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Jelly Roll has inspired thousands with his story of rising from an incarcerated teen to becoming one of music’s newest hitmakers and most beloved artists.
On Tuesday (Aug. 8), the Antioch, Tennessee, native took part in the groundbreaking ceremony for Nashville’s new Youth Campus for Empowerment, which will be located on Brick Church Pike in Nashville. A 14-acre site will include the serve as the new home of the Davidson County Juvenile Justice Center, and a pre-trial housing facility for justice-involved youth. The new campus will also include resources and agencies to aid families, as well as a 24-hour assessment center to support youth in crisis. The space will include meeting rooms and courtrooms to allow court staff, community partners, litigants and attorneys to hold private meetings and mediations to resolve family conflicts. A safe exchange facility will also provide a place for custodial visitation for families and children.
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The current Juvenile Justice Center, located at 100 Woodland Street, opened its doors in 1994. Construction on the Youth Campus for Empowerment is slated to be finished by 2027.
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During the ceremony, four-time Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper, and former Billboard cover star Jelly Roll spoke about the importance of being present for the event, noting he spent his 14th, 15th and 16th birthdays in the Davidson County Juvenile Justice Center.
“That thing hadn’t changed nothing but the paint in 30 years, I personally know, because I was there,” he said during the groundbreaking ceremony.
“A lot of these kids are a victim of their circumstances and where they came from, so this is a really cool chance to change things,” he told NewsChannel5.
Judge Sheila Calloway led the way in the vision for the new facility. Davidson County leaders including Mayor Freddie O’Connell and Davidson County Attorney General Glenn Funk attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
Earlier this year, Jelly Roll opened a music studio inside the youth detention center where he was once incarcerated, and last month, he opened the Jelly Roll Music Studio at Genesee County Jail in Flint, Michigan.
TikTok user @lockerblocker20 recently came across a treasure trove of Ye merch during a livestream. They found boxes of everything ranging from performance costumes to Yeezy design notes to recording equipment. The latter of which caught the attention to former Ye collaborator Mike Dean. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts […]
When an Italian soccer club was staring down bankruptcy, an unlikely hero showed up at Venezia FC’s doorstep ready to lace up his shinguards.
According to GQ Italia, Drake played an integral role in helping raise $40 million for the Venice soccer club to stay afloat in Serie A. The franchise was looking at filing for bankruptcy heading into the 2023-2024 season and possibly being demoted to the lowest Serie D with a poor performance.
“I got a call from Brad Katsuyama, co-owner of Venezia and a good friend of mine,” said Drake’s CBO Matte Babel, who also works in management. “He laid out the problem to me in a simple way: Venezia has to raise €10 million in a couple of weeks, and then at least €30 million in a few months, or the club will go bankrupt.”
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Babel gave Drake a call and the ball was immediately rolling to help Venezia FC get back on its feet. It only took two weeks to raise the money needed to hang up the phone on bankruptcy thanks to Drake and his team mobilizing efforts. Billboard has reached out to Drake’s reps for comment.
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“Venice is an incredible city and Venezia has always been a special club. I spoke to Drake, then Brad and I discussed the details of how we could help. Within two weeks we had a deal, raised the money needed to pay the salaries and avoid bankruptcy.”
GQ Italia continues to report that the $40 million came from a group of North American investors and heavily credited the 6 God’s involvement. The new ownership crew formed an Operating Committee to “oversee the strategic direction of the club.”
“Matte was my first call when I knew the club needed help,” Katsuyama said. “Drake’s value to any football club is undeniable, given his scale as a global superstar and the reach of his brand. This intersection of culture and sport is exactly where we want to be, and the chance to collaborate with a brand like NOCTA, who is moving along the same lines, is incredibly valuable.”
Venezia FC also struck an apparel partnership deal with Drake’s Nocta line, who help design their new uniforms. The club has made a €315 investment into building a new stadium, indoor arena with state-of-the-art facilities, which the team hopes to open in Venice for the start of the 2027 season.
Jelly Roll joined Morgan Wallen as a special guest for his concert at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, and he had a surprise for fans up his sleeve. The “Need a Favor” star welcomed MGK onstage to perform their latest collaboration, “Lonely Road.” “Lonely road, take me home/ To the place that we went wrong/ Where’d […]
Blake Shelton fires up a new collaboration with country veteran Steve Wariner, covering “Old Flame” on the Aug. 15 premiere of CMT Giants: Alabama, to air at 8 p.m./7 p.m. CT exclusively on CMT. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news A dozen artists — including Brad Paisley, […]
Following a flurry of noise complaints about HARD Summer 2024, Inglewood, Calif., Mayor James T. Butts Jr. has released a statement about the issues experienced at the electronic music festival that took place last Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 3-4) at the city’s Hollywood Park Complex at SoFi Stadium.
“We were perplexed at the sound propagation experienced in the South Bay, because there have been multiple outdoor concerts on the SoFi campus without this issue,” Butts wrote in a statement released by the Mayor’s Office Friday (Aug. 9) and provided to Billboard. “After meeting with representatives from the event promoter and the venue, we conducted a thorough review of the modifications and changes made between Saturday and Sunday of HARD Summer, specifically in response to noise complaints from neighboring communities.”
This is the first time HARD Summer, which has been happening at locations around Southern California since 2008, has been held at Hollywood Park.
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Butts’ statement continues, “It is important to clarify that the sound and vibration issues experienced over the weekend were related to certain bass frequencies,” adding that such frequencies can be affected by stage position, reflection off of buildings and weather factors like the wind.
Butts notes that bass vibrations were first reported in nearby El Segundo on Saturday afternoon, not long after the two-day festival began, although online commenters first reported experiencing the noise issues on Friday (Aug. 2) while the festival was doing sound checks. Local paper The Daily Breeze reported that “the El Segundo Police Department received so many complaints on the festival’s first night that the law enforcement agency posted a notice on the social media platform X asking residents to stop calling 911.”
HARD Summer is produced by Insomniac Events, which puts on many major global electronic music festivals including EDC Las Vegas. The HARD Summer 2024 lineup featured electronic artists including Disclosure, Major Lazer, deadmau5, Sub Focus, Chase & Status, Sofi Tukker and many more. The 300-acre Hollywood Park Complex adjacent to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood featured four stages during the festival, with one of them located in the Stadium’s American Airlines Plaza and the other three located around the Complex’s sprawling parking lot.
Butts’ statement notes that the stage in the American Airlines Plaza was “a major contributor to the issue” given that the area is elevated. He adds that no stages will be permitted in this area for future events and that “we will require even greater sound engineering with a more comprehensive plan when it comes to addressing sound and bass frequency management.”
Following the noise complaints, Butts writes that “city authorities engaged the event promoter and the venue and implemented several critical adjustments to each stage and established enhanced monitoring plans for overall sound and bass levels. Additional sound engineers were strategically positioned in areas of concern from Saturday afternoon through Sunday and were promptly dispatched to make necessary adjustments in real time. As a result, a significant decrease in call volume was observed on Sunday in the initially impacted areas.”
He continues that despite these changes, some in the area continued to experience the effects of the bass vibrations — including rattling windows and doors — adding that “with the lessons learned this past weekend, we are prepared to better monitor and supervise future event organizers to minimize the sound and vibration impact on the community outside the venue.”
Two other festivals are currently scheduled to take place at the Hollywood Park Complex: Fool In Love on Aug. 31 featuring Lionel Richie and Diana Ross and, in March 2025, Rolling Loud. The lineup for the latter event has yet to be announced.
“Over the past 10 years Inglewood has re-emerged as a premier hub for sports and entertainment,” Butts’ statement concludes. “That title comes with significant responsibility and we are committed to maintaining the highest standards.”
Latto made her return on Friday (Aug. 9) to serve up her anticipated Sugar Honey Iced Tea album. The 25-year-old’s fiery LP closer “S/O to Me” generated chatter among fans online as she sniped at potential targets with her lyrical barbs.
Apple Music’s Ebro Darden saw Latto trying to get into her “Jay-Z bag” while others thought “S/O to Me” was inspired by something in the vein of Drake’s famed timestamp series.
As far as Latto’s rhymes go, over smooth Saint Mino production, fans believe she took more shots at Ice Spice ,as it doesn’t look like this feud is stopping anytime soon.
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“Bye sis, funny thing about it, you can’t look me in my eye, sis,” she raps in an apparent jab at Ice using her government name, while later spewing: “Ice is just water when it melts/ Wipe you down, I got plenty towels on the shelf, it’s easy.”
Another bar that could be a stretch when related to Ice ties in the name of her 2022 “Karma” collaboration with Taylor Swift. “Karma will deal with you, though, I promise, your judgment awaits,” Latto ominously spews.
In another lyric, Latto raps, “You fighting for radio play, he fighting a government case,” which some took as a Nicki Minaj diss. Minaj has voiced her frustration with a lack of radio support and her husband, Kenneth Petty, is still dealing with the ramifications of a 1994 sexual assault case.
A fan wrote to X after hearing the menacing track: “Latto is at it again coming for the rap girls. Wordplay on Ice Spice name and another sub for her and Nicki. Latto takes me out she don’t care!”
However, Latto told Ebro Darden on Apple Music that she’s “exhausted” by the rap feuds she’s been entrenched in. “I’m exhausted. For real, I’m so over the beef. I’m gonna put this out there, Latto don’t got no problems with nobody,” she said.
When Ebro named some of the aforementioned lyrics that could be taken as shots at Ice Spice, Latto said she doesn’t look at the jabs as real “beef.” “That’s not beef though, that’s art to me. I think art is up for interpretation and that’s the beauty of it,” Latto added.
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Ice Spice addressed the rumored feud in her Rolling Stone cover story, but she didn’t think there was any real static between Latto and herself. “I feel like if we ever spoke and I asked her, ‘What’s the issue?’ it’d be like a blank stare,” she stated. “It’d really be no issue whatsoever. Especially from me. I can understand a friendly competition, but I just feel like at this point it’s a joke that she’s just dragged out, and it’s just not even funny.”
Latto said she didn’t think Ice Spice was the kind of rapper who would want to engage in a rap battle that involved them exchanging full diss tracks. “If I was to do [a battle], it would have to be with somebody I feel like Imma go tit for tat with,” Latto told Billboard in her July cover story. “I really don’t mean it as shade. Would she even want to do that?”
Listen to “S/O to Me” below.
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Lil Pump — who has supported Donald Trump since 2020 and has a tattoo of the former president’s mugshot on one of his thighs — has promised to leave the country if Kamala Harris wins the presidential election.
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The Miami rapper recently gave his fans the news in a video shot in his car. “I swear on my dad’s grave, if this stupid-a– bi— Kamala Harris wins the f—ing election, I’m moving out of America, boy,” he said. “I swear on everything.”
He then claimed on X that he’s going to perform a diss track aimed at both President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris during Trump’s next rally. “I will be performing the joe Biden kamal Harris diss track at the next trump rally,” he tweeted.
I will be performing the joe Biden kamal Harris diss track at the next trump rally— Lil Pump (@lilpump) August 9, 2024
After Harris was announced as the hopeful replacement for President Biden as the Democratic nominee, Pump took to X and to voice his displeasure, tweeting, “Kamala Harris isn’t even black… she’s Indian. She locked up over 1,500 people for weed related crimes and then laughed about it years later. The worst VP in American History. Trump 2024”
If you remember, back in 2020 during a rally, the former president introduced Lil Pump as “Lil Pimp.”
“Speaking of sound, music and other things, one of the big superstars of the world, Little Pimp,” he said. “There he is! How’s it going? Do you want to come up and say something?”
When Pump got onstage, he told the crowd, “I came here to say, Mr. President, I appreciate everything you’ve done for our country. You brought the troops home and you’re doing the right thing. MAGA 20, 20, 20. Don’t forget that! Don’t forget that. And do not vote for Sleepy Joe at all!”
John Legend is turning his music career into a family business with the release of his new single “L-O-V-E,” which features wife Chrissy Teigen and two of their kids and arrives ahead of the Grammy winner’s upcoming children‘s lullaby album My Favorite Dream. The “All of Me” artist both announced the 15-track LP and dropped […]
Air Drake is getting a facelift. The Toronto rapper recently previewed Air Drake 2’s redesign on Instagram, and it features a message that confirms your suspicions: “Chances are she’s on board.” Air Drake’s first iteration had the message, “If you’re reading this we left,” a play on his classic 2015 mixtape If You’re Reading This […]