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J. Rhodes’ Hip-Hop Musical ‘It’s A Wonderful Plight’ Aims To Shake Up Audiences
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: J. Rhodes / Handout A year after the unrest of 2020, there’s many who are wondering where all those allies that popped up back then are now. A new film that’s the brainchild of an award-winning producer looks to answer that question. J. Rhodes (born Justin Rhodes), whose musical production work includes teaming up with Dr. Dre, Black Thought, Rick Ross and many more is the main force behind the film It’s A Wonderful Plight. The film is billed as a Hip-Hop musical that focuses on a young white man in Dallas, Texas named Scott (played by Brian Shorkey) who gets called out for his professed love of Hip-Hop and Black culture hiding his own hidden prejudices and appropriation. He gets shown the error of his ways due to help from a “woke spirit” named Josef the...
Metallica Sues Insurer Lloyd’s of London Over Postponed Shows
Metallica is suing insurer Lloyd’s of London for allegedly not paying out the quartet for financial losses suffered when the band postponed a half-dozen shows in South America in April 2020 because of the coronavirus, CBS-LA reports. The band filed the paperwork in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this week, alleging breach of contract and seeking unspecified compensatory damages. The group had a standard “cancellation, abandonment and non-appearance insurance” policy in case of cancellation, the suit claims. Metallica played two shows in its hometown of San Francisco in September 2019, with six more concerts slated in South America beginning in April 2020, in Santiago, Chile, the suit says. By April 2020, nearly the entire world was shut down due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions,...
Meek Mill & REFORM Alliance Celebrate Criminal Justice Reform in Virginia
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Brian Stukes / Getty Meek Mill has been a significant activist voice for criminal justice reform, and he got to see how his criminal justice organization helped to create systemic change in the state of Virginia. On Thursday (June 10), Meek Mill was in Richmond, Virginia along with Philadelphia 76ers executive and fellow co-founder of REFORM Alliance Michael Rubin at the invitation of Governor Ralph Northam to witness the signing of HB 2038 into law. Also in attendance were REFORM Alliance CEO Robert Rooks, and the Justice Forward Virginia, American Conservative Union, and Faith and Freedom in Virginia groups. HB 2038, authored by Delegate Don Scott, limits adult probation sentences to a maximum of one year for a misdemeanor and five years for a felony. M...
Naomi Osaka Withdraws From Berlin WTA 5000 Tournament Since Mental Health Break
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Tim Clayton – Corbis / Getty Managing mental health in the public eye is a complicated feat on its own. Throw in being a highly revered Black athlete like Naomi Osaka and it turns into a media circus. Recently, the tennis superstar announced she’s opting not to participate in another sports event, giving her an added couple of weeks to chill out before heading to one of the highly anticipated tournaments of the season. According to ET Online, Osaka withdrew from the Berlin WTA 5000 tournament just weeks after pulling out of the French Open, all to keep her mental health in check. “We have received notification Naomi Osaka cannot start in Berlin. After consulting her management, she will take a break,” Berlin event organizers said in a statement. From the ...
Nirvana’s Surviving Members Are Still Making ‘Really Cool’ Music Together, Dave Grohl Says
Though they’ve unofficially jammed before (something Krist Novoselic told us when we last spoke with him), Dave Grohl revealed to Howard Stern that not only does he get together with former Nirvana members Novoselic and Pat Smear to do that, they actually record “really cool” new music. “Krist Novoselic is a pilot, he flies his own plane… he lives up in the Pacific Northwest and whenever he comes down to Los Angeles, you know, we always love to see each other and we’ll have dinner,” Grohl told Stern. If you’re hoping to hear anything new from the musicians who once performed with Kurt Cobain in Nirvana, however, don’t get your hopes up, Grohl said. “And you know if we’re in a studio, we’ll record them. So we’ve recorded some stuff that’s really cool. But we’ve never done anything with it… ...
Lil Jon Among Slew of Stars Taking Over As ‘Bachelor In Paradise’ Host
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Kevin Winter / Getty The return of ABC’s Bachelor In Paradise will see its longtime host replaced by Atlanta’s own Lil Jon among a slew of other celebrities this summer. The other hosts include comedic actor and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Tituss Burress, comedian David Spade and former NSYNC boy band singer Lance Bass. Each will rotate as host during the upcoming season, with other special guests slated to make an appearance. The move comes as it was announced on Tuesday (June 8th) that the original longtime host, Chris Harrison, was permanently leaving the reality-show franchise. Harrison had been the host since the first Bachelor aired in 2002. He caught a lot of heat for defending former contestant, Rachael Kirkconnell with racially insensitive com...
Megan Thee Stallion To Provide Scholarship For Roc Nation School
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty The latest addition to the academic programs at Long Island University-Brooklyn created in partnership with Jay-Z‘s Roc Nation just got another star-studded boost. Today (June 9), Megan Thee Stallion announced her plans to provide a four-year scholarship with tuition fully paid for a student wishing to pursue their degree at the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports and Entertainment at Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus. The inaugural semester of the school will begin in the fall of 2021. The news comes weeks after renowned producer and Hip-Hop educator 9th Wonder announced that he would be joining the school along with other veteran musicians as a visiting professor, teaching courses on how to create an album and about the history...
Turn Up In T-Dot: Drake Opening Concert Venue With Live Nation
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Drake has done quite a lot in his storied career, and now he’s adding another piece to his empire. On Tuesday (June 8), Live Nation Canada announced that it was teaming up with the Grammy-winning rapper, actor and global ambassador to open a new live-entertainment venue in his hometown of Toronto, Canada. The venue will be called History, and it is expected to open later this year. The venue has been in the works for three years, and construction is slated to be completed at the end of the summer. History is located in the east end of the city in the popular and trendy Beaches neighborhood at 1663 Queen Street East. It will have a general admission area with reserved seating plans that can be configured for various events, with a...
Sleater-Kinney Share New Tune ‘Method,’ Announce Variety Show
Rock band Sleater-Kinney has shared another track –“Method” — from their forthcoming tenth studio album, Path Of Wellness,which is out this Friday, June 11, via Mom+Pop. “Method” arrives with a lyric video by Lance Bangs which shows the band’s Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker in the studio, overlaid with a filter that makes the two rockers look like drawings from a-ha’s iconic “Take On Me” video. Watch the lyric video for “Method” below. [embedded content] “Method” follows the release of the first two singles “High In The Grass” and “Worry With You” which were met with critical praise. “Worry With You” was the first new music from the band music since 2019. Fans will be able to watch Sleater-Kinney live on June 10 on Amazon Music’s Twitch Channel and in...
Fashion Killa With Purpose: A$AP Rocky & Klarna Launch Global Partnership
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Klarna / Klarna Fresh off of being CEO for a day, A$AP Rocky is building on his new status as a tech entrepreneur with the formal announcement of a new global partnership and campaign. Source: Klarna / Klarna The Harlem-born style icon, rapper and actor teamed up with Klarna, the company behind the buzzworthy all-in-one shopping app as an investor. Today (June 8), the Swedish company launched a new global multimedia campaign featuring the entertainer that’s designed to get consumers worldwide to revitalize their look as the lockdowns due to the pandemic are easing up. “It’s not for me to decide what people should wear or how they should wear it, but helping Klarna create a space for people to discover their own style is more of the consulting and curation...
Stay Black: Desus & Mero and Ziwe Are Modernizing The Late-Night Television Game
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Greg Endries /SHOWTIME / Greg Endries /SHOWTIME The late-night television scene finally gives flowers to Desus Nice and The Kid Mero after joining Showtime to launch a new show following their split with Viceland a few years ago. Since the move, the hilarious duo gained enough notoriety to draw in some of the toughest names in the business to visit for an interview. Remember when former President Barack Obama stopped by that one time? Their famous claim “The brand is strong” is manifesting powerful partnerships, endorsement deals, and the ability to claim a budding protégée named Ziwe from their writer’s room who is launching her own weekly late-night show also on Showtime. And to think the fellas are only getting started. Deadline chronicles the up...
Will Smith Supports Naomi Osaka With Heartfelt Instagram Post
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Xinhua News Agency / Getty When Naomi Osaka made the decision to drop out of the French Open on May 31, a contentious situation that had been brewing publicly for days became one of overwhelming love as many across the world voiced their support in defending her decision. One of the latest and biggest examples comes from the iconic entertainer Will Smith on social media. After her decision, Smith wrote the Haitian and Japanese-American tennis star a touching and supporting letter stating, “Hey Naomi, you are right. They are wrong! I am with you,” and posted it to his Instagram page along with a selfie. Osaka had previously announced that she wouldn’t attend French Open press conferences because she felt that it placed undue pressure on players. After her ...
