NEWS
Patti Smith Launches Substack Newsletter Featuring Her First Serial
Patti Smith has launched a newsletter on Substack called The reader is my notebook, in which she will share weekly pieces featuring written thoughts, poetry, and music. Paid subscribers will also receive access to her first serial, titled The Melting. While revealing she has written in hidden stacks of notebooks since the age of 12, Smith explained her motivation for the project. In the first newsletter, she wrote, “Now, in the time of the pandemic, isolated from family, friends, and fellow workers, we are reinventing our processes. Through Substack I plan to form an inter-connective body of work for a responsive community. Each week I will post my weekly ruminations, shards of poetry, music, and musings on whatever subject finds its way from thought to pen, news of the mind, pieces o...
Virginia Black Woman Labeled “Trouble Maker” For Exposing Racist Cops
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: US District Court for DC / US District Court for DC A Black woman in Virginia has been labeled a “troublemaker” after exposing a few of her local law enforcement officers as racists. According to published reports, Bridgette Craighead of Rocky Mount, Virginia has been facing criticism after she correctly identified Rocky Mount Police Officers Thomas “T.J.” Robertson and Jacob Fracker as pro-Trump rioters after the two posted selfies while standing in the United States Capitol on January 6th. “I can’t believe someone I trusted was a part of that animalistic behavior at the CAPITOL!!,” Craighead wrote at the time. During an exclusive interview with the Washington Post, Ms. Craighead revealed that the seeming majority Pro-Trump town “hated” her for doing wha...
Hubcap From SUV Biggie Was Shot In Hits Auction Block For $150,000
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: L. Busacca / Getty The hubcap from the SUV the Notorious B.I.G. rode in the night he was fatally shot is on sale, if you’re into that sort of thing. The seller received the memento from a family friend who owned the car rental company that owned the vehicle, reports TMZ. Apparently, the seller had it for years until they randomly decided to sell it. Now it’s up for grabs at an auction house called Moments in Time under the title “A Hubcap From Biggie’s Death Car” for a cool $150,000. Photos from the crime scene in 1997 show the GMC Suburban Biggie rode in with its hubcaps wearing the “THINK B.I.G. MARCH 25, 1997” stickers advertising the release of his final album, Life After Death. Today, the 24-year old object is weathered with a part...
Black Man Who Murdered Mom Arrested For Beating Asian Woman In New York
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Screencap / NYPD Crimestoppers A horrific incident on a New York street involving a Black man unleashing a brutal beating on an elderly Asian woman has led to an arrest and growing outrage. Brandon Elliot, who murdered his mother in 2002 and served 17 years, was free on parole and carried out his attack on the 65-year-old woman on Monday (March 29). The NYPD Hate Crimes division shared a tweet on Tuesday that featured surveillance video images of Elliot along with reports of his arrest and charges. Elliot was slapped with both Felony Assault as a Hate Crime and Attempted Assault as a Hate Crime charges. Thanks to assistance from the public and excellent investigative work by @NYPDHateCrimes Detectives, the individual wanted for Monday’s assault of a 65 ye...
Death Row Records Launches Store For 30th Anniversary, Hops On NFTs Craze
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Al Pereira / Getty Death Row Records was established in February 1992, ushering in a new wave of West Coast dominance and launched the careers of many of the culture’s mainstays. Approaching 30 years in existence, the famed record label has launched its merch store in honor of the anniversary and is hopping on the NFTs craze to boot with three ultra-rare offerings. The label co-founded collectively with Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, The D.O.C. Dick Griffey and Harry-O at the helm released a bevy of game-changing classics in Dr. Dre’s classic The Chronic, Snoop Dogg’s debut album Doggystyle, Tha Dogg Pound’s Dogg Food, and 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me among other releases. The late crooner Nate Dogg figured prominently in a number of hit singles and tracks across the rel...
2022 GMC Hummer Edition 1 VIN 001 Sells for $2.5 Million
Charity auctions for first-off-the-line vehicles have become a thing of late, and given the hammer prices on vehicles like the first 2021 Ford Bronco ($1,075,000) and this latest multi-million-dollar 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1 just sold by Barrett-Jackson, it doesn’t seem like the trend is ending anytime soon. Nor should it! The headlines generate buzz for deserving charities, and the sales generate proceeds. With at least one million-dollar-plus Bronco and Hummer rolling around, too, maybe you won’t feel so bad paying sticker—or even a markup—for your hotly anticipated new truck or SUV. We hope you don’t have to, but we’re sure the Hummer’s new owner doesn’t mind paying well over sticker to benefit Tunnel to Towers, a charity that assists injured vete...
New Ford Bronco Previews Aftermarket Support from RTR, ARB, and 4 Wheel Parts
We are on the verge of one of the biggest automotive title fights in history. It isn’t the newest Golf R and Civic Type R going toe to toe or even Lamborghini and Porsche once duking it out on the Nürburgring. No, it’s actually the upcoming battle between the new Ford Bronco and the Jeep Wrangler for American off-road SUV supremacy. And one critical theater in this war will assuredly play out in the factory parts and accessory catalogs from Ford and Jeep as well as the broader aftermarket. Was the timing (and location) chosen intentionally to rain on Jeep’s parade? Maybe. After all, it is the Jeep Easter Safari. What matters more are the new goodies that Ford is ginning up for the Bronco via collaborations with RTR, ARB, and 4 Wheel Parts. RTR, for its part, isn̵...
Dua Lipa, Celeste & More Female Artists Land 2021 Brit Award Nominations: Full List
Lipa received three Brit nods this year, which put her in a five-way tie for the lead, along with the aforementioned Arlo Parks and Celeste; a male artist, Joel Corry, and a group, Young T & Bugsey. Lipa is the only artist nominated for both the top album and single award. Lipa could be headed for her second win for British single. She is nominated this year with “Physical.” She won two years ago for “One Kiss,” a collab with Calvin Harris. If she wins, she’ll join Adele as the only female artist to win twice in the category. Another of this year’s nominees, Harry Styles, could also be headed for his second win in the category. He is nominated for “Watermelon Sugar.” As part of One Direction, he won in 2012 for “What Makes You Beautiful.” If he wins, he would join Robbie Williams as th...
Grammy Awards Move to Monday for 2022 Awards Show
The Grammys have often aired on Sundays for the past 20 years, occasionally switching to Wednesday night, which was frequently when the awards ceremony took place in the ’90s. Incidentally, Jan. 31 was the original date of the 2021 Grammys before it was postponed to March 14 amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles in January. This year’s Grammys hit an all-time low in ratings, with just 9.23 million viewers and a 2.28 rating among adults 18-49 in Nielsen’s final same-day ratings. Viewership was down sharply from 2020’s edition of the music awards ceremony, falling 51 percent in terms of total viewers (from 18.69 million) and 58 percent in the 18-49 demographic (from 5.4 million). This story was originally published in The Hollywood Reporter. You...
Janelle Monae, Laverne Cox, Selena Gomez & More Sign Letter in Support of Transgender Women, Girls: ‘We All Must Fight’
“These bigoted efforts are also aided by a contingent of self-identified feminists, who have been promoting damaging and violent ideas about trans people for years in the United States and internationally. Their vitriol is, in fact, not feminist at all. True feminists do not wish to limit any woman’s identity or freedom to fully be herself. Allowing transphobic rhetoric to go unchecked also strengthens the legislative efforts of anti-trans politicians — who now cloak their bigotry in language about protecting or supporting women.” Among the signatories are Gloria Steinem, Regina King, Halle Berry, Selena Gomez, Chelsea Clinton, Gabrielle Union, Wanda Sykes, Kathryn Hahn, Bella Hadid, Janelle Monáe, Patricia Arquette, Laverne Cox, Julianne Moore, Brie Larson, Cynthia Erivo, Judi...
Foo Fighters, Tame Impala, Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator Highlight Bonnaroo Lineup
As the country grapples with what the re-start of the live music industry will look like, Bonnaroo 2021 has shared a lineup that includes the Foo Fighters, Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, Tame Impala, Tyler, the Creator, Lana Del Rey and more will take place down on The Farm in Manchester, Tennessee from Sept. 2 through Sept. 5. Strict COVID protocols will be in place, in accordance with local health and safety regulations, according to the festival’s website. The “safety of its fans, artists, and staff [are] a top priority,” according to the Bonnaroo press materials. “Organizers as always will be in regular communication with local health and public safety officials and will continue to abide by relevant recommendations.” The fest promises that “Bonnaroovians will receive regular updates with...
My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields Says Band Has Two New Records in the Works for 2021
Following almost eight years of relative silence, influential Irish shoegaze band my bloody valentine plans to drop two new albums, initially slated for release in 2020. Singer Kevin Shields told the New York Times that “our original plan was we would record both the albums back-to-back and then go tour on that. And that would have been this year, you know, but everything really did slow down.” The forthcoming albums have not yet been recorded due to the pandemic, however. Shields shared with The Times that the first album will be “warm and melodic,” while the second will be more experimental, saying, “I don’t want to give too much away because I could lay it out verbally, and then someone’s going to go, ‘That’s a really good idea.’” As for a release date for the pair of LPs? “They’ll...
