Category: Trending

The Golden State Warriors are turning one of their young players into someone who, in theory, helps them more right now. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, James Wiseman’s time with Golden State is about to come to an end, as he’s on his way to the Detroit Pistons.

Saddiq Bey will not be heading to the Warriors, though, as Wojnarowski brought word that he’s headed to the Atlanta Hawks, which will ship out a whole lot of second-round draft picks.

Rumors of a Wiseman for Bey trade started circulating earlier in the day, with Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reporting that the two sides were in talks over a handful of potential moves.

Wiseman went No. 2 overall in the 2020 NBA Draft, one pick ahead of LaMelo Ball. It was an intriguing selection at the time, as Wiseman was theoretically the sort of big man prospect whose best-case scenario made him an excellent fit alongside Golden State’s veteran stars. But unfortunately, injuries have hampered Wiseman’s progress considerably during his time in the NBA, as he played 39 games as a rookie before suffering a knee injury that cost him the entirety of the 2021-22 season.

This year, Wiseman has appeared in 21 games for the Warriors, averaging 6.9 points and 3.5 rebounds in 12.5 minutes a night. Bey, meanwhile, has started 30 times and appeared in 52 games for the Pistons and averages 14.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in 28.8 minutes a night.

The first time Kanye West was featured on South Park (there have been a few), he was the butt of a joke he didn’t understand, but the real Kanye was still just a guy with an outsized ego Matt Stone and Trey Parker thought it’d be fun to goof on.

On last night’s season 26 premiere, though, there were bigger fish(sticks) to fry.

Since the season 13 episode “Fishsticks,” the real-life Kanye has set fire to his career, going on a whirlwind press tour of antisemitic claims and alienating just about everyone close to him, from labelmates to business partners and even his ex-wife.

That self-immolation was the focus of “Cupid Ye,” in which Cartman, in a fit of jealousy over Stan’s friendship with a Black student, drops some Kanye-inspired misinformation hoping to drive a wedge between them.

Cartman then goes on his own antisemitic conspiracy theory press run, wearing the same outfit worn by Kanye during his interviews with Alex Jones’s InfoWars. Cartman also meets the titular “Cupid Ye,” a fairy-like representation of what looks like Cartman in a Yeezy hoodie.

The series regular tells the little pixie, “Ever since you changed your name and got all into Jesus, you got a little batsh*t crazy, Cupid Ye.” Not exactly subtle.

The last time South Park mocked Kanye, the rapper didn’t take it well. In his 2010 My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy song “Gorgeous,” Kanye snapped he wanted to “choke a South Park writer with a fish stick” after fans took to calling him “gay fish” in real life.

A Cheesecake Factory employee even reportedly brought him a plate of fish sticks as a joke. Something tells me fewer people will be taking this one as lightly — and Kanye’s response might not be as nice either.

You can watch the episode on South Park’s website.

Last week, Margo Price shared “Radio” featuring Sharon Van Etten. “To me, this song is about turning down the noise and opinions of my haters and people who try to tear me down,” the country singer said in a statement. “It’s about having confidence in yourself and your vision. It’s also a pun about being naked that I lifted from Marilyn Monroe.”

The pair took that song to the stage last night on The Late Late Show With James Corden. The performance was nothing short of powerful; their harmonies together are striking and visceral. It’s a collaboration made in heaven, and their combined strength represents both of the singers’ unabashed sense of resilience in the face of hate.

Price is known for being outspoken. In 2021, she called out Luke Combs for claiming his song “The Great Divide” was “not meant to be political, it’s not meant to try to tell you what to think or how to believe.” She responded by tweeting, “when people say ‘they don’t want to be political’… smdh,” and then added photos of Combs surrounded by Confederate flag memorabilia and allegedly flashing a white power hand sign during a performance.

Watch their performance of “Radio” above.

We are days away from Rihanna’s Super Bowl LVII halftime performance on Sunday, February 12. We’ve been waiting for her return to the stage since it was announced in September that she’d headline the inaugural Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show for the NFL.

And while we still don’t know how long we’ll have to wait for her first album since 2016’s Anti, Rihanna gave us a taste of what it will sound like during her Apple Music press conference held today, February 9, in Arizona.

Interviewer Nadeska asked Rihanna toward the end of the short sit-down to describe “this chapter and how you’re feeling musically in general.”

Rihanna said, “Musically, I’m feeling open. I’m feeling open to exploring, discovering, creating things that are new. Things that are different. Things that are off, weird, might not ever make sense to my fans [or] the people that know the music that I put out. I just wanna play. I wanna have fun. I want to have to fun with music.”

Rihanna technically returned to music by contributing tracks “Lift Me Up” and “Born Again” to the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack last fall, but Rihanna’s Navy wants a full-blown era — leading to rumors about a potential album or tour post-Super Bowl.

Elsewhere in the interview, Rihanna shared that she’s cycled through 39 (!) versions of her Super Bowl setlist. She also admitted that she’s “been so focused” on preparing for the performance that she “totally forgot that my birthday is coming up” and “totally forgot about Valentine’s Day.” But, to her, the grueling task will be worth it.

Rihanna explained that she received the offer to headline Super Bowl LVII when she was three months postpartum, having welcomed her and ASAP Rocky’s son last spring.

“When you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world, you can do anything,” she told Nadeska. “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was because I haven’t been on stage in seven years, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all. It’s important for me to do this this year. It’s important for representation. It’s important for my son to see that.”

Watch Rihanna’s full Apple Music presser above.

The richest artists in the music industry do not make most of their money from music. Take Jay-Z for example, the bulk of his yearly income comes from his investments in brands like Tidal, Armand de Brignac, D’Ussé, and his Roc Nation entertainment and sport management agencies. It’s the same with Kanye West thanks to his entities like Yeezy and GOOD Music as well as Diddy thanks to some hefty real estate investments. Contrary to what one might expect in such a male-dominated industry and world, at the top of the wealthiest musicians list sits none other than this weekend’s Super Bowl halftime show performer, Rihanna. Her monetary success is also mostly credited to profits outside of the music world, but there are several things that make her’s different from the rest.

Rihanna’s rise to being the music industry’s wealthiest artist didn’t come as a result of smart (or lucky) investing or a sharp talent with real estate. The Barbados-born superstar achieved astounding monetary success through Fenty, a fashion and beauty brand created to offer products that amplified her consumers’ beauty regardless of their gender, size, skin color, and more. According to Forbes, Rihanna’s current net worth is $1.4 billion and it’s not too difficult to see why that might be the case. Fenty is largely responsible for that number as it houses companies like Fenty Beauty, Savage X Fenty, and Fenty Skin, all of which were launched between 2017 and 2020. Fenty itself was launched in 2019 under the fashion house LVMH which made Rihanna the first woman to create an original brand for the fashion house and the first woman of color to lead an LVMH brand. That’s just one example of Rihanna’s milestone career outside of music. Fenty is undoubtedly not only a highlight for Rihanna, but it’s also a story to be studied and appreciated by all businessmen and businesswomen in the future. What makes its success even more applauding is that Rihanna nearly went bankrupt a decade before Fenty launched.

In 2009, Business Insider reported that her income plummeted from nearly $50 million to $2 million due to severe financial mismanagement from her accounting team. Three years later, she sued the accounting firm for mismanagement and won $10 million in damages. It should be noted that these three years were the most active in Rihanna’s career as she released four albums – Rated R, Loud, Talk That Talk, and Unapologetic – in that time span. It would be another four years until Rihanna delivered another project, that of course being Anti, and to this day, we’re still waiting for the follow-up of that album. Nonetheless, Rihanna’s success outside of music has given her the luxury to be as sporadic as she pleases with her musical outputs. Though the earnings that she receives from music and beauty are different, Rihanna made sure to approach the latter with the same artistic vision, intentionality, and divergent thinking that made her a star in music.

Rihanna’s brands won quickly thanks to the practice of inclusivity. Many brands in and outside the beauty industry, but especially in the beauty industry, preach inclusivity and do otherwise. In a well-publicized move, Fenty offered 40 different foundation shades to its consumers, a move unheard of in the beauty industry. The decision answered complaints from Black and brown customers who were beyond tired of not being represented by the various other brands in the industry. It also welcomed them into a world and company that accepted them for who they are and nothing less. A similar move was made in 2020 with Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Vol. 2 show. Rihanna introduced plus-sized clothing for Savage X Fenty, and for the brand’s annual fashion show, she made sure to include plus-sized men and women. They were seen in the trailer for the show, the show itself, and on the Savage X Fenty website where the products were sold. In response to this, Christopher Rosa from Glamour, who described himself as a “fat, fem gay man,” wrote, “…to see someone with stretch marks, a stomach, and pecs that aren’t “perfect” not just be represented but celebrated means more to me than I thought it would.” He later added, “I didn’t realize just how much representation could help me in that battle until now.” Though it can’t be seen and physically held like money, the value of inclusivity is undeniable, and arguably, more important.

Luxury is often placed side by side with exclusivity, a pair that is then often placed next to value and wealth. Especially in the fashion world, it often seems like there is a hefty price to pay in order to indulge in what is deemed luxurious. Despite this, we’ve recently seen that this is not always the case. Take Teflar for example, its handbags have been a hot commodity for a few years now, and though are available to purchase for everyone at a reasonable price, this inclusivity hasn’t diminished its luxury. The point is, luxury and inclusivity can be and should be synonymous and it’s a concept that Rihanna understood from the very start with her Fenty brand.

There are many ways that Rihanna redefined the role of a Black entrepreneur. Through Fenty, she emphasized that success can be attained and maintained by looking in the mirror at the world around you – that is, the world that you’ve naturally existed in for your life. Pandering to those who don’t look like you and can’t relate to you, while also neglecting the rest, will only bring you short-term success. They won’t lift you up like your own will. Rihanna also threw caution to the beauty standards that have often put down certain groups to amplify others. The Fenty experience is available to anyone who seeks to amplify their own beauty and style. Rihanna’s entrepreneurial success isn’t connected so much to investing in companies or real estate and finding wins there, instead, she proved that chasing a vision and using her status to change the status quo around her is certainly possible. In a 2017 interview with Time, Rihanna said that her “lifelong obsession” with makeup products began with “watching my mom put her makeup on.” After getting her makeup done at 15 or 16 for a pageant, Rihanna added, “Ever since then, ever since I saw foundation on my skin, I could never look at my skin without foundation again. Makeup, it spoiled me.” Nearly two decades later, Rihanna has built an empire that gives consumers from all over the world the opportunity to have that same feeling.

While it’s hard to choose the single wildest moment from Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, one thing we can all agree on — regardless of political affiliation — is that Marjorie Taylor Greene’s outfit was the sartorial personification of “white trash.” And Seth Meyers couldn’t wait to talk about it.

On Wednesday night, Meyers discussed Greene’s white fur monstrosity during his “A Closer Look” segment, in which he talked about the “blowback” Republicans are facing for their sheer inability to simply sit in a room while the president is speaking “and listen and not be insane.” As Meyers explained:

Unfortunately, it seems like some of them skipped their electroshock therapy, because they spent heckling and yelling incoherently from the back rows. Like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was seen screaming and pointing fingers in a white fur coat like a Long Island dance mom about to get her final warning…

Why is she wearing a white fur coat to the State of the Union address? She looks like an old rapper’s first wife.

That wasn’t the only shot Meyers took at Greene; he also compared her to a “Real Housewife who wasn’t allowed into a reunion show.”

But Meyers was the first to admit that no one should have been surprised by Greene’s decision to “act like an obnoxious weirdo” during President Biden’s speech, given that she had posted a video of herself carrying a white balloon around — one she presumably wanted to bring with her to the speech — just a few hours earlier. While she may have meant it as a knock against Biden’s handling of the alleged “Chinese spy balloon,” Meyers thought she looked more like a teenager who “threw herself a Sweet 16 party and no one showed up.”

You can watch the full clip above.

Rihanna will make her long-awaited return to live music this weekend at Super Bowl LVII. This is a thrilling development to 99.999 percent of the 110-plus million people who are expected to watch the game. The other 0.0001 percent is made up of Stephen A. Smith and Texas congressman Ronny Jackson, a Trump-loving Republican who took to Twitter to complain about Sunday’s halftime show performer.

“Rihanna spray painted “F*** Donald Trump” on a car at the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo. She’s made a career of spewing degenerate filth while badmouthing America every chance she gets. Why is the NFL showcasing this crap? Rihanna SHOULD NOT be the halftime performer!!” the former-White House doctor tweeted. In 2020, the “Born Again” singer wrote “f*ck Trump” in spray paint at the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.

Visitors at the iconic Cadillac Ranch are encouraged to paint designs and messages on the 10 Cadillacs buried in the ground. Rihanna’s message was later painted over… Rihanna wrote “81 days” in her Instagram photo, letting her followers know how many days there were until the presidential election.

Rihanna also shared the image on Instagram.

Jackson’s tweet is going over about as well as you think.

And Jackson has the gall to question Biden’s cognitive health?

Depeche Mode suffered the loss of keyboardist Andy Fletcher last May, but founding members Dave Gahan and Martin Gore are forging on in his memory. Memento Mori, their new album, and the corresponding Memento Mori World Tour were announced in October.

“We started work on this project early in the pandemic, and its themes were directly inspired by that time,” Gore said in a statement then. “After Fletch’s passing, we decided to continue as we’re sure this is what he would have wanted, and that has really given the project an extra level of meaning.”

Today, February 9, Depeche Mode dropped the album’s first single, “Ghosts Again” — a contemplation of the brevity of life and inevitability of death with poignant lines such as “Heaven’s dreaming / Thoughtless thoughts, my friends / We know we’ll be ghosts again.”

In the black-and-white Anton Corbijn-directed video, Depeche Mode are engaged in an intense chess match on a rooftop while donning ominous black cloaks. They also visit a cemetery — even crawl around at one point — where ghosts dancing in the sky.

“To me, ‘Ghosts Again’ just captures this perfect balance of melancholy and joy,” Gahan said, per press release, with Gore adding, “It’s not often that we record a song that I just don’t get sick of listening to. I’m excited to be able to share it.”

Watch the “Ghosts Again” video above.

Memento Mori is out 3/24 via Columbia Records. Pre-order it here.

Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (that doesn’t actually have Spider-Man in it) is reportedly developing a new live-action series centered on Spider-Man Noir. As part of a previously announced arrangement, the series will premiere on Amazon and MGM+ which are now the official streaming home for Sony Spider-Man TV projects that don’t actually have Spider-Man in them. Not sure if we mentioned that.

The Spider-Man Noir character made his first appearance in 2009 as part of Marvel Comics’ Noir universe where the iconic character is reimagined as a hard-boiled 1920s detective with powers granted to him by a spider-god. He’s since popped up in various projects, notably the animated tour-de-force Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse where he was voiced by Nicolas Cage. The Amazon series will be the first live-action version of the character. However, unlike the comics, Spider-Man Noir will not be Peter Parker because, again, these things can’t have the actual Spider-Man in them thanks to Sony’s current arrangement with Marvel Studios.

Via Variety:

Oren Uziel will serve as writer and executive producer on the Spider-Man Noir show. Uziel developed the show along with “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and former Sony boss Amy Pascal, who all executive produce. Pascal executive produces via Pascal Pictures. Sony Pictures Television is the studio, with Lord and Miller currently under an overall deal there.

The untiled Spider-Man Noir series is now the second live-action series headed for Amazon. Silk: Spider Society is already in the works and will introduce Cindy Moon (a.k.a. Silk) to the burgeoning Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. That show, and stop us if you’ve heard this before, will also not have Spider-Man in it.

(Via Variety)

Earlier this week, it was reported that Ivy Park, the co-branded clothing line from Beyoncé and Adidas, was underperforming. A lot.

Projected to make $200 million last year, internal documents seen by The Wall Street Journal confirmed that the collection had only pulled in $40 million, despite customers reporting sellouts and difficulty purchasing products online.

Obviously, when Adidas hooked up with Beyoncé in 2019 (after Ivy Park’s partnership with TopShop was ended over accusations of improper conduct by cofounder Philip Green), the expectation was for Beyoncé’s incomparable celebrity to do most of the heavy lifting in terms of sales.

Unfortunately, that’s not how things panned out; while Adidas’ similar partnership with Kanye West yielded nearly $2 billion in sales until Ye himself torpedoed that profitable alliance with his deplorable views, Adidas is reportedly figuring out how to revamp the Ivy Park deal.

Now, I’m no fashion expert, but I’ve made some observations using fan feedback on social media that might explain why the collection fell short of expectations. It’s no fun to look at the “why” without also offering some solutions, so that’s what we’re going to do here. The thing is, I want Beyoncé to win, both because I like success stories more than failure ones, and because I know that when Black folks fail, it makes the people in charge hesitant to extend future opportunities.

Here are five things that Adidas and Beyoncé can do to save Ivy Park.

Pick A Side

While the most recent drop focused on outdoorsy aesthetics like parkas and camouflage, prior collections have been a rather confusing jumble of athleisure and couture. Designs that wouldn’t be out of place on a runway fight for space with workout gear that looks more flashy than functional. The time has come to decide just what kind of brand Ivy Park really is.

As a prime example; my girlfriend has two Ivy Park trenchcoats in her closet at the moment. Both are beautiful in their way, but they are also big, ungainly things that don’t really do much to keep her warm and take up a lot of space when we try to go out (they’re both made of mesh, so rain goes right through them). By contrast, the TopShop collection included staples like yoga pants and sports bras — stuff people actually wear.

Given the line is a partnership with Adidas, moving in a more sportswear-inspired direction could provide some much-needed focus. Bey’s attempts at high fashion could be spun off to another label, or even a separate division, like Adidas’ own luxury Y-3 line. I’m sure there are tons of Beyoncé fans who’d love to run their errands in their Ivy Park sweatpants or hit spin class in some bike shorts with a touch of Beyoncé style. Give them that!

Get Back To Basics

While Adidas reported that nearly half of the produced items weren’t selling, fans said the coveted items they wanted were gone before they could grab them. What gives?

Well, considering fans also spent a fair amount of time each drop making fun of items like denim chaps, the problem seems pretty clear to me. Longtime Beyoncé fans probably aren’t surprised by some of the funkier designs. She had similar issues with her first clothing line, House of Dereon, in the early ’00s. But, honestly, how many music fans ride horses on the regular? Dropping the gimmicky items could save a lot of time and effort and allow Adidas to stick to what it’s great at: comfy sportswear.

The foundations of most clothing brands are basics that customers can mix and match, dress up or down, and that won’t break the bank. Pointing to some of Adidas’ competitors, Champion and Nike do steady business with sweatsuits, T-shirts, and even underwear and socks. I think Ivy Park can offer those things and if they need a little more pizzazz, just remember: it’s all in the details. Keep it simple!

Stop Doing Drops

One of the main complaints about the most recent Ivy Park drop is its timing. With the Renaissance World Tour just months away, the BeyHive is already smashing its collective piggy banks for tickets. Why make them make a choice?

Relatedly, this drop is very woodsy, with parkas and cargo pants, but spring is right around the corner! Who wants to buy fall/winter stuff in February, knowing they might even receive their orders until March?

It’s understandable why Adidas (or Bey) went with the streetwear model; it’s worked for brands like Telfar, and of course, Yeezy products did gangbusters.

But it’s also important to understand the differences in their respective strategies and fan bases. Telfar does do drops, but it also does plentiful restocks and has a few reliable base models it always comes back to, allowing fans who missed out multiple chances.

And Beyoncé fans aren’t hypebeasts, although they display similar behavior sometimes. They want to support their fave, but they aren’t the type to line up outside a sneaker store overnight for a release. Moving away from streetwear drops to just having a consistently available clothing line might make all the difference.

Make It Easier To Buy The Clothes

Speaking of sneaker stores, one of the more common complaints I’ve seen about Ivy Park on social media is how hard it is to get. It’s only available in select brick-and-mortar retailers, so once the bots clean out the website, fans are left hunting down the nearest Adidas outlet and hoping they get there before the bones are picked over.

If they can find the style and size they want, the price is often a lot higher than many are excited about paying. Regular folks’ disposable income has become more precious than ever as rent, gas, food, childcare, and other expenses pile up. And if it comes down to the decision between a new Ivy Park hoodie and the Renaissance vinyl box set… fans will stick with what Beyoncé herself is best at.

So, lower the price and put it in more stores. This kills the “exclusivity” aspect, sure, but since when was liking Beyoncé supposed to be exclusive?

Open Up

The final point spins off that “what Beyoncé is best at” line above. Although many of her performance lewks are iconic, Beyoncé herself is kind of a recluse. One of the major selling points of Yeezy is that you always saw Kanye outside, wearing his own clothes, making the desirability for those clothes — however goofy they might have been — go up.

The Journal reported that this was kind of a sticking point in the partnership, as well. Beyoncé is a notoriously private person. She doesn’t leave the house unless it’s to go to the studio, rehearsal, or on tour. But she may need to get over that reticence and start to open up. With social media, she still doesn’t need to actually go outside, but her curated professional-shot timeline just isn’t gonna cut it.

We’re in the era where stars like Cardi B, Doja Cat, Lizzo, and Megan Thee Stallion do livestreams just hanging out at home listening to music and talking to fans. They do silly TikToks lip-syncing and dancing and trying out food trends. Beyoncé comes from a different era, but that doesn’t mean she can’t adapt. One of the main reasons she has a Hive is because people want to hang out with her. Let them. And if you’re rocking an Ivy Park T-shirt while you do it, don’t be surprised when they become an even hotter commodity than ever.