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31 Mar 2023

Real Hot Girl Sh*t: Megan Thee Stallion Throws Out First Pitch At Houston Astros’ Opening Day

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Chicago White Sox v. Houston Astros

Source: Logan Riely / Getty / Megan Thee Stallion

Megan Thee Stallion is continuing to live her best damn life.

The proud Houstonian threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Houston Astros home opener on Thursday night, March 30, at Minute Maid Park.

Before she hit the diamond and took the mound, looking like a goddess in dress in all-white while wearing a custom Houston Astros jersey with Pete, her last name, and the number “222” on the back, the “Savage” rapper was practicing throwing strikes beneath the stadium according to the announcer.

While making her way to the mound, the Houston did note that she was nervous and took a moment before delivering the first pitch to David Hensley, which was just a little outside, landing in the left-handed batter’s box. Hensley showing off his second and third baseman skills, was able to scoop up the pitch quickly.

To seal the deal, Thee Stallion blessed Hensely and Orbit, the Astros’ iconic mascot, with a hug.

No, her pitch wasn’t perfect, but it was damn sure better than other first pitches from other Hip-Hop stars. Looking at you, 50 Cent. 



The hotties were happy to see their queen hit the pitcher’s mound to throw out the first pitch at a professional baseball game while her shooter, Tory Lanez, tries to find a way to get his conviction thrown out. 

We are all happy to see Megan Thee Stallion in good spirits again after going through the ordeal she went through, with people calling her a liar and blaming Roc Nation and everyone else except the actual person that shot her.

You can see the reaction to her first pitch in the gallery below.

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Photo: Logan Riely / Getty

1. Real hot girl sh*t

3. Legends link up.

4. We love her.

31 Mar 2023

Third Eye Open: Erykah Badu Calls “Woke” The New Conservative “Thug” 

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In an interview with Ari Melber on MSNBC, Erykah Badu talked about her 2008 song, “Master Teacher” which is often credited as most recently popularizing the term “woke.”

The song, which also featured Georgia Anne Muldrow, had a chorus that said, “I stay woke,” and the 52-year-old singer further explained her role in popularizing the phrase. “There’s a song on [New Amerykah Part One] called ‘Master Teacher,’ and in that song… the chorus is ‘I stay woke,’ so ‘stay woke’ was introduced to the world by this album,” the 52-year-old neo-soul icon said. “And I tweeted it about this group that was detained, Pussy Riot… In my tweet, I said ‘Free Pussy Riot…stay woke.’ After that, ‘woke’ took off.”

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The word woke has most recently been used by the GOP as a buzzword for any part of the liberal agenda from teaching Black history to protecting LGBTQ rights. 

But, when asked directly what Badu thinks conservatives mean when they use the word, she said plainly, “I think they mean ‘Black,’” the singer said. “It’s just another way to say ‘thug’ or something else, right?”

She also noted, “It is what it is. It doesn’t belong to us anymore, and once something goes out into the world, it takes a life of its own. It has an energy of its own.”

The term woke has found its way into the mainstream lexicon with Republicans using it daily to describe almost anything that they disagree with. The most significant legislative action was the passage of the Stop WOKE Act signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022. The legislation restricts how racism and other parts of history can be taught in schools and workplaces. It even includes language that is supposed to prevent white students from “feeling bad” about actual American History. 

The act is behind the banning of several books in the state as well as sanitized versions of Black historical facts like Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. 

While the popular and eclectic singer may have brought the term back to the forefront of American culture, social and culture historians note that the phrase can be traced back to as far as the 1930s. 

According to MadameNoire, American folk legend Huddie Michael Ledbetter (aka Lead Belly) coined the term during an interview discussing his hit song “Scottsboro Boys,” according to NewsOne. In the 1938 interview, Belly urged Black people to stay vigilant when traveling through Alabama to avoid racial tension.

African American author Melvin Kelley also used the phrase in a New York Times essay where he examined Black language and idioms as a pushback against white supremacy called, “If You’re Woke You Dig It.” 

The most recent use and retaliation against the phrase originated in 2020 during national protests against the police state in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin. 

Badu said in the interview that the true meaning of the expression belongs to the people who created it. 

“It means being aware, being in alignment with nature,” the Grammy-winning singer added. “It’s not only in the political arena. That means with your health, that means in your relationships, that means in your home, that means in your car, that means in your sleep.”

31 Mar 2023

Neil Diamond Opens Up About Parkinson’s Diagnosis: ‘I Have to Make the Best of It’

Neil Diamond has kept a low-profile since announcing his Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis in 2018. But in an upcoming interview with CBS Sunday Morning the 82-year-old singer talks about being in denial for the first year after his diagnosis.

“I’m still doing it. And I don’t like it,” Diamond said about his initial refusal to accept that he has the incurable, progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects the brain and physical movement. “But … this is me; this is what I have to accept. And I’m willing to do it. And, okay, so this is the hand that God’s given me, and I have to make the best of it, and so I am. I am.”

Even after several years, Diamond said it is literally just in the “last few weeks” that he’s finally come to terms with his diagnosis, which has brought some tranquility. “Somehow, a calm has moved [into] the hurricane of my life, and things have gotten very quiet, as quiet as this recording studio,” he told interviewer Anthony Mason. “And I like it. I find that I like myself better. I’m easier on people. I’m easier on myself. And the beat goes on, and it will go on long after I’m gone.”

Diamond — who retired from touring after his diagnosis — also discusses what it feels like to watch his life’s story play out on Broadway in the A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical. He tells Mason that it was, “all pretty hard. I was a little embarrassed.  I was flattered, and I was scared… Being found out is the scariest thing you can hope, because we all have a façade. And the truth be known to all of ’em. I’m not some big star. I’m just me.”

Though he has mostly stayed out of the public eye since the diagnosis, Diamond made a rare appearance on Dec. 4 when he surprised the audience on opening night of the musical when he popped up unexpectedly in the balcony during curtain call to help lead the crowd in a singalong of his beloved 1969 hit “Sweet Caroline.”

Diamond’s Sunday Morning interview is slated to air on Sunday (April 2) at 9 a.m. ET on CBS and then stream on Paramount+; watch a preview of the chat here.

31 Mar 2023

Taylor Swift Drops Dreamy Acoustic Version of ‘Lavender Haze’: Stream It Now

Just wanna stay in that lavender haze? Good news — Taylor Swift just dropped a new acoustic version of the Midnights single, and it’s even dreamier than the original.

Filled with lush finger-picked guitar and relaxed percussion, the “Lavender Haze” reimagining arrived Friday (March 31) via an announcement on social media from Taylor Nation. “What if there was a version of Lavender Haze that made you feel like you were floating in a fluffy lavender cloud?” read the tweet. “Oh wait… there is?”

The acoustic version is just the latest twist on track one of Midnights to be released by Swift, who’s currently three weekends in to her sprawling U.S. Eras Tour. She’s previously teamed up with artists such as Tensnake, Snakehips, Jungle and Felix Jaehn for “Lavender Haze” remixes, and in January, the 12-time Grammy winner unveiled a purple-overload music video for the dance-pop single.

To date, “Lavender Haze” has reached a peak of No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, the second highest-charting Midnights track behind lead single “Anti-Hero,” Swift’s longest running No. 1 song ever at eight weeks. “Anti-Hero” has also gotten the acoustic treatment along with its fair share of remixes featuring Bleachers, Roosevelt, Kungs, Jayda G and ILLENIUM.

Earlier this week, Swift made an appearance at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, where “Nothing New” collaborator Phoebe Bridgers presented her with the year’s Innovator prize. “I want everyone to know — especially young people — that the hundreds and thousands of dumb ideas that I had led me to my good ideas,” she said during her acceptance speech Monday (March 27). “You have to give yourself permission to fail. I try as hard as I can not to fail because it’s embarrassing, but I give myself permission to.”

“Make the right choices that make sense for you and someone one day might thing you’re innovative,” she added.

Stream the “Lavender Haze” acoustic version below:

31 Mar 2023

Ryan Kavanaugh’s Proxima Acquires Significant Stake In Movie-Streaming Platform ROW8

This article was written in partnership with Allison Parker.

Ryan Kavanaugh’s Proxima entertainment company has acquired a “significant strategic stake” in movie-streaming platform ROW8 and formed a joint venture, Proxima 8. Combining the individual strengths of the two separate brands, Proxima 8 aims to revolutionize the way audiences experience cinema and disrupt the current theatrical window models – like PVOD, SVOD, and PPV – and change how movies are distributed and made available to consumers. 

The partnership aims to cater to the preferences of today’s younger audiences, tapping into the vast potential that lies within influencer communities as well as digital platforms. Through the acquisition, Proxima Media will be able to leverage the technology that ROW8 offers, further expanding its distribution capabilities, which includes its ability to geolocate by proximity to specific theaters. Additionally, this partnership will allow Proxima to reduce marketing costs while maximizing revenues on highly commercial genre-specific films. By focusing on distributing Proxima’s youth-focused genres –including horror, thriller, action, love stories, and American comedies – and utilizing its social media and influencer connections, Proxima 8 aims to create a platform that caters to today’s generation.

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With involvement in Proxima as well as the 450 million user-rich social media app Triller, Ryan Kavanaugh has had an impressive career in the entertainment industry, marked by a series of achievements and a track-record of staying ahead of the curve. From bringing comic book universes to the big screen to penning market-defining deals for subscription video on demand platforms, Kavanaugh has proven again and again to embrace new innovations and trends in technology as well as change with market shifts. In a 2014 keynote address at a leading industry conference, Kavanaugh stated, “if the studios don’t change soon, the customers will change it for them as they now have the ability to get (content) where they want it, when they want it, and how they want to pay for it.”

Currently, ROW8 is one of the larger independent digital Premium Video On Demand (PVOD) movie platforms, offering its customers access to a vast library of high-quality movies available to stream instantly on their favorite devices. With agreements in place with many of the biggest studio production houses as well as a recent merger with Rad – a blockchain-based streaming platform – ROW8 has quickly become a key player in the industry. The acquisition of ROW8 by Proxima, according to Kavanaugh, “allows [Proxima] to give the influencer stars of our films a way [and] a destination to send their fans and followers to where they can really participate in [their] journey, not just watch the movie. It will be the first time there will be a two-way connection from fan to movie and movie to fan; it’s not just a platform, but a destination.”

Through his connections with Triller, which Kavanaugh held a controlling stake in from 2019 to 2022, the film financier has unique connections to some of the platform’s top influencers. With Proxima 8, Kavanaugh and ROW8 have shown that they are willing to take risks and embrace change, positioning themselves at the forefront of a dynamic market shift. As video distribution markets further develop and mature, the burgeoning platform will definitely be an industry player to watch in the coming years. Keep checking Billboard for the latest on all things Proxima 8.

31 Mar 2023

Teyana Taylor Says Her Starring Role in Dionne Warwick Biopic Is Underway

Teyana Taylor already looks like she could be Dionne Warwick‘s daughter, with her high cheekbones and bright smile, but the “Bare Wit Me” singer confirmed she’s taking on the role of the beloved icon in an upcoming biopic.

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“We’re already working on it,” Taylor told Tamron Hall in a clip from their interview shared exclusively with Billboard. “We’re in the building process right now. I always wanted to make sure I could lock in with any person that I would be playing.”

Taylor went on to note that she was inspired by Angela Bassett’s portrayal of Tina Turner in 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do With It and Jamie Foxx’s capturing of Ray Charles in 2004’s Ray. “I miss when movies were like that, when you got to really get to know them and tap in,” she added.

Hall shared that given her passion to get to know Warwick, she’ll soon be eating at the “That’s What Friends Are For” star’s favorite Italian restaurant in New Jersey. “We talk almost every day,” Taylor replied excitedly. “That’s my girl.”

Taylor concluded, “I’ve always been a firm believer and stood on safety. She’s had a wonderful career, and I think right now is about making her feel as safe as possible to tell her story because a lot of these stories get misconstrued or dramatized to an extent. That’s not really where we want to go.”

Watch the clip below, and catch the full interview on Tamron Hall Monday (April 3) on ABC.

31 Mar 2023

Two Killed, Five Injured At Memphis Restaurant Owned by Yo Gotti

A restaurant with ties to rapper Yo Gotti was the scene of a shooting on Wednesday that left two people dead and five injured in Memphis, Tennessee. According to WREG, the shooting took place after just after closing time at Prive, the soul food restaurant the hometown MC (born Mario Mims), 41, bought for his mother, Geraldine, who is the establishment’s manager and chef.

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When police arrived on scene that found two male victims, one of whom was pronounced dead and the other who was taken to a local hospital, where he later died. WREG reported that the five additional shooting victims — four as-yet-unnamed males (ages 37, 35, 31 and 30) and one female (25) — were all transported to hospitals in private vehicles after the shooting that police said was sparked by an altercation inside the restaurant.

At press time it did not appear that Gotti had responded to the shooting on his social feeds and a spokesperson for the rapper had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment; a spokesperson for the Memphis Police Department had also not returned a request for comment, or information about any arrests in the incident, at press time.

The station spoke to the owner’s lawyer, Arthur Horne, who said they were devastated by the shooting. “On behalf of Prive, they’ve been in business for ten years, and nothing like this has ever happened at their establishment.” Horne said, contrary to the police statement, the altercation took place outside the restaurant.

“It happened out in the parking lot, and it ended up in a shootout,” he said. “Nothing happened inside the restaurant. Despite any conflicting reports, they were closing, and this happened at the end of the evening in the parking lot.”

31 Mar 2023

Believe Breaks Into Publishing By Acquiring UK-Based Sentric Music Group

LONDON — French music company Believe is making inroads into the publishing business by acquiring U.K.-based publisher Sentric, which represents more than four million songs and over 400,000 songwriters in more than 200 territories. 

Under terms of the deal announced on Thursday (March 30), Believe is acquiring full ownership of Sentric Music Group from Utopia Music, with the transaction valuing Sentric at €47 million ($51 million), Believe says in a press release.

(Utopia Music declined to comment). 

Believe founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie says in a statement that the takeover of Sentric is the company’s “first step” in the “roll-out of a global and comprehensive publishing offer.” 

It is the second time in just over a year that ownership of Liverpool-based Sentric Music Group — which also has offices in London, Hamburg, New York and Los Angeles — has changed hands. 

In February of 2022, Utopia, a Zug, Switzerland-headquartered fintech company, acquired Sentric amid a frenetic buying spree that saw Utopia acquire 15 companies over a two-year period. 

Sentric’s existing leadership team, led by CEO Chris Meehan, will continue to lead the business, says Believe. Paris-based Believe, which has 1,650 employees in more than 50 countries, says the combination of its digital music expertise and global network with Sentric’s industry-leading technology will develop “a comprehensive solution for songwriters and publishers at all levels.” 

Believe’s move into publishing follows recent investments the company has made in Europe, India and Asia to further expand its global footprint. They include partnerships with French pop label Structure, Indian label Panorama Music and Germany-based Madizin Music. 

Last year also saw Believe make strong gains in some key European countries and eat into the major record labels’ share of the recorded music market. In France, Believe says it was the second-largest music company in digital local repertoire in 2022. In Germany, it claims to have been the third-largest recorded music company for local repertoire in the streaming market, and the market’s second-largest company in hip-hop. 

In total, Believe, which acquired the TuneCore distribution platform in 2015, worked with 1.3 million artists last year, either directly or through record labels, with annual revenues rising 31.8% year-on-year to 760.8 million euros ($723.5 million), according to the company’s year-end financial results, published earlier this month. 

The company says its acquisition of Sentric will help drive future growth by enabling it to capture a slice of the growing music publishing market. In 2021, global publishing royalties to songwriters and composers grew by 7.2% to €8.5 billion ($9.2 billion), according to the International Confederation of Authors and Composers Societies’ (CISAC). 

The Sentric deal also strengthens Believe’s TuneCore business offering, which provides worldwide digital distribution to independent and self-releasing artists. Believe says 23% of TuneCore’s subscribers already use Sentric’s publishing service. Moving forward, says Believe, Sentric will offer publishing services to all clients within the Believe Group. 

“The growth and digital transformation of the songwriters’ market is opening-up many opportunities,” says Ladegaillerie. 

For Utopia Music, the future appears cloudier with its sale of Sentric following a period of intense change at the fintech company. 

In November, Utopia cut its workforce by about 20%, or about 230 jobs, followed two months later by CEO Markku Mäkeläinen exiting the company and founder and executive chairman Mattias Hjelmstedt taking over as interim chief executive. In February, Utopia said it had sold U.S.-based music database platform ROSTR — which has a directory of artists, managers, booking agents and record labels — back to ROSTR’s founders for an undisclosed sum. 

At the time, Hjelmstedt told Billboard that the sale of ROSTR was part of a company-wide refocus on its core financial services business and that the company had recently completed a fresh investment round. (He declined to discuss the size of investment or investors). 

However, on Wednesday, Scandinavian news outlet Breakit reported that some Utopia employees have recently gone unpaid and the company’s Swedish arm, Utopia R&D Tech, owes 8 million SEK ($770,000) to the Swedish tax authorities. (Music Business Worldwide was the first to report Breakit‘s story).

In response, a spokesperson for Utopia told Billboard that the company’s “strategic transition” was in response to “current changes in the market landscape,” adding that it is focusing on profitability and growth.

“It has not been an easy journey, but we are very positive about Utopia’s future and look forward to continuing what we are here to do — support the music industry with digital solutions for managing, monitoring, and processing royalties, and distributing the music we all love to listen to,” the Utopia rep said.

31 Mar 2023

‘Say Say Say’ What? Kygo on His Energetic Remake of Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney’s Classic

Kygo has remixed real-deal icons including Whitney Houston, Tina Turner and Donna Summer. On Friday (March 31), he’s adding another set of all-time artists to the list with his remake of Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson‘s 1983 classic, “Say Say Say.”

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The project was a year in the making, with the Norwegian producer and his team reaching out to the respective artist teams in 2022.

“It’s no secret that I love working with iconic vocals from the ’80s, and ‘Say Say Say’ was one that I really wanted to work on,” Kygo tells Billboard. “We initially got in touch with Paul McCartney’s team and Michael Jackson’s estate over a year ago to get approval and the stems to start working on an idea.”

After getting this greenlight, Kygo was sent the stems of the song and, he says, “started on an idea that I liked, which took a few days. Overall, it took a few months to get it to the final version.”

“It’s the same process that I use on all my remixes,” he adds, “which starts by stripping back some of the original production then trying new melodies and ideas with the vocals.”

Indeed, this remake begins with an isolated chop of Jackson’s voice, before slipping into McCartney’s first verse, then stripping down most of the production to spotlight Jackson’s voice before going full Kygo by adding some emphatically hit piano chords and a chorus composed of chopped up vocals from the two masters in addition to some weighty, funky synth.

“I feel like it has some great added energy and brings a masterpiece from 1983 into 2023, which is exactly what I was trying to achieve,” the producer says.

It’s also the same format Kygo brought to his edits of Houston’s cover of Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” in 2019, Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It” in 2020 and Summer’s “Hot Stuff” that same year.

“Say Say Say” was released in October of 1983 and spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, ultimately spending 22 weeks on the chart. The song ranks at No. 50 on the list of the Greatest Hot 100 Singles of All Time.

Listen to the Kygo remake of “Say Say Say” below.

31 Mar 2023

Doja Cat Tells Trolls Hating On Her Plastic Surgery To “Eat My Long Quiet & Warm Farts”

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Doja Cat Tells Plastic Surgery-Hating Troll To

Source: Jeff Kravitz / Getty / Doja Cat

Doja Cat does not care if you don’t like her body upgrades.

The 27-year-old “Streets” singer had time for a troll who dared to call her out last week for admitting she got liposuction and a breast reduction.

Most of her fans appreciated the honesty, but there are always those who got something to say. One person chided Doja Cat, claiming she was normalizing plastic surgery to her impressionable young fans.

“Stop encouraging your young and impressionable fans to change their bodies,” the person said in a tweet responding to the award-winning pop star.

As expected, Doja Cat tells the troll she does not care by telling the person to “eat my long quiet, and warm farts.”

When it comes to her appearance and her body, Doja Cat always gets candid about her looks. The “Say So” singer shaved her head and eyebrows plus gave fans a close-up look at her acne on Instagram Live.

Even doing that, she faced backlash and told those individuals to kick rocks.

“I make hit after hit after hit and you all want me to look f—kable for you so that you can go home and jerk your c—ks all day long while you live in your mothers [sic] basement,” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet at the time, adding, “go f—k yourselves,” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet.

If you’re one of those people even thinking about trying to come for Doja Cat, do understand nothing you say can ever make her feel bad.

She will always have time for you. She welcomes the madness and will further egg it on.

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Photo: Jeff Kravitz / Getty