Icons Missy Elliott and Dr. Dre are among the stars who will appear at the Recording Industry Association of America Honors: Pioneers of Hip-Hopcelebrationin Washington, D.C.
Grandmaster Flash and MC Lyte will receive awards, and DJ Jazzy Jeff, Mix Master Mike and Rapsody will perform at the event on September 14, Billboard reports.
“At this year’s RIAA Honors, we are thrilled to celebrate pioneers who have defied obstacles, defined a genre and accelerated the growth of hip-hop to audiences across generations and geography,” RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier said in a statement.
In 2007, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five became the first hip-hop group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Lyte was the first female rapper to have a Gold-certified single from the RIAA, “Ruffneck” in 1993. The next year, she became the first female solo rapper ever to be nominated for a Grammy Award when the song was up for Best Rap Solo Performance.
Miranda Lambert shared a spread of photos from a recent girls weekend, which took her to her home state of Texas for an epic, friend-filled vacation.
“Take me back Texas!” the singer wrote alongside photos of the whole crew sharing drinks, soaking up sun on the river and hanging out on a porch late at night.
The trip took place in Gruene, Texas, which happens to be just minutes away from famed concert venue Gruene Hall, but Miranda wasn’t in town to perform. Instead, she spent her time there relaxing with some of her best friends.
“My fave place on earth,” the singer continued in her post. “Family, friends, queso, margs, Bucee’s, Lone Star Lights, wine, fried pickles, river floats and pontoons. Sounds like heaven to me! Miss y’all already!”
After wrapping her co-headlining Bandwagon tour with Little Big Town earlier this year, the typically busy Miranda has enjoyed some extra downtime this summer. She and her husband, Brendan McLoughlin, documented their Airstream camper road trip in July.
The Weeknd is stepping into the kitchen and whipping up a special treat to celebrate his tour.
In celebration of his weekend stint at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Billboardreports the Grammy winner teamed with Postmates and Monty’s Good Burger for a tasty collaboration. This one-time-only menu centers around a plant-based burger served on a brioche bun and slathered with chipotle ketchup and pickles.
It also comes with tater tots with a spicy habanero-flavored dipping sauce as well as a limited-edition lemonade with activated charcoal in it.
The special meal will cost you $27.99 on Postmates and will also be wrapped up in limited edition packaging celebrating The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn tour.
In addition, Monty’s Good Burger will be serving up a once-only After Hours shake, retailing at $9.99, that’s flavored with white chocolate and cherries.
Those who want to try the special menu but may not want to cough up the cash can hit up Monty’s located on Los Angeles’ Third Street to possibly snag one of a limited amount of free meals.
Those who pick up the free grub will be entered to win tickets to see The Weeknd perform on September 3.
Sales will benefit the XO Humanitarian Fund, which is run by the United Nations World Food Programme. This charity is focused on ending hunger and provides food to those struggling with famine.
The Weeknd said in a statement, “For the XO Humanitarian Fund we thought it would be amazing to be able to donate money to people suffering from hunger through our work with World Food Program USA and have an After Hours late night meal from one of our favorite places in LA.”
The 1975 has debuted a new song called “I’m in Love with You,” a track off the band’s upcoming album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language.
You can listen to “I’m in Love with You” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying video, which features a brief appearance by Phoebe Bridgers, on YouTube.
“I’m in Love with You” is the third song to be released from Being Funny in a Foreign Language following “Part of the Band” and “Happiness.” The album will arrive in full on October 14.
The 1975 will launch a U.S. tour in support of Being Funny in a Foreign Language in November.
There are more changes afoot at Rockefeller Center’s famous Studio 8H.
Deadline reports that full-time Saturday Night Live cast members Alex Moffat and Melissa Villaseñor won’t be back for season 48 of the Emmy-winning sketch show. Both characters were named featured players at SNL in 2016.
In that time, Villaseñor, who was the show’s second Latina cast member, became noted for her facility with impressions of Kristen Wiig, Dolly Parton, Lady Gaga among others, while Moffat was a utility player who played Eric Trump but was possibly best known for playing the smarmy preppie Guy Who Just Bought a Boat.
The trade also reports that newcomer Aristotle Athari won’t be back when SNL returns on NBC on October 2.
In May, it was announced that Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Kyle Mooney and Aidy Bryant would be leaving the show.
Ahead of her already well-selling stint on Broadway as the lead of Funny Girl, Lea Michele is getting serious about the controversy that has surrounded her.
Back in 2020, a social media post in support of the Black Lives Matter movement led some of her former Glee co-stars to tee off, with Samantha Marie Ware saying Lea had made her “first television gig a living hell.”
Others piled on about Michele’s alleged diva behavior, including co–star Heather Morris, and Michelle quickly lost an endorsement deal with food prep company HelloFresh.
To The New York Times, Michele said the period led to an “intense time of reflection.”
“I have an edge to me,” she told the paper. “I work really hard. I leave no room for mistakes. That level of perfectionism, or that pressure of perfectionism, left me with a lot of blind spots.”
Having taken the time to look within, Michele said, “I really understand the importance and value now of being a leader. It means not only going and doing a good job when the camera’s rolling, but also when it’s not. And that wasn’t always the most important thing for me.”
She added of her Funny Girl cast mates, “Everyone here has been through a lot, and I just have to come in and be prepared and do a good job and be respectful of the fact that this is their space.”
Michele, who returns to the Great White Way on September 6, also used the Times to tackle another persistent rumor: that she’s illiterate.
“I went to Glee every single day; I knew my lines every single day…It’s sad,” she said. “It really is. I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case.”
The latest song from Demi Lovato‘s new album HOLY FVCK to get the Vevo Official Live Performances treatment is “EAT ME.”
For the performance, Demi is joined by their collaborator on the track, Royal & the Serpent, the stage name of singer Ryan Santiago. It begins with Demi dressed in red, singing while kneeling on a red-carpeted platform under a low, flickering, green-lit gridded ceiling.
Strobe lights, drums and guitars kick in, Demi sings the chorus, and then we see Royal & the Serpent seen singing her part while lying face down on the carpet. She eventually gets up and then she and Demi join together for a couple more run-throughs of the chorus.
“EAT ME” is about the pressure Demi’s felt throughout their career to conform to other people’s notions of what a female pop star should be. “Is this what you’d all prefer?/Would you like me better if I was still her?” she sings. “I know the girl that you adored/She’s dead, it’s time to f**king mourn/I can’t spoon-feed you anymore/Dinner’s served, it’s on the floor/You’ll have to eat me as I am.”
This is the second Vevo Official Life performance Demi’s done around this album; the first was for “29.”
“I knew I wanted to showcase my new music in a unique way for my fans, both visually and sonically,” they say in a statement. “So when an Original Live Performance with Vevo was on the table, I immediately started to brainstorm creatively – the lighting, the room design, my look and outfits, how to incorporate our incredible female live band – all of it!”
Lainey Wilson and Hardy revisit a classic country trope — the murder ballad — in their new duet, “Wait in the Truck,” which came out last week.
Country fans haven’t heard as many murder ballads recently as they once did on the radio — though Chris Janson’s recent collab with Eric Church, “You, Me & the River,” is an exception — but Lainey remembers when they were a much more prevalent part of the genre.
“I remember when, listening to things on the radio, [you’d hear] [Garth Brooks’] ‘The Thunder Rolls,’ [The Chicks’] ‘Goodbye Earl,’” the singer tells the Tennessean. “It is a murder ballad. But I think it’s starting a conversation — probably a conversation a lot of people don’t wanna have.”
“Wait in the Truck” opens up a conversation about domestic violence, with Hardy playing the role of the guy who runs into a badly beaten woman — Lainey — and kills her abuser, then goes to jail.
“It’s something that’s not talked about a lot. Things that happen behind closed doors,” Lainey continues. “But I think it really is our job as artists to sing about things that people are scared to talk about.”
If you are affected by abuse and needing support, or know someone who is, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). You can also chat online at thehotline.org or online.rainn.org, respectively.
Jeff Beck recently announced dates for a fall U.S. headlining tour, and now comes word that the British guitar legend will perform most of his shows with actor/rocker Johnny Depp, whom he collaborated with on his latest studio album, 18.
After Beck kicks off the headlining trek with an October 1 concert in Atlanta, Depp will join Jeff for the remaining shows, beginning October 4 in Washington, D.C. and running through a November 12 performance in Reno, Nevada.
Beck and Depp, who also toured together in Europe earlier in the summer, will showcase songs from 18 at the concerts. The 13-track collection features two Depp originals alongside an eclectic selection of covers, including tunes by The Beach Boys, John Lennon, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, The Velvet Underground, The Everly Brothers and Killing Joke. 18 was released in July on CD and digital formats, while a 180-gram black vinyl version is due out on September 30.
As previously reported, Beck will play a series of six shows in late September with ZZ Top before launching his headlining tour; the first three will also feature Heart‘s Ann Wilson.
Jeff is accompanied at his shows by a backing that features bassist Rhonda Smith, drummer Anika Nilles and keyboardist Robert Stevenson.
The outing kicked off this week with two shows in Dublin, Ireland, just days after Pitchfork reported Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct by four people.
In an Instagram post, Feist explains that she and her band were in Dublin rehearsing for the tour when she “read the same headline you did.”
“We didn’t have any time to prepare for what was coming let alone a chance to decide not to fly across the ocean into the belly of this situation,” Feist writes. “This has been incredibly difficult for me and I can only imagine how much more difficult it’s been for the people who came forward. More than anything I wish healing to those involved.”
Feist still played the Dublin shows, and, as reported by Billboard, is donating money from merch sales to Women’s Aid Dublin.
“The last two nights on stage, my songs made this decision for me,” Feist shares. “Hearing them through this lens was incongruous with what I’ve worked to clarify for myself through my whole career.”
“I’ve always written songs to name my own subtle difficulties, aspire to my best self and claim responsibility when I need to,” she adds. “And I’m claiming my responsibility now and going home.”
The allegations against Butler range from sending unwanted sexually explicit photos and demanding such photos and videos from women to sexual assault.
In a statement to Pitchfork, Butler maintained that his encounters with all four accusers were “mutual and always between consenting adults.”
Arcade Fire’s European tour is scheduled through October and will be followed by a U.S. run. Beck, who’s opening for the U.S. dates, has not yet publicly commented on the situation.
If you are affected by abuse and needing support, or know someone who is, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). You can also chat online at thehotline.org or online.rainn.org, respectively.
