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18 Jan 2023

Golden State Warriors & Oakland Hip-Hop Legends Visit White House

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US President Joe Biden Golden State Warriors

Source: The Washington Post / Getty

The Golden State Warriors were guests of honor at the White House to celebrate their championship, with E-40, Too Short & other legends from the Bay in attendance as well.

On Tuesday afternoon (Jan. 17th), the White House was buzzing with excitement as the Warriors were on hand to celebrate their 2021-2022 NBA championship at a ceremony held by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The crowd also boasted Hip-Hop royalty from the Bay Area, as E-40, Too Short, and Mister F.A.B. along with media personality Sway Calloway were present for the reception.

Superstar point guard Stephen Curry presented President Biden and Vice President Harris with customized team jerseys. Vice President Harris beamed as she introduced the team. “As a very proud daughter of Oakland, California, it gives me immense personal pride as the vice president of the United States to say, Dub Nation is in the house,” she said. She joked about her jersey which bore the number one, remarking that it’s because she’s the number one fan. Curry joked that he wanted the jersey to be up on the wall of the Oval Office. “Hopefully we can come back and check if it’s up there,” he said. 

It was the first time since 2015 that the Warriors were honored at the White House. Former president Donald Trump publicly disinvited the team in 2017 after Curry had stated that he wasn’t interested in visiting. The Warriors also weren’t invited after their 2018 championship win. President Biden addressed that in his comments, saying: “The Golden State Warriors are always welcome in this White House.” Earlier in the day, Curry and coach Steve Kerr addressed reporters in the White House briefing room, with Curry thanking the administration for their efforts in bringing WNBA star Brittney Griner home from imprisonment in Russia late last year.

The Bay’s best rappers have long been avid supporters of the Warriors, with E-40 and Mistah F.A.B being constant fixtures at home games at the Chase Center in downtown San Francisco and prior to that, at the Oakland Coliseum. They were spotted taking numerous photos with Harris, along with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is now a member of the Biden administration.

18 Jan 2023

Dua Lipa Named Met Gala 2023 Co-Chair

Glitter in her eyes, glitter in the sky, Dua Lipa will be shining just the way she likes at this year’s Met Gala. As announced by Vogue on Wednesday (Jan. 18), the 27-year-old pop star has signed on to be one of four 2023 co-chairs for the A-list fashion event that comes around every first Monday in May.

Joining the pop star as fellow co-chairs are Penélope Cruz, Michaela Coel and Roger Federer, a lineup that spans “every realm of popular culture,” according to Vogue. The four of them will assist Anna Wintour in planning a night based around this year’s theme — Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty — which pays tribute to the late German fashion designer.

The “Levitating” singer posted the news on her Instagram account, writing, “Excited to announce that I am one of the #MetGala 2023 Co-Chairs… See you for the First Monday in May #CostumeInstitute Benefit ?”

As explained by Dua further down in her post, this year’s gala will celebrate the May 5 opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” exhibit. Every year, the exclusive event also provides the museum’s Costume Institute with its primary source of annual funding.

“Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” will showcase more than 150 original looks designed by Lagerfeld, who died at 85 years old in 2019, delving into the former Chanel creative director’s expansive seven-decade career. Many of his original sketches are also set to appear alongside the objects on display.

Last year’s Met Gala, themed “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” was co-chaired by Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Regina King and Lin-Manuel Miranda. So far, Dua has attended the event just once, making her Met Gala debut in 2019 dressed in Versace for that year’s theme, “Camp: Notes on Fashion.”

See Dua Lipa’s post about co-chairing this year’s Met Gala below:

18 Jan 2023

Is Bassnectar Staging a Direct-to-Fans Comeback?

After three years of silence and in the midst of an ongoing legal battle, Bassnectar (real name Lorin Ashton), appears to be staging a comeback.

On Tuesday evening, a new mix was uploaded to the Bassnectar Mixcloud account, with the producer’s official Instagram account wiped clean around the same time. Most significantly, however, is a new website, UnlockTheOtherSide.com, which went live around the same time and features the signature Bassnectar logo. Fans discovered the site — the landing page for which was live but password protected on Tuesday evening but is currently offline — with copy describing it as “the new home for the Bassnectar universe & beyond,” according to screenshots reviewed by Billboard.

Access for a membership to the site, according to additional screenshots, costs $150 with an “early bird” discount being offered for $100. Membership promises access to “tickets to curated events,” “exclusive access to music,” archived content, “in-depth conversations,” “unreleased mixtapes and radio shows” delivered monthly, behind-the-scene access, remastered albums, a new album and more.

Despite these developments — which have spurred chatter in online Bassnectar communities on Reddit, Twitter and a longstanding private Bassnectar Discord channel — there has been no official announcement of a return from the artist himself. Ashton’s last public remark was a social media post on July 3, 2020, that has since been deleted, addressing sexual misconduct allegations made against him at the time and announcing an indefinite hiatus. He has not performed any known shows or released any new music since — until now.

On April 6, 2021, Ashton was sued by two women, who allege that he engaged in sexual abuse of minors, child pornography and human trafficking. Just a month later, two more women joined the lawsuit. (One of these women who joined the suit anonymously later removed herself when the court required her to reveal her legal name in order to proceed.)

Ashton, alongside the four other defendants named in the case (his management, label, and others), filed motions to dismiss. On Jan. 11, 2022, Judge Aleta A. Trauger granted all motions to dismiss except for Ashton’s, which was denied. The case is currently in discovery with a target trial date set for September.

Ashton now appears to be taking a comeback strategy with his Bassnectar project that goes directly to fans without reliance on intermediaries such as record labels and promoters, who may be reluctant to work with him. That tactic has already proven successful for Louis C.K., the comic who similarly stepped back from the public eye in 2017 after facing numerous sexual misconduct allegations. (Unlike Ashton, C.K. has not faced any criminal or civil charges.) Three years later — the same length of time as Bassnectar’s hiatus — in April 2020, C.K. announced a new comedy special called Sincerely Louis CK that he released directly to fans through his own website, with no advance notice. That album went on to win a Grammy for best comedy album last year and the comedian is performing at Madison Square Garden next week. He continues to release material strictly on LouisCK.com.

As for Bassnectar, Ashton’s fans appear thrilled about the return of an artist who for many represented the apex of the bass music realm. “THE KING IS BACK!! Happy Nectar Day to all the Fam!!!,” posted one fan to Twitter on Tuesday.

A representative from Ashton did not respond to Billboard‘s request for comment at time of publishing.

18 Jan 2023

Iggy Azalea Won’t Confirm Rumors of a Six-Figure OnlyFans Debut: ‘Number Was Pulled Outta Thin Air’

Just days after launching an OnlyFans to help kick off her year-long Hotter Than Hell multi-media project, Iggy Azalea is tamping down rumors about how much her paywalled site raked in on day one. After a report that she earned $307,000 in the first 24 hours, Iggy took to Twitter to throw cold water on that hot figure.

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“Lol, Y’all just be saying s–t to say s–t at this point cause that number was pulled outta thin air,” she said of the gaudy number the rapper claimed was totally fake news. In a second tweet Azalea further explained, “With love. I won’t share what I make on OF, in the same way I didn’t share what I earned selling my music catalog. amounts being reported don’t come from a valid source. Thanks to everyone supporting me. Crazy excited for where things go! Hot ass summer on the way!”

In November, Billboard reported that Azalea sold her master recording and publishing catalog to Domain Capital for an eight-figure sum, according to a source close to the deal. The wide reaching deal included 100% of Azalea’s share of her existing catalog, including No. 1 hit “Fancy” (featuring Charli XCX), “Black Widow” (featuring Rita Ora), and “Problem” (with Ariana Grande), and it included “an additional trigger” for Azalea to earn future revenue on master recordings.

According to a statement about Azalea’s Hotter project, it will encompass illustration, poetry, photography, video, music and her fourth studio album. The roll-out kicked off with the launch of her “Hotter Than Hell X OnlyFans,” a $25-per-month subscription deal that promises “first-look access and exclusive content from the project,” which is slated to wrap up in December with the release of a coffee table book.

Friday’s (Jan. 13) press release also promised that Hotter will be a “creative, colorful, tongue-in-cheek fun and unapologetically hot. The project takes visual inspiration from the supermodels of the 90s, Pamela Anderson, the conception of the centerfold model, sexuality and its differing viewpoints between men and women, and Madonna’s book Sex. It is a collaborative project and features exclusive collaborations with producers, visual artists, and fashion photographers.” At press time a release date for the album had not yet been announced.

Check out Iggy’s tweets below.

18 Jan 2023

Did You Spot That ‘Billboard’ Easter Egg In HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ Premiere?

As an apocalyptic fungal pandemic rages on in the new series The Last of Us, the characters need all the help they can get to survive — including, it would seem, from the Billboard charts.

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In the premiere episode of HBO’s long-awaited adaptation of the critically acclaimed video game, viewers find out just how that help is being given. In a pivotal scene toward the end of the 90-minute episode, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) joins Joel (Pedro Pascal) in his apartment as they await instructions on how to smuggle themselves out of a quarantined Boston. Finding an old radio, Ellie also spies and begins flipping through The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits by Fred Bronson.

Detailing the stories behind every No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 since its inception in 1955, Bronson’s book was published in 2003 — the same year that the world was essentially ended by a super-evolved version of the cordyceps fungus in the show.

In the show’s 2023, the book helps decode a secret communication over radio between smuggler Joel and a third party: If a ’60s song is played, it means there’s no new goods to be picked up; if a ’70s song is played, there is something new. And as Ellie learns by the episode’s end, “’80s means trouble.”

So, when the premiere wraps with the radio playing Depeche Mode‘s “Never Let Me Down Again,” we know that there is trouble ahead. It is worth noting that, despite the book Joel is using as a reference, “Never Let Me Down Again” never actually reached the summit of the Hot 100 — no song from the English electronic duo has made it to the top of the all-genre chart. Instead, the track topped out at No. 63 on the tally.

The Last Of Us airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. Watch the premiere episode now on HBO Max.

18 Jan 2023

Watch Danielle Deadwyler Sing a ‘Precious’ Cover of ‘Baby Got Back’ as Gollum

At the end of the day, Gollum is a simple guy. He likes all-powerful magical rings and … big butts? During her Tuesday (Jan. 17) appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Danielle Deadwyler did her expert impression of the famous Lord of the Rings creature while performing Sir Mix-A-Lot’s hit “Baby Got Back.” And as the cursed Stoor Hobbit himself would say, it was absolutely precious.

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Deadwyler began the interview by telling Fallon’s audience about how she fell in love with performing, revealing that she was inspired heavily by the first film in the LOTR franchise — specifically, Andy Serkis’ portrayal of Gollum, aka Sméagol. The Till star confessed that she watched the movie — which was inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien’s popular 1954 fantasy novel — at least “20 to 30 times the summer it came out.”

“Andy Serkis as Gollum, as Sméagol, is divine,” she gushed. “It’s vocality, it’s physicality, it’s all of the things.”

Noting that Deadwyler had practiced acting by mimicking Serkis’ portrayal of Gollum, Fallon asked the 40-year-old actress whether she could show off some of her skills on the spot. “When I was on From Scratch with Zoe Saldana, I did a song,” she said. “I did ‘Baby Got Back’ for her.”

“Are you ready?” she added, her voice suddenly morphing into Gollum’s sickly warble. “Here we go!”

“I like big butts and I cannot lie/ You other brothers can’t deny,” Deadwyler — or should we say Gollum — sang as she broke into song.

At the very end, she personalized one of the lyrics with Gollum in mind: “My homeboys tried to warn me/ But that butt you got makes me so … precious!”

Watch Danielle Deadwyler perform Sir Mix-A-Lot’s 1992 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 on Fallon above.

18 Jan 2023

Fall Out Boy Announces New Album ‘So Much (for) Stardust’ & Offers a Preview With First Single

Fall Out Boy is back. On Wednesday (Jan. 18), the pop punk group announced its eighth studio album, So Much (For) Stardust, on Ramen/Elektra.

The band — which consists of members Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley — revealed the album title and its release date via Instagram in an intimate letter to fans.

“‘Time is luck.’ Finish another tour. You reflect but not like a gem in the sun – more like a year long stare into yourself in another airplane bathroom,” the band wrote. “Sometimes you gotta blow everything you were and put the pieces back together in a new shape. The same but different – the foundation dynamited and the dust used to create the concrete pour. I have a tendency to get a little sad whenever I think about anything…but I also feel pure joy when I think that I exist at the same time as whales or that read happens to rise at a certain temperature. And that we happen to be spinning on this little blue rock at the exact same time together. So much (for) stardust.”

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The group captioned the post — which also included the album’s cover art featuring a dog attempting to eat bubbles — “New Album So Much (For) Stardust, produced by Neal Avron, out March 24th.”

The album announcement also arrived with the LP’s first single, “Love From the Other Side,” and its fairy-tale-themed music video.

“Sending my love from the other side of the apocalypse/ And I just about snapped/ Don’t look back/ Every lover’s got a little dagger in their hand/ Love from the other side of the apocalypse/ And I just about snapped/ Don’t look back/ Every lover’s got a little dagger in their hand,” Stump sings on the chorus.

Wentz also offered a little more insight into the album in a press release. “Our band has been an ongoing art project for 20 years, and we know there have been many inception points along that journey,” he said. “We wanted to create an album that merged those points together – something new, but carved from our foundation. Fueled By Ramen and Elektra seemed like the perfect home for this.”

Added Stump in the release: “We wanted to get back to the way we used to work. We wanted to make a record that was really lovingly crafted and deliberate and patiently guided – like someone cooked you a delicate meal. I’m not a very proud guy, but I’m pretty proud of this record.”

Stump also spoke with Apple Music 1 about writing for So Much (For) Stardust, and shared that a large driving force for the album was making sure it was filled with meaning.

“Honestly, for me personally, coming out of the pandemic and just being quarantined or with my family, I was like, if we’re going to do this, and if I’m going to leave again … I was like, it’s got to be, for me at least, it’s got to be with purpose,” Wentz said. “It can’t just be like, this … big show here. Yeah, it couldn’t be that anymore to me … Anybody who loves the thing that they do, their craft, you want to do it for the reason you originally loved. And it’s great actually to me to have these moments where you can reorganize the apartment of your mind or whatever. Life is short and long.”

See Fall Out Boy’s album announcement below and watch the video for “Love From the Other Side” above.

18 Jan 2023

Tom Sachs x Nikecraft GPS Set To Drop In Field Brown Colorway

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Tom Sachs Nikecraft GPS Brown

Source: @yankeekicks / Instagram

The Tom Sachs x Nike collaborative Nikecraft was one of the surprise hits of 2022 and it seems like the duo is readying a new colorway of their General Purpose Shoe to get 2023 popping.

Highsnobiety is reporting that a third colorway of the Tom Sachs Nikecraft General Purpose Shoe (which arrives in women’s sizing so take note if you get to order) get some buzz building before its release next month.

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According to rumors buzzing around social [sic] media accounts within the sneaker world, Tom Sachs and Nike’s latest GPS sneaker releases on February 5 in a “Field Brown” colorway for the typical price of $110.

In this new form, the same GPS silhouette that fans have come to covet is rendered in an earthy suede, with black laces, Swoosh, and midsole that make the silhouette extra understated, as revealed in early September 2022 photos taken by sneaker leaker @YankeeKicks.

In this extra-subtle form, Sachs’ shoe truly does resemble the Nike Killshot that came before, as its most unusual details — toebox mudguard, reinforced mesh paneling — is obscured by the single hue.

These lowkey look like Timberland field boots, but we’re sure they’re more comfortable. Don’t be surprised if these are seen all over the Big Apple after they drop.

Though resale prices for the first two colorways (a white version followed by a yellow variant) aren’t as high as say a Travis Scott or Off-White Nike collaboration, the Tom Sachs GPS are still a very hot commodity out on these streets, so don’t think for a second these will be an easy cop.

Release date for these puppies is currently set for February 5th. Will you be picking up a pair? Let us know in the comments section below.

18 Jan 2023

Madonna Channels Jesus at All-Female Last Supper, Talks ‘Celebration Tour,’ Biopic For Vanity Fair ‘Icon Issue’

Madonna is used to making history, but in a first, the singer adorns the cover of three different editions of Vanity Fair in Italy, Spain and France this month in the kick-off to the new annual “Icon Issue” project celebrating legends who “contribute[s] to shape the modern culture.”

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The massive project includes a sprawling portfolio of pictures created by photographers Luigi & Iango that expresses the “values Madonna has defended throughout her artistic path and iconography,” beginning with a provocative cover image of the singer as a weeping Virgin Mary, complete with a sword-pierced heart on the outside of her chest and another in which she plays a Jesus at an all-female Last Supper.

In a preview, the magazine said the two-day shoot for the piece involved more than 80 collaborators, noting that it will also spin off a future exhibition, a short movie and an urban art performance. In keeping with her haute history, Madonna was dressed for the shoot in designs by John Galliano for Maison Margiela, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Jean Paul Gaultier and others under the direction of her regular collaborator, Swedish stylist B. Åkerlund.

In an exclusive interview for the piece, Madonna talks about feminism, sexuality, religion and diversity, with a focus on her career-long battle against the patriarchy and the price she’s had to pay for sticking to her guns over the past four decades in the public eye.

The day after announcing the dates for her upcoming 40th anniversary “Celebration Tour,” the singer discusses her return to the stage and the plans for her long in-the-works biopic. “I’m about to create another show, and I’ve been working for several years on the screenplay about my life,” the singer told the magazine. “This is a good time for me — I’m gathering ideas, getting inspired, hanging out with creative people, watching films, seeing art, listening to music.”

The 35-city Live Nation-produced tour will kick off in North America on July 15 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC and hit Detroit, Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas and San Francisco before wrapping up in Las Vegas on Oct. 7. The outing will then move on to Europe, starting with a date in London at the O2 Arena on Oct. 14 and winding down in Amsterdam on Dec. 1 at the Ziggo Dome. No release date or title has been announced so far for the biopic.

“Madonna’s career has a biblical dimension, a universal scope,” Galliano told the magazine. “The first time I saw her, she was already inspired, fearless, with integrity and artistic pride.” VF‘s European editorial director Simone Marchetti, who conducted the interview, added, “Madonna accepted not only to be part of a fashion shoot but on an artistic project that is the representation of the values that she embodied in the last 40 years. Each image is like a reflection on Madonna’s extraordinary contribution to the culture of the last decades. Those pages are the milestones of a discussion, a progress and a commitment that does not stop here. A commitment that we strive to tell, explain and illustrate in every issue of Vanity Fair.”

Images from the shoot will be part of a Sept. exhibition by Luigi & Iango at the Palazzo Reale Museum in Milan; the Italian edition of VF hits newsstands today, followed by the Spain and France editions on Jan. 25.

Check out more images from the shoot below.

Madonna, Vanity Fair

Madonna, Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair Italy, Spain and France Unveils The “Icon Issue” Starring Madonna.

Luigi & Iango

Madonna, Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair Italy, Spain and France Unveils The “Icon Issue” Starring Madonna.

Luigi & Iango

18 Jan 2023

Ron Jeremy, Veteran Adult Film Star, Declared Unfit To Stand Trial In Rape Case

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Adult Film Star Ron Jeremy In Court For Sexual Assault Charges

Ron Jeremy, a once-popular adult film star who found fame in the late 1970s, was just declared unfit to stand trial after being arrested in 2020 on 33 rape and sexual assault charges. In a hearing next month, a judge will determine if Jeremy will be housed in a mental health facility going forward.

Ron Jeremy Hyatt (full name), 69, was present at a hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday (Jan. 17) where a judge made the declaration that the former performer would not be fit to stand trial to face the charges, according to a report from Deadline. The decision was made based on “incurable neurocognitive decline” and that the condition was several enough that Jeremy’s mental state “would most likely not be restorable.”

The charges Jeremy faced dated back to the 1990s and the 21 named victims’ ages ranged from 15 to 51. During his initial arrest, Jeremy pleaded not guilty and did so again after facing a hearing in 2021. Maintaining his innocence, Jeremy’s attorney spoke in place of his client exclusively to Deadline.

“When he was arrested two years ago, I said he would be found innocent of all charges,” Jeremy’s lawyer Stuart Goldfarb. “Two years have passed and with the additional discovery I received I believed he would have been found innocent. It is unfortunate due to [his] mental condition he will not go to trial and have the opportunity to clear his name.”

The next hearing for Ron Jeremy is Feb. 7 and will determine how he will be housed and if he’s a danger to himself or society.

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Photo: Michael Buckner / Getty