Actor Kendrick Sampson, who has appeared on Insecure and The Flash, was hit by LAPD with a baton and rubber bullets during a Los Angeles protest against police brutality and the death of George Floyd on Saturday. Sampson was streaming the protest on Instagram Live when the officers began firing rubber bullets at protestors. He […]
Run the Jewelsâ Killer Mike gave an impassioned speech last night at Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottomsâ press conference, calling for peaceful protest and an end to systemic racism. Mike directly addressed Atlanta protestors, who have been demonstrating against police brutality following the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died after Minneapolis police officer […]
Stan wars raged out of control in May. Taylor Swift fans tried to cancel Burger King for a tweet poking fun at her songs about ex-boyfriends. Barbz called for Usherâs head when he downplayed the prospect of a Verzuz battle between Nicki Minaj and Lilâ Kim, calling the Young Money chart-topper a âproductâ of the […]
In her new movie The High Note, Tracee Ellis Ross plays a high-strung, high-maintenance pop diva who wants to get back in the game. âIn the history of music, only five women over 40 have ever had a No. 1 hit,â Rossâs Grace Davis laments, anticipating her labelâs underestimation of a woman in the middle […]
The rah-rah bitch is back, and we want her stupid lyrics. Itâs been a long, rough ride, but weâve finally made it to Chromatica, and Lady Gaga is back, in full dance-pop form, to welcome us. Her first album since 2016âs Joanne and 2018âs A Star Is Born, Chromatica is a return to the electropop […]
Cardi B just needs to go ahead and reboot Schoolhouse Rock, because sheâs singlehandedly educating a generation. The rapper, whoâs consistent on speaking out about the issues she cares about, posted a brief video on Instagram and Twitter sympathizing with the Minneapolis protests against police brutality, succinctly breaking down why the protests are escalating, and […]
Jane Moss, an impresario who prodded Lincoln Center to evolve from a complacent institution into a spiritual force, will step down this summer after 27 years. The move, effective August 1, leaves her with no specific plans and the organization without an artistic leader at a time when performances have stopped, planning is impossible, and the […]
With the launch of HBO Max, the Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering documentary On the Record, which premiered at Sundance and details the sexual-assault accusations against music mogul Russell Simmons by several women, is now available for wide viewing. Similar to Leaving Neverland and Surviving R. Kelly, it paints a picture of a powerful figure […]
My first desire after listening to Chromatica, aside from wishing it were still safe to head to a dance floor, was for a button I could press on my phone so that I would respond to messages with Lady Gagaâs specific, exaggerated delivery of âthatâs gos-sipâ from âBabylon.â On the last track of the album, […]
Taylor Swift has made her most direct comment on the 2020 election yet, addressing President Donald Trump and his recent violent threats aimed at protesters. âAfter stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? âWhen the looting starts the shooting startsâ???â […]
Congratulations to Lady Gaga! The pop star has officially given birth to her sixth album, Chromatica, over a year after announcing she was pregnant with LG6. And what a journey itâs been, from unhinged tweets to a pandemic-related delay to leaks. Lots and lots of leaks. But hey hackers, you canât leak an album thatâs […]
Donât dust off those flower crowns just yet. While Coachella is set to take place over two weekends in October, recent reporting gives reason to doubt the countryâs largest music festival will be back before 2021. In early March, as the coronavirus had just been declared a pandemic and social gatherings became limited, the festivalâs […]
The world is changing all around us, but some things remain constant, among them RosalĂaâs ability to release a total club banger every few months. Today, itâs âTKN,â the Spanish flamenco-pop singerâs new collaboration with Travis Scott. The two previously linked up for a remix of Scottâs âHighest in the Room,â and now, RosalĂa is […]
If youâve been on Instagram at any point during the pandemic â and letâs face it, you have â youâve probably seen Jordan Firstmanâs face. Posts from celebrities like Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, and Chrissy Teigen about Firstmanâs hilarious series of âImpressionâ videos have catapulted him from 15,000 to 260,000 (and counting) followers on the […]
When Emile Mosseri stepped in as the composer of Homecoming, he had gigantic shoes to fill. The first season of the Amazon Prime series, based on the popular Gimlet podcast, was âscoredâ by the likes of Bernard Herrmann, David Shire, and Vangelis â a trio of Oscar-winning legends who, it should be noted, are either […]
Itâs hard to picture Rihanna in 2020 without her multiple crowns: wealthiest female musician, one of the worldâs best-selling artists, a multi-hyphenate businesswoman, the first woman of color to lead a luxury fashion house under LVMH MoĂ«t Hennessy Louis Vuitton. But in 2005, she was just a tenacious, unknown 17-year-old from the left side of […]
Okay, weâre gonna need choreography, ASAP! Lady Gaga and Blackpinkâs highly anticipated, stan Twitter destroying collaboration âSour Candyâ is officially here, a day ahead of Lady Gagaâs sixth album, Chromatica. Gaga enlisted K-pop queens Jennie, Lisa, RosĂ©, and Jisoo for the bilingual dance track. âIâm sour candy / so sweet then I get a little angry, […]
Doja Catâs wigs may have gotten their lives together, but the eccentric, unfiltered rapper-slash-singer has never once given up her unruly ways. The nascent 24-year-old star has been stirring up trouble long before she went viral with 2018âs âMooo! (Bitch, Iâm a Cow),â and her latest scandal probably wonât be her last. While videos and […]
When 46-year-old George Floyd died in police custody on May 25, the Houston hip-hop community lost one of their own. Before moving to Minneapolis in 2018, Floyd lived in Houston, where he was active in the rap scene, the Houston Chronicle reports. Most notably, he worked with the Screwed Up Click, the collective led by […]
In just a couple of months, Swizz Beatz and Timbalandâs Verzuz beat battle series has grown from a novel event bridging hip-hopâs past and present into uplifting excitement in our indoor spring, joining DJ sessions by D-Nice, Questlove, and others as well as Ontario artist Tory Lanezâs unpredictable Quarantine Radio series as the must-see remote-but-live […]
Billie Eilish has dealt a final death-blow to body-shamers. In a newly released short film titled âNOT MY RESPONSIBILITY,â she addresses her fashion choices and condemns the double-standards she faces as a young woman in the public eye. The video was originally shown during a concert interlude at the opening of her âWhere Do We […]
It would be bad enough to accidentally rip your buns to shreds âin a moment of over-enthusiastic gardeningâ during quarantine, but then to suffer through a heart attack? Queen guitarist Brian May has had a hell of a month, health-wise, and thatâs not even considering thereâs a pandemic on. According to a video posted Monday […]
Guess whoâs back, back again, and wants you to shoot him a text sometime? D12 Eminem. On Monday, May 25, the Real Slim Shady tweeted out his cell phone number. âDear Stan, I meant to write you sooner, but I just been busyâ text me, Iâll hit you back 313-666-7440 #MMLP20 #DearSlimâ wrote Eminem before […]
Sheâs back. After Grimesâs baby, and Lana Del Reyâs extended public meltdown, who among us was not wondering, where on Godâs green earth is Azealia Banks? Well, on Monday, May 25, the one, true agent of chaos Miss Banks emerged from whatever hole sheâs been hiding in and did what she does best: stirred the […]
Like Nick Jonasâs middle tooth or Kim Kardashianâs fear of dancing, music leaks are what the universe gave to musicians to keep them from being too powerful. Lady Gagaâs new album Chromatica must be whole-destroyingly good because it has faced a maelstrom of leaks, mishaps, and plain olâ drama leading up to its release this […]
Concerts have been canceled, festivals are a no-go, and chances are these face masks would muffle even the sickest of lead singer wails anyway. So it makes sense why bands would take their talent to the hottest concert hall available to them during quarantine: Karen Oâs closet. On Sunday, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontswoman and […]
After stirring up a fandom backlash last week with comments about other popular female musicians, Lana Del Rey has apparently decided to let her work speak for itself. The singer released a spoken-word version of âPatent Leather Do-Overâ off her upcoming poetry collection, behind the iron gates – insights from an institution. The piece addresses […]
Last night online I tried to think of a bad song about rain, and I couldnât come up with one, and no one else who tried to come up with one in the Twitter thread could do it either. Thatâs because rain is a rich topic for songwriters. You can roll it out as melodramatic […]
The 1975âs fourth album, Notes on a Conditional Form, is as long as a short film. Whether that gives you more reason to love or to hate The 1975 is between you and lead singer Matty Healy, but donât deny: Itâs what youâd expect from the band at this point. And right around halfway, at […]
Skate culture caught fire in the â70s thanks to crafty Cali kids turning empty pools into hangout spots and linking with the satellite network of photographers, manufacturers, and builders responsible for creating the early skateparks and founding the first magazines. In the â80s, films like Thrashinâ and Gleaming the Cube made messy attempts to bring […]