Music

Rich the Kid is returning to the New York City neighborhood where he grew up to feed the needy for Thanksgiving.

The “Plug Walk” rapper was born in the Queens section of The Big Apple, where LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, 50 Cent and other hip hop stars began their careers. He’s partnering with the #HashtagLunchbag nonprofit mobile food mission to distribute free dinners on Saturday, according to HipHopDX. #HashtagLunchbag is celebrating their one millionth meal milestone.

Rich, who dropped the Trust Fund Babies mixtape with Lil Wayne in October, also spread good will earlier this month in Atlanta. He gifted 104 families at the Nicholas House homeless shelter with food, new Nike sneakers, and school supplies.

“I set up this giveback for the homeless shelter because I felt in need to give back in any way,” the 29-year-old MC told The Shade Room. “God had been blessing me so I’d like to give back to others in any way. This is only the beginning of what I would like to be doing. I’m thankful for Indigo & everyone who came to support.”

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Billie Eilish is taking over Saturday Night Live next month.

The singer announced that she’ll be hosting and performing on the December 11 episode of the show. It marks her first time hosting and her second time as the musical guest.

Billie took to social media to express her excitement, writing, “AHHHHHH!!! I’M HOSTING AND PERFORMING ON SNL!!! CRAAAAZY I COULD SCREAM! @nbcsnl on december 11th!! see you then!!”

SNL also announced that the December 18 show will be hosted by Paul Rudd, with musical guest Charli XCX.

 

 

 

 

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DJ Cassidy is celebrating the first anniversary of Pass the Mic on BET with a star-studded show immediately following the Soul Train Awards on Sunday, November 28.

Charlie Wilson, Stephanie Mills, Kurtis Blow, Melle Mel, Jeffrey Osborne and Gloria Gaynor will be among the artists performing on his show.

“One year after partnering with BET to Pass the Mic in celebration of Soul, I remain more honored than ever to join forces with this iconic network to celebrate my musical heroes in honor of 50 years of Soul Train,” Cassidy said in a statement “This installment of DJ Cassidy’s Pass the Mic spotlights artists who shifted the culture and their prolific records that defined generations.”

Some 190 artists have appeared on Pass the Mic over the past eight years.

“I am so truly grateful for and honored by all the many legends that have taken part in the festivities and the millions of viewers around the globe who have sang along with us since July 2020,” the 40-year-old DJ adds in an Instagram post. “This time, I’ll be passing the mic to 15 icons in 30 minutes for a superstar celebration of a truly culturally defining, pivotal period in music. You have my word, this will be one for the history books.”

DJ Cassidy’s Pass the Mic: BET Soul Train Edition will premiere on Sunday, November 28 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT, immediately following the 2021 Soul Train Awards which airs Sunday, November 28 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on BET and BET Her.

As previously reported, Tisha Campbell and Tichina Arnold from Martin will host the Soul Train Awards for the fourth years in a row, this time from the iconic Apollo Theater in New York City.

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Jennifer Lawrence is an Oscar-winning actress who’s worked with Chris Pratt, Meryl Streep, Bradley Cooper and other Hollywood heavy-hitters. however, she confessed she was completely starstruck by Ariana Grande, who co-stars with Lawrence in the apocalyptic dark comedy Don’t Look Up. 

Ariana plays pop star Riley Bina, whose character helps Jennifer and Leonardo DiCaprio‘s characters tell the world about a planet-killing comet hurtling towards Earth.

“She can’t make bad music,” Jennifer declared, before admitting that her admiration of Ariana may have instigated a rather embarrassing moment between them.

“I’ve since reflected on my behavior with Ariana Grande. I went full radio contest winner,” Lawrence confessed.  “I was so excited and nervous that at one point, I just kind of walked into her hotel room and sat down. I’ve just been thinking about it a lot lately. There were all of these trunks for her hair and makeup, and I was like, ‘Do you live here?'”

Despite the embarrassing interaction, Jennifer clarified when speaking to Vanity Fair, “That was one of the coolest days of my life,” and assured Ari “couldn’t be nicer.” The two wound up taking a picture together.

Ari’s character is asked to “write the song to save all of mankind,” Don’t Look Up producer Adam McKay said at a recent screening, according to Variety, and joked, “It might be my favorite moment in the movie. The number-one pop star in the world telling us, ‘We’re all going to die, get your head out of your a**.'”

Don’t Look Up premieres in select theaters on December 10 and hits Netflix on December 24.

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Twenty One Pilots and AJR are performing at AT&T Playoff Playlist Live!, a free music festival taking place ahead of the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship in Indianapolis.

The two-day event takes place January 8-9, with AJR taking the stage the first day alongside Doja Cat, followed by Twenty One Pilots and Ava Max on the second day.

Attendees will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis. If you can’t attend in person, you’ll be able to livestream the performances. For more info, visit CollegeFootballPlayoff.com.

The National Championship game will be held January 10.

Meanwhile, if you prefer your music to accompany pro football instead of college, perhaps you’d be interested in the Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest, featuring Green Day and Machine Gun Kelly. That takes place February 10-12 ahead of Super Bowl LVI, which kicks off in Los Angeles February 13.

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Emotions were flying high, and so did some chairs, when Lil Nas X took over the Maury show on Wednesday.  The parody episode served as a “what if” continuation of the singer’s “That’s What I Want” music video, where he falls in love with his football teammate — only to discover the love of his life is married to a woman.

Lil Nas X, going by his birth name Montero Hill in the episode, told the show host he “felt like a fool” for catching feelings for the lying Yai and attests he never knew his lover was married to a woman named Ashley and had a son.

But, true to Maury‘s salacious formula, Lil Nas X believes that Yai is not the child’s father and demands a paternity test — in addition to confronting Ashley about her husband’s double life.  

The episode has it all: Ashley’s mental breakdown after learning of her husband’s infidelity, Lil Nas X playing the role of the jealous ex, tantrums, tears, explosive DNA test results, and…a proposal. 

Maury reveals Yai “is not the father” of four-year-old Noah and further vindicates Lil Nas X with a lie detector test, which finds that Yai was telling the truth that he had fallen in love with the Grammy winner.

But just as Yai gets down on one knee and proposes, Maury reveals that the lie detector also found he had been unfaithful to Lil Nas X and Ashley, apparently sleeping with “10 different people.”

The episode ends with Lil Nas X running out of the studio and breaking things off with Yai before dashing down the city streets as “Thats What I Want” booms in the background.

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Carrie Underwood, Mickey Guyton and Brad Paisley are all representing the country genre at this year’s Christmas in Rockefeller broadcast. They’re joining a dazzling all-genre lineup that will also include performances from acts including Norah Jones and Alessia Cara.

Brad will take the stage for a duet with rocker Rob Thomas, the Matchbox Twenty frontman who has also toured with country upstart Abby Anderson.

It isn’t yet clear what Mickey and Carrie will be performing during the event, though Carrie has recent experience with a number of holiday songs. Her Christmas album, My Gift, came out in 2020, and this year, she followed it up with the light-hearted and festive “Stretchy Pants.”

“Christmas in Rockefeller” will kick off the annual tree lighting ceremony, which takes place in New York City at Rockefeller Plaza. This year, the tree will be a 79-foot tall Norway Spruce weighing about 12 tons, decked out with multi-colored, energy-efficient LED lights and topped with a Swarovski star.

The two-hour special will air on NBC on December 1 at 8 p.m. ET. During the broadcast, viewers will have the opportunity to donate to Red Nose Day in support of children and families who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with homelessness, food insecurity and lack of access to education.

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Rob Thomas, Alessia Cara and Norah Jones are among the artists who’ll help ring in the holidays this year on NBC’s annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center special.

Rob and Norah both have new Christmas albums out this year, while Alessia released a Christmas EP last year and has a new version of “Jingle Bell Rock” out this year via Amazon Originals.  One of Rod’s Rockefeller Center performances will be a duet with country star Brad Paisley, singing “Santa Don’t Come Here Anymore,” their duet from Rod’s album Something About Christmas Time.

Other artists who’ll be making the show merry and bright include Harry Connick Jr. and country stars Carrie Underwood and Mickey Guyton.

Christmas in Rockefeller Center will also include the annual lighting of New York City’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, which this year is a 79-foot tall Norway Spruce from Maryland that weighs about 12 tons. It’ll be decked out with more than 50,000 multi-colored, energy-efficient LED lights and topped with a Swarovski star.

The two-hour special will air on NBC on December 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT and will stream live on Peacock. During the broadcast, viewers will have the opportunity to donate to Red Nose Day to help with homelessness, food insecurity and learning loss among children and families who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Lady Gaga sees no harm in singing in movies.  Then again, she won an Oscar for doing exactly that in A Star Is Born.  So when a disgruntled movie fan shared his thoughts on the matter, Gaga respectfully disagreed.

Gaga was doing a bit with BBC Radio 1, where listeners are invited to call in and share their unpopular opinions. She saw both sides of the movie musical argument.

“I do love singing in movies,” Gaga admitted, “and also I think it’s done really badly a lot, so I don’t completely disagree with you so I have a slightly unpopular opinion, I guess.”

However, the gloves came off when the caller came for Mary Poppins and said he cringes when a character starts singing because it makes them look weak and stupid.

“How could you be mean to Mary Poppins?” Gaga exclaimed, before joking that Emily Blunt, who most recently played the magical nanny in Mary Poppins Returns, will “pay for some therapy for you and your traumatic experience with singing in movies.” 

Gaga added she will “take note” of the caller’s grievances and sarcastically promised to “never take another film with singing, as I would not want to traumatize you further.”

It was all in good fun, though.  After sharing some good-natured jabs, the caller gave Gaga his blessing to continue to sing in movies because of her talent.

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