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The rise in COVID-19 cases in the state of Georgia has propelled Morris Brown College to reinstitute masking mandates for its students and employees.
According to NewsOne, the HBCU based in Atlanta, Georgia sent out a letter detailing the guidelines for the mandate to faculty members, incoming students, and staff last Friday (August 18). The letter was then released publicly on the school’s Instagram account on Sunday (August 20).
The mandate, which will be in existence for the next two weeks, requires everyone to wear masks. Physical distancing is also reinstated for students, as well as a ban on large gatherings and parties for students for those two weeks. In addition, students are required to undergo temperature checks upon arrival to campus and to take part in contact tracing efforts by the college. The contact tracing and other care and assistance will be provided by the school through its partnership with St. Joseph Mercy Care.
Morris Brown College made the move in response to the rising rate of COVID-19 cases being reported by the Atlanta University Center (AUC), which consists of Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Morehouse School of Medicine. Their lead epidemiologist, Kara Garretson, recently released a resource guide for AUC students and employees to follow.
COVID-19 rates in Atlanta have risen since August 5th, according to the data collected by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The rate of hospitalizations rose by 29.5%, with 322 confirmed cases in that time, and while the numbers are lower in comparison to the same time frame last year, there is concern as a new variant has been settling in around the nation. The EG.5 variant has been active for the last couple of months and is believed to be responsible for 17% of cases in the United States thus far.
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Amazon’s live interaction radio app, AMP, has officially announced the three selected standout stars for their new emerging artist program The Come Up, shining the spotlight on Atlanta rappers Pote Baby, CEO Trayle, and Ken Carson.
Source: Cam Kirk / Amp
According to the announcement, as part of the program, the three selected artists will be featured in a series of three mini-documentaries developed and directed by Atlanta creative Cam Kirk, which gives viewers an up-close look at the journey of the selected artists as the next generation in Atlanta Hip-Hop.
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The inaugural episode of the documentary highlights Pote Baby, who shared that his creative vision is to bridge the gap between Savannah and the global entertainment world by opening up recording studios, live performance venues, art spaces, and movie theatres in his hometown.
“I grew up seeing Trick Daddy, Wayne, and Camoflauge represent the ghetto and the south in a fly way,” Pote Baby said in a statement, “So it’s dope to get a chance to do the same thing for the next generation.”
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Developed by Amp, in collaboration with Kenny Burns, The Come Up launched with a focus on Atlanta-based Hip-Hop talent, featuring live music and discussion-based radio shows on Amp hosted by Burns, Big Bank, DJ Kash, Paige Shari, Su Solo, and hip-hop fans across the platform.
Source: Cam Kirk / Amp
“The A has it all — artists that sing, rap, and dance, and rappers that are actual rock stars!” Kenny Burns said in a statement. “Fans have been gathering live on Amp to weigh in on their favorite new artists in the Atlanta hip-hop scene, and we’re excited to highlight CEO Trayle, Ken Carson, and Pote Baby as part of The Come Up because they represent this new wave of diverse talent rising up in the city today.”
In addition to being featured in the Cam Kirk docuseries, to help amplify their music, each artist will receive opportunities to be interviewed on fan-favorite Amp shows such as The Daily Cannon with Nick Cannon, and Rotation Radio with Gabe P and Nyla Symone, along with promotional support across Amazon Music and Amp and inclusion on “The Come Up” playlist on Amazon Music.
“I’m excited to be part of an opportunity that highlights emerging artists from my city,” selected artist Ken Carson said in a statement. “Atlanta’s always had the best sound in music and I’m happy to be a part of that. We’re not stopping anytime soon.”
Check out episode one of The Come Up docuseries below.
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It seems any issues that Meek Mill and Rick Ross had are now in the past. Rozay has reportedly purchased Meek’s home for four million dollars in cash.
As spotted on Complex the MMG talent once again proves that he is bossed up. This week WSBTV reported that Meek had been trying to offload the Buckhead property for some time. After almost two years the Philadelphia MC took matters into his own hands and posted visuals on his social media channels promoting that the home was on the market. “come grab this Jawn … it’s some top secret shit in there too!” he wrote on Twitter.
It seems his approach was just what the doctor ordered as his realtor Alisha Gillooly confirmed that the eight-bedroom nine-bathroom property was purchased by $4.2 million dollars in cash by Rick Ross. The house reportedly includes a private pool, movie theater, tennis court, jacuzzi, playground and double garage. In an ironic twist of events Meek shared on Instagram Story that he didn’t even know that Rick Ross purchased the house until media outlets picked up the story. “Sold Rozay the big fish estates … I ain’t even know he bought this lol”.
It is not clear if Rick Ross will keep this location or use it as an investment property.
Photo: Courtesy of Jetdoc
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If you were outside in the 90’s, you no doubt attended or heard about Freaknik, the proudly Black spring break event that would go down in Atlanta. On Thursday, April 6, Hulu announced it’s releasing Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told, a documentary about the famed, or infamous, annual gathering of Black college students and partiers.
Variety reports that Hulu describes the doc as recounting “the rise and fall of a small Atlanta HBCU picnic that exploded into an influential street party and spotlighted ATL as a major cultural stage.
The legend goes that Freaknik, originally Freaknic, started as a gathering in an Atlanta park in the ’80’s. The Georgia city is the home to the HBCU’s of the Atlanta University Center (AUC) that include Morehouse, Spelman, Clark-Atlanta and Morris Brown. Soon enough, word got out of the annual event which quickly grew bigger and bigger, eventually becoming a whole weekend of festivities in April.
Add the burgeoning Atlanta Hip-Hop scene that included the Dungeon Family (OutKast, Goodie Mob) and So So Def Records and the legend only grew and perhaps got too big. The city of Atlanta essentially put the kibosh on Freaknic in 1999, citing safety concerns with politicians going so far as saying they would sue anyone organizing Freaknic events.
Speaking of So So Def, the label’s founder Jermaine Dupri is serving as one of the doc’s executive producers. The documentary seems to be in good hands with director P. Frank Williams and Luther Campbell also serving as executive producers, amongst others.
UTA has officially set up shop in Atlanta.
Along with its partner company KLUTCH Sports Group, the agency opened its new Atlanta bureau Wednesday (March 22) to extend its ability to discover and serve artists, athletes, musicians and brands in the region. Steve Cohen, Rob Gibbs and Arthur Lewis will serve as co-heads of the new office.
“Atlanta is an entertainment and cultural hub, and planting our flag here gives us the ability to support clients with investments and opportunities across the city’s growing creative ecosystem,” said Cohen and Gibbs in a joint statement.
UTA will offer representation in Atlanta across its multitude of divisions, including music, sports, film, television, digital talent, marketing, gaming, fine arts and more. This includes advising top global brands based in the Southeast on a range of growth initiatives, including ways to partner with the creative community.
“Atlanta is a vibrant city for music, sports and arts, and there is a ripe opportunity to create another center of gravity for film and television,” said UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer in a statement. “We are excited to bring our full range of services to the community of talented artists, athletes, musicians and creators who call the Southeast their home.”
The new office is located at 1401 Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta and occupies nearly 20,000 square feet across three floors. It was designed by the firm Hastings Architecture, which also designed UTA’s office in Nashville.
The Atlanta bureau will additionally feature a fine art gallery called The UTA Artist Space to showcase programming from the Atlanta art community and across UTA’s global fine arts roster. The inaugural show will feature Atlanta-based artist and musician Lonnie Holley in the first exhibition of his work in the city in over 10 years. Entitled “The Eyes Were Always on Us,” the exhibition will feature sculptures constructed from found materials in the tradition of African-American sculpture. The gallery is open to the public Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
UTA also boasts offices in Beverly Hills, Nashville, New York, Chicago and London.
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Two of the biggest names in Hip-Hop, Drake and Lil Baby, might be teaming up on a future album according to a recent podcast appearance by a producer.
In a recent interview on the Podcast and Chill With Mac G which aired Monday (March 6), the producer Black Coffee was asked about the various celebrity encounters he’s had. The conversation soon turned to his linking up with Quality Control co-founder Keith “Coach K” Lee in Atlanta.
“We go to dinner. We got to the club. I play my sets,” Coffee added. “He’s like, ‘We’re going to my strip club.’ I have never been. And this is what Atlanta is known for. And he said to me, ‘Lil Baby and Drake are making an album. It’s possible that Drake is retiring.’” The interview concludes shortly after. Black Coffee recently worked with Drake on his last solo album, Honestly, Nevermind.
There has been no confirmation from representatives of Drake or Lil Baby. If it’s true that the two are collaborating on a new album, this would be the third joint musical venture the Canadian superstar has entered into with an Atlanta-based rapper. Drake is still enjoying the rave reviews from the Her Loss album he did with 21 Savage, which was released last November. And in 2015, he and Future teamed up to record and drop What a Time to be Alive.
The Certified Lover Boy has hinted at making an early exit from music, doing so in a recent interview with Lil Yachty. “I’m at the point now where I just want to, like, and I feel like maybe we talked about this the other day, but I feel like I’m kind of introducing the concept in my mind of a graceful exit,” he said at the time.
The interview with Black Coffee on the Podcast and Chill With Mac G can be seen in full below.
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Activists and other social justice groups have begun a planned “week of action” to protest the construction of a project known as “Cop City” outside of Atlanta, Georgia.According to reports, multiple activists and environmental and social justice groups from across the United States have initiated a week of protest actions against the building of a training center complex for law enforcement in a forest area south-east of Atlanta which has been dubbed “Cop City”.
The planned actions come a little less than two months after the death of Manuel Paez Terán, an activist known as “Tortuguita”. Terán was shot and killed by a Georgia State Trooper on January 18th in the midst of a violent raid by a combined force of state troopers, officers from Dekalb County & Atlanta, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on a protest encampment in the South Forest area.
Protesters are seeking to block the construction of the militarization and training complex which was launched by the Atlanta Police Foundation. With an estimated price tag of $85 to $90 million, the site would be the largest of its kind in the nation once completed. Many have complained about the environmental impact, as the entire forest is slated to be razed for the project. The planned week of action will include a march among other protests. “The idea is to have a march with Black-led groups, centered in Atlanta history, and the protest movements we’ve always been a part of,” said Community Movement Builders leader Kamal Franklin. A “National Day of Action Against Police Terror” is slated for this coming Thursday (March 9th), with a music festival and a “know your rights workshop” also included in the actions.
These initiatives by protesters are meant to quash the narrative promoted by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens that the protests have been dominated by outside agitators bent on violence. On Sunday (March 5th), 35 people were detained by police at the site after a construction vehicle was set ablaze and rocks were being hurled at officers as a protest was taking place. Franklin said to CNN afterward that the arrests were “indiscriminate”, and didn’t represent the majority of those protesting who are from the Atlanta area. “These are big-tent protests. We don’t expect incidents beyond standard civil disobedience. We hope the police will act accordingly and not in violent ways that exacerbate the situation,” he stated.
CMT/Paramount senior executive Leslie Fram will reunite with Steve Barnes as co-host of the relaunched 99X Atlanta morning show, now known as The Morning X With Barnes and Leslie. The radio broadcast had its original success via Atlanta’s alternative rock station from 1994 until 2003, and will now air from 6-10 a.m. ET each weekday.
Fram will also retain her role at CMT/Paramount.
In 1994, Brian Philips, now chief content officer at parent company Cumulus Media, paired Barnes and Leslie on the original Morning X With Barnes, Leslie and Jimmy (Baron). The show earned acclaim in the Atlanta market and beyond, while the team was named Billboard‘s national major market morning show in 1996, and Radio and Records’ national major market morning show in 1999.
In October 2022, the launch of the 99X “museum” website to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the station’s founding led to an outpouring of fan interest and passion. Cumulus Media acquired the station’s classic call letters and relaunched 99X WNNX in Atlanta in December. The station’s ratings doubled in its first month on the air. Barnes has hosted the revamped program since January.
The popular podcast The Pop Culture Show, which the duo founded at the onset of the pandemic, is now rebranded as The Morning X With Barnes & Leslie and joins the Cumulus Podcast Network. Episodes will release each weekday, featuring both new programming and classic material from the legendary radio show.
“This ‘new original 99X’ was destined to be — it is a passion project, a labor of love. None of us has ever stopped being friends, loving the same music, or laughing at the same jokes,” Philips said via a statement. “The audience demanded the return of the station via a social explosion of affection and nostalgia. Only in Atlanta could the will of the loyal 99X audience make the impossible happen. It’s unprecedented to be able to entirely rebuild a classic station with members of its original cast.”
“99X was my home for 17 years and will forever be in my DNA. Those years prepared me for my current role at CMT – understanding a loyal fanbase of music lovers who truly lead the way,” Fram added via a statement. “You only have to glance at the comments from 99X listeners reminiscing about their favorite music and memories to appreciate the role this radio station played in their lives. The Foo Fighters sang, ‘If everything could ever be this real forever, if anything could ever be this good again’ … and it turns out it can. I am psyched to be working with some of my lifelong friends and colleagues on 99X again and thankful to my Paramount/CMT family for letting me continue to put my rock hat on with Cumulus during my off hours.”
“It’s a thrill to come back ‘home’ to The Morning X and 99X,” added Barnes. “It’s mind blowing that the fans asked for our return to the Atlanta airwaves and Cumulus gave us the chance to put our team back together to rebuild this franchise.”
While Donald Glover has closed the chapter on his beloved FX series Atlanta, he’s starting another with his forthcoming TV series Swarm.
The show follows a young woman named Dre (played by Dominique Fishback) who is obsessed with a fictional pop star who is reportedly similar to Beyoncé, according to Vanity Fair.
Glover — whose has witnessed fans’ parasocial relationship with artists first-hand through his rap alter ego Childish Gambino — worked on the upcoming Amazon Prime Video series with Atlanta writer and producer Janine Nabers, who is Swarm‘s showrunner.
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“We were really interested in creating an antihero story,” Nabers told Vanity Fair in an interview, citing Mad Men’s Don Draper and The Sopranos’ Tony Soprano as inspirations for their re-envisioning of the archetype “through the lens of a Black, modern-day woman.” Swarm will dig deeper into Dre’s fandom and will take a dark direction.
Chlöe Bailey will play Marissa, Dre’s sister, while Damson Idris plays her boyfriend. “She’s an incredible person and she can really tap into the humanity of sisterhood,” said Nabers, who commended the star’s understanding of the music industry and relationship with her own sister, singer and actress Halle Bailey. Chlöe Bailey is one-half of the Grammy-nominated R&B sister duo Chloe x Halle and has also embarked on her own solo career, with her debut project due in March.
“A lot of people did it out of the kindness of their hearts and they did a really great job,” Glover added. “Dom, Damson, Chloe. I was really blown away at how hard they worked on the tone, ’cause it’s a strange one.”
Malia Obama is also involved in Swarm in the writer’s room, which Glover confirmed last spring in an another VF interview where he described her as “an amazingly talented person” and “really focused” when it comes to her work.
See the first photos from Swarm below.
SWARM
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SWARM
Quantrell D. Colbert/Amazon
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Quantrell D. Colbert/Amazon
SWARM
Quantrell D. Colbert/Amazon
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Pinky Cole, the founder of the popular Slutty Vegan chain of eateries, is coming under fire after a former employee alleged that Cole underpaid them. As a result, Cole’s appearance on NBC’s TODAY show was abruptly canceled prompting Cole to issue a statement declaring she would never do such a thing under her watch.
Pinky Cole, 35, burst onto the scene after opening her vegan burger chain Slutty Vegan in the Atlanta Metropolis area, sparking long lines of satisfied customers. The chain has since expanded into opening brick-and-mortar locations in Atlanta, New York, and a location coming to Washington, D.C.
Cole also owns Bar Vegan, a plant-based bar that borrows from the Slutty Vegan concept. According to Cole, she doesn’t oversee the daily operations of the establishment and boldly declared she would never do anything of the sort.
From IG:
This week, I was named in a lawsuit for one of my companies, Bar Vegan, alongside my partners, over alleged unpaid wages from one employee. Again, ALLEGED.
Up until this point, I was not familiar with this ordeal or the employee, because I don’t run day to day operations at Bar Vegan.
But because it’s a SEXY STORY to make a community leader look like a bad guy, this has become headline news.
What do I gain withholding someone’s hard earned money when my blessings overflow EVERYDAY? When I’m helping people EVERYDAY! When I’m using my resources to put people on EVERYDAY.. employees included! My life’s work is in service, and this negativity don’t match my name.
It isn’t known how far along the legal proceedings are in the lawsuit against Cole and her business partners but she’s promising to use this moment to forge ahead with her plans of expansion despite the disappointment of not getting her slot on the TODAY show.
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Photo: The Washington Post / Getty
