Music

Twerking Cardi B Celebrates Becoming First Female Rapper With Two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s. Cardi B has a lot to celebrate this year! The 25-year-old artist, who is currently expecting her first child with husband Offset, has now become the first female rapper with two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s after her song "I Like It" with Bad Bunny and J Balvin took the top spot on the charts. Cardi first scored a No. 1 hit with "Bodak Yellow," which held the top spot for three weeks in late 2017. In celebration of the exciting music news, Cardi posted a twerking video to Instagram. "No. 1! I'm No. 1! I'm No. 1! I'm No. 1! And I'm about to give birth, birth, birth, birth," Cardi said in the video as she twerked on a bed. Cardi also posted a message to her fans on Twitter, thanking everyone for their support. "I got the best fans in the world hands down!!!" Cardi tweeted along with a video message. "I love yaaa foreeeveeerr .Number 1.Thank you sooo much everybody wouldn't happen if it wasn't for ya !!!!!" Congratulations Cardi! (Eonline)

Idris Elba Launches New Record Label 7Wallace Music, Announces French Artist James BKS as First Signing. "James is a rare find," says Elba. "His hip-hop sensibilities transfer to the other music he makes, he's a nice person to work with and is gonna be a strong artist in the future." Idris Elba is best known for his television and film roles, but for over a decade the British actor has also been casually making moves in hip-hop and dance music on the mic and behind the decks. And now he's adding record label boss to his growing resume. On Tuesday (July 3), Elba announced the launch of his new record label called 7Wallace Music and his first signing, James BKS. James is a French artist whose family is from Cameroon with a background as a hip-hop producer working with Diddy, Talib Kweli and others in the States. He now resides in Paris and runs the creative house Grown Kid, which has composed music for Yves Saint-Laurent, Prada and Giorgio Armani commercials and scored French films including La Taularde and Le Gang Des Antillais. Along the way, James developed a connection with his Cameroonian heritage after a chance meeting with his biological father, legendary Afro-jazz saxophonist Manu Dibango, led to a collaboration and a newfound appreciation for African music. "James is a rare find," Elba tells Billboard. "His hip-hop sensibilities transfer to the other music he makes, he's a nice person to work with and is gonna be a strong artist in the future. It's a huge move for 7Wallace, a small indie label." James' single "Kwlele" will be released July 13, featuring Dibango, Mai Lan and Allan Kingdom and synthesizes his influences into a blend of hip-hop, pop and African music, while paying tribute to the Kwele ethnic group of Gabon, Republic of Congo and Cameroon. "I want people to get to know my journey," adds James in a statement. "The song is the musical answer to my inner questions. Finally I can be proud of my roots and say this music is fully me." (Billboard)

Josh Safran's 'Mixtape' Revived at Netflix With Series Order. The musical drama had been piloted at Fox. Mixtape isn't dead, after all. The Fox pilot, one of many passed up at the network this spring, is moving forward at Netflix with a series order. The streamer is giving 10 episodes to the musical drama from Gossip Girl scribe Joshua Safran, with almost all of the original cast -- Callie Hernandez, Jenna Dewan, Campbell Scott and Madeleine Stowe, included -- in place. It comes from Annapurna Pictures in association with 20th Century Fox Television and Fox 21 Television Studios. Mixtape was considered among Fox's pilot season frontrunners, with 20th TV head of casting Sharon Klein going so far as to declare Callie Hernandez a "star" and calling her one of the studio's big gets. While the drama cooled in the days leading up to Fox's official series orders, Mixtape had remained in contention for a midseason pickup. However, given "New Fox's" direction, producers 20th TV opted to shop the series, which no longer fit the multicamera comedy and procedural mandate at the network. The show is executive produced by Joshua Safran, Megan Ellison, Sue Naegle and Ali Krug, with Jesse Peretz directing the original pilot. Cast members Jahmil French, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Megan Ferguson and Evan Whitten are returning. The staring role of Sam, originally played by Raul Castillo, will be recast -- the actor just booked a recurring role on fellow Netflix comedy One Day at a Time. The series is described as "a romantic musical drama that looks at the love stories connecting a diverse, disparate group of people in contemporary Los Angeles through the music that lives inside their hearts and minds." Mixtape is the latest pilot to move to a new home after being passed over at its original network. Charter Communications recently picked up Bad Boys II spinoff L.A.'s Finest, starring Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba, after NBC passed. Meanwhile, ABC recently extended the cast options for the stars of comedy pilot Steps, with the Ginnifer Goodwin and Kyle Bornheimer family comedy remaining in contention. ABC drama False Profits, starring Scandal favorite Bellamy Young, also had options on its cast extended along with an order for three backup scripts. Amazon Studios, whose new head, Jennifer Salke, developed Guess Who Died, is eyeing the Norman Lear comedy after NBC's pass. Network jumping is becoming increasingly common in the Peak TV landscape where one outlet's pass is another's hit. For its part, Netflix has already revived Lucifer after Fox's pass and is eyeing ABC's Designated Survivor. NBC also had one of the season's biggest stories when the network revived Brooklyn Nine-Nine 30 hours after Fox's cancellation. Safran is repped by UTA and Ziffren Brittenham. (Billboard)

Panic! At The Disco Bows at No. 1 in Australia With 'Pray For The Wicked'. Panic! At The Disco's Pray For The Wicked (Atlantic/Warner) bows at the top of Australia's albums survey while 5 Seconds of Summer enter a sixth consecutive week at No. 1 on the national singles chart with "Youngblood" (Capitol/EMI). Pray For The Wicked arrives at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart ten years after Panic! At The Disco's first chart-topper, Pretty. Odd, and two-and-a-half years after Death Of A Bachelor reached No. 3. Panic! at the Disco also bows atop the Billboard 200 with Pray, the U.S. alternative rock outfit's sixth studio album. Also on this week's ARIA charts, XXXTentacion's catalog is in posthumous demand as the rapper's sophomore album Question Mark (Caroline/Universal) rises 5-2, a new high, and his singles "Sad" (up 8-4), "Jocelyn Flores" (new at No. 8) and "Changes" (34-15) scale new chart peaks. Meanwhile, Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails lands a fifth top 10 entry on the ARIA Albums Chart with Bad Witch (Caroline/Universal), new at No. 9, while Tasmanian melodic punk outfit Luca Brasi scores a first top 10 entry with Stay (Cooking Vinyl/Sony), their fourth album, which enters at No. 10. Sydney-based singer and songwriter Jack River (aka Holly Rankin) just misses a berth in the top 10 with Sugar Mountain (IOU/Universal), her debut full-length album. It starts at No. 11. (Billboard)

Biffy Clyro Manager Paul Craig Elected Chair Of Music Managers Forum. Biffy Clyro manager Paul Craig has been elected chair of the Music Managers Forum (MMF), replacing Diane Wagg, who steps down after four years at the helm of the London-based organization, which represents and lobbies on behalf of over 500 artist managers in the U.K. Wagg, who runs Deluxxe Management, will remain a board member for one further year, before becoming an MMF Custodian. Kwame Kwaten of London-based artist service company Ferocious Talent has been appointed vice chair, following the organization's annual general meeting, held last week. "The music business has changed dramatically over the past four years, and so has the MMF," said Wagg in a statement announcing the change of leadership. During her time as chair, which included three years as co-chair with Stephen Budd, MMF's membership grew by 35 percent, while a focus on improving inclusivity led to an increase in female, younger and BAME members. There also been rise in the number of associate members, with the likes of Deezer, SoundCloud and Bandsintown joining as associates in the past 12 months. Reflecting on her achievements, Wagg -- whose client roster includes U.K. acts Diives, Cortney Dixon and Pandora Drive -- said it had "been a real pleasure to work with such a fantastic community of managers and particularly exciting to see such an influx of new members come onboard." She added that, "Paul and Kwame are brilliantly placed to continue to grow and progress the voice of the MMF." In addition to helping make Biffy Clyro one of the U.K.'s biggest rock bands of the past 10 years, Craig has also represented INXS, Kaiser Chiefs, Birdy, Bullet For My Valentine and Junior Senior during his two decades in artist management. He's also held a number of senior posts at major labels, including 18 months as general manager at the British arm of Atlantic Records, before being promoted to SVP, Artist Partnerships, Warner Music U.K. in 2009, where he was responsible for implementing 360-degree deals across the company's roster. During his time at Warner, Craig also oversaw the running of Nostromo Management, which he took independent in 2014. Paying tribute to his predecessor, Craig said Wagg -- working in conjunction with MMF chief executive Annabella Coldrick -- had "been fundamental in transforming who the MMF represents and what it stands for." "The increase in membership, especially among younger and female managers is testimony to Diane's impact, her leadership and her innate sense of inclusiveness," said Craig, who has been vice chair since 2017 and will now serve a maximum of three years as chair. "Diane has been a real rock of support for me personally," added MMF chief executive Annabella Coldrick, who said she will "always be in debt to her generosity and expertise, and for the positive stamp she has made on the MMF -- ensuring we represent a greater diversity of managers, and a greater number of managers overall." "I know that Paul and Kwame are huge advocates of her achievements," said Coldrick, "and I look forward to working with both of them." (Billboard)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fall Book Discussion and Movie Series

Book discussion group to meet

City Page Survey