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On Tuesday’s (June 29) episode of America’s Got Talent, host Terry Crews called the music of bluegrass/rap quintet Gangstagrass “hee-haw hip-hop.”
And that blending of musical genres and personalities is exactly what the band’s founder, Rench, was going for when he assembled the group more than a decade ago. “I wanted to create a band like this to play for America and bring a message that Americans can find common ground and get over some of the divisions that we’ve been experiencing and come together,” Rench told the AGT panel. “I had to go out and find the perfect people to make it into a reality.”
The group’s performance of original song “Bound to Ride” started out with just a country vibe, thanks to some powerful banjo (Dan Whitener) and fiddle (Brian Farrow) playing, as well as tight bluegrass harmonies, before the two Gangstagrass MCs — R-SON the Voice of Reason and Dolio the Sleuth — traded bars to bring that “hee-haw hip-hop” Terry promised.
“These are my brothers up here,” R-SON said while introducing the band, driving home the message of unity Rench was after. “This is my family.”
Watch the Gangstagrass performance below. America’s Got Talent airs Tuesday nights on NBC at 8 p.m. ET.
To describe Léa Kyle as a “quick-change act” is selling her short.
On Monday night (June 29), the 25-year-old French native delivered a magic performance that was all-class, and set to a pumping Katy Perry soundtrack.
Kyle, who hails from Bordeaux, the “wine city,” as she referred it, stepped out onto the big stage with some serious ambitions.
“I hope America’s Got Talent will change my life,” she explained. “My big dream is to have my own show in Las Vegas.”
And voila, everyone’s a believer.
Kyle dazzled with a performance that was soundtracked with “Swish Swish” and “Part Of Me,” as her outfits switched and flew in front of our eyes.
“You’re the best I’ve ever seen,” Simon Cowell could be heard saying. With this type of act, you would usually see two performers and “the music is terrible,” he continued. “This was like, very very cool. You have amazing showmanship. It was world class.”
“It’s magic,” noted fellow judge Howie Mandel, “and your presentation is beautiful.”
Sofia Vergara said she was “in shock.” It then came down to Kyle’s hero, Heidi Klum. “We’ve never really had anyone who was as good as you,” she said. A moment later, the German model slammed the Golden Buzzer and sent Kyle to the live round.
Watch below.
Following on its announcement earlier this month that it would allow rightsholders to sell off their royalty streams as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), online music royalties marketplace Royalty Exchange has partnered with A Tribe Called Quest to auction off a 1.5% share of the sound recording royalties from the hip-hop group’s first five studio albums.
The starting price for the NFT will be listed at $35,000 with a 10% royalty upon any resale, which will be split evenly between Royalty Exchange and the initial seller. The highest bidder will collect royalties derived from sales, streaming, sync, satellite radio, digital downloads, CD sales, TV/film/commercial placements, samples and more.
The 24-hour auction kicks off Wednesday at 8 a.m. ET/11 a.m. PT.
Royalty Exchange kicked off its income-producing NFT program, dubbed NFT plus, by auctioning off CEO Anthony Martini’s share of the publishing royalty stream for his client Lil Dicky’s 2015 song “Save Dat Money.”
Rightsholders looking to sell royalties as NFTs on Royalty Exchange are invited to request that option when contacting the marketplace. The company takes a cut of the sale price, which is typically 15%. Following the auction, royalties are paid every quarter in Ethereum, which can either be converted into a fiat currency or remain a cryptocurrency.
Royalty Exchange is only the most high-profile player to have entered the royalty streams-as-NFTs game over the past several months. In April, the singer VÉRITÉ auctioned off 100% of the artist share of master recording ownership for her single “By Now” on the marketplace Zora. The same month, rapper Taylor Bennett partnered with music rights management company Bluebox to sell 75% of the rights ownership of a forthcoming single release.
The Weeknd is set to star in and co-write a cult drama series for HBO titled The Idol, Billboard can confirm.
News of the series, which will follow a female pop singer who sparks a romance with an enigmatic L.A. club owner who doubles as a leader of a secret cult, was first reported by Variety on Tuesday (June 29).
The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye) will co-write and executive produce The Idol alongside his creative producer and renowned L.A. nightlife entrepreneur Reza Fahim and BAFTA Award-winning Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, all three of whom are creators of the show. Joseph Epstein will serve as showrunner while joining Mary Laws on the team of co-writers and -executive producers.
The Grammy-winning superstar found himself in the writer’s room of the TBS animated comedy American Dad in May 2020, when he co-wrote an episode titled “A Starboy Is Born” alongside American Dad and Robot Chicken writer Joel Hurwitz. The May 4-dated episode also featured a new spoof song, “I’m a Virgin,” which The Weeknd co-wrote with Electric Guest’s Asa Taccone.
The “Blinding Lights” singer previously starred in the Safdie Brothers’ critically acclaimed 2019 film Uncut Gums.
Levinson — whose series Euphoria earned multiple Emmy nominations, including a groundbreaking outstanding lead actress in a drama series win for Zendaya — will executive produce The Idol via his Little Lamb Productions company with its co-founders Ashley Levinson and Kevin Turen. Aaron L. Gilbert will executive produce via Bron Studios. Wassim “Sal” Slaiby and La Mar C. Taylor, two key members from The Weeknd’s XO brain trust, are also credited as executive producers.
Young Thug will make his acting debut in the musical drama Throw It Back from producers Paul Feig and Tiffany Haddish.
Throw It Back follows high school senior Wytrellm who has never stood out from the crowd, played by Shahadi Wright Joseph. According to the project’s description, the story takes place “after a controversial superstar Miami rapper decides to feature the renowned dance team from her high school in his latest music video, it throws the school into chaos, and Wytrell battles for a spot on the squad and her final chance to be in the spotlight.”
The “Go Crazy” rapper will also oversee the film’s soundtrack, as well as executive produce.
Shadae Lamar Smith will direct from a script he wrote with Rochée Jeffrey.
Haddish, who will also have a small role in the movie, will produce via her She Ready Productions with Melanie Clark. Feig and Laura Fischer will produce for Feigco Entertainment, along with Jeffrey. Geoff Ogunlesi and Feigco’s Lynne Hedvig will executive produce.
Throw It Back is heading to the virtual Cannes Market, with CAA Media Finance representing the project’s domestic distribution rights and Mad River handling international sales.
Young Thug — who has earned Billboard 200 No. 1 albums with 2019’s So Much Fun and the Young Stoner Life Records compilation Slime Language 2 in April — is represented by UTA, manager Geoffrey Ogunlesi, and Granderson Des Rochers.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
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