State Champ Radio R&B/Hip-Hop
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M.I.A. didn’t dress up over the weekend, but on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 30) the “Paper Planes” rapper posted what she said was a “scary picture for Halloween” in which she casually posed with controversial conservative commentator Candace Owens.
“#FreeSpeech,” M.I.A. captioned the post — which Owens re-posted — in which she stands with a neutral look next to a smiling Owens. The outspoken conservative talker’s name was in headlines earlier this month when she appeared at Kanye West’s Paris Fashion Week show modeling one of Ye’s provocative “White Lives Matter” t-shirts.
The stunt was met with widespread backlash from the supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, especially given phrase’s ties to white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups in their response to BLM. After getting temporarily booted from Twitter and Instagram for posting antisemitic messages, Ye has reportedly been in talks to buy the right-wing friendly social network Parler, which is owned by Owens’ husband, George Farmer.
Known for her strong, sometimes in-your-face political and social statements, M.I.A.’s snap with Owens seemed to divide her fanbase, with a number of comments under the picture saying it was a step too far. “Taking your music out of my playlist,” wrote one, with another joking, “There’s a vampire beside you, that *is* scary.” When a commenter joked, “Ah yes. The scariest thing… a Republican?,” someone responded, “No…a Republican who mocks slavery, George Floyd’s death, and other important matters. Candace owens knows what she is doing and she doesn’t care bc it keeps her relevant on some ridiculous level.”
Other comments included, “Not scary. Just disappointing” and “It’s kinda ironic that the one who made the ‘Born Free’ music video is now posing with someone who wore a White Lives Matter shirt,” while one featured DJ Khaled intoning his classic tagline, “Congratulations you played yourself.”
Earlier this month M.I.A. (born Mathangi Arulpragasam) raised some eyebrows when she doubled-down on her anti-vaccine stance while weighing in on the $965 million verdict against conspiracy theorist and Infowars host Alex Jones. “If Alex Jones pays for lying shouldn’t every celebrity pushing vaccines pay too?” she tweeted in reference to the massive sanction Jones was hit with for falsely and repeatedly claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting massacre was staged by actors as part of a conspiracy to take away American’s guns.
Owens is an expert at stoking the outrage machine, recently posting a teaser for a documentary she created (The Greatest Lie Ever Sold) and boasting in the caption “I broke Black Lives Matter.” Over the weekend she also appeared to question the veracity of reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was brutally attacked at the couple’s California home by a man who authorities say amplified antisemitic and white supremacist ideas online.
“I am hearing A LOT of stuff about this Pelosi story… Nothing confirmed yet but this could get interesting for sure,” Owens wrote a day after police had identified the attacker, who stormed the home shouting “Where is Nancy?” — a phrase also used by some of the Jan. 6 insurrectionist as they searched for the democratic leader while storming the Capitol. The alleged assailant was expected to be charged on Monday (Oct. 31) with felonies that include attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and elder abuse.
Owens’ apparent questioning of the facts in the Pelosi attack was similar in tone to a message posted, then deleted, by new Twitter owner Elon Musk. The “free-speech absolutist” SpaceX/Tesla boss posted an unfounded anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory on Sunday morning based on a report from a site NBC News said has a history of posting false information. “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” Musk wrote alongside a link to the site in response to a tweet from former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton about the suspect’s far-right conspiracy theories and what she said was the Republican party’s penchant for “spread[ing] hate and deranged conspiracy theories.”
At press time M.I.A. — who has been teasing her upcoming MATA album — did not give any additional context for her snap with Owens.
See M.I.A.’s post below.
Sean “P. Diddy” Combs went super-method for his Halloween costume over the weekend. The hip-hop impresario slipped into a frighteningly accurate version of Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning portrayal of the Joker from the Dark Knight series, swooning around town in his purple suit with green vest, green hair, white face paint and the character’s bloody Glasgow Smile.
In classic Diddy fashion, he chronicled his transformation in a video in which he sat in a chair getting his look together and wished everyone a happy, safe Halloween followed by one in which he laughs maniacally in character while brandishing a giant fake gun as a hand grenade falls out of his pocket. “Hello my friends, I’m the Joker,” he wrote in the caption. “I’m highjacking Halloween! Hahahaha.”
The fun continued in another clip in which he pulled up on Tyler, the Creator and tried to stop the rapper’s vehicle while maniacally telling the MC he’s the “my favorite rapper in the world” while pulling on the door handle of his SUV. “This is top tier,” Tyler says as Diddy/Joker implores him get out of the ride.
In what looks like an epic night, Diddy ranted on the street as the Joker, whispering “Tonight is going to be a special night. Everybody’s so serious,” in a menacing voice while hyping his plans to visit “Club Love.” That video got plenty of love from Diddy’s famous followers, including reported paramour City Girls Yung Miami, who posted a series of crying laughing emoji, as well as Nicole Scherzinger, who wrote, OMG BRILLIANT” and New York hip-hop legend Fab 5 Freddy, who alternated crying laughing and pumpkin emoji.
In other snaps Diddy/Joker hung his head outside a cop car and lit up the night with a flamethrower
Check out Diddy as the Joker below.
Citizens of Springfield watch out! Lizzo moved into town over the weekend with a killer Halloween costume that paid homage to the the cartoon town’s legendary matriarch: Marge Simpson. In what is destined to be an all-time classic get-up, the “Better in Color” singer covered her whole body in yellow makeup and slipped on Marge’s signature towering blue hair for a look that was hilariously terrifying.
“I AM HIM — HIMMY NEUTRON — MARGE HIMPSON,” the rapper captioned a series of pics in which she posed as Marge, complete with red heels and a matching strand of pearls accenting a shimmery green dress as she perfected a meme in which Simpson covered her face with her hands.
Lizzo also posted a shot of Marge krumping and a clip honoring the Animation Domination line-up in which Marge mines to a recording of another famous Sunday night cartoon mom: Family Guy‘s Lois Griffin yelling “Peter!” She explained the mash-up in the caption, which read, “The crossover episode y’all been waiting for.”
The rapper/flautist dug deeper on Friday night when she recreated the signature look of rapper Blueface’s girlfriend, Chrisean Rock. Wearing jean shorts and a white shirt, with a tooth blacked out and rocking door knocker earrings and a throat tattoo, Lizzo mimed along to Rock’s song, “Vibe” in one video and recreated Chrisean’s famous “I don’t know who to slap” moment in another.
According to TMZ, the latter get-up sparked some backlash given the frequently contentious, sometimes violent relationship between Blueface and Rock, which includes Chrisean getting detained and arrested in August after she was accused of punching the rapper in their latest public brawl and Blueface allegedly fighting Rock’s father a month later. Rock, however, appeared to appreciate the homage, which she retweeted over the weekend.
Check out pics of Lizzo as Marge Simpson and Rock below.
Frank Ocean is launching his brand-new Homer Radio with Apple Music 1. The one-hour show is set for Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET.
“Someone’s vacuuming the carpets adding a distant layer of white noise to the sound,” Ocean said in a cryptic statement about the show. “Security is pacing off some boredom while pretending to check the rooms and the safes on a rehearsed patrol. A headset loaded with gadgetry helps a man who dons it to see, with its grids of light and lenses and loupes.”
The singer/songwriter’s show shares a name with his Homer jewelry line, which the artist founded in August 2021. The name is inspired by the Greek poet, Ocean said the in an interview with Financial Times.
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While Ocean’s fans are finally receiving a project from him in the radio show, the singer is known for his long breaks from both music and the public. His last album, Blonde, was released in 2016, while his most recent songs are “DHL,” “Cayendo” and “Dear April.”
It seems like Ocean is meshing the radio show with his years-old jewelry line. The launch of the show accompanied a post on the company’s Instagram page, set against a background image of the hustle and bustle of a city.
In addition to a lack of music, there’s been a lot made of Ocean’s lack of performances too. The singer has been vocal about how his mental health struggles have impacted his desire to perform onstage. But he does have at least two dates on the calendar next year: back-to-back weekends as a Coachella 2023 headliner.
It’s been six long years, but Rihanna is finally back with her new single “Lift Me Up.” And the singer has Tems to thank for co-writing the heavenly ballad for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack.
The Nigerian singer songwriter, whose full name is Temilade Openiyi, expressed her excitement on Instagram early Friday morning (Oct. 28) over the new song, sharing the stark portrait of RiRi that serves as its cover art, writing, “Blessed to have written this song in honour of Chadwick Boseman and even more blessed to hear the baddest @badgalriri voice it to perfection.”
Rihanna herself was quick to land in the comments section, sending the love right back to Tems by writing, “It’s the pen for me … love to you sistren” with a trio of prayer hands, heart and flexing emojis.
The post also attracted the attention of the likes of Chance the Rapper, Stefflon Don and SZA, with the latter praising the song by commenting, “INCREDIBLE! Such a beautiful record.”
Penning “Lift Me Up” with Ri, Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson and director Ryan Coogler isn’t the only way Tems is contributing to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She also recorded a cover of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” for the Wakanda Forever Prologue EP that dropped last July and was featured in the powerful teaser for the forthcoming Marvel sequel.
In September, Tems came away as the top winner at the 15th annual Headies Awards along with her “Essence” collaborator Wizkid. The pair took home song of the year and best R&B single while Tems racked up other trophies for best female artiste and best R&B album (for 2021’s If Orange Was a Place). Less than a month later, she also received the BMI Impact Award at the 2022 BMI London Awards.
Check out Tems’ reflection on “Lift Me Up” and Rihanna’s sweet response below.
Chlöe Bailey and Latto have released their new single “For the Night” on Friday (Oct. 28) via Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records.
The track, which is set to appear on the Chloe x Halle singer’s upcoming debut solo album, finds the rising R&B star singing, “You say you promise and promise, you’ll figure it out / But I can not wait, you’re teasing me, I back down” before tossing the mic to Latto for a guest assist.
Co-directed by Bailey and Shermay Joh, the official music video shows off Chlöe’s first-rate dancing skills. Latto joins in on the fun later in the piece, and has her say on Chlöe’s boy problems. The video also captures footage of Bailey performing at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Festival Daytime Stage.
Chlöe first teased the existence of the track back in May when she polled fans during an Instagram Live about which song she should release first in the wake of her single “Treat Me”: “For the Night” or its eventual predecessor “Surprise.”
Besides prepping her debut album, the elder Bailey sister has kept busy as the new celebrity spokesperson for Pepsi, following in the well-heeled footsteps of Britney Spears, P!nk and her longtime mentor Beyoncé by recording a new take on “Footloose” for the famed soda brand.
Chlöe and her sister also reunited with Queen Bey at Tina Knowles-Lawson’s 2022 Wearable Art Gala, with the “Break My Soul” singer showing off a picture with her protégés on Instagram.
Meanwhile, Latto has been beefing with Nicki Minaj over Grammy eligibility on Twitter and recently appeared on stage with Stacey Abrams during the Atlanta stop of Lizzo’s The Special Tour.
After a two-year wait, SZA gifted fans her long-awaited single “Shirt.” The song is accompanied by the Dave Meyers-helmed visual, which features actor Lakeith Stanfield.
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“Bloodstain on my shirt/New bitch on my nerves/Old n—a got curved/Going back on my word/Damn, bitch, you like thirty,” she sings on the chorus. “Stealing all of my worth/Still question my affection/Let you all in my mental/Got me lookin’ so desperate.
After teasing fans with the song’s snippet in late 2020, “Shirt” later found its way onto TikTok, where a viral challenge began. At the top of 2021, the CTRL singer caught wind of the social craze and said she was “finalizing” the record. She again tantalized fans when she placed the song at the outro of her “Good Days” video. Her July 2022 performance at the Mad Cool Festival in Madrid also raised antennas when she hinted that Doja Cat would appear on the upcoming track.
“Want to know a secret? You all want to know who’s on this song? It’ll be like our secret, right?” she revealed to the crowd. “The hint is we already have a song together. Her name starts with a ‘D,’ and it rhymes with Soulja.” Last month, TDE’s Punch debunked those claims in SZA’s Complex cover story. Then, this week, SZA released a flirty trailer “Shirt” with Lakeith Stanfield alongside her.
“I appreciate [my fans] patience, but constantly trying to people-please and fulfill expectations instead of just thinking about what you need can deter you from your true path,” SZA said to Complex regarding her sophomore album. “And the next thing you know, you’re somebody that you never signed up to be. Even with this album, I just wanna be better than my last project to myself. I wanna be a better writer. I wanna be a better artist, musician… a better thinker. I just wanna do things that make myself proud and interested.”
In a brief interview with TMZ at LAX airport this month, SZA said she recorded 100 records for her forthcoming effort and that the project could drop “any day.”
Watch the official music video for “Shirt” below.
Chloe and Halle Bailey had a chance to reunite with their mentor Beyoncé over the weekend at the Wearable Art Gala.
On Saturday, Bey’s mom, Tina Knowles-Lawson, invited an A-list guest list to Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of WACO Theater Center. In addition to Beyoncé, husband Jay-Z and their daughter Blue Ivy, other guests included Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Kelly Rowland, Lori Harvey and sister duo Chloe x Halle, who are signed to Queen B’s Parkwood label.
Chloe took to Instagram on Wednesday to share an adorable photo of her and her sister standing alongside Bey in one photo and hugging her in the next.
In the photo, the trio all shared a color theme, with Halle sporting a black dress with silver embellishments and cutouts around her chest and midsection, Chloe rocking a silk hot-pink dress with puffy sleeves and a slit at the thigh, and Queen Bey wearing a black-and-white dress with star designs and silk pink gloves.
“Family,” Chloe captioned the post, which has garnered more than a half-million likes so far.
It’s no surprise that these three are linking up. Bey is a mentor to the rising stars, who she signed to her Parkwood Entertainment label in 2015. During an August interview with Uproxx, Chloe discussed how she has been influenced by the “Break My Soul” singer. “Ever since I was a young girl, I’ve always been inspired by her,” Chloe said of Beyonce. “To be able to hear the music and get to see her thought process in choosing certain songs, and just knowing how fearless she is, it’s been incredibly inspiring to me,” Chloe added, as she got a chance to see Bey put together her Renaissance album, which arrived on July 29.
Back in 2020, Bey presented her proteges with the Rising Star Award at Billboard‘s Women in Music event, telling the duo: “You’ve done this with authenticity, with grace, with raw talent, and you manage to shine in every room you enter, and I’ll always love you.”
Beyoncé gave the BeyHive a glamorous behind-the-scenes look at the 2022 Wearable Art Gala via social media on Wednesday night.
In her first Instagram slideshow, the star poses with husband Jay-Z on a set of stairs outside the venue for the charity gala organized by her mom, Tina Knowles-Lawson. Other pics show off the original sketch of her custom Gucci gown and dramatic pink opera gloves, as well as herself and her rapper hubby arm-in-arm on the red carpet.
The second carousel features more of Beyoncé with her family, including a look at 10-year-old Blue Ivy Carter in the electric-blue power suit and platform shoes she wore while bidding a casual $80,000 for a pair of Lorraine Schwartz diamond earrings once worn by her mom. (The music-industry progeny was eventually outbid for the baubles, which went for $105,000 in an adorable bidding war.)
Bey also snapped a photo at the gala with her longtime mentees Chlöe and Halle Bailey, with the younger half of Chloe x Halle writing “love you” in the comments section of the post. Other famous faces that attended the Wearable Art Gala included Lupita Nyong’o, Quinta Brunson, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams and auction host Keke Palmer.
The “Break My Soul” singer even used her mother’s gala to quietly confirm that her yet-unannounced 2023 world tour in support of her latest album Renaissance is on the way by auctioning off a VIP ticket package to any domestic or international stop on the tour.
See more from Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Blue Ivy and more at the 2022 Wearable Art Gala below.
Rihanna has the Internet in a frenzy yet again. The music superstar/beauty mogul has debuted the cover art for her new single “Lift Me Up” on social media, from the upcoming Marvel sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The movie and song both arrive on Friday.
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“tonight… MIDNIGHT EST,” the singer captioned her post. “#LiftMeUp.”
The arrival of the song was announced Wednesday, preceded by cryptic billboards around New York and a teaser post on social media, which included the forthcoming movie title splashed onscreen before highlighting the first “R” in “Forever.”
Under the singer’s social media post, fans are expressing their excitement for Rihanna’s long-awaited return to music.
WE’VE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY IN YEARS😫😭😭😭😭😭😭😭— will (@inapologetic) October 27, 2022
The song was written as a tribute to the late Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020 at 43. Tems, Oscar winner Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler all have writing credits on the track, which will be released on the songstress’ Westbury Road label in partnership with Roc Nation/Def Jam Recordings/Hollywood Records.
“After speaking with Ryan and hearing his direction for the film and the song, I wanted to write something that portrays a warm embrace from all the people that I’ve lost in my life,” Tems said in a statement. “I tried to imagine what it would feel like if I could sing to them now and express how much I miss them. Rihanna has been an inspiration to me, so hearing her convey this song is a great honor.”
The “Umbrella” singer hasn’t dropped an album since she released Anti six years ago. She spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the project, which featured three Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits, including the No. 1 “Work,” featuring Drake. In July 2017, she hit No. 2 with Bryson Tiller on DJ Khaled’s “Wild Thoughts.” In April 2020, she logged the No. 23 spot with “Believe It” alongside PARTYNEXTDOOR. RiRi is also set to return to performing on Feb. 12, 2023, where she will take the stage for the Super Bowl halftime show.
The Wakanda Forever soundtrack — produced by Coogler, Göransson, Archie Davis and Dave Jordan — will be out next Friday.
