NEWS
John Cena Kowtows to China by Apologizing for Calling Taiwan a Country
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-25T18:11:29+00:00“>May 25, 2021 | 2:11pm ET WWE wrestler-turned-actor John Cena has posted a mea culpa video on his Weibo page after (correctly) referring to Taiwan as a country during his press run for Fast & Furious 9. While speaking in Mandarin, Cena groveled to mainland sensibilities while emphasizing his “love and respect for China and the Chinese people.” Watch the apology video below. Without specifically mentioning Taiwan or the “mistake” itself, Cena explained he was given “a lot of information” and asked to conduct the interview in Chinese. “I’m sorry. I sincerely apologize,” Cena said in response to the social media backlash. “You must understand that I love and re...
Robert Plant Instructs His Kids to Unleash His Unreleased Archive of Music for Free When He Dies
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-25T19:41:14+00:00“>May 25, 2021 | 3:41pm ET We don’t want Robert Plant taking a stairway to heaven anytime soon, but the Golden God will leave fans with a whole lotta music once he leaves this world. The Led Zeppelin legend has instructed his children to unleash his entire archive of unreleased material for free once his time is gonna come. On the latest episode of his Digging Deep podcast, the iconic singer told co-host Matt Everitt that he spent a good portion of the pandemic archiving his unreleased material from over the years. The music dates from his pre-Zeppelin days in 1966 through the present day. “All the adventures that I’ve ever had with music and tours, album release...
SPIN Presents Lipps Service With Guest K. Flay
On this week’s episode of SPIN Presents Lipps Service, host Scott Lipps caught up with alternative singer-songwriter K. Flay. In their conversation, Lipps and Flay go through a number of topics, including discussing her love of podcasts to her musical journey, which includes a collaboration with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello that dropped last week. Additionally, they talked about how Flay started rapping early on as almost a rap parody meeting socially conscious rap. She also discussed role models, including Santigold, Missy Elliott and M.I.A. Flay also detailed her time working with Pharrell Williams and about her move from rapping to singing. In a special performance, Flay also covers the Offspring’s “Self Esteem” and performs her latest single, “Four...
Ray J Hits $17,000 Jackpot Playing The Slots At Casino
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Kevin Mazur/2021 MTV Movie and TV Awards / Getty Looks like Ray J just made a little more paper to invest in some more Scoot E Bikes or something as he just hit the jackpot at a San Miguel casino in L.A. According to TMZ the “Wait A Minute” singer found himself raking in a cool $17,000 playing a penny-slot game dubbed “Buffalo” after spending more than $100 on the digital game. Looking into the camera Ray apologizes to his “baby” saying “I told you I was coming home but I wanted to come to the casino. You know my dog is sick… this is for Bully.” His wifey might have to see more of that $17K than Bully if he wants to keep her off his ass for not coming home. As for why Ray J’s playing old folks games and not at the crap table or something, Ray feels h...
J. Cole’s Manager Ibrahim “IB” Hamad Shares More Details About The Infamous “Diddy Fight”
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Cassidy Sparrow / Getty J. Cole’s manager and Dreamville cofounder Ibrahim “IB” Hamad shared more details about the infamous “scrap” between his Cole and Diddy. Hamad shed more light on the “altercation” between the two Hip-Hop stars during a recent interview on the Say Less podcast. Before this interview, Cole already confirmed the 2013 fight went down on the Off-Season track “Let Go My Hand,” which ironically features an outro from Diddy himself. In the song, Simba raps, “My last scrap was with Puff Daddy, who would’ve thought it?” Around the 12-minute mark of the 2-hour episode, Hamad spoke on the incident saying, “The Puff story… I just remember hearing about it and laughing. Cause I was there.” When it all went down, word spread on Tw...
Master P Is Honored By Lincoln University With A Doctorate
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Scott Olson / Getty Proving the doubters wrong once again, Master P has a new title to go along with being a multi-millionaire rapper, producer and entrepreneur—Doctor. This past Sunday (May 23), the New Orleans native and founder of No Limit Records was present at the graduation ceremony at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania along with 400 other graduates and six valedictorians. There, the Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters was bestowed upon him. Master P shared the news with his three million Instagram followers on Monday night in a post that featured highlights from the day, along with an inspirational caption. His son, rapper and actor Romeo Miller shared his heartfelt congratulations in the comments of the post: “You make everything look easy but t...
Converse Accused Of Stealing Sneaker Design From Rejected Intern
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Foot Locker / Foot Locker Even with Converse officially under the Nike umbrella, the brand that introduced the classic Chuck Taylor to the world of fashion isn’t exactly considered must-have attired. But would they resort to stealing ideas to get things poppin’ for themselves? The New York Post is reporting that up and coming designer Cecilia Monge is claiming that Converse juxed a silhouette design she presented to the company in a rejected internship application she submitted in 2019. In a TikTok video posted this past Saturday, Monge explained her side of the story and she felt that one of Converse’s latest drops bore an uncanny resemblance to the design she submitted two years ago. TikTok viewers agreed. Her original “National Park” inspired design fe...
New York Venues Receive Green Light to Open at Capacity—But Must Ask for Proof of Vaccination
In a wide-ranging speech from the stage at Radio City Music Hall, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo explained that within the next month venues will begin operating at full capacity provided they request proof of vaccination from attendees. IQ reports that on June 19th, Radio City will open at full capacity and attendees will be required to present a vaccine passport—likely New York’s Excelsior Pass—in order to enter the venue. Cuomo explained his view that attendance scalability is predicated upon the amount of tickets allocated to vaccinated patrons. “I encourage [private venues] to have a high percentage available for vaccinated people,” he said. “Radio City is going to be 100%, I encourage that, because that’s an incentive for people to get vaccina...
Watch This DJ Launch a Blowup Doll Into the Crowd at a Socially Distanced Manchester Rave
One attendee at a recent Manchester rave went home with more than just good memories. And more memories to—ahem—create. UK-based DJ and electronic music producer Next Generation Noise recently appeared at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse for the socially distanced rave, which was headlined by legendary hardstyle artist Darren Styles. At one point during his DJ set, Next Generation Noise decided it was time to send it. And by “it,” we mean a gigantic blowup doll, which he launched into the crowd with the swiftness of Randy Johnson. No word on whether or not the raver on the receiving end actually left the venue with the inflatable sex doll, but there’s no doubt it’d be one of the most unique souvenirs ever brought home from a show. Check o...
John Prine Will Be Honored in a Series of Concerts and Events in Nashville This Fall
Beloved singer-songwriter John Prine, who died in April 2020 at the age of 73, will be honored through “You Got Gold: Celebrating the Life & Songs of John Prine,” a series of special concerts and events held in various Nashville venues from Oct. 3-10. The lineup of friends who will be performing and celebrating Prine’s life and songs has yet to be announced. All proceeds from the week will benefit the newly created 501c3, The Hello In There Foundation, established by the Prine family. The foundation will aim to identify and collaborate with individuals and communities where people are marginalized, discriminated against or, for any reason, are otherwise forgotten. This year’s grant recipients are Nashville-based non-profits Room In The Inn and Thistle...
Toyota Teases Pair of Mysterious Tacoma Pickups
It is now an annual expectation that Toyota updates the TRD Pro versions of its Tacoma, Tundra, 4Runner, and Sequoia off-road trucks and SUVs. Typically, these changes are minor (a new paint color here, a new snorkel intake there), so we’re not going to read too much into Toyota’s release of two photos depicting what appear to be the front wheels of two separate Tacoma pickups. Or should we? See all 49 photos Given the TRD wheel cap visible in one photo, we predict this image previews the latest Tacoma TRD Pro. Nothing special, right? Well … the body is painted a searing shade of highlighter-esque neon yellow—that’d be new to the Tacoma range. Perhaps this will be the 2022 Tacoma TRD Pro’s signature color—replacing or augmenting the 2021 model’s Lunar Ro...
Isn’t It Ioniq: Here are the U.S.-Bound 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Specs
After the 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5‘s tremendously exciting world debut earlier this year, we’re finally privy to some detailed specs on the U.S.-bound EV crossover SUV. Thankfully, strong power, good range, and fast charging makes the retrofuturistic Ioniq 5 much more than just a pretty electric face when it lands on dealer lots later this year. At launch, American buyers have the choice of just one battery pack and two motor configurations. All U.S.-market Ioniq 5s will carry the same 77.4-kWh battery unit that feeds either a single rear-mounted motor or the hotter dual-motor AWD layout. With just the single rear motor, power is a reasonable 225 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque, enough for a 0-60 mph run somewhere in the low 7.0-second area and a targeted range of 300 miles. See...
