According to a report from TMZ, the Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show performance featuring Roc Nation songstress Rihanna was hit with 103 Federal Communications Commission(FCC) complaints for being too sexual for football viewers.
According to the report, Super Bowl watchers littered the FCC’s email with complaints about Rihanna’s performance being “pornographic”, with the lyrics and dancing being suggestive in a sexual nature.
One person in particular compared RiRi’s set to Kim Petra and Sam Smith’s sultry performance at the 2023 Grammys, saying, “I don’t care what someone worships but children shouldn’t be exposed to pornography and as an adult I don’t wish to see it … Where has decency gone? How about respect for others and self.” Another person in Utah said, “This year the halftime show was so indecent I had to turn off the TV because of the pornographic content.”
The “Umbrella” singer was also criticized for spreading “her ass cheek at the crack. She rubbed her pants where her labia were three times.”
Rihanna’s comeback performance was a historic one as she revealed to the world she’s expecting her second child with rapper A$AP Rocky. She also reportedly earned over $350K in song royalties after the show due to a massive increase in streaming. According to a report from Apple Music, the day after the Sueor Bowl, Rihanna’s worldwide listeners on the streaming service jumped by a whopping 331%.
Soon after announcing his retirement in the fourth quarter of last year, Styles P released his second to last solo album Penultimate: A Calm Wolf Is Still A Wolf on January 27, 2023. Today (2/21/2023), The LOX rapper shares the official Bo-directed music video for album single “Death Before Dishonor” (featuring bass player, producer, singer, and band leader Brady Watt).
“After I did Bass & Bars with Brady Watt, we agreed that we’d be doing more sh*t together in the future”, said Styles. “This song was that. As a 48 year old emcee, I like to step outside of my comfort zone, and I did that here. [‘Death Before Dishonor’] has a different feel not typical to Styles P, but still fits in with what I do. I didn’t even know Brady could sing or produce, but when he played me this track, I just followed my emcee intuition and started working on it right then and there.“
With guest appearances from Bucky and Brady Watt, and production from Vinny Idol, Black Saun, Ty Feif, as well as Styles P’s son, Noah Styles, among others, Penultimate: A Calm Wolf Is Still A Wolf is P’s 15th solo project.
Last month, a woman who called herself “Lagena Gold” went viral after she made allegations that she was the long-lost daughter of condemned singer R. Kelly and the late Aaliyah Haughton. Gold was dragged across the blogosphere because of her claims, with many critics saying that she looked nothing like Kelly or Aalyah. Now, in an interview with Real Lyfe Street Starz, the Detroit native calls Aaliyah her and delves into the difficulties she’s had trying to prve her identity to the world.
Gold discussed the possibility of taking a DNA test, her siblings on her alleged father’s side, his criminal case as well as her plans to release original music.
As seen on WSHH, Jim Jones and producer Hitmaka dropped a lavish visual for “Seen The Money.” Capo raps about his luxurious lifestyle over Hitmaka’s production led by the Alicia Keys “You Don’t Know My Name” sample. Jim can be seen popping bottles on a yacht in Miami Beach and stacking his bread like a Jenga tower.
Jones reflects on his current lifestyle and how his past lifestyle helped elevate his superstar lifestyle with the cadence: “We jumping out of Ferraris and private jets without a suitcase, ‘cause we shop when we land, we got no top on the lamb, hood n***a, all white airs with no socks in the sand. I used to play with the keys, but the locks didn’t jam. We was in, mama’s kitchen playing with the pots and the pans…”
Jim Jones and Hitmanka have another video/single, “I Am,” featuring Stefflon Don releasing Friday, and their Back In My Prime is scheduled to release in March.
Dr. Kamran Rashid Khan, also known as Lazarus, is ready to make world history by becoming the first music artist to debut his song from the International Space Station. Lazarus is a Detroit-based rapper who has been frequently touring with Wu-Tang Clan and also a practicing physician who treated patients throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He has now teamed up with Jim Green, who has served as NASA’s chief scientist for 42 years, to bring the first song in music to realistically and accurately describe space travel from the point of view of an astronaut.
Hip Hop turned 50 this year as celebrated at the 2023 Grammy Awards. In a recent live Instagram broadcast with Jim Green, Lazarus discusses the power of Hip Hop over the years. “Hip Hop as a form of music has always been there for the art of expression and to bring awareness to subject matters. And now utilizing Hip Hop we can speak on topics like space travel, what’s going on in outer space, terraforming, insights we can gain about pollution, crops, agriculture.”
This history-making song is called “Pale Blue Dot” and launches from the ISS on March 11th via a livestream and then is going to be released on all streaming platforms the next day on March 12th. This is an extremely proud moment for Hip Hop and shows once again that this art form has absolutely no boundaries or limitations.
Lil Wayne joins Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 to discuss his new song “Kant Nobody” (feat. DMX). He tells Apple Music about working with Swizz Beatz, why fans are getting the song now, staying off of social media, what fans can expect from ’The Carter 6’, his thoughts on coming in at Number Seven on Billboard’s list of the Top 50 Greatest Rappers of all time, competition in rap, supporting Drake from early on, being a singular force in hip hop, how he stays healthy, and more.
When Talking about his new DMX-featured “Kant Nobody” track, Tunechi says, “That’s my brother first of all…Swizz. Thats the way we work, we got a billion bangers and just pick one to put out whenever we feel like it.” He continues, “Everyone around me knows that I don’t do social media. With that said, the world can end and if it ends on social media I would not know. I’d still be walking around. If it doesn’t happen through sports, I don’t know it happened. With that said, my bro Mac said he was a little upset about something that came out about rap or something like that?? I don’t even know about lists. “
As for the Carter 6, Wayne says, “Everybody already know… you already know… come on… it’s Carter 6. I never even imagined. That didn’t even sound right years ago. I can’t believe we’re at Carter 6. My fans know I give my all. Go listen to my last feature and know it’s gonna be a thousand times better than that.”
Museum of Graffiti, the world’s first Museum dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of graffiti art, is announcing today the opening of its first pop-up ever in Austin, Texas from March 10 to March 28. Taking over the space at 809 E 6th Street, the Austin pop-up will be home to an exhibition entitled “The Art of Hip Hop,” that will celebrate the 50 year anniversary of Hip Hop by presenting the works of the photographers, album cover artists, logo designers, and graffiti artists who are responsible for the visual identity of the genre.
To celebrate the opening, the Museum will open its back patio from Friday, March 10 to Sunday, March 12 to host three incredible days of concerts, live graffiti art demonstrations, a Champion apparel customization lab, merchandise drops, and panel discussions inside the Mi Campo Artists Lounge. The Museum’s renowned gift shop will also be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
Guests can expect to see the work of famed photographers Janette Beckman, Mike Miller, Henry Chalfant, Matt Doyle, Lisa Leone, Joe Conzo, and Daniel Hastings, alongside Hip Hop album covers designed by Cey Adams, Eric Haze, Slick, Kaws, and more. Visitors can also expect to see works by other graffiti legends like Ces, Doze Green, Kaves, Fab 5 Freddy, Rammellzee, Dr. Daks, Shiro, Ras Terms. Original graffiti paintings on canvas and sculptures from the past 50 years will also be available for purchase within the exhibit.
One of the “Central Park Five” is running for City Council.
Yusef Salaam is one of the “Exonerated Five,” as they are now known, the teenagers who were wrongly convicted of raping a woman in Central Park in 1989. After fighting for his freedom, the Harlem native is ready to fight for his hometown.
Their convictions were overturned in 2002 and in December saw their name etched in stone on a gate to the park.
Salaam, who spent seven years behind bars, is running in Council District 9, representing the heart of Harlem, where he grew up.
“We are here now to chart a new path forward,” he said during a speech at the old Harlem YMCA on 135th Street.
Decades before he became president, Donald Trump took out a full-page ad calling for the Central Park Five to face the death penalty, which Salaam referenced in his announcement.
“In a country that’s supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, they saw the color of our skin and said ‘Guilty, guilty, guilty,’” he said. “It would have been OK if Donald Trump had taken out a full-page ad when we were found to be innocent.”
In 2002, a judge vacated the convictions of Salaam and the four other members of the Central Park Five after the Manhattan district attorney’s office filed a motion with a new theory of the case — and a different suspect. Prosecutors said that after conducting a new investigation, they no longer believed that Salaam and the others had committed the crime.
Since then, Salaam has written a memoir, become a motivational speaker and has advocated for criminal justice reform. His case has also been documented in books, a documentary and a Netflix miniseries.
Salaam is challenging Harlem Councilmember Kristin Richardson Jordan for her seat. The incumbent councilmember did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But after Salaam first shared that he was considering a run last fall, Richardson Jordan said in a statement to the news site Patch: “I think we have enough millionaires in office already. That is part of the problem.”
Rihanna finally came out of hiatus after seven years with her Super Bowl LVII performance. Now the billionaire singer will be returning to the stage to burn down the 95th Academy Awards.
Variety reports the superstar singer will perform her Oscar-nominated song “Lift Me Up” from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack when the 2023 ceremony goes down live on ABC on March 12.
The song, with music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson and lyrics by Tems and Ryan Coogler, stands as her first Oscar nomination with a nod for Best Original Song.
Rih will make history with the performance, becoming the first Black woman to perform at the Oscars while pregnant. Catherine Zeta-Jones is the only other person to do so – being eight months pregnant when she performed “I Move On” from “Chicago” at the 2003 Oscars with Queen Latifah. Will you be watching?
Legendary MC, Ice-T recently revealed that the icon Jay-Z approached him at the 2023 Grammy Awards and questioned him about some internet beef over his song “99 Problems.”
Arguably one of Jay’s biggest hits, at the top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and going double platinum—the track’s iconic hook (“I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain’t one”) was actually borrowed from Ice-T’s 1993 original of the same name.
The correlation between the two songs came back into focus last November when a video of the gangsta rap pioneer expressing his grief at JAY-Z apparently never acknowledging the source material resurfaced.
“I’m at the Grammys and JAY-Z comes to me. He says, ‘Ice, you know I love you, right?’” Ice-T said during a visit to Big Boy’s Neighborhood. “I say, ‘Yeah!’ He says, ‘Well, it’s on the internet that you mad.’ I said, ‘I’m not mad! They’re bringing up all kinds of interviews about it and they asked me the story, and I told them the true story.’
“He goes, ‘Yeah man, but it’s no hard feelings.’ And he started talking about how me and him — ’cause I met JAY-Z way back in the day. Big Daddy Kane brought JAY-Z to my house back in the day when he was starting out. I used to take Jay around, roll my car, him and Dame Dash, so we’re friends.”
He added: “But I said, ‘Yo, well, you know, when you did ’99 Problems,’ at the end of the record you could’ve said, ‘Ice!’ You could’ve given me a little dap or something!’ I said, ‘But I’m not mad at it. What had happened was people wanted to know the story.’”
Ice-T then proceeded to tell the story behind “99 Problems,” explaining how 2 Live Crew’s Brother Marquis — who appears on his 1993 track — coined the phrase, before Chris Rock suggested JAY-Z remake the song more than a decade later.
“I’m in my house with Brother Marquis, I’m at my studio,” he began. “We were talking about ‘Whoomp! (There It Is).’ Now, ‘Whoomp! (There It Is)’ comes from Magic City. The Tag Team were the DJs at Magic City, and when the girls would bend over, they’d say, ‘Whoomp, there it is!’
“So Marquis says to me, ‘N-gga, I’m sitting there all them nights in Magic City, that was the phrase that pays!’ Then outta nowhere, he goes, ‘Man, I got 99 problems and a bitch ain’t one.’ I said, ‘What did you just say?’ I said, ‘That’s a song!’”
He continued: “Now, as the legend goes, Rick Rubin and Jay were getting ready to make a record and Chris Rock was around, and they said, ‘What record should we remake?’ And Chris Rock brought up ’99 Problems.’ JAY-Z remade the song, he changed the verses, but he even took the ‘hit me!’ So he did it. No harm, no foul.”
“It was a publishing deal. At that time, my publishing was owned, I think, by Warner Chappell or Universal. It paid, I had a deal and that was it,” he said. “I didn’t come out saying, ‘Oh, JAY-Z went after’ — this, that. But now we’re in the social media era and they’re like, ‘Let’s see what we can turn into a beef.’ I got no problems with JAY-Z … Jay didn’t steal it.
“If you listen to The Seventh Deadly Sin, JAY-Z does an intro for me. He’s on there talking, ‘Yo, Ice. What’s up, yo?’ I have no beef with JAY-Z whatsoever, it’s just how it happened … I love JAY-Z. JAY-Z is a very supernatural human being.” Watch the interview below.
