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Here we go! Paramount+ announced on Wednesday (Feb. 1) that a docuseries about Lollapalooza, Perry Farrell‘s iconic music festival, has gotten the green-light. Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza will be a three-part program directed by Michael John Warren.
“When Lolla was launched in 1991, the concert industry felt like a boring car ride that was running out of gas,” the Jane’s Addiction frontman said in a statement. “We pumped new life into the live music experience and set the foundation for the youth’s counter culture to become important and exciting again. Now more than three decades young, I am happy to have this opportunity to give people an inside look at the festival’s contribution to music history.”
Warren also shared his excitement over helming the project. “As a naive teenager trapped in the doldrums of Suburbia, U.S.A, I attended the first-ever Lollapalooza, and it totally blew my mind!” said Warren, who previously directed Jay-Z’s Fade to Black and Netflix’s Fearless. “It was dangerous, beautiful and instantly widened my perspective. So, it’s an honor to be entrusted to tell the true story of one of the most astonishing cultural touchstones in the last half-century.”
The Story of Lollapalooza will recount Farrell’s relationship with the annual music event, as well as its evolution, according to the press release. The rocker had initially intended the music event to be a multi-city farewell tour for Jane’s Addiction, with the inaugural lineup spanning across genres — though with a more alternative bent — and featuring artists such as Nine Inch Nails, Ice-T, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Rollins Band and Living Colour.
Since then, the festival has continued to grow and include more popular acts — though now held annually at Chicago’s Grant Park — with 2022’s lineup featuring headliners Dua Lipa, J. Cole, Metallica, Green Day, Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Baby and Kygo, with performances from BTS’ J-Hope, Becky G and more. It has also expanded around the world, with spin-offs happening in Brazil, Germany, France and more, with Lollapalooza India launching Jan. 28-29, drawing record crowds in Mumbai.
Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza will be produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and FunMeter, in partnership with C3 Presents. A release date has not yet been announced.
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Drake and the NFL are joining forces for a fashion collaboration just in time for game day. The sporty collab between the football league and the Canadian rapper’s October’s Very Own lifestyle brand was announced Tuesday (Jan. 31) and will debut later this week.
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Drake tapped his Young Money boss Lil Wayne and fellow rapper Benny the Butcher to star in the campaign, which features OVO x NFL co-branded hoodies, varsity jackets and tees. The limited collection launches this Friday, Feb. 3, at NFLshop.com, NFLShop.ca and in OVO stores and online at octobersveryown.com.
Weezy, a proud Green Bay Packers fan, represents his favorite team in a green varsity jacket in one photo and green hoodie in another. Ditto for Benny who sports Buffalo Bills gear in honor of his hometown team.
Lil Wayne
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Benny Butcher
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Underscoring the partnership’s Canadian roots, Canadian NFL players Jevon Holland, a safety for the Miami Dolphins, and Neville Gallimore, a defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, will showcase the campaign across their respective social media platforms.
Other teams featured in the collection include the New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams.
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News of the NFL x OVO capsule collection comes one week after the league unveiled its merch collab with Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty brand and sporting goods giant Mitchell & Ness.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will face off in this year’s Super Bowl scheduled for next Sunday, Feb. 12, at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Chris Stapleton will sing the national anthem, Babyface is singing “America the Beautiful,” Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and Rihanna is taking over the halftime show. Super Bowl LVII airs on Fox at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. Want to catch the action in person? Click here to buy tickets to the Super Bowl.
One of the first salutes honoring the yearlong celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary takes place Tuesday night (Jan. 31) with the PBS premiere of Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World. The four-part docuseries, produced in partnership with BBC Music, was developed and executive-produced by Public Enemy co-founder/activist/rap icon Chuck D and his production partner Lorrie Boula.
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“The most important word in the series’ title is the last word,” Chuck D tells Billboard during a recent phone interview as he explains how far the genre has traveled. “I’ve always been at the gate of hip-hop and wanted to see us compete alongside rock [and other genres]. A little genre that could play in the same arenas; be loud, boisterous and get our point of view across. But rap had no structural belief core then [in the industry]. It was treated like a novelty with no caretaking.
“Long before any corporations realized it was time to wake up, hip-hop had been speaking out and telling truths,” Chuck D continues. “Working with PBS and BBC was an opportunity to deliver these messages through new ways and help explain hip-hop’s place in history.”
Adds Boula, “There’s a deeper level to hip-hop that we felt kept getting missed. Yes, it’s become this commercial industry … pop music to some people. But we didn’t want to make something that was one-dimensional. We wanted to show hip-hop’s real and various layers. We also knew the BBC had very extensive news archives and that they were willing to roll up their sleeves in a different way as our partner along with PBS. They understood the vision.”
That vision began crystalizing three years ago as the project got underway. Pandemic-induced delays led last year to 18-hour days of simultaneous fact-checking and editing up until this past Thanksgiving so the docuseries could be quickly turned around in time for its January premiere. The result is an insightful and provocative look at how and why hip-hop became a cultural phenomenon.
Contextualized against the backdrop of pivotal moments in American history, the docuseries tracks hip-hop’s revolutionary journey across four decades in four chapters: “The Foundation,” “Under Siege,” “Culture Wars” and “Still Fighting.” Setting the tone for each episode’s introduction is Public Enemy’s searing “Fight the Power,” the group’s groundbreaking 1989 unity- and social consciousness-raising anthem that also figures prominently in the docuseries’ title.
However, it’s the frank and illuminating first-hand accounts from various rap pioneers that really hit home. In addition to Chuck D, those front-line players include Grandmaster Caz, Ice-T, The Last Poets’ Abiodun Oyewole, Roxanne Shanté, Run- D.M.C., John Forté, will.i.am, MC Lyte, Cypress Hill’s B-Real, Melle Mel, Fat Joe and Lupe Fiasco, among others.
“I think people will be surprised by some of things the artists say,” notes Boula. “But they speak to the real issues in a way that none of us visitors to the space can. That’s the substance we wanted … to be of service to the culture, telling stories that maybe people aren’t telling that are equally as important as who’s dating who or losing their mind on Instagram.”
Courtesy Photo
“And that’s one of the strong reasons why we felt confident that the BBC could help us narrate, navigate and direct the story with Lorrie building on top of that,” says Chuck D. “We needed to be able to be told how we, the U.S., looks to someone from the outside looking in. Speaking up and holding myself individually accountable; that’s the one thing I’ve always tried to do.”
Overall, Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World, is a vital living history lesson that can’t be found in any school history books. In fact, according to Boula, several colleges have already reached out to her about how to add the docuseries to their curriculums.
Beyond additional television and film projects currently on their drawing board, Chuck D and Boula are also prepping for the release of the former’s first fine art book, Livin Loud. Arriving Feb. 7 from Genesis Publications, the book features more than 250 of the icon’s paintings, sketches and drawings accompanied by a 13,000+-word commentary about his life and work.
“That’s my life,” says Chuck D, who attended art school and designed Public Enemy’s iconic logo — now on display at the Smithsonian — when the group was founded in 1986. “This book is a true expression of myself.”
PBS premieres the first episode of Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World on Jan. 31 (9pm/10pm ET/PT). The series will also able be available to stream on PBS.org, YouTube and the PBS video app. For the next three episodes, check local listings for PBS air dates/times or visit PBS.org. For more information about Chuck D’s forthcoming book Livin’ Loud, visit ChuckDBook.com.
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Welcome to the “bitchin’” kitchen! Miranda Lambert is teaching fans how to whip up some of her favorite dishes in a new cookbook comprised of tasty recipes collected from “all the fabulous women” who have impacted the country star’s life.
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Y’all Eat Yet: Welcome to the Pretty Bitchin’ Kitchen, due out this spring, is comprised of recipes that are meant to “fill your belly and your soul” — some of which were handed down from Lambert’s beloved mother and grandmother. Others come from Lambert’s circle of “cherished friendships that helped raise her” and every recipe is meant to be shared with loved ones.
The cookbook ($35) is slated to hit shelves April 25, which means that it won’t be out in time to make your Valentine’s Day gift list, but you can preorder a copy now.
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The cookbook will be available in hardcover, Kindle and audiobook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Bookshop.org and other retailers (see a full list here).
Y’all Eat Yet? is currently the No. 1 on Amazon’s tally of hot new recipe releases in the burger and sandwich category. Lambert, who celebrated her four-year wedding anniversary with husband Brendan McLoughlin last week, announced the cookbook on Instagram last November.
“This is something I never thought I’d say, but…I’m releasing a book!!!! ‘Y’all Eat Yet?’ is a collection of recipes and stories from my pretty bitchin’ kitchen to yours,” she wrote. “I was blessed to be raised by two generations of hell-raising, hard working women who knew how to make people feel good. This is a look into our lives and the food we’ve made along the way.”
The cookbook is the latest addition to Lambert’s growing cookware and homeware brand after The Wanda June Collection, which is named after the Texas native’s mother and grandmother and debuted last year. Wanda June features a selection of affordable bakeware, cookware, kitchenware and decor items, including baking dishes, dessert plates, mugs, cups, wine glasses, rugs, decorative pillows and door mats.
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
SWARM
Quantrell D. Colbert/Amazon
SWARM
Quantrell D. Colbert/Amazon
Netflix’s newest documentary, Pamela, a Love Story, gives its viewers a deep dive into Pamela Anderson’s life and a chance to hear her side of the story regarding the infamous sex tape that she and then husband, Tommy Lee, made days into their marriage. But according to the star, she and the Mötley Crüe drummer’s sex tape wasn’t really a sex tape at all.
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“What they did is they found all the nudity they could from different Hi8 tapes, and they spliced it together,” Anderson revealed in the documentary, which was released on Monday (Jan. 31).
Elsewhere in the documentary, the Baywatch star’s sons with the rocker — Dylan and Brandon Lee — talk about the existence of Hulu’s Pam & Tommy series. The series — based on a 2014 Rolling Stone article titled “Pam and Tommy: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Infamous Sex Tape” — premiered on the streaming platform in February 2022 and detailed the events surrounding the sex tape and how it went impacted Anderson and Lee’s relationship.
The actress noted in the Netflix program that the existence of Pam & Tommy “really gives me nightmares.” She added, “I have no desire to watch it. I never watched the tape, I’m never going to watch this.”
“Why bring something up from 20 years ago that you know f–ked someone up?” Dylan said in the documentary. “The worst part of her life and making a semi-comedy out of it didn’t make sense.”
Pamela, a Love Story is available to stream on Netflix. Revisit the trailer for the documentary below.
Comin’ at ‘cha! Bravo unveiled the first look at its upcoming series SWV & Xscape: The Queens of R&B on Tuesday (Jan. 31), and Billboard has the supertease below.
Premiering March 5 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo, the six-episode limited series will follow rival ’90s girl groups Xscape and SWV as they join forces and gear up for a special one-night-only concert event. A release promises that the two acts will “take viewers on the ultimate fan experience to explore the inner workings of putting on a live concert performance and expose the discord and complex dynamics of sisterhood within singing groups.”
According to the explosive two-and-a-half-minute preview (watch below), tensions are high among the seven women as they navigate who will be considered the “headliners” of the night and old dramas over money and family feuds boil over.
The Queens of R&B will be Xscape’s second foray into the Bravoverse following 2017’s Xscape: Still Kickin’ It, which itself was greenlit on the network thanks to Kandi Burruss’ fame as the reigning veteran on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. That four-episode series documented the Hummin’ Comin’ at ‘Cha quartet — which also includes Tameka “Tiny” Cottle (wife of T.I.) and sisters LaTocha Scott-Bivens and Tamika Scott — reuniting for the first time in more than a decade to perform at both the 2017 BET Awards and Essence Festival.
In 2021, Xscape and SWV faced off in a Mother’s Day Verzuz battle with help from resident MCs DJ Spinderella and DJ AOne. (Ultimately, Cheryl “Coko” Gamble, Tamara “Taj” George and Leanne “Lelee” Lyons won out over their R&B contemporaries by a margin of 13 to 11.) Most recently, Burruss and co. were honored with the Lady of Soul Award at the 2022 Soul Train Awards.
On the Billboard charts, both girl groups have made their mark, with Xscape scoring six top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, while SWV scored four top 10s, including two-week No. 1 “Weak” in 1993.
Watch the trailer for SWV & Xscape: The Queens of R&B and check out the former’s official cast photo below.
SWV
Kristen Sard
There’s a “Chance” that pop singer-songwriter Hayley Kiyoko is coming to a city near you soon — so get ready for a show that’s “For the Girls.”
On Tuesday (Jan. 31), Kiyoko announced her first headlining tour in four years, The Panorama Tour. Set to promote her sophomore album Panorama released in July 2022, Kiyoko will begin her tour in Europe for a nine-date run starting in Glasgow on April 5. The trek will make its way to the U.S. later that month, with headlining slots at L.A.’s The Wiltern and N.Y.C.’s Irving Plaza, before closing out on June 2 in Silver Spring, Md.
“I am so nervous and excited,” Kiyoko wrote in an Instagram post teasing the tour over the weekend. “I’ve waited so long for this moment and I can’t wait to see you all out there!!! ITS GOING TO BE SO SPECIAL.”
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Tickets for The Panorama Tour go on sale Friday, Feb. 3, at 10 a.m. local time on her website. Citi cardholders, however, will have special early access to tickets starting on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at 10 a.m. local through Thursday, Feb. 2, at 10 p.m. local.
Speaking to Billboard about her sophomore album last year, Kiyoko explained that she saw Panorama as a tribute to getting through tough times. “It’s about getting through the highs and the lows, and loving yourself along the way,” she said. “Even when you’re going through a hard time, you’ve already been through so much to get to where you’re at, so it’s about being kinder to ourselves.”
The news also comes alongside Kiyoko’s latest accomplishment — writing her debut novel. Girls Like Girls, the new coming-of-age novel based on the star’s song and music video of the same name, is due out May 30.
Check out all of the official dates for Hayley Kiyoko’s upcoming world tour below:
April 5 — Glasgow, UK — Galvanizers SWG3
April 7 — Manchester, UK — Manchester Academy 2
April 9 — London, UK — KOKO
April 11 — Brussels, BE — Ancienne Belgique
April 13 — Amsterdam, NL — Melkweg Max
April 15 — Cologne, DE — Carlswerk Victoria
April 16 — Paris, FR — Élysée Montmartre
April 18 — Zurich, CH — Komplex 457
April 20 — Munich, DE — TonHalle
April 27 — Orlando, FL — House of Blues Orlando
April 28 — Atlanta, GA — Buckhead Theatre
April 29 — Raleigh, NC — The Ritz
May 1 — Nashville, TN — Marathon Music Works
May 3 — Detroit, MI — Saint Andrew’s Hall
May 4 — Chicago, IL — House of Blues Chicago
May 5 — Minneapolis, MN — Varsity Theater
May 8 — Denver, CO — Summit
May 9 — Salt Lake City, UT — The Depot
May 11 — Seattle, WA — Neptune Theatre
May 12 — Portland, OR — McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
May 13 — Vancouver, BC — Commodore Ballroom
May 15 — San Francisco, CA — The Fillmore
May 16 — Los Angeles, CA — The Wiltern
May 18 — Phoenix, AZ — The Van Buren
May 20 — Austin, TX — Emo’s Austin
May 21 — Dallas, TX — The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
May 22 — Houston, TX — House of Blues Houston
May 25 — Philadelphia, PA — Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia
May 27 — Toronto, ON — The Danforth Music Hall
May 28 — Montreal, QC — Théâtre Corona
May 30 — New York, NY — Irving Plaza
June 1 — Boston, MA — House of Blues Boston
June 2 — Silver Spring, MD — The Fillmore Silver Spring
A new campaign for a limited-edition capsule collection from Gap and Haitian-owned menswear brand The Brooklyn Circus pays tribute to the late Stephen “tWitch” Boss who died in December 2022 at age 40.
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Before his death, Boss — who was known for his role as a DJ and dancer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and was seen on So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With The Stars — modeled for the collaborative collection, which releases Jan. 31, and features hoodies, varsity jackets, basketball shorts, sweatpants, chinos, hats, tote bags, socks and more, for children and adults.
“The Brooklyn Circus and Gap share in the heartbreaking loss of beloved icon Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, who was a longtime supporter of the [Brooklyn Circus] community, [founder and creative director] Ouigi [Theodore’s] work and a core part of this campaign thanks to his personal friendship with Ouigi Theodore,” a press release for the campaign reads.
Gap has also announced that it will support the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and donate to Vibrant Emotional Health, an organization that provides free and confidential counseling to those in need 24/7, in Boss’ honor.
Allison Holker, Boss’ wife, also shared a statement surrounding the release of official campaign images: “When Stephen and I first saw his images from the campaign, it brought tears to our eyes. He was so moved by how they captured his true essence, and he was excited for the world to see them.”
Pose actor Indya Moore, Euphoria star Javon Walton and model, agency founder and activist Bethann Hardison are also featured in the campaign.
The collaboration, timed for Black History Month, “explores the concepts of individuality, movement and modern prep — blending academia, music and Black culture and street style from the 1960s through today,” the press release reads. It will be available via both brands’ online stores on Jan. 31 and in-store at select Gap retail locations and The Brooklyn Circus’ Boreum Hill flagship.
Keeping it in the family. Michael Jackson‘s nephew Jaafar Jackson has officially been cast to portray the King of Pop in Lionsgate’s upcoming biopic, Michael, according to director Antoine Fuqua.
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“Proud to announce @jaafarjackson as Michael — the motion picture event that explores the journey of the man who became the King of Pop. Coming soon,” Fuqua captioned a photo posted to Instagram on Monday (Jan. 30), in which Jaafar is seen dressed as his late uncle, striking one of the icon’s signature poses in the dance studio.
The film will take on the musician’s life and career and will be produced by Graham King (Bohemian Rhapsody) and John Branca and John McClain, who are the co-executors of the Michael Jackson estate. There is no information yet surrounding release date and how much of Michael’s life the biopic will dive into.
“Jaafar embodies my son. It’s so wonderful to see him carry on the Jackson legacy of entertainers and performers,” said Katherine Jackson, mother of Michael Jackson, in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
In a career that spanned throughout almost his entire life, the King of Pop had 13 No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. He first saw success as part of the family band the Jackson 5, and four of their songs topped the Hot 100.
As a solo artist, Jackson’s 1982 album Thriller became one of the best-selling albums of all time and spent an impressive 37 weeks atop the Billboard 200. Additionally, its seven singles all reached the top 10 of the Hot 100.
Jackson died on June 25, 2009 at age 50.