State Champ Radio Current Events
Page: 24
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Theo Wargo / Billy McFarland
Billy McFarland, for whatever reason, thought he could revive Fyre Fest, but now claims he is canceling the struggling music festival before attempting to make it happen.
Shortly after announcing that he is transforming Fyre Fest into a music streaming video-on-demand service, McFarland is now saying that he is officially canceling the festival.
The news comes after word of the Fyre Fest 2 postponement, with no new date of the festival’s return in sight. McFarland also announced that he is planning to sell the brand that is now synonymous with Ja Rule and struggle after poor festivalgoers found themselves stranded on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma.
McFarland announced the news via a statement he shared on Instagram:
“A new chapter begins. After two years of rebuilding FYRE with honesty, creativity, and relentless effort, it’s time to pass the torch. We’re officially putting the FYRE brand up for sale. To the right buyer: the platform is yours. Execute the vision. Make history.” On why he is selling the brand, McFarland shares that he the festival is becoming “bigger than any one person and bigger than what I’m able to lead on my own.” He added in the statement, “When my team and I launched FYRE Festival 2, it was about two things: finishing what I started and making things right. Over the past two years, we’ve poured everything into bringing Fyre back with honesty, transparency, relentless effort, and creativity. We’ve taken the long road to rebuilding trust. We rebuilt momentum. And we proved one thing without a doubt: FYRE is one of the most powerful attention engines in the world.”
Welp.
Billy McFarland Came Up With The Idea of Fyre Fest 2 While In Prison
McFarland claimed he got the idea to try again with Fyre Fest during a stint in solitary confinement while he was in prison serving out his term after being found guilty of financial crimes related to the festival.
It’s clear he didn’t learn his lesson if he was planning to do it all over again. Our question is who would be dumb enough to bankroll this idea, or even consider purchasing tickets after the last fiasco.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Theo Wargo / Billy McFarland
Billy McFarland, for whatever reason, thought he could revive Fyre Fest, but now claims he is canceling the struggling music festival before attempting to make it happen.
Shortly after announcing that he is transforming Fyre Fest into a music streaming video-on-demand service, McFarland is now saying that he is officially canceling the festival.
The news comes after word of the Fyre Fest 2 postponement, with no new date of the festival’s return in sight. McFarland also announced that he is planning to sell the brand that is now synonymous with Ja Rule and struggle after poor festivalgoers found themselves stranded on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma.
McFarland announced the news via a statement he shared on Instagram:
“A new chapter begins. After two years of rebuilding FYRE with honesty, creativity, and relentless effort, it’s time to pass the torch. We’re officially putting the FYRE brand up for sale. To the right buyer: the platform is yours. Execute the vision. Make history.” On why he is selling the brand, McFarland shares that he the festival is becoming “bigger than any one person and bigger than what I’m able to lead on my own.” He added in the statement, “When my team and I launched FYRE Festival 2, it was about two things: finishing what I started and making things right. Over the past two years, we’ve poured everything into bringing Fyre back with honesty, transparency, relentless effort, and creativity. We’ve taken the long road to rebuilding trust. We rebuilt momentum. And we proved one thing without a doubt: FYRE is one of the most powerful attention engines in the world.”
Welp.
Billy McFarland Came Up With The Idea of Fyre Fest 2 While In Prison
McFarland claimed he got the idea to try again with Fyre Fest during a stint in solitary confinement while he was in prison serving out his term after being found guilty of financial crimes related to the festival.
It’s clear he didn’t learn his lesson if he was planning to do it all over again. Our question is who would be dumb enough to bankroll this idea, or even consider purchasing tickets after the last fiasco.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Theo Wargo / Billy McFarland
Billy McFarland, for whatever reason, thought he could revive Fyre Fest, but now claims he is canceling the struggling music festival before attempting to make it happen.
Shortly after announcing that he is transforming Fyre Fest into a music streaming video-on-demand service, McFarland is now saying that he is officially canceling the festival.
The news comes after word of the Fyre Fest 2 postponement, with no new date of the festival’s return in sight. McFarland also announced that he is planning to sell the brand that is now synonymous with Ja Rule and struggle after poor festivalgoers found themselves stranded on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma.
McFarland announced the news via a statement he shared on Instagram:
“A new chapter begins. After two years of rebuilding FYRE with honesty, creativity, and relentless effort, it’s time to pass the torch. We’re officially putting the FYRE brand up for sale. To the right buyer: the platform is yours. Execute the vision. Make history.” On why he is selling the brand, McFarland shares that he the festival is becoming “bigger than any one person and bigger than what I’m able to lead on my own.” He added in the statement, “When my team and I launched FYRE Festival 2, it was about two things: finishing what I started and making things right. Over the past two years, we’ve poured everything into bringing Fyre back with honesty, transparency, relentless effort, and creativity. We’ve taken the long road to rebuilding trust. We rebuilt momentum. And we proved one thing without a doubt: FYRE is one of the most powerful attention engines in the world.”
Welp.
Billy McFarland Came Up With The Idea of Fyre Fest 2 While In Prison
McFarland claimed he got the idea to try again with Fyre Fest during a stint in solitary confinement while he was in prison serving out his term after being found guilty of financial crimes related to the festival.
It’s clear he didn’t learn his lesson if he was planning to do it all over again. Our question is who would be dumb enough to bankroll this idea, or even consider purchasing tickets after the last fiasco.
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Source: “Whenever” / Megan Thee Stallion
Hot Girl Summer is upon us, Megan Thee Stallion, the Queen of the Hotties, is back with a new single, “Whenever,” which also has a tantalizing visual accompanying it, and yes, her knees and twerking are still top-tier.
Megan Thee Stallion is back with some new music for the Hotties after rocking the Coachella 2025, letting us know that she is once again looking to take over the summer once again.
In her latest single, Megan Thee Stallion shows off her lyrical prowess while effortlessly floating over the Bankroll Got It produced track. In the visual directed by Zac Dov Wiesel, Thee Stallion rocks her signature cowboy hat while rocking a denim bikini before crashing her car into a doctor’s office reception area.
In other scenes, she poses on furniture in the office, including inside a fish tank, on a reception desk, a clock, and on a chessboard.
The chessboard scene is a standout moment for obvious reasons, as she straddles a chess piece while wearing nothing but lingerie and twerking.
“Whenever” will live on her next album, Act: III, which the Houston Hip-Hop star confirmed is “in the works” during a recent TikTok Live.
Megan Thee Stallion Talks About Her Upcoming Album’s Features
As for who will be on the album, Thee Stallion set down some ground rules for the artists she potentially wants on the project.
“I’m really just trying to figure out who do I want to do features with at this point in life,” she said. “I only want to do features with people that … one, I haven’t done a feature with yet, and two, that I listen to on my own time — people that I actually, you know, f— with.”
We’re going to have to wait and see who will be on Act: III, but until then, you can see more reactions in the gallery below.
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Source: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / Getty
R&B singer Kehlani was scheduled to perform at a concert event at Cornell University next month, but it has been canceled due to their support for the Palestinian people and their stance on the war in Gaza. The decision was announced by Cornell University president Michael I. Kotlikoff in an email on Wednesday (April 23), where he wrote that “although it was not the intention, the selection of Kehlani as this year’s headliner has injected division and discord” into the Slope Day event, which is held after the last day of classes at the school.“In the days since Kehlani was announced, I have heard grave concerns from our community that many are angry, hurt and confused that Slope Day would feature a performer who has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos and on social media,” Kotlikoff wrote, adding that the choice would “be celebrated by some and criticized by others,” but it was “the right thing to do.”The 30-year-old singer has been consistently vocal in their support for the Palestinian people and against Israel’s actions in the war. Kehlani was a signee of the Artists Against Apartheid letter calling for a ceasefire in October 2023 and featured Palestinian flags and kaffiyehs in their “Next 2 U” video. The singer has also criticized the silence of other artists regarding Gaza, saying in a video from last May, “f— Israel, f— Zionism.”The news was disappointing to students expecting to see Kehlani. “I was ecstatic,” said Black Students United history co-chair Muna Mohamed in an interview with the New York Times. And then, “to see it kind of torn from us so quickly, it was kind of like, oh, our happiness never really mattered in the long run.”Cornell University is one of the Ivy League institutions which has been targeted by the Trump administration over allegations of antisemitism, having had $1 billion in federal funding frozen by President Donald Trump. The decision also comes after Gambian-British student Momodou Taal, who participated in pro-Palestinian protests at Cornell, left the school this year to avoid being forcibly deported by the administration.
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Source: Phillip Faraone / Getty
Lizzo is focused on being the best version herself. She recently shared how she got in better shape and overcame her anxiety.
As reported on People, Lizzo is stepping into a new era. For the last year she has prioritized her physical and mental health with results to show for her hard work. On Tuesday (April 22), she hosted a TikTok Live where she told her fans how she had to deny her sweet tooth in order to kick start her health transformation. “I do something sweet. It’s got to be with some sort of like carb. I’ll have like almond butter and toast. So, everybody’s body is different. Find out what works for you,” she explained before adding that at the end of day there is only one weight loss principle that “works across the board, science-wise, is calories in versus calories out.”
Lizzo also acknowledged that her daily consumption of “two to three” Starbucks beverages also negatively impacted her weight loss journey. She ultimately cut back when she found out that the large drinks added up to 1,200 calories a day. Additionally, the singer said that she also stopped taking in so much caffeine in order to regulate her nervous system. Lizzo has since incorporated tracking her macronutrients and “had to start applying a calorie deficit, because I was prone to binging.” Luckily, her work has paid off and not only has she shed some noticeable weight but also has positively contributed to her mental well-being. “I’ve been working to get my anxiety under control for years. And then I decided that I want to release and I’m ready to stop waiting to be myself like fully and be happy.”
Before closing out the TikTok Live she doubled down on the importance of feeding her focuses and starving her distractions. “I loved to distract myself with people. I loved to distract myself with food. I loved to distract myself with drinking. I loved to distract myself with problems that I would create. I would love to do that. And I stopped doing that,” she said. “And I just focused on me.”
You can watch Lizzo below.
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Source: Prince Williams / Getty
After 10 years, Ari Lennox and J. Cole’s Dreamville Records are parting ways. TMZ is reporting that the 34-year-old singer is now signed exclusively to Interscope Records.
Ari’s new single, “Soft Girl Era,” an upbeat, bouncy track, doesn’t list Dreamville in the credits.
The split is reportedly amicable. Earlier this month at the Dreamville Festival, the singer shouted out J. Cole during her curtain call saying, “Thank you for making my dreams a reality,” according to HotNewHipHop.
Their relationship has been fraught with some clashes over marketing and other support. Last year, Ari wrote on Instagram, “I want out of my contract.”
The “Shea Butter Baby” singer aired numerous grievances, including the release of a video she hadn’t approved and a lack of advertising, according to Complex.
“I’m saying very clearly I’m not comfortable with it being out for multiple reasons,” she wrote, and tagged both Interscope and Dreamville in the post, adding: “I just wish I had a label that cared, that would want to protect me. I wish I had a label that wouldn’t have me out here trying to explain that I need advertisement.”
“I just wanna be released, it’s that simple.”
In March, Solange’s Saint Heron shared that the Web Design and Creative Direction of AriLennox.com was being managed by the company.
Fans on social media have strong opinions about the announcement. On X (formerly Twitter) one fan wrote, “#Dreamville tried to do with Ari Lennox what #TDE did with SZA…and it failed miserably.”
While another fan wrote, “Ari Lennox fans blame every else but her.”
Ari Lennox signed to Dreamville in 2015 and released her first major label debut EP, Pho, in 2016. Her first studio album, Shea Butter Baby was released in 2019. The album spawned the singles “Whipped Cream” and the title track. The Associated Press rated it the No. 1 album of 2019.
She also released another EP, Away Message, in August 2022 and her second album, Age/Sex/Location, the following month.
A release date for a new album has not been announced.
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Anadolu / Ruth E. Carter
We continue to learn more about Marvel Studios’ Blade reboot, currently stuck in limbo, from those who were initially attached to the project.
Two-time Academy Award-winning costume designer, Ruth E. Carter, is spilling the beans on Mahershala Ali’s Blade reboot that can’t seem to get off the ground.
Speaking on the Designing Hollywood podcast, Carter discussed her experience preparing for Marvel Studios’ Blade movie, revealing that the iteration of the film she was attached to at the time was going to be a period piece.
“I was prepping Blade for Marvel, and it was a 1920s Blade story, and it got shut down because of the writers’ strike and the actors’ strike, so I was just in limbo,” Carter revealed. “Having done a lot of research for this period piece about a vampire—Blade is a vampire story—[Coogler]’s wife, Zinzi, who also was a producer on [Sinners], she gave me a call and said, ‘I’m not gonna tell you the story, but Ryan has a story he’s going to tell you about … It is a period piece about vampires.’ And I thought, ‘Okay, I have already been living in that space for quite a long time prepping Blade, and Blade‘s not going to happen, so let me hear it.’”
Marvel Studios’ Blade’s Troubled Development
Since its announcement in 2019, the Blade reboot has had several different iterations. According to The Hollywood Reporter, one version of the film was supposed to take place on a “massive train.”
The version Ruth was attached to, the period piece, also starred Mia Goth as a vampire villain named Lillith who had a thirst for Blade’s daughter.
Goth is still attached to the project, but it sounds like we will never see that version of the film. Thankfully, for Carter, she was able to take that mindset from Blade to Sinners, helping her long-time collaborator deliver another box office win.
This latest development comes on the heels of Delroy Lindo speaking about his character in the Blade reboot and revealing that production “went off the rails,” leading to his departure from the project. He subsequently joined Coogler’s Sinners, where he is currently receiving praise for his performance in the film.
At this point, we hope this Blade movie starring Ali still happens.
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Source: Facebook / facebook
Harlem residents are mourning the tragic death of a local business owner and grandmother who was killed by a stray bullet. On Tuesday (April 22), a barrage of gunfire broke out along West 113th Street and Lenox Avenue. Excenia Mette, 61, heard the shots and rushed out of the building to check on her grandson to see if he was safe. According to New York Police Department officers, she was struck in the head by a bullet exchanged in the crossfire between two groups.Mette was rushed to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Mette’s death was met with grief by area residents, who called her Momma Zee. “She threw block parties, she did stuff for the kids,” her niece, Myisha Jordan, said to Gothamist in an interview on Wednesday (April 23). “She was a real good soul. She didn’t deserve to be laid out on the street.
Mette was a business owner, and according to a GoFundMe campaign she began during the COVID-19 pandemic, was the first Black woman to own a bodega in New York City since 1987. She was the owner of Momma Zee’s Food to Plez Deli, located on Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and West 123rd Street, moving up from selling plates of food outside of her apartment building.The NYPD arrested Darious Smith, a 23-year-old who was shot in the foot during the incident. NYPD Captain James Whitlock told the press that it was believed he was an intended target, and was found with a firearm in his possession. Detectives are searching for three other individuals involved in the incident, including the person who fired the shot that killed Mette.“This is a horrific, horrific incident that took the life of a grandmother,” Mayor Eric Adams said when visiting the scene Wednesday, adding: “The case in itself just personifies what we have been talking about. When you get gangs, when you get repeated offenders, when you get drugs, you get a result of innocent people being the bystanders to violence.” The shooting death is the first this year for the 28th Precinct, which encompasses the neighborhood area of Harlem above Central Park.
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Source: Gareth Cattermole / Getty /Ryan Coogler / Sinners
Ryan Coogler is highly thankful to all the support and love his phenomenal vampire flick, Sinners, starring Michael B. Jordan, is receiving, so he took the time to thank them personally.
Despite becoming one of Hollywood’s most successful filmmakers, Ryan Coogler remains humble and recognizes that it is the viewing audience that has helped him achieve his success.
Keeping the same energy after fans flocked to theaters to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Coogler penned an open letter thanking moviegoers for running, not walking, to see the film, leading to it taking a massive bite out of the box office and dethroning A Minecraft Movie in the process.
Fans also contributed to the film becoming one of the highest-grossing horror films of all time.
Coogler Expresses Eternal Gratitude To Fans
In the typewritten letter shared on the Sinners, Proximity Media, and Warner Bros. Instagram accounts, he wrote:
“Eternal Gratitude. I want to thank each and every one of you who bought a ticket to see SINNERS. Who decided to drive to see the film in different formats,” he begins. “Who bought popcorn and a drink, booked a sitter and carpooled, and stood in the lobby afterward and talked and made a friend. Who changed their work schedules. Who saw the film in groups.”
He further thanked viewers for the success of Sinners, as the project was deeply personal to him, drawing inspiration from his late uncle and his passion for blues music, one of the film’s many themes, alongside the vampiric element.
Coogler continued, “I had the gift of the opportunity to make a film inspired by my family and ancestry, but it was always a film that we wanted to make for audiences.” We always had our minds on you, the audience, and felt a deep responsibility to entertain you, and move you in the way only cinema can.”
Ryan Coogler Vows To Keep Making Cinematic Heat To Repay Fans For Their Support
The Black Panther director also noted he would repay fans by continuing to put out cinematic heat while showing love to his “cinematic influences,” Spike Lee, John Singleton, Steve McQueen, Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins, Quentin Tarantino, Jordan Peele, Francis Coppola,, Steven Spielberg, the Safdie brothers, Stephen King, Martin Scorcese, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, and Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Of course, he also had to thank his longtime collaborator, Michael B. Jordan, for their 13-year partnership, his wife, Zinzi, and his picture editor, Michael Shawver.
Sinners is still in theaters and on track to gross $100 million, despite publications like Variety attempting to downplay the film’s success.
Social media continues to praise the movie as well. You can see those reactions in the gallery below.
