Category: News

In the eyes of local officials, the Badazz portion of Boosie’s stage name is well-deserved. Yesterday (March 23), the “Wipe Me Down” rapper was called out by his hometown’s attorney general.

In a statement submitted to WBRZ News Louisiana 2, Baton Rouge Attorney General Liz Murrill slammed Boosie for deploying insensitive marketing efforts surrounding his upcoming annual event, Boosie Bash.

Murrill accused Boosie of exploiting the tragic death of Southern University student Caleb Wilson to garner funds for an unauthorized scholarship fund.

“Caleb Wilson’s parents have advised me that they have not given consent and know nothing about their son’s name and image being used to promote this event,” she said. “They didn’t even know the event was happening. They have requested that his name, image, and any reference to a scholarship for him be removed from all promotional materials. I intend to take legal action due to their misappropriation of his name and image to promote their for-profit event. This is not a charitable event.”

Boosie responded to the statement in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “It’s sad for this lawyer n family to say I promoted my event off someone’s passing,” he wrote. “My event was promoted on Eventbrite since November 14. This incident happened a week before my event was to take place. How the f*ck can I capitalize off someone death for a concert.”

It’s almost time to dust off your riding boots, boot cut jeans, and fringe jackets. This year’s Academy of Country Music Awards (ACMs) are nearly here. On May 8, the biggest names within the genre will mosey on down to Frisco, Texas’ Ford Center for the 2025 ACM Awards.

While the ceremony’s nomination list has not yet been released, its lineup has. Today (March 24), the 2025 ACM Awards announced the first round of featured performers include Blake Shelton, Eric Church, and Lainey Wilson.

To celebrate the show’s six decade run, the ACM Awards tapped the three recording artists with an abundant trophy case. As a former host of the ceremony and six-time ACM Award-winner, Blake Shelton is darling of the annual event. With his single, “Texas,” dominating the charts, country music fans are looking forward to Shelton’s stage return.

Seven-time ACM Award recipient Eric Church’s set will serve as a treat of his forthcoming album, Evangeline Vs. The Machine, which is due out on May 2.

Fresh off her 2024 Entertainer of the Year win, 12-time ACM Award-winner Lainey Wilson’s demand is high, so the ACM Awards could not resist inviting her back.

The 2025 ACM Awards is set to take place on May 8. The evening will hosted by Reba McEntire, and streamed exclusively on Prime Video Live starting at 8 p.m. Eastern. Find more information here.

Pavement wants to ensure their story is told in its entirety. Earlier this month, a teaser of the band’s forthcoming biopic Range Life: A Pavement Story starring Joe Keery was released.

But just in case vital things about the group’s legacy are left on the cutting room floor, the Alex Ross Perry-directed documentary about Pavement aims to fill any potential gaps. Today (March 24), Pavements‘ official trailer was shared, and it is just as explosive as the “Maybe Maybe” musicians.

In the visual, viewers are taken through archival footage (including Pavement’s infamous Lollapalooza set), behind-the-scenes of Slanted! Enchanted! A Pavement Musical, interviews, and Pavement’s forthcoming biopic.

The synopsis for the picture reads: “‘Pavements’ is a documentary that may or may not be entirely true, may or may not be totally sincere, and may or may not be more about the idea of the band—or any band—than a history of the short-lived, passionately loved, commercially marginal ’90s American alternative group Pavement. This unconventional film about a highly unconventional band incorporates a stage musical, rock biopic, gallery exhibition, archival footage, and contemporary observational footage to create a film as irreducible, uncharacterizable, and entertaining as the band and its music.”

For fans eager to experience the documentary alongside the director and others involved a premiere is scheduled for New York at Film Forum on May 2. Then on May 9, a premiere will be held in Los Angeles. The official nationwide theater opening won’t take place until June 6.

Watch the official trailer for Pavements above. Tickets for Pavements are on sale now. Find more information here.

Beyoncé’s latest studio album Cowboy Carter is a Grammy Award record-setting project. Outside of the accolades, Cowboy Carter helped to further the careers of many of the musicians featured on it–including Shaboozey, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, and Rhiannon Giddens.

However, as Cowboy Carter’s one-year anniversary approaches, Giddens remains conflicted about her contribution (the dazzling banjo playing on “Texas Hold ‘Em“) to the historic body of work. During an interview with Rolling Stone, Rhiannon Giddens expressed her complicated feelings about playing on Cowboy Carter.

“When I think about my banjo playing, I think of the lineage I have received through Joe Thompson and everyone who taught him, this connection to a very deep piece of my culture,” she said. “Every time I pull my banjo out, I’m thinking of that. If ever I do something that seems counter to that, there’s a very good reason.”

She continued: “There are two examples I could pull out, in my entire 20-year career, where I feel like I had to make a compromise in order for a greater good. This was one of those times. What was hard for me was to feel that gift treated as any other transaction in the music industry.”

Giddens did not name Beyoncé as the source of creative contention. But rather seemingly vented about the business side of the moment.

While the moment certainly benefitted her, for Giddens it also stirred up painful feelings about her identity. “Because of all the things I’ve been fighting for my whole life, it’s been difficult to be seen as a Black musician, especially since I’m mixed,” she said. “But for the first time, I felt acceptance from the mainstream Black community, which made me weep.”

With Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour slated to kick off soon based on Giddens remarks, concertgoers should not expect a surprise cameo from her.

Justin Bieber has not felt the love from users online lately. However, Bieber Fever hasn’t been eradicated just yet. In fact, Blackpink’s Lisa opened up about the moment the was overcome by fandom.

During an interview with The Guardian, Lisa confessed that her admiration for Justin Bieber nearly left her speechless.

When asked which song she knows all the lyrics to, Lisa replied Justin Bieber’s breakout hit “Baby” with Ludacris.

“Everyone knows the lyrics to ‘Baby’ by Justin Bieber and Ludacris, don’t they,” she playfully asked. “I think everyone was a Bieber fan when they were young.”

Lisa then recalled meeting Bieber for the first time, saying: “I met him a few years ago, but just for a quick hi. I didn’t tell him how much I loved him, because I’m too shy.”

Bieber isn’t the only North American musician Lisa is fond of. Later in the chat, Lisa gave a special shoutout to both SZA and Ariana Grande. Lisa revealed
SZA’s “Snooze” and Ariana Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine” are the first song she wakes up to. But Britney Spears‘ “… Baby One More Time” was the first song she ever fell in love with.

“My older cousin would come ’round to play at my house, and she was a big fan of Britney Spears,” she said. “She put on ‘… Baby One More Time’ and I was like, ‘What is this song? I love it.’ I watched the music video and fell in love with her.”

Lisa proves that even global superstar can be shy superfans.

The past year in hip-hop has been largely defined by a plethora of feuds between rappers, with one in particular. While rap disputes can be started by any number of inciting events, sometimes they stem from relatively simple misunderstandings.

Case in point: two rappers from almost completely different circles clashed recently when Houston’s Maxo Kream accused Gaithersburg, Maryland native Logic of stealing one of his songs after a Twitch streamer previewed Logic’s upcoming album Side Quest. The song that caught Maxo’s ear is apparently titled “700 Club” and features Wiz Khalifa, with the rappers trading verses over an interpolation of Cloud One’s 1976 song, “Dust to Dust.” “Just stole my song huh,” Maxo wrote in a quote tweet. Maxo was clearly put off by the song’s similarity to his own 2019 track “Meet Again” from his second official studio album, Brandon Banks. Check it out up top.

So, did Logic really steal Maxo Kream’s song?

Well, after Maxo’s statement drew some buzz from a few media outlets, Logic logged onto Instagram to post an explanation. “I don’t be on the internet and somebody hit me about this dude I’ve never heard of before named Maxo Kream, who’s pretty dope,” he said. “So probably like 45 minutes ago, somebody showed me some Complex thing that was like, ‘Logic stole this dude’s song’ or whatever. I was like, ‘I don’t know who that is!’ Then I went and listened to the song and I was like, ‘Oh wow, yeah, it’s the same sample.’ And it’s been sampled like 15 times since the ’70s. Nas has sampled it, everybody’s sampled it.”

Logic is no stranger to landing himself in feuds on accident; in 2022, fans thought he had beef with Reason due to some lines on the rappers’ respective songs, while he’s gotten into tiffs with Joyner Lucas, Joe Budden, and others.

This one could end up having an ending that benefits both Logic and Maxo. As Logic said in his video, “I’ve never heard of Maxo Kream. I’m actually really happy I have ’cause now, since I’ve checked out his music, I’m like, ‘Yo, this sh*t is tight!’ … It’s nothing but love, man. Sh*t, let’s do a record!”

A Logic and Maxo Kream collaboration would be interesting, to say the least. Someone connected to both should make the introduction.

Tom Hardy will be going the opposite of gangster in Havoc has a detective, but first, he will definitely be on the side of the mob in MobLand. The Guy Ritchie series stars the Venom and Peaky Blinders actor alongside mutual greats including Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren.

Viewers should expect Shakespearean characters and perhaps conversation-based references to match, and Hardy will portray a “handsome” (check) yet “dangerous” (check check) loyal fixer within a mob family war. Details of the where and when are of the utmost importance.

When Does Tom Hardy’s MobLand come out?

Mar 30 on Paramount+. The first season will contain 10 episodes.

From the series synopsis:

Power is up for grabs as the Harrigans and Stevensons, two warring London crime families, clash in a kill-or-be-killed battle that threatens to topple empires and ruin lives. Caught in the crossfire is Harry Da Souza, the street-smart ‘fixer’ as dangerous as he is handsome, who knows too well where loyalties lie when opposing forces collide. As kingdom goes up against kingdom, lines will be crossed – and the only saving grace is a bet-your-life guarantee: family above everything.

Mobland stars Hardy, Mirren, and Brosnan along with Lara Pulver, Joanne Froggatt, Mandeep Dhillon, Anson Boon, and Paddy freaking Considine.

Lil Durk’s upcoming ninth solo album, Deep Thoughts, is just days away from release, and today, the Chicago rapper revealed the tracklist featuring Future, Hunxho, Jhené Aiko, and his reunion with Voice Of The Heroes collaborator Lil Baby. With production by Benny Blanco, Southside, Vory, and more, the album has been nearly two years in the making, and was delayed four times due to his October 2024 arrest on murder-for-hire charges.

In addition to previously released tracks “Monitoring Me,” “Late Checkout,” “Opportunist,” and “Can’t Hide It” featuring Jhené Aiko, the album will be 17 tracks long, with a cover referencing Durk’s ongoing incarceration as he awaits trial.

Durk was arrested on October 25, with prosecutors alleging that Durk arranged an August 2022 ambush shooting of Georgia rapper Quando Rondo in Los Angeles in retaliation for Rondo’s suspected involvement in the murder of Durk’s Only The Family artist King Von. While Quando Rondo was unhurt, his cousin Lul Pab was killed in the shooting. Durk is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, committing murder-for-hire involving a death, and the use of a machine gun in a violent crime resulting in death. He has pled not guilty, but was denied bail on the grounds of being a flight risk.

Deep Thoughts is due on 3/28 via Only The Family, Alamo, and Sony Records. You can find more info here.

Deep Thoughts Tracklist

01. “Shaking When I Pray”
02. “Keep On Sippin”
03. “They Want To Be You” Feat. Future
04. “Soul Bleed”
05. “1000 Times” Feat. Lil Baby
06. “Turn Up A Notch”
07. “Vanish Mode”
08. “Monitoring Me”
09. “Untouchable”
10. “Noteboook (No Hook)”
11. “Can’t Hide It” Feat. Jhené Aiko
12. “Wonderin Again”
13. “Late Checkout” Feat. Hunxho
14. “Think You Flowed”
15. “Opportunist”
16. “Alhamdullilah”
17. “Deep Depression”

Lizzo already has an Emmy and multiple Grammys — is an Oscar next?

The “Love In Real Life” singer will star as Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Rosetta, a biopic from Amazon MGM Studios about the gospel legend and “Godmother of Rock and Roll” that’s being written by Natalie Chaidez and Kwynn Perry.

Deadline has more: “Inspired by true events, the film will capture a pivotal period in Thrape’s life — one of groundbreaking innovation, defiant passion, and secret love. As she shatters musical boundaries with her signature guitar sound, she must navigate societal constraints, conceal her love for another woman, and ultimately transform a wedding into one of the most legendary concerts in history — the first stadium show.”

Rosetta does not have release date. Neither does Lizzo’s new album, Love In Real Life, but it shouldn’t be too much longer.

“ALBUM IS DONE YALL!” she recently wrote on Instagram. “ASTROLOGY EXPERTS Do my mercury got micro braids? Cus I got an emergency root canal, announced SNL & finished my album all in one day today.”

Lizzo was announced as the musical guest for the April 12th episode of SNL with host Jon Hamm. Could Hamm and Lizzo be the name Hamm and Bublé?

Landing on the song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart is a major career milestone that a good amount of artists have achieved. A significantly smaller group of performers, though, have ever had a track chart within the chart’s coveted top 10. Now, Doechii can say she’s done that: On the new Hot 100 dated March 29, her viral hit “Anxiety” rises to the No. 10 spot, making it her first-ever song to appear in the region.

It was also a big week for Playboi Carti: His new album, Music, just debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (although he doesn’t seem to think he got enough numerical credit). In terms of the Hot 100, he debuted two of the album’s tracks in this week’s top 10 (in the top five, actually): “Evil J0rdan” is at No. 2, and his The Weeknd collaboration “Rather Lie” rests at No. 4.

He wasn’t quite able to claim the No. 1 spot this time around. That honor remains with Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther,” which is atop the chart for a fifth total (and consecutive) week. The song previously became the longest-running No. 1 single for either Lamar or SZA, and now the streak grows. That’s the most consecutive weeks a song has spent at No. 1 in 2025 so far, and it’s tied for the most total weeks this year with Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With A Smile.”