Author Archives: Jennifer White

Taylor Swift, Cardi B, XXXtentacion Rock The AMAs

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Last’s night’s American Music Awards might as well been called “Ladies Night.” Women dominated the proceedings by taking home awards and delivering jaw-dropping performances. One specific jaw belonged to Taran Killam of “Saturday Night Live” and “Wild N Out” fame, whose mouth agape reaction to Cardi B’s “I Like It" performance has made the internet rounds. But it was Cardi B who stole the night, as the Bronx native hit the podium three times to collect awards for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Song (“Bodak Yellow”), Favorite Soul/ R&B Song (Bruno Mars’ “Finesse” remix) and Favorite Rap/ Hip-Hop Artist. Beyond the trophies, it was Cardi's colorful, cultural and instantly iconic performance that turned the entire Microsoft Theater into Carnaval in Cuba meets Fordham Road in the Bronx. 
 
Taylor Swift, fresh off of taking her first-ever public political stance, focused on music for the night as she lead off the broadcast with her single “I Did Something Bad.” There’s no more ironic song title for the proud Tennessean song bird, as it was all good for her. Even Donald Trump, who says he likes her music “25% less” since her Sunday politically charmed Instagram post, would have a hard time hating on Swift as she continued her reign winning the AMA’s top honor, Artist of the Year. Less forgiving of Switft may be the BeyHive, which likely had to take a double shot of Dusse to calm their nerves as Swift also was awarded Tour of the Year, beating out such notables the Beyonce and Jay-Z stadium extravaganza “On The Run II” and Bruno Mars’ “24 K Magic World Tour.” While that victory may have been a shocker, it was no surprise that Swift got Favorite Female Artist, Pop/Rock and that her Reputation LP was awarded Favorite Album/ Pop Rock. Swift’s wins saw her surpass Whitney Houston as the most decorated female ever at the AMAs. 
 
While Swift stayed away from any heavy statements, AMA host Tracee Ellis Ross was declarative in words and in her audaciously beautiful garments. The star of “Black-Ish” wore clothes made by black designers from the legendary Dapper Dan to CD Greene. The most outspoken of her night’s wardrobe changes was the simply stated but powerful “I Am A Voter” tee shirt. 
 
Ciara had the biggest assist of the night, bringing her longtime friend Missy Elliott out for “Level Up.” CiCi and her dancers wowed with premiere choreography. Jennifer Lopez’s “Limitless” performance concentrated more on her vocals than her traditionally pristine dancing, but she still had flair, as did the timeless Mariah Carey who debuted a new song “With You.” Everyone is talking about how Carey barley moved while singing, but she did have a gaggle of dancers, some of whom emerged from her pink dress.

Other highlights included Newjack Ella Mae, walking from the crowd to the stage during “Booed Up,” and Gladys Knight delivered an ultimate diva move by descending from Heaven to grace us all as she paid tribute to her friend Aretha Franklin. The 74 year-old was backed by nothing but perennial all-stars, Ledisi, Donnie McClurkin, CeCe Winas and Mary Mary. With a picture of a smiling Franklin angelically posted in the back of the stage, the Knight-led contingency erupted with a forceful and emotional medley of Gospel records that were stirringly soulful.
 
And of of course, one of the night’s most poignant moments occurred when XXXTentacion’s mom Cleopatra Bernard appeared onstage to accept her son’s posthumous win for Favorite Soul/ R&B album. “I’m so nervous, you guys,” said Bernard, who also was present to accept her son’s award Saturday at the BET Hip-Hop Awards in Miami. “I am honored to accept this award on behalf of my son. I would like to thank the AMAs, his fans, and to everyone who made this possible. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate it.”

Click here for the full list of winners from the American Music Awards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Music_Awards_of_2018

Go On Tour With Panic! At The Disco!

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Brendon Urie takes us behind the scenes of week 6 of the Pray For The Wicked tour – everything from drumming in a unicorn onesie, to lip syncing to Steve Winwood, to interacting with fans. Get a look at what it’s like to be on the road with Panic!

And don’t forget, they’re bringing a Queen tribute to Tuesday night’s American Music Awards! Get psyched for the 2018 AMAs with The Slacker 20 here: https://www.slacker.com/station/the-twenty-amas

Mannie Fresh Says He and Lil Wayne Have 11 More Songs In Stash That Will be Released

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Some things just sound right and make you feel that all is right in the hip-hop universe. Lil Wayne and Mannie Fresh working together is one of those things. The energetic MC and charismatic DJ have made for one of music's best tandems during two-plus decades, creating major hits and influencing culture.  While obviously the two have branched out since their Cash Money heyday, it was still special to see Fresh listed as producer on the recently released blockbuster, Tha Carter V.  The Mannie-helmed “Start This Shit Off Right” and “Perfect Strangers” were two bullseye-hits on the 23 song LP.
Last night in Atlanta, Fresh performed a DJ set right before Wayne hit the stage as headliner at A3C, spinning Cash Money classics and hits from notables including Wayne and Notorious B.I.G. The producer/ DJ said he’s not surprised Wayne has had longevity on top of the game.
 
“I always felt homie was gonna hold his own,” Mannie told us backstage after his set. “Big ups to him for always answering the phone no matter what was going on.  I can I always say my dude — low point for me, low point for him [or] when we was up— always answered the phone. Before I knew Wayne, I knew his dad. His das was always like ‘this dude got star qualities.’ When I met him, he was right. First one there, last one to leave. It’s still that way. When we worked on Tha Carter [V], people don’t know we got like 13 songs, we dumbed it down to two. And we did that in three days. So the chemistry is still there, still crazy. Dude was like, 'let this ride and you can put those out.' The world will get to hear Mannie Fresh/ Carter. It’ll be ‘The Fresh File.’”
 
Fresh is currently crafting a solo LP and one of the MCs he most wants to work with is Kool G. Rap. 
 
Tha Carter, hit with major velocity since it’s release two weeks ago. It went gold in just a few days after being streamed around half a billion times it’s first week out (the second highest in history). The opus, Wayne’s latest in the series that started 14 years ago also debuted number one on the Billboard charts.

Taylor Swift Breaks Political Silence, To Vote Democrat In Midterm Elections

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In a time when Kanye West is arguably alienating a large portion of his fanbase with his MAGA hat and pro-Tump speeches on late night sketch shows, Taylor Swift has decided that it’s her turn to her first-ever public political stance. The iconic singer used social media to convey her support for the Democratic candidates in the upcoming midterm elections in her home state of Tennessee.

“I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee,” she told her 112 plus million followers. “In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.
I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love.”

Swift then outlined why she considers Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn to be the absolutely the wrong person to represent her state.

“Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn[,]” the multi-time Grammy winner expressed. “Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway.

So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting! 🗳😃🌈”

Her newfound public political stance has upset some of Swift’s Republican fans, many of whom took to social media with their rebuttals, admonishing the singer. Meanwhile, several celebrities jumped in the mix to support the hitmaker. One time Swift nemeses Kary Perry likes Swift’s post as did Avengers mega-villain Josh Brolin, legendary directors Rob Reiner and Joseph Khan, and of course Swift’s renaissance-man friend Todrick Hall.

Swift is slated to perform a slew of concerts around the world in this month, and will be open this week’s American Music Awards broadcast.

Lil Wayne A3C Performance Cut Short Following Incident

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In a weekend where literally dozens of noise-making, popular hip-hop figures converged on two cities, the most anticipated performance ended almost as soon as it began.  Lil Wayne’s headline outing at the A3C Music festival in Atlanta lasted for only two and half songs. The man with the number one album in the country, "Tha Carter V," was ushered off stage and into his waiting SUV after pandemonium broke out in the crowd. A reportedly violent incident occurred in the audience, causing thousands of concert-goers to stampede towards the exits.
 
According to some witnesses, at least two spectators were fighting when one got stabbed. Some witness say they saw a man a draw a gun and hoist in the air. Others say no one had a weapon. A source within the event security team told LiveXLive that they actually saw a man shoot a gun in the air. Wayne started his set at exactly 10pm with “Mr. Carter.” “Got Money” followed, and during song #3, “John,” the stampede occurred.
A3C released a statement shortly after the chaos:
 
“Sadly, there was an altercation tonight that ended Lil Wayne’s performance,” the statement read. “We are still collecting information to determine exactly what happened and will provide follow up information as soon as we know more details. Please be assured that the law enforcement officers present have confirmed that there were no weapons involved. This was a very unfortunate way to end what had been an otherwise amazing week of music, friendships and connections. Thank you to everyone for your amazing support and positive energy all week. We love y’all.”
 
A spokesperson for the Atlanta police was unable to be reached.

Soon after the performance, Wayne tweeted: “Hope everyone at A3C is safe."

“The “Greatest Rapper Alive”’ was very energetic and made sure to thank his fans for their support over the past two decades and he let everyone he would be nothing without the people on his side. He didn’t get to spend much time in Atlanta today, as he flew back to Miami after the A3C incident to make an appearance Club Liv. He had previously been in Miami during the taping of the BET Hip-Hop Awards where he received the coveted “I AM Hip-Hop” award. Bun B and DJ Khaled presented him the honor at the event, which also featured Cardi B, Lil Baby and Gunna, Lil Duval, T.I., YG, Lil Pump, Gucci Mane and Young M.A.
As for A3C today, M.A also performed as did Curren$y and the entire group of the Diplomats. Cam’ron, Jim Jones, and Freekey Zekey along with Juelz Santana. Santana has recently faced serious legal issues, having been arrested for bringing a loaded handgun to the New Jersey airport in March. Santana had been on house arrest for several months and had not been able to travel with his band of brothers while they’ve been touring. Juelz was onstage standing to the side with his wife Kimbella tonight with Wayne.
Stay tuned to LiveXLive for more coverage of this ongoing story, A3C and the BET Hip Hop Awards.