The news regarding Jay-Z’s monumental sell-off of Tidal to Jack Dorsey’s Square, Inc. revealed that Hov took home $297 million, but it sparked a conversation about his co-owners. Others who bought-in when Jay acquired Tidal back in 2015 include Beyoncé, Rihanna, Usher, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, J. Cole, Alicia Keys, Daft Punk, Chris Martin (Coldplay), Calvin Harris, deadmau5, Madonna, Jack White, Win Butler & Régine Chassagne (Arcade Fire), and Jason Aldean. Variety recently shared a report where they broke down the numbers, including how much each of these partners will walk away with in this latest Tidal deal.
According to the outlet, those who partnered with Hov were “gifted 3% in equity in Tidal,” and it’s estimated that each artist (or artist paring) will receive approximately $8.91 million. Jay’s latest move has been heavily criticized from all sides, but regardless of where one stands about the Rap mogul’s business decisions, they all prove to be lucrative in maintaining his billion-dollar empire.
“Tidal started with the idea of honoring artists by being artist-owned and led, focused on an uncompromised experience of the art,” Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey recently tweeted. “It’s refreshing and right. The vision only grows stronger as it’s matched with more powerful tools for artists, inclusive of new ways of getting paid.”
We’re far from being “bored in the house and in the house bored” under quarantine like we were this time last year when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the world to undergo a lockdown. There are still restrictions in place, but we’re finding ourselves adjusting to our new normal. There have been a few ideas created during quarantine that have developed into money-makers, including Verzuz, but now that we’re no longer under lockdown, 50 Cent doesn’t quite see the continued purpose of the music-centered online show.
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The Rap mogul sat down with The Morning Hustle where he discussed his potential participation in the series after Fat Joe recently stated he’d only do a Verzuz if it was with Fif. “I thought Verzuz was something we did when we was stuck in the house. Look, as soon as we got out of the house and we come back outside, I was like, Verzuz didn’t make sense to me,” said Fif. One of the hosts suggested that maybe artists can take Verzuz on the road and make money that way, but 50 Cent wasn’t convinced.
“The reason why—the Verzuz part, to me, because of how it came, I looked at it like…Verzuz showed up and was the hottest thing. I was paying attention to it and watching it like everybody else. This is when D-Nice is like, the only DJ on the planet, right?” he added with a laugh. “This is like, COVID, this is crazy, what are we doing, we’re just looking and trying to figure out what we’re doing next.”
“Soon as we come back outside I’m like, I don’t know why we’re still doing [Verzuz]. I think when they did the Jeezy, Gucci Mane [Verzuz], I think that that was desperation on Jeezy’s part trying to sell a record.” When asked if he felt as if the promotion ploy worked, Fif answered, “No, the record didn’t sell.”
“But I think that’s what that was leading up to it because they looked at how much a catalog would sell and how much exposure you’ll have ’cause he was releasing a record at that point. Other than that, I don’t know why you would do that.” Check out the clip, and 50 Cent’s full interview with The Morning Hustle below.
Hip Hop culture is never without beef. Since its inception, there have been verbal battles and wars regarding who is the best lyrically, what rapper has the greatest flow, and who consistently drops the hardest bars. There haven’t been issues when comparing one artist to the next, but as social media has become the leading force of entertainment, fans have introduced new avenues of pitting rappers against one another. We’ve witnessed these rising beefs turn violent or even deadly, and many entertainers are opting to stay away from the controversy instead of feeding into it for “likes.”
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Back in February, Saweetie and Cardi B fans were debating if the two chart-topping rappers were secretly at odds. With Cardi married to Offset and Saweetie paired up with Quavo, their fans expected the women to show themselves interacting more. Cardi’s sister Hennessy Carolina quickly shut down the rumors and said that the ladies didn’t have any beef with one another and were actually in talks to collaborate, and Saweetie confirmed that information during her sit-down with The Breakfast Club.
“Yeah, our teams have definitely been talking. I think we’re just kinda waiting for that right record,” said Saweetie. Shee explained why she believes things were blown out of proportion. “I think the media just likes to take things out of context. I’m loving how women artists are starting to realize that sometimes it’s the media that creates something that’s not there. I think it just shows mature and it shows growth amongst me and my peers to not be affected by what the media says.”
Another successful NBA All-Star Weekend is in the books, but not without scandals. The city of Atlanta lit up this past weekend as dozens of nightclub events were hosted by several of the hundreds of celebrities in town. We saw videos from just a few of the parties, as well as the not-so-pleasant occurrences from those looking for a come-up. There were a handful of photos floating around showing that while people were inside of the clubs, others were taking the tires off of their cars. Two people reportedly died over the weekend including rapper Chucky Trill who was reportedly shot and killed on a highway.
When there is a celebrity-centered event on the horizon, especially sports-related, models will do all they can to make sure they’re seen. However, just because someone is flexing online doesn’t mean they have the means to afford their travels, and often, people end up stranded. That’s what was said to have happened to a woman who goes by “Yazz Theestallion.”
“I went to Atlanta for all star weekend with $400 only booked a one way because I was waiting on my unemployment to pay my way back but they baited I need help surviving and making back home to New York please anything will help!!!” she wrote in her original GoFundMe post that has since been deleted. She asked for a goal of $1,500 and after making $1,600 with the help of over 50 donors, her post was taken down.
Lil Yachty couldn’t help but draw attention to “Yazz” over on TikTok. “Why did you go? You shoulda stayed home. Anybody that want to help this poor girl, they shouldn’t because you shoulda stayed home.” Then, he decided to scream it for good measure. “You shoulda stayed home!” 50 Cent couldn’t help himself and had to weigh in, as well, over on Instagram.
“Is this real [laughing emojis] or is somebody trying to pull some bullsh*t. LOL ALLSTAR weekend is over.” Some have suggested that this was all a scam, but truthful or not, it made someone $1,600 richer. Check out the posts below.
Y’all keep asking me if I’m okay 😂I am perfectly fine idc bout these negative ass comments I am literally laughing with y’all . I done caught 50 cent Herbo and lil yatchy attention just from being a clown😂
Though she’s been working in music since her preteen days, it’s been almost ten years since Jhene Aiko released her official debut mixtape Sailing Soul(s). To celebrate its upcoming anniversary later this month, Aiko is rereleasing the project to streaming services for the first time ever — and it includes an exclusive track.
Sailing Soul(s) is the first project Aiko released after having adverse meetings with label heads. Instead of trying to put the mixtape out through a label, Aiko decided to debut the project through her own website. In a post about it, Aiko wrote she was sick of trying to “sell” herself to label executives at the time:
“this mixtape was a pivotal moment for me. when i was 12 i was signed to a label, singing songs i had no real connection to. besides that, i had no real stories of my own to tell at 12 lol. then i took a break to focus on school. in my teens i was singing demo records and taking meetings. i met with one record exec who told me i needed to do a better job as ‘selling’ myself when i came into meetings. dressing like myself, singing like myself, talking like myself… wasn’t enough. i thought, ‘why do i have to sell myself? why do i have to try to convince you of my worth? of who i am??? from that point on i decided i would never try to ‘sell’ myself. i would simply BE myself and whoever felt a connection would SEE ME and my worth.”
No one expected Papa Johns to be entangled in a racism controversy, but that’s exactly what happened in 2018. In May of that year, a conference call involving then-CEO John Schnatter, the man from those memorable commercials, became the talk of the town after it was alleged and he used the n-word. There were several excuses Schnatter gave at the time as to why he used the racial slur, but in the end, he stepped down from his position after alleged urging from the board of directors. Schnatter recently sat down for an interview with the far-right, pro-Trump-supporting One America NewsNetwork where he revisited his controversy, only he made more statements that added fuel to the fire.
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Schnatter said that when he saw his name being “smeared” in headlines, he was in a “state of shock.” He added, “I couldn’t understand it. I mean, you have a public board who paints its chairman—complicit, passive or active—they paint the founder as a racist. They know he’s not a racist. It’s just unbelievable. I used to lay in bed just going, ‘How did they do this?'”
He said that there have been “three goals” for the “last 20 months,” and one of them surprised the public. “To get rid of this n-word in my vocabulary and dictionary and everything else because it’s just not true [and] figure out how they did this and get on with my life.” Schnatter wants the board to come forward to admit that they jumped to conclusions and didn’t offer a proper investigation into the conference call incident before asking him to step down.
Schnatter previously maintained that he was repeating what someone else said and that his comments were taken out of context. During the call in question, Schnatter was asked how he would distance himself from racists online after calling out the NFL during the kneeling controversy. Schnatter reportedly stated that “Colonel Sanders called blacks n*ggers,” but the KFC founder never received backlash, so he wasn’t concerned. In December 2020, his lawyer reportedly launched an investigation into the 2018 incident to prove that Schnatter didn’t use the term to degrade anyone. Check out the clip of his interview below.
They closed out the month of February with a major music announcement about the arrival of Silk Sonic, and now Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak are begging the Grammys for a spot on the stage. We’ve already received the news from The Recording Academy that they’ve chosen acts like Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, DaBaby, Doja Cat, Post Malone, John Mayer, Taylor Swift, and many more, but Mars and .Paak wants Silk Sonic to become a last-minute addition.
Instead of working things out behind the scenes, Bruno Mars decided to pen an open letter to the Grammys that he shared on Twitter. “Dear Grammys, If you can see it in your hearts to allow two out of work musicians to perform at your show, we would really appreciate it,” wrote Mars. “We just released a song and could really use the promotion right now. We have a lot riding on this record (and the Pelicans game next week, but that’s another story).”
“We haven’t been able to perform in a while and we just want to sing,” he continued. The singer added that they’ll take as many COVID-19 tests that are required and even offered to send in an audition tape. Bruno Mars promised that they wouldn’t be “extra” and just wanted the opportunity to “gig again.” Soon, thousands of fans joined in their crusade and supported their efforts with the #LetSilkSonicThrive hashtag, but there has yet to be an official response from The Recording Academy. We’ll have to wait and see if they can pull this off, but in the meantime, check out Mars and .Paak’s funny tweets below.
There are all sorts of news updates about Lil Mama today (March 8). First, a photo surfaced of the rapper showing off a baby bump, leaving many to question whether or not she’s pregnant. Then, a woman came forward on TikTok showing that Lil Mama is allegedly dating her ex, and later, the rapper caught heat from the public over her Instagram Story where she made a loose comparison between transgender people and animals. Lil Mama suggested that allowing children to change their genders is all apart of a scheme to depopulate the world.
Mike Coppola / Staff / Getty Images
She reposted a tweet that reads: “So children are too young to smoke cigarettes, too young to drink alcohol, too young to get a drivers license, too young to go to a club, too young to gamble, too young to rent a car, but old enough to cut off their genitals and/or ‘change’their gender?[thinking emoji]-This is insanity #America.”
Lil Mama added a few thoughts to the post. “DEPOPULATION AT ANY COST CAT FIGHTS SWORD FIGHTS Used be a cat now ima dog WHATEVER TO STOP NEW LIFE REPRODUCTION.” Lil Mama’s opinions trail B2K’s J-Boog’s who recently called Michelle Obama and Zaya Wade’s interview “demonic.” The rapper’s post amassed mixed reactions, so check out a few below and let us know if you agree or disagree with the New York artist.
Brent Faiyaz and Tyler, The Creator’s single “Gravity” was released in late January, and it’s still maintaining a solid rotation over on this end. The two have an incredible track record together whenever they team up but their latest offering is looking like it could carry on until the end of the year as a song of the year contender. We’ll have to see when the time’s right but clearly, IDK appreciates the song a lot or else he wouldn’t have covered it. The artist returned with a cover of the single today as part of a two-pack that included a freestyle over Pooh Shiesty and Lil Durk’s “Back In Blood.”
Check IDK’s cover of Brent Faiyaz & Tyler, The Creator’s collaboration “Gravity” and sound off in the comments with your thoughts.
Quotable Lyrics He aimed it at my heart but shot my mothafuckin’ top Now my love’s stupid, fuck it I’ll do it Climb on up the ladder honey
Streaming video is the best thing that’s ever happened to documentaries. People who would never have paid for a ticket to a theatrical nonfiction film are now, thanks to Netflix’s robust selection, scarfing down the stuff by the barrel. But where to start among the masses? Here are 25 of the best documentaries on Netflix right now to get you going, covering a variety of themes and real stories.
Even if you’ve already witnessed the madness of this real-life horror story over on Hulu, you should see it again on Netflix. Hulu’s Fyre Fraud feels like more of a thinkpiece directed at the millennials who were suckered into buying tickets to a luxurious music fest on a secluded island in the Bahamas. Netflix’s Fyre does a better job of placing you in the action, giving you a real feel for the chaos and an understanding of how so many people could’ve been roped into this doomed venture.
Beyoncé’s history-making Coachella performance was enough to temporarily rename the music festival Beychella last year, and now fans who couldn’t afford to see Queen Bee perform live get a backstage pass to the show with this doc. Are there killer performances, musical mash-ups, and dance routines? Sure. But what really makes this music doc stand-out besides the talent of its star is the intimate look fans are given into Beyoncé’s personal life, from her surprise pregnancy to her struggle to get in shape before the event and all the in-between madness and heartbreak.
To understand the enigma that was the Trump campaign, one must first understand the man behind the historic presidential run. Roger Stone is a well-connected lobbyist, a Republican political trickster responsible for the campaigns of former presidents like Richard Nixon and Ronal Reagan. He’s well-versed in navigating morally-murky waters to help his horse win the race, and we see him do just that in this doc, which follows the mogul over a five-year period as he crafts Trump’s winning-campaign.
One of the strangest, most tragic sports stories in history is that of professional wrestler Dave Schulz and his friend, John du Pont. Du Pont was heir to the multi-million dollar Du Pont family fortune and used his inheritance to fund a professional wrestling team with the hopes of competing in the Olympics and other prestigious sports events. Mark Schulz was a wrestler struggling to get out of the shadow of his older brother’s more promising career. The two were roped into du Pont’s scheme, training wrestlers for him, but the partnership quickly soured and led to du Pont murdering Dave Schultz before barricading himself in his family compound to avoid arrest. It’s chilling, bizarre, and all the more riveting because of it.
Another sports doc, this one about a rag-tag group of baseball players in Oregon, feels decidedly more fun than its wrestling counterpart. The doc follows the Portland Mavericks, a defunct minor league baseball owned by actor Bing Russell that played for five seasons in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League. Kurt Russell, Bing’s son, also played on the team and served as its vice president. The film charts the Maverick’s origins, from underdogs to anti-establishment heroes.
Compiled from rare home videos from Christopher “Biggie” Wallace’s best friend, Damion “D-Roc” Butler, this revealing doc gives fans a different look at the iconic rapper. Sean “Diddy” Combs and Biggie’s mom also give interviews, detailing parts of Biggie’s life we didn’t know about, but the most compelling footage comes from D-Roc’s amateur videos. These clips give us an unfiltered look at a man who would become a legend.
This 2016 documentary from Ava DuVernay won an Emmy and was nominated for an Oscar during awards season two years ago. The film chronicles the justice system’s abuses against black people, making a case for institutionalized racism being a problem in America that’s only emboldened by the prison cycle. DuVernay boldly explores how prisons and detention centers are making a profit off of free prison labor, most of it done by black men which begs the question, is slavery really dead?
Let’s be honest, Taylor Swift could’ve delivered a glossy, stylized, superficial doc about her life to promote her latest album, and her rabid fanbase would’ve eaten it up. Instead, the pop star took a risk and gave filmmakers no-holds-barred access to her personal and professional life, offering up intimate interviews with herself and her family, detailing difficult struggles with body dysmorphia and eating disorders, allowing cameras inside her sexual assault trial, revealing her mother’s cancer diagnosis, and unearthing home video footage of her youth to create a fuller picture of herself. It’s a film that reveals the human underneath the icon. It’s bold, brutally honest, and some of Swift’s best work yet.
Few environmental warrior films do more for the cause than Jeff Orlowski’s Chasing Coral. The doc rounds up a team of scientists, photographers, and divers from around the world to draw attention to an environmental crisis we’ve never seen before — the vanishing of the world’s coral reefs. It works on two levels: By giving us an underwater adventure that attempts to shed light on the mysteries of the deep and highlighting a problem we can see with our own eyes. There’s no denying this one, no looking away, and Orlowski’s crew takes full advantage of that.
’90s crime nostalgia is alive and well in this pseudo-doc from director Kitty Green. Everyone knows how tiny pageant queen JonBenet Ramsey died — bludgeoned to death in the basement of her family home — so Green is less interested in rehashing the investigation into the little girl’s death and more interested in reenacting her life and final moments. To do this, she enlists actors from the area where the family lived, all hoping to play JonBenet or her parents in an upcoming production. Over the course of the film, these thespians are forced to confront the reality of the Ramsey family’s situation which in turn helps viewers to take a look under the surface of this tabloid trauma.
This timely doc gives us a look at the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal that rocked the world of gymnastics just two years ago from the point of view of reporters at the Indianapolis Star in charge of exposing it. A cover-up spanning two decades and involving higher-ups at both US Gymnastics and Michigan State where Nassar served as a physician and professor, this revealing investigation into a sinister culture that’s hidden behind the success of its top female athletes makes you rethink everything you thought about the Olympic dream.
his marks the first documentary to come from Netflix’s high-profile producing deal with Barack and Michelle Obama. The film takes a hard look at what happened to a General Motors plant in Ohio when it was closed down during the 2008 financial crisis, causing 2,000 workers to lose their jobs and destroying the small town of Moraine, Ohio. Things only get more complicated when a Chinese billionaire comes to town to transform the plant into a glass-making facility, promising thousands of new jobs before cultural divides threaten to derail the whole thing. It’s a fascinating view of consumerism, the American workforce, culture clashes, and how people can connect with each other despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
In 1992, Sandi Tan, along with her friends, made Singapore’s first indie film. She wrote and starred in it, a project called Shirkers, her two girlfriends produced and edited it, and a man named George Cardona directed. Cardona vanished one day, taking all the film materials with him, and propelling Tan on a decades-long journey to find the truth. It’s an engrossing study in betrayal and the dangers of collaboration, and it works mostly because Tan approaches it from a true-crime mystery angle, stripping it of any nostalgia that might tint her lense.
This gripping documentary confronts some hard truths about religion: its power to unite and its power to divide. Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady follow three members of New York’s notoriously insular Hasidic community as they try to break free from their religion while holding onto their families and sense of belonging.
Bryan Fogel’s Academy Award-winning documentary Icarus wasn’t supposed to involve Russians and doping scandal and cover-ups. Fortunately for Fogel, when the filmmaker decided to test his mettle by competing in one of the toughest cycling competitions in the world and chose to dope to help his chances, he ended up meeting Russian scientist, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the director of Russia’s national anti-doping laboratory. The result is this nearly 90-minute film that chronicles Russia’s extensive history with doping and Rodchenkov’s fight for his life after he blows the whistle on the country’s bad practices.
It seems as though we’re all now more aware than ever of how utterly screwed any of us can be in an instant if the system places us in its crosshairs for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and not behaving in a way perceived to be “normal” in the immediate aftermath. Recent true crime documentaries like The Staircase, Making a Murderer and Serial have certainly played a part in illuminating this frightening and unfortunate slice of reality. We can now add Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn’s Amanda Knox to that list. Prepare to be terrified and infuriated as the filmmakers detail how an overzealous Italian prosecutor and a global tabloid press thirsty for a sensational story joined forces to wreck a young woman’s life, largely for their own benefit. As Daily Mail journalist Nick Pisa freely admits on camera — without any trace of remorse or shame — about his work covering the case, “A murder always gets people going… And we have here this beautiful, picturesque hilltop town in the middle of Italy. It was a particularly gruesome murder; throat slit, semi-naked, blood everywhere. I mean, what more do you want in a story?”
Netflix delivers another worthy installment in the true crime series with this truly bizarre tale of a naive, church-going family and the man who preyed upon them. The Brobergs lived in a small town in Idaho with their three young daughters when they met Robert Berchtold, a seemingly-nice family man who doted on the girls, in particular, a 12-year-old Jan Broberg. Over time, Berchtold began grooming Jan and manipulating her parents, engaging in sexual acts with both her father and mother to cause a rift in the family before kidnapping her and brainwashing her into compliance. This saga went on for years and as strange as it sounds, nothing can prepare you for hearing the first-hand account of how this sociopath destroyed this loving family.
This documentary features never-before-seen footage of Jim Carrey in character as Andy Kaufman on the set of his 1999 film Man on the Moon. Directed by Chris Smith, the film shows Carrey, who was a celebrated comedic actor at the time, going method for his dramatic role as the brilliant on-stage comedian. There’s plenty of behind-the-scenes drama on this one, including Carrey’s backstage antics while shooting the movie, but what’s really interesting about the film is watching the actor’s thorough process and how he’s approached his colorful careers.
We live in a world connected with most of our interactions happening online. It’s great but, as this doc shows, it’s also terrifying. Terrifying because the way our data changes hands so quickly and indiscriminately — as long as companies shell out the cash for it — skirts all kinds of privacy laws and moral boundaries. This doc, told from the perspective of a journalist attempting to get his search data, the enormous fight with big tech to do it, and how his journey connects to the Cambridge Analytica scandal that may have influenced multiple elections in the States and abroad, is full of fascinating information and shocking tell-alls that could bring this whole internet empire down if people finally decide to start listening.
This political doc made its way from Sundance to Netflix and we couldn’t think of a better time to watch it than leading up to the 2020 election. It follows the grassroots campaign of the right’s favorite punching bag, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, showcasing her charisma and approachability while also diving into more intimate parts of her life, like her relationship with her late father. It’s a feel-good story from Capitol Hill and really, we need more of that.
The film that turned the tide of public opinion on Sea World and convinced Pixar to change the ending of Finding Dory, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s animal rights muckraker is more than just 83 minutes of theme=park shaming. In telling the story of Tillikum, the psychologically damaged orca who spent his life in captivity and was involved in the deaths of three people, the movie is an elegy for the freedoms that marine creatures like him were once able to enjoy. Is there an ethical way to view creatures like Tillikum up close and personal, and if so, should we trust a private company to deliver it to us?
Clocking in at 24 minutes, the Oscar-nominated Extremis really would only work as a short, as its subject matter is almost unbearably heavy. Following terminal patients, their families, and their doctors, the tearjerker zeros in on the decision that many people are forced to make: whether to end a life or keep struggling to hold on. Netflix’s first foray into short documentary, it’s raw insight that can be rough for anyone who has been in similar shoes or spent any time facing dire choices in a hospital.
The alternately revolutionary and dispiriting saga of a combative, unapologetic and astoundingly gifted soul singer, Liz Garbus’s doc is a powerful rendering of the struggles Nina Simone faced throughout her career: the ways she became trapped in downward spirals, first of spousal abuse and then of bipolar disorder; and of her desperate, all-consuming urge to affect change on the country during the Civil Rights era. What happened? Watch for yourself.
We’re not sure why watching human beings dangling thousands of feet in the air with no safety net or cable cord to tether them to Earth is so irresistible, but it is, and this doc about free climber Tommy Caldwell and climbing partner Kevin Jorgeson might be Netflix’s most bingeable adventure flick. The two men attempt to scale the impossible 3000ft Dawn Wall of El Capitan, the Everest for free climbers, and if you can stomach over an hour of near-fatal slips, trips, and falls, this is the doc for you.
Warning: Netflix’s The Bleeding Edge will seriously piss you off. It might also make you swear off doctors for the rest of your life. The film is a deep dive into the medical device industry and the dangers that lurk there for unassuming patients. Like the pharmaceutical industry, there are few laws regulating the creation and implementation of medical devices — think everything from birth control to orthopedic instruments — and the doc shows how this is negatively affecting millions of Americans every year from the women unknowingly sterilized by an IUD device to a doctor whose own ortho-device slowly poisoned him. It’s a frustrating watch, but a necessary one.
