Judgement free. Doing what you want to do and not caring what anyone else thinks. It’s just a way of life. That’s how I got to where I’m at right now. Not caring about what anybody thinks. 

OK, last question. Are you a Pelle Pelle model? 

Yeah, shouts to my big brother Chris, he be lookin’ out for me. We’re working on a few things actually. 

18 Apr 2024

Rihanna Reveals the 2 People She’d Trade Places With: ‘They Have It the Best’

With a bestselling music career, booming beauty business and a billion-dollar net worth, Rihanna undoubtedly has plenty of fans who would trade places with her in a heartbeat. But if she got the chance, she’d switch lives to become the next best thing — her sons, RZA and Riot Rose, whom she shares with partner A$AP Rocky. 

While speaking to Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet at her Fenty x Puma event in London Wednesday (April 17), the superstar needed only a second to think when she was asked who she’d like to swap places with for a day. “You know what? My kids,” she replied. “They have it the best.”  

“They’re living the greatest life,” added Ri. “The love that they have from everyone, they know they’re loved. I beam to see it in their eyes, knowing that everybody in this house is at your beck and call.” 

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The “Umbrella” singer and Rocky first became parents in May 2022 when little RZA came along. The following February, Ri effectively announced her second pregnancy by showing off her baby bump during her 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, welcoming Riot Rose six months later in August. 

The mogul recently revealed in a chat with Interview that she’s open to having more kids and is keeping her fingers crossed for a baby girl, but ultimately, she’s fine with having “as many as God wants me to have.” In the meantime, she’s making sure her sons carry out their parents’ legacy of being bona fide fashion icons.  

“I always try to dress them like Rocky,” she told ET. “I always envisioned dressing a girl. We all do as women, like, ‘Ooh, I’m gonna dress her in these cute little things.’ But then you get sons, and you’re like, ‘What do I do?’ But I have the biggest hack: their dad.” 

Watch Ri talk about her boys on the Fenty x Puma red carpet below. 

18 Apr 2024

Kevin Parker Says Dua Lipa’s ‘Radical Optimism’ Crew Referred to Themselves as ‘The Band’: ‘I Felt Like I Was in the Beatles!’

We are just a few weeks away from the release of Dua Lipa‘s 11-track album Radical Optimism album and in a new Elle magazine cover story the 28 year-old pop superstar pulls the curtain back further on the long creative process of assembling the songs.

Dua worked on Radical Optimism with an A-list group of co-songwriters and producers, including longtime collaborator songwriter Caroline Ailin, as well as Tobias Jesso Jr. (Adele, Harry Styles), Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Danny L Harle (Dux Content). Parker said they referred to the assembled crew of hitmakers as “The Band,” explaining, “Not an old-school band, but a spiritual band. Each morning going into the studio, I felt like I was in the Beatles!”

The result, the the magazine says, is a mix of live and electronic instruments that create a “global groove” on a “cosmopolitan dance-pop record with a 1970s flair, and a vibrant, resounding affirmation of life.”

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“Dua had this focus on finding this sound, which was so elusive,” Parker said. “But it was nice to be in the engine room of the creative process, rather than worry about being the face of it. It was the experience that I’ve been waiting for.” He described the origins of the first single, the bouncy “Houdini,” as starting with a bass line he plunked out weeks before their session that he realized could work once the singer added a “moody,” post-disco melody.

“She started singing, and it just immediately made sense,” Parker said. “This feeling of early-’80s sleaze, in some strange, dark, sweaty club. Gloriously suffocating. Hypnotic.”

Ailin, who has worked with Dua since before her 2017 breakthrough hit “New Rules,” described their process as beginning with “a little yap about what’s going on,” which, then somehow turns into a pop song. “That’s her superpower,” Ailin said “It’s hard not to feel like you’re the strongest person next to her. I think she lends a little bit of that to all of us sometimes.”

The singer also told Elle that her single “Training Season” was written in Nov. 2022 as a reflection on both her long-term relationships with men including models Bella and Gigi Hadid’s brother Anwar Hadid and French director Romain Gavras, as well as run of dates she went on. “As long as everyone knows where they stand, then you’re good,” she said about her dating life, which most recently linked her to British actor Callum Turner.

The magazine said Dua is coy about what her current dating situation, preferring to offer coded hints through her songs. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to write down what I want,” she explained about the “Training Season” sessions. “The power of manifestation and writing things into existence with the power of words. When you know your worth, you know what you want and what you don’t want.”

Describing a recent convo with one of her dancers who was going through a breakup, Dua said that when she was single she didn’t pine for a relationship. “I didn’t wish it away. You learn so much about yourself, you know, whether it’s going on a date or spending that time alone,” she said. “In the silence, you figure out who you really are. In the grand scheme of things, I was doing research.”

Dua Lipa will serve as both host and musical guest for the May 4 episode of Saturday Night Live.

18 Apr 2024

Early Hour Entertainment Launches With Jacob Collier, Yeti Beats on Roster

Six-time Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier, Grammy-nominated producer Yeti Beats (Beyoncé, Doja Cat) and rapper/producer Erick the Architect, founding member of the Flatbush Zombies, are now part of the management roster at newly launched Early Hour Entertainment.

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The Los Angeles-based artist management and production company is helmed by CEO Adam Fell. 

Most recently president of Quincy Jones Productions, Fell has partnered with former QJP VPs Michael Peha and Thomas Duport. Peha, who worked in Warner Records’ international marketing department prior to QJP, serves as president of Early Hour. Duport, who began his music industry career in the front office of Montreux Jazz Festival, is Early Hour’s COO.

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In a statement announcing the establishment of Early Hour Entertainment, Fell said, “We are very grateful to Quincy Jones for the decades of mentorship and guidance. I am fortunate to have the two best partners on planet earth and a team that can truly accomplish anything. We are so honored by the trust that the artists have put in us, and we know that this is only the beginning for Early Hour.” 

During his 20-year tenure with Jones, Fell oversaw multiple divisions including endorsements and licensing, film/TV/music production and artist management. Collier had been among the latter division’s clients since 2014. Fell also worked as an executive producer of the 2023 musical film adaptation of The Color Purple.

In March of this year, Early Hour Entertainment partnered with Jon Batiste, Mathieu Jaton and Jeremy Arditi for the inaugural Montreux Jazz Festival Miami. The three-night event will return to Miami in 2025. Early Hour has also teamed with hospitality veterans Jake Mathews and Corey McGuire, owners of Winston House and The Waterfront Venice, to open a music-themed restaurant on L.A.’s westside slated for early 2025.

In addition to Collier, Beats and Erick the Architect, Early Hour’s artist management roster includes trumpeter/composer Ibrahim Maalouf, pianist Alfredo Rodriguez, jazz pianist Justin Kauflin and producer/multi-instrumentalist Henry Was.

18 Apr 2024

Davido Partners With UnitedMasters to Launch His Own Label

When Steve Stoute connected with Davido at his UnitedMasters SelectCon event last year, he didn’t flinch at the opportunity to build with the Afrobeats superstar; after their initial encounter, the executive visited Davido’s homeland of Lagos, Nigeria and dared the “Fall” singer to dream bigger. Stoute envisioned Davido, adept at crafting sugary melodies with a Nigerian flair, leading nothing less than a global takeover — not just as a premier artist but as a businessman.

Starting Wednesday (April 17), the three-time Grammy nominee will embark on a new chapter as a full-fledged executive, signing a deal with UnitedMasters (which recently launched in Nigeria) to start a new label, Nine+ Records. Stoute and Davido are clear that they won’t limit themselves to Afrobeats but will venture into the realms of hip-hop, R&B, Latin, country and more, casting a wide net for new talent.

“I think the music that Davido has been able to make, produce and share with the world has been amazing,” says Stoute. “For me, I think his connection between Nigeria and Atlanta, and everything he’s gone through has brought unique experiences that I can hear and feel through his lyrics and production. I didn’t even know that [at the time], I just knew there was something different about his sound and the way he structured his songs.”

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According to Stoute, it didn’t take much convincing: He sold Davido on the possibilities of building a label reminiscent of the hard-nosed rap imprints he witnessed first-hand in the ’90s and ’00s.

“There’s such a big opportunity globally and I see him as an entrepreneur that could build the next Bad Boy, the next Death Row and the next label that has significant impact like a Cash Money,” Stoute says. “[I told him to] forget everything you were doing before, let’s commit to building something in a joint venture and that’s the formation of Nine+ and UnitedMasters.”

Billboard spoke to Davido and Steve Stoute about their newly minted partnership, the importance of having a great team and more.

Davido, what made you decide to partner with UnitedMasters for your new label Nine+ Records?

Davido: Shout-out to big bro. There’s one thing that I’ll always love, which is nurturing new talent, bringing them up and helping them grow. I’ve been doing that since Afrobeats wasn’t even Afrobeats, since when you guys didn’t even know what it was. Since I came up from writing my first song, I’ve been helping my two cousins work on their music. I put them under my label, but it got to a point where I felt I needed some knowledge. I need some mentors to advise me. Some artists, all you need is one hit song and your life can change. Sometimes, when you get to that point, you don’t have anybody to advise you on how to move and get good paperwork done. I just felt like that was one thing Steve Stoute represents, and that’s helping the artists and making sure they know the best option when it comes to business. My job is obviously to bring the creatives and deliver, but I do need Steve’s vision on how I’m going to advise on these new artists.

Steve, speak to the tutelage you hope to instill in Davido from an executive lens with the years of experience you have under your belt. 

There’s a thin line between what a talent and what an executive has to do. For a lot of talent, it’s very hard to be an executive or it’s hard for them to jump that fence. I’m gonna be there to help him because he comes from a lineage of very, very tight, philosophically sound businessmen.

His father was a G. His father was very special and talented. Davido is also very creative. It takes that sort of left brain and right brain to be a talented musician who could work with talent as well as be a business person. To be able to bring that together to build one of these legacy companies, the greatest artists always had that attribute. He has that attribute.

The best thing that I can do is, you use my experience as a veteran in this business to help put up some guard rails to keep him going because I want him to become the biggest artist in the world and continue his trajectory as an artist, but then build something that’s a legacy outside of that with Nine+.

Before this, I was the president at Interscope. When Jimmy [Iovine] built Interscope, it was all about these labels. Whether it was Pharrell’s label, Organized Noize, Timbaland, or Aftermath, these were labels that were built because Jimmy built The Ruff Ryders. Jimmy believed in that model. So I came from working with talent who had labels and I understand how to build that model just from that experience. I want to pass that along to this young entrepreneur, creative genius.

What’s the best advice you’ve gotten from Steve on accelerating as an executive and building out Nine+ on what you ultimately want it to become?

Davido: First of all, you gotta have a good team. There’s one thing I learned from Steve: I didn’t know you had to get all of this to get a label because where I’m from and where you record, there’s no office. Now…with Steve, we’re getting an office, we’re getting [a lot]. I have a studio and a headquarters, but it’s different from the way I’ve worked.

Steve Stoute: If you wanna scale, you gotta bring structure. He’s a super-talented guy. He’s gonna find talented people. There’s been a lot of people who are talented, but they didn’t have the business structure around them. They never got a chance to see the effects of their talents go all the way. It’s the guys who had structure with talent that were able to actually go all the way. My job is bring that structure to him and hopefully to his team.

He has a great team around him. He has a great team of people with chemistry. Chemistry is undervalued and underrated. It’s very important who you want to work with. We’re here to bring that structure and funding so he can do what he has to do. My job isn’t to go in there and A&R records. If I can get him in the room with the producers and the artists, and I can get it out the room, that’s my job. To get in the room and to get out.

Again, my experience in doing this for a while and being able to help bring that structure, whether it’s an office or not, is what I’m bringing to the table and I’m looking forward to working with him and building something that’s an aspect of his legacy.

With Nine+, are you looking to expand beyond Afrobeats?

Davido: Oh yeah, everything. R&B, trap, etc. Obviously, I’m going to start in Africa, but definitely yeah. I can see us going all the way. I don’t see why not.

Steve Stoute: Look, I told you, my man has roots in Atlanta and Nigeria. This is not going to be limited to anything. When you have creative people who can understand melodies, beats, rhythms and songs, whether it’s country music, trap music, hip-hop music, Latin music, none of these things are off-limits. I think we look at it as global music. I think Davido is a global superstar. He’s going to sell out Madison Square Garden like he sells out London, like he sells out buildings in Africa. That’s what he does. He wants to make global music, so we’re looking for artists that have that potential and it’s not limited to genre. It is limited to great music. 

 

18 Apr 2024

Rihanna Says New Songs Are ‘So Good’ She and A$AP Rocky Are Figuring Out ‘Who’s Gonna Use What’

At some point we might need a map to chart all the twists and turns of R9. While journalists, fans and pretty much everyone else has been asking Rihanna when we can expect the long-awaited follow-up to her smash 2016 album Anti, the singer continues to give vague, sometimes contradictory answers about the in-progress project.

Speaking to ET on the red carpet at Wednesday’s (April 17) London launch event for the Fenty x Puma Creeper Phatty Earth Tone sneaker, Rih was asked if she and partner A$AP Rocky might pull a Beyoncé and include their sons RZA and Riot on her untitled next album.

“It’s up to them,” Rihanna said of her two-year-old first-born with Rocky and their second son, who was born in August. She was, once again, also a bit vague about when we can expect a firm release date for the collection, saying “I wanna know too!” Then, however, after recently suggesting that she hasn’t really started work on recording songs for the album, RihRih made it sound like she’s actually got quite a few tracks to choose from.

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“I already got stuff that I feel like I could make hits out of,” she said. “Me and Rocky are really trying to figure out who’s gonna use what because it’s so good.”

In a recent chat with Interview magazine, however, the singer said she has “a lot of visual ideas” so far, which isn’t typically how she starts her creative process. “It’s weird. My brain is working backward right now. I usually have the music first, and the music leads me into all of these visual opportunities, and now I’m having all of these visuals.”

The bad news, though, was that Rihanna told the mag that she doesn’t yet have the songs to accompany those visuals, but hopefully they’ll come soon. “Maybe the visual ideas are leading me to the songs that I need to make,” she said. In February, Rocky further muddied the waters, teasing at the time that his partner was “working” on the album. In March, Rihanna performed live for the first time in eight years when she took the stage for a pre-wedding celebration for the son of the richest man in Asia.

18 Apr 2024

Cookies & ‘The Freak Brothers’ Launch New Partnership

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Berner X Cookies X The Freak Brothers

Cookies, the cannabis and lifestyle brand founded by multifaceted entrepreneur Berner, and The Freak Brothers, a comic book and animated series, are joining forces in a new partnership. Via the new collaboration, Cookies and The Freak Brothers are releasing a limited-edition CookiesSF clothing capsule, along with a hefty infused preroll and more.

As Berner continues to expand his empire, the launch of the new LSD Joint coincides with the rapper joining the voice cast of The Freak Brothers series, which also stars Tiffany Haddish, Woody Harrelson, John Goodman, Pete Davidson, and others.

Berner X Cookies X The Freak Brothers

The LSD Joint, which drops on 420 Eve (April 19), is a 2.5g infused preroll point that speaks to fans who grew up with the comics and those indoctrinated to the brand via the animated series. The LSD Joint comes in a glow-in-the-dark tube and is adorned with a scannable QR code that unlocks related artwork.

“We felt like ‘LSD Joint’ was an appropriate name for our collab given the Freak Brothers are from the ’70s, from San Francisco, and this joint is EXTREMELY strong. We will be dropping our collab with the Freaks on 4/19, available at all of our California stores,” said Berner, co-founder and CEO of Cookies. “I love that the animated show is so weed-friendly and done with class. I’m incredibly excited to announce that I am joining the Freak Brothers show alongside an epic cast.”

Courtney Solomon, Freak Brothers’ CEO and show Executive Producer, added, “We’re excited to welcome Berner to the show. His proven track record of innovation and his authentic love of cannabis culture is a perfect marriage with the Freak Brothers. We look forward to a long collaboration together.”

It may come as a surprise to some but considering that the animated series spawned from The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers in the late 1960s, they have never collaborated in the wider cannabis space despite the deep connections to that world.

This is the first-ever official cannabis product for The Freak Brothers, so we wanted to lean into the cool trippy Bay Area heritage shared by both brands while producing a product the Freaks themselves would have loved to spark up,” said Greg Goldner, Head of Brand & Strategy for Freak Brothers.

Seasons 1 and 2 of The Freak Brothers are available on Tubi now. Learn more about the show here.

Learn more about Cookies here.

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Photo: Cookies/Freak Brothers

18 Apr 2024

Tyler Perry Signs New Deal With BET Media Group, 8 Series Renewed

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10X Growth Conference 2024

Source: Ivan Apfel / Getty

Tyler Perry may not have been able to seal the deal during the brief time when Paramount Global was toying around with the possibility of putting BET Media Group up for sale, but the TV and film mogul has struck a multi-year deal with the network that will ensure his content has a home there for the foreseeable future.

According to Variety, the Mea Culpa writer and director’s deal with BET includes the renewal of eight of his shows for BET and its BET+ streamer, including Tyler Perry’s Sistas, which is coming up on its eighth season, as well as Tyler Perry’s The Oval and Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living, which are both going into their sixth seasons. Tyler Perry’s House of Payne has also been renewed for its sixth season on BET, which came after the previous six seasons that aired in syndication on TBS.

“Scott Mills and his team at BET have been incredibly supportive throughout our time working together, and I’m excited to continue bringing these stories to the screen. I’m grateful to our loyal audiences for watching week after week and engaging these stories,” Perry said in a statement.

Mills, BET Media Group’s president and CEO, appears to be equally excited about the network’s continued relationship for Perry, and he sang the entertainment mogul’s praises in a statement of his own.

“Tyler Perry is simply without rival as a creator of content that powerfully resonates with audiences across genres, formats and platforms,” he said. “Our programming partnership with Tyler – undoubtedly the largest deal ever in the industry with a Black creator – has been hugely successful; delivering the number one series across all TV among Black audiences and five of the top 10 series on cable among Black viewers. We are thrilled to extend our extraordinary relationship with Tyler and to continue to be the home of the largest and most diverse collection of new Tyler Perry content for years to come.”

So, congratulations to Tyler Perry for, once again, proving himself to be one of the kings of Black entertainment on the big and small screens. Salute!

18 Apr 2024

Lil Nas X Finally Drops Swaggering ‘Lean On My Body’ Two Years After Teasing Track

Lil Nas X keeps talking about the backlog of songs he’s sitting on, so Wednesday night (April 17) the MC snuck out a track that has been floating around for several years in snippet form, the punchy “Lean On My Body.”

“I know I’m 10 years late but I’m dropping lean on my body in a couple minutes,” he tweeted around dinnertime in a post that also included the original minute-long March 2022 in which Montero rapped a verse from the song while walking on a treadmill.

“You know I love you, so I say this s–t with love/ But please tell your fans they need to shut the f–k up/ I’m doin’ real s–t, some never-worry-’bout-a-bill s–t/ Some build a house on the hill, s–t/ The money’s gravy, it’s coming crazy,” he raps, adding the swaggy lines, “My big sis just had another baby, popped ’em out the labia/ My other nephew sittin’ in the class with a broken knuckle/ He had to beat a ni–a ass for talkin’ ’bout his uncle.”

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Now, Lil Nas continues, he doesn’t condone that kind of violent behavior, then quickly changes his mind, counseling, “F–k it, yeah, I said it, I condone thats–t/ Choke that ni–a out/ Go corona on that b–ch/ Walk that ni–a like a dog, nephew own that b–ch.” The chorus leans into a gospel vibe with a heavenly choir of Monteros singing, “Lean on my body, Lord (Amen, amen, amen) Bring blessings on my soul (Amen, amen, amen)/ And when the war is over (Thank you)/ See it’s time to tell the world the war is won.”

Lil Nas has been teasing that his upcoming mixtape, Nasarati 2, is just around the corner, but at press time there was no firm release date for the follow-up to the 2018 original. Last week he posted the hard-hitting “Right There,” which he first previewed in an Instagram Story in February.

Lil Nas has been candid about the struggle to choose songs for the tape amid concerns over his fans’ perceptions of his music. Earlier this year, he wrote on Instagram, “Been hoarding music for years smh i hate my relationship with fear of my songs not doing well and perception. i wish i could just release music and not give af.” That said, he has also dumped a handful of snippets on fans to see what their reaction is in an apparent effort to aid in his track-picking.

After posting “Lean,” a fan named Mya commented, “these songs are literally hits it’s insane he’s not putting them on all streaming platforms…,” to which Lil Nas responded, “I just want yall to enjoy the music for now. We gone get to that!”

Listen to the full “Lean On My Body” and watch the rebooted teaser below.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z8R3X2apYfQ&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

18 Apr 2024

BTS ‘Monochrome’ Pop-Ups Coming to Los Angeles, Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila

A BTS pop-up shop is headed to a number of cities in Asia and to Los Angeles beginning later this month. The K-pop supergroup’s label Big Hit Music announced on Wednesday (April 17) that “Monochrome” will debut in the on-hiatus group’s hometown of Seoul, South Korea beginning on April 26 through May 12.

The event that Big Hit said will feature the theme “memory clouds,” will consist of “clouds containing memories of the time BTS and ARMY spent together,” presented inside bottles, according to JoongAng Daily. The stunt comes along with a delivery-themed website that allows fans to find out more details about the pop-up by completing a series of challenges while checking for “deliveries” by figuring out passcodes related to words and dates of significance to the group.

The store, which will also open outposts in Tokyo, Jakarta, Bangkok, Los Angeles and Manila, will include never-before-seen portraits of BTS as well as on-site events. A 30-second teaser video continues the packaging/shipping theme, opening with images of a conveyor belt filled with glass jars containing lightning-flecked floating clouds. The screen then explodes into pixels as the words “Eternal Youth” flash below a series of seemingly random numbers.

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Those words explode into another pixel field that flashes images of the group’s members before coalescing into the barcodes on shipping labels for the various pop-up locations and then transforming into a black box with the word “Monochrome” written in large white letters. The final image is of a package floating in a white void with the same MNCR logo as the cryptic delivery website.

At present, all seven members of the group — V, Jimin, Jungkook, Suga, RM, Jin and J-Hope — are in the midst of their mandatory South Korean military service, with the full group not expected to reunite until next year.

Check out the Monochrome preview video and the pop-up dates below.