Tyler, The Creator is set to fill the void left by his late Adult Swim series Loiter Squad with a new series on VICELAND. The A&E-owned network is currently developing a series based on a show from his Golf Media app, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Though no additional information regarding Tyler x VICELAND has been released, we can safely say it will be very not boring.
Like the app itself, the series comes from independent media and technology company Whalerock Industries. As studious app enthusiasts will note, that’s the same team behind the fleet of Kardashian-Jenner apps that have each proven wildly successful. The Golf Media app, interestingly enough, was initially rumored to be a web-based television channel devoted to Golf-related content.
Chris Brown had a tense encounter with Los Angeles police Tuesday after he allegedly threatened a woman with a gun inside his home early Tuesday morning. Reports claim the victim showed up with one of Brown’s friends but was not invited, and Brown threatened her with a gun in an ensuing argument. One source claimed Brown was asleep during the incident, but several others said he was directly involved.
After a long standoff, Brown was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, according to the LAPD.
The situation evolved to a long standoff between Brown and the police that eventually escalated to officers obtaining a search warrant to check out the property. During a press conference with reporters, LAPD Lieutenant Chris Ramirez said he had no knowledge of Brown failing to cooperate with police, despite other reports. “[Investigators] still have to interview the victim and any potential witnesses in this incident that may have occurred at Mr. Brown’s house. At this time, that is all the information we have,” Ramirez said.
Ray J is tangentially involved in the incident as well. He was at Brown’s home at the time, and reportedly had his BMW taken by LAPD as evidence, although it’s not currently clear what role he played in the alleged crime.
When contacted around noon, an LAPD spokesperson would not confirm to Complex whether or not they were trying to obtain a search warrant for Brown’s home. The spokesperson did, however, confirm that the LAPD’s Robbery/Homicide Division were investigating an “incident” that occurred at Brown’s house early Tuesday morning. A standoff at the house went on until all of the people inside of the residence came outside.
Brown posted a series of Instagram videos in which he reacted angrily to the police and media presence. He claimed that they would not find anything inside his home once they obtained a search warrant, and said the LAPD did not have the same urgent response time when he contacted them in the past about his home intruder.
Beyoncé Attended the VMAs With the Mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Mike Brown, and Oscar Grant
Just hours before the 2016 VMAs kicked off, MTV confirmed that Beyoncé would hit the stage for a performance. Prior to the ceremony, Bey stepped on the red carpet with a group of women in tow—four of which were Sybrina Fulton, Gwen Carr, Lesley McSpadden, and Wanda Johnson, who are the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Mike Brown, and Oscar Grant, respectively.
Not only has she shown her support by attending rallys to end police brutality against minorities, she has also used her platform to raise awareness on the issue. Her politically charged visual album LEMONADE, which earned 11 nominations this year, also featured the four mothers holding pictures of the sons they lost.
In an interview with SiriusXM earlier this year, McSpadden explained her part in the LEMONADE project, and how she appreciated Beyoncé’s support.
“I felt special. She had also did some things for my son’s foundation, so at that point, I said, ‘Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it.’” McSpadden said. “I appreciate her for being bold enough to confront things and being sensitive at the same time.”
As promised, Kanye West was given four minutes of uninterrupted time—well, almost seven minutes, but who’s counting—to speak his mind at the 2016 MTV VMAs. During his speech, ‘Ye touched on his respect for Beyoncé, the Taylor Swift saga, and shouted out Chance the Rapper and Jaden Smith.
"I came here to present my new video, but before I do that, Imma talk." – @kanyewest #VMAs https://t.co/ukVtlkcIsD
— MTV (@MTV) August 29, 2016
Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj perform “Side to Side” live at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Mariah Carey’s estranged sister Alison Carey has been arrested for prostitution in Saugerties, N.Y., according to a report from The Daily Freeman. Alison had reportedly been advertising her services on Craigslist’s Adult section, and according to a report from Pix11, she was working out of a Howard Johnson motel in Saugerties. The Pix11 report indicates she was caught after offering her services to an undercover cop posing as a potential client. Alison immediately identified herself as Mariah’s sister upon her arrest, and she also referenced her song “Fantasy” in her Craigslist ad.
“Im a pretty lady looking for guys who are looking to have some fun and get into a world of pleasure that other woman just cant provide two you,woman with the ability to make the earth move for you and to get you to see stars, oh yea with me its,’ ITS SUCH A SWEET,SWEET FANTASY BABY, WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES I COME AND TAKE YOU ON AND ON,'” the Craigslist ad, which was posted on Friday and contained two photos of Alison, said.
Although Mariah and Alison are sisters, reports indicate they have not been in contact for quite some time now. Alison spoke out about their relationship with Star magazine back in January and claimed she hadn’t heard from Mariah in four years. “Decisions I’ve made in my life have hurt my children,” she said.
Alison is being held in Ulster County jail in lieu of $1,000 bail. Police are urging anyone who had sexual contact with her to see a doctor as soon as possible.
Nobody really knows exactly what happened between Jay-Z and Dame Dash when the Roc-A-Fella record label they founded with Kareem “Biggs” Burke and grew into a hip hop juggernaut was sold to Island Def Jam a decade later. The friends and longtime collaborators stopped working together, and, in Dash’s own words, have only seen each other a couple times in the past 15 years.
Jay ended up becoming the CEO of Def Jam for a time and continued putting out classic albums, while Dash has worked on various film, music, and personal projects, such as producing Losaidas with Kanye west, going on epic rants, and that time he helped Victoria Beckham with her rap album.
The behind-the-scenes story of Roc-a-Fella’s end as an independent label, and its earlier rise as one of the most legendary outfits in the game, may soon be told, though, via a limited-run TV series. Deadline reported that Dash has teamed with producer Lemuel Plummer to develop a show that say will offer a “brutally honest account” of the Roc-a-Fella story, including “Dash’s relationships with Aaliyah and Rachel Roy,” as well as the end of his business partnership with Jay.
Lemuel is best known as the producer of the reality shows Preachers of L.A., Preachers of Atlanta and Preachers of Detroit for the Oxygen network. He took to Instagram to celebrate after the news broke, writing, “I’m very excited and honored to tell such an EPIC story from a unique and different point of view. Bout to be fire. Let’s get it.” He told Deadline that the Roc-A-Fella story is “so unbelievable and yet so true.”
Dash, Burke, and Jay-Z founded Roc-A-Fella in 1996 first releasing Jay-Z’s classic Reasonable Doubt, and eventually signing Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Cam’ron, Freeway and Kanye West, among others. That means the casting for this thing is going to be insane, but there is one guy who can do a serious Jay-Z impression who has a lot more free time on his hands these days.
One of the most talked about moments during the 2016 VMAs wasn’t a performance or an award presentation; it was the premiere of Kanye West’s provocative music video for “Fade.”
For those who missed out on the debut, the project features a scantily clad Teyana Taylor dancing in a gym with sweat dripping down her insane physique. And just when you think it can’t get anymore racy, Taylor hits the shower with her real life fiancé and Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard Iman Shumpert. The video then ends with a shot of the couple and their baby posing among a herd of sheep. Oh, and Taylor apparently transformed into some kind of cat near the conclusion. Why? We don’t know, but it looked dope.
A day after the “Fade” video premiered, Vogue caught up with Taylor to discuss her involvement in the project. The Harlem artist, who is also signed to Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music label, dished on how she landed the starring role and what was going through her mind when the video was unveiled.
“I was on Twitter and Instagram, but my phone was shaking because my hand was shaking. I was so nervous because it was really a do-or-die moment,” she explained. “But it was dope that I was able to really sit back and really take in the whole moment. It’s emotional because I’ve been in the industry for so long and I’ve never understood why certain things weren’t happening. And now I feel like my story, everything that I’ve been through, makes this moment so much more special.”
Taylor said Kanye approached her in the recording studio shortly after her Lil Kim tribute performance at this year’s Hip Hop Honors. She explained that they primarily discussed her young family, which seemed to really inspire Kanye, and later that night, she received a phone call from a G.O.O.D. Music rep asking if she’d like to participate in the “Fade” video.
“When they first reached out about the video, all I knew was that he wanted me to dance. At that point he didn’t have to tell me twice,” explained Taylor, who also revealed that a portion of the “Fade” choreography was originally intended for Beyoncé’s “End of Time.” “She loved it but she wound up not being able to use it because she was pregnant.”
Vogue later questioned Taylor on the final scene, which depicted her with a cat face. And, unsurprisingly, it was all Kanye’s idea.
“Yeah, he was just like, ‘I’m going to put you in this cat face. It’s going to be chic,'” she said. “At the same time, being an actor, I love doing stuff like that—to be able to get dressed up and get out of my comfort zone. I was very excited to do something different and artistic, but since we shot backwards, at first, I didn’t know what was going on. I thought, ‘This crazy mother-effer. He’s got 15 sheep in this gym right now, with poop all over the place.’ It’s crazy the thing that happens behind the scenes; my wig almost flew off. It’s just so dope to watch the final product and know all the things that went into it. From the bottom of the heart this meant so much to me.”
You can read Taylor’s full interview at Vogue.
Frank Ocean’s Blonde and his visual album Endless have been making all kinds of headlines since arriving last week.
One big revelation about Endless was that it reportedly fulfilled Ocean’s contract with Def Jam, allowing him to release Blonde independently under a label called Boys Don’t Cry. This news, along with Universal Music Group’s CEO Lucian Griange sending a company-wide memo to record labels to stop streaming exclusives, makes it difficult for someone to listen to either of Ocean’s projects without signing up for Apple Music.
Not surprisingly, music piracy is still on the rise in 2016. According to data provided to Music Business Worldwide, Ocean’s Blonde was illegally downloaded 753,849 times on Thursday (midday UK time). These numbers came from MUSO, which is described as a content protection, data analytics, and piracy audience reconnection specialist.
MUSO’s data doesn’t factor in single track downloads, so the figure only reflects piracy of the entire album.
In a similar, eye-opening number for a big release, Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo was downloaded over half a million times on BitTorrent, circumventing the need to sign up for Tidal to hear it exclusively on their platform.
Blonde is still expected to make an impact on the Billboard 200 chart when its first-week numbers come in. Hits Daily Double predicts it will sell around 230,000 copies.
Ty Dolla $ign is back with the single “Zaddy” from his upcoming project Campaign. “She keep on calling me zaddy/I fucked that bitch in the caddy/She got the dolla sign tatted,” he sings on the song’s chorus. The track is typical Ty, with his voice smooth and his mind headed straight to the bedroom.
So far, Campaign has already had two other single releases. Ty dropped the title track “Campaign” f/ Future back in July, and soon after unleashed the somber “No Justice” with his older brother Big TC. Ty released the song as a cell phone video, split into three parts on Instagram. In an interview with Complex, he explained that this was a nod to how people receive and spread information about police brutality nowadays. The project is set to drop on Sept. 23, and will be featureless aside from the already-released songs. The project comes after the release of his debut album Free TC last year. It’s set to be followed by Beach House 3, the latest installment of his popular Beach House mixtape series.
While you wait for his new projects, you can stream and purchase Ty Dolla $ign’s “Zaddy” on iTunes and Apple Music, and check out the full track list below.
1. $Intro
2. $
3. Campaign (Feat. Future)
4. $$$ (Where)
5. 3 Wayz
6. Juice
7. Zaddy
8. Hello
9. R&B
10. Stealing
11. Clean
12. My Song
13.Pu$$y
14. No Justice (Feat. Big TC)
15. Watching
16. Campaign (Feat. Future) (Charlie Heat Remix)