Our Young California homies DJ Carisma and DJ Amen stopped by Hot 97 while they were in town for the Global Spin Awards + I hit the Beyond The Lights premiere after-party with MGK and Slim!
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Author: Marisa Mendez
(Video) Beats By Dre Taps Nicki Minaj, Funk Flex, 2 Chainz and More For New Ad
Beats By Dre has reinvented the selfie. With the help of Funk Flex, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, 2 Chainz, Victor Cruz, Fabolous, Nicki Minaj, Kenan Thompson and more, Beats introduces the #SoloSelfie in their new ad spot.
Oh…is that a [really, really, REALLY] quick cameo by yours truly? B*tch, it might be!
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(Video) That NJ Ish: Fetty Wap Talks “Trap Queen,” Being In Love and More On Ebro In The Morning
Jersey, we have another burgeoning star on our hands! As our movement keeps growing with DJs (like Hot 97‘s newest additions, Drewski and DJ Naim,) media personalities (like myself, Karen Civil,) producers (Cardiak, Mike Zombie) and rappers on the come-up like Dougie F and Zombie (he fits here too,) we have another one to add to the list! Paterson native Fetty Wap is taking over the clubs in the Garden State with his breakout hit “Trap Queen,” and hopefully he’ll soon be taking over airwaves around the world with it as well. Now that he’s officially signed to Lyor Cohen, Todd Moskowitz and Kevin Liles‘ 300 label, anything can happen!
After Funk Flex premiered what he called the “biggest record in Jersey” on Monday night, Fetty Wap made his way over to Hot 97 to sit down with Ebro and Laura Stylez for Ebro In The A.M. yesterday morning.
The question on everyone’s mind is what happened to his eye, but unfortunately, he chose to remain mum on that for now. He says one day the story will come out, but for now, he likes the mystery and says that the fans seem to appreciate it as well. A quick scroll down his Instagram page shows that it happened in late February of this year, but that’s all we know!
Fetty did, however, reveal the very interesting process to “Trap Queen” coming to fruition, and admitted that he is in love with his girlfriend of a little under 3 years. Sorry ladies! Oh, and he just started music last year. What a start he’s off to, huh? Get the full 411 in the interview below!
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(Video) That NJ Ish: Saturday Night Live Uses Woodbridge High School For Cameron Diaz Skit
I have to share this awesome skit from Saturday Night Live this past weekend! I never watch the show, but I just so happened to catch this episode because I was actually there for the taping, thanks to my girl Christina and her hubby/SNL cast member, Kenan.
Though the actual skit has nothing to do with my alma mater aside from using its name (that’s not even our sign,) I almost fell off the chair when I heard ‘Woodbridge High School‘ being name-dropped! Go Barrons! It makes total sense that this happened, because Cameron Diaz (who stars in the skit) and I are pretty much best friends, after we were on the same flight from NJ to LA earlier this year and we smiled at each other. I’m sure she knew I was coming because of our BFF telepathic connection, and told the writers to incorporate my high school into the show. Amiright?
Check out the hilarious skit below, which features Cameron as a weird theater kid, and Kenan Thompson and Vanessa Bayer as annoyed parents forced to sit through the avant-garde performance. (The boxes are definitely the best part!)
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Drake’s Vocal Coach Reveals The List Of Steps He Took To Improve His Voice
Since his introduction to the masses in 2009 (2007 if you ask the hardcore fans,) Drake has steadily progressed his skills as a rapper and a singer. While progression in rapping is more about the writing, it takes a complete lifestyle change to improve one’s singing, and his vocal coach Dionne Osborne recently revealed what it was that Drizzy did to do so.
Find out what Drake did below.
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BET Cancels 106 & Park After 14 Years On Air…And I Have So Many Memories From Visiting!
It’s the end of an era. After more than 14 years on air, BET will finally say goodbye to its daily music video countdown show, 106 & Park, with the final show on December 19. The network made the announcement yesterday via BET’s President of Music Programming, Stephen Hill.
“We have pride in being involved with the show that has welcomed almost every movie star, music superstar, and fresh-faced talent you can name,” Stephen said. “We’ve all laughed with and been entertained by the young men and women hosts that have charmed us at 6 p.m. (and more recently 5 p.m.) each weekday.”
He went on to promise to remain in the digital world, as well as with their popular specials like their annual New Year’s Eve countdown, 106 & Party.
Though my generation of late 20-somethings have long since stopped watching this program, it’s definitely a feeling of nostalgia, as we were the first audience that they catered to! We’ve watched Free and AJ when we got home after middle school and high school. We felt the emotions when they left. We were annoyed by Tigger and Julissa‘s entrance, and skeptical but eventually delighted by Rocsi and Terrence later replacing them. (It was around then that a lot of us went on to college and kind of grew out of the show.) Literally none of us cared about Bow Wow and Keshia Chanté, and clearly the current audience didn’t care too much either. I wonder if Bow is regretting balling out on Erica Mena‘s birthday last week, now that he’s soon to be out of a job…
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Exclusive: Machine Gun Kelly Talks Debut Film ‘Beyond The Lights,’ How Far He’d Go For A Role…And Hints At New Single Coming Soon!
This Friday, Colson ‘MGK‘ Baker will make his big-screen debut, starring as Kid Culprit in the romantic drama, Beyond The Lights. The Cleveland rapper was introduced to the masses in 2011 with the success of his breakout single “Wild Boy,” but has since remained relatively quiet on a mainstream level since his 2012 Bad Boy/Interscope debut, Lace Up, as he toured the world and shot not only Beyond The Lights, but two more as-of-yet unreleased films as well. He’s also been preparing his sophomore effort, which he says may have its first single out within weeks.
Suffice to say, MGK has been a busy guy, but unless you’re a fan or follow his social media, one likely wouldn’t know that he’s been up to much of anything. To many, this film will be his re-introduction of sorts, and what better way to do so than with a role that showcases not only his acting chops, but his rapping as well.
“When it came time to cast the role of Kid Culprit, I knew I wanted a real hip-hop artist,” the film’s writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood said about choosing MGK for the role. “I saw the video for ‘Wild Boy,’ and he just seemed to exemplify who the character was. So we had that first audition, and I was intrigued by him a lot. Then I had him come back and read with Gugu, and their chemistry was so good! We want an artist who wants it badly because they’ll give you everything, and he really did.”
I got the opportunity to watch the movie before I spoke with MGK last week, and I truly enjoyed it. As a woman working in music, the pressures Noni faced were all too familiar, and the roles of her mother and Kid Culprit are common figures we meet often. I was really impressed with Kells‘ acting too, as I wasn’t sure what to expect from him, but I automatically connected with his character, rather than getting the vibe that he was out of his element.
Below, check out what MGK had to say about his debut role, why he wouldn’t change a thing about it, why his five-year-old daughter is a little jealous about it…and get an itty-bitty clue about his forthcoming single from his sophomore album!
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