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Eager fans of The Weeknd have something to look forward to, with Lionsgate officially setting a release date for his upcoming film Hurry Up Tomorrow.
Directed by Trey Edward Shults (Waves, It Comes At Night), Hurry Up Tomorrow will mark The Weeknd’s (aka Abel Tesfaye) feature-starring debut, and serves as something of an extension of his forthcoming album of the same name. While the record is slated for release on Jan. 24, the film has now been given a release date of May 16.
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“Abel is a visionary whose art cannot be confined by any single medium,” said Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, in a statement upon the company’s acquisition of worldwide distribution rights. “With Hurry Up Tomorrow, in partnership with Trey, his musical universe expands onto the big screen with a psychological thriller that will usher in a new cinematic experience for fans. We are thrilled to be bringing it to audiences worldwide.”
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The Hurry Up Tomorrow film is both inspired by and features new music from The Weeknd, who scored the film with frequent collaborator Daniel Lopatin (also known as Oneohtrix Point Never). The film also serves as the conclusion of his artistic trilogy that began with 2020’s After Hours and continued with 2022’s Dawn FM.
Alongside Tesfaye’s starring role, Hurry Up Tomorrow features Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan in supporting roles, with production handled by Tesfaye’s own film and television production company Manic Phase and producing partner Reza Fahim, along with the late Kevin Turen and Harrison Kreiss.
Ortega, Shults, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, Ryan Kroft, The Weeknd’s manager Wassim “Sal” Slaiby and Harrison Huffman are all listed as executive producers on the film. Chayse Irvin serves as director of photography, Elliott Hostetter is the production designer, and Erin Benach and Hannah Jacobs are the costume designers.
In May 2023, Tesfaye spoke to W Magazine to claim that his next studio album would be the final record released under The Weeknd moniker. “It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter. I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn,” he said at the time.
“The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd,” he added. “This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”
Rihanna has a new snack she’ll be making for her kids — assuming she doesn’t take all of it for herself.
In a fun new video posted to the superstar’s Instagram Thursday (Dec. 19), Ri and a friend try out an unorthodox pairing: chicken nuggets and caviar. “Oh my god, I don’t like how much I like this,” the Fenty mogul says after smearing the spread on a nugget and taking a bite.
“Am I about to steal my kids nuggets?” she continued while going in for seconds and thirds. “I hate when I like my kids’ food, because I be stealing that s–t. I’m actually really nervous what my near future looks like.”
“In the spirit of Christmas, this one is for all the ‘snoccer moms,’” Ri captioned the clip.
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Assuming she actually shares with her kiddos, the caviar nuggets will go to 2-year-old RZA and 1-year-old Riot Rose, whom Rihanna shares with A$AP Rocky. In an October interview with Access Hollywood, the “Love on the Brain” singer opened up about being a mom to two boys, gushing, “It’s fun, I literally, I enjoy it so much.”
“I am just looking at them and living through them, and I’m amazed by every new discovery of theirs, even their boundaries,” she added at the time. “They’re teaching me how to be their mom as much as I’m teaching them how to be in this world and guide them as best as I can.”
Ri’s new “snoccer mom” snack tutorial comes shortly after she enjoyed a mom’s night out at Mariah Carey’s final 2024 holiday concert Dec. 17 at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. While there, the “All I Want for Christmas Is You” vocalist stepped down into the audience to greet her famous friend, who asked Carey to autograph her chest in a hilarious moment captured on video.
“Mariah Carey is signing my t-t y’all,” Ri hilariously said into Carey’s microphone at the time. “This s–t is f–king epic! … Look at that s–t, y’all!”
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As the old saying goes, “it’s not where you start. It’s where you finish.”
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Ben Stiller would drive all night for SZA. In fact, in the new visual for the singer’s track “Drive,” which dropped on Friday morning (Dec. 20), the Nutcrackers star looks entranced as he lip-synchs along to the song while barreling down a dark road in his SUV.
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In the Bradley J. Calder-directed clip, Stiller enthusiastically sings the moody ballad’s lyrics about hitting the road to clear your head while trying to not get too in your head about everything that’s going on. “I been up ’til up midnight, drivin’ to nowhere/ Bumpin’ a slow song, can’t get my head clear/ I been up ’til sunrise, headed to nowhere/ Hopin’ that someone’s missin’ me somewhere,” SZA sings over gently plucked acoustic guitar.
After worrying that she’s balled so hard she’s hit her peak, SZA brags about all the exes who still want to hit her up and how she has no time to waste on haters. And while he’s hitting those lines, Stiller closes his eyes and begins to drift to sleep before waking up with a renewed energy that inspires him to lean out of the window and rip doughnuts in the middle of the street. Eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the midnight ghost ride is similar to a lip-synching cameo Stiller had in Jack Johnson’s “Taylor” video in 2003 — only this time around, the actor’s hands are wrapped around a steering wheel instead of a guitar.
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Things then get super weird as Stiller drives off and SZA pops up in the woods dressed as a sexy alien insect as the second half of the song turns into a slow-grind R&B jam and the singer crawls her way across the marsh. The costume is similar to one in the teased artwork for SZA’s long-awaited deluxe edition of her blockbuster SOS album, Lana, which is due out on Friday, as well as her Hot Ones look from September.
SZA first revealed the Lana title during a show in New York in September 2023, during which she told the audience that the deluxe version of SOS would be like “a whole ‘nother album … It’s seven to 10 songs, and it’ll be out this fall.” Then in a November British Vogue interview, she described Lana and the SOS deluxe as two entirely different albums.
But then earlier this month, SZA confirmed that Lana is the title of the SOS deluxe album, and teased the tracklist. SOS debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums charts following its 2022 release, shattering the record for the biggest streaming week for an R&B album by a woman at the time with 404.6 million official on-demand streams for the album’s songs, according to Luminate.
SZA will embark on the Grand National stadium tour with Kendrick Lamar beginning in April.
Watch the “Drive” video above.
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Ohana Hatake, the brand founded by legendary artist Takashi Murakami — renowned for his vibrant, Superflat aesthetic and artistic contributions to hip-hop culture — has unveiled its latest release: the Surippa Ohana slide.
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Takashi Murakami’s Legacy
If you’re unfamiliar with Takashi Murakami, now’s the time to get acquainted. His influence extends across hip-hop, high fashion and pop culture. From designing unforgettable album covers like Kanye West’s Graduation and Kids See Ghosts to doing work with Juice WRLD, Pharrell Williams and Billie Eilish, Murakami’s mark is indelible.
Most rap fans likely first heard of Murakami in 2007 when he designed the iconic Graduation album art, transforming Kanye West’s Dropout Bear into an animated masterpiece. This partnership stemmed from Kanye’s admiration of Murakami’s work with Louis Vuitton in 2003. Their collaboration continued to evolve as the two worked on the music video for “Good Morning,” which Murakami produced. His influence remains strong today, with ventures like the Supreme flower box logo that raised $1M in a COVID-19 fundraiser underscoring his cultural and social impact.
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Courtesy Ohana Hatake
Ohana Hatake and the Surippa Ohana Slide
Murakami’s latest venture, Ohana Hatake — meaning “field of flowers” — draws inspiration from a spell in the manga Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. This metaphor aligns beautifully with his signature floral motif.
The Surippa Ohana slide, available now on OhanaHatake.com and Kith, builds on the success of the Ohana Full-Bloom series, including the $500-reselling BLACKPINK collab. This new design comes in four colors — Espresso, Affogato, Cappuccino, and Rust — and features exposed cutouts for breathability. Made of soft EVA foam and priced at $70, the slides are built for comfort, style, and versatility.
Murakami’s signature flower, etched on the outsole and sides, steals the show, making this slide a true work of wearable art.
Flex, Trade, or Fade?
For me, the Surippa Ohana slide is an undeniable flex. It’s affordable, stylish, and perfect for everyday wear, indoors or out. But what about you? Are these slides a flex, trade, or fade? Drop your thoughts in the comments!
SURIPPA OHANA
Courtesy Ohana Hatake
Veteran rappers Bun B and Raekwon get together at the behest of HipHopWired and they dropped all the triple OG knowledge you should have expected.
The acclaimed digital series I Got Questions returns to ensure that it’s the gift that keeps on giving, as this episode features two of Hip-Hop’s most official and highly respected MCs—UGK’s Bun B and Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon. The two veteran rappers and good friends sat down to talk about their careers, influences, and vital moments.
One of the conversation’s highlights was all about fashion and swagger, centered on the famous “Snow Beach” pullover jacket by Ralph Lauren that Raekwon wore in Wu-Tang Clan’s classic video “Can It All Be So Simple.” Bun B displayed his own “Snow Beach” jacket, telling the Staten Island, New York, native, “You created the most sought-after Polo piece ever.” Raekwon then shared that since the Clan didn’t have a budget, he went to find the most colorful shirt ever for the video, stumbling upon the jacket in a downtown Brooklyn store. “I had to look around, like no way that s—t is sitting in here.”
Another key moment highlighted a tough time that proved to be a bonding moment between Bun B and Raekwon is when the former was struggling with the loss of his UGK bandmate Pimp C, and the RZA reached out to him. “We just talked about grief and loss, and that was my first conversation with that brother,” the Port Arthur, Texas, native said. “It was such a blessing. It was words like that, that really gave me strength in the moment – eventually, I’m going to find a way to deal with this and move forward.”
The conversation also features Bun B talking about how he and Pimp C almost didn’t do their iconic collaboration “Big Pimpin’” with Jay-Z, and Raekwon sharing about the formation of the Wu-Tang Clan, particularly about him being one of the group’s artists chosen to get a solo deal with another label.
Check out the entire episode of I Got Questions featuring Bun B and Raekwon above.
Source: Hip-Hop Wired / iOne Digital
A criminal investigation has been launched into suspected fraud at U.K. collecting society PPL after the organization discovered “suspicious activity” on a small number of member accounts.
PPL said one staff member had been dismissed following an internal investigation it carried out over several months earlier this year. The alleged crime is now being investigated by The Metropolitan Police, the CMO said in a short statement.
“We recently became aware of suspicious activity on a small number of member accounts. We immediately conducted an internal investigation, and one employee was dismissed,” said a spokesperson Thursday (Dec.19). The organization said it was “working with the limited number of impacted members to rectify accounts.”
PPL is the second largest of the United Kingdom’s two main collecting societies and licenses recorded music on behalf of labels and artists to U.K. radio and television broadcasters, as well as its use in bars, nightclubs, shops and offices.
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Last year, the 90-year-old organization — which has more than 110 neighboring rights agreements in place with international CMOs, including SoundExchange and the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies (AARC) in the United States — collected revenues of £285 million ($356 million), its highest ever annual total. In 2023, PPL paid out £247 million ($309 million) to almost 165,000 performers and recording rights holders.
Record industry sources tell Billboard that the suspected embezzlement is believed to have involved an individual or individuals posing as recording artists who were not registered as PPL members and then fraudulently claiming royalties on their behalf.
Billboard understands that PPL discovered the scheme when the real artists tried to register as members earlier this year. Sources say that the fraudulent royalty claims are believed to have taken place over a number of years, possibly as far back as 2016, with the fraudulent transactions believed to total around £500,000 ($625,000).
PPL said it was unable to comment on the case while a criminal investigation is underway and declined to answer questions on when it discovered the suspicious activity, the timeframe of the alleged offense or whether the impacted member accounts relate to U.K. artist members or overseas partner CMOs. The Metropolitan Police has been approached by Billboard for details.
The criminal investigation into suspected embezzlement at PPL comes as the music business battles on multiple fronts against fraudulent activity and rampant copyright infringement on a global scale.
In November, Universal Music Group (UMG), ABKCO and Concord Music Group filed a lawsuit against Believe and its distribution company TuneCore, accusing them of “massive ongoing infringements” of their sound recordings, seeking $500 million in damages (Believe refutes the claims). One month earlier, TikTok cited issues with “fraud” as its reason for walking away from renewing its license with Merlin, a digital licensing coalition representing thousands of indie labels and distributors.
There have also been several high-profile cases against individuals accused of defrauding streaming platforms, rights holders and collection societies in recent years.
In 2022, two men in Phoenix, Arizona pled guilty to claiming $23 million worth of YouTube royalties from unknowing Latin musicians like Julio Iglesias, Anuel AA, and Daddy Yankee despite having no actual ties to those artists.
More recently, a North Carolina musician was indicted by federal prosecutors in September in the first ever federal streaming fraud case. Prosecutors allege Michael Smith used two distributors to upload “hundreds of thousands” of AI-generated tracks, and then used bots to stream them, earning him more than $10 million since 2017.
To try and curb the rise in fraudulent activity the music business has been ramping up its efforts to stop money being illegally siphoned out of the royalty pool.
Last year, a coalition of digital music companies, including distributors including TuneCore, Distrokid and CD Baby, as well as streaming platforms Spotify and Amazon Music, launched the “Music Fights Fraud” task force. The past 12 months have additionally seen Spotify and Deezer change their royalty systems to include financial penalties for music distributors and labels associated with fraudulent activity.
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A look at chart highlights, by the numbers, from January through December.
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Modern holiday chestnuts by veterans of the long-running TV talent competition.
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Source: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / Getty
Pharrell Williams continues to be a champion for benevolence. UNESCO has appointed him a Goodwill Ambassador for Arts Education and Entrepreneurship.
As reported by The Associated Press, the multi-hyphenate has received yet another honor for his great work for the creative community. On Tuesday (Dec. 17), the Virginia Beach, Va., native was appointed as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Arts Education and Entrepreneurship at the Organization’s Headquarters in Paris. The ceremony was followed by a screening of his LEGO biopic Piece by Piece. After the film, the In My Mind performer spoke to 800 secondary pupils who are studying music, art and fashion.
Pharrell Williams expressed his enthusiasm for the honor in a formal statement. “Words cannot describe how I feel about being chosen by UNESCO as a Goodwill Ambassador. Thank you to Director-General Audrey Azoulay for this opportunity” he said. “I’m honored to continue our work in evening the odds for children and adults through education with YELLOW and Black Ambition.”
UNESCO Director Audrey Azoulay detailed why the nomination made sense for the organization. “A complete artist, Pharrell Williams is also a humanist who works to put culture at the service of peace and bringing people together. He believes in the power of creativity and education to build a better future,” her statement read, according to a press release. “His commitments resonate with UNESCO’s mandate. I am delighted that he is joining UNESCO’s family of Goodwill Ambassadors today to support our action.”
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is an agency of the United Nations that promotes world peace via arts, education and the sciences.