A Miami woman sits in Broward County Jail after being charged in the early Saturday hit-and-run death of a Tamarac woman. Lauderhill police said they got help in finding Ashlee … Click to Continue »
Mary Cecile Barreto turns 100 years old on Tuesday. She’s been heralded as a loving, caring mother who would take the world in her arms, offering open arms to those … Click to Continue »
“Special” wasn’t the only new song Lizzo debuted on SNL this weekend. With late-night comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy’s assistance, the singer overcame a bout of writer’s block and brought “Horny Zookeeper” to life.
In a writing night sketch, Saturday night’s (Feb. 16) host and musical guest sat down for a hilarious meeting with Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy.
“I mean, two new songs?” she said with a laugh. “I don’t have those … I’m not joking.”
“I got writer’s block. Can you write me a new song? I’m gonna need you to write me a new song. New song now, b—-. Go,” demanded Lizzo.
“I need y’all to write a Black woman anthem,” she clarified, before everyone in the room realized that really wasn’t going to work out.
Lizzo was just about to give up when Please Don’t Destroy mentioned a sketch idea that inspired her to come up with some lyrics on the spot: “The bedroom is my petting zoo/ Said the bedroom is my petting zoo, little mama/ I got tiger claws, and you’re my llama llama/ Gonna set you on my lap like a duck, that’s the plan/ Then I make you eat a quarter with the seeds out the palm of my hand/ ‘Cause I’m a horny zookeeper/ You know that I’m a horny, horny, horny zookeeper.”
Watch her perform “Horny Zookeeper” below, and see the full episode on Hulu here. The streaming service is currently offering a 30-day free trial, which you can sign up for here.
Lizzo served as both host and musical guest on this weekend’s SNL, but at least two of her sketches were cut for time from the televised show. Fortunately, they landed on YouTube the morning after it aired.
One sketch, which was actually themed to YouTube, starred Chris Redd and Bowen Yang as a duo singing about how they watch YouTube while eating dinner. “Food and YouTube” brought Lizzo in as a special guest — The Algorithm — toward the end of the tune.
“I am The Algorithm and I’m here to help/ B—-, I know you better than you know yourself,” Lizzo rapped. “Oh, you watch travel vids? I can show you the world/ Here’s the 10 most savage moments from The Golden Girls/ I’ll take you down roads that you never seen/ B—-, I’m the architect of y’all’s reality.”
A second sketch, the return of SNL‘s “Costco Meeting” (a bit that originally starred Kim Kardashian, back in October), had Lizzo joining the “bop factory” Glitter Revolution in bubble gum pink. This time, the musical trio appeared with bops aimed at getting 9- to 12-year-olds spending money at the big-box retail store.
Lizzo chimed in with quips about about free “Bagel Bite on a tooth-a-pick” samples and “smoothies served in a ketchup cup” for Glitter Revolution’s first new tune for kids, before singing about how perfect their lives will be after visiting the eye doctor at Costco. Then they introduced their soon-to-be hit “Bore Store,” a diss track for Costco rivals.
Watch the “Food and YouTube” and “Costco Meeting” sketches below, and see the full episode on Hulu here. The streaming service is currently offering a 30-day free trial, which you can sign up for here.
Lil Durk’s 7220 returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for a second nonconsecutive week, as the set steps 2-1 on the April 23-dated list with a little over 47,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending April 14 (down 8%), according to Luminate, formerly MRC Data. The album bowed atop the chart dated March 26 and spent the next three weeks in the runner-up position.
Plus, four more albums debut in the top 10: Jack White’s Fear of the Dawn, 42 Dugg and EST Gee’s Last Ones Left, Fivio Foreign’s B.I.B.L.E. and Camila Cabello’s Familia.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multimetric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new April 23, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 19. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of 7220’s 47,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 46,000 (down 9%; equating to 68.56 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise a little under 1,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
7220 has the lowest-unit sum for a No. 1 album in over three years, since A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s Hoodie SZN collected about 46,500 units atop the list dated Feb. 16, 2019.
Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album rises 4-2 on the new Billboard 200 with about 46,500 units (up 4%), while the chart-topping Encanto soundtrack is steady at No. 3 with 45,000 units (down 9%).
Jack White’s Fear of the Dawn is the Billboard 200’s top debut of the week, arriving at No. 4 with 42,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 39,000 (making it the top-selling album of the week); SEA units comprise 3,000 (equaling 4.15 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs); and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Fear of the Dawn is White’s fifth top 10 effort as a soloist, and he’s also claimed top 10s as a member of the bands The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather and The White Stripes (three each).
Over half of Fear of the Dawn’s first-week units were driven by vinyl album sales (24,000 sold) – not surprising considering White’s popularity with the format and his continued championing of vinyl. (White also owns the Detroit-based Third Man Pressing plant.)
Olivia Rodrigo’s chart-topping Sour is a non-mover at No. 5 with 39,000 equivalent album units (down 2%) while Drake’s former leader Certified Lover Boy climbs 8-6 with 30,500 units (down 1%).
42 Dugg and EST Gee’s collaborative set Last Ones Left debuts at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 with 30,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s the second top 10 for both acts. Of the album’s units earned, SEA units comprise 26,500 units (equaling 36.84 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 3,500 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
Doja Cat’s Planet Her bumps 10-8 on the Billboard 200 with 29,500 equivalent album units earned (down 3%).
Fivio Foreign’s debut full-length studio album B.I.B.L.E. bows at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 with 29,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s his first top 10 and second charting effort, following the 800 B.C. mixtape, which spent one week on the chart at No. 159 in 2020. Of the new set’s 29,000 units earned, SEA units comprise 27,500 units (equaling 37.75 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 1,000 and TEA units comprise 500.
Rounding out the new top 10 of the Billboard 200 is Camila Cabello’s third studio effort Familia, which debuts at No. 10 with 27,500 equivalent album units earned. All three of her solo studio projects have debuted in the top 10. Of the album’s starting sum, SEA units comprise 14,500 (equaling 20.26 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 11,500 and TEA units comprise nearly 1,500.
Luminate, formerly MRC Data, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes an exhaustive and thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data, removing any suspicious or unverifiable activity using established criteria before final chart calculations are made and published. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to the final calculation.
Megan Thee Stallion made her Coachella debut late Saturday, and she didn’t disappoint, packing her set with spicy hits and one especially fiery brand-new song.
Introducing the yet-unheard song, the Houston rapper said it was personal to her and dedicated it “to whom the f— it may concern.” It’s unclear what the song is called, but it wrapped with a couple of notable phrases. The final line — “you’s a bi—” — was broadcast across the festival’s big screens, while she also repeated the Twitter-favorite lyric “di– don’t run me, I run di–.”
It’s unclear if there’s one specific inspiration behind the new song, though social media is suggesting some of the lyrics could be targeted at Tory Lanez, who is currently facing two felony charges for allegedly shooting Stallion in the foot in July 2020. Earlier this month, Lanez was handcuffed and put in custody during a court hearing after a judge ruled that the rapper violated court orders in the criminal case, saying certain social media posts had breached court orders that required him to avoid any contact with Stallion as the case proceeds.
Meg’s Coachella set also included “WAP” and “Savage” — sans Cardi B and Beyoncé, respectively — as well as some of the older mixtape cuts that put her on the map.
Get a taste of Megan’s brand-new song below.
.@theestallion performs a new song at #Coachella pic.twitter.com/sFt5w9C414
— Nick (@nicksawaboy) April 17, 2022
What a week to be an Anitta fan!
The Brazilian singer released her fifth album, Versions of Me, on Tuesday, and the trilingual project tops this week’s Billboard new music poll. Fans voted in a poll published Friday, and the album scored more than 70% of the vote over the weekend.
But the album release was just the tip of the iceberg for the Latin pop star. Anitta also made her Coachella debut on Friday night, with fans hashtagging her performance #Anichella all over social media. She brought out Snoop Dogg and Saweetie as special guests during the set, and also put on a sensual performance of her viral smash hit “Envolver.”
Elsewhere in the poll, Phoebe Bridgers‘ new song “Sidelines” — written for the Hulu series Conversations With Friends — finishes in second place, with just over 10% of the vote, while Lizzo‘s “About Damn Time” — the latest single from her upcoming album Special — nabs 8%.
Last week, Harry Styles’ “As It Was” topped Billboard‘s new music poll — as well as debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
See the results below:
The Florida Department of Education on Friday said the state will not include dozens of math textbooks in a list used by school districts to buy books for classrooms because … Click to Continue »
Britney Spears, who just revealed she’s expecting a baby with Sam Asghari, is looking back at her pregnancy with her first child, Sean Preston.
After sharing in an Instagram post earlier this week announcing she found out she’s pregnant when she noticed some weight gain following her trip to Maui, Spears returned to social media on Saturday (April 16) with an image of her younger self. The photo, which Spears says is from her pregnancy with her eldest child, shows the pop star cradling her belly.
“My first child Preston !!!” Spears captioned the picture, which can be seen here. “Oh time … what a beautiful mystery !!! I still have this gown in my closet 16 years later !!! Geez I’m getting old !!!”
“NOOO I’m not ready to shop in old lady stores,” she quipped, then added a comment about how the 2021 comedy This Is 40 “is literally the best movie EVER !!!”
Spears’ post then turned more serious.
“This was a time in my life when if someone was to even mention me being locked in a home … being seen naked every day when I changed like some sort of criminal … my guards would literally put the devil or God himself to the ground in literally a split of two seconds !!!” she wrote.
“So yes I’m scared to have a baby in this world,” admitted Spears, “especially in America where they did 4 documentaries with out me in them and telling my story !!! Yet … THAT helped end the conservatorship !!! HMMM … Oh well … I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many documentaries on someone unless they are dead !!! I mean was that even allowed ???? Again OH WELL it’s perspective you know ???”
“Today my perspective is self care with some tea … to try @KateHudson’s new INBLOOM line … and put the same gown on I wore with my first child 16 years ago !!!” she said, before wishing her followers a Happy Easter.
Spears has two sons, 16-year-old Sean and 15-year-old Jaden, whom she shares with ex-husband Kevin Federline. The bundle of joy on the way will be fiancé Asghari’s first child.
Spears had previously made it clear that she hoped to expand her family. Before the star’s 13-year conservatorship was officially terminated in November 2021, she had said in court in June that she had wanted her IUD birth control device removed so she can have more kids, but was told she could not at the time by her “so-called team.”
After announcing her pregnancy on Instagram last week, Spears showed off her growing baby bump in another post.
Meanwhile, on Asghari’s Instagram, the dad-to-be wrote, “Fatherhood is something i have always looked forward to and i don’t take lightly. It is the most important job i will ever do.”
Music executive Art Rupe, whose Specialty Records was a premier label during the formative years of rock ‘n’ roll and helped launch the careers of Little Richard, Sam Cooke and many others, has died. He was 104.
Rupe, who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, died Friday (April 15) at his home in Santa Barbara, California, according to the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation. The foundation did not release his cause of death.
The Greensburg, Pennsylvania, native was a contemporary of Jerry Wexler, Leonard Chess and other white businessmen-producers who helped bring Black music to a general audience. He founded Specialty in Los Angeles in 1946 and gave early breaks to such artists as Cooke and his gospel group the Soul Stirrers, Little Richard, Lloyd Price, John Lee Hooker and Clifton Chenier.
“Specialty Records’ growth paralleled, and perhaps defined, the evolution of Black popular music, from the ‘race’ music of the 1940s to the rock ‘n’ roll of the 1950s,” music historian Billy Vera wrote in the liner notes to The Specialty Story, a five-CD set that came out in 1994.
Rupe’s most lucrative and momentous signing was Little Richard, a rhythm and blues and gospel performer since his teens who had struggled to break through commercially. In a 2011 interview for the Rock Hall archives, Rupe explained that Little Richard (the professional name for the late Macon, Georgia, native Richard Penniman) had learned of Specialty through Price, sent a demo and for months called trying to find out if anyone had listened. He finally demanded to speak to Rupe, who dug out his tape from the reject pile.
“There was something in Little Richard’s voice I liked,” Rupe said. “I don’t know — it was so exaggerated, so over emotional. And I said, ‘Let’s give this guy a chance and maybe we can get him to sing like B.B. King.’”
Initial recording sessions were uninspiring, but during a lunch break at a nearby inn Little Richard sat down at a piano and pounded out a song he had performed during club dates: “Tutti Frutti,” with its immortal opening shout, “A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-wop-bam-boom!”
Released in September 1955 and one of rock ‘n’ roll’s first major hits, “Tutti Frutti” was a manic, but cleaner version of the raunchy original, which featured such rhymes as “Tutti Frutti/good booty.” Rupe noted that Little Richard’s performance was transformed when he accompanied himself on piano.
“Up to that point Bumps (producer Robert “Bumps” Blackwell) was having Little Richard just be a vocalist,” Rupe said. “The neck bone connected to the knee bone or something; his voice and his playing sort of gave it a lift.”
Critic Langdon Winner would liken Little Richard’s Specialty recordings to Elvis Presley’s Sun Records sessions as “models of singing and musicianship that have inspired rock musicians ever since.”
Little Richard’s other hits with Specialty included such rock classics as “Long Tall Sally,” “Good Golly Miss Molly” and “Rip it Up” before he abruptly (and temporarily) retired in 1957. Specialty also was home to Price’s “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” (with Fats Domino on piano); Don and Dewey’s “Farmer John”; Larry Williams’ “Dizzy Miss Lizzy,” which the Beatles later covered; and music by such leading gospel acts as Dorothy Love Coates, the Swan Silvertones and the Pilgrim Travelers.
Rupe was known for how little he paid his artists and engaged in an exploitative practice common among label owners in the early rock era: having performers sign contracts leaving him with much or all of the royalties and publishing rights. Little Richard would sue him in 1959 for back royalties and settled out of court for $11,000.
Around the same time, Rupe grew increasingly frustrated with the “payola” system of bribing broadcasters to get records played and distanced himself from the music business. He sold Specialty to Fantasy Records in the early 1990s, but continued to earn money through oil and gas investments. In recent years, he headed the Art N. Rupe Foundation, which supported education and research to shine “the light of truth on critical and controversial issues.”
Rupe’s survivors include his daughter, Beverly Rupe Schwarz, and granddaughter, Madeline Kahan.
He was born Arthur Goldberg, a Jewish factory worker’s son whose passion for Black music began through hearing the singers at a nearby Baptist church. He studied at the University of California, Los Angeles, briefly considered a career in movies and decided on music instead, schooling himself by purchasing “race records” and listening with a metronome and stopwatch. He co-founded Juke Box Records in the mid-1940s, but soon left to start Specialty. He also changed his last name to Rupe, the family’s ancestral name.
Rupe’s discerning taste made him a success, but did cost him at least one major hit. In the mid-1950s, Cooke was anxious to expand his appeal beyond gospel and recorded some pop songs at Specialty, including a ballad that became a standard, “You Send Me.” Rupe found the song bland and was appalled by its white backup singers. He let Cooke and Blackwell, who had become Cooke’s manager, purchase the copyright and release “You Send Me” through RCA.
“I did not think ‘You Send Me’ was that great. I knew it would have a certain intrinsic value because Sam was good. I never dreamed it would be multimillion seller,” said Rupe, who added, sarcastically, “A wonderful stroke of genius on my part.”
