It’s hard to get a feature from Jay-Z these days. It’s even harder to get an interview. But fortunately, Jay stopped by Kevin Hart’s Peacock talk show, Hart To Hart, to talk about how his career has evolved over the years.
One of the biggest revelations was the fact that he no longer charges for features. Jay, however, admitted that he is still very selective about who he collaborates.
“It’s mostly [based on] relationships,” Jay said. “It’s actually always been mostly relationships. Sometimes it’s talent and sometimes someone asks me to be on something. Pretty much every song that I’m on I’m asked to be on. I don’t ask people to be on their songs. I never charge.”
Jay also admitted that it can be hard to reject requests from other rappers, but says it’s better to be honest and transparent.
“I try to be straight up,” he said. “Sometimes it slips through the cracks. Sometimes I want to do it and my life is in a certain place and I’m movin’ and I can’t do it. But I typically try to be straight up with people. I don’t like to drag or like waste people’s time or hold them.”
In the interview, he also spoke about marriage, fatherhood, and his plans to retire eventually. He confirmed that he is not currently retired, he just hasn’t put out solo music in a while, as he “needed a break.”
When Joaquin Oliver was 12, he wrote a letter to gun owners imploring them to support background check legislation to help prevent gun violence in America. When he was 17, he was shot and killed in a hallway outside his creative writing class at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Oliver’s parents, Manuel and Patricia, have been on a mission to raise awareness and reduce the influence of the gun lobby ever since. They founded the gun control advocacy organization Change the Ref and their latest initiative may be their most powerful yet.
Manuel and Patricia Oliver’s son Joaquin was killed in the Parkland, Florida, school massacre in 2018.Courtesy of Change the Ref
On July 14, the Olivers took a mile-long convoy of 52 school buses—dubbed The NRA Children’s Museum—to Ted Cruz’s offices in Houston, Texas, to deliver Joaquin’s letter to him.
The empty seats on 51 of the buses represent the more than 4,368 children in the United States that the organization claims would have sat in them since 2020 had they not been killed by guns. The leading bus is filled with memorabilia of children killed in shootings—things like photos of the children, the clothing they wore or things they carried, such as the Nickelodeon backpack of a student from Santa Clarita, California, a girl scout sash from a student in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a piece of construction paper artwork from a student in Newtown, Connecticut.
The reason for the buses representing child gun deaths since 2020 is that, according to the CDC, since that year, firearms have overtaken car accidents to become the leading cause of death in children and teens ages 1 to 19 in the U.S.
That fact is worth repeating. Since 2020, gun violence has been the leading cause of death for children and teens in America. More than car accidents. More than disease. That’s mind-blowing.
And the reason for heading to Ted Cruz first? Lawmakers in Texas lead the country in donations taken from the gun lobby, and among those lawmakers, Ted Cruz leads the pack.
“To commemorate this horrific historic moment, we are showing American voters the toll these politicians have taken on our children’s lives with this all-too-real archive,” Manuel Oliver said in a statement. “And this is only the beginning. We will not stop with Sen. Ted Cruz. To every politician who has stood by, taken NRA money, and refused to listen to the people they represent: the museum is on the way to honor you next.”
“We want to display, for the voters who keep these politicians in office, the consequences of those choices. We want voters to remember which politicians are in the pocket of the NRA when they visit the polls in November,” added Patricia Oliver. “We urge everyone to join us in our mission to fight for every innocent soul lost to gun violence and to demand universal background checks on gun sales.”
Change the Ref requests that Sen. Cruz immediately renounce all future funding from the NRA and listen to the people’s will to enact legislation for universal background checks—commonsense gun legislation that most of his constituents, including those in his own party, support. The Olivers hope that their son’s letter will spark a realization that receiving political donations from gun lobbyists like the NRA is not worth an innocent child’s life.
Reasonable citizens everywhere share the same request and the same hope.
Kids say the darnedest things. And usually, those things are the stories you don’t want them sharing. It’s the Murphy’s law of having young children—as soon as you tell them a story stays in the house, EVERYONE will know about it. One former preschool teacher in Texas is hilariously chronicling tales from his former students on TikTok. So far, there are 69 videos, but given how popular they are, that number will continue to grow.
Mr. Hills, aka atxhills on TikTok, started the series last year, and I’m sure even he could not have anticipated just how successful it would be. What makes these videos funny is always Hills’ reaction to the truly off-the-wall stuff his students say to him.
I was able to talk to Mr. Hills on the phone, and it was a hilarious and enlightening.
When I talked to Hills, he explained that he was a preschool teacher for 18 years. On the encouragement of his sister and later, his wife, he wrote down all of the wild things his students said to him in notebooks (he has about 5). Initially, he planned on making one video, then five. He definitely didn’t think he’d be making 69 and counting. But the stories were just too funny to stop sharing.
In another video, he reveals that during a game of “Duck, Duck, Goose” a female student told him he has a head like a “naked cat.” (Hills is bald, and his lack of hair comes up in several videos.)
As the videos progress, Hills starts to talk about certain students with more frequency—some of the stuff they talk about is a bit adult in nature. I asked Hills and he confirmed that many of his students were children of color and lived in lower income neighborhoods. Hills was the only Black male teacher, and as a result was often tasked with teaching some of the most difficult little ones. He did have several co-teachers who were usually older women. The Mrs. Martinez you hear him refer to in the videos is real, and has declined making a guest appearance on TikTok.
“I asked, can I get students who listen?” Hills said. He explained that his two years with the children who feature most prominently were two of the “most difficult” because most of them would just do their own thing.
In particular, there is one little boy named Gavin (Hills uses his middle name at the request of his mom who follows along and asked so she could keep track of the stories) who has a lot of videos made about him. And after a couple, you can understand why. Again, we don’t know much about his home life, but from Hills’ videos, you learn a lot about Gavin. For example, he has a gang called the “Knee High Killers,” among other things.
Another fan favorite is Bradley, a second grader Hills supervised in an after-school program. Bradley is white but he has a Black stepdad and, as a result, has some interesting takes on things. Hills is still in touch with him via TikTok, and Bradley (who is now 18) loves hearing his stories told. He even shares them with his friends.
Hills told me that he left teaching a few years ago to become a trained behavioral teacher and now works a couple of days at a new preschool. He also works with teens. Yes, he’s been taking notes for both and plans to share those videos as well.
While he never anticipated these videos taking off the way they did, he’s enjoying riding the wave and making videos while people are still interested.
Bay Area’s own Rexx Life Raj is back with his first album in two years. His latest effort, The Blue Hour is his most personal project to date, detailing the harrowing loss of his parents and the process of grieving and maintaining his mental health.
“This album is about transition,” said Rexx in a statement. “This album is about grief. This album is about experiencing every emotion and not running from them. This past year and a half have been so insane that I could make another 20 albums about it. From losing my parents, to moving out of places I grew up in and made me who I am, all while trying to maintain some type of balance and sanity. I tried to be as honest and intentional with this project as possible. Creating it helped me in ways I can’t even explain. I pray it does the same for someone else.”
This fall, Rexx will support The Blue Hour with a 24-date North American tour.
Check out the full list of tour dates below.
09/22 — Dallas, TX @ Cambridge Room @ HOB
09/23 — Houston, TX @ Bronze Peacock @ HOB
09/25 — New Orleans, LA @ Parish @ HOB
09/27 — Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl
09/29 — Washington, DC @ Songbird
09/30 — New York City, NY @ Baby’s All Right
10/01 — Philadelphia, PA @ Milkboy
10/02 — Boston, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
10/03 — Toronto, OH @ Velvet Underground
10/06 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Hall
10/07 — Columbus, OH @ The Basement
10/09 — Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
10/11 — Denver, CO @ Other Side @ Cervantes
10/12 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Soundwell
10/14 — Vancouver, BC @ Fortune
10/16 — Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
10/18 — Portland, OR @ Star Theatre
10/20 — Arcata, CA @ Arcata Theatre Lounge
10/23 — Ventura, CA @ Ventura Theatre
10/24 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
10/25 — San Diego, CA @ VooDoo @ HOB
10/29 — Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
10/30 — Sacramento, CA @ Ace Of Spades
11/04 — San Francisoco ,CA @ August Hall
The Blue Hour is available now via EMPIRE. Stream it here.
It’s not every day that the happenings at a local fair make their way to internet fame. But Linda Skeens and her unbeatable baked goods have garnered some well-earned online attention.
Skeens won every single category of baked goods at the Virginia Kentucky District Fair (aka the VaKy Fair). In many, she placed multiple times.
She also placed heavily in canned goods and the non-food related embroidery and wall decor categories.
Out of 29 categories she entered, Skeens won 25. Unbelievable.
Aside from having the best cake, pie, brownies, candy and both sweet and savory bread in town, Skeens quickly became the inspiration for some hilarious memes, including my personal favorite below:
Plus, there was no shortage of tongue-in-cheek Facebook comments, of which there were thousands. Some highlights: Skeens was previously Chuck Norris’ personal chef… she once baked a ladder on the spot to rescue a kitten stuck in a tree … she made a wedding cake for 200 people using only an easy bake oven. What a legend.
Some even joked that she must have been the only one who competed. Rest assured, she wasn’t. Spokesperson Jennifer Sturgill confirmed with TODAY that “she wasn’t the only entrant…she’s just that good.”
However, despite going viral, this culinary queen’s identity remained a mystery—much to the disappointment of her new fans clamoring for a recipe book. That is, until Dallas’ HOT 93.3 radio host Mason Moussette sent the search to her followers on TikTok.
Moussette’s faith in the internet was justified, because not long after her post, the real Linda Skeens was found. In her interview, Skeens told Moussette that this wasn’t her first win—only last year, she got 40 blue ribbons. No big deal.
Skeens also revealed that after being diagnosed with leukemia in December, cooking for her friends and family helped her while undergoing treatment. Of course, she isn’t the only one to find solace in the kitchen.
Cooking and baking can be very therapeutic during difficult times. In her 2014 article for The Wall Street Journal, Jeanne Whalen explained that psychologists define these types of activities as “behavioral activation,” where we can shift our focus on personal stressors and instead engage in something we find personally rewarding, improving our well-being in the process.
If cooking isn’t your thing, don’t fret. All kinds of creative activities can be soothing in similar ways. What matters is finding what feels best. It sounds like Skeens was able to do that through cooking. Or maybe she just likes to win those blue ribbons, who knows. Either way, she found her thing, and feels “blessed.” That in itself is worth celebrating.
Linda, we hope to find you with a whole new slew of award-winning concoctions at next year’s fair. Thanks for giving us all a wholesome story worth savoring.
By now, everyone’s sick of hearing about Doja Cat’s interaction with Noah Schnapp, including the stars themselves. While the idea of Doja contacting the 17-year-old Stranger Things actor for his co-star Joseph Quinn’s info has been polarizing, Schnapp revealed to Variety that the two have since made up since their squabble.
“I’m super unserious on social media and pretty goofy,” Schnapp said, “so I posted that not thinking too much of it, but obviously it hurt her feelings. So, as I should, I apologized and she was totally okay with it, and was like, ‘I’m sorry how I reacted.’ It was all good. I love her. I’m like the biggest fan of her music, and I told her that. I was like, you’re literally my role model. It’s all good. People make such a big deal out of everything when it’s on the internet, but, like, in reality, it’s like a two-minute thing.”
Doja has kept fairly quiet on social media since Schnapp shared screenshots of the conversation, however, not before calling him out on Instagram Live, saying, “That’s like borderline snake sh*t. That’s like weasel sh*t. I’m not saying that encapsulates his entire personality. I wouldn’t imagine he is. Maybe he is, like, a whole snake. But I didn’t see him that way. I made an assumption that he was gonna be chill about it and he went and shared information that I didn’t feel comfortable with him sharing.”
Doja Cat calls out Noah Schnapp for sharing her Instagram DMs without her permission:
“The fact that Noah did that […] is so unbelievably socially unaware and wack. That’s like borderline snake shit… that’s like weasel shit.” pic.twitter.com/qXZdmv1K4S
Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin was accused of domestic violence earlier this month, but a new report now adds incest to the claims against him. According to the Spanish news site Marca via TMZ, the alleged victim was the singer’s nephew, Dennis Yadiel Sanchez, who also filed a protection order against him. Sanchez claims that he and Martin were in a relationship for seven months and that the relationship was marked by “physical and psychological attacks on him” by the singer. The domestic violence charge came when Sanchez allegedly ended the relationship and an angry Martin reacted poorly.
According to Puerto Rican laws, certain sexual crimes carry harsher penalties if the victim is related to the accused, which could lead to up to 50 years in prison. Ricky Martin posted a statement on social media calling the accusations against him false but said he could not provide more details because of the legal case. “The protection order entered against me is based on completely false allegations, so I will respond through the judicial process with the facts and the dignity that characterize me,” he wrote. “Because it is an ongoing legal matter, I cannot make detailed statements at this time. I am grateful for the countless messages of solidarity, and I receive them with all my heart.”
Berkeley, California is home to college sports, eco-conscious living, and a slew of noteworthy restaurants. At least, according to Andy Baraghani — a chef, former Bon Appetit editor, viral culinary content creator, and cookbook author. It’s safe to say the dude knows a thing or two about good food. In fact, if you want to learn from the master himself and up your cooking skills, you can snag his new book, The Cook You Want to Be — on sale now.
Having grown up in Berkeley, Baraghani has explored the Bay Area town’s culinary scene like no other. So we asked him to give us his top recommendations in the city (birthplace of the globally famous Chez Panisse. From freshly baked sweets to vegetarian pizza to natural farmers’ market goods — read on for Baraghani’s absolute favorite food spots to eat in Berkeley, California.
The Cheeseboard Collective Pizzaria is a place that has been in Berkeley for over 45 years. It’s an institution and I’ve been going ever since I was a kid. What is so great about it is that it’s collectively owned — very Berkeley in that sense.
Their pizzas all have a sourdough crust, no red sauce, and are always vegetarian. They only have one type of pizza per day and it changes daily. Everything is highly seasonal – we’re in late spring, so it could be asparagus with gremolata and mushrooms. In the summer, it could be heirloom tomatoes and corn.
There are many farmers’ markets and natural food stores around Berkeley, but Monterey Market holds a very special place in my heart. A majority of their produce comes from local farms. They have almost a whole aisle of all kinds of mushrooms, from the obvious cremini to the less obvious black trumpet and lobster varieties. A big reason I love it is also all the samples: wedges of tangy citrus to bite into in the winter or pieces of fragrant peaches and juicy tomatoes in the summer, they don’t hold back!
A tiny pastry shop close to Cheeseboard Pizzeria, Masse’s Pastries make traditional European pastries–eclairs, mille-feuille, and macaroons to name a few. It’s their cakes though that are out of this world. Their ricotta guava cheesecake and the passionfruit white chocolate cake were the go-to desserts for very special occasions at my parent’s home. Now when I’m back home I get an espresso (they don’t do drip!) with a few of their smaller offerings and a glass of seltzer.
Grégoire Restaurant
Grégoire Restaurant
I spent a lot of my teenage years going to Grégoire Restaurant to load up on potato puffs. The French takeout restaurant has been around for 20 years and it’s the perfect place to grab a sandwich (like a flank steak with brie) or a salad. There is no indoor seating but they do have a few benches outside.
The Smokehouse
The Smokehouse
I never want a fussy burger. The Smokehouse is not trying to redo or make trendy burgers. Instead, they just do the classic really well: thin patties, cheese, shredded iceberg lettuce, tomato, chopped raw onions, and a squishy sesame bun. It is perfectly proportioned, it’s grilled over a flat top so it’s perfectly caramelized all over and the fries are thick. They put mustard on their burger, which lends a certain level of acidity, which makes you salivate and makes you want to keep eating it. It’s so smart.
Top Dog is where a lot of students go and it’s all I could afford as a teenager. You’d spend like $2 on a hot dog. They have sesame buns, and all these different hot dogs like linguica, all-beef, lemon pepper chicken, bratwurst, etc. The usual fixings are there (ketchup, spicy mustard, yellow mustard, relish, sauerkraut, and onions).
One thing to note, you need to know your order before you go up, even if there’s a line forming. Otherwise, whoever’s working will pounce on you and send you to the back of the line. You can totally tell who is a beginner and who’s an expert when it comes to ordering because you need to know quickly!
Tacubaya
Tacubaya
This whole list could have been dedicated to my favorite Mexican spots, but I had to go with Tacubaya on Fourth Street in Berkeley. A lot of the menu are beloved dishes that street food vendors sell in Mexico: taco al pastor, tortas, and sopa de tortilla. If you go on the weekend do not miss ordering the menudo, a chile-infused beef broth with tripe and hominy and all the fixings.
Like millions of other people, Donald Trump has reportedly been “riveted” by the January 6th hearings. Apparently, watching your former colleagues and very favorite child turn against you makes for some pretty fascinating television—not to mention some pretty compelling evidence that the former president was one of the key architects of the deadly Capitol riots of 2021. It’s that latter part that apparently has Trump itching to finally let the world in on whether or not he plans to run for president again in 2024.
Over on Puck, political reporters Julia Ioffe and Tara Palmeri had a fascinating conversation about what they’ve been hearing about Trump’s potential run in 2024, and how the hearings are playing into his decision on the timing of that announcement. Ioffe has heard rumblings about Trump being anxious to declare his candidacy before Ron DeSantis does. And Palmeri’s been hearing a lot about the many reasons why the former president might be looking to fast-track Announcement Day:
Advisors I’ve spoken with say that Trump is desperate to turn the national conversation away from January 6. He’s calling around, asking for advice, and realizes he doesn’t have the same microphone he would have as a candidate. That’s a big thing that’s motivating him to announce.
He’s also obsessed with the perception that January 6 is hurting him with big donors, who are tired of the antics and worry about how his January 6 baggage will impact the presidential election if he decides to run. Not to mention they’re having a bit of a love affair right now with DeSantis, who they are donating to under the guise of his gubernatorial campaign. He’s raised more than $100 million.
Palmeri also made mention of a Politico article which stated that Trump has been “quietly conven[ing] some of his wealthiest and highest-profile supporters for intimate dinners in recent weeks, where the groups have talked about the former president’s 2024 election plans — and debated when he should make his expected comeback bid official.”
While a presidential hopeful fundraising is hardly newsworthy, what makes this particular tidbit rather telling, according to Palmeri, is that Trump is hosting these dinners all around the country — Houston, Nashville, and Las Vegas, so far — rather than at one of his tacky golf palaces.
“This reeks of desperation to me,” says Palmeri, “because one thing I remember from covering the Trump White House was that he absolutely hated overnights, and they always tried to arrange trips so that he could be back at home, sleeping in his own bed. This means he’s courting the money, not just holding court in Bedminster as he could do when he was president. It suggests that he’s feeling insecure about his status among the donor class, something I’ve heard from his advisors. Indeed, the January 6 hearings have reinforced his toxicity to some mega-donor Republicans, but one top bundler stressed to me that a mass exodus has not occurred yet.”
Given how many new witnesses have reportedly surfaced in the wake of Cassidy Hutchinson’s explosive testimony about Trump’s toddlerish behavior and direct involvement in the plan to overthrow our democracy, only time—and more witness testimony—will tell if and when that mass exodus occurs.
While the progressive house supergroup known as Swedish House Mafia has been performing together for almost 15 years, they only just released their debut full length album this year, in Paradise Again. The trio of Sebastian Ingrosso, Axwell, and Steve Angello featured a number of vocalists on the album from The Weeknd and ASAP Rocky, to Ty Dolla Sign and 070 Shake. But lately, it’s been the track “Heaven Takes You Home,” featuring British singer Connie Constance that’s been on heavy rotation on dance floors and music festivals across the globe.
Today, Swedish House Mafia released a video for the song, directed by Constance and just like the song, it celebrates the beauty of life’s daily occurrences and how music guides her through all the wins. “Tell them how you backflip from tragic, show them how to struggle, make magic,” Constance sings. She shared a thoughtful statement on the collaboration and the video:
“It’s been the most incredible journey working with Swedish House Mafia,” states Constance. “From creating a beautiful song that is so dear to me, to then directing the video, I cannot be grateful enough for how empowering this process has been. Everyone you will see in this video and even most of the crew has changed my life in some shape or form which feels propitious as this song is currently doing the same. I wanted to create a video for SHM that might be shown at a wedding or sadly a funeral. All the best bits, and the best people. It’s not the London eye or the River Thames that makes London. It’s the people that keep the culture so diverse and the energy so dynamic. I hope this video gives an insight to the young dreamers in the city and how together we help each-other pass all limitations and take over the world…. until heaven takes you home and you’ve got the most triumphant story to tell.”
Watch the video for “Heaven Is Here (Connie’s Lens)” above and check out the dates for Swedish House Mafia’s upcoming Paradise Again Tour here.
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