For the past four years, Portugal’s Afro Nation festival has been the biggest Afrobeats festival in the world, and that tradition will continue in 2025. Festival organizers The Malachite Group have announced the dates for the fifth anniversary edition of Afro Nation in Portimão with headliners Burna Boy and Tems. Afro Nation Portugal 2025 will take place from July 9-11, 2025 on Praia Da Rocha Beach, returning to its home for the past four years. The presale for tickets begins on October 2, with the general sale starting on October 3. You can find more information here.
Burna Boy has been a fixture of Afro Nation since its inception in 2019, headlining the fest in 2022 and 2023, and helping to launch extensions of the festival in Miami and Detroit in 2023. While he’s taken a year off to complete his own tour, letting Rema, Asake, and J Hus take the reins for this year’s fest, his return will undoubtedly make a splash.
Meanwhile, Tems will make her Afro Nation debut with her headlining set next year after releasing her debut album, Born In The Wild, this past June to rave reviews and a respectable Billboard showing, peaking at No. 56 on the albums chart and at No. 2 on the World Albums chart.
Jensen Ackles previously told UPROXX that he was game to “show some tush” ahead of Soldier Boy debuting in The Boys‘ third season. Unfortunately for those viewers who enjoyed his view performance, Soldier Boy went on ice for the fourth season (leaving us only with a Blondie cover for the memories), but wait. The bad-daddy Supe did surface in a fourth-season finale scene that showed an emotional Homelander learning that his bio dad (who hates him) was still alive. Can we expect emotions and fists and laser eyes to fly again between these two in the fifth season?
Oh, it is happening. Despite Ackles being a co-lead of the future Vought Rising prequel series, there will be plenty of Soldier Boy in The Boys‘ final season. Sure, the show will make time for showcasing Ashley’s new powers and handling the A-Train situation, too, but those are no obstacles. Showrunner Eric Kripke is a pro at overstuffing this show to the optimal degree, and he assured Games Radar that the Soldier Boy/Homelander relationship will figure prominently into the fifth season:
“You know, what we realized was we really hadn’t explored the father-son relationship much between Homelander and Soldier Boy. There’s a lot of material there, how soldier boy feels about Homelander, how Homelander feels about his dad, and so we really wanted to dig into that relationship.”
And you know that Soldier Boy will make Homelander go through more hell. He’ll likely one-up the “just a cheap f*cking knockoff” remark with taunting about Homelander’s former lover, Stormfront, because those two surely have some sort of history together. Whether it’s strictly platonic or more will not matter if Homelander gets himself worked up with jealousy over mere proximity between Soldier Boy and Homie’s former sky-high lady.
Previously, Ackles signaled his willingness (to Entertainment Weekly) to do anything with his Supernatural chief: “I told Krip, ‘Look, man, put me in anytime. You tell me when to come running, I’ll come running.’” And Kripke was thrilled to publicly make that call (via Deadline) at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con: “We can announce that Soldier Boy will be a regular in Season 5. The motherf*cker’s back.”
The Boys will return in 2026, but Gen V will fill the gap in 2025.
Sabrina Carpenter just launched her Short N’ Sweet Tour in Columbus, Ohio last night (September 23), and a few things stood out. First, the setlist was terrific. Second, Carpenter has a pre-taped and-of-show goodbye video that is gold. Third, something was different about “Nonsense.”
Is Sabrina Carpenter Doing “Nonsense” Outros On The Short N’ Sweet Tour?
Fans know that traditionally, when Carpenter performs her song “Nonsense,” she usually switches up the lyrics of the song’s outro, usually to reflect the location or occasion of the performance. Well, in Columbus, she didn’t do that. Instead, right before the outro started, the video screen behind her (intentionally) glitched out, Carpenter was lowered into the stage as her microphone was muted, and behind her, an on-screen message read, “We apologize for the interruption of our program due to technical difficulties.” There’s a video of that here.
This has been interpreted by some as Carpenter’s way of retiring the “Nonsense” outro from her live shows, which has prompted mixed reactions online.
Some online commenters aren’t sure about the apparent decision, with one user writing, “Cutting the best part of the show? That’s like taking the punchline out of a joke. Fans live for those outros, and now it’s just ‘Nonsense’ without the spice. Let’s hope this isn’t a permanent change, because that’s what makes her shows unforgettable!”
However, many users are understanding of the “Nonsense” tradition potentially coming to an end. One user wrote, “she’s growing as an artist no need for her to cling onto the same trick and she has new songs to perform now,” another added, “that’s so smart to “end” that era like this,” and another chimed in, “i know she was so TIRED.”
Important to note is that as of this post, Carpenter hasn’t confirmed the theories, and it remains to be seen if Carpenter will give “Nonsense” the same treatment at upcoming performances.
Hip-hop has always had a uniform, in one way or another. Versions of rap’s various aesthetics have been locked into popular consciousness far long than the trends themselves were embraced by the genre’s fans in real life.
Picture a rapper in your mind. Perhaps you imagined a 1980s b-boy, replete with a Kangol bucket hat and Adidas tracksuit. Maybe your envisioned rap star has on baggy jeans, sagging just below his waistline, paired with an undershirt and Timberland boots. Or perhaps they’re more modern, decked out in contemporary couture, with colorful braids and facial piercings.
The point is, there’s always been a particular “look” — until someone comes along and disrupts the status quo. This generation’s disruptor is Tyler The Creator, who defied rap’s sartorial conventions — and everything else about contemporary hip-hop culture — from the moment he and Odd Future thrashed their way into the spotlight, right up until now, with his GOLF clothing line redefining hip-hop’s look for a much preppier set of rebels.
GOLF — also affectionately known as “Golf Wang,” a spoonerism of “Wolf Gang,” part of one of Odd Future’s provocative mottos — distinguishes itself from the usual streetwear mainstays with its concentration on clean basics and classic staples, often in pastels or laid-back patterns that suggest throwback casuals without getting stuck in outmoded mindsets about style. The looks take inspiration from the way Tyler dresses himself, and are often even directly designed by the multitalented rapper and producer.
The resulting styles stand out against the backdrop of the perceived studied shagginess of hip-hop fashion, no matter which era you compare it to. Rather than oversized hoodies, GOLF adherents don button-up cardigans with classic prints of hunting dogs that look like the wearer is draped in a painting straight from the wall of the Art Institute of Chicago.
GOLF
The popularity of GOLF has manifested itself — and propagated itself, like a perpetual motion engine — in further collaborations with the legacy brands it was influenced by, like Lacoste and Levi Strauss & Co., as well as streetwear mainstays such as Converse, Vans, and Japanese sandal brand SUICOKE. Such is the demand for Tyler’s distinctive eye for established silhouettes with fanciful details that GOLF was spun off in 2016, offering higher-end products; in 2021, it was spun off into its own standalone luxury brand.
The brand also updates genre staples, cleverly calling back to the Golden Era while updating long-respected mainstays with a youthful edge. For instance, there’s perhaps no one who defines hip-hop more thoroughly than the Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah, and a signature of the Staten Island product’s style has always been Clarks Wallabees. GOLF has collaborated with the 200-year-old shoemaker for a whimsical take on its classic moccasin, with dainty pastels and embossed heart patterns.
This is a reflection of their creator — pun intended — who has long drawn from the history and core tenets of hip-hop, while imbuing it with his own irreverent sense of humor and whimsy. Take, for instance, the presentation of his most recent album, Call Me If You Get Lost. While it’s presented as a hardcore project in the vein of DJ Drama’s Gangsta Grillz mixtapes, it also draws musically from the breezy style of 1960s big band jazz that is perhaps best recognized by modern audiences as the soundtrack of 007 spoof series Austin Powers.
Tyler often cites BET fixtures such as Rap City and 106 & Park as major inspirations, but also freely admits to lampooning their version of hip-hop, if not outright rejecting the archetypes presented on BET during his childhood. And why wouldn’t he? If you know you’re no 50 Cent, Fat Joe, or Jay-Z, you have two options: Either try to be them, or become something different.
GOLF
Growing up in LA County as Tyler did, the options would have been even more constrained. After all, the closest thing to a mainstay on mainstream radio and television from the West Coast in the early 2000s was The Game, who loudly espoused his gang ties — something that’s almost as dangerous to imitate in LA as it is to embrace. So Tyler, who found solace in skate culture and the burgeoning fashion scene in the Fairfax district, decided to do things his own way.
Now, to go to one of Tyler’s concerts or his fan-favorite musical festival, Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, is to go to a GOLF fashion convention, with thousands of young rap fans adorned in floral prints and pastels, where the usual rap show uniform might have consisted of throwback basketball jerseys or fresh-pressed Dickies work pants and plaid button-up shirts. GOLF’s designs bring a pop of prep, but down to earth, like The Creator himself, who often eschews the trappings of rapper wealth — big, glittering chains and ostentatious, name-brand styling — in favor of the sort of comfy clothes he might have been seen in riding his bike down Fairfax.
That ingenuity and dogged individuality eventually paid off for him, both in the musical success of Odd Future and in the prevailing popularity of his GOLF brand — which, fittingly, centers around the flagship store on Fairfax Ave, the center of the strip where he began his defiant journey of self-definition. That there are so many fans of GOLF worldwide is a testament to how truly relatable that story has been.
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.
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.
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”
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.
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