Author: djfrosty
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Machine Gun Kelly will see your jokes and raise you more jokes. The rap/rocker took to his Instagram Story on Tuesday (April 8) to double-down on an Onion headline tweaking the new dad just weeks after MGK’s former fiancée, actress Megan Fox, gave birth to the couple’s first child together.
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“Megan Fox Confirms She and New Baby Will Co-Parent Machine Gun Kelly,” read the lightly teasing headline, which MGK re-posted along with three laughing crying emoji. That same reel featured a re-post of footage of the rapper performing his 2024 Trippie Redd collab “Beauty,” with a caption that paid tribute to his first-born, 15-year-old daughter Casie Colson Baker. “the girl dad was performing his rap song ‘beauty’ at his birthday party on April 22, 2024, and his daughter casie was vibing to it. she knows it’s a bop,” it read.
In another slide, Kelly hangs with Casie and implores her not to read the comments on one of his performance videos. “Why? They’re not bad,” she says, as he frets, “I know but of them, just like, I see certain words and I’m like, ‘aaaahhh.’”
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In an Insta post titled “dad.,” Kelly, 34, appears in a series of selfies in which he wears all black outfits, goofs around with Casie, shows off his Rolls Royce and hangs with pals Travis Barker, Camila Cabello and Atlantic Records VP of A&R Keith “Keefa” Parker aka “Keefa Black.”
Fox gave birth to her fourth child — she has three others with former husband Brian Austin Green — on March 27. To date the formerly engaged pair have posted some face-obscured photos of their newborn daughter’s and not much else. But last month Kelly threw cold water on suggestions that they’d named their little girl “celestial seed.”
The confusion came after MGK announced in an Instagram post that he and Fox, 38, had welcomed their first child along with a picture of his daughter gripping his fingers, writing, “She’s finally here!! our little celestial seed. 3/27/25.” After headlines suggested that the baby’s name was actually “Celestial Seed,” MGK clarified in his Stories, “wait guys… her name isn’t ‘Celestial Seed’ [crying laughing emoji] her mom is gonna tell you the name when we’re ready.”
The NO FAKES Act was reintroduced to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on Wednesday (April 9) with the help of country legend Randy Travis, his wife Mary Travis and Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl.
The reintroduction of the bill, designed to protect artists against unauthorized AI deepfake impersonations, was part of the Recording Academy’s annual GRAMMYs on the Hill initiative, in which the organization visits D.C. to meet with elected officials and advocate for a variety of music-related causes. On Wednesday, the GRAMMYs on the Hill Awards celebrated Travis, along with U.S. Representatives Linda Sánchez (D-CA) and Ron Estes (R-KS), for their dedication and advocacy for the rights of music creators.
Introduced by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Representatives María Elvira Salazar (R-FL-27), Madeleine Dean (D-PA-4) Nathaniel Moran (R-TX-1), Becca Balint (D-VT-At Large), the NO FAKES Act has also found new supporters in an unlikely place: the tech industry. The bill is now supported by tech giants like YouTube, OpenAI, IBM and Adobe, showing a rare moment of solidarity between artists and big tech in the AI age.
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The NO FAKES Act was first introduced as a draft bill in 2023, and formally introduced to the Senate in the summer of 2024. If passed, the legislation would create federal intellectual property protections for the so-called right of publicity for the first time, which adds restrictions to how someone’s name, image, likeness and voice can be used without consent. Currently, these rights are only protected at the state level, leading to a patchwork of varying laws around the nation.
Unlike some of the patchy state publicity rights laws, the federal right that the NO FAKES Act would create would not expire at death and could be controlled by a person’s heirs for 70 years after their passing. There are, however, specific carve outs for replicas used in news, parody, historical works and criticism to ensure the First Amendment right to free speech remains protected.
Over the last few years, as AI voice models have continued to develop, many artists have often found themselves on the receiving end of AI deepfakes. In 2023, the AI music craze kicked off with the so-called “fake Drake” song “Heart On My Sleeve” which featured the unauthorized AI voices of Drake and the Weeknd. Last year, Taylor Swift, for example, was the subject of a number of sexually-explicit AI deepfakes of her body; the late Tupac Shakur‘s voice was deepfaked by fellow rapper Drake in his Kendrick Lamar diss track “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which was posted, and then deleted, on social media.
Even President Donald Trump participated in the deepfake trend, posting an unauthorized AI image of Swift allegedly endorsing him during his campaign to return to the White House.
“Recently, I was made aware that [an] AI [image] of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post soon after. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
Overall, the bill has seen widespread support among the entertainment industry establishment. According to a press release about the bill’s reintroduction, it is celebrated by Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Recording Academy, SAG-AFTRA, Human Artistry Campaign, Motion Picture Association and more.
Mitch Glazier, chairman and CEO of the RIAA, praised the bipartisan effort, saying “this bill proves that we can prioritize the growth of AI and protecting American creativity at the same time.”
Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, added: “The Academy is proud to represent and serve creators, and for decades, GRAMMYs on the Hill has brought music makers to our nation’s capital to elevate the policy issues affecting our industry. Today’s reintroduction of the NO FAKES Act underscores our members’ commitment to advocating for the music community, and as we enter a new era of technology, we must create guardrails around AI and ensure it enhances – not replaces – human creativity.”
Bootsy Collins‘ endless alter-egos — Boot-Tron, Zillatron, King of the Geepies, Bootdullivan, Bedroom Bootsy and, of course, Bootzilla — have always battled for space inside the funk pioneer’s brain. But early in his career, as a teenager in the early 1970s, they hit a wall. “All them boys have wanted to do all kinds of genres, but when I was coming up, I got stuck with James Brown,” the bassist recalls with a laugh. “It’s hard to get out of that funk, you know?”
Collins, now 73, was playing with Cincinnati’s Pacesetters in 1970, when Brown sent a Learjet to fly the band to a Columbus, Ohio, gig, abruptly replacing his own disgruntled road band. The Pacesetters, who’d been hanging around Brown’s King Records studio, knew his songs and could play any of them on demand. “I said, ‘Just call out whatever song you want to go into. We got you,’” Collins recalls. “That’s how we made it through that night — but after that night, we had about two weeks of straight rehearsal, every single day. Which we were used to anyway.”
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Collins and company scrupulously adhered to Brown’s funk orthodoxy for a year. Then, for a gig at the Copacabana in New York, Brown cut the band’s pay and forced them to wear jackets and ties, so they split. Collins went on to join another funk pioneer: George Clinton, whose alternating bands Parliament and Funkadelic were innovating a looser, more improvisational and funnier style that would help define Black music in the ’70s.
In P-Funk, Bootzilla and the rest of Collins’ alter-egos found a receptive home. “By the time I got with George, I got a little more freedom — well, a lot more freedom — to do funk. And the name was Funkadelic,” he says, in an audio-only Zoom from his Cincinnati home, along with his wife and manager, Patti Collins. “So what am I going to do? Am I going to come there and play everything else but funk? No, you’ve got to bring the funk: ‘I’m up to my trunks in P-Funk.’”
Collins — whose bass style “had sap flowing through it, it moved,” according to Brown’s biographer R.J. Smith — was part of a funky bass coalition in the ’70s, including Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone and the late Louis Johnson of the Brothers Johnson, which brought the instrument into the foreground. Collins had unlimited musical creativity, and a weird, say-anything persona that he capped with star-shaped shades, bright-colored suits and spangled ringleader hats. And he made several great albums with his solo outfit Bootsy’s Rubber Band, notably 1977’s Ahh… the Name Is Bootsy, Baby. But even then, he felt limited.
“I just got caught, like, ‘OK, Bootsy’s thing is funk,’ so everybody levitated towards that — except me,” he says. “I wanted to play other music, but it was who I wound up with that solidified what I was going to be and what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Collins’ Album of the Year #1 Funkateer, due April 11, allows all these musical detours and imaginary best friends to do whatever they want. In addition to straightforward funk (“The InFluencers,” with guest star Snoop Dogg, a vocal P-Funk adherent), Collins travels into guitar-shredding metal (“Barbie T & Me”), electronic dance music (the murmuring “I.Am.AI,” with competing robot voices) and hip-hop (“Bootdullivan is Soopafly”). Collins’ solo albums in recent years have been long and varied, unlike the Bootsy’s Rubber Band days, when he hit the studio, jammed with his bandmates and occasionally turned on the recording machines.
“Those jams were just so long. You could only put so much on an album back in the day without it not sounding good,” he says. “I never thought we were going to be doing as many songs as I’m doing now, but that’s where technology has taken us.”
On the Zoom, Bootsy and Patti Collins discuss a number of projects, beginning with Bootzilla Records, the pair’s indie label, distributed through Jay-Z‘s Roc Nation, which puts out Collins’ own albums as well as a roster of young artists he discovers online, such as singers Fantaazma and Myra Washington. Collins is also working on an album for guitarist Buckethead, with whom he collaborated in experimental-music bandleader Bill Laswell‘s band Praxis in the ’90s. He’s working with the Wooten Brothers, jazz, funk and bluegrass stars, on an album. And he’s in touch with his old P-Funk mate, Clinton, for the first time in years, discussing a tour.
The two reconnected last summer, after then-Vice President Kamala Harris bought a George Clinton Funko Pop doll during a campaign stop, then asked reporters, “Do you know P-Funk? No. OK, well there are lessons to be taught. Bootsy Collins. Does everybody know who Bootsy Collins is? OK, there’s some education to be done, I can see that.”
So what education needs to be done? Collins explains that P-Funk made great albums, performed on tour for thousands of fans and became influential for generations of best-selling artists from hip-hop stars like Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube to funk bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone, but never hit that multiplatinum megastar stratosphere. “Of course, we sold some gold and platinum records, but it wasn’t like Prince, it wasn’t like Rick James, it wasn’t like all the big boys that raised all that noise with all those records,” Collins says. “Funk was a bad word when we first brought it. Radio wouldn’t even touch us in the beginning. But it was something that the people stood up for and I would never forget that. And that’s what Kamala was talking about: ‘I’m going to have to educate y’all.’”
From touring with Taylor Swift in 2013 to selling out stadiums on his own in the years since, Ed Sheeran has performed on some pretty big stages in his career — but the Super Bowl Halftime Show probably won’t ever be added to that list, he says.
On the latest episode of Call Her Daddy posted Tuesday (April 8), the “Bad Habits” singer opened up about his friendship with the Eras superstar as well as revealed whether he’d ever headline the biggest American sporting event of the year. When host Alex Cooper asked if he’d ever been asked to play the Super Bowl, he began, “There was a conversation about 10 years ago to go on with someone, and I think that’d be the only way that I would do it at the moment.”
“I don’t think English artists … I mean, there are some that have the pizazz of Super Bowl, fireworks, dancers, blah, blah, blah, but me going up there and being like, here’s ‘The A Team’ and here’s ‘Perfect,’ no one wants to see that,” Sheeran continued, laughing. “Whereas if there was a show with a lot of that, like if it was Beyoncé’s show, and she had all the bells and whistles, and then there was a moment where we sang ‘Perfect’ together, that makes sense to me.”
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The four-time Grammy winner did say that he thinks he could “nail one song” as a guest artist sharing the Super Bowl stage with someone else, but beyond that, he thinks his catalog “doesn’t really lend itself” to the high-energy gameday environment. “Have you seen me play as well? Because it’s with a loop pedal and you have to build the things,” he added. “Doesn’t really lend itself to the Super Bowl. ‘Hey, hang on guys. I’ve just gotta set this up for two minutes.’ You know?”
The interview comes about two months after the 2024 Super Bowl, which Kendrick Lamar headlined with assistance from SZA. In recent years, Usher, Rihanna and The Weeknd have also all added the coveted gig to their resumes.
One star who has generated much speculation over the past few years as to whether she might ever headline is Swift, whom Sheeran has known for more than a decade. Also on Call Her Daddy, the “Shape of You” musician opened up about his longtime friendship with the pop star, sharing that he recently went through their text conversations after being forced to dig out his old devices while preparing his defense for his ongoing legal battle over copyright issues.
“It was really nostalgic going through,” he told Cooper. “I lived in Nashville, and she lived in Nashville, and we used to fly to and from the gigs together and do all sorts of … I don’t know. I literally spent almost every single day with her for about six months, so I think that period of time [was my favorite].”
Sheeran opened for Swift on the North American leg of her global trek supporting 2012’s Red album, on which the pair had a duet titled “Everything Has Changed.” The two singers have since worked together on several more duets, including “End Game” on Swift’s Reputation (2017) and “The Joker and the Queen” on Sheeran’s = (2021).
Now, the British star says he probably sees the “Karma” artist “like, four times a year.” “I see her when I see her,” he said on Call Her Daddy. “Like, instead of catching up the whole time, we have a proper sit-down, six-hour catchups, and I think that’s like a really nice way to do it.”
Watch Sheeran’s full interview above.
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Source: Lilly Lawrence / Getty
Travis Scott recently opened up about his relationship with Kanye West, which dates back to the early stages of his career.
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Travis was signed to Kanye’s label, G.O.O.D. Music, as a producer, and quickly became an integral part of Kanye’s creative process. He played a pivotal role in producing tracks for Kanye’s Yeezus album, Big Sean’s Dark Sky Paradise, and many of the GOOD Fridays songs. Travis has often referred to Kanye as a mentor, a figure who not only taught him about music but allowed him to experience firsthand the art of music creation.
In a recent interview, La Flame reflected on Ye’s influence in his life, saying, “That’s my kids’ uncle.” He described how Kanye took him in at a young age, when Travis was just 19, and helped shape his musical journey. According to Travis, Kanye’s mentorship extended beyond just teaching him; it was about collaborating and creating together. Travis expressed that his time working alongside Kanye played a crucial role in his growth, not only as a producer but as an artist in general, helping him hone his skills in music, film, fashion, and more.
Despite recent controversies surrounding Kanye, including his inflammatory comments online, some of which have targeted the Kardashian family, Travis emphasized the enduring bond they share. His children’s connection to the Kardashian family, with Kylie Jenner being his partner and Kim Kardashian’s sister, may have created tension between Kanye and the family. However, Travis kept it vague for the sake of the history between the two artists.
Lucy Dacus reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts for the first time as a soloist, debuting atop the April 12-dated surveys with Forever Is a Feeling. Dacus’ fourth solo LP bows with 30,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending April 3, according to Luminate. […]
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Soulja Boy hasn’t had a hit record in quite some time, so you know whenever he’s trending or making headlines it’s for something wild he said or allegedly did, and in this case, it happens to be the latter of the two.
According to Court House News, a woman has just slapped Soulja with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit with an explosive claim saying that the “Crank That” rapper basically kidnapped her, beat her and raped her for a year while she was employed as his personal assistant. This past Monday (April 7) closing arguments in the civil case in which Jane Doe described the physical and emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of Soulja in 2018, which not only included being raped multiple times, but even starved as she said she was locked in a room for days without being fed.
On Tuesday (April 8), the 12 members of the jury began deliberations to determine whether or not to hold Soulja Boy liable for the claims and determine what kind of damages he may owe his former personal assistant if found guilty.
Court House News reports:
“If you don’t believe my client, don’t give her a dollar,” Ron Zambrano, a partner at West Coast trial lawyers, said. “But if you do believe her, give her everything.”
He added: “He raped her. He punched her. He kicked her. He cut her. He pointed a Draco gun at her. He locked her in her room … He told her, ‘I hope you die slow.’”
The plaintiff, who has asked to remain nameless throughout the trial, says she wasn’t paid while employed beginning in 2018 by the rapper, during which time she claims she was raped and beaten numerous times, and subjected to various acts of emotional abuse.
For his part, Soulja Boy (born DeAndre Way), denied the allegations and even called her claim that he punched her in the face and recorded a sex tape in order to blackmail her “disgusting” as he fights off any notion that he abused her in any way, shape or form. That being said, Soulja claimed that he never even hired her to be his assistant and according to his lawyer, Rickey Ivie, only offered her a place to stay so long as she became the designated “blunt roller” on his team.
Still, both admit things did eventually get amorous between the two only for things to become toxic as time went on.
Both Way and the plaintiff have said that for a time, they were in a consensual romantic relationship, one that could be loving and tender, but that it soured amidst mutual distrust.
A long text message thread between Way and the plaintiff screenshots of which were shown to the jury, showed the two exchanging terms of endearment. But the thread also showed both, especially Way, to have a violent temper, with Way going so far as to text her: “Die bitch. Shoulda killed your stupid ass.”
Showing the jury pictures of the bruises that she claims Soulja left on her person as evidence of the physical abuse, Jane Doe is suing for a whopping $73.6 million for her trauma. Whether or not a jury agrees with her story and demands remains to be seen. Unfortunately for Soulja though, this isn’t the first time he’s been sued for similar behavior as he took a court ordered L under similar circumstances not too long ago.
In 2021, a jury ordered Way to pay $471,800 to an ex-girlfriend named Kayla Myers, who accused Way of domestic violence and kidnapping, among other things. Myers was mentioned a number of times throughout the current trial. According to testimony, the plaintiff and Myers once got into a fight in Way’s driveway in Malibu.
Looks like Soulja may have to cough up a little something-something when this is all said and done.
What do y’all think about this latest legal issue for Soulja Boy? Let us know in the comments section below.
All Sheryl Crow wants to do is listen to Kelly Clarkson‘s new cover of “All I Wanna Do” on repeat. After the talk-show host sang a gorgeous rendition of the early ’90s hit for the latest installment of The Kelly Clarkson Show‘s Kellyoke segment, the guitarist had nothing but praise when commenting on a video […]
The negative response to the song “+57” by Karol G, J Balvin, Maluma, Feid, Blessd, Ryan Castro and DFZM reached a new peak on Tuesday (April 9), when a high court in Colombia ruled that it violated the rights of children because its lyrics “sexualized” minors, reports the Associated Press.
The Council of State, the supreme court for administrative litigation in Colombia, ordered the reggaetón stars to refrain from publishing music that violates the rights of children and teenagers. “Sexualizing minors reduces them to becoming objects of desire, and exposes them to risks that can affect their development,” the court said in a 14-page ruling, according to AP.
The track received a barrage of criticism since its release on Nov. 7 of last year. Rolling Stone En Español published an article titled “The Disaster of +’57′,” which Colombian President Gustavo Petro shared on his X account expressing that “it’s OK to have a cultural debate.” And the ICBF issued a statement saying that the song “reinforces the sexualization of childhood in our country” and that it “does not contribute to our fight against the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.”
Trending on Billboard
On Nov. 11, Karol gave a lengthy response to the criticism and apologized, saying, “I still have a lot to learn.” A couple days later, the lyrics were changed on the music video, saying “a hot mama since she was 18” instead of “14.”
“+57,” whose title is the international phone code for Colombia, was produced by hitmaker Ovy on the Drums and written by all of the aforementioned artists along with Keityn and newcomer DFZM. The name of the song, and the union of these superstars, had caused anticipation among fans eager for a new reggaeton anthem for Colombia.
The song was recorded in Karol G’s hometown of Medellin, a city that has become famous for nurturing several famous reggaeton singers. A main tourist destination, the city has also struggled to protect minors from sexual predators who visit the city in search of young women, reports the AP.
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Trump’s new and idiotic tariffs might’ve sent Nike’s stock spiraling down something ridiculous, but that’s not stopping them from continuing to release some much anticipated heat going forward. The next big drop is coming next week in the form of the SB Air Jordan 4 “Navy Blue.”
According to Sneaker News, the second colorway of the much beloved SB x Air Jordan 4 collaboration will see an April 15 release on Nike’s loathed SNKRS app just weeks after seeing its first drop via raffles from participating skate shops around the globe. Rumored to be only 50,000 pairs available worldwide (less on the SNKRS app after its first initial drop), the sneaker community has been eagerly waiting for their second chance to get a pair as millions of sneaker heads took L’s on the raffles the first time around.
Still, nothing is set in stone. And Nike could simply change up the release date at the last minute as they’ve been known to do.
Per Sneaker News:
Sneaker News can confirm that the Jordan 4 SB “Navy” will be available on April 15th, 2025 on SNKRS for $225. Although official release details have not yet been disclosed, it is possible that the Swoosh will employ the same procedure from the Jordan 4 SB “Pine Green” launch roughly two years ago.
Instead of the typical Draw, where users have a dedicated window of time to submit an entry, Nike could be employing an Exclusive Access Draw in which users have to meet a list of specific criteria to even have a chance at copping at retail. The criteria likely includes entering a certain number of Nike SB launches and/or minimum purchases of SB product. Again, this is not confirmed; we are merely reiterating what happened with the Pine Green SB release.
The way the SNKRS app be dishing out L’s like the point guard on your favorite team, we’re not sure how well this release will go. But best believe their will be many more losers than winners and everyone will take to social media to complain one way or another.
Regardless, we needs a pair so best believe we’ll be crossing our fingers and hoping Nike takes our money when release day comes around.
Will you be trying to cop a pair? Let us know in the comments section below.