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Throughout this month, it seems like the theme in the Black music scene is “everybody fighting.” “Everybody” in this case has begun to take on its literal definition, as even disgraced but somehow still insanely popular R&B star Chris Brown has joined the Black music Royal Rumble currently taking place on social media platforms and DSPs across the world wide web. His beef appears to be with Quavo, and the two have traded diss tracks and Twitter barbs for the better part of the last three days.

Read on for a timeline of Quavo and Chris Brown’s “beef.”

April 2017 – Quavo Seemingly Begins Dating Chris Brown’s Ex

Prior to the rumor surfacing that Quavo had begun dating Karrueche Tran, he and Brown had apparently been on friendly terms. Brown appeared on Migos’ 2015 track “Just For Tonight” and a year later, Quavo returned the favor on Chris’ mixtape track “Whippin’.” However, in April of 2017, TMZ reported Quavo and Tran were seen spending time together, which apparently incensed Brown, who couldn’t let go of his prior relationship with the model/influencer, despite her dumping him in 2015. She later filed a restraining order against him, alleging harassment and abusive behavior.

June 2017 – The Two Stars Confront Each Other

In June that year, Brown and his entourage confronted Quavo and his at the BET Awards, but for the past few years, the two have appeared to be on good enough terms… until now.

April 2024 – Brown Calls Out Quavo, Quavo Responds, And A Beef Is Born

On April 11, Brown released the deluxe edition of his 2023 album 11:11 with a new song, “Freak,” in which he referenced the 2017 fling, seemingly revealing he still harbors a grudge about it after all this time (of course he does). “OK, now f*ckin’ my old b*tches ain’t gone make us equal / Sippin’ that 1942 ’cause I don’t do no Quavo,” he sings — a reference to the resemblance between Quavo and “Jose Cuervo,” the popular brand of tequila.

A day later, Quavo dropped “Tender,” a song responding to Brown’s call-out, in which he raps, “You did the b*tch wrong and now the b*tch gone, she posted with a thug / Call the b*tch phone, she won’t come home, don’t beat her up,” — a pretty obvious reference to Brown’s history of abusive relationships, including the infamous 2009 incident in which he battered Rihanna so badly, she was hospitalized.

April 2024 – Chris Brown Drops “Weakest Link”

Chris came back with “Weakest Link” a week later, on April 20. In it, he not only addresses Quavo’s “Tender” taunts about Karrueche, but also suggests that turnabout is fair play and that he slept with Quavo’s ex Saweetie. “They say revenge is sweet, now think about that sh*t,” he raps. “Don’t let that line go over your head, I might just sing about that sh*t / I had her fiending ’bout that d*ck, there’s something sweet about that sh*t / I got some tea up out that b*tch, but I ain’t go speak about that sh*t.”

Quavo’s response, “Over Hoes & B*tches,” dropped last night (April 22) and continues to drag out Brown’s abusive past. We’ll see if if these two continue to taunt each other, but let’s all just hope it blows over because at this point, the returns are diminishing rapidly. I never thought I’d say this, but Kendrick really needs to respond to Drake; the quality of these rap beefs is about as good as month-old milk.

Baby Reindeer has been transfixing audiences after hitting the Netflix Top 10 around a week ago. And as the Internet is prone to do, speculation has been running wild as viewers hope to unravel the mystery identities of two characters.

Those characters would be Martha (the female character who stalked Donny and landed in prison as portrayed by Jessica Gunning) and Darrien (the male character who raped Donny, sending him into a spiral of trauma as portrayed by Tom Goodman-Hill). The series is based upon leading actor Richard Gadd’s real life experiences, although he is now making it clear that the circulating speculation is not something that he wanted to see.

Via BBC, Gadd posted an Instagram story, in which he suggested that speculation is getting out of hand:

Gadd asked fans of the show not to speculate about the true identities of the characters, saying people he loved “have worked with and admire are getting unfairly caught up in speculation”.

“Please don’t speculate on who any of the real-life people could be. That’s not the point of our show. Lots of love, Richard.”

As Gadd has previously revealed, the real-life Martha did not go to prison because he “didn’t want to throw someone who was that level of mentally unwell” into incarceration mode. Gadd also stressed that he had changed enough details about both the Darrien and Martha characters to ensure that they could not be tied to their real-life identities through onscreen portrayals.

The Baby Reindeer limited series is streaming on Netflix.

(Via BBC)

Taylor Swift has won more awards than just about anybody: She has 14 Grammys to her name and the Wikipedia page listing the awards and nominations she’s received has quite the scrollbar.

Swift’s awards list is about to get even bigger, too: The 28th Annual Webby Awards are set to go down on May 13. Ahead of that, People has the exclusive on some of the winners, and the list includes Swift beating out Travis Kelce to claim Best Creator Or Influencer Collaboration, Features (Social) Category. Each category has two awards: the Webby Award and the Webby People’s Voice Award. The former is decided by the International Academy Of Digital Arts And Sciences (IADAS), and the latter is chosen via a fan vote. Well, both parties decided that Swift would take home this honor.

Swift was nominated for “Vote.org + Taylor Swift on National Voter Registration Day,” while Kelce was nominated for “The Cheesecake Factory x Travis Kelce: Fashion Icons.”

As Billboard notes, though, Kelce isn’t going home empty-handed: New Heights With Jason And Travis Kelce won the People’s Voice Award for Best Co-Hosts, Features (Podcasts).

Meanwhile, it seems the two have been enjoying some quality time together lately. It’s the NFL offseason and Swift is on a break from The Eras Tour, so the pair made time to check out the first weekend of Coachella.

The New York Knicks took a 2-0 lead in their first round series thanks to one of the great late comebacks in recent playoff memory on Monday night against the Sixers. With 30 seconds to play, Philadelphia held a commanding five-point lead, but in the blink of an eye the Knicks erased it on a truly wild sequence of events.

It was a chaotic and controversial sequence that saw Jalen Brunson finally get the lid off the basket with a bouncing three-pointer, which the Sixers followed up by bizarrely not calling a timeout to advance it immediately. Once they got it in to Tyrese Maxey, he got trapped and it certainly looked like he was fouled, but the refs allowed a play on and Donte DiVincenzo got an open look at the lead. That went begging, but Isaiah Hartenstein flew in for an offensive rebound and the ball swung back out to DiVincenzo who did not miss the second attempt. From there, Hartenstein blocked Maxey at the rim on a go-ahead layup attempt and the OG Anunoby iced the game at the free throw line.

There were so many factors that went into the Knicks win, but one Philly folks could not get past was the referees not calling a foul on Maxey. Joel Embiid ripped the officials after the game, calling it “f**king unacceptable,” and the team decided to file a grievance with the league over the officiating in the first two games.

That won’t do much of anything, but maybe they can get a couple calls to go their way going forward. Whether it’s too little too late remains to be seen, but Knicks fans at the Garden were absolutely glowing after the win. Among them was Stephen A. Smith, who was seated courtside and had a great view of the ending chaos, and on Get Up the next morning, he could not deny that Maxey got “mugged.”

No one is better at TV delivery than Stephen A., who starts by solemnly noting he witnessed a mugging at the Garden before letting his smile loose while talking about how the Sixers got hosed but Knicks fans, like himself, are thrilled. This series would have a totally different feel if that final 30 seconds went differently, and while the referees certainly are a central story, the Sixers also had a number of chances to keep them from being part of the story and didn’t make that happen.

I, like everyone else, had a lot of questions after reading about Tom Cruise reportedly breakdancing and doing the splits at Victoria Beckham’s birthday party. Like: can I see the footage? I would very much like to see the footage. Also, is this something he does a lot? Maybe not “a lot” but showing off his dance moves in public is something Tom Cruise has done before — on a date.

During a 2013 episode of Chelsea Lately, Melrose Place actress Heather Locklear discussed her night out with the Mission: Impossible star in the early 1980s. “We had auditioned for something together and he didn’t have any friends,” she said. “I mean, not that he doesn’t have friends. Out here he doesn’t have friends. We went out and we went dancing.”

She continued, “You know in Risky Business where he does that dance in his underwear and does the splits? We were dancing at a club and he went into that! He starting doing the splits.”

Locklear felt awkward while Cruise did his thing, according to US Magazine. “You just kind of stand there and don’t know what to do. Do you dance around him?” she said, adding, “It was weird. I just sat down.” That was the first and last time they went out together. I wonder if he still sends Locklear a cake?

(Via US Magazine)

Lana Del Rey’s performance was one of the highlights of Coachella 2024’s second weekend, a set that was notable in part thanks to a surprise appearance from Camila Cabello. That’s probably not the same takeaway Coachella organizers have, though.

TMZ reports that Del Rey’s set went 13 minutes past the festival’s curfew, which has resulted in Coachella having to pay a $28,000 fine to the city of Indio, California, where the festival takes place.

On the bright side, TMZ reports this is the only fine Coachella is facing for both of its 2024 weekends. That’s relatively good considering the fest paid out $117,000 in fines for the just the first weekend of the 2023 event.

Meanwhile, Del Rey had some behind-the-scenes drama of her own leading up to Coachella. In a list of thank-you’s after the first weekend of the festival, Del Rey wrote, “Emily for stepping up as tour manager when Pete quit for no reason after 15 years because he was butt hurt that I got 10 comped bikes for free from Wally and randomly decided he was more of a stage designer than a tour manager… Never got a phone call probably never will. Still grateful for the 15 years though. No worries – 37 days was more than enough time to put together an entire headlining set all by ourselves. Not stressful at all.”

Challengers appears to be more than up to the challenge of owning the box office. The Zendaya-starring movie revolves around Tashi, a decorated tennis pro who suffers a devastating injury and moves into coaching after retiring from competition. The rub there is that she is coaching her husband, Art (Mike Faist), who ends up being pitted against Patrick (Josh O’Connor), who is the third member of the threesome that once happened with Tashi and Art. Awkward? In the best way. And apparently, all the “scintillating” vibes translate into the on-the-court scenes, too.

Early critical reviews of the movie raved about the “femme fatale” role as portrayed by Zendaya, and director Luca Guadagnino’s mastery of the sensual material. Surely, it doesn’t hurt that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross scored the movie, but overall, the first reactions are thrilling to see.

“2024 is the year of Zendaya” is only one proclamation. From there, the film is being called “a perfect blend of high class sports drama and erotic thriller,” “scintillating,” “sensational start to finish,” and “the most eruditely seductive film in a long while.” Zendaya’s chemistry with both Faist and O’Connor appears to be off the charts, and the three leads are being mentioned in the same sentence as “Oscar nominations.”

Did we mention that “Zendaya DEVOURED this role” that translates into “pure electricity”? Not only that, but the drama moves through multiple timelines without losing the plot. Sounds like it will have long legs at the box office when the movie releases this week.

Challengers arrives in theaters on April 26.

For years now, the most iconic part of Rihanna’s online identity has been her Instagram profile image. You know the one: It’s a simplistic and relatively crude illustration of an expressionless character with curly hair on its head. As Vulture notes, the image dates back to 2014, so it was there for Anti, it was there for the launch of Fenty Beauty, and it was there for the births of Rihanna and ASAP Rocky’s two children.

Now, we are at the dawn of a new era: Over this past weekend, Rihanna changed her Instagram profile image. Now, instead of the classic doodle that has graced her account for a decade, we have a photo of a Fenty product, being held by what looks like a stick-figure hand, perhaps belonging to the beloved illustration.

There is a degree of devastation among Rihanna’s fans over this change. One shared an “In Loving Memory” video that has racked up 2.8 million views, reading, “I was deeply saddened to hear of your loss. Please know that you have my heartfelt condolences. In this time of grief, may you find strength and solace in the embrace of family and friends who care deeply for you.”

Check out that and other reactions below.

Breaking (wind) news: Donald Trump may have farted during his hush-money trial. Last week, MeidasTouch founder Ben Meiselas reported that the sleepy former president is “actually farting in the courtroom and that it’s very stinky around him.” The odor is so “putrid,” he claimed, that Trump’s lawyers are “repulsed by the scent and the smell.”

This is “unsharted territory,” as Jimmy Kimmel joked during Monday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“Just when you think the insano-meter has topped out, Donald Trump adds farting to his list of atrocities,” he said. Kimmel acknowledged that “we don’t know for sure that Trump was the one farting in court” (Snopes gave the story an “uncertain,” so the rumor is neither confirmed nor denied), so “I cannot in good conscience report that Trump was pumping gas like a Barstow Texaco, but I can report, to borrow a phrase he likes to use when spreading rumors, many people were saying Trump was farting in court.”

After listening off the phrases that trended on Twitter about Trump allegedly passing gas, including “Odor In The Court,” Kimmel added, “There’s no way to prove Donald Trump was the one who dealt it, so please don’t repost this video with a dumb caption like ‘Julius Squeezer’ or ‘The Shart of the Deal’ or ‘You Have the Right to Remain Silent but Deadly’ because we don’t know if any of this is true.” If you like edited footage of Trump farting (who doesn’t), you can watch the Jimmy Kimmel Live clip above.

With Donald Glover devoting much of his energy to acting in recent years, the future of his music as Childish Gambino has remained uncertain. There has been some clarity lately, though: Earlier this month, Glover broke down his plan for his final two albums as Childish Gambino. Now he has shared even more about what his upcoming Gambino goings-on will entail.

During a recent GILGA Radio broadcast, an advertisement-style announcement said, “Childish Gambino New World Tour this summer. Coming to an arena near you. Are you ready?” Glover later shared an Instagram post about it, featuring a simple graphic for The New World Tour and a link to a website, thenewworldtour.com. There, there’s an email sign-up form to be updated with more information when it becomes available.

So, to summarize: What we know about the tour right now is that it’s called The New World Tour, it will take place in arenas, and it’s set to kick off this summer. Dates and information about tickets have yet to be revealed.

Elsewhere during that same broadcast, Glover teased two new songs, one featuring Kanye West and the other featuring Kid Cudi. As NME notes, the Kudi collab is called “Warlords” and previously leaked in 2021.