Two of the nation’s top sports betting platforms, FanDuel and DraftKings, are proposing a constitutional amendment for the 2022 ballot that would authorize online sports betting at all Florida parimutuels, … Click to Continue »
“We are here today to give you your flowers, your long-overdue flowers.” Lil Kim said those words directly to Queen Latifah following a groundbreaking performance in honor of the veteran MC and Hollywood star, who was given the lifetime achievement award at the 2021 BET Awards on Sunday night (June 27).
Queen Latifah was introduced as “a woman who has been creating magic for decades,” and following a highlight reel that included testimonials from stars like Jada Pinkett-Smith, LL Cool J and Megan Thee Stallion, Rapsody took the stage to perform Queen Latifah’s 1989 hit “Ladies First” alongside its original guest star, Monie Love. Immediately after, Lil Kim entered to put her spin on 1993’s “U.N.I.T.Y.,” followed by MC Lyte to send the song home and round out the all-star tribute.
Queen Latifah appeared visibly moved while watching her quartet of friends, who joined together following the performance to introduce the lifetime achievement honor. At 51, Queen Latifah is the third-youngest artist in BET Awards history to receive the lifetime achievement honor.
Click here for an updating list of winners from the 2021 BET Awards.
Roddy Ricch brought moody vibes and striking imagery to the 2021 BET Awards on Sunday (June 27) night with a performance of his single “Late at Night.” While the music video for his top 20 Hot 100 hit took him to a Ferris wheel in the night sky, his BET Awards performance found him on an old-timey art deco stage, rocking an all-white suit and flanked by drums, saxophone and an upright bass.
As Ricch descended the white stairs singing about a woman he’s deeply involved with, backup dancers in glittery body suits gyrated around him. The performance ended with Ricch backlit by a glowing pink moon on the stage beneath him, nodding to the werewolf twist at the end of his “Late at Night” video (which itself nods to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”).
Lil Nas X walked like an Egyptian into one of the steamiest performances of the evening at the 2021 BET Awards with a King Tut-styled, Michael Jackson-inspired performance of “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).”
Opening on an Egypt-themed stage, complete with a sphinx background, pyramid designs and some well-placed hieroglyphs, Lil Nas X, dressed in a pharaoh-inspired golden kilt and neck brace combo, started commanding the stage with the opening lines of his No. 1 single. “I caught it bad yesterday/ You hit me with a call to your place,” he sang.
As the performance — which paid homage to the choreography and looks of Michael Jackson’s “Remember the Time” — went on, Nas joined his dancers for some truly excellent breakdowns, including one that saw him grinding right into a camera. As he ascended the staircase placed on the set, and stood atop his throne, the rapper then turned to the dancer next to him and planted a kiss on him, making out with him as the audience cheered on.
Fans on Twitter immediately began praising the rapper, thanking him for featuring such an explicitly queer moment during his performance. “Lil Nas X finna piss the homophobics off and I’m loving every moment of him making y’all sick,” one fan wrote.
Lil Nas X was just one of the stars attending the 2021 BET Awards — the “Montero” rapper joined stars like Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Jazmine Sullivan, Kirk Franklin and many more in celebrating black culture on Sunday night.
City Girls took the stage at the 2021 BET Awards on Sunday night (June 27) for the first live TV performance of their new single, the viral hit “Twerkulator.”
Introduced by host Taraji P. Henson with an extensive geographic history lesson that ended in the duo’s Miami hometown, the City Girls came out flanked by a variety of dancers to play the the much-anticipated new single. Towards the end of the energetic performance, the Kraftwerk-via-Afrika-Bambaataa-sampling single gave way to a quick snippet of Cajmere’s ’90s club classic “Percolator,” whose hook “Twerkulator” interpolates.
Earlier this month, “Twerkulator” debuted at No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. The group was nominated for best group at this year’s BET Awards, but lost to Silk Sonic earlier in the evening.
Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak gave a select group of fans a special treat at the 2021 BET Awards Sunday (June 27). The duo, known collectively as Silk Sonic, performed their hit “Leave the Door Open” at Club Novo at L.A. Live for newly vaccinated fans.
The two kicked off their performance by sauntering into the area on a roped-off red carpet, with attendees grooving to the tune while the two serenaded them with the help of some backup singers. As Silk Sonic performed their hit, fans behind danced while holding up signs.
Toward the end, Anderson .Paak teased the attendees, asking, “Do y’all want to hear a new song? Do ya’ll want to hear a new song off the new album?” While fans cheered in the affirmative, he dashed their hopes, saying, “Nah! We’re gonna bring [‘Leave the Door Open’] back! ‘Cause we’re still in the top 10! We’re gonna do this again, and again, and again!” before launching back into the smooth song.
The duo were nominated for three awards: video of the year, best group, and viewer’s choice.
“Leave the Door Open” is the debut single for Silk Sonic, and has topped the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached the summit on the Adult R&B Airplay chart, becoming the fastest to reach the No. 1 spot by male artists in the chart’s history.
Taraji P. Henson hosted the awards, which this year celebrated Black women in and their impact on culture. The show was broadcast in front of a live audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
No mandatory evacuations of buildings close to the South Champlain Tower, including of the North Tower, have been ordered, said Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett Saturday night. Residents have been given … Click to Continue »
On Saturday afternoon (June 26), the fifth annual Culture Creators Innovators and Leaders Brunch highlighted the wins of several prominent leaders within the Black community. Sponsored by YouTube, the festivities featured award recipients and hip-hop luminaries Swizz Beatz and D-Nice at the Beverly Hills Hilton hotel in California.
Hosted by DeMarco Morgan and Tanika Ray, Culture Creators opened its doors for industry players to mingle, celebrate and rejoice their colleagues’ wins after a year’s absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s ceremony had strict measures, requiring attendees to either show their vaccination cards before their arrival and provide negative COVID tests. They also asked invitees to take temperature checks before proceeding into the venue.
Fans of Swizz Beatz were in for a treat. Honored with the Icon award, a video montage showcased Swizz’s lofty achievements in the music space. Ahead of his speech, Swizz’s son, Prince Nasir Dean, had glowing remarks for his father. He highlighted his notable feats including his Grammy wins, acclaim in the art space with No Commission, and his beloved musical showdown Verzuz.
Accepting the Icon Award, Swizz exuded humility when speaking on his newest accolade. Fresh off a 17-hour flight from Saudi Arabia, he touched on the importance of learning more and remaining hungry even after noteworthy victories. “All though we might have the accolades, and we might have the track record, there’s always going to be somebody with a new idea that can reshape your whole future,” he said during his acceptance speech. “I want to continue to inspire and tell all the creators not to be scared.”
Comedian Royale Watkins presented D-Nice with the Culture Creator Innovators Award for his impressive run last year. At the start of the pandemic, Nice knitted together a nice marathon set on Instagram Live with R&B, Disco, and Funk leading the way. Peaking at a staggering 160,000 viewers, D-Nice quipped about how Club Quarantine originally began with 200 people on his Instagram Live and later evolved into a safe space for many, including Michelle Obama, Rihanna, Dwayne Wade, Bernie Sanders, and more,
“I’ll tell you a little secret about [Michelle Obama]. She was there because I called,” he revealed. “It goes back to being kind to people. That’s why a lot of those people were there, like Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.”
Along with Beatz and D-Nice, music industry vet Shanti Das received the Health and Wellness Award. Das started an organization called Silence the Shame, which advocates for mental health awareness. During her speech, she spoke about how she once considered suicide and how receiving his honor was a gratifying moment. She thanked John Platt (CEO and chairman of Sony ATV) and Sony Music for making Silence the Shame one of the organizations recognized by Sony’s social justice fund.
MBK Entertainment’s Jeff Robinson and Jeanine McClean received YouTube’s Culture Creators Award. Jimmy Jam presented the award to them both, while H.E.R. made an appearance to cheer on her support system. She chimed in on their efforts in building her career as an R&B powerhouse and relayed how MBK operates as a family.
“Jeff talks the talk and walks the walk,” she said. “He pushes me out of my comfort zone constantly. I feel like I’m so protected as an artist, and that’s a rare thing.” Added Jeanine, “We are truly a family and always making sure that those behind us are given opportunities.” Other honorees of the night included Zerina Akers, George Wells, Rikki Hughes, Silence the Shame, Cari Champion, Stefani Brown-James, Stefanie Brown-James, and Kudzi Chikumbu.
Olivia Rodrigo is “not at all” a fan of hot sauce, but she worked her way through several increasingly spicy vegan wings while answering questions in an episode of Hot Ones anyway.
Rodrigo’s appearance on the YouTube series, on which guests join host Sean Evans in eating a progressively hot wing for every question asked, began with the “Drivers License” singer admitting that she’s “the worst with spice. I think that bell peppers are spicy.”
Against all odds, Rodrigo pushed through the levels of heat as she answered questions about her first talent show, music video concepts, ghosts and the highs and lows from a recent trip that started off shaky but ended with her debut awards show performance.
At 8 years old, Rodrigo was the star of the Boys and Girls Club “Idol” stage: “They gave me a trophy that was as tall as me at the end, and they gave me a big check. It was like $100, but at eight years old I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m rich. I can buy an American Girl doll,’” she recalled. By 18, she was performing her debut hit single on the Brit Awards stage.
But ahead of the Brits, the obvious highlight of her trip to London in May, she had a rough time in quarantine.
“We were quarantining in this little, real 18th century English cottage in the countryside, and it was so cold and we couldn’t figure out how to turn on the central air and heating, but they had a fireplace so we lit the fireplace all the time and that’s how we kept warm,” she said on Hot Ones.
Rodrigo recalled, “I just remember one day waking up and it was so smoky. I think I got mild carbon monoxide poisoning ’cause the whole day, I couldn’t stop throwing up in an English countryside house. So that’s definitely a lowlight. I recovered. I don’t know if I had carbon monoxide poisoning, but I was very sick for a day.”
Rodrigo ended up being OK after that experience. But between bites of spicy wings, the singer-songwriter shared another scary story — this time, a supernatural encounter her mother had years ago.
“I don’t f— with ghosts and they don’t f— with me,” Rodrigo made clear, but said, “My mom grew up in Wisconsin, and her parents had this nice house that they got for really cheap. One day, she woke up to go to the bathroom and she saw a man standing at the top of the stairs, and she didn’t tell anyone until 25 years later, and my grandma was like, ‘Oh, you know the reason we got the house for so cheap was because somebody died in the basement — a man died in the basement.’”
See if Rodrigo can live past the Scorpion Disco wing and make it to The Last Dab in the full interview below.
Ariana Grande celebrated her 28th birthday on Saturday (June 26) with a kind message to her “tiny” self.
“hbd tiny, i am taking care of you !” she wrote to an adorable, wide-eyed baby picture of herself on Instagram.
And someone else whipped out a throwback photo of Grande on her birthday, too: Beyoncé.
Beyoncé updated the homepage of her official website in dedication of “POV” singer, with big birthday wishes — “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARIANA GRANDE” — and what appears to be an old headshot of a younger Grande, who was already rocking the signature ponytail. (Beyoncé has been using her website to pay tribute to a number of artists, as well as her own family members, on their birthdays.)
Birthday messages came pouring in for the pop star on social media throughout the day on Saturday — including a heartfelt post from her brother, Frankie Grande.
“Ariana you are always there for me, you lift me up when I am down, you make me smile and laugh until my cheeks hurt, and you bring me and everyone you meet such joy… so today I celebrate you and the remarkable person you are! I love you with my whole heart and wish you the greatest day ever. You deserve it. HBD sis,” he wrote.
Grande’s birthday was also celebrated with a super sweet compliment, though on the wrong day, by Katy Perry.
“happiest birthday to the best living vocalist on earth @ArianaGrande fight me if you think different,” Perry tweeted on Friday before fans were quick to make her aware that she was a little ahead of schedule.
“s— im early idc,” she responded.
See Grande’s childhood snapshot below, and head over to Beyoncé’s website to get a glimpse at Grande’s child actor days.
