entertainment blog
ILLENIUM Announces Holiday Food Drive, Special Club Performance
If your version of a winter wonderland is on a dancefloor, you’re in luck thanks to ILLENIUM. The Grammy-nominated producer and guitarist has announced “Saint Nick’s Holiday Food Drive,” a special club night where electronic music and charity collide. It’s going down at Denver’s Mirus Gallery and Temple Nightclub on Friday, December 23rd. The holiday-themed festivities kick off at 3pm, when ILLENIUM will host a two-hour photo-op for fans of all ages. Clubbers 21 and up can then head into Temple for the show, which will feature a number of “special guest DJs” before wrapping up with a big performance by the Fallen Embers artist, who recently revealed he’s recording his fifth studio album. ILLENIUM. Christian Wade/EDM.com Sc...
Defected Records is Returning to Ibiza for a Summer 2023 Residency
Defected Records will be returning to the White Isle for a summer 2023 residency. Defected, EDM.com‘s record label of the year, has appeared in Ibiza every season since 2001, when they initially launched. 22 years running, they’ve now announced their return to Eden, a premier nightclub that will host Defected’s residency every Friday starting on May 5th through September 29th. Tickets are available now and you can purchase them here. Back in September, Defected Records’ new CEO, Wez Saunders, announced that the label had plans to establish a transformative 30% minimum royalty rate for its artists. Moreover, he said Defected would provide quarterly royalty reports to all of its producers and songwriters in a major stride towards financial transp...
Young Thug’s Sister Reveals Acronym Behind His Stage Name
Young Thug sister has revealed that the rapper’s stage name is actually an acronym for a larger meaning. Taking to Twitter earlier this week, his sister HiDoraah, who is a hip-hop artist in her own right, revealed that her superstar brother’s name might not be what fan expects. Unbeknownst to his fan base, HiDoraah explained why his brother chose to name himself Young Thug as his stage name. She recently tweeted, “Thug = Truly. Humble. Under. God,” wrote Doraah.”Young Truly Humble Under God. Young Thug.,” without further explanation. To onlookers it seems as if she is just showing support for her brother who has recently been involved in a high-profile RICO case in Georgia. While fans flooded the Twitter post with questions of the cryptic social media post, HiDoraah posted to her Instagram...
Rare Ernie Barnes Art Exhibit To Be Held In L.A. Next February
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: George Wilhelm / Getty A new exhibit featuring rarely-seen artwork from the symbolic Black artist Ernie Barnes is set to open in Los Angeles, California next year. As the Los Angeles edition of the Frieze art festival is set to take place in February, one gallery has announced an exhibit featuring the iconic work of Barnes that focuses on his viewpoint of music. The exhibit, titled Ernie Barnes: Where Music and Soul Live, will be hosted by UTA Artist Space and contain 30 of his vibrant paintings that showcase Black musicians and dancers in nightclubs and other street scenes. This exhibit will mark the first time many of these paintings, which have been in private collections, will be seen by the public. Barnes’ work, which highlights Black bodies sw...
‘Black Ink Crew’ Recap: Ceaser Is Fired, The Team Feels This Is The End of The Show
HipHopWired Featured Video CLOSE Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz / Ceaser Last week it was Ceaser doing the firing. In the season 10 finale of Black Ink Crew, the tattoo shop mogul gets the axe, and his team wonders if this is the show’s end. Young Bae Makes Peace With Krystal After they got the boot last week, Young Bae decided to take herself to Gods of Ink tattoo shop on a goodwill mission. Bae feels awful for being why she, Krystal, Vanity, and Tatti got fired. Krystal is initially hesitant, but she decides to hear what Bae says. After a conversation ironically over some drinks, Krystal accepts Bae’s apology. Later in the episode, Krystal tells Rok about the moment and how the situation played out. Rok tells Krystal he is on her side and can no longer see himself working at Bla...
Defense Witness Testifies “Short Guy” Tory Lanez Was “Firing Everywhere”
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Jerod Harris / Getty / Tory Lanez Tory Lanez and his defense team were thrown a huge curveball when a witness they hoped would help their case did the exact opposite. Tuesday, Dec.20, the whirlwind Tory Lanez trial continued, and we are sure Tory Lanez and his team of lawyers thought it would be a good day for him, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. Related Stories A man said he saw an all-out roadside assault with Megan Thee Stallion being the victim, GASP. According to the man’s testimony, a fight broke out between two women, followed by an angry “short guy,” his words not ours, “firing everywhere.” He also said he saw a woman fire the first shot. Per Variety: Court sessions opened on Tuesday with Sean Kelly’s testimony that he woke up to the s...
You Promise?: Chief Twit Elon Musk Says He Will Step Down As CEO After He Finds A Successor
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Elon Musk It looks like Elon Musk will honor the results of his Twitter poll, well, sort of. The Chief Twit, Elon Musk, announced on his Twitter account Tuesday, Dec.20, that he would “step down” as CEO as soon as he finds “someone foolish enough to take the job.” Musk’s announcement comes two days after a poll he posted on his Twitter account asking his 122 million followers if he should step down as the chief operating officer of the social media company he spent $44 billion on. Related Stories As expected, a majority of the people who cast a vote in the poll voted yes and wanted him out of the position. Bootleg Tony Stark, oops, Elon Musk decided to ask the question after Twitter announced a dumb content moderation policy forbidding ...
From Beyoncé to Brent Faiyaz, What Was Your Favorite R&B Album of 2022? Vote!
It’s that time of year! Yes, the holiday season, but also when we look back and take stock on the best music of the year. And in the countdown to Christmas, we want to know which R&B album released in 2022 was your favorite. On Tuesday (Dec. 20), Billboard staffers ranked their ten picks for the year’s best R&B studio sets, starting with Brent Faiyaz‘s Wasteland. Calling it the indie artist’s “most transparent project to date,” the sophomore follow-up to 2017’s Sonder Son was led by singles “Dead Man Walking,” “Gravity” with DJ Dahi and featuring a guest assist from Tyler, the Creator, and “Wasting Time” featuring Drake before finally debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in July. Of course, it wouldn’t be the year in R&B without considering Beyoncé‘s mammoth Renaissance, even...
Oscars 2023: Snubs & Surprises in the Music Shortlists
Taylor Swift probably has mixed emotions about the Oscar shortlists, which were announced on Wednesday (Dec. 21). She is shortlisted for best original song for “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing. For a folk-style ballad that wasn’t a big hit, that’s great. On the other hand, she was not shortlisted for best live action short film for “All Too Well,” which she directed. “All Too Well” won three MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 28 — video of the year, best director and best long-form video. Swift has had enough awards show experience to know that you win some and you lose some. But to not be shortlisted for a film that she cares deeply about and has worked hard to promote has to sting. Swift’s pal Selena Gomez also got mixed news in the shortlists. “My Mind & Me,” which she co-wrote f...
Sony Music Says Artists Have Withdrawn $50M Using Its Cash-Out and Real-Time Advance Features
On Monday (Dec. 19), Sony Music Entertainment (SME) shared a recap with the company’s artists and earnings participants on the progress of its Artists Forward initiative, which encompasses SME’s legacy unrecouped balances initiative, healthcare assistance, advances on projected earnings and more. Notably, the recap offers never-before-reported stats on Sony Music’s artist portal and real-time insights platforms. Introduced in 2019, the features offer music creators and their teams “best-in-class” payment capabilities and real-time updates on consumption of their music and audience engagement data. According to the company, artists and other earnings participants have withdrawn nearly $50 million combined from both the cash-out feature, which allows users to cash out payable monthly account...
Rory Kramer, Justin Bieber’s Photographer, Mourns Loss of Son After Premature Birth: ‘How Fragile Life Is’
Gone far too soon. Rory Kramer, Justin Bieber‘s longtime photographer and music video director, took to social media on Monday (Dec. 19) to share the news that his baby son had died after a premature birth. “It’s with a broken heart that I share on December 1, 2022 at 9:41pm, my wife Amy went into a preterm labor and gave birth to our baby boy, Daniel Thomas Kramer after 21 weeks,” Kramer wrote alongside an Instagram photo of himself cradling the tiny baby, whose face was covered by a heart emoji. “A name after both our fathers. He weighed 14oz and was 11 inches long. He made Amy and I parents for 52 minutes before heading off to heaven.” Kramer went on to recall his very first moments in the hospital with baby Daniel before writing, “It went from the most beautiful moment to the most eye ...
DaBaby Beats $6 Million Lawsuit
After a five-day trial, a jury has found in favor of DaBaby, who was facing a $6 million federal lawsuit accusing him of battery, breach of contract, and defamation, according to documents viewed by Pitchfork. In DaBaby’s countersuit, plaintiffs Kenneth Carey and Steve Anyadike were found to be liable for invasion of privacy and unauthorized use of name or likeness. In January 2020, DaBaby was arrested and questioned by police in Miami about an alleged robbery; he was found to have an outstanding warrant in Texas, spent the night at Miami’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, and was released the next day. A month later, Carey, a concert promoter, filed a lawsuit claiming DaBaby breached his contract to perform, and, along with his associates, beat and robbed him. TMZ published a v...
