NLE Choppa is gearing up for the release of “Ain’t Gonna Answer,” his collaboration with Lil Wayne. He announced the song on Instagram Tuesday, noting the project will drop on February 24.
NLE Choppa’s announcement captioned a Valentine’s Day dump, which featured photos and clips from what appears to be the set of the “Ain’t Gonna Answer” music video. In one clip, Choppa gifts Wayne some flowers and a note in which he expressed his appreciation.
“I simply wanted to physically gift you these flowers to symbolize my appreciation for you as an artist, an icon, and more importantly, an inspiration,” he wrote in the message. “I pray that this is just the beginning to a big brother, little brother relationship. With that being said, I want to say THANK YOU wholeheartedly.”
Wayne received the gift, calling Choppa “a good guy.”
“He’s a good guy, man, for real,” he says. “I do this a lot. This doesn’t happen, he’s a great guy.”
(WARRINGTON, U.K) — Two teens have been charged in the death of Brianna Ghey, a transgender girl found dead in the English town of Warrington.
Emergency services were called to a local park Feb. 11 when Ghey’s body was found on a path, authorities said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A 15-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl were initially arrested and questioned by the Cheshire Constabulary police force and were later charged with murder Wednesday.
Police say it is unclear if the circumstances surrounding her death are hate-related, but the investigation into a motive is ongoing.
“A number of enquiries in relation to this incident are underway and we are doing all that we can to establish the exact circumstances of what has happened,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans in a statement.
Ghey was described by her family as “a larger than life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her.”
“Brianna was a much loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister,” her family said in a statement. “Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind.”
Ghey was a popular personality on social media, with thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok.
Candlelight vigils continue to be held across the U.K. – from Glasgow, Scotland to Dublin, Ireland – as the transgender community honors and grieves Ghey’s memory and life.
“The loss of her young life has left a massive hole in our family, and we know that the teachers and her friends who were involved in her life will feel the same,” Ghey’s family said.
Survivor keyboardist Frankie Sullivan, who co-wrote the band’s hit single “Eye of the Tiger,” is not happy that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley used the band’s hit track this week as she walked out to announce her run for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.
Sullivan tells Billboard that his initial reaction when he discovered she used the tune was, “Stop using my f***ing song!”
“That song belongs with the Rocky franchise and they don’t ask because they’d get a no. Absolutely,” he said.
“Eye of the Tiger” was the theme song to Rocky III, starring Sylvester Stallone, and went to number one for the band in 1982. In 2016 Sullivan sued Republican Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign for using the song at a rally without permission; Huckabee had to pay $25,000.
“I don’t care who it is, I don’t think it’s appropriate, especially with ‘Tiger,’ since it’s such a special song,” he said. “I have no idea why any politician would play that as a walk on. I would say you have to have balls … but in this situation that doesn’t apply.”
Finally, he notes, “I wish they would just stop this nonsense!”
In a career full of awards and accolades, Sting has received one that really stands out.
Sting has been made a Fellow of The Ivors Academy, the body that presents The Ivor Novello Awards. These awards, which have been handed out since 1956, are the most prestigious music honor in the United Kingdom. They celebrate excellence in British and Irish songwriting, and are peer awards, voted on by other British and Irish songwriters and composers.
Sting has won seven Ivor Novello Awards, including a 2002 Lifetime Achievement Trophy, but being made an Academy Fellow is a bigger deal than that. In its 79-year history, the academy has only inducted 22 Fellows, including Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Elton John, Peter Gabriel, the members of the Bee Gees and Annie Lennox.
“Of all the awards in the world of music, The Ivors are for me, the most prestigious. Songwriting is a skilled craft and The Ivors Academy are its guild,” Sting says in a statement. “So, I am delighted and honored to be offered this Fellowship of the Academy, joining and acknowledging this extraordinary group of fellow songwriters, and all of those who went before us.”
In honor of the, well, honor, Amazon Music — the award ceremony’s new title sponsor — has released an exclusive demo version of “If It’s Love,” a song from Sting’s most recent album, The Bridge.
The winners of this year’s Ivor Novello Awards will be announced May 18 in London. Nominations come out in April.
As has been established in Hoobastank‘s hit single “The Reason,” frontman Doug Robb is not a perfect person. Apparently, one of his imperfections is not being able to predict Rihanna would become a giant music star.
Perhaps inspired by the “Umbrella” artist’s headline-making halftime performance at Super Bowl LVII, Robb revealed in a tweet, “There is a version of a @Hoobastank song featuring @rihanna when she was a ‘newer’ artist.”
“Displaying a total lack of foresight, we didn’t use that version of the song for the album,” Robb added.
Robb has since revealed to Consequence that the song in question was “Inside of You,” a single off Hoobastank’s 2006 album, Every Man for Himself.
“We gave [Rihanna’s] camp a song called ‘Inside of You,'” Robb shares. “I think they rearranged some of the music to create a pre-chorus section, that wasn’t originally part of the arrangement, for her to sing a small part on.”
“We heard it and didn’t really love it so we passed on using it,” he continues. “It’s really just that simple. I think we had already gotten used to hearing the song as it was written so it just felt weird to us.”
Further cementing the idea that trying to predict anything in the music industry is a losing battle, Robb wrote in his initial tweet, “We also didn’t think ‘The Reason’ was a single though either so…Oops.”
The 2023 NBA All-Star Game halftime show will be an Afrobeats jam session featuring Burna Boy, Tems and Rema. The Nigerian stars were tapped to entertain fans at Sunday’s game in Salt Lake, Utah.
Also taking the stage is Post Malone, who will be kicking off the show with a medley of his hits. Jewel will sing the national anthem as Vin Diesel introduces the NBA All-Stars.
The All-Star Game, which will honor all-time leading scorer LeBron James, airs at 8 p.m. ET on TNT. In the days leading up to the game, the league will host a myriad of activities, including the star-studded celebrity basketball game featuring Janelle Monáe, 21 Savage, Cordae and more.
(WASHINGTON) — Under political pressure from Democrats as well as Republicans, President Joe Biden is considering giving a speech in the coming days to address the Chinese spy balloon and the three other shot-down objects, two senior administration officials confirmed ABC News on Wednesday.
The White House is eying the days before Biden departs for his trip to Poland for the potential balloon remarks. He is scheduled to depart for that trip, during which he’ll mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on Monday, Feb. 20.
The deliberations over the speech were first reported by Reuters.
The president has yet to extensively address the Chinese spy balloon shot down on Feb. 4 or the three unidentified objects taken down over North American airspace this past weekend.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have urged Biden to address the matter more thoroughly.
“The American people need and deserve to know more,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters Tuesday upon exiting a classified briefing for all senators.
“There is a lot of information presented to us this morning that could be told to the American people without any harm to sources or methods or our national security and the American people need to know more so they’ll have more confidence in our national security,” Blumenthal added.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Ky., also called on Biden to “get in front of America and tell them firsthand that we’re safe.”
“The administration needs to be more transparent and, by the way, that was a bipartisan view down there,” Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, added.
Biden’s first public comment on the Chinese spy balloon came on the day it was shot down, when he told reporters hours before the mission, “We’re going to take care of it.”
After it was taken down over the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina, Biden told reporters he ordered the Pentagon shoot the balloon as soon as possible and he complimented the aviators that carried out the operation.
He’s since only addressed it briefly a handful of times, including a passing reference at the State of the Union when he said, “Make no mistake about it, as we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country and we did.”
During an interview with Noticias Telemundo anchor Julio Vaqueiro last week, Biden said the balloon “wasn’t a major breach” but was a violation of international law and U.S. airspace.
Biden has tapped national security adviser Jake Sullivan to oversee an interagency review “to study the broader policy implications for detection, analysis, and disposition of unidentified aerial objects that pose either safety or security risks,” White House spokesperson John Kirby said Monday.
That review is expected to be done by the end of this week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday.
When asked whether the shooting down of the three unidentified objects warranted a national address, Jean-Pierre said Biden “takes this very seriously” and noted he’s been briefed multiple times on the incidents.
Kirby also defended the administration Monday amid the silence from Biden on the three successive shootdowns.
“We have been, I think, as transparent as we can be,” Kirby said. “I won’t speak for the president’s personal speaking schedule, but, I mean, he has been deeply engaged in every one of these decisions.”
Though she’s published countless cookbooks, Paula Deen‘s heading into new territory with her next offering.
Love and Best Dishes: Recipes and Stories from the Heart will be equal parts recipes and tales from the Southern cooking guru.
Named for the former Food Network star’s sign-off phrase, Love and Best Dishes features more than 100 things to make, like Elvis Presley Cake, Pimento Cheese Tomato Bake and The Lady’s Cheesy Mac.
The new volume costs $35 plus shipping and should be on its way by mid-October if you order it online now.
Paula’s autobiography, It Ain’t All About the Cookin’, came out in 2007.
(NEW YORK) — Moderna will keep its COVID vaccine on the market at no cost to consumers, even after the federal government stops paying for it, the company announced Wednesday.
“Everyone in the United States will have access to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine regardless of their ability to pay,” the company said in a statement.
Last month, the vaccine maker was slammed for reportedly considering a dramatic price increase for the shot, which it had developed with the help of the federal government.
The proposal was also bad timing: The Biden administration was moving toward ending its designation of a public health emergencyon May 11, which meant that federal funding for vaccines would soon dry up and uninsured Americans would have to pay out of pocket for their boosters.
Among the critics of Moderna’s reported consideration of a price increase — from about $26 a shot to as much as $130 — was Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long advocated for government-funded health care and alleged the move would result in deaths.
“How many of these Americans will die from COVID 19 as a result of limited access to these lifesaving vaccines?” Sanders, I-Vt., wrote in a January letter to Moderna.
“While nobody can predict the exact figure, the number could well be in the thousands. In the midst of a deadly pandemic, restricting access to this much needed vaccine is unconscionable,” he added.
Now, Moderna will be the sole manufacturer of COVID vaccines offering its shot for free to the uninsured. Under federal regulation, insurance companies are already required to foot the bill for COVID vaccines.
“Moderna remains committed to ensuring that people in the United States will have access to our COVID-19 vaccines regardless of ability to pay,” the company wrote in its statement.
“Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines will continue to be available at no cost for insured people whether they receive them at their doctors’ offices or local pharmacies. For uninsured or underinsured people, Moderna’s patient assistance program will provide COVID-19 vaccines at no cost” after the public health emergency expires.
To date, the federal government paid for all COVID vaccines for Americans, whether they were insured or not using emergency money passed by Congress. But President Joe Biden says he plans to let the nationwide public health emergency expire May 11.
Once that happens, federal support ends for many of the programs put in place to help uninsured Americans, including expanded Medicaid, testing and treatments.
Last month, the World Health Organization said COVID-19 remains a public health emergency worldwide, but that the pandemic was at a “transition point.”
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the “global response remains hobbled because in too many countries, these powerful, life-saving tools are still not getting to the populations that need them most – especially older people and health workers.”
Robert Glasper is making lemonade out of lemons following Chris Brown‘s reaction to his recent Grammy win. He sold out of shirts featuring the phrase Brown shared on social media after learning about Glasper’s victory.
“Thanks for the support. A portion of the proceeds from this shirt will be donated to the Community Music Center of New Orleans,” Glasper said in an Instagram post featuring the shirt. “A nonprofit created to share the music culture and music education in New Orleans, providing free music lessons to underserved youth. I can’t thank y’all enough for supporting this cause.”
As reported, Chris took to his Instagram Story after Glasper was announced the winner of Best R&B Album. “Who the f*** is Robert Glasper,” he wrote. “Ima keep kicking y’all a**! Respectfully.I gotta get my skills up,” he added. “Ima start playing the harmonica.”
He then issued an apology for his “really rude and mean reaction,” and congratulated Glasper for his feat.
“Congratulations my brother… I would like to apologize if you took offense to my reaction at the Grammys,” he said. “You were not the intended target and I know I came off really rude and mean.”
“After doing my research I actually think you’re amazing,” Brown continued. “The organization isn’t doing us Blacks our due diligence. You and I should never be in the same category… two totally different vibes and genres. So from one Black man to another, congratulations. Hope you are able to feed your family for life. God bless my G.”
