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The 2024 BET Awards are quickly becoming more star-studded by the day. On Wednesday (June 26), it was announced that Megan Thee Stallion will join the list of A-list performers slated to hit the stage this Sunday night (June 30), as she’ll be kicking off what BET touts as “culture’s biggest night” in Los Angeles.
With her forthcoming studio album, Megan, dropping this Friday (June 28), the Houston Hottie will be only two days removed from her highly anticipated release. The album boasts features from UGK, GloRilla, Victoria Monet and more. The 18-track effort will include previously released singles such as “Cobra,” “Boa” and her Hot 100 chart-topper “Hiss.”
Currently, Megan is embarking on her worldwide trek for the Hot Girl Summer Tour. Initially expected to wrap this week on the domestic side, Megan added two more dates to the U.S. leg of the tour, including stops at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on July 2 and PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte, N.C., on July 3. Tickets for the newly added shows will be available locally via the rapper’s website at noon.
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As for the 2024 BET Awards, with Megan’s entry on the performance side, viewers can now expect a starry event. This week, it was announced that Will Smith would also hit the stage to perform a new original song after landing the No. 1 movie in America with Bad Boys: Ride or Die earlier this month.
“From his start as a rapper to The Fresh Prince to being a box office king as one of the Bad Boys, Will Smith is truly a global icon, and we are honored to welcome him back to grace the BET Awards stage,” Connie Orlando, EVP specials, music programming and music strategy at BET, said in a statement this week. “We look forward to Will adding to yet another defining night for the culture that is not to be missed.”
Along with Megan and Smith, GloRilla, Ice Spice, Latto, Ms. Lauryn Hill with YG Marley, Muni Long, Sexyy Red, Shaboozey, Tyla and Victoria Monét will perform that night as well.
The 2024 BET Awards will broadcast from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles this Sunday, June 30, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The show will air live on BET, and streams on BET.com as well as various streaming services that offer the network.
Diddy scrubbed his Instagram account clean last week and he faced backlash for deleting his apology video to Cassie. Among those criticizing Sean Combs for the “foolish” move is ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who ripped the embattled music executive.
“You deleted all the videos from your Instagram account including the one I just showed,” he said on the Tuesday (June 25) episode of Stephen A. Smith Show. “If you had a million photos, if you had a million videos, and you decided to delete 999,999, that’s the one you should’ve kept up if you’re sincere.”
Stephen A. continued: “And I know that you’ve been taking a lot of hits, and there’s been shrapnels of criticism all over the place aimed in your direction. Not that it wasn’t deserved … Although one could argue, the ex that you hit had to deal with a hell of a lot more than you had to deal with in terms of the criticism.”
Smith just couldn’t understand how Diddy or his PR team thought it would be the right move to delete the Cassie apology video when public perception was not on his side.
“Delete everything else — not that,” he claimed. “Don’t you want people to know that you were contrite? That you were incredibly sorry? That you have profound regret for the egregious actions that you were caught on camera committing?”
The boisterous First Take host added: “By deleting the video, you throw all of that out the window. The possibility of the very few people that would ever believe that really having a reason to continue to believe you.”
Fans noticed Diddy cleared his IG account last week, including the apology video in response to footage of him physically abusing Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel. CNN shared the March 2016 video in May, and it showed Diddy dragging Cassie across the floor of an L.A. hotel elevator bank.
Diddy said he was “disgusted” with his behavior in the apology video that was shared on his Instagram account. “It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” he stated. “I was f—ed up. I mean, I hit rock bottom. But I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I’m disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I’m disgusted now.”
Cassie accused Diddy of rape, physical abuse and more in a sprawling lawsuit in November. The two parties — who dated on and off from 2007 to 2018 — would settle the dispute less than 24 hours and terms were not disclosed. The disgraced star has also since been accused of sexual misconduct in several other lawsuits; he had previously denied all allegations.
Watch Stephen A. Smith’s full rant on Diddy below.
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As the 30th anniversary of ESSENCE Festival looms, the prominent Black showcase in New Orleans will have Mya, Jadakiss and Jeremih perform at AT&T’s Dream in Black connected stage from July 4-7. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “I’m looking forward to headlining the AT&T Dream in Black […]
If you missed André 3000‘s first New Blue Sun tour earlier this year, fret not.
The rapper turned flautist is hitting the road again and this time he’s hitting more North American cities besides NYC, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta and Los Angeles.
New Blue Sun, released in November, is co-produced by the legendary emcee and multi-instrumentalist Carlos Niño, and features the playing of Nate Mercereau, Surya Botofasina, Deantoni Parks, Diego Gaeta, Matthewdavid, V.C.R, Diego Gaeta, Jesse Peterson, and Mia Doi Todd.
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The fully instrumental album debuted in the top 10 of multiple Billboard charts like New Age Albums and Top Alternative Albums. He also broke a Hot 100 record for longest song with the 12-minute, 20-second opus “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time.”
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Carlos Niño, Nate Mercereau, and Surya Botofasina with Deantoni Parks will accompany Stacks for these special run of shows. As of right now, André is still touring and is about to embark on a string of dates internationally.
Andre was a special guest performer at the Roots Picnic a few weeks back and he killed it.
So, expect some of those same vibes whenever you decide to hit one of the dates below.
Sept. 19 – New Orleans, LA – Orpheum TheaterSept. 21 – Dallas, TX – AT&T PAC – Winspear Opera HouseSept. 22 – Austin, TX – ACL Live at The Moody TheaterSept. 25 – Houston, TX – The Hobby Center For The Performing ArtsSept. 27 – Albuquerque, NM – Kiva AuditoriumSept. 28 – Mesa, AZ – Mesa Arts CenterOct. 1 – San Diego, CA – Humphreys By The BayOct. 2 – Los Angeles, CA – The Greek TheatreOct. 4 – Santa Barbara, CA – Arlington TheatreOct. 5 – Oakland, CA – Fox TheaterOct. 9 – Seattle, WA – Paramount TheaterOct. 11 – Vancouver, BC – Queen Elizabeth TheatreOct. 14 – Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert HallOct. 16 – Salt Lake City, UT – Eccles TheaterOct. 17 – Denver, CO – Ellie Caulkins Opera HouseOct. 19 – Minneapolis, MN – NorthropOct. 21 – Chicago, IL – The Salt ShedOct. 22 – Detroit, MI – Masonic Cathedral TheatreOct. 25 – Brooklyn, NY – BAM Howard Gilman Opera HouseOct. 30 – Boston, MA – Boch Center Wang TheatreNov. 1 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia presented by HighmarkNov. 2 – Akron, OH – Akron Civic TheatreNov. 8 – Richmond, VA – Altria TheaterNov. 9 – Washington, DC – The Kennedy CenterNov. 12 – Durham, NC – DPACNov. 14 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre
You can get more info on his website.
Lil Durk wants to see LeBron James suit up for his hometown Chicago Bulls, and he’s willing to even put up his money to sweeten the deal. The Windy City resident hopped into King James’ DMs on Instagram to test the waters on seeing if LeBron would welcome a change of scenery to the Midwest […]
During a conversation with fellow producer Cardo for Lucid Monday’s cover story, The Alchemist said he still wants to work with Jay-Z.
“Jay always been on my list. I’ve been saying it for 100 years,” the producer said, after claiming there’s not many artists left on his bucket list. “At this point, I hope it would be a mutual thing, like I would want to work with somebody that would wanna work with me. There’s a couple that’s brewing that’s like bucket list s–t for me that I hope happens. I still have hopes like that.”
While admitting Jay Electronica indirectly made the dream happen when he featured Jay on the Alchemist-produced song “The Neverending Story,” he still hasn’t made a beat specifically for the Brooklyn legend.
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However, that collab almost happened back in 2001. During an appearance on the podcast A Waste of Time in 2015, the Los Angeles producer told hosts ItsTheReal he played the “We Gonna Make It” beat for Jay, but he passed on it. “I actually played him the ‘We Gonna Make It’ beat,” he said. “I was playing it for Hip-Hop and then he told Jay come in the room and he was just like, ‘Yeah, it’s dope,’ and just walked out, he just stuck his head in.” The beat was also offered to Nas, but eventually landed in the hands of Jadakiss.
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He then said he ran into Jay at a popular New York City nightclub after Jada’s version blew up and the rapper had a message for him. “He leaned in my ear and was like, ‘Yo, when you gonna stop wasting them beats?’” he recalled. “And it was ill because it was very confident and he wasn’t trying to be funny, he was deada–. Like, that was the first thing he said to me. I looked at him and he was serious, it threw me for a loop.”
The Alchemist then said he suggested they go to the studio after the club to which Jay agreed to meet up at Baseline, but he never showed. “Got my drum machine, went over to Baseline… he did not show up.” However, that session ended with a placement on State Property’s second album The Chain Gang Vol. 2 with the song “Still in Effect” featuring Freeway and Neef.
Check out a clip from The Alchemist’s interview with Cardo below:
The Alchemist & CardoGotWings talk about wanting to do a song with JAY-Z. Cardo produced “Seen It All” by Jeezy ft HovAlchemist produced “The Neverending Story” by Jay Electronica ft Hov pic.twitter.com/xnx3lGtIPJ— 💎🍾 (@TheRocSupremacy) June 14, 2024
Fans might be getting another Friday movie after all. Ice Cube recently made an appearance on Flavor Flav‘s SiriusXM show, Flavor of the Week, and gave a promising update about a rumored fourth Friday film.
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“We’re working on it. We finally got some traction with Warner Bros.,” Cube told Flavor Flav after being asked if a new movie was on the way. “They have new leadership. My man Mike DeLuca — who used to be at New Line when I first started, when I first did the first Friday and Players Club and All About the Benjamins — Mike DeLuca was there. So, now he’s running Warner Bros. And him and my man Michael Gruber was like, ‘Yo, what the f—k is going on with Friday? Man, let’s get this s—t back online.’”
The filmmaker has been trying to get the fourth movie off the ground for a while now. Back in 2022, Cube was on Mike Tyson’s Hotboxin’ podcast and expressed his frustration with the film studio. “I don’t know. Warner Bros. is weird right now. I don’t know what they’re doing, they don’t know what they’re doing,” he told the legendary boxer at the time. “We’d love to have it back. I think it’s going to be close to a time when we get it back. So, we’ll either wait for that time, or we’ll keep trying to convince them that they need to let us control the movie. It’s my movie, but they have distribution control.”
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Chris Tucker, who became a star after appearing in the first Friday movie, is open to reprising his role, but also put the blame on Warner Bros. for the delay. “It’s studios, and they gotta want to do it, and then it’s producers and all that stuff. It’s a lot that goes with it,”he told host Big Tigger during a March interview on Atlanta’s V-103 radio station.
Tentatively titled Last Friday, it would be the franchise’s first installment since 2002’s Friday After Next. Since the first film was released in 1995, three of its stars have passed away. Cube expressed his frustration on that subject as well.
“You know, I was a little hot because they had took so long,” he admitted to Flav. “John Witherspoon passed away, [Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister Jr.] passed away, [Anthony ‘AJ’ Johnson] passed away. I’m like, ‘Man, we keep losing people, and y’all keep dicking around, not doing the movie the way it needed to be done.’”
Watch Cube talk about the possibility of another Friday movie below:
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Sexyy Red is hitting the campaign trail later this year — except her rallies will come in the form of concerts. The “SkeeYee” rapper announced the Sexyy Red 4 President Tour on Tuesday (June 25), which will hit arenas across the U.S. to close out the summer. Big Sexyy — who previously leaned into the […]
Rapper Julio Foolio is dead at 26 after being shot outside a hotel in Florida early Sunday morning (June 23), his attorney confirmed to NBC News. The “Pain” rapper — born Charles Jones — was celebrating his 26th birthday Saturday night (June 22) before relocating to a Holiday Inn, where, according to his lawyer Lewis […]
Anderson .Paak is hitting the road! As his Grammy-nominated Malibu LP celebrates its eighth anniversary this year, the “Come Down” crooner is launching a new tour which will feature him playing the LP in its entirety.
The Live Nation-produced Malibu Tour will commence on Sept. 18, in Bend, Ore., at Hayden Homes Amphitheater and concludes on Oct. 13 in Atlanta at Lakewood Amphitheatre. In the interim, the eight-time Grammy winner will visit major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Chicago and Philadelphia. Jazz trumpeter Maurice Brown and rising R&B duo GAWD will join the “King James” singer on all dates, while Grammy-nominated R&B group Free Nationals will serve as his backing band.
Fans can begin securing tickets during the official artist presale on Wednesday, June 26, at 9 a.m. local time. Additional presales will follow throughout the week ahead of the general onsale beginning Friday, June 28, at 9 a.m. local time on .Paak’s official website.
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.Paak’s last headlining tour was back in 2019, when he mounted his Best Teef in the Game Tour in support of Ventura, which became his first solo LP to reach the top 10 of the Billboard 200 (No. 4). In 2020, he opened for select dates of Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ ongoing global stadium tour and completed a 47-show Las Vegas residency alongisde Bruno Mars, with whom he performs as the Billboard Hot 100-topping supergroup Silk Sonic.
On June 7, the “Tints” rapper released his first post-Silk Sonic project. Why Lawd? — which features collaborations with H.E.R., Thundercat, Snoop Dogg, October London, Rae Khalil, Charlie Wilson, Earl Sweatshirt and Dave Chappelle — served as the second LP from NxWorries, a duo .Paak formed with acclaimed hip-hop producer Knxwledge. The melancholy record was met with acclaim from critics and fans alike, debuting at No. 7 on Top Album Sales with the superduo’s best sales week yet (11,000 copies sold). On June 21, “Have Mercy” singer Chlöe Bailey confirmed that .Paak will appear on her forthcoming sophomore solo studio album, Trouble In Paradise.
Find the Malibu Tour dates below.
Sept. 18 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater
Sept. 19 – Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre
Sept. 21 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
Sept. 24 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
Sept. 26 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl
Sept. 27 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
Sept. 28 – Las Vegas, NV – Fontainebleau Las Vegas
Oct. 2 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Oct. 4 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Oct. 5 – Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre
Oct. 8 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at The Mann
Oct. 9 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Oct. 11 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
Oct. 13 – Atlanta, GA – Lakewood Amphitheatre