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Lily Rose Reveals Her First Celebrity Crush While Playing Fishing for Answers | Billboard Country Live

Lily Rose plays Fishing for Answers at Billboard’s Country Live event.

Lily Rose:
What’s up, y’all? I’m Lily Rose, and I’m going Fishing for Answers with Billboard.

First celebrity crush? I think it would have to be Nick Jonas. In a crazy turn of events, it’s Nick Jonas.

The best concert I’ve ever attended? I’m not gonna lie, I went to see Taylor Swift last month, and it was three and a half hours of the best production and audio I’ve ever heard. So, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you live on stage? I had to kick a group of people out and it took, like, eight security guards to get this one woman out, and she ended up releasing herself on her pants while they were leaving. It was all crazy.

Who was my style icon and why? Actually, one of the people that really influenced me to start wearing jeans and boots this way was the old goalkeeper for the U.S. women’s soccer team, Ashlyn Harris. She just does such a cool line of really masculine clothing and integrates men’s clothes into her wardrobe. And I love that!

Most embarrassing onstage moment? Oh my gosh. So my favorite artist of all time in country is Sam Hunt. When I got invited to open for him on tour last year, I was so stoked. It was my first arena and I forgot the words to “Villain” when I asked everyone to sing it back, and that’s my only hit, so I should probably know one!

Who’s made me the most starstruck? I was in the same room as Chance the Rapper about two weeks ago, and that was pretty wild. We’re used to seeing a lot of country people and pop, but one of my favorite rappers … that was pretty cool. He told me I have a cool voice and then I blacked out, so it’s great.

What is my guilty pleasure food? Queso and guacamole. All day long, baby.

Busta Rhymes Got His Flowers — These 5 Hip-Hop Icons Deserve Theirs Too

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Busta Rhymes has been an electrifying force in Hip-Hop since before many of today’s rappers were born. Last month, the Brooklyn bred emcee took home the 2023 BET Awards biggest honor as this year’s Lifetime Achievement recipient.

Some of music’s greatest talents, including Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Diddy paid homage to the 12-time Grammy Award nominated rapper in a heartwarming video. Fans took to Twitter to share their favorite Busta Rhymes moments while reiterating that a Lifetime Achievement Award was overdue for the “mayor of Hip Hop.”

Busta’s award sparked an even bigger conversation about other icons whose contributions in Hip-Hop have seemingly gone unnoticed. Check out our list of Hip-Hop legends who deserve their flowers while they can smell them. 

Ludacris

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Before rappers like Big Sean and DaBaby captivated fans with their animated delivery, wild punchlines and humorous videos, Ludacris had the game on lock. His major label debut album Back for the First Time, spawned several hit records that many fans deem to be instant classics — including the Neptunes- produced track “What’s Your Fantasy.”

While Atlanta was still finding their identity in Hip-Hop, Luda continued cranking out chart topping records and big budget music videos throughout the 2000s. But after years of hard work and a Grammy for Best Rap Album in 2007 for Release Therapy, he started to feel that his contributions to Hip-Hop weren’t being acknowledged. In May 2023, Luda appeared on the All The Smoke podcast and revealed that Jay-Z credited his outlandish videos as the reason why Luda doesn’t receive the lyrical credit he deserves. “People ask me, ‘Why don’t you think [you] get the credit?’ Because I played too goddamn much…And I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Luda said.

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Rihanna Shares Angelic Photo of A$AP Rocky Holding Baby RZA: ‘My Bajan Boyz’

Rihanna is soaking up some family time under the sun this week. On Tuesday (July 3), the 35-year-old “Umbrella” singer showed off her view from the beach with an adorable photo on social media of A$AP Rocky holding their 13-month-old son RZA up to the sky.

Backdropped by palm trees and the setting sun, only Rocky and RZA’s silhouettes are visible in the angelic snap. “my Bajan boyz…??❤️” Ri captioned the post, hinting that the family is spending time in her home country of Barbados.

The Fenty mogul has reportedly been in the Caribbean for the past few days, at one point enjoying tasty snow cones with her 34-year-old partner outside their villa. The couple is currently expecting their second child together, with Rihanna now in her third trimester.

Ri’s latest homecoming trip comes just a couple weeks after she and Rocky attended Paris Fashion Week together, supporting Pharrell Williams‘ debut collection as Louis Vuitton’s head of men’s fashion following the passing of designer Virgil Abloh. The “Diamonds” musician starred in an advertisement campaign for the line, proudly showing off her baby bump in a magnificent billboard on the side of the Musée D’Orsay.

After the show, the couple set off to the Cannes Lions festival for Rocky’s Spotify Beach performance. At one point, the “F–kin’ Problems” rapper dedicated his 2022 song “D.M.B.” — also called “DAT$ MAH B!*$H” — to his “beautiful wife in the f—ing building. I love her.”

A couple weeks prior, Ri and Rocky — born Rakim Athelaston Mayers — celebrated Father’s Day together, with the latter sharing rare, intimate photos of their family to mark the occasion. “EVERYDAY FATHERS DAY,” he captioned the pics, to which Rihanna replied: “The Mayers boys stole my whole heart! Happy Father’s Day nerd.”

See Ri’s latest photo of her boys below:

Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin’s July 4th White Party Guests Included Jay-Z, Beyoncé & More

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Y’all already know that some of your favorite celebrities got lit during the Fourth of July holiday weekend, but someone you might’ve never heard of hosted damn near every A-list name to his pre-Independence Day celebration.

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Source: @michaelrubin / Instagram

On Monday (July 3), Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin and his girlfriend Camile Fishel held their annual star-studded white party in the Hamptons. And though you might not be too familiar with their names, their guestlist featured some of the most famous music artists, actors and sports stars in the world. Attending their ultra-exclusive in-home blowout were the likes of Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Embid, Travis Scott, Kevin Hart, Odell Beckham Jr., Jennifer Lopez along with her man, third best Batman (Ben Affleck), and many others.

Was attending this party an order from the Illuminati or something?! Just having one or two of these names in your house is a sign that you’re a big deal but all of them plus more? How is this man not a household name? Usher and Ne-Yo took the stage for a surprise performance for God’s sake! Who catered this event? Gordon Ramsay? Bobby Flay? Salt Bae? We wanna know!

Check out pics and video of Michael Rubin and Camile Fishel’s pre-July 4th event in the gallery, and let us know if you’ll be having these two on your radar going forward in the comments section below.

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Of course DJ Khaled was on the list. 

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James Harden and Tom Brady walk into a party…

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‘Kevin Hart: Reality Check’: How to Watch the New Stand-Up Comedy Special for Free

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Kevin Hart‘s July takeover has begun! The actor-comedian is diving into summer with a new stand-up comedy special titled Kevin Hart: Reality Check. The program will be released on Thursday (July 6) through Peacock — and it also happens to be the Me Time star’s 44th birthday.

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If you weren’t able to make it to the actor’s national tour, the new comedy special is based on it, providing you the opportunity to view it from the comfort of your home. Along with the stand-up special, the star will also be releasing season three of his show Hart to Hart, which will also air on Peacock Thursday (July 6).

What can you expect to see during the stand-up show? One hour of an unfiltered and uncensored Hart who’s ready to share all his thoughts on his growing family, fame, relationship with Black Twitter and more.

The show was filmed in front of a sold-out crowd at Resort World in Las Vegas — and from the trailer, it’s clear that no one was off limits from his set.

“LeBron James, a real good friend of mine,” Hart says in the trailer for the stand-up show. “Well, he was. He hasn’t heard this joke yet, we’ll see what happens.”

That’s not all either. Hart just celebrated the release of his latest short story, It Will All Work Out: The Freedom of Letting Go. The Kindle edition dropped on Saturday (July 1) on Amazon, and is already rated a No. 1 bestseller. (Physical editions will be available Aug. 1.)

Keep reading to learn how to watch the comedy special.

How to Watch Kevin Hart: Reality Check

Kevin Hart: Reality Check and season three of Hart to Hart will both be released on Thursday (July 6) exclusively on Peacock, which current subscribers can watch for free.

Not subscribed? If you’re new to the streaming platform, monthly plans start at just $4.99/month for Peacock Premium and $9.99/month for the commercial-free, Premium Plus. If you subscribe to Peacock’s annual plans, you’ll be able to save around 17% off your streaming package.

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$From $4.99/month

Although Peacock ended its free trials, you may be eligible to score a free subscription through Spectrum.

Besides Kevin Hart: Reality Check, you can also catch a variety of Peacock Originals in addition to sports, NBC and Bravo shows such as Based on a True Story, BupkisMrs. DavisPoker FaceBel-AirPoker FaceYellowstoneThe Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls TripVanderpump RulesQueens CourtThe TraitorsThe Best Man: The Final ChaptersSick and more.

Watch the trailer for Kevin Hart: Reality Check below.

Here’s Why Dolly Parton Is Reluctant About Becoming an AI Hologram

Dolly Parton says she’s reluctant about the notion of artificially living on as an AI hologram after her death, because she doesn’t want “to leave my soul here on this earth.”

According to The Independent, the country star discussed during a London press conference whether she would ever consider creating a show utilizing a hologram version of herself. The Country Music Hall of Fame member and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee replied, “I think I’ve left a great body of work behind. I have to decide how much of that high-tech stuff I want to be involved [with] because I don’t want to leave my soul here on this earth.

“I think with some of this stuff, I’ll be grounded here forever … I’ll be around — we’ll find ways to keep me here.”

According to the U.K. publication, the country icon also laughed that “everything” about her — and that includes “any intelligence” — is fake anyway.

Parton, who co-hosted the Academy of Country Music Awards earlier this year alongside Garth Brooks, is promoting her upcoming debut rock n’ roll album, appropriately titled Rockstar, which will release Nov. 17. The album features Parton in collaboration with several rock music icons, including Steven Tyler, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Fogerty, Debbie Harry and Heart’s Ann Wilson.

During the press conference, Parton also spoke of trying to get Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to perform on the album with her. Parton said that much of her upcoming Rockstar album was inspired by her husband, Carl Dean, who loves Jagger’s music.

“I wanted [Jagger] to sing on ‘Satisfaction,’ but he wanted something new and different, which I don’t blame him for that, so I wound up singing that with Pink and Brandi Carlile,” Parton said. “We kept looking for the right song and he was doing an album in [Los Angeles], and he did some stuff in Nashville, and I kept missing him everywhere. I ran him around like a high-school girl.”

Meta Launching ‘Threads’ to Challenge Twitter’s Microblogging Dominance

Meta is poised to unveil a new app that appears to mimic Twitter — a direct challenge to the social media platform owned by Elon Musk.

A listing for the app, called Threads, appeared on Apple’s App Store, indicating it would debut as early as Thursday. It is billed as a “text-based conversation app” that is linked to Instagram, with the listing teasing a Twitter-like microblogging experience.

“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” it said.

Instagram users will be able to keep their user names and follow the same accounts on the new app, according to screenshots displayed on the App Store listing. Meta declined to comment on the app.

Musk replied “yeah” to a tweet from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey saying, “All your Threads are belong to us,” along with a screenshot from the App Store’s privacy section showing what personal information might be collected by the new Meta app.

Threads could be the latest headache for Musk, who acquired Twitter last year for $44 billion and has been making changes that have unnerved advertisers and turned off users, including new daily limits on the number of tweets people can view.

Meta has good timing because Twitter users are growing frustrated with Musk’s changes and looking for a viable alternative, said Matt Navarra, a social media consultant.

Threads presents the “opportunity to jump to a platform that can give them many of the things that they want Twitter to continue to be that it no longer is,” he said.

Allowing Instagram users to port their profile to Threads could give the new app more traction with potential users by providing a ready-made set of accounts for them to follow, said Navarra, former director of social media at tech news site The Next Web and digital communications adviser for the British government.

Twitter has rolled out a series of unpopular changes in recent days, including a requirement for users to be verified to use the online dashboard TweetDeck. The policy announced Monday takes effect in 30 days and appears to be aimed at raising extra revenue because users need to pay have their accounts verified under Musk’s changes.

TweetDeck is popular with companies and news organizations, allowing users to manage multiple Twitter accounts.

It comes after outcry over Musk’s announcement this weekend that Twitter has limited the number of tweets users can view each day — restrictions that the billionaire Tesla CEO described as an attempt to stop unauthorized scraping of potentially valuable data.

Still, some users might be put off by Meta’s data privacy track record, Navarra said. And would-be Twitter challengers like Mastodon have found it a challenge to sign up users.

“It’s hard to tell whether the upset and discontent is strong enough to make a mass exodus or whether it will be somewhat of a slow erosion,” Navarra said.

Musk’s rivalry with Meta Platforms also could end up spilling over into real life. In an online exchange between Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the two tech billionaires seemingly agreed to a cage match face-off, though it’s unclear if they will actually make it to the ring.

Meghan Trainor and Husband Daryl Sabara Announce Birth of Second Son

Meghan Trainor and husband Daryl Sabara welcomed their second child over the weekend. The “Made You Look” singer announced the news on Tuesday night (July 4) in a sweet Instagram post featuring a black and white picture of mother and baby snuggling in the hospital.

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“On July 1st (our 7 year anniversary of our first date) we welcomed Barry Bruce Trainor into the world,” she wrote alongside the series of snaps, which also featured the former Spy Kids star cradling baby Barry, as well as a number of adorable solo Barry snaps and one of Trainor in her hospital bed throwing up a peace sign.

“He was a big boy at 8lbs 7oz…and sideways (transverse), but we had an amazing, successful c-section, and I finally got my skin to skin time!,” she added. “Thank you to all of the incredible doctors and nurses who took such great care of u.” Baby Bary joins the couple’s two-year-old son, Riley.

The exciting news was celebrated by a number of fellow stars, including fellow mother of two Mandy Moore, who commented, “Go Mama!! And welcome to the party, Barry!! What a lucky dude!!,” while Paris Hilton — who welcomed her first child earlier this year — added “Congratulations sis! So happy for you!”

Actresses Ashley Benson and Chrissy Metz also offered their congratulations, as did Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying and JoJo Siwa’s mom, Jessalyn.

Back in April the couple revealed the baby’s sex on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the same place where they disclosed the sex of their first born two years earlier.

Check out Trainor’s post below.

MF Doom’s Wife Reveals Rapper’s Cause of Death

Nearly three years after his shocking death at 49 in 2020, late rapper MF Doom‘s wife has revealed what caused her husband’s passing. The British-born MC (born Daniel Dumile), died on Oct. 31, 2020 of what was then deemed “unknown causes” by wife Jasmine Dumile; the artist’s passing wasn’t announced until two months after his death.

According to Leeds Live, an inquest has found that Doom died after his condition “suddenly deteriorated” while he was in the hospital. Wife Jasmine Dumile told the outlet that her husband was in good shape, but had been suffering from a number of health issues at the time, including kidney disease and high blood pressure, which led to weight gain and anxiety.

She said Doom had been prescribed ACE inhibitors to treat his blood pressure but after just two doses he developed breathing problems, which sent him to the ER after his tongue and throat swelled. She said the rapper called her in distress from the hospital when the swelling got worse and, she told an inquest hearing, she then used a second phone to directly alert the nurses on duty.

Because of the COVID-19 restrictions then in place, Jasmine said she could not visit her husband in the hospital until Oct. 31. “That’s when the respirator was turned off that was helping him breathe,” she told investigators. The inquest found that on Oct. 21, Doom had complained that he couldn’t breathe and attempted to get out of his hospital bed before collapsing and suffering respiratory arrest.

Jasmine’s legal team has reportedly asked questions about how often medical staff at St. James Hospital in Leeds checked in on the rapper and why there was an alleged two-hour delay in giving him medication for his throat swelling. The inquest also reportedly heard that Doom’s condition was being closely monitored by the hospital staff and that he’d shown signs of getting better, including elevated oxygen levels and the ability to speak with doctors.

Doctors did note, however, that the swelling of his tongue, throat and lips was a “rare” side-effect of the ACE inhibitors, which caused a condition called angiodema (a swelling similar to hives, but which takes place under the skin instead of on the surface). The outlet also reported that following Doom’s death the hospital trust carried out a “serious incident investigation” to determine what lessons could be learned from the case; the inquiry into Doom’s death is reportedly ongoing.

In a post announcing his death in Dec. 2020, Jasmine wrote, “To Dumile, The greatest husband, father, teacher, student, business partner, lover and friend I could ever ask for. Thank you for all the things you have shown, taught and given to me, our children and our family. Thank you for teaching me how to forgive beings and give another chance, not to be so quick to judge and write off. Thank you for showing how not to be afraid to love and be the best person I could ever be. My world will never be the same without you.”

Dumile was born in London and moved with his family to New York as a child. Under the stage name Zev Love X, he co-founded the rap trio K.M.D. with his brother Dingilizwe, who went by DJ Subroc. Dumile first hit the Billboard charts as a member of K.M.D., which notched a pair of top 20 hits on Hot Rap Songs in 1991: “Peachfuzz” and “Who Me?” His brother’s April 1993 death in a car crash at age 19 caused Dumile to take a break from the industry before returning to rap in 1997 and adopting the MF Doom persona, modeled after Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom. From then on, he always performed wearing his signature metallic mask.

HarbourView Equity Partners, REVOLT Vying for Majority Stake in BET

Sherrese Clarke Soares‘ HarbourView Equity Partners and Diddy‘s Revolt are among the bidders finalizing second-round offers to acquire a majority stake in BET Media Group from Paramount Global, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks.

Jesse Collins Entertainment, which produced the Grammys and this year’s SuperBowl halftime performance by Rihanna, is also mulling joining HarbourView and Revolt’s joint offer for the package of networks that includes VH1, said one of the sources, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the talks.

Paramount Global is reportedly exploring selling a majority stake in BET Media Group, which includes BET, BET+, BET Gospel, BET HER, BET International, BET Jams, BET Soul, BET Studios and VH1, for as much as $3 billion, as it looks to offload assets like book publisher Simon & Shuster and preschool service Noggin to focus on its streaming business.

Sources say other bidders submitting second-round offers for BET Media Group include Tyler Perry and Byron Allen. Paramount is reportedly looking to finalize deals this fall.

A spokesperson for BET declined to comment for this story.

Soares, whose private equity firm owns rights to songs by regional Mexican trio Eslabon Armado, Luis Fonsi and Florida Georgia Line, confirmed during a red-carpet interview with Billboard at the BET Awards that HarbourView has an active bid for the media group.

“We are here because of how much we support the brand and how excited we are about the opportunity around the brand itself,” Soares said, declining to share further details.

A former Morgan Stanley managing director, Soares founded HarbourView in 2021, initially to acquire publishing and music recording rights — an investment strategy she helped develop as CEO and co-founder of Tempo Music. More recently, Soares has guided HarbourView’s investments in media companies, aiming to build out a distribution network for content soundtracked by artists in its catalog.

In March, HarbourView led a $90 million investment in a minority stake in MACRO, a film, television and branding company founded by Charles D. King, whose projects include Judas and the Black Messiah. Directed by Shaka King, Judas made history in 2021 as the first-ever film with an all-Black production team to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.

“Our interest is to be fuel to the entertainment and media segment,” Soares told Billboard at the BET Awards, referencing HarbourView’s investments in catalogs and MACRO. Regarding the results of the bids for BET, Soares said, “We’ll let the cards fall where they may.”