Tyla is on fire with her breakthrough single “Water,” which peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 last week. In mid-November, the South African artist added to the song’s sprawling influence with a remix featuring Travis Scott last month. And on Wednesday, December 6, Complexshared an interview with Tyla in which she explained how the eye-popping collaboration came together.
“I didn’t really think of doing a remix,” she said. “I was like, ‘Nah, like, let’s just have ‘Water.’ It’s cool. Whatever.’ But then, people were reaching out, and I was like, ‘Oh my word, oh my word.’ And I started getting excited, and then Travis reached out, and I literally couldn’t — like, I could not say no. His music is crazy. I’ve always loved his sound and just his vibe in general. So after he reached out, we sent him that open verse, and he came back and he killed it, you know. He killed it.”
“Everything that’s happening has surpassed anything I could have dreamt of,” Tyla captioned her Instagram post announcing the album last week. “African music is going global and I’m so blessed to be one of the artists pushing the culture. I’ve been working on my sound for 2 years now and I’m so ready for the world to hear it. I cannot wait for the world to experience an African Popstar.”
Tyla is out 3/1/2024 via Fax/Epic Records. Find more information here.
Last month, Doja Cat sat down for a spoof interview with her alter ego, and the results were chaotic — fitting because that’s the word she used when Ice Spice, for Instagram’s Close Friends Only, asked her to describe her 2023 in one word. Ice Spice posted that clip on Wednesday, December 6, but Billboarddropped a separate clip from their conversation that put Ice Spice on the spot.
In the clip, Doja asks Ice Spice to identify her first-ever celebrity crush. “Ugh, it’s so embarrassing,” she responded. After some coaxing from Doja, Ice Spice finally said, “I’m just gonna say it. It was Usher. I saw him at the Met Gala for the first time I ever seen him. I’m like, ‘Oh, my God. It’s him.”
“He’s beautiful,” Doja said, and Ice Spice agreed, “Gorgeous man.”
According to Billboard, “The full podcast episode of Close Friends Only, produced in collaboration with The Unwell Network, will go live across streaming platforms including Spotify, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts and YouTube on Thursday [December 7].”
One cool thing about the NBA right now is how you can, on any given night, see a guy do some of the most ludicrous stuff you have ever seen out of a professional basketball player. Sure, you’re not guaranteed to see incredible performances all the time, but the level of play league-wide has never been higher, and there are more players than ever capable of completely taking over a game.
Few are better at this than Luka Doncic, who will frequently stuff the stat sheet over the course of a basketball game. On Wednesday night, he only needed a half to do just that, as Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks into the locker room during their game against the Utah Jazz with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.
FIRST HALF TRIPLE-DOUBLE
Luka tallied a TRIPLE-DOUBLE of 29 PTS, 10 REB, and 10 AST in the 1H
It is, quite frankly, hilarious how good this guy at the game of basketball. As you can guess, Doncic set a little history here, as he became the first player in NBA history to get a 25-point triple-double over one half of play. He’s also the fourth player since 2000 to record a triple-double by halftime of a basketball game.
Luka Dončić notched 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the first 25-point triple-double in a half in NBA history. pic.twitter.com/EntbetTG3T
He joins Russell Westbrook, Domantas Sabonis, and Nikola Jokić as the only players since 2000 to have a triple-double by halftime in a game. pic.twitter.com/LktjA22q3M
Offset answers to no one. His sophomore solo album, Set It Off, made it on Uproxx‘s “Best Albums Of 2023” list because of his fierce commitment to authenticity and his fearless embrace of hard-earned luxury. His freshly dropped video for “Blame It On Set” encapsulates those qualities.
The Maya Table-directed video begins with Offset in the dull, soul-sucking environment more commonly associated with 9-to-5 office jobs than multi-platinum-certified rappers. But there Offset is, sitting alone at a desk, constantly checking the clock (relatable), stapling papers, and piling them up.
It appears that he’s done for the day, but a very obnoxious and unkempt boss comes in with a new stack for Offset to staple. He’s yelling while chewing a jelly donut, leading to jelly grossly falling onto Offset’s desk. That’s the final straw. Offset clenches his fist but chooses to fight back by rounding up his coworkers, rocking high-fashion fits, and spitting confident bars.
Was the fourth GOP presidential debate even necessary? Have any of them been? After all, none have boasted the guy who’s always crushed the polls: Donald Trump. Those candidates who have shown up — and then there were four — have barely talked about the orange elephant in the room. Really, it’s just been one: Chris Christie, an old buddy-turned-arch-nemesis, who’s made the central fixture of his campaign to try (maybe in vain) to save his party from the orb guy.
At Wednesday’s debate, he turned his ire towards his fellow nominees.
“We’re 17 minutes into this debate and … we’ve had these three acting as if this race is between the four of us.”
— Chris Christie calls out his opponents for failing to address “he who shall not be named, Voldemort” pic.twitter.com/UzVVUIHsIC
After fielding a tough question from moderator Megyn Kelly, who lit into his poor marks, Christie instead mostly ignored it and tore into today’s GOP instead.
“Well look, Megyn, it is often very difficult to be the only person on stage who is telling the truth and the only person who is taking on what needs to be taken on,” Christie thundered. “I look at my watch now. We’re 17 minutes into this debate, and except for your little speech in the beginning, we’ve had these three acting as if the race is between the four of us. The fifth guy who doesn’t have the guts to show up and stand here, he’s the one as you just put it is way ahead in the polls.”
He then came up with a good insult for Trump that damns his fellow nominees as well.
“Yet I’ve got these three guys who are all seeming to compete with Voldemort, He Who Shall Not Be Named. They don’t want to talk about it,” Christie zinged. He continued:
“The fact is when you go and say the truth about somebody who is a dictator, a bully, who has taken shots at everybody, whether they have given great service or not over time, who dares to disagree with him, then I understand why they’re timid to say anything about it. Maybe they have future aspirations. Maybe those future aspirations are now or maybe four years from now. But the fact of the matter is the truth needs to be told.”
Instead of doing the debates, Trump instead has been granted ego-stroking solo town halls, fielding softball questions from lackeys. The night before, he joined Sean Hannity for some Fox News action, where he made the startling admission that, yes, if re-elected he would be a “dictator,” but, you know, only on the first day. And it’s always a good idea to trust someone who says they’ll be a dictator to keep their promises.
Diddy responded with a statement provided to Page Six, reading, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
Below is what you need to know about the allegations and lawsuits aimed at Diddy.
The suit is extremely nuanced and graphically detailed, but the varied allegations said to have happened between 2005 (when Cassie was 19 and signed to Diddy’s Bad Boy label) and 2018, span, per The New York Times, “a pattern of control and abuse that included plying her with drugs, beating her, and forcing her to have sex with a succession of male prostitutes while he filmed the encounters.” There was also one rape allegation from 2018, before their romantic relationship ended.
Diddy Settles With Cassie
November 17: Despite vehemently denying all the allegations in Cassie’s lawsuit, Diddy reached a settlement with her the day after its filing. The terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed, but Cassie and Diddy each released statements sharing that they “decided to resolve this matter amicably.”
On November 18, Benjamin Brafman, Diddy’s attorney, released a statement to clarify, according to The Hollywood Reporter, that the settlement was in “no way an admission of wrongdoing,” and “Mr. Combs’ decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims. He is happy they got to a mutual settlement and wishes Ms. Ventura the best.”
Two More Women Allege Sexual Assault And Rape
November 23: On Thanksgiving, New York’s Adult Survivors Act expired. The act, as explained by Billboard, “created a one-year window for alleged survivors to take legal action over years-old accusations that would typically be barred under the statute of limitations.” Two more women filed lawsuits against Diddy before its expiration, and Diddy denied them via a statement from an unnamed spokesperson calling them “fabricated claims […] filed at the last minute. This is nothing but a money grab.”
The Hollywood Reporter reported another lawsuit filed against Diddy for allegedly “drugging sexually assaulting [Joi Dickerson-Neal] when she was a college student at Syracuse University in 1991.”
Later that day, as first reported by Rolling Stone, a woman identified publicly as Jane Doe “alleges [Diddy] and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping” her and her friend in 1990 or 1991. The lawsuit alleges violence as well.
Diddy Steps Down From Revolt
November 28: Revolt announced that Diddy, who co-founded the media company, had “stepped down from his position as Chairman of Revolt.”
50 Cent Chimes In
December 1:Page Six reported that 50 Cent, noted Diddy disliker, is “in early development on a TV doc about rival Diddy and allegations of abuse by his longtime partner Cassie and others.” It would be done by his G-Unit Films and Television.
50 Cent acknowledged the report on X (formerly known as Twitter), writing, “RAPPER [eyeballs emoji] I thought Diddy was a Billionaire music mogul, If he’s smart he will file bankruptcy now. Anyone with real money knows why I’m saying this. Im the best producer for the job guys. here come the receipts.”
RAPPER I thought Diddy was a Billionaire music mogul, If he’s smart he will file bankruptcy now. Anyone with real money knows why I’m saying this. Im the best producer for the job guys. here come the receipts • https://t.co/jnbpt4VX0Bpic.twitter.com/OB8kpqdhBt
December 5: On Tuesday, Rolling Stone‘s Andre Gee wrote a piece examining the men who have publicly corroborated Cassie’s lawsuit or made new troubling allegations of drugging or violence from their time either being around or working for Diddy. They include Bad Boy rapper Mark Curry and former bodyguards Gene Deal and Roger Bonds.
Yet Another Rape Allegation and Diddy Denial
December 6: And we’re back to where we started. Earlier today, publications such as The New York Timesand Rolling Stone reported the latest lawsuit filed against Diddy. This one was filed in Manhattan’s Federal District Court by an unnamed woman, alleging thatDiddy “and two other men gang-raped her in a New York recording studio 20 years ago, when she was 17 years old.”
The New York Times summarized the suit’s allegations:
“The woman says in the complaint that she met two associates of Mr. Combs at a lounge in the Detroit area, and they took her on a private plane to New York. There, the suit says, the three men gave the woman copious amounts of drugs and alcohol, and took turns raping her in the studio’s bathroom as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
“When they were done, the suit says, the woman fell into a fetal position in a bathroom, lying on the floor in pain, and she was soon driven to an airport and put on a plane back to Michigan.”
Diddy’s first direct public statement immediately followed, as written above.
The In-Season Tournament has been pretty good for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers so far. The team has not lost in the event so far, which included a win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night in the quarterfinals to earn a trip to Las Vegas. Now, a spot in the final will be on the line Thursday night when the Lakers take on the New Orleans Pelicans.
While the event has certainly led to some entertaining basketball at a point in the league’s calendar when things can go stale, James got a question about any potential tweaks he’d like to see to the In-Season Tournament going forward. He wasn’t able to come up with anything off the top of his head, but he did use this as a chance to throw his support behind the whole thing.
LeBron on players embracing the In-Season Tournament: “Adam Silver is a genius. It’s that simple. It’s gonna work.” pic.twitter.com/M3Jq6xJA5N
“We’ve just played the games,” James said. “When we’ve had games on Tuesdays and Fridays, we’ve played them. You kinda know it’s a Tournament game — sometimes, you kinda forget about it until you get to the arena, either at home or on the road, and you see the court, so you know it’s a Tournament game. But I haven’t thought about if I’d have any changes. But, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, and it seems like it’s going really welly well.”
James was then asked about players buying into the event, and had plenty of praise for the commissioner.
“Adam Silver is a genius, so,” James said. “It’s that simple. It’s gonna work.”
On Wednesday, December 6, Pitchfork reported that Diplo is the subject of allegations made by Shelly Auguste, who claims he “distributed nude photographs of her without permission.” The report is said to have been filed in August with the Los Angeles Police Department, but it’s far from the first time Auguste has filed against Diplo.
“The woman, Shelly Auguste, has been involved in a legal battle with the superstar producer born Thomas Wesley Pentz since 2020, and this is the second time she has accused him of distributing revenge porn,” relayed Pitchfork‘s Carly Lewis. “(Diplo was not charged criminally over the initial allegation.) In November, the LAPD submitted Auguste’s new case to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, where it is currently under review.”
Pitchfork additionally notes that Diplo is also suing Auguste for “stalking, trespassing, and distributing private materials.” He first filed against her in April 2021.
“For more than three years, Shelly Auguste has been orchestrating an ongoing smear campaign against Wes — and this is just more of the same,” Bryan J. Freedman, Diplo’s attorney, told Pitchfork, adding, “Now, Ms. Auguste is at it yet again. But Wes will defend himself, and, just as he has done every time Ms. Auguste has defamed, harassed and attacked him and his family, he will win.”
Per Pitchfork, Auguste is suing Diplo for “sexual battery, gender violence, intentional intrusion into private affairs, battery, assault, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud, as well as violation of the Ralph Civil Rights Act and violation of the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act.” Their civil trial is scheduled for April 2024.
The new Pitchfork report thoroughly lays out the the timeline of what is alleged to have occurred between Diplo and Auguste. Read it here.
Barbie ain’t getting a sequel. Star Margot Robbie has made that abundantly clear. “I think we put everything we had into this one,” Margot Robbie recently told The Associated Press. “We didn’t build it to be a trilogy or something. [Director] Greta [Gerwig] put everything into this movie, so I can’t imagine what would be next.”
Okay, but she didn’t say there couldn’t be a spinoff about Ryan Gosling’s Ken. What’s more, maybe Robbie is wrong and there is some stuff they didn’t put in the movie.
In a new interview with 60 Minutes, Gerwig and her cowriter/real-life partner Noah Baumbach seemed to suggest that maybe they could be perhaps thinking of doing a Ken movie, maybe. (Or maybe not.) While talking about how much extra material they had about Ken that didn’t make the shooter, Baumbach appeared to almost let slip that it’s a possibility.
“Don’t give it away because we might do…” Baumbach told Gerwig, catching himself before he said any more. He did tease that “there was a whole… just more about the Ken effect in the real world.”
When asked if there could be a sequel, Baumbach said they “can’t comment” on that one. Meanwhile Gerwig got caught up in nervous giggles, stammering out a spluttering non-committal response, ultimately saying, “The truth is, I guess we’ll see.”
So are Baumbach and Gerwig working on a Ken movie that will perhaps employ all the Ken stuff they had to jettison from the script? Could that be something Gerwig could tackle after she does her Narnia stuff, or whatever else she’s considering? Whatever the case, she’s been very open about all the “recurring nightmares” she’s had about following-up what’s currently the 14th highest-grossing movie of all time, not adjusted for inflation. And with good cause.
You can watch their 60 Minutes interview over at CBS News.
With a never ending flurry of headlines recounting sordid tales of the wealthy, out-of-touch elite, it’s refreshing to see a story of personal riches truly being used to benefit others.
Odds are you haven’t heard of Geoffrey Holt. Holt lived a modest, frugal life, working as a groundskeeper to a mobile home park, where he also resided, in the tiny town of Hinsdale, New Hampshire.
Holt lived so frugally that he was known to wear threadbare clothes, ride his lawnmower about town in lieu of a car, and be more than content to spend his time either working or tinkering with his model automobile collection.
No one ever suspected this unassuming man was secretly a millionaire.
Behind the scenes, Holt had been a savvy investor. And when he died on June 6, 2023, he left behind $3.8 million in the bank—with every penny to go toward bettering the town, so long as the money was used for education, health, recreation or culture.
According to USA Today and the Washington Post, the town is most immediately considering purchasing an electronic ballot machine to honor their humble benefactor, who always voted in elections, as well as fixing the town clock and giving grants to replace uniforms. But with a population of only 4,200 people, the possibilities are endless.
Holt might have not craved any time in the spotlight, but it’s important that his good deeds are recognized. Not only to give credit where credit is due, but to instill a bit of hope that wealth can indeed lead to more generosity in the world.
Watch the full story, shared by CTV news, below:
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