Grammy Award-winning songwriter, superproducer, visionary, and CEO of So So Def Jermaine Duprimade a guest appearance on CBS’s Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas To All!, a new two-hour primetime concert special from the Queen of Christmas Mariah Carey. The special aired on Tuesday, Dec. 20 on the CBS Television Network, and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount.
Filmed in New York City at The World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden, the concert special will feature the singer-songwriter performing a repertoire of her festive holiday hits, including the chart-topping massive perennial favorite “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Additional special guest appearances include Drew Barrymore, Billy Porter, Slick Rick, and the Radio City Rockettes.
Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced she secured $3 million in funding in the year-end omnibus package to go toward construction of the Universal Hip Hop Museum, which broke ground in the South Bronx in May 2021 and is slated to open in 2024. The omnibus is expected to pass Congress and be signed into law this week.
The Universal Hip Hop Museum aims to become a tourist hub honoring the genre’s influence over art, music, fashion, film, marketing and entertainment, celebrating the pioneers who built the culture, such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, DJ Kool Herc, Run DMC and Notorious B.I.G. The funds attained by Senator Gillibrand will go toward helping support the interior fit out of the facility, which is currently under construction at Bronx Point in the “Boogie Down” borough.
“The Bronx has historically been a creative incubator for so many wonderful genres of music, ranging from doo-wop to salsa, but few genres have left a greater mark on mainstream culture than hip hop music,”said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.“It is amazing to see that what started as a party in the basement of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue became a global phenomenon that spawned artistry and entrepreneurs like Jay-Z, Queen Latifah, and 50 Cent. With the 50th anniversary of hip hop right around the corner, I am proud to have secured funds to help the Universal Hip Hop Museum celebrate everything that is beautiful about hip hop culture.”
Located in the borough that give birth to the musical genre, the Universal Hip Hop Museum is the only state-chartered educational museum that is focused on the preserving the genre’s deep musical history and celebrating the 5 elements of hip hop’s culture: emceeing, DJing, breakdancing, graffiti art, and knowledge.
Transcending language, age, race, geographic, and socioeconomic barriers, hip hop has grown from “New York City” street music getting minimal radio play that gave a voice to the voiceless to topping the Billboard charts thanks to musical acts such as Drake, Nas, Kendrick Lamar and Lizzo, as well as influencing other genres ranging from pop music to R&B to heavy metal music.
For the first time ever, Alicia Keys is performing classic holiday music from her ninth studio album, ‘Santa Baby’ in a setting she’s wanted to manifest for a long time — a masquerade ball. Ahead of tomorrow’s Apple Music Live performance, Alicia sits down with Ebro to talk about her performance and the album. She explains her desire to put a more flirtatious twist on some Christmas classics, the magic of Christmas in New York City, crafting the setlist, and what fans can expect from the festive performance. Alicia also sits down at the piano to play a bit of “Little Drummer Girl” and answers a surprise FaceTime from husband Swizz Beatz.
Fashion designers in the British capital are uniting to advance the “An Hour For Ukraine” initiative before Christmas. With support from the archbishop of Canterbury and the mayor of London, British landmarks will switch their festive lights off for an hour at 8pm local time on Wednesday, the darkest day of 2022. These landmarks include Trafalgar Square, Canterbury Cathedral, Lambeth Palace and the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, and several other key locations in Paris, New York and Sydney.
This initiative, organized by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, involves his fundraising platform United24, members of the Ukrainian parliament, fashion and creative platform 1 Granary, and War Against War, an alternative media organization. All of these players are a part of a $10 million fundraising drive to obtain generators to heat hospitals across Ukraine this winter.
Social media platforms come with their own set of drawbacks, yet they still have the ability to spread news across borders in a powerful way. With a bachelor’s degree in fashion design from Central Saint Martins, the founder of 1 Granary, Olya Kuryshchuk, has pushed for fashion brands to use social media platforms as a way to encourage audiences to turn off their lights for an hour at home from around the world.
In explaining the message behind this affair, Kuryshchuk said “I am part of the global fashion industry but I am also Ukrainian. Part of my family is still in Kyiv and they don’t have electricity, heating, water, internet, or phone connection along with over 10 million people. The ‘An Hour For Ukraine’ awareness campaign is set up to bring attention to the humanitarian catastrophe in my home country.”
The designers participating include Charlotte Knowles and Alexandre Arsenault of Knwls, Richard Quinn, Charles Jeffrey, Stefan Cooke, Chopova Lowena, Kiko Kostadinov, Paolina Russo, Masha Popova, Sinéad O’Dwyer, Eftychia Karamolegkou, Lutz Huelle, Ranra, Paula Canovas Del Vas, Jordan Dalah, Duran Lantink, Katie Burnett, Tallulah Harlech, Michael Stewart of Standing Ground, Robyn Lynch, and Goom Heo.
The highly-coveted capsule collection is an amalgamation of Soulja Boy’s legacy in the realms of music, culture and fashion that have only elevated the rapper’s reverence over the past two decades. Transcending any form rules, the NYC born label adds its recognizable streetwear flare into this collaboration to continue its explosive growth as the world’s most innovative travel-fashion brand.
Determined to create a collection that celebrated the rapper’s legacy, Sprayground’s founder and Chief Creative DirectorDavid BenDavid (DBD) used Soulja Boy’s personal style and turned it into reimagined and sleek pieces that complement Sprayground’s iconic stud designs with a modern ode to Soulja Boy’s artistry in the form oftwo backpacks, a limited edition teddy-bear backpack that Sprayground has become known for over the past few years, and a jewelry case.
The collection stays true to the brand’s signature aesthetics, featuring a comic-book style backpack and a carefully graffiti-inflected backpack for added oomph, a teddy-bear backpack carries a Soulja Boy inspired look that hits the heel to round out the co-branding, and a one-of-a-kind jewelry box that doesn’t sacrifice accessibility or looks.
On a recent episode of Maino’s podcast Kitchen Talk, Wu Tang Clan front man and actor Method Man delved into his weed smoking habit and how he had to bring it to a halt for the filming of one of his most famous acting roles as “Silas” on How High.
Maino asked the Iron Lung if the weed he smoked on set was real and Meth replied, “At first, yeah. Hell yeah! And they was like, ‘you guys are so spot on in the morning but after lunch you come back something’s different.’” He went on to say how producer Stacey Sher pulled him to the side and said “You know after this I’m gonna still be a producer, my face isn’t on the screen, but I’ll get my credit. That’s your face on the screen. How do you wanna be seen?”
One of the most infamous graffiti artists of the 20th century is celebrating his 53rd born day today, and he goes by the name of COPE2, founder of the world-famous KINGS DESTROY crew.
Born Fernando Carlo on this date in 1968 in the Bronx, New York, COPE2 began his illustrious graff career in 1985, during the height of the crack era in the Kingsbridge section of his home borough. He picked up his throw up from graffiti bad guy CAP ONE MPC and the rest is history.
COPE’s work can now be found internationally in art galleries for tens of thousands of dollars, but with the game deeply embedded in his heart, you can still find some of his work somewhere in the Rotten Apple rockin’ on the walls.
Happy born day to COPE from the entire Mind Squad!
Spotify and leading Livestream shopping platform NTWRK are collaborating to celebrate the streaming service’s “Feelin’ Myself” playlist with an exclusive trading card pack featuring anime caricatures of iconic female rappers Megan Thee Stallion, Ice Spice, GloRilla and Flo Milli.
The NTWRK x Spotify hype-worthy trading card pack will feature the up-and-coming and established rappers as a modern-day super heroines celebrating women in hip-hop. Fans will have the chance to win the exclusive trading card pack only on the NTWRK app today (Dec. 20) at 1 pm PST / 4 pm EST.
The back of the cards will include the individual initials of each rapper and a barcode that leads users to the Feelin’ Myselfplaylist, encouraging collectors to dance along as they unveil their new pack of cards.
1000 families were gifted with a shopping spree at Target for the Freewishes foundation’s 9th annual Christmas toy drive. FreeWishes hosted the 9th annual I AM A DREAMER Holiday Pop Up at Target. Children and their families were treated to a shopping spree at the Target courtesy of the foundation.
The FreeWishes Foundation is one of Georgia’s most visible foundations. They makes an enormous impact throughout the Atlanta metro area all year round. From scholarships to health and wellness initiatives or assisting Senior citizens, giving back has always been a priority for Future and the foundation. The foundation was founded by Future, his sister, Tia Wilburn and mother, Stephanie Jester 13 years ago. The foundation has been a major resource for those in need throughout Atlanta. The holidays are no exception to the rule.
“Christmas has always been another opportunity to give and not receive for the foundation. We’ve been committed to giving back to those in need for over ten years, especially in metro Atlanta and the neighborhood we grew up in, Kirkwood,” said Tia Wilburn.
“I’m so happy that everyone was able to get the things they need for their children and family members. We are doing our part to service our communities. In over a decade we’ve never waited for anyone else to help our community. We have always stepped up to the plate. Our commitment to the community is very faith based. God has been a blessing to our family and we want to continue to service the community,,” said Stephanie Jester.
For the last nine years the Freewishes Foundation held an Annual Winter Wishland Extravaganza in Atlanta for over 1,000 kids and their families. Covid halted the in-person extravaganza in 2020. Last year the foundation started the holiday shopping spree for kids which they say works better.
Over the weekend, YSL front man Gunna was schedule to host his 5th Annual Gunna’s Great Giveaway at Walmart sponsored by Goodr, who released a statement about the reason behind the cancellation. This giveaway was scheduled to happen just days after Gunna’s release from the Fulton County Jail after taking a plea deal in the YSL RICO case alongside Young Thug and a host of other YSL members and affiliates.
Goodr released a statement about the event’s cancellation, saying, “Goodr was saddened to learn of Walmart’s decision to cancel the 5th Annual Gunna’s Great Giveaway event today. Gunna and the entire Goodr team were looking forward to brightening the holidays of the 1,000 families that registered. We are aware of how much the promised gifts meant to those families and we are collectively working to find an alternate solution. Registered families will be updated about the event’s status. Goodr apologizes for any inconvenience this unexpected turn of events has caused.”
The City of South Fulton Police Department announced the cancellation of the gift card giveaway at the South Fulton Walmart and said that any questions would need to be directed at the retailer.
This event comes just days after Gunna’s release from jail.The rapper accepted a plea deal concerning the RICO indictment brought against another Atlanta Rapper Young Thug and 28 other defendants.
