Month: October 2022

Atlanta rapper JID has had his hand full since releasing The Forever Story back in August. Luckily for fans, in an exciting development, the Dreamville artist has announced he will be co-headlining the tour with St. Louis rapper Smino. Their Luv is 4Ever Tour is set to kick off in January 2023.

The cross-continent tour will take place in 32 cities, with stops including New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Toronto. The collaborative effort comes at an excellent time for the rappers, even more so with JID’s recently-released album, The Forever Story, and Smino’s upcoming LP, Luv 4 Rent, set to release later this month.

Following the release of pre-sale tickets on Wednesday, October 12th, tickets will be available on Friday, October 14th.

All dates for the Luv is 4Ever Tour are listed below.

01/22/2023 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
01/24/2023 — Vancouver, BC @ PNE Forum
01/26/2023 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
01/28/2023 — Oakland, CA @ The Fox
01/31/2023 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
02/02/2023 — San Diego, CA @ SOMA San Diego
02/03/2023 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
02/08/2023 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
02/10/2023 — Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom
02/13/2023 — Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom
02/14/2023 — Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
02/15/2023 — San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre
02/16/2023 — Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center
02/18/2023 — Atlanta, GA @ Coca-Cola Roxy
02/21/2023 — St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
02/22/2023 — Miami, FL @ Oasis Wynwood
02/24/2023 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
02/26/2023 — Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Spring
03/01/2023 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philadelphia
03/03/2023 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
03/07/2023 — Wallingford, CT @ Dome at Toyota Oakdale Theatre
03/09/2023 — Boston, MA @ House of Blues Boston
03/12/2023 — Montreal, QC @ MTELUS
03/15/2023 — Toronto, ON @ HISTORY
03/17/2023 — Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
03/18/2023 — Grand Rapids, MI @ GLC Live at 20 Monroe
03/21/2023 — Chicago, IL @ Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
03/23/2023 — Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
03/24/2023 — Minneapolis, MN @ The Fillmore Minneapolis
03/25/2023 — Kansas City, MO @ Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland
03/28/2023 — Cincinnati, OH @ The Andrew J Brady Music Center
03/29/2023 — Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works

Brad Pitt is currently in the headlines for two reasons: his previous relationship with Angelina Jolie, who claims that the actor verbally and physically assaulted her and their kids, and his alleged current relationship with Emily Ratajkowski. The model and author has been spotted with Pitt, and they’ve “had a few dates” together, a source told People.

With the rumors of her potential romance with Pitt swirling, Ratajkowski took to TikTok to discuss the #MeToo movement. “#MeToo hasn’t changed things in the world,” she said. “Cancel culture hasn’t changed things. All we have now are men who are afraid of consequences.” She added, “As a parent, I can tell you when you want to teach your child something like not to hit other kids, you don’t want them to not hit other kids because they’re scared of a time out.” The irony of Ratajkowski potentially dating a guy who’s been accused of hitting his then-wife and children was not lost on her followers.

BuzzFeed News reports that “while many of Emily’s followers agreed with what she was saying, the vast majority couldn’t help but question her stance as they pointed out that she has been romantically linked to Brad Pitt in recent months.”

One user responded to Ratajkowski’s TikTok video with, “I agree with you but it feels weird listening to you talk about this when you’ve been seen recently with brad pitt,” while another commented, “Girl you’re literally dating brad pitt.” There are plenty more: “Aren’t you dating Brad Pitt? I’m confused.” “omg just like brad pitt.” “tell brad not us.”

It is perhaps unsurprising that Emily’s latest TikTok has rubbed viewers up the wrong way, with one user acknowledging that while neither Brad or Emily have confirmed the growing reports, Emily should clarify if there is no truth to them.

You can watch the TikTok below.

(Via BuzzFeed News)

By now you’ve probably heard that Donald Trump was on the campaign trail over the weekend, making stops in both Arizona and Nevada where he blathered on about other former presidents who also took millions of (de?)classified documents when they left office (spoiler: they didn’t) and bragged about how January 6th brought his biggest crowd ever. If you didn’t know any better, you would understandably think that these were official Trump rallies. Except they weren’t. And Seth Meyers, for one, is not the least bit surprised that Trump — who was supposed to be out there stumping for his fellow Republicans in key battleground states — instead made his stops all about Trump.

On Monday night, Meyers told viewers that “even though Trump is theoretically supposed to be there to campaign for other candidates, he always — without exception — makes it about himself. He’s like the best man at a wedding who gives a drunken toast about how awesome he is.”

While in Carson Valley in Northern Nevada on Saturday, for example, Trump — who mispronounced local congressman Mark Amodei’s last name — literally stole the stage from senatorial candidate Adam Laxalt and wannabe governor Joe Lombardo, both of whom got up to speak with Trump holding court as the unofficial emcee. “After Lombardo’s remarks, he could be heard asking Trump if he should stay up on stage with him,” Meyers said, “and I want you to guess Trump’s response.”

It wasn’t just a “no,” by the way. It was: “No, you go ahead down.” Meyers was really more surprised that Lombardo even thought to ask:

You thought Donald Trump would share a stage with you? This is a guy who once literally shoved another world leader at a NATO Summit to get to the front of the group. I’m shocked Trump didn’t pick Lombardo up over his head and throw him off the stage WWE-style.

Also, I love how sheepishly he asked Trump if he should stay up there with him. He’s like an actor asking a table of producers if he can audition a second time:

‘Do you want me to do that line again?’
‘Uh, no. You can just get the f**k on outta here. And you can actually take the headshot!’

On Sunday, Trump was in Arizona to try and pump up the campaigns of aspiring senator Blake Masters and batshit crazy MAGA/gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. “But again, he could not help but rant about his own problems,” Meyers explained. “Including the federal investigation into the classified documents he stole from the White House.”

“Now, any normal person in that situation might stay out of the spotlight. Or, at the very least, avoid talking about the case in public,” Meyers continued But Trump, as we all know, is not normal. And during that rally in Arizona Trump decided just essentially to confess.” And to rattle off the list of other former presidents who stole classified documents — including, according to Trump, the late George H.W. Bush, who “took millions of documents to a former bowling alley and a former Chinese restaurant, where they combined them, so they’re in a bowling alley/Chinese restaurant.” Which Meyers called a “truly insane story.”

You can watch the full clip above.

The remix of Diddy and Bryson Tiller’s “Gotta Move On” featuring Ashanti and Yung Miami is making the rounds. It was premiered on Hot 97’s Funk Flex, per HipHopDX, and Diddy discussed the record on The Breakfast Club last week.

“Yung Miami was really supposed to just do it for a challenge. She wanted to do the open mic challenge. She really loved the record,” Diddy explained. “But Ashanti … I think that music and art could give you a chance to speak your mind when it comes to the love territory. After I seen Irv [Gotti] do his thing, and I was just thinking, I was like, Sis may wanna express herself on this song.”

Charlamagne Tha God asked if the “Gotta Move On” remix is Ashanti’s rebuttal to Irv Gotti’s August comments on Drink Champs about his past relationship with Ashanti and bitterly finding out she was dating Nelly. “Yeah, like, we talk about whatever’s going through our lives,” Diddy responded. “And Irv is my man, and I knew Ashanti before. Ashanti was, like, 14. And I just felt like with the music, I’m trying to get real truth out the music. I was calling different that maybe had public relationships because when I made the record, it was from my public relationship and me having to move on.”

Ashanti seems to have gladly taken the opportunity to air her annoyance toward Gotti. “You thought that you could have her on the weekends,” she sings in her verse. “Now you mad ’cause I told you I was leaving / I’m gone, I’m done … It’s giving obsessed, it’s giving me stressed, it’s giving me pressed / It’s giving this missing the best / But it’s been 20 years / Please say less … Yeah, you gotta move on.”

Gotti talked about his relationship with Ashanti from two decades ago while promoting his BET Murder Inc. documentary. The tea began spilling around the 52-minute mark of the 3-plus-hour episode of Drink Champs when Gotti explained how Ashanti’s “Happy” record “came about because of our energy,” which he claimed he isn’t hung up on anymore but clearly is.

Gotti also claimed he reached out to Ashanti to “tell her side of the story” for the Murder Inc. doc, “but she’s never gonna do that because she’s never gonna say she was in love with me [and] she’s never gonna say we was together.”

Gotta received immediate blowback for his comments, including from Ja Rule, who was on the Drink Champs episode with him. To catch up on all the drama, watch Diddy on Breakfast Club or Gotti on Drink Champs below.

If anyone down at Mar-a-Lago is listening, please, restrict Donald Trump’s internet access.

The twice-impeached former president — who’s currently under investigation by the DOJ for practically stealing classified documents before he left the White House for good — has recently discovered the 2002 film Poolhall Junkies and it caused him to post a bizarre video on his Truth Social platform. The clip is set to Christopher Walken’s monologue in the film about a lion (the king of the jungle) who gets fed up with all of the other animals bothering him and eventually “eats everything in his path.” The full speech featured in the video is below. Spoiler alert: Trump believes he’s the lion Walken is talking about here.

Via Mediaite, here’s the Walken-declared transcript:

You got this lion. He’s the king of the jungle, huge mane out to here. He’s laying under a tree, in the middle of Africa. He’s so big, it’s so hot. He doesn’t want to move.

Now the little lions come, they start messing with him. Biting his tail, biting his ears. He doesn’t do anything.

The lioness, she starts messing with him. Coming over, making trouble. Still nothing.

Now the other animals, they notice this. They start to move in. The jackals; hyenas. They’re barking at him, laughing at him. They nip his toes, and eat the food that’s in his domain. They do this, then they get closer and closer, bolder and bolder.

Till one day, that lion gets up and tears the shit out of everybody. Runs like the wind, eats everything in his path. Cause every once in a while, the lion has to show the jackals, who he is.

Now to set the scene.

The first half of the speech plays as Trump is sworn into office, with clips of his kids and his wife, Melania — so we guess he’s got a bit of beef with his own family as well if this nonsensical video is anything to go by. Once the talk of jackals and hyenas starts that’s when clips of the Jan. 6th House Committee members start rolling. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is identified as a jackal, as are Liz Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger.

For the final act, the one where Trump metaphorically “runs like the wind” and “tears the shit out of everybody,” the video shows a montage of clips, all featuring Trump who seems to be weirdly preoccupied with hats — either his own red MAGA accessories or those of the military guards standing outside various forms of air transport.

The video was created by a group called The United Spot which is apparently known for creating memes filled with stereotypes and poorly-made videos trolling Democratic D.C. leaders. Which, honestly, feels the most on-brand when it comes to Trump.

Marvel at a guy who once had access to our nuclear codes, above. And here’s the original Walken scene, below.

(Via Mediaite)

Lil Baby’s third studio album, It’s Only Me, is due this week, but one of his biggest fans — you might even say the biggest fan — apparently can’t wait that long. Young Thug, who somehow seemingly still has access to his Twitter account, logged in to tell his young beneficiary to push the album’s release up a day or face some stiff consequences.

“Wham if you don’t drop in 3 days we ain’t bruddas,” he wrote. Now, he’s probably joking; after all, he once paid Baby six figures to actually give rap a go and leave the streets alone, so he likely isn’t throwing that all away over a week’s wait. To be sure, he has nothing but time on his hands, given his current circumstances, but maybe that’s why he’s so impatient, to begin with. Incidentally, he’s actually on the album, along with Future, Nardo Wick, and Rylo Rodriguez.

Either way, it’s sort of funny — in a graveyard humor kind of way — to picture Thug turning into a regular stan on Twitter from the sheer boredom of being locked up awaiting his trial for racketeering in January. If he was out, he’d probably already have heard the album but now, he’s just like the rest of us, waiting on pins and needles for the project to drop. And who knows? Since it’s the wish of an incarcerated man, maybe someone at Universal can pull some strings.

If Lil Baby doesn’t push the album up, it’ll drop on 10/14 through Quality Control Music and UMG.

Jonathan Majors has come a long way since starring in Lovecraft Country. The actor is set to star in a series of blockbusters next year, beginning with Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Creed III, and then as a bodybuilder in Magazine Dreams. If there is one single thing we can learn from those three roles, it’s that Majors has spent the last year and a half getting absolutely jacked!!

In a new cover story with Men’s Health, Majors debuted his muscles on muscles on muscles, which he has been working on for years. For his roles in both the Marvel and Rocky Universes (that’s how we categorize movies now, right?) the actor put on nearly 20 pounds of muscle to prepare. “Training and working out are very important to me. I try to challenge myself to get to a place to express things in the gym the same way that I do in my line of work,” Majors told the mag. Majors will portray Anderson Dame in the upcoming Creed installment, where he will go against Miachel B. Jordan’s Creed.

Majors has been portraying Kang in the MCU since last year when he appeared in Disney+’s Loki. Next year, Kang will return as the villain in the upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp alongside Paul Rudd. In a few more years, he will reprise his role of Kang in The Avenger: Kang Dynasty as a part of Marvel’s phase five in 2025.

It might seem excessive to prepare now, but Majors said it was a goal he was working towards since so much of Kang’s look is his incredible strength. “I look at Kang and I go, Okay, cool. It’s a certain IP where people expect this at a bare minimum,” says Majors. “No one should put themselves or their families in a place where they’re hurting, but your own discomfort is not necessarily a bad thing. That’s growth. It’s not comfortable, but you’re here to save the world, aren’t you? Or take over the world.”

As for what made him want to play a more integral role in the MCU, Majors said that he was drawn to Kang. “It was the character and dimensions of Kang. And the potential that it had. I thought I’ll take a chance on that.” It seems like a lot of people are a fan of him taking a chance on that:

(Via Men’s Health)

In the state of Pennsylvania, there are few crimes that are as egregious as being from New Jersey and loving the Dallas Cowboys. John Fetterman has fully capitalized on the former in his senate race against Dr. Oz, and now, he’s turning up the heat on the latter in possibly his most damaging assault yet.

Going into Sunday’s primetime matchup between the Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles, Fetterman’s campaign has erected two billboards on the highway leading to the Birds’ stadium. Both call out Oz for pretending to be an Eagles fan just like he’s pretending to be a resident of PA. Thanks to some diligent internet sleuthing the billboards pull from an old 2013 Dr. Oz tweet where he’s at the Cowboys training camp.

“Now that Dr. Oz is running for office, he *acts* like he’s a real Philly sports fan. But we all know he’s really a Cowboys fan,” Fetterman tweeted. “Our beautiful new billboard at the Linc won’t let you Iggles fans forget it.”

It’s hard to put into words how brutal it is for Fetterman to out Oz as a Cowboys fan ahead of a game against the Eagles. The lieutenant governor could’ve put up a billboard about Oz murdering puppies, something he allegedly did, and it would make him less of a social pariah than loving the Cowboys.

With football season in high gear, this isn’t the first sports-themed burn that Fetterman has landed on Oz. The Democratic candidate’s job was made very easy when the TV doctor showed up to a Penn State tailgate party drinking red wine. Does Dr. Oz even have a campaign manager anymore? What’s going on over there?

(Via John Fetterman on Twitter)

Apple TV+’s delightful Mythic Quest pulled a Michael Scott Paper Company in season two, and concluded with — spoiler — Ian (played by Rob McElhenney) and Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) leaving Mythic Quest Studios to start their own video game company. The formation of GrimPop, as it’s called, has not humbled Ian the slightest bit. “Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, Henry Ford. These are leaders who trusted their inner voice,” he tells Poppy while walking down a hallway with pictures of these historical greats, ending with himself. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” she exclaims.

Not much has changed with Ian, but a lot has heading into season three. David (David Hornsby) is now in charge at Mythic Quest and he’s making movies with Magic Mike hunk Joe Manganiello; Brad (Danny Pudi) is out of prison and working as a custodian who’s definitely not up to anything nefarious; and F. Murray Abraham is no longer around. He’s too busy palling around Italy with Jennifer Coolidge and Aubrey Plaza.

Here’s what to expect in season three:

In season three, as Ian and Poppy navigate the gaming world and their partnership at the newly formed GrimPop Studios, Dana is forced to play mediator to her bosses’ incessant bickering. Back at Mythic Quest, David settles into his new role as the boss where he truly finds himself in charge for the first time with Jo returning as his assistant — more loyal and militant than ever; and Carol attempts to figure out where she fits in after a new promotion. At Berkeley, Rachel struggles to balance her morals with capitalism, while a post-prison Brad tries to return to society as a reformed man.

Mythic Quest season three premieres on Apple TV+ on November 11.

The “top five” conversation is one of the most enduring debates in hip-hop (so much so, Chris Rock even made a movie about it). Part of the reason for that is its adaptability; with just one or two tweaks, the question can open up infinite avenues of discussion. For instance, rather than applying the question to rappers, it can be applied to albums; it can also be given conditions that make it a more complex question than it seems on the surface.

That’s what Just Blaze and Katty Customs do in this week’s episode of Fresh Pair, prompting their guest T.I. to divulge his list of the top five most influential Atlanta rap albums. As one of the godfathers of trap rap, T.I. is one of the best folks to ask, and since he’s so fiercely loyal to his soil, it means his answers have the potential for a lot of depth.

Right off the bat, he names OutKast’s SouthernPlayalisticCadillacMusik, the group’s debut and the album most widely credited with putting Atlanta rap on the map, then OutKast’s Dungeon Family compatriots Goodie Mob’s first album, Soul Food. Both are easy picks, but not exactly obvious ones, especially since so much time has passed it’d be easy to forget their influence. Both groups have had bigger albums, as well; OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is one of only a handful of rap albums to ever earn Diamond status from the RIAA.

Tip gets into some more surprising picks, adding Young Thug‘s first Slime Season and Future‘s original Dirty Sprite. Both mixtapes could also be considered left-field picks, as both rappers have also had more successful tapes in those series (Slime Season 3 is largely credited as Thugger’s mainstream breakout, which he’d been working toward since appearing on a string of hits in 2014. He was recognizable already — SS3 made him the juggernaut he is today. Meanwhile, DS2 landed after Future’s legendary three-mixtape run in 2015 and delivered his first-ever No. 1 debut). Each tape, though, extends roots and themes that resonate throughout Atlanta rap today and even influence outsiders like Roddy Ricch and 03 Greedo.

T.I.’s last pick, interestingly enough, is much more recent: 21 Savage‘s I Am > I Was. Tip specifically name-checks Savage’s J. Cole-featuring single “A Lot,” which could absolutely be seen as a bit of a turning point for the trap genre (and for J. Cole). The song upended a lot of fans’ expectations for both rappers, showing that Cole could lighten up and dabble in more commercial fare without losing his flair for lyrical drama, while 21 showed that he could hang with one of the consensus best straight-up spitters around.

Watch a clip from the latest episode of Fresh Pair above and catch the full episode Wednesday 10/12 at 3 pm ET / 12 pm PT.