Music News

07 Feb 2023

Here’s the Date of the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards

The 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards will be held on Sunday, May 7, at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. That’s about a month ahead of last year’s show, which was held at the same venue on June 5.

This will be the 31st edition of the show and the sixth to jointly honor movies and TV. Two years ago, MTV broke the show in two and presented awards for film and scripted television on one night and awards for reality television the following night. It didn’t work as well and the two components were rejoined last year. They will again be joined this year.

Host, honorees, performers, presenters and additional details about this year’s show will be announced later.

Vanessa Hudgens and Tayshia Adams were hosts of last year’s show, with Hudgens hosting the first half for film and scripted television series, and Adams hosting the second half for awards in reality television. Special awards went to Jennifer Lopez (Generation Award), Jack Black (Comedic Genius Award) and Bethenny Frankel (MTV Reality Royalty Award).

Spider Man: No Way Home won for best movie last year and its star, Tom Holland, won for best performance in a movie. Euphoria won for best [TV] show and its star, Zendaya won for best performance in a show.

Executive producers for the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards are MTV’s Bruce Gillmer, Wendy Plaut and Vanessa Whitewolf. Jackie Barba and Alicia Portugal are executives in charge of production and Lisa Lauricella serves as the music talent executive.

07 Feb 2023

Charlie Thomas, Singer for The Drifters, Dies at 85

Charlie Thomas, singer for The Drifters, died at age 85 on Jan. 31, his friend Peter Lemongello Jr. confirmed to The New York Times on Monday (Feb. 6).

According to Lemongello, Thomas died as a result of liver cancer, but regularly kept up with his physical activities until his condition started deteriorating.

“He was aging, but he was active almost every weekend,” Lemongello, former singer for The Crests, told the newspaper. “Unfortunately, he went from being active to being at home and he started going downhill.”

Thomas became a member of The Drifters after a chance encounter. In 1958, the tenor was singing as part of the Five Crowns at New York’s Apollo Theatre when The Drifters’ original manager, George Treadwell, fired all members of the group for getting drunk and cursing show promoter and Apollo owner Mary Goldberg. Treadwell replaced all members of The Drifters with Five Crowns.

Led by Ben E. King, The Drifters experienced success from several singles. “There Goes My Baby,” “Under The Boardwalk,” and “Up on the Roof” became beloved R&B classics, though The Drifters wouldn’t top the Billboard charts until 1960 with “Save the Last Dance For Me,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100. The song has since been covered by Dolly Parton, Michael Bublé and more. “Sweets for My Sweet” peaked at No. 16 on the Hot 100 in 1961, and “When My Little Girl Is Smiling” cracked the top 30 of the chart at No. 28 in 1962.

Thomas — alongside band members King, Clyde McPhatter, Bill Pinkney, Gerhart Thrasher, Johnny Moore and Rudy Lewis — was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Despite the group’s many iterations throughout the years, Thomas continued performing with The Drifters throughout to the pandemic.

Thomas is survived by his wife, Rita Thomas; his two daughters, Crystal Thomas Wilson and Victoria Green; and his three sons, Charlie “Happy” Thomas Jr., Michael Sidbury and Brian Godfrey.

07 Feb 2023

Barbra Streisand’s Memoir ‘My Name Is Barbra’ Finally Has a Release Date

Ever wanted to read a detailed, autobiographical account of how a star such as Barbra Streisand is born? If so, the following news definitely won’t rain on your parade. The 80-year-old chart-topping singer and actress announced Tuesday (Feb. 7) that her highly anticipated memoir, titled My Name Is Barbra, is finally coming to bookstores near you on Nov. 7.

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The news arrived via a simple, elegant announcement on the Broadway star’s Instagram, along with a glamorous black and white photo of a younger Babs that may or may not be the book’s cover. “Barbra’s memoir ‘My Name Is Barbra’ coming November 7th,” the announcement reads.

My Name Is Barbra will be published by Penguin Random House and is already available for $45 preorder on the publishing company’s website, where a “coming soon” sign is displayed in place of the book’s cover. “Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment,” reads Penguin’s description of the book.

“In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career, from growing up in Brooklyn to her first star-making appearances in New York nightclubs to her breakout performance in Funny Girl (musical and film) to the long string of successes in every medium in the years that followed.”

“The book is, like Barbra herself, frank, funny, opinionated, and charming,” adds the description, noting that Streisand will recount her early career struggles, film work and the recording processes behind her extensive discography. She’ll also divulge details about her friendships with stars such as Marlon Brando and Madeleine Albright, along with the “fulfillment she’s found in her marriage to James Brolin.”

Streisand, who’s also author of My Passion for Design, has been teasing fans with the possibility of a memoir for years. The project eventually started to materialize back in 2015, when it was first announced that she would publish a memoir, originally slated to arrive in 2017. It wasn’t finished in time, however, something the performer opened up about in a 2018 interview with The New Yorker.

“Four years in. They wanted the book in two years,” she told to the publication. “I find it hard to look back. You know, I have to look myself up … I find that it’s hard to look at yourself. I don’t mean hard as in negative. I mean, it feels egotistic to look at something about yourself … The only reason I said I’ll do the book now is because I couldn’t get movies that I wanted to make made.”

See the announcement for Barbra Streisand’s memoir, My Name Is Barbra, below:

07 Feb 2023

Roger Waters Calls Pink Floyd Lyricist Polly Samson’s ‘Putin Apologist,’ Antisemitism Claims ‘Wildly Inaccurate’

The decades-long bitter feud between former Pink Floyd bandmates Roger Waters and David Gilmour was re-ignited this week after guitarist/singer Gilmour’s wife, songwriter Polly Samson, issued a scathing rebuke of the former Floyd bassist/lyricist/singer in a tweet accusing him of antisemitism and misogyny, among other accusations.

Rogers was quick to respond, tweeting on Monday afternoon (Feb. 6) that, “Roger Waters is aware of the incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments made about him on Twitter which he refutes entirely. He is currently taking advice on his position.”

Waters’ response came after Samson — a novelist who helped to pen a number of songs on 1994’s The Division Bell and contributed to 2014’s The Endless River Pink Floyd albums following Waters’ split with the band in 1985 — posted her tweet about Waters earlier in the day.

“Sadly @rogerwaters you are antisemitic to your rotten core,” Samson tweeted. “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.” Gilmour liked the post and then added, “Every word demonstrably true.”

At press time a spokesperson for Waters and Gilmour had not returned a request for comment on the back-and-forth.

Samson appeared to be responding to an interview Waters did with Germany’s Berliner Zeigtung in which — based on a translation from Waters’ site — he said his view of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had changed over the past year in the midst of Russia’s ongoing, unprovoked war on Ukraine. “The most important reason for supplying arms to Ukraine is surely profit for the arms industry. And I wonder: is Putin a bigger gangster than Joe Biden and all those in charge of American politics since World War II? I am not so sure. Putin didn’t invade Vietnam or Iraq? Did he?,” Waters said in the interview, repeating previous statements he’s made, while adding that he’s “more open” now to listening to what Putin has to say.

“He launched it on the basis of reasons that if I have understood them well are: 1. We want to stop the potential genocide of the Russian-speaking population of the Donbas. 2. We want to fight Nazism in Ukraine,” Rogers said of Putin’ purported reasoning behind the year-long war that has killed tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers; there is a near unanimous consensus that Putin’s claims of rooting out Nazis in Ukraine is a false narrative.

When the reporter noted that Waters irritates people by making it sound like he is defending Putin, the singer made no apologies. “Compared to Biden, I am,” he said, adding that he thinks boycotting Russia would be “counterproductive” and that the cancellation last year of his planned concerts in Poland over his controversial statements were an example of “Russophobia.”

The interview also found Waters doubling-down on his longstanding view that the Israeli government is committing “genocide” against the Palestinian people, and included him once again comparing the state of Israel to Nazi Germany and questioning Israel’s right to exist.

Ever since Waters left Floyd in 1985 he has been involved in an ongoing legal dispute with Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason about the use of the band’s name, failing in his bid to block the Gilmour-fronted version of the band from releasing albums and touring in the 1990s.

See the tweets below.

07 Feb 2023

Megan Fox Praises Machine Gun Kelly’s ‘Grace & Maturity’ Following His Grammy Loss

Machine Gun Kelly may not have won an award at the Grammys Sunday (Feb. 5), but his fiancée still couldn’t be more proud of him. In a sweet Instagram post two days after the 2023 ceremony, Megan Fox praised the “Emo Girl” singer for how well he handled the loss.

“Congratulations on being in the very small percentage of artists who have received a Grammy nomination,” wrote the 36-year-old actress, who attended the awards at her fiancé’s side. “You have handled this process with a grace and maturity that I haven’t seen from you before and I’m so proud of you.”

Born Colson Baker, MGK was up for best rock album with his 2022 set Mainstream Sellout, which debuted atop the Billboard 200. Though the 32-year-old rapper-turned-punk-rocker lost out to Ozzy Osbourne, he certainly still has big cause to celebrate — the Recording Academy nod was his first ever Grammy nomination.

“Watching you walk in humility and gratitude, watching you grow into yourself and become a better man is an immeasurably more satisfying experience than watching you accept an award,” Fox continued in her post, sharing a carousel of glam photos of her and Baker on awards night. “Although those will come… and this is irrelevant I guess but I will just never ever get over how beautiful your face is.”

“I hope one day you’ll see yourself the way I see you,” she concluded. “I love you and I’ll keep this memory of you forever.”

Baker himself opened up about the bittersweet night in an interview with Laverne Cox for E! News, confessing that he always feels “pretty uncomfortable” when atttending the awards show. “Ultimately, I’m really happy to be in the company of such great musicians,” he said. “I didn’t take the category home, and I almost feel like I asked for that lesson. Like, I felt like I lacked self-love, and I was valuing myself so much on career accomplishments that I needed this. The car ride here was very cathartic for me … I need to appreciate what I already have, and once that self-love happens for me, things like the awards and all that will come.”

07 Feb 2023

Ozzy Osbourne Has Typically NSFW Reaction to 2023 Grammy Award: ‘I’m One Lucky…’

Ozzy Osbourne reacted to winning two Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 5) in the exact way you’d expect from heavy metal’s legendarily salty king of darkness. After landing best rock album for Patient Number 9 and best metal performance for the album track “Degradation Rules,” in a statement on Monday (Feb. 6) Osbourne, 74, was perfectly candid about what it felt like to land his fourth and fifth Grammys wins.

“I’m one lucky motherf—er to have won the ‘best rock album’ Grammy,” Osbourne said. “I was blessed to work with some of the greatest musicians in the world and [producer] Andrew Watt was my producer on this album.” The rock icon added that winning best metal performance was “equally gratifying being that the song featured my longtime friend and Black Sabbath bandmate, [guitarist] Tony Iommi.”

Osbourne’s 13th solo studio album was indeed packed with some of his favorite players, from the title track (one of several that featured late guitar legend Jeff Beck), to songs featuring Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready (“Immortal”) and Ozzy’s longtime musical partner guitarist Zakk Wylde (“Parasite,” “Mr. Darkness,” “Nothing Feels Right,” “Evil Shuffle”) and Eric Clapton (“One of Those Days”). Other guest performers/songwriters included: Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins and others.

Though Osbourne will make a hilarious appearance in a Super Bowl LVII commercial on Sunday (Feb. 12), he recently revealed that he will never tour again due to a spinal injury, which forced the cancelation of his scheduled European/UK tour.

07 Feb 2023

Questlove Explained Why Some of Your Favorite Rappers Weren’t in 2023 Grammys Hip-Hop Tribute

Roots drummer and bandleader Questlove was given a nearly impossible assignment in pulling together Sunday night’s (Feb. 5) generation-spanning, all-star tribute to hip-hop’s 50th anniversary at the 2023 Grammy Awards. How do you represent a wholly American art form that has spread from coast-to-coast and around the globe without leaving out someone’s favorite MC?

Welll, according to a series of posts from Quest on the day after, he did his best, but there are some good reasons he couldn’t get everyone’s No. 1 in there. “general ?s answered about last night: (some are asking if we are playing erasure games so uh….yeah I don’t play that so—in answering the questions of “why wasn’t dada there?),” he tweeted.

The answer(s) were simple, he added, “1. already booked 2. declined our offer straight up 3. or a third option im not gonna get into.” A fourth reason, he noted, was that the team made the decision to wait for a two-hour taping of a special slated to take place in August that will give the team more space to fill in the blanks. “We decided to eschew those who passed away, & give flowers to the living — for starters I learned with VH1 Honors not all rappers are good MCs and bad karaoke is a danger slope,” he said. “And WAY too many legends passed so someone’s estate was gonna be heated.”

QuestloveThe Roots timekeeper said in an interview that his original cut for the special segment ran to nearly a half hour, something the Grammy brass said was obviously untenable. So he had to cut it down to around 12 minutes for the heart-racing final version. In the end, the impassioned, mind-bending medley roped in everyone from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Rakim and De La Soul’s Posdnous (Kelvin Mercer), to Scarface, Ice-T, Queen Latifah, Public Enemy, Outkast’s Big Boi, Method Mad, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Nelly, Too Short, Swizz Beatz and the Lox, as well as new schoolers Lil Baby and Glorilla.

“This went through a crazy evolution. all my suggestions were 20 min presentations with Breakbeats/Graf Legends/Dancers/DJ/Beatboxers,” Quest continued. “You’ll be shocked how fast 25-40 secs goes by and you don’t even get the halfway mark of 1995l remember 1973 to 2023 was the goal… we were aware of playing our biases out (if it were me alone? idda just skewered to my teenyears). at one point I said ‘we should do ALL women!!’ —that idea didn’t get too …..far (we didnt have time to do a ‘Some Kind Of Monster’/Kumbya thing to make that a reality).”

The notoriously methodical drummer said he had some criteria he wanted to follow (“alive? harmonizing? turntablism? fighting shape? NYC? LA? BAY? ATL? NAWLINS? HOUSTON? MIDWEST [checkmark emoji] born before 1960? born after 1995? Superlyrical? Stylistic? Original? generally known by at least 2 generations?”). But if your pick wasn’t there there might be a reason.

One, he revealed, was that two “crucial” acts canceled 10 minutes before air. “Cancellations that mighta made it look like we were biased in our choices. but just understand we literally tried to SQUEEEEEEEZE everyone in,” he promised.

As for why there was not much representation from the new generation of 2010’s rappers, Quest explained that as well. “Because they said ‘no’, or they walked out… I’m sure there were all types of circumstances, but Ice-T as the Only L.A. representative, in Staples Center, in Los Angeles… is WILD!! Great performance otherwise.” Questlove answered, “welp: I asked like 10 legends so….sometimes you gotta go with the one who wants you. again might not be your preference but most of hip hop has side gigs. Acting was the main issue. lotta movies being shot.”

In a pre-show interview with the New York Times, Quest further detailed the crazed rush to get the set together, revealing that the two who dropped out at the last minute (Lil Wayne, Future) and the “damn near Jerry Maguire levels” of cajoling he needed to employ to get Missy Elliot — “world famous for the word ‘no’” — to perform. Plus, he noted, there are a number of major acts (Drake, Jay-Z, Public Enemy) who have for years accused the Recording Academy of not giving hip-hop its proper due at the awards.

See Questlove’s tweets and the full performance below.

07 Feb 2023

Lil Yachty’s ‘Let’s Start Here’ Debuts Atop Rock Album Charts

Lil Yachty’s Let’s Start Here., his foray into the rock world, debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts dated Feb. 11.

The set bows with 36,000 equivalent album units earned in the Jan. 27-Feb. 2 tracking week, according to Luminate.

Start is not only Lil Yachty’s first No. 1 on each ranking, it’s his first leading title on any consumption-based Billboard album chart. His previous best, Lil Boat 2, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top Rap Albums charts in March 2018.

Speaking of the Billboard 200, Start begins at No. 9 there, marking his third top 10 and first since Lil Boat 2. In between that set and Start, he appeared on the ranking with three entries, paced by the No. 12-peaking Nuthin’ 2 Prove in 2018. He has notched three top 10s on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, in 2017-18, and four on Top Rap Albums, in 2017-20.

Concurrently, cuts from the new 14-track LP dot Billboard’s song surveys, led by “The Black Seminole.,” which debuts at No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 powered by 5.4 million official U.S. streams.

“Seminole” also opens at Nos. 5, 7 and 8 on the Hot Alternative Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts.

The entire album infuses Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, with “Seminole” followed next by “Pretty” at No. 14 (3.9 million streams).

“Seminole” also leads the new album’s haul on the Rock Streaming Songs and Alternative Streaming Songs charts.

07 Feb 2023

Harry Styles Dancer Says Grammys Stage Was Supposed to Go One Direction, Then It Didn’t: ‘Nothing We Could Do To Stop It’

You know that old saying about how Ginger Rogers had to do everything Fred Astaire did but backwards… and in high heels? (If not, go ask your great-grandma.) Well, it sounds like Harry Styles and his dancers had to channel some serious Rogers vibes during Sunday night’s performance at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

According to posts on Monday from a pair of Styles’ dancers, the spinning turntable set they had endlessly rehearsed on for their run through the singer’s hit “As It Was,” threw them for a loop when it started spinning in the wrong direction during the performance. “What you don’t know is that the moment the curtain opened and it was time to perform, our turntable started spinning in reverse,” dancer Brandon Mathis said in an Instagram Story (per Rolling Stone).

“Backwards. Freaking all of us out on live television, and there was nothing we could do to stop it,” added Mathis. “In real time, we had to troubleshoot and try to do a complete piece in reverse. Talk about professionalism.”

At one point, viewers may have noticed Styles awkwardly hopping down off the spinning wheel and appearing to stumble a bit, expertly regaining his balance while moving from the malfunctioning set to the more stable, non-moving, front of the stage. Another one of his dancers, Dexter, revealed on TikTok that the team practiced the intricate choreography for 10 days before Sunday’s show and that the comments decrying the performance as “lethargic” were unfair given the challenges in the moment.

“We rehearsed for 10 days getting down these beautiful formations and sliding off the table in a roll-off and just making this incredible, morphing, cool artistic s–t and Harry did such a good job integrating into it,” Dexter said in the video, adding that the dancers desperately tried to get a stage tech’s attention about the miscue, but were forced to improvise in the moment and completely switch up all their choreography on the spot.

Dexter said the team had rehearsed the whole time with the turntable moving clockwise, which is why it was “difficult” and “frustrating” to try and pull off the intricate moves and retain spatial awareness while moving in reverse.

“To switch all those patterns around on the spot, having not even walked in that direction, it sounds easy,” he said. “Since it’s circular, it pulls you in different directions and is such a special type of balance. We got accustomed to one way, and it was the opposite way. So, luckily we worked together and did our best and got to one cool formation in time for the overhead shot but had to change the rest.”

Spokespeople for Styles and the Grammy Awards had not returned Billboard‘s requests for comment on the reported staging malfunction at press time.

Even though Styles had to sing and walk in the opposite direction — including during a complicated catch-and-release series of moves with a female dancer — he had plenty to celebrate on the night of, including winning album of the year for Harry’s House. Styles celebrated his big win on Instagram on Monday night (Feb. 6) in a series of pics in which he is grabbing a moment of quiet backstage and showing off his custom Adidas sneaks at a late night pizza party.

Check out the Styles’ post and the performance as it was, but not as it was supposed to be below.

06 Feb 2023

MC Lyte & Lil Kim Talk ‘Sisterhood’ at Mastercard’s ‘She Runs This’ Event Celebrating Entrepreneurship in Business & Hip-Hop

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Lil’ Kim and MC Lyte spoke to the importance of “sisterhood” during the kick-off of Mastercard’s “She Run This” event over Grammy weekend in celebration of Black entrepreneurship in business and hip-hop.

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The three-day event, which was held in collaboration with Femme It Forward to spotlight entrepreneurship in business and hip-hop, launched with a three-part panel discussion featuring rap vets Kim, MC Lyte, Salt-N-Pepa and Yo-Yo, alongside emerging artists such as Coi Leray, Baby Tate and Jozzy, and a special appearance by Mastercard ambassador Jennifer Hudson.

During the panel discussion, Lyte explained why she didn’t want to work with other women in the beginning of her career and how her mind-set changed. “All that I’d heard was that working with women wasn’t a good thing because they were so emotional. I adopted this thought, but the truth was, I had to become responsible in the way that I communicated,” she shared with an audience of mostly women at 1010 Wine and Events in Inglewood, Calif., on Thursday (Feb. 2). The Partners in Rhyme star hired a female manager 13 years ago, who has since became her business partner and COO of “everything MC Lyte.”

“There is a way that you can communicate with love and care and kindness and I had not learned that when I [first started out],” she continued. “What I can say now is this business that I’m in is the best for me because I know what sisterhood is.”

Added Kim, “I never knew what it felt like to be unprotected around my sisters. Especially in a male-dominated [industry]. It was hard, but when I was in the comfort of my sisters, I was at my peak. I felt the most powerful.”

“We did everything together,” Kim said of forging a solid sisterhood with MC Lyte, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige, Da Brat, Queen Latifah and stylist Misa Hilton early in their careers. Kim has collaborated with fellow female artists on “Ladies Night,” featuring Elliott, Blige, Brat, Left Eye and Angie Martinez; and Christina Aguilera’s “Lady Marmalade” remake with Kim, Pink and Mya.

And after more than 25 years in the rap game, the Queen Bee continues to show support for the new school of female rappers (she recently brought out Lola Brooke during her show at the Apollo Theater).

“Sisterhood and having your sister’s back is important, and Kim always had my back,” said Hilton. “A lot of things started to happen quickly [in her career], so all of a sudden people may try to come between us. People [would] want Kim to do a certain fashion magazine and they’d say, ‘We want to use this stylist,’ but what did she say? ‘Misa has to be there.’ Sticking together and not being afraid to stick up for yourself, not feeling like you’re going to miss out on an opportunity and realizing the power in your voice [is important]. You can demand what you want and you can bring your sisters with you.”

Coi Leray and Yo-Yo

Coi Leray and Yo-Yo attend Mastercard She Runs This, celebrating entrepreneurship for Black Women in Business and the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop in a three-part panel discussion series in partnership with Femme It Forward during GRAMMY Week at Sip & Sonder on Feb. 4, 2023 in Los Angeles.

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“Everything that I do is everything that I wanted to do when I was 7 years old,” said MC Lyte, whose debut album Lyte as a Rock turns 35 this year. Throughout her career, the Brooklyn native has crossed over from rapping to acting to voice-over work. “I wanted to be on radio, I wanted to use my voice,” she said. “I saw Tootie [played by Kim Fields] on The Facts of Life and I was like, ‘I got to get to Los Angeles because I need to do some acting.’ I wanted to do all those things, but I also realized I had to prepare myself. I couldn’t just show up because [I’m ] MC Lyte; I had to know the skill set. I went to acting school, I went to voice-over coaching classes and workshops. I was just prepared for the moment so as the opportunities lined up, I was able to show up and show out.”

The “She Runs This” campaign includes an immersive “Small Business City” built in Meta Horizon Worlds, a TikTok challenge kicked off by Hudson, an ad campaign furthering Mastercard’s mission to help Black women entrepreneurs thrive, and a Fearless Fund grant contest in partnership with Fearless Fund, a Black-owned venture capital fund aimed at helping women of color. Mastercard and Fearless Fund are providing Black women small business owners with $20,000 grants, plus digital tools and mentorship to help them “build, protect and sustain their business.”

Additionally, Mastercard and Amazon have teamed up for a small business marketplace spotlighting Black women-owned small businesses. The digital marketplace allows owners to share their brand origin stories and connect directly with customers on Amazon Live. Customers can also explore the shoppable social hub of products from exclusively Black women-owned small businesses on Pinterest.

According to Mastercard, 80 percent of U.S. women entrepreneurs, solo-preneurs, small business owners and content creators have endured financial challenges. In recognizing this universal financial obstacle faced by entrepreneurs along with the challenge of battling racism and racial bias, Mastercard is honoring hip-hop’s 50th anniversary by helping equip Black women entrepreneurs with the financial tools, resources and education to successfully accomplish their dreams.