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For the second time, Usher will be gracing the stage at the Super Bowl halftime show, but this time he’s the headliner.
As previously reported, the NFL announced Sunday (Sept. 24) that the R&B icon, who performed during the halftime show in 2011 as a special guest of the Black Eyed Peas, will be leading the performance next year for Super Bowl LVIII in February in Las Vegas, Nevada.
On the same day his halftime show performance was announced, Usher spoke with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about the moment he got the call informing him he had been tapped for the show by none other than the “big homie” Jay-Z, whose entertainment company Roc Nation has a long-term business partnership with the NFL.
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“But when I got this call… he said, ‘It’s time, it’s magic time. You know, it’s time for you to have that moment.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’” Usher recalled. “He’s like, ‘The Super Bowl.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, you ready? Absolutely.’” The Confessions singer added that being booked to headline the halftime show was “destined to happen” at some point during his three-decade-long career.
“I think that everything that led up to that moment, going to Las Vegas for my residency for the last two years, the legacy, obviously that is the music, the celebration of entertainment in that place,” Usher explained. “It’s the City of Lights. You know, it’s always been a place where entertainers go and find love and passion, connection to their fans. He also talked about how fortuitous it is “for the Super Bowl to have made its way to Las Vegas while we were in Vegas.”
Usher indicated that he would likely bring guest performers to the stage in February, but he wouldn’t say who would be joining him if anyone.
“I’ve collaborated with a lot of incredible artists throughout the years. If anything, I’d like to socially engage the world. I’d like to hear who you think would be a great guest to complement this,” Usher told Lowe.
It may or may not be a coincidence that Usher has a new album called Coming Home that is set to release on the same day as his Super Bowl performance. Either way, February 11, 2024 is going to be a hell of a day for Usher fans.
Y’all excited?
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For the first time since the disaster that claimed 10 lives and left thousands injured, Travis Scott has been questioned by attorneys about his deadly Astroworld Festival in 2021.
According to the Associated Press, on Monday, Scott was questioned during a nearly eight-hour deposition in Houston, Texas, about the hundreds of lawsuits he’s facing since the tragedy.
“Travis Scott’s deposition is typical legal procedure,” his rep, Ted Anastasiou, said in a statement. “What is not typical is how the media continues to focus on him despite being cleared of any wrongdoing by extensive government investigations, including by the Houston Police Department.”
“Travis is fully cooperating with the legal process while still remaining committed to his tour in support of his record-breaking album, Utopia, and his charitable efforts to support at-risk communities,” Anastasiou continued.
Yeah—maybe when you’re client is being questioned about an event that ended in the senseless deaths of 10 people, the youngest of whom was 9, it’s not the best time to start plugging his tour and his latest album.
Still, it’s true that in June, a grand jury declined to indict Scott after an investigation by the Houston Police Department cleared him of all wrongdoing. But civil court is a different matter and he has plenty of litigation to rifle through, so blaming “the media” for the continued attention being paid to the case seems defensive and possibly dismissive, especially to the thousands of Astroworld victims and their families.
As AP reported, the first trial regarding the lawsuits has been scheduled for May 6, 2024. There are currently more than 1,500 active cases related to Astroworld, many of which were filed against Scott and concert organizer Live Nation.
From AP:
Of these, 992 were cases with physical injuries and 313 were cases of “emotional distress, pain, suffering and mental anguish.” Orthopedic surgeries have been completed in 17 of these cases, with other surgeries recommended in another 21.
Some of the lawsuits have since been settled, including those filed by the families of three of the people killed during the concert.
Scott’s deposition on Monday took place on the same day that hip-hop artist Drake, who performed several songs with Scott during the Astroworld concert, was performing in Houston. Drake was also sued in connection with the deadly concert.
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What up, Hip-Hop Wired Nation? We’re back with CRT FRSH AKA Certified Fresh! Part of our duty as a publication and crew is to school the masses on who is doing what musically and there’s no better way to do that beyond our CRT FRSH (Certified Fresh) bi-weekly playlist.
Disclaimer:
The CRT FRSH playlist is a labor of love. We don’t take payments nor do we do favors. We only add joints to our playlist that fit the theme and vision we’re going for and don’t seek to waste the listener’s time. Further, we don’t stick to one lane of Hip-Hop. We believe that all aspects of the music should get some light, whether it’s young lions in the trenches or those hoping for that one shot to blow up to grizzled veterans puffing out their chests with lots more to say.
It’s been a minute since we’ve updated CRT FRSH due to Hip-Hop @ 50 taking the lion’s share of our creative time but we’re back to resuming our regular bi-weekly schedule as best we can. This time around, we’re including 25 artists you should know and 25 artists you need to know, keeping in mind that our mission is purely educational at root and aimed at promoting all sides of Hip-Hop at its best.
For a change of pace, I want to speak in my own voice and explain how I approach curating the CRT FRSH playlist. Most importantly, I don’t segregate my Hip-Hop. Every form of music from the main cultural tree deserves a listen and a look. When I’m putting the list together, I want to include all regions across the States and, when applicable, across the globe. I also want to entertain every fan of Hip-Hop, not just those who enjoy one segment of it. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get to it. – D.L. Chandler
We open up this week’s playlist with Nas, who celebrated his 50th birthday by releasing the potent Magic 3 alongside Hit-Boy and the track “Never Die” featuring a blistering cameo from Lil Wayne (we really need to acknowledge the feature run Tunechi has been on for the past five years). Next up is “Another One Of Me” from Diddy’s newest drop, The Love Album: Off The Grid featuring The Weeknd, French Montana, and noted R&B fan, 21 Savage.
We just informed the HHW nation about Offset’s new joint “Fan” coming from his upcoming album, SET IT OFF. Killer Mike gave his already stellar album MICHEAL the deluxe treatment and the track “YES!” adds to the quality drop.
Drake’s For All The Dogs was slated to come out this Friday but has been delayed yet again. Hopefully, “Slime You Out” featuring SZA will satiate fans of The Boy until October 6. Cardi B connects with Megan Thee Stallion again for the entertaining “Bongos” joint, and the super slept-on EarthGang returns with “Swing” from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 original soundtrack.
The hardworking independent king Russ dropped another dope project in SANTIAGO and we include “Enough” from the joint. Navy Blue, one of Hip-Hop’s most thoughtful writers, gives us a gem in “Dolla.”
Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist connect on the track “The Caliphate” featuring a sorely missed Vince Staples. Speaking of Alchemist, he and Roc Marciano decided to drop a deluxe version of their already solid album, The Elephant Man’s Bones and we added the “Turkey Wings” track.
Anytime we get a chance to add a track to our playlist from Smoke DZA, we do so. The Kushed God connected with Flying Lotus for a potent EP, Flying Objects, and we have “Drug Trade” with the Harlem spitter rocking with Philadelphia bar god, Black Thought.
Salute to all the acts on our playlist which include the likes of Busta Rhymes, Coi Leray, Sexxy Red, REASON, Ray Vaughn (shout out TDE), Yo Gotti, DJ Drama, Rich Homie Quan (we missed the homie), Cordae, Gunna, Doja Cat (on her rap sh*t), Tyga, YG, That Mexican OT, Paul Wall, DRODi, MIKE, Rome Streetz, Conway The Machine, 38 Spesh, Lukah, Kipp Stone, Mick Jenkins, Benny The Butcher, and more.
Check it out below.
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SZA is one of the hottest artists out, musically and physically. So it’s no surprise that Kai Cenat tried to shoot his shot, and unfortunately, it failed epically for him.
Spotted on HipHopDx, popular Twitch streamer Kai Cenat decided to shoot his shot at TDE R&B artist SZA with some help from Cardi B’s boo, Offset.
The Migos member was a guest on Cenat’s Twitch stream last week, where he did his best impression of Alex Hitchens by giving Cenat some advice to Cenat to help him spit game to land the big fish, SZA, whom he has a crush on.
Per HipHopDX:
After shaking his head at Kai’s initial idea — which involved messaging SZA: “Hello, how you doing? Dat ass was fat in the last music video” — Offset advised him to slide into SZA’s Instagram DMs in more cool and cryptic fashion.
“That ain’t playa, that ain’t P. You gotta ease your way [in], man,” Set said. “‘I got an idea’… that’s what you say. That’s just to get the little bite. ‘I got an idea’ — it’s simple.”
He cautioned: “But then, see, when you do that, you get the reply? You gotta have an idea.”
Offset’s Advice Backfired For Kai Cenat
In most cases, Offset’s advice might have worked, but it delivered the opposite effect for Cenat. In a follow-up stream, he revealed shooting his shot at the “Good Days” singer didn’t get him her phone number but a lovely block.
“I can’t send any more messages, bro,” he said despondently after spending several moments with his mouth wide open in shock. “On God! I can’t send any more messages, bro!” Centa told his followers.
Cenat held up his phone to his viewers to prove that SZA hit him with a block. The clip went viral online, and someone added Drake’s simp tune, “Marvin’s Room.”
Kai Cenat Almost Cries After SZA Blocks Him on Instagram ♥😔 pic.twitter.com/PXHXdNr879
— Esthetics (@EstheticsNS) September 10, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
According to the website, Cenat might not be blocked. Instead, he might be the victim of the new Instagram invite feature where he has to be accepted by SZA before he can start conversing with him in the DMs.
So we’re going to keep hope alive for Kai Centat.
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Lil Nas X’s documentary Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero was supposed to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival at a certain time Saturday night but, unfortunately, it got delayed for about 20 minutes because, well, homophobic bigots ruin everything—or at least they try to.
According to Variety, the screening was scheduled to begin at 10:pm Saturday at Roy Thomson Hall, one of TIFF’s premier venues. Fans were lined up to see the documentary and the film’s co-directors, Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel, and editor, Andrew Morrow, were all on the red carpet taking photos. But just as Nas X was pulling up to have his moment with his fans and collaborators, organizers were informed that a bomb threat had been called in and everything was brought to a grinding halt.
From Variety:
The threat specifically targeted the rapper for being a Black queer artist, one source added.
Nas’ arrival was delayed 20 minutes while TIFF security conducted a sweep of the venue. After the threat was proved not credible, he joined Estrada and Manuel on the red carpet and the screening began at approximately 10:30pm.
A spokesperson for TIFF tells Variety: “Earlier this evening, we were made aware by the Toronto Police Service of an investigation in the vicinity of the red carpet for the ‘Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero’ screening. Our standard security measures remained in place during this time and the screening commenced with a slight delay. To our knowledge, this was a general threat and not directed at the film or the artist.”
The “Old Town Road” artist is, of course, no stranger to dealing with homophobic nonsense, but it’s still a shame that, in 2023, folks are still so full of hate that they would attempt to derail the premier of a documentary they don’t even have to watch with terroristic intimidation and threats of violence.
Fortunately, it was a failed attempt and the “Industry Baby” entertainer was still seen on the red carpet with family, fans and his team of documentarians.
So, basically, haters can hate, but the show will go on.
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So, we all know internet challenges can be fun. Some of them are relatively harmless, such as the ice bucket challenge, which, by the way, raised millions for The ALS Association as the challenge was meant to raise awareness and support for the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. But then there are internet challenges trending on social media that are dangerous as hell and even outright deadly.
This brings us to the “subway surfing” challenge.
Now, it shouldn’t have to be explained to anyone that riding on top of or outside a subway train can get you killed, but, apparently, that doesn’t need to be explained—to a lot of people. In fact, subway surfing became such a huge problem in New York City that Mayor Eric Adams and MTA officials said Tuesday that social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok have agreed to automatically remove any online videos that show people (mostly teenagers) engaging in the life-risking daredevil activity.
From the Gothamist:
MTA officials said 2,600 videos and photos of subway surfing have been stripped from the social media platforms in recent months.
“Young people are being subjected to massive doses of video and material that was glorifying this,” MTA Chair Janno Lieber said during a news conference. “They (tech companies) developed algorithms to weed it out and they’re working with us to take it down.”
The MTA is also launching an awareness campaign on the dangers of subway surfing, which includes public service announcements created by city school students as well as special MetroCards and posters with the slogan “Ride Inside, Stay Alive, Subway Surfing Kills.”
“It is about peer-to-peer communication, interaction to stop this horrific action that is taking lives and injuring individuals and that impact cascades out into their peer group,” Adams said during a news conference announcing the campaign.
NYPD data shows police have made 88 arrests related to subway surfing so far this year, up from 30 during the same period of 2022.
Last year, 17-year-old Kosse Laureano died while riding on top of a train. The video footage the teen collected of him performing the deadly stunt was used earlier this year in an exhibition displayed at the Oculus Transit Center to highlight the dangers of subway surfing.
Be safe out there, folks. All internet attention isn’t good internet attention, and none of it is worth your life.
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Blueface is apparently down but not for the count. The rapper was reportedly stabbed during an altercation at a boxing gym.
As spotted on Deadline the rapper has been training for an upcoming boxing match. On Wednesday, August 24 while practicing on the heavy bag at Kaminsky Boxing Gym in Reseda, California he was approached by a man unknown to him. The security camera at the facility captured the incident and showed the individual approaching the “Hello” rapper with combative energy. It seems Blueface was not taking him seriously until said man stayed in front of him prompting the self proclaimed Dirt Bag to throw hands.
After taking some punches the man reached into his pocket and pulls out what appears to be a knife. While the video does not show the stabbing, Blueface confirmed that he got cut on his Instagram. “I won’t be able to fight October 14th, I was stabbed today by some random guy. Won’t heal up in time.” His trainer David Kaminsky told TMZ that the suspect came into the gym yelling, “I’m gonna kill you.” The man is reported to have left the scene in a black Tesla Model S car with no license plates. Blueface was taken to a local medical facility for treatment.
You can watch the confrontation below.
Photo: Bernard Smalls
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Rudy Giuliani has been drowning in litigation ever since he took up the daunting task of representing ex-President Donald Trump in his demonstrably false propaganda campaign to steal an election by lying about it being stolen from him. And now, Trump, Giuliani and 17 other defendants have been indicted under Georgia’s RICO statute for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the Peach State illegally.
Well, according to Giuliani’s attorney Robert Costello, the former NYC Mayor and OG Trump stooge is too broke to cover all of his legal fees and he’s been begging Trump help the homie out and pony up some cash.
According to CNN, Giuliani and Costello traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort to hold out their hands and beg the ex-president to bail Giuliani out of the situation he’s in because he hopped on board with Trump’s “big lie.” Apparently, Trump initially responded by telling Giuliani to pull himself up by his bootstraps, get a job and stop looking for a handout.
OK, that’s not what he actually said.
From CNN:
Giuliani and Costello traveled to Florida in late April where they had two meetings with Trump to discuss Giuliani’s seven-figure legal fees, making several pitches about how paying Giuliani’s bills was ultimately in Trump’s best interest.
But the former president, who is notoriously strict about dipping into his own coffers, didn’t seem very interested. After Costello made his pitch, Trump verbally agreed to help with some of Giuliani’s legal bills without committing to any specific amount or timeline.
Trump also agreed to stop by two fundraisers for Giuliani, a separate source said.
Another source told CNN that Trump only agreed to cover a small fee from a data vendor hosting Giuliani’s records. And months later, Trump’s Save America PAC paid $340,000 to that vendor, Trustpoint, federal campaign filings show. CNN has now confirmed the payment was intended to settle Giuliani’s outstanding bill with the company.
Giuliani recently admitted that he’s a penguin-faced liar (again, my words, not his) and that he made false statements about election workers he accused of committing election fraud that absolutely did not happen. It must be difficult for him having to use one hand to clean all that egg off his face while slipping his other hand into his former client’s pockets because Giuliani doesn’t even have Trump’s Mcdonald’s money, and it turns out there are financial consequences for jumping on Trump’s delusional bandwagon.
More from CNN:
CNN reported on Tuesday that Giuliani is staring down hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills and sanctions amid numerous lawsuits tied to his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.
His attorneys have said in court that these legal quagmires have left him effectively out of cash and that he “cannot afford” a potentially $15,000 to $23,000 bill to pay for more discovery-related document searches. He even appears to have responded to some of the money crunch by listing for sale a three-bedroom Manhattan apartment he owns for $6.5 million.
At the Wednesday court hearing in the Smartmatic case, Giuliani attorney Adam Katz said, “These are a lot of bills that he’s not paying. I think this is very humbling for Mr. Giuliani.”
And for the rest of us, it’s just plain hilarious. Karma is a b*tch, ain’t it?
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Two cinema powerhouses are teaming up in name of the culture. Mimi Valdés and Nina Yang Bongiovi are launching a company that will focus on Hip-Hop in film.
As spotted on Variety, the two producers are joining forces to ensure the narrative that represents over 1.85 billion people worldwide is told correctly. Their venture Fly Green Socks; which is an homage to the classic line by Slick Rick on “La Di La Di”, will focus on telling “fun, bold stories inspired by the world of Hip-Hop”.
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The duo expressed their enthusiasm in a joint statement. “Hip-Hop is a culture defining superpower, influencing fashion, technology and even politics. But it’s severely underrepresented in Hollywood as its own film genre,” the ladies said about the partnership. “Our goal with Fly Green Socks is to create a new lane of films dedicated to uplifting the Hip-Hop ecosystem.” They went on to add further detail to their mission. “With Hip-Hop celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, there’s a goldmine of untapped stories for us to champion with innovative filmmakers. We look forward to using our combined experience and deep relationships in music and film to deliver high-quality storytelling that impacts culture.”
This is not the first time Valdés and Bongiovi have collaborated. They originally first met when producing Dope and then ran it up again with Roxanne Roxanne, a biopic about Roxanne Shanté.
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Welp, it happened. After an eight-month ban from the platform, Ye aka Kanye West has returned to Elon Musk’s Twitter (or X, or whatever the hell Elon has arbitrarily changed the name to). But, according to Hip Hop DX, Yeezy’s return to Twitter comes with a couple of stipulations.
First, Musk reinstated Ye on Saturday under the condition that he refrain from using the social media platform to express his antisemitic or otherwise bigoted views. The second stipulation appears to be that Ye won’t be able to make money directly from his Twitter account.
From Hip Hop DX:
However, Musk also made clear that West won’t be able to monetize his Twitter platform, nor will advertisements appear next to his Tweets.
Twitter’s Help Center stipulates: “Any organization that purchases a subscription to Verified Organizations will receive a gold checkmark and square avatar if they are a business or non-profit, or a grey checkmark and square avatar if they are a governmental or multilateral organization.”
Ryan Mac, a tech reporter for The New York Times, claimed that the company chose to give West a gold checkmark because “Ye” is the rapper’s company. “The company tells me that Kanye’s account has a gold check because it views “Ye” as Kanye West’s overall brand,” he tweeted on Saturday (July 29). “It’s unclear if he will run ads, but as a gold checkmark verified organization, he has the ability to do so.”
The move to bring Ye back to Twitter comes as Musk and his social media company are threatening litigation against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, an independent non-profit research organization that found hate, racism and disinformation had increased substantially on Twitter in recent months, which, if true, would be no surprise since it was widely reported that the use of racial slurs skyrocketed on the platform shortly after Musk acquired it.
Hopefully, Kanye can keep his Nazi love to himself from now on instead of advertising it on social media. Better yet, hopefully, he truly has learned a lot from the backlash and consequences his antisemitism caused him to face. Hopefully, Ye has grown up a little.
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