Month: September 2024

On the second day of the murder trial against the men accused of killing Memphis rapper Young Dolph in November 2021, one of the defendants, Cornelius Smith, has admitted to shooting Dolph in front of Makeda’s Cookies alongside co-defendant Justin Johnson. According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Smith also copped to accepting a $40,000 payoff for the hit.

Smith told jurors he and Johnson were both paid $40,000, while co-defendant Hernandez Govan was given $20,000 for planning the hit. Smith said he’d fallen on hard times, abusing drugs like Oxycontin and ecstasy, after the death of his nine-year-old son some months before. He also alleged that the contract killing was one of several marks on Dolph’s Paper Route Empire label roster, which he was made aware of after by another Memphis native, Big Jook, who reports noted was the older brother of Dolph’s rap rival, Yo Gotti. Jook himself was shot and killed this January, and the investigation is ongoing.

Smith said the original plan was modified on the fly after he and Johnson spotted Dolph’s wrapped SUV, leading to the ambush outside Makeda’s. He recalled being wounded by return fire from Dolph’s brother Marcus, and the process of cleaning up after ditching their white Mercedes — the same vehicle that police tracked to the arrest of Govan. The sad irony: Smith only received one $800 payment for the shooting prior to his arrest in Indiana in January 2022.

In Columbus, Ohio last night (September 23), Sabrina Carpenter had one of the biggest moments of her music career so far: She launched the Short N’ Sweet tour. (Here’s the setlist for that performance.) It appears to have been a fun time, especially considering how she ended the evening.

The performance itself ended with the hit “Espresso,” but as fans filtered out of the venue, a pre-taped video of Carpenter played on a big screen on stage. The video features a bunch of clips of Carpenter looking at the camera and saying bye to her fans in different ways. In one, for example, she said, “Thanks for coming to my tour. I love singing! I hope you liked hearing me sing for that long.”

She says in another take, “Make sure to check out the merch table on your way out. There’s a lot of merch, or maybe there isn’t. Maybe it’s sold out. I don’t know: I filmed this months ago.” In another, she says, “Thanks for coming to the show! Hope you had a great night. Was that sincere?”

All in all, that little touch shows part of why Carpenter is so easy to root for: Aside from busting out great music, her personality is engaging and fun.

Of the four movies that Ryan Coogler has directed, Michael B. Jordan has starred in all four of them. Soon, it will be five out of five (in SAT terms, Coogler is to Jordan as Scorsese is to DiCaprio), and the fifth looks like a stunner.

Sinners stars the Creed actor as twin brothers in the Jim Crow-era South who return to their hometown, “only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back,” according to the official plot synopsis. “I’ve been all over this world. I’ve seen men die in ways I ain’t even know was possible,” Jordan says in a voiceover. “Of all the things that I’ve seen, I ain’t ever seen no demons, no ghosts, no magic… ’til now.” You can watch the trailer above.

The rest of the Sinners cast includes Delroy Lindo, Jack O’Connell, Jayme Lawson, Wunmi Mosaku, Omar Benson Miller, Hailee Steinfeld, Li Jun Li, and Lola Kirke. Here’s more:

From Ryan Coogler — director of Black Panther and Creed — and starring Michael B. Jordan comes a new vision of fear: Sinners. Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. “You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”

Sinners opens in theaters on March 7. Check out the poster.

J. Cole linked up with Daylyt earlier this year on his Might Delete Later cut “Pi.” Now, he has returned the favor: Yesterday (September 23), Daylyt dropped the Cole-featuring single “A Plate Of Collard Greens,” which is built off a soulful sample and see the two rappers putting the focus on the lyrics.

Cole works a few pop culture references into his verse, like when he nods to Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum: “And rated R regimes, exchanging raw for cream / Tricked ’em and went left, they pull up shootin’ like Tatum off a screen.” He also invokes Michael Jackson: “Dangerous as the king of pop, how well they spin your block / No moves, minimal, smooth criminals.”

He also raps about the experience of a poor and challenging childhood: “The bills is due, as kids we knew the way the calls would ring / Since mom ain’t paid ’em off, we trained to watch the names across the screen / And let collections pass just like we failed to make an offering / Gotta channel thoughts, cause damn, the cable off, it seems / Deep down, I hated Halloween, with all that I have seen / Who needs another way to cause a scream?”

The song is the latest in Cole’s recent run of collaborations, which has included songs with ASAP Rocky, Anderson. Paak and Cordae (as a producer), and Tems.

Listen to “A Plate Of Collard Greens” above.

Following her alien kiss at the VMAs, Sabrina Carpenter kicked off her biggest tour ever on Monday, September 23.

The “Espresso” singer performed in Columbus, Ohio, during the first night of the Short N’ Sweet Tour, which goes until November. For the setlist, Carpenter picked songs from her two most recent albums, 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send and 2024’s Short N’ Sweet, and separated the concert by acts. She also played “spin the bottle” to select a song to perform a cover of; during night one, it was “Mamma Mia” by ABBA, but that will change by show.

You can see the Short N’ Sweet Tour setlist and dates below.

Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet Tour Setlist

Act I
1. “Taste”
2. “Good Graces”
3. “Slim Pickins”
4. “Tornado Warnings”
5. “Lie To Girls”
6. “Decode”
7. Bed Chem”

Act II
8. “Feather”
9. “Fast Times”
10. “Read your Mind”
11. “Sharpest Tool”
12. “Opposite”
13. “Because I Liked A Boy”
14. “Coincidence”
15. “Mamma Mia” (ABBA cover)
16. “Nonsense”

Act III
17. “Dumb & Poetic”
18. “Juno”
19. “Please Please Please”
20. “Don’t Smile”

Encore
21. “Espresso”

Sabrina Carpenter 2024 Tour Dates: The Short N’ Sweet Tour

09/23 — Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
09/25 — Toronto, Ontario @ Scotiabank Arena
09/26 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
09/29 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
10/02 — Hartford, CT @ XL Center
10/03 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
10/05 — Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena
10/08 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
10/11 — Montreal, QC @ Centre Ball
10/13 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
10/14 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
10/16 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
10/17 — Saint Louis, MO @ Chaifetz Arena
10/19 — Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena
10/20 — Charlottesville, VA @ John Paul Jones Arena
10/22 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
10/24 — Orlando, FL @ Kia Center
10/25 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
10/28 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
10/30 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
11/01 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
11/02 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Delta Center
11/04 — Vancouver, BC @ Pacific Coliseum
11/06 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
11/07 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center
11/09 — San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
11/10 — San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena
11/13 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
11/15 — Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena

Lady Gaga is up to something: As Pop Crave points out, in New York and Los Angeles, billboards teasing “LG6.5” (also spelled “LG six.five” started popping up.

Notably, this comes after Gaga has spent the few days sharing mysterious teasers on Instagram. Starting on September 20, Gaga has shared posts that feature the phrases, “I’m ready for my interview,” “don’t tell me what to wear,” “no duct tape no mission,” “moon dust gets everywhere,” and “still not October.”

In an interview clip shared on September 22 (as Billboard notes), Gaga was asked about the teasers and she responded, “It’s a secret.”

It’s not currently clear what exactly any of this means, but some fans think, as Cosmopolitan notes, this could be related to her upcoming movie Joker: Folie à Deux, perhaps even a Harlequin is coming soon. At this point, that’s purely rumor and speculation, though.

Worth noting is that Gaga previously confirmed the first single from her upcoming seventh is currently set to release in October. Then, earlier this month, a Vogue cover story on Gaga revealed she is planning on releasing her seventh album in February 2025.

In that same Vogue profile, Gaga confirmed she’s engaged to Michael Polansky and revealed it was actually her mother who set them up.

Frankly, SZA sighting are a rarity. Outside of the “Saturn” singer’s sporadic posts on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), she does a stellar job at living life offline.

So, SZA’s upcoming appearance on Hot Ones will surely be something fans will caress. But before the episode premieres on First We Feast’s YouTube channell (currently scheduled for Thursday, September 26), SZA has already got users online buzzing. In the promotional poster (viewable here), SZA is seen sporting full-on alien-like face prosthetics. The look appears to be a hint back to the look she previously teased online which could be a hint about her highly anticipated album, Lana.

“Fun times at the pain farm ,” wrote SZA in the Instagram comments.

However, fans are exactly fond of the get-up. Users online took to their pages to voiced their .

“Solana don’t piss me off,” wrote one user.

“Oh she’s about to piss me off,” echoed another.

“Girl that’s SZANT,” chimed another.

“That’s a bug where’s SZA,” jokingly asked one user.

Others speculated that this could indeed be a clue about SZA’s highly anticipated follow-up to her record-breaking sophomore project, SOS.

“The ‘LANA’ tease,” wrote one user.

“AND THE ROLLOUT BEGINS,” added another.

After experiencing premature leaks, SZA threatened to scrap the project. But ultimately, she announced that she would release the leaks as the SOS Deluxe and her new tracks on Lana.

Brat summer is sort of, kind of over, but the party is just beginning for its creator Charli XCX. On September 14, the “Talk Talk” singer kicked off her Sweat tour.

Thanks to the North American run being a joint venture with co-headliner Troye Sivan, it is a dual experience. However, that hasn’t stopped Charli XCX from finding a way to one up herself each night. Tonight (September 23), Charli XCX treated fans to s surprise cameo from Lorde. The pair took to Madison Square Garden’s stage in to perform their song, “Girl, So Confusing Remix.”

In the clip captured by a concertgoer (viewable here), the New York City audience couldn’t hold back their excitement as they immediately joined in to sing along.

Oddly enough fans speculated that the original version, which was featured on Charli XCX’s Brat album was a dig at Lorde. While it appears that Lorde could’ve been the muse to inspire the record, based on her leaning vocals to its remix the two quickly shut down whispers that the singer had tension with one another.

Even on stage inside of Madison Square Garden, Charli XCX and Lorde immediately embraced each other as they worked the crowd. Clearly, there’s no bad blood between the duo.

One of the major storylines of the early NFL season has been the fairly lackluster quarterback play around the league, including from this year’s much-talked about rookie class. Caleb Williams has struggled in Chicago behind a pretty dreadful offensive line, Bo Nix had two awful games before a quality performance in a Week 3 win, and Jayden Daniels hadn’t been asked to do much passing the ball for Washington in their first two games.

That all changed for Daniels on Monday night in Cincinnati though, as the Commanders offense erupted for 38 points as he had a coming out party on national television with an absolutely dominant showing in a Washington shootout win. Daniels was nearly perfect, completing 21-of-23 passes on the night for 254 yards and a pair of touchdowns — while also rushing the ball 11 times for 40 yards and a TD on the ground.

The biggest thing fans wanted to see from Daniels and the Commanders offense has been opening up the passing game and letting the young QB throw it down the field, as that was where he was at his best at LSU, but through two games had been tasked with almost entirely underneath throws. Kliff Kingsbury finally turned him loose against Cincinnati as he connected twice on deep passes to Terry McLaurin, showing off his incredible arm and touch on the deep ball.

The second of those came with the Commanders up five with just over two minutes to go on a 3rd and 7, and the Bengals sending all-out pressure and playing press man on the outside. Daniels recognized his 1-on-1 opportunity with McLaurin before the snap and let a gorgeous ball go right before getting lit up by a blitzer, with McLaurin running underneath it for a terrific catch at the back pylon.

It was the perfect way for Daniels to cap off a night few will forget if he continues on to stardom, as after a pair of unspectacular (but also perfectly fine) starts to open his career, he put his full talent on display under the national spotlight. His 21-of-23 night set a new NFL rookie record for completion percentage in a game, and by moving the Commanders to 2-1, the conversation will inevitably shift to wondering if Washington is already in a spot to compete for a playoff berth in the NFC. Time will tell if this was a sign of a CJ Stroud-esque rookie season for Daniels or if we will look back on this and think it says a bit more about Cincinnati’s defense than anything. Still, for the first time in a long time there’s real reason to believe Washington has itself a star QB in the making.

Earlier in the month, Ice Spice found herself in the middle of a professional controversy with former friend Cleotrapa. But as of today (September 23), the “Popa” rapper was supposedly able to put another dispute behind her.

According to Billboard, Ice Spice has reached a settlement in a copyright infringement surrounding her breakout song, “In Ha Mood.”

Although the specifics of the argument has not been shared, based on Billboard’s report, all parties were agreed to resolve the matter.

Back in January, fellow recording artist D.Chamberz launched the suit against Ice Spice, the track’s producer RiotUSA, and her record labels (Universal Music Group, Capitol Records and 10K Projects). D.Chamberz alleged that his track was not only release prior to Ice Spice’s song, but it also gained traction which used to emphasize the likelihood of the musicians coming across it.

“It cannot be purely coincidental,” said D.Chamberz’s attorney. “Go [to] the core of each work.”

D.Chamberz argued Ice Spice’s single copied his record’s “beat, lyrics, hook, rhythmic structure, metrical placement, and narrative context of his track.”

Ice Spice’s legal representatives denied the accusation.

However, D.Chamberz attornies doubled down on their arguements. “By every method of analysis, ‘In Ha Mood’ is a forgery. Any proper comparative analysis of the beat, lyrics, hook, rhythmic structure, metrical placement, and narrative context will demonstrate that ‘In Ha Mood’ was copied.”