Boosie Badazz Hurls Vile Words at Lil Nas X in Homophobic Tweet

Lil Nas X addressed the idea of making a song with Boosie Badazz, who did not react kindly. [Editor’s note: The report below, which quotes Boosie Badazz’s remarks directed at Lil Nas X, contains potentially distressing language about suicide.]

Over the weekend a clip of Lil Nas X from Instagram Live popped up, one in which he said to those watching, “I been working on this song with Lil Boosie, bro. I have this song with Lil Boosie, gonna come out.”

Boosie Badazz responded to his name being brought up by Lil Nas X with a vile, homophobic attack that suggested the “Industry Baby” rapper should “commit suicide.”

“STOP TROLLING ME F—– LOL!! U A WHOLE B—- PLAYING WITH A GANGSTA SMH U CAN KEEP SUCKING D— N GETTIN F—ED N YOUR A– N PEACE N #uhateyourself I WOULD TOO IF I WAS YOU LOL NASx IF YOU #commitsuicide YOU WOULD DO THIS WORLD A HUGE FAVOR NOBODY WANTS U HERE,” Badazz tweeted Saturday afternoon (Oct. 23). The tweet remained published for a while on Saturday, but has since been deleted for violating Twitter rules.

At the time of publication, Lil Nas X — who was recently honored as The Trevor Project’s Suicide Prevention Advocate of the Year — had not responded to Boosie Badazz. While his name trended on Twitter over the hateful remarks, Lil Nas X instead took a moment to write, “i am truly saddened. i have never been so mortified in my life. i can’t believe disney channel has yet to play halloween town this entire october.”

“Discrimination around sexuality and gender identity is still very real, and our community deserves to feel supported and totally free to be themselves,” Lil Nas X said in September, when he was honored by The Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention resources for LGBTQ+ youth. “I often get messages from fans telling me about their struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts, and it made me realize that this was something bigger than myself. If using my voice and expressing myself in my music can help even one kid out there who feels alone, then it was all worth it.”

Boosie Badazz has talked negatively about Lil Nas X a number of times over the past several months. In September, Lil Nas X implied the comments did not affect him.

“I was listening to Boosie in the club the other day. I don’t really care. Honestly, I wish they didn’t say it, I guess,” Lil Nas said of the “Nasty, Nasty” rapper during an appearance on The Breakfast Club. “But I like the music, I’m gonna listen to the music. If somebody got beef with me, that doesn’t mean I got beef with them.” Asked if he would consider replying to the hateful messages, Lil Nas X had noted, “Only if I have something really witty.”

In July, Badazz defended DaBaby’s homophobic comments at Rolling Loud Miami and called Lil Nas X “the most disrespectful motherf—er in the world.” And after Lil Nas joked that and he and Jack Harlow would perform their song “Industry Baby” in their birthday suits at the VMAs, Badazz said, “If I’m at the awards and he go up there naked, I’ma drag his a– offstage and beat his a–.”

Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby” recently reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, marking Lil Nas X’s third leader on the list. His debut smash “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, spent 19 weeks at No. 1 in April-August 2019 and “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” led for a week upon its debut in April 2021.

If you or someone you know is struggling with a suicidal crisis or emotional distress, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

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Pianist Li Yundi Named in Prostitution Case by Beijing Police

Police in China’s capital Beijing say famed international pianist Li Yundi is a suspect in a prostitution case.

A message on the force’s microblog said a suspect had been placed in administrative detention and an investigation opened on Thursday (Oct. 21) involving a woman identified by her surname Chen and a man named as “Li di,” with the first part of his personal name deleted as is standard in police cases.

The post was followed by another message depicting a piano keyboard and the words “one must definitely see clearly the difference between black and white.”

The official China Musicians Association also said it was expelling Li from the organization based on the Beijing Chaoyang District police notice that he had been arrested.

Li, 39, began playing piano as a small child and studied in China and Germany before becoming the youngest winner of the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2000 at age 18. He has since toured the world and recorded frequently, making him one of China’s best known international artists.

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Company owned by Florida lawmaker pushing to withdraw from OSHA was fined by the agency

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Out of the public eye, two who recently passed helped make South Florida a better place

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Police: Burglar gets new keys before she’s locked up

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Here’s Where Genre-Bending Albums From Lil Nas X, Halsey, Miley Cyrus & More Landed for 2022 Grammys

Even before first-round voting for the 64th annual Grammy Awards opened on Friday (Oct. 22), we knew that some albums wouldn’t be in the expected genre categories. Kacey Musgraves’ star-crossed was moved from best country album to best pop vocal album, while Bo Burnham’s Inside (The Songs) was slotted in best compilation soundtrack for visual media, not best comedy album, as had been expected.

These were hardly the only albums that wound up on the Grammy ballot in places you might not expect. That’s bound to happen as artists increasingly cross genres. Albums often wind up right on the border between two or more genres. In those cases, the Recording Academy’s screening committee endeavors to put it in the most suitable category.

Here are some of this year’s borderline albums, and where Grammy voters can find them on the online ballot. (Voters have until Nov. 5 to make their choices.) Nominations will be announced Nov. 23. The winners will be revealed Jan. 31, 2022.

Lil Nas X’s Montero and Doja Cat’s Planet Her are both vying for nods as best pop vocal album rather than best rap album.

Kylie Minogue’s Disco is competing for best pop vocal album rather than best dance/electronic album. The dance icon was nominated in the latter category with X in 2008.

Halsey’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power is vying for best alternative music album. The album’s co-producer, Trent Reznor, has been nominated three times in that category, for Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral (1993), The Fragile (1999) and Hesitation Marks (2013).

Various albums somewhere on the line between pop and rock wound up in different categories. Imagine Dragons’ Mercury Act 1 and Twenty One Pilots’ Scaled and Icy are both competing for best pop vocal album, while Machine Gun Kelly’s Tickets to My Downfall, Miley Cyrus’ Plastic Hearts, John Mayer’s Sob Rock and Paul McCartney’s McCartney III are vying for best rock album.

Imagine Dragons’ Evolve was nominated for best pop vocal album four years ago. Cyrus’ Bangerz was nominated in that same category seven years ago. Mayer has been nominated in the pop vocal album category twice — for Continuum (2006), which won, and Battle Studies (2010) — and in best rock album once, for Try! (also 2006). McCartney has yet to receive a nomination for best rock album, but he has been nominated for best pop vocal album twice — for Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005) and Memory Almost Full (2007) — and best alternative music album once, for Liverpool Sound Collage (2000).

The Black Keys’ Delta Kream is vying for best contemporary blues album. Should the album win, this would be the third album genre in which they have prevailed. Brothers won the 2010 award for best alternative music album. El Camino took best rock album two years later.

Carrie Underwood had two No. 1s on Top Country Albums during the eligibility period (Sept. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021) but neither is competing for best country album. Underwood’s Christmas album My Gift is vying for a nod as best traditional pop vocal album. Her sacred album My Savior is vying for a nod as best roots gospel album, rather than best contemporary Christian music album or best gospel album. (Surprising fact: Underwood is a seven-time Grammy winner, but she has yet to be nominated for best country album.)

Bad Bunny’s El Ultimo Tour del Mundo and Anuel AA & Ozuna’s Los Dioses are among the albums vying in the new best musical urbana album category. Bad Bunny won last year for best Latin pop or urban album. He had two nominations two years ago for best Latin, rock or alternative album.

Ty Dolla $ign’s Featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Bryson Tiller’s Anniversary are both vying for nods for best progressive R&B album rather than best rap album and best R&B album, respectively.

Ani DiFranco’s Revolutionary Love is vying for a nod as best R&B album. The veteran artist has received three nominations for best female rock vocal performance and two for best contemporary folk album.

Wizkid’s Made in Lagos is vying for a nod in the recently renamed best global music album category.

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Travis Barker & Kourtney Kardashian Celebrate Halloween Early as Sid & Nancy: See Photos

Halloween isn’t until next weekend, but that isn’t stopping Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian from celebrating a little early.

The newly engaged couple shared photos of their spot-on costumes as ill-fated punk-rock couple Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. The blink-182 drummer wore a black leather jacket, spiky black wig and Sid’s signature padlock necklace to embody the Sex Pistols bassist, while Kardashian wore a sheer fishnet shirt over a black bra with a curly blonde wig to dress up as the rocker’s girlfriend.

Of course, the story of Sid and Nancy doesn’t have a happy ending: Spungen was found dead from a stab wound at New York’s Chelsea Hotel  in October 1978 after a night with Vicious, who was charged with her murder but ended up dying of a heroin overdose four months later before he could stand trial. The couple was immortalized in the 1986 biopic Sid and Nancy, with Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb starring as the pair.

See photos below:

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Barker and Kardashian announced their engagement Sunday via Instagram posts with the simple caption “forever.” The couple — who have been friends for years — reportedly began dating in January before making it Instagram-official on Valentine’s Day, when Kardashian shared a photo of their intertwined hands and Barker commented with a black-heart emoji.

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for King & Country, CeCe Winans, We the Kingdom, KB & Jason Ingram Among GMA Dove Awards Winners

Unity and joy led the evening during this year’s GMA Dove Awards, with uplifting performances from CAIN, Lauren Daigle, Natalie Grant, KB, We The Kingdom, CeCe Winans and more. The show aired Friday night (Oct. 22) on TBN and SiriusXM and was filmed in Nashville at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena.

The ceremony launched with a sweet surprise for Gospel Music Association president/executive director Jackie Patillo, who has spent 10 years at the helm of the organization. Patillo was honored with the inaugural distinguished leadership award, which will be named after Patillo going forward.

“I am speechless,” Patillo said. “And so honored and so grateful. This is a calling, y’all. This is a mission. This is not a job. Even though some days are hard. But I love you. And I’m grateful. And I believe in unity in Christ. I believe we can celebrate our diversity in ways that will show the world that they’ll know we are Christians by our love. I believe in the power of God through the Word and through the message in your songs. So thank you. I’m so grateful and I’m awestruck over this.”

Natalie Grant and Jonathan McReynolds served as affable co-hosts for the evening; this marked McReynolds’ first time co-hosting the event, while Grant previously hosted in 2007.

We the Kingdom gave the first performance of the evening, bringing the churning folk-rock of “God So Loved” to the stage and welcoming international children’s choir His Little Feet. The first award of the evening, contemporary gospel album of the year, went to Koryn Hawthorne’s I AM.

From there, this year’s GMA Dove Awards seemed to easily blend performances from CCM, gospel, rap/hip-hop, worship, Southern gospel and more into a seamless showcase for the breadth and depth of the genre as a whole, from the hard-hitting hip-hop of KB, Hawthorne’s simmering R&B, the folksy worship style of Daigle, The Isaacs’ bluegrassy “The American Face,” CAIN’s amalgam of rock, country and folk, and the congregational worship style of Elevation Worship.

Grant and CeCe Winans, two of gospel and Christian music’s premier vocalists, held court during the evening. When Grant took the stage, a silence immediately fell over the crowd and attendees stood to attention as she performed “My Weapon,” teaming with the Belonging Co. choir to offer a commanding, string-filled performance.

Winans has had a banner year, collaborating with Carrie Underwood on “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” (from Underwood’s My Savior album) and having her own “Believe for It” currently residing in the top 15 on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart. She offered a stunning live rendition of the song that was both powerful and elegant.

Winans, one of gospel music’s most highly awarded entertainers, added to her accolades, winning in four categories during the evening, including gospel artist of the year, gospel worship album of the year (Believe for It), gospel worship recorded song of the year (“Believe for It”) and Inspirational song of the year (“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” with Underwood).

Later in the evening, We the Kingdom returned to the stage as winners in the contemporary Christian artist of the year category. They also took home the pop/contemporary album of the year honor for Holy Water. The members of the multi-generational group, led by popular songwriter/producer Ed Cash, hugged each other after taking the stage to accept the honor.

Jason Ingram also took home four honors during the evening, including songwriter of the year (non-artist).

“I’ve been doing music a long time and this means so much to me,” said Cash, who is also known for his work writing CCM hits such as Chris Tomlin’s “How Great Is Our God” and “Made to Worship.” “This means so much because I have seen God move in my family in miraculous ways.” Of winning the honor, he said, “God saw fit for whatever reason, so I want to give Him all the glory.”

Key collaborations during the ceremony included Mali Music and McReynolds joining forces on “Best Thing” and “Jump Ship,” and Dante Bowe’s collaboration with Kelontae Gavin. Later, Matt Redman guested on KB’s performance of “10k,” which includes a snippet of Redman’s “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord).”

In addition to delivering one of the most electrifying performances of the evening, KB offered one of the evening’s most impactful acceptance speeches, for his win in the rap/hip-hop album category for his project His Glory Alone.

“Wow. I was 16 years old when somebody gave me a Christian hip-hop CD. It had a dude on the front cover that had dreadlocks like mine, a red bandana going across his forehead and a red bandana going across his mouth and the album was called Bloody Streets. I said, ‘Listen, I have no degree in Lifeway Christian Bookstores, but this is not Christian rap, this man’s about to rob a bank.’ He said, ‘No, this is Christian hip-hop. You take it home.’ I was in a dark, dark place. I took that album home. I listened to it front to back and the eighth song was a gospel presentation and I believed on Jesus listening to that album,” he said, as the crowd cheered. “I vowed to the Lord Jesus that I would spend my life trying to reproduce that moment for people all over the world.” Turning to acknowledge Wes Writer, one of his collaborators on the album, he added, “It just dawned on me: The gentleman behind me, Wes, who helped create this project, heard my album several years ago, believed on Jesus and now he’s helping me make records.”

Elevation Worship collected wins in four categories through its work with Brandon Lake and Kari Jobe. “Graves into Gardens,” featuring Lake, was named worship recorded songs of the year, while “The Blessing” from Elevation Worship, Jobe and Cody Carnes was named song of the year. Elevation Worship’s work with worship music collective Maverick City Music on the album Old Church Basement won worship album of the year, while Lake was named songwriter of the year (artist). “Graves into Gardens” also picked up a win for recorded music packaging of the year.

Maverick City Music has stormed up Billboard’s Christian and Gospel charts with “Jireh” (which featured Elevation Worship, Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine) and their current single “Promises” over the past year, and took home a Billboard Music Award earlier this year for top gospel album. At the GMA Dove Awards, the group took home the new artist of the year honor.

For King & Country’s Joel and Luke Smallbone earned the evening’s biggest honor, artist of the year. It was one of three wins for the duo during the ceremony. Last year, they earned a Billboard Christian Airplay hit with “Together,” featuring Kirk Franklin and Tori Kelly, and this year followed with “Amen.”

“It’s been a little bumpy, It’s been a strange couple of years,” Luke told the audience, and sharing his own struggle with throat surgery a few months ago. “For about five days, you can’t say a word. So you wait in suspense to find out what’s going to happen,” he recalled the days following the procedure.

“I felt good until about two days after the surgery until some of those thoughts came through my mind: ‘What if I can’t do this any longer? What if my voice is taken? What If I can’t do this with my brother anymore? What if I can’t write songs or perform?’ When you start asking those questions, it comes to a point where you think, ‘Who am I if I can’t sing?’” Luke said. “I felt God say really, really clearly, ‘It’s never been about a song that you can sing. It’s never been about a performance, a show,  about the mistakes you’ve made in the past, or the good things or failures that may take place in the future. I love you.’” He added, “I stand up here…more convinced than ever that the power of music is transforming.”

See a selected list of winners below:

Song of the year: “The Blessing,” from Kari Jobe (writers: Kari Jobe, Chris Brown, Cody Carnes, Steven Furtick)

Contemporary christian artist of the year: We the Kingdom

Gospel artist of the year: CeCe Winans

Gospel worship album of the year, Believe for It, CeCe Winans

Gospel worship recorded song of the year, “Believe for It,” CeCe Winans

Artist of the year: for King & Country

New artist of the year: Maverick City Music

Worship recorded song of the year: “Graves into Gardens,” Elevation Worship feat. Brandon Lake

Rap/hip-hop album of the year: His Glory Alone, KB

Southern gospel album of the year: Change Is Coming, Joseph Habedank

Contemporary gospel album of the year: Koryn Hawthorne

Inspirational film of the year: A Week Away

Songwriter of the year (nonartist): Jason Ingram

Songwriter of the year (artist): Brandon Lake

Rap/hip hop recorded song of the year: “Deep End,” Lecrae

Pop/contemporary recorded song of the year: “Famous For (I Believe),” Tauren Wells

Inspirational recorded song of the year, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” Carrie Underwood feat. CeCe Winans

Pop/contemporary album of the year: Holy Water, We The Kingdom

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