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Rashida Jones, an actress and award-winining filmmaker, penned a moviing tribue to her father, the late producer Quincy Jones. Taking to social media, Rashida Jones remembered Quincy Jones as a protective and loving father, even in the midst of his creative endeavors.
Rashida Jones, 48, posted a photo of herself as an infant while being cradled by Quincy Jones, sharing how she would walk in on him creating music late at night yet never turned her away.
From Instagram:
My dad was nocturnal his whole adult life. He kept “jazz hours” starting in high school and never looked back. When I was little, I would wake up in the middle of the night to search for him. Undoubtedly, he would be somewhere in the house, composing (old school, with a pen and sheet music). He would never send me back to bed. He would smile and bring me into his arms while he continued to work…there was no safer place in the world for me.
Jones continued her tribute with “He was a giant. An icon. A culture shifter. A genius” before concluding that she was honored to be his child.
Rashida Jones won the Grammy Award for Best Music Film in 2019 for the biographic film, Quincy, which focused on the life of her father.
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Over the past few months Plies did what he could to help get people to the polls and vote for their freedom and future. Now that the election is over the Floridian is getting back to business and taking a few of his Hip-Hop peers to court over copyright infringement.
According to TMZ, Plies has sued the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, GloRilla and Cardi B for sampling his song “Me & My Goons” without proper clearance. In the lawsuit Plies states that his 2008 cut was sampled on Megan and GloRilla’s collaboration song “Wanna Be,” which ultimately landed a verse from Cardi B on the remix. For her participation in the hit song, Cardi done got herself wrapped up in the lawsuit as well.
Interestingly enough, Soulja Boy seems to be the first to have taken Plies’ beat and ran with it on his 2010 track “Pretty Boy Swag.” After listening to all of these songs, the man might have a strong case.
Per TMZ:
The suit also names Meg’s Hot Girl Productions, Soulja’s former imprint Collipark Productions, and record labels Universal Music Group, Collective Music Group and Interscope as defendants.
If the suit is successful, the damages could cost everyone plenty of shiny pennies.
We’re not taking any sides on this one, but it looks like Plies might have an open and shut case. Just sayin’.
Check out all three of the songs after the jump, and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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It seems whatever happened at a Diddy party, stayed at a Diddy party. The non-disclosure all attendees allegedly had to sign has leaked.
TMZ has obtained what they believe to be the agreement that the disgraced music mogul used to keep his festivities private. The three-page document reads like your typical NDA and forbids the intended persons from speaking on what they might have seen or heard while attending a Diddy function. This includes sharing any information with their friends, family, business associates, colleagues and spouses. “You hereby irrevocably agree that you shall not at any time use of disclose directly or indirectly to anyone any of the following information,” it reads. “Artists, Artist parties, and or Artist business activities, entertainment activities, financial affairs and or personal life.”
Diddy’s NDA also prohibits the signee from divulging any secrets via interviews or writing books. Additionally, the terms of the legally binding document extend well after Diddy has passed away. “The term of this Agreement and duty to keep all information confidential and not use Prohibited Material shall commence on the first date above and continue for the life of Artist plus twenty (20) years or seventy (70) years, whichever is longer.”
Last year, former Danity Kane member Aubrey O’Day revealed that in order for Bad Boy Entertainment artists to receive their publishing rights back they too had to sign an NDA. During her interview with the Only Stans podcast she read the document saying she would have to “release [Diddy] for any claims or wrongdoings or actions prior to the date of the release.”
Diddy’s trial is set to commence in May 2025. You can read the NDA obtained by TMZ here.
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In September, Justin Johnson, one of two people who were charged in the fatal ambush shooting of Memphis rapper Young Dolph in 2021, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. On Friday (Nov. 31), the 26-year-old has been slapped with an additional 35 years behind bars, making his chances of ever being turned loose on society again look all the more grim.
According to the Associated Press, Johnson was sentenced Friday for his two other convictions, conspiracy to commit murder and being a felon in possession of a gun.
Johnson, an aspiring rapper, already had three aggravated assault convictions before Nov. 17, 2021, when he shot and killed Dolph, named Adolph Thornton Jr., at a bakery in Memphis. The “Talking To My Scale” rapper was in Memphis to hand out Thanksgiving turkeys to families when his visit to his favorite cookie shop turned deadly.
From AP:
During the trial, co-defendant Cornelius Smith testified that rapper Yo Gotti’s brother, Anthony “Big Jook” Mims, had put out a $100,000 hit on Young Dolph as well as bounties on all the artists at Young Dolph’s record label, Paper Route Empire. Smith said he and Johnson were “looking for somebody” and “didn’t know who we were going to catch.”
They knew that Young Dolph and some of his artists were participating in the turkey giveaway, so they were heading in that direction when they saw Young Dolph’s car. They followed him to the cookie shop and opened fire in broad daylight, Smith said. Young Dolph was hit 22 times and died at the scene.
Prosecutor Paul Hagerman noted during the sentencing hearing that Johnson committed the murder-for-hire in broad daylight at a public place with “no hesitation. Dolph’s family members also made statements, including his sister, who said in a statement that the family feels “anger, anxiety and grief” over the death of Dolph, who “created a legacy that will endure long after this tragedy.”
“In a world full of envy, jealousy and arrogance, many fail to realize the impact of their actions until it’s too late,” the statement continued.
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Over the last few years “swatting” has become the latest trend among Americans looking to annoy and disrupt the everyday lives of people they just can’t stand. Though it was mainly reserved for politicians, as of late celebrities have been swatted as people just have nothing better to do these days.
Now, it seems like streaming megastar, Kai Cenat, has fallen victim to the swatting trend as police were called to his residence right when he kicked off his highly publicized Mafiathon 2. According to TMZ, someone decided to swat Cenat right when he kicked off his month-long livestreaming marathon and called authorities to report a trespasser at Kai Cenat’s home. When police arrived they asked the people in the residence to leave while they combed the rooms to ensure things were on the up and up.
Once they realized it was much ado about nothing, the stream got back on track, but unfortunately, the swatting attempts didn’t end there.
Per TMZ:
The next day, though, cops got yet another call — this one being far more serious.
As KC documented on his stream, officers rushed to the scene after someone reported a shooting at the home … which was ultimately deemed a swatting call.
Unfortunately for Cenat, it didn’t stop there … ’cause on Sunday, cops got two more calls of alleged issues at the home.
After the last incident police are now monitoring calls made on Kai Cenat’s home and have a direct line to hit him on to make sure things are OK on his side. Though police are investigating the calls made, they haven’t made any arrests. With the rest of the month left to go, we won’t be surprised if another attempt or two are made. We just hope police catch whoever’s wasting everyone’s time with this childish game.
What do y’all think about the swatting trend on celebrities? Sound off in the comments section below.
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It’s been a few days since Young Thug was finally granted his freedom and allowed to go home. With many in the Hip-Hop culture celebrating his return to the streets, Lil Baby took a moment to welcome home the OG ATLien with an IG post of his own.
Tagging Young Thug on his Instagram Stories, the “In A Minute” rapper expressed his excitement at Thugger’s release and wrote, “I missed you mf!! Welcome home my brudda! Thank God you able to get back to the fam in good health and spirits! Wish ya none but billions jack!”
If the whole “jack!” thing threw you off, Lil Baby was responding to a tweet that Thugger sent out following his release after taking a plea in which he wrote, “Real plea deal jack!”
Real plea deal jack!
— Young Thug ひ (@youngthug) November 3, 2024
But Thugger wasn’t done tweeting. The Slime Season rapper had an interesting message for nobody in particular.
Wham let’s drop one on these rats peter
— Young Thug ひ (@youngthug) November 3, 2024
Yeah, who knows what he’s referring to with this one.
Regardless, Thugger is home and we’re sure he can’t wait to get back into the studio and start cooking to get some bread.
Are y’all looking forward to hearing some new material from Young Thug? Who should he collaborate with? Should he address the whole Gunna situation sooner or later? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Today, Diddy will be celebrating his 55th birthday in a prison cell. Though that may not be the most ideal place for the rapper to commemorate his born day, he’ll still be getting some special treatment while behind bars. Well, not really.
According to the New York Post, the founder of the iconic Bad Boy Records will be getting basic prison grub for his special day while being locked up at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center as he awaits trial for sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Instead of expensive cuts of meat, chicken, or lobster, Diddy will be feasting on oven-browned potatoes, biscuits and gravy, and bread and oatmeal. And that’s just the breakfast menu.
As the day goes on Diddy will be able to chow down on some pizza along with Italian pasta salad and green beans before ultimately getting some birthday chicken with tofu fried rice with black beans and carrots. We’re not gonna lie, that tofu fried rice sounds low-key fancy for a prison meal. Just sayin’.
While we’re sure Diddy will be reminiscing on his past birthday parties that involved his celebrity friends and allegedly baby oil as far as the eye can see, we doubt many people will be feeling sorry for him now that everyone’s seen that video of him putting hands on Cassie and the atrocious allegations made against him.
Per the New York Post:
Prosecutors claim Diddy forced his alleged victims to participate in “Freak Offs,” aka “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”
They accuse him of drugging his alleged victims to keep them “obedient and compliant,” sometimes for days at a time. Prosecutors claim Diddy would record the “Freak Offs” and use the footage as “collateral” for blackmail, alleging he’d also use guns “to intimidate and threaten” them.
Diddy denied the accusations and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Well, at least he can have some “breakfast cake” for his birthday, but he’d have to get up at 6 a.m. to do so, and who knows if the cake is worth even getting up that early for. Might as well just use his commissary to get himself a Snickers bar or something later in the day.
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The artist responsible for the statue of retired NBA star Dwyane Wade — which has been getting dragged on social media since it was unveiled by the Miami Heat over the weekend — is defending his work. The artist is telling critics that they don’t know anything about what goes into constructing and maintaining such a sculpture.
Absolutely losing it at D Wade’s reaction to seeing his statue…
“I can’t believe it… Who is that guy?”
LMMAAOO pic.twitter.com/eZET5w7Z7G
— Josh Reynolds (@JoshReynolds24) October 27, 2024
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that is NOT D Wade bro 💀
if the Heat decide to fix the statue we’re gonna give away 100x FREE LINEUPS for a shot to win $5,000 to random people who like this 😭
pic.twitter.com/ukM2dCgg1d
— PrizePicks (@PrizePicks) October 27, 2024
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Days after people on the internet unanimously responded to the unveiling of the Wade statue with a resounding, “Harpo, who dis man?” the artist, Oscar Leon, told NBC News, “To the critics, there’s a lot that needs to be understood.”
“We have to seal everything to keep the integrity of the sculpture,” Leon continued. “However, that does create a funny little side effect of being glossy in areas that we are not used to seeing when we look at somebody in the flesh.”
Leon appears to be under the impression that the statue’s “glossy” finish in certain “areas” is why people have been dogging the sculpture, not because it looks like he put Trick Daddy’s head on top of Wade’s body.
“The sealer definitely creates a little bit of, um, a misunderstanding to the eye. So, I would definitely encourage everyone to come to Miami and view it in person,” he explained.
Sir…
At this point, most people have seen this statue honoring Wade from every angle and camera distance imaginable, and so far we haven’t seen a single image of it that doesn’t look like a civil rights violation in a Heat jersey. It just really doesn’t seem like viewing the statue in person is going to change anyone’s perception of it.
To be fair, Wade himself also appeared to defend Leon’s work, and he also did so by pointing out that common folk don’t know the process that went into its creation.
From thegrio:
“I don’t know a lot of people with a statue. Do you know anybody? In here, y’all know anything about the process of the statue?” Wade asked the media Monday, Sports Illustrated reported. “No one out there does, neither. It’s an unbelievable process to be a part of and it’s a complicated process.”
Leon told NBC News the sculpture took over 800 hours to produce, sixteen of which were spent with Wade. The artists received final approval from Wade’s closest friends and Miami Heat executives. In posts to his Instagram Stories, Wade revealed more of the behind-the-scenes process, including shots of himself posing with a version of the statue’s face.
OK, fine, so the piece took a long time and a lot of effort to make.
That still doesn’t change that it looks like Joe Jackson in Dwayne Wade’s gear. Jussayin’.
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Diddy’s demand to have the names of witnesses against him in his upcoming criminal trial has been blasted by prosecutors in a recent filing.
According to reports, a request by the legal team for Diddy to reveal the names of those witnesses for the prosecution has been rebuked in a recent filing. “The Victim Gag Motion should be denied as an attempt to backdoor the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to compel the Government to prematurely disclose its witness list,” wrote prosecutors for the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York in a filing on Thursday (Oct. 31).
The 56-page motion blasted lawyers Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos for the move, writing: “Not only would such relief be unprecedented, but the defendant should not be permitted to use a local criminal rule as a sword to gag civil claimants whether or not their statements were connected to this criminal proceeding, or to evade established case law in this Circuit.” The motion also dismissed allegations levied by Agnifilo and Geragos that the federal government leaked to the public the 2016 hotel security footage that showed Diddy, aka Sean Combs, assault his then-partner Cassie Ventura.
“As the defendant is fully aware, the video was not in the Government’s possession at the time of CNN’s publication and the Government has never, at any point, obtained the video through grand jury process,” wrote U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, who also swatted away other defense claims that the government leaked material to media outlets. “Here, too, the defendant is grasping at straws. Because the defendant cannot show that the information in the Cited Articles is grand jury material, and because he cannot show that Government agents with access to grand jury material leaked the information, he cannot make the prima facie showing required for the relief he seeks.”
The filing comes as the grand jury for the criminal case is continuing to meet and hear from witnesses as well as to review new evidence submitted by the government including text messages, video, and audio from 60 of Diddy’s devices. “The grand jury is always meeting. This is an ongoing investigation,” said one source close to the case to CNN. The case, set to be heard by U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, will begin May 5, 2025. Diddy is currently incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.
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The claims against Diddy are getting even wilder. A man says he has videotapes of the mogul having sex with other celebrities including two child stars.
As spotted on Page Six, a man named Courtney Burgess is stepping forward with some very wild allegations about the founder of Bad Boy Entertainment. The self-proclaimed music executive was interviewed on NewsNation’s Banfield show.
During the Q&A hearing he revealed that he has several flash drives given to him by the late Kim Porter. In them, Burgess says are videos of Diddy and other celebrities, specifically six men and two women. Even more egregious is his claim that two of the proposed a-listers were minors at the time. Burgess would go on to detail that all the high-profile stars in the footage appeared to him to be under the influence and were victims.
On Thursday (Oct. 31), he testified before a grand jury in Manhattan. TMZ caught up with him and his attorney Ariel Mitchell outside and were able to get some additional details and clarification. Burgess explained that not only does he have possession of the tapes but also an unedited version of Kim Porter’s memoir.
Earlier this year, Jamal T. Milwood published a book titled Kim’s Last Words. The purported memoir was written by investigative journalist Chris Todd and contained several serious accusations against Diddy, including claims of physical abuse and sexual debauchery. Porter’s children soon denounced the release, prompting Amazon and Barnes & Noble to pull it. Ariel confirmed they are looking to release their unedited version for sale shortly.
Sources tell TMZ that federal prosecutors have subpoenaed him and have demanded he turn over all his files which include Diddy. You can see the NewsNation interview with Courtney Burgess below.
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