nicki minaj
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Hollywood isn’t the only industry worried about the dangers of AI (artificial intelligence). The music industry is also weary of the technology.
Spotted on Deadline, the Artists Rights Alliance penned an open letter that garnered over 200 signatures from big names in the entertainment and music industry, calling on AI companies and digital streaming platforms to pledge “that undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists or deny us fair compensation for our work.”
The website reports that Billie Eilish, her brother Finneas, Nicki Minaj, the estates of Bob Marley and Frank Sinatra, Smokey Robinson, Katy Perry, R.E.M, Chuck D, Camila Cabello, J Balvin, and more have signed the letter that lives on Medium.
The letter calls on “AI developers, technology companies, platforms, and digital music services to cease using artificial intelligence (AI) to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.”
It also points out that AI can be beneficial by adding, “Make no mistake: we believe that, when used responsibly, AI has enormous potential to advance human creativity and in a manner that enables the development and growth of new and exciting experiences for music fans everywhere.
“Unfortunately, some platforms and developers are employing AI to sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians and rightsholders.”
The letter adds it wants to “protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”
AI was a significant issue in the SAG-AFTRA and Writer’s Guild strikes, which lasted for several months before both entities agreed on major sticking points.
In the music industry, AI is used in production and mastering, while independent artists utilize the tool to help with songwriting.
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Nicki Minaj continues to bless The Barbz. She has announced a forthcoming capsule sneaker collection with LØCI.
HipHopDX is reporting that the “Everybody” performer is taking her talents back to the footwear category. On Saturday, March 30, she took to social media to make the announcement.
The Instagram post featured a video teasing the drop where a pink low top can be seen busting through a stone enclosure.
“4/12 = 11 new pairs of my OWN sneaker. 11 completely different designs for you to choose from. An absolute dream come true. I can’t WAIT for you guys to see my 1st collection!!!! Link in bio to SIGN UP NOW!!!!!” Minaj wrote. “Thank you to my team for helping me make this dream come to fruition. This isn’t a sponsorship. I’m an owner & partner & we will be showing you the first complete collection on 4/12. Love you BARBZ. THANK YOU.” she added.
Earlier today (April 1) she posted an additional video that gave her fans a better look at the forthcoming drop. The shoe appears to have an all leather build with a rubber midsole and outsole. On the tongue we get a branded label featuring an image of Nicki Minaj. We also got an on foot photo where she is sporting a pink and white colorway which leads us to believe each pair will come with two sets of laces. “Another sneak peak of my very own sneakers. GAGGGGGGG. 11 diff colors AND designs for my 1st collection coming on #PinkFriday 4/12.” she wrote on the IG post.
You can sign up for the Nicki Minaj LØCI sneaker drop here.
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Nicki Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty, continues to prove himself to be a liability in her life as the man has just been ordered to cough up a King Kong grip by a judge in Los Angeles.
According to TMZ, Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty are on the hook for a $500,000 default judgment after attempting to ignore a lawsuit brought by a security guard. Thomas Weidenmuller accused Petty of “ambushing” him a few years ago at a concert Nicki did in Germany in 2019. Though he initially sued them over the matter, the couple never responded to the lawsuit, and now they’ll have to pay up for failing to defend themselves in a court of law.
All in all, the couple will have to pay Weidenmuller $503,318.02 (those two cents were hella random).
Per TMZ:
At the time, Weidenmuller claimed Nicki had berated one of his security guards working under him, and he says he went to her to address it — at which point, he alleged she threw a shoe at him. He says he dodged it — however, the guy alleged Kenneth was waiting in the wings. Weidenmuller claimed Kenneth socked him in the face and broke his jaw … and he alleged he had 8 different surgeries to fix the damage. He sued in 2022 for hefty medical bills.
If nothing else, Petty is always willing to ride for his wifey regardless the situation, but ultimately, she ends up paying for his transgressions in the end.TMZ reached out to Nicki’s camp for comment but have so far only heard crickets.
What do y’all think of this situation? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Nicki Minaj and her Barbz fanbase are as rabid as they come (online anyway). So when the Queen rapper canceled her concert appearance in New Orleans at the last minute, ticket holders held her feet to the fire in the Crescent City.
Just hours before Nicki Minaj was set to take the stage at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on March 18, the arena took to its official Instagram page to break some hearts and announce that Nicki wouldn’t be performing as planned.
In the caption for the post, the Center explained, “Due to doctor’s orders, Nicki Minaj must reschedule her NOLA show tonight. As Nicki is still sick, our team does not want to run the risk of getting others sick, and Nicki would not be able to give NOLA the show they deserve. We are working diligently to find a new date, so please hold onto your tickets, and we will inform you all soon.”
Naturally, fans were up in arms over the last-minute announcement and took to the comments section to express their frustrations.
While many were upset at the simple fact that the cancellation was announced so late in the day, others took issue with the fact that they put up big bucks to travel there to see her perform with one person writing, “Y’all do realize people used there PTO, Paid for rooms, traveled & bought the tickets on top of that, that alone is $500-$1,500 trip especially if you got the GAG city package. They are more so upset due to the [unprofessionalism.] They definitely should’ve said something yesterday instead of hours before the show.”
Point taken.
Still, others defended Nicki, saying she should be putting her health first. Some pointed out the hypocrisy in some of the comments writing, “Y’all get sick and call out of work all the time. Please go touch some damn grass. Y’all find ANY reason to dislike this lady. Good fkn day fr.”
Well, they’re not wrong either.
People then took to X to continue to argue over what was right and what was wrong in this situation with many wishing Nicki a speedy recovery. But fans were still upset that they didn’t get to see their favorite female rapper perform in person right before it was all set to go down.
The cancellation comes days after Nicki performed at Rolling Loud in California, which she posted about days ago. That post too was hit up with comments from people complaining about her canceling her Pink Friday Tour show in New Orleans with one comment reading, “How you cancel the concert hours before smh made people buy outfits & tickets y’all these rappers dgaf.”
No word yet on when Nicki Minaj will make up her canceled show. Best believe the crowd will be a tad bit salty whenever it goes down but will of course be in attendance when the time comes.
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Photo: Scott Dudelson / Getty
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Nicki Minaj is to this day one of the biggest artists in the Hip-Hop game, But can her sister follow in her footsteps and establish herself as a star in her own right, too?
We don’t know but she’s damn sure going to try as the Queens rapper’s sister, Ming Luanli, has just stepped into the music game by hopping on Rakeem Love’s “Do It Again.” She actually bares a resemblance to Nicki in both style, looks and even tone. Adding some rap bars to the R&B cut, Ming uses a slow flow to stand out on the song raping, “My condolences, we lost a real one to a poser/closing this door is the only way that I’m getting closure/must suck to lose the one you love to someone who barely knows ya, but I’m never going back-to-back change my contact to Rosaaaa.”
Whether or not the Barbz embrace Nicki’s little sis remains to be seen, but it’s obvious she’s going to be following her rap dreams regardless of how she’s received following this track.
Check out Ming Luanli do her thing in “Do It Again,” and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Dreamville Festival, the annual music event put together by J. Cole and his Dreamville Records team, makes its return to Raleigh, N.C. next month, and the headliners have been announced. Nicki Minaj, SZA, Chris Brown, and the aforementioned Cole are headlining the two-day event.
Dreamville Festival is one of the leading music events and kicks off festival season lovely while showcasing Dreamville’s roster and also supporting North Carolina nonprofits and businesses. The festival will be hosted once more at Dorothea Dix Park, with opportunities for fans to take in local cuisine, and purchase exclusive merch on the grounds.
Hip-Hop Wired was at the festival last year, and it was one of the best live experiences we’ve had in years. This year promises to be just as epic with things kicking off on April 6 with Lil Yachty, ScHoolboy Q, Sexxy Red, Jeremih, Teezo Touchdown, Amaarae, Luh Tyler, and Domani rocking the stage.
On April 7, Rema, Jeezy, Monica, Rae Sremmurd, Key Glock, Muni Long, TiaCorine, and Chase Shakur are on the bill. Of course, no Dreamville Festival would be complete without the Dreamville musical collective which includes J.I.D, EARTHGANG, Bas, Cozz, Lute, and Omen.
“Some of the biggest names in music will travel to Raleigh in only a few short weeks, bringing about one of the most highly anticipated festivals of the year. Our team looks forward to welcoming all of our Day One fans from around the world back to Dreamville Festival,”
said Dreamville Cofounder and Festival President Adam Roy in a statement.
As we’ve shared on our pages before, the festival is far more than music as the Dreamville team will promote a weekend-long series of free events and educational programming, along with platforming local businesses of all kinds.
To learn more about the festival and to purchase tickets, click here. The full lineup is also below.
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Photo: Dreamville/Getty
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Music management mogul Deb Antney is looking for the next queen of rap with a new reality competition series. ‘Deb’s House’ will feature eight up-and-coming female artists who move into a shared house to compete to become Antney’s next “rap protégé,” according to a report from Deadline.
The series will air on ALLBLK, which is part of the AMC Network. The announcement was made this week at the Television Critics Association panel.
“I envisioned a competition show that deviates from the norm—one centered around personal growth and self-competition,” Antney said in a statement. “Collaborating with (co-creator and co-EP) Rasheed to bring this vision to life has been an incredible journey. Witnessing the music industry veer away from artist development towards a focus on superficiality and explicit content prompted my desire to return to the core values of true lyricism and mentorship.”
She added, “The search for the next female rap sensation in Deb’s House is my way of reigniting that passion. The selection of our show as ALLBLK’s first commissioned competition reality series is truly thrilling. My sincere appreciation goes to my AMC Networks family, particularly Brett Dismuke, for their steadfast belief in this transformative project.”
This isn’t Antney’s first time on reality tv. She and her son, Waka Flocka Flame appeared on two WETv series, Growing Up Hip Hop Atlanta, Waka & Tammy.
Antney has managed several iconic rap stars including Gucci Mane, French Montana and Nicki Minaj.
Brett Dismuke, head of content for ALLBLK and WETv said in a statement that “Ms. Deb is a pioneer and influential voice across the music industry who has discovered, established, and guided the careers of some of hip-hop’s most prolific and successful artists.”
He added, “We cannot wait for our ALLBLK audience to join the search and ultimately see who Ms. Deb crowns as the next iconic female MC.”
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Source: Momodu Mansaray / Getty / Megan Thee Stallion
Megan Thee Stallion celebrated her blistering single “Hiss,” earning the top spot on the charts in the most Megan Thee Stallion way possible.
The leader of the Hot Girl movement celebrated her “diss” track snaking its way to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart this week, giving her first solo no.1 record.
She has no.1 songs before with the Cardi B-assisted “WAP” and Savage remix featuring Beyoncé.
In the caption for an Instagram post celebrating the major career accomplishment, she wrote:
We made so much HISSTORY with this one! JU remember we used to sit at your living room table making beats! Now we got our first # 1 together!!! @liljumadedabeat I think me and @bankrollgotit met during an intense game of paper rock scissors at a party in 2021 and we’ve been locked in ever since. Thank you to everyone that ran it up !!! Im so thankful, so grateful, so appreciative !!! Hotties we got THEE ALBUM AND THEE HOT GIRL SUMMER TOUR NEXT. Lets stay focused and stay positive and keep going up !!! Ps. YES IM ABOUT TO START PLANNING THEE HOTTIE PARTY LETS GET THE HENNESSYYYY.
On X, formerly Twitter, Megan’s longtime collaborator/producer Lil Ju joined her in celebrating writing in a post, “Lil Doo Doo On The Beat Produced A Number 1 Hit,” playing on the name he was given by Nicki Minaj after he declined to give clearance to a beat he gave the Queen’s rapper.
Twerking & Henny
Back to Thee Stallion, keeping her word, she did hop on Instagram Live to celebrate and blessed her fans with some twerking and, for good measure, sipped Hennessy out of the bottle with a straw while teasing an unreleased record called “Toxic.”
On her subpar diss record, “Big Foot,” Nicki Minaj tried to clown the Houston rapper’s penchant for alcohol consumption by criticizing her for drinking alcohol from a bottle with a straw.
The Hotties were also happy about the accomplishment. You can see those reactions in the gallery below.
1. Juicy J showing love
2. Gotta love Thee Stallion
3. Our favorite version of Megan Thee Stallion
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Just when we thought female Rap beef couldn’t get more petty here comes Azealia Banks. She says Nicki Minaj is broke.
As spotted on XXL, the Harlem, New York, native has decided to give her two cents on Nicki’s recent behavior. On Thursday (Feb. 1), Banks took to Instagram Live with some observations about her financial status and physique. “It’s pretty clear that Nicki’s f**ked up, like she’s f**ked up financially, you know?” she asked rhetorically.
“I realized it when she was f**king frying the can of creamed corn in the Teflon pan. I was just like, ‘What in the welfare is happening right now? This is insane.’ And, whatever, I’ve probably like made some crazy looking s**t on here, but I’m also not going around trying to menace other artists and call them broke and tell them to pay rent and all that other s**t like that,” Banks said.
Banks went on to speculate that Onika has fallen victim to some bad cosmetic surgery, specifically to her derrière. “Because there’s something very f**king wrong with the butt, and I don’t know what it is but I do know that the surgery to get that s**t out of there is a pretty penny. It’s not like a boob reduction or like switching out for a new pair of bags” she explained.
“It’s not like a Rhinoplasty. No, it’s like, I know that procedure, just considering, ew. Like, you know how many just f**king little pockets of just migrated stuff there probably is?” the Anna Wintour artist said. “Yeah, that’s a very tedious thing and it’s also a very risky procedure that she can’t afford to have right now.”
This is not the first time Azealia Banks has been critical of Nicki Minaj. In the past, she has claimed the “Big Foot” MC needed to “slim down a bit” and decrease her butt size.” In 2017, she shared screenshots of a text she sent Nicki apologizing for her catty behavior and confirming their feud was officially over, but here we are.
You can see Azealia Banks be messy below.
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Nicki Minaj and her beef with Megan Thee Stallion has become quite a hot topic, and a recent chat with Joe Budden displayed the depths of that rift. Via Twitter Spaces, Nicki Minaj went on a rant targeting Megan Thee Stallion, suggesting that the Houston star was never shot among other jabs.
On Wednesday (Jan. 31), Nicki Minaj joined Joe Budden, who maintains a robust Twitter Spaces community, for a 40-minute chat with the unavoidable topic of Megan Thee Stallion at the center. At several points in the discussion, Minaj suggested that Megan was never shot by Tory Lanez and that Roc Nation and an entity she referred to as “the machine” is responsible for the issue between the women.
Minaj also shared that she believes social media users were being paid $250 to disparage her online, only to turn around and say they’re supporting her diss track “Bigfoot” and once more saying the so-called machine is behind all of this.
“This is a dialogue between me, the machine and a bunch of different machines having to come together constantly using different people. When one fails, let’s go somewhere else and try,” Minaj said.
Because of Minaj’s vocal tones and voice changes, some were suggesting, as they’ve done previously, that the Queens superstar has a substance abuse problem. However, Minaj claims she’s never done cocaine and even said she’s willing to be tested.
On Twitter, reactions to Nicki Minaj discussing Megan Thee Stallion with Joe Budden went wide. We’ve got a handful of them below.
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Photo: Getty