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SZA and vodka brand Grey Goose have teamed up to deliver a virtual music experience. The “In Bloom” online concert special is a one-night only event that will be live-streamed on YouTube, where the “Good Days” singer will perform music from her much-anticipated sophomore album, for the very first time.

Speaking of the upcoming performance, SZA said, “I feel like ‘In Bloom’ really captures where I’m at right now, especially after a year and a half of lockdown, which is also why it feels like the best place to debut some of my new material.”

The unnamed album is apparently coming this year, although we haven’t received very much information about it yet. It will follow up her much-lauded debut, CTRL, which recently celebrated its fourth anniversary.

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To follow her star-making CTRL era, which included five different hit singles and a double-platinum album, SZA has continued to release a string of records, including, “Hit Different,” and “Better Days.” She was also recently featured on Doja Cat’s pop-friendly “Kiss Me More,’ as well as Saint Jhn’s “Just For Me.”

“In Bloom” will be livestreamed from the Wisdome in Los Angeles on July 1. SZA’s performance will start at 8 p.m. EDT.

Stay tuned for more details on SZA’s sophomore effort.

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Trump finally admitted to defeat in the 2020 election but his presidency remains a source of inspiration for many memoirs that have been coming out recently. Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta have authored a new book titled, Nightmare Scenario: Inside The Trump Administration’s Response To The Pandemic That Changed History, which documents the early days of the pandemic at the White House. 

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One particular excerpt from the book has been gaining attention in the past 24 hours, revealing an alarming suggestion made by the then-president. According to the Post, Trump asked members of his staff about the possibility of bringing home infected Americans from overseas. and placing them at Guantanamo Bay. This was apparently a response to suppressing the infection rate on American ground. 

“Don’t we have an island that we own?” Trump reportedly asked the people inside of the Situation Room in February 2020. “What about Guantánamo?”

He continued. “We import goods… We are not going to import a virus.”

Members of his staff were reportedly terrified by the suggestion and it was quickly dismissed. Many were worried about how the situation would look to te public, especially since Guantanamo Bay is notoriously known for its horrendous conditions and housing suspects of terrorism.

Nightmare Scenario: Inside The Trump Administration’s Response To The Pandemic That Changed History will be available on June 29th.

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In the past year and a half, Lil Baby’s commercial success has catapulted to new heights. Quickly becoming one of the most prominent figures in trap music, the Atlanta-bred rapper unleashed his second studio album My Turn last year, peaking at the summit of the Hot 100 and going on to be RIAA certified three times platinum. 

He earned two Grammy noms for the project, bringing his total to three and establishing him as a force to reckon with. He’s even close to beating out Eminem for total all-time Hot 100 entries, boasting a total of 90. Lil Baby will be honored as this year’s recipient of the ASCAP Songwriter Of The Year trophy at the 2021 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards in recognition for his skilled pen. 

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The Quality Control-signed artist will be honored for the lyrical content of songs like “The Bigger Picture” and “Emotionally Scarred.” Cardi B was awarded the trophy for the last two years, while Gucci Mane and Quavo tied for the award back in 2018. Paul “Nineteen85” Jefferies of dvsn and Allen Ritter tied for Songwriter of the Year in 2017. 

The award will add on to a slew of other accolades Lil Baby has been honored with. In 2020, Apple Music named the 26-year-old 2020’s Artist of the Year. He was featured on Forbes magazine’s tenth annual 30 under 30 list, and My Turn was named the RIAA’s top album for 2020. 

He was also recently selected to headline Jay-Z’s Made In America festival. Most recently for the trap star, he connected with fellow rapper Lil Durk to release their collaborative studio LP The Voice Of The Heroes, which debuted at No. 1. In short, Baby is heading towards world domination. 

Congrats to him on receiving the Songwriter Of The Year honor!

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Earlier this month, Coi Leray and Pressa seemingly debuted their relationship. There were multiple social media posts that indicated the two were an item– they playfully flirted in TikTok videos, and Coi even defended Pressa from accusations he looked like a girl: “People saying pressa look like a girl till they see that Mf dick print” she tweeted. However, it looks like there might already be trouble in paradise.

On Sunday, June 20th, Coi Leray posted a cryptic tweet about cheating in relationships. The “No More Parties” rapper tweeted, “A real nigga ain’t gonna cheat on you. A real nigga gonna use his time to get to that bag and inspire instead of entertaining hoes. But that’s just my opinion.” The tweet has since amassed 850 retweets and more than 3,300 likes. 

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Neither rappers have spoken out regarding the tweets. However, that has not stopped fans from speculating if Leray was subtweeting Pressa. What do you think?

In related news, Coi Leray recently linked up with the City Girls and Lakeyah in Mississippi. The rappers all posted up together, taking part in the “Twerkulator” challenge. Earlier this month, the “Big Purr” rapper was also featured in the June 2021 edition of XXL’s Freshman Class. 

Despite any romantic issues, Coi has been thriving in her rap career, and she continues with a DJ Mustard-produced record dropping on Friday. Preview it below.

It’s been several years since Meek Mill dropped off his last studio album Championships, a project that was arguably his strongest body of work to date. And while he hasn’t been entirely inactive, delivering holdover singles like the recent “Flamerz Flow,” the wait for his fifth studio album is beginning to take a toll on fans.

Luckily, Meek has been hard at work in the studio, taking to Instagram to showcase some of his upcoming handiwork. “I been on some shit lately,” he teases. “Give me 30 days. Had to go east to get back.” 

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Joined by an entourage of well over a dozen, Meek showcases some bars on an as-of-yet-unreleased track, presumably drawn from his untitled new album. “Shit, I been goin’ a long time, I know they sick of me ya’ll,” he spits, over a low-key instrumental. “Got me switching up my flow again, switching up my ho again / Everybody been changing got me switching up my bro again / my dog did his bid, he got back home and switched his pole again / And I didn’t even tell him to slide, he tried to go again / Once he got active, I said ‘go again.'” 

While we have yet to have any concrete word on a potential release for Meek’s anticipated drop, his “30 day” teaser could mean we’re looking at a potential July release. Furthering that narrative is a prior warning from Meek, who previously expressed his desire to “terrorize this rap shit” in the summer of 2021.

Check out the snippet and be sure to sound off if you’re excited for Meek Mill’s next studio album. 

Disney is well-known for its critically acclaimed animated films. To this day, The Hunchback of Notre Dame stands as one of the most unique and unforgettable animated movies they’ve debuted to date. The company relied solely on its vision for the film, one that could have included Michael Jackson’s participation had they approved it. 

The film, based on Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, was released at the height of Disney’s “Renaissance” period, marking a departure from the Princess archetype films produced by the company. In a new oral history of the film by SlashFilm, the directors, animators, actors, and other filmmakers discuss the making of the film, revealing that Disney had rejected Michael Jackson’s proposal for involvement in the film. 

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Composer Alan Menken revealed in the film that Jackson had displayed a strong interest in the film. Films like Aladdin had experienced chart success for its score with pop star covers of their songs, and Jackson wanted to do the same with Hunchback. 

 
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Menken showed Jackson three songs, “Out There,” “God Help the Outcasts,” and “Someday.” Menken then went on to run it by Disney, who allegedly told him “‘Uh, we’ll get back to you about that.'”

He continued, “finally, predictably, the word came back, ‘Disney doesn’t want to do this with Michael Jackson.’ I go, ‘OK, could someone tell him this?’ You can hear a pin drop, no response, and nobody did [tell him]. It fell to my late manager, Scott Shukat, to tell Michael or Michael’s attorney. In retrospect, it was the right decision. [But] Quasimodo is a character… if you look at his relationships with his family and his father, I would think there’s a lot of identification there.” Check out the full oral history here. 

Jackson has apparently always been a huge fan of Hunchback of Notre Dame, expressing interest in playing Quasimodo in a possible remake of the 1939 film adaption before the Disney animated version materialized. Neither Disney nor Jackson’s estate have commented on the newly surfaced details. 

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