Snoop Dogg has launched a new animated children’s TV series called Doggyland.
The show, formally titled Doggyland – Kids Songs & Nursery Rhymes, is available to watch on YouTube and YouTube Kids. It sees Snoop partnering with Emmy-nominated creator of kids’ franchise Hip Hop Harry, and singer-songwriter October London.
Doggyland is led by a cast of dogs that teach kids up to eight years old about social and emotional skills through dance and song.
In a statement about the show, Snoop Dogg said: “As a father, grandfather and longtime youth football coach, it’s always been important to me to build positive and educational environments for all children. We wanted to bring our show to YouTube and YouTube Kids which provides free access to everyone, so all the kids can enjoy it.” said Snoop Dogg of his desire to be a show co-creator.
“I’ve always wanted to create a kid friendly series that lets kids be kids and is truly representative of the culture with everything from the music to the characters,” he added. “When I started to build my team, it was only right to partner with Claude, who created the iconic series, ‘Hip Hop Harry,’ which built the blueprint to diverse kids programming, and October London, a talented singer and writer.”
Four episodes of Doggyland were made available on the show’s launch, with subsequent episodes airing every Tuesday.
The gluten-free cereal promises “more corn, more flavor and more marshmallows”, and features a spoon-wielding blue dog on its technicoloured box. “The best tasting cereal in the game,” Master P wrote in the accompanying Instagram announcement, “[Snoop Dogg], we’re taking over grocery stores”.
“But,” he added, “I do have a couple of important questions about the box that the cereal is delivered to customers in.
“In the press release from Broadus Foods, the photo of the cereal box contains the words ‘MORE MARSHMALLOWS’. More than what? If this is in fact a brand new cereal, it can’t be more marshmallows than ‘before’.
In a snippet of the full interview, which will be released soon, Lamar discussed why he doesn’t feel natural with being a famous person, and needs to take big chunks of time out of the spotlight between albums and tours.
“I’m so invested in who I am outside of being famous, sometimes that’s all I know,” he said. “I’ve always been a person that really didn’t dive too headfirst into wanting and needing attention. I mean, we all love attention, but for me, I don’t necessarily adore it. I use it when I want to communicate something.”
He added: “The person that people see now is the person that I’ve always been. For me, the privacy thing has never been an issue that I had to carry out with full intention. It’s just who I am. If I feel I have to remove myself, I just remove myself. I won’t complain about it. I won’t cause a big blow-up or a big stir and let the world know that the walls are closing in.”
Kendrick Lamar performs live. CREDIT: Getty
Despite this, he admits that different stars deal with being famous in different ways, and that he would never “point the finger” at those who handle it differently to him. “Some people grow different and it takes time especially…when who they are and who they want to be sometimes gets distorted,” he said. “For me, it’s all about being aware of how I’m feeling. If it is too much, let me remove myself for a couple of years.”
Of his lack of social media presence, Lamar added that he doesn’t “really know how to use it like that to be 100 percent real with you” but he “got good sentiments on what’s going on” from family and friends.
Last week, Lamar gave a shout-out to a young fan who attended his recent show in Detroit, later penning a heartfelt letter with words of encouragement. Footage of the interaction during the concert — which took place at Little Caesars Arena on August 14 — has made the rounds on social media, and captures the moment Lamar first notices the audience member, who was holding a sign which read: “My name is Kendrick. This is my [first] concert. Can we take a pic.”
In response to the sign, written by the fan believed to be nine-years-old, the rapper took a few moments to shout out the younger Kendrick, reminding him to thank his parents before encouraging him to be a dreamer. “[Your parents] brung you to your first concert. Always respect and honour them,” Lamar said.
“You will forever be great. You’re great right now. You can do whatever you wanna put your mind to, you know it? You understand that? … Little Kendrick, do what you wanna do in life.”
The heartfelt exchange comes weeks after a similarly emotional moment at a separate Lamar show in Houston, during which a security guard was brought to tears by the rapper’s performance of the ‘DAMN.’ song, ‘Love’. In response to the clip, which promptly went viral in July, Lamar said that “at the end of the day, that’s how you want everyone to receive your music”.
In a snippet of the full interview, which will be released soon, Lamar discussed why he doesn’t feel natural with being a famous person, and needs to take big chunks of time out of the spotlight between albums and tours.
“I’m so invested in who I am outside of being famous, sometimes that’s all I know,” he said. “I’ve always been a person that really didn’t dive too headfirst into wanting and needing attention. I mean, we all love attention, but for me, I don’t necessarily adore it. I use it when I want to communicate something.”
He added: “The person that people see now is the person that I’ve always been. For me, the privacy thing has never been an issue that I had to carry out with full intention. It’s just who I am. If I feel I have to remove myself, I just remove myself. I won’t complain about it. I won’t cause a big blow-up or a big stir and let the world know that the walls are closing in.”
Kendrick Lamar performs live. CREDIT: Getty
Despite this, he admits that different stars deal with being famous in different ways, and that he would never “point the finger” at those who handle it differently to him. “Some people grow different and it takes time especially…when who they are and who they want to be sometimes gets distorted,” he said. “For me, it’s all about being aware of how I’m feeling. If it is too much, let me remove myself for a couple of years.”
Of his lack of social media presence, Lamar added that he doesn’t “really know how to use it like that to be 100 percent real with you” but he “got good sentiments on what’s going on” from family and friends.
Last week, Lamar gave a shout-out to a young fan who attended his recent show in Detroit, later penning a heartfelt letter with words of encouragement. Footage of the interaction during the concert — which took place at Little Caesars Arena on August 14 — has made the rounds on social media, and captures the moment Lamar first notices the audience member, who was holding a sign which read: “My name is Kendrick. This is my [first] concert. Can we take a pic.”
In response to the sign, written by the fan believed to be nine-years-old, the rapper took a few moments to shout out the younger Kendrick, reminding him to thank his parents before encouraging him to be a dreamer. “[Your parents] brung you to your first concert. Always respect and honour them,” Lamar said.
“You will forever be great. You’re great right now. You can do whatever you wanna put your mind to, you know it? You understand that? … Little Kendrick, do what you wanna do in life.”
The heartfelt exchange comes weeks after a similarly emotional moment at a separate Lamar show in Houston, during which a security guard was brought to tears by the rapper’s performance of the ‘DAMN.’ song, ‘Love’. In response to the clip, which promptly went viral in July, Lamar said that “at the end of the day, that’s how you want everyone to receive your music”.
According to Variety, LAPD spokesperson Redina Puentes said the alleged incident took place outside of Soho Warehouse, a members-only club in downtown LA, in the early hours of January 13.
Fox 11 broke the news earlier in the day, with sources saying a fan was allegedly struck by West after a heated exchange.
Now, a spokesperson for Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement to Rolling Stone that West will not be charged.
“Regarding the incident involving Kanye West that took place January 13, 2022, after a thorough and careful review of all the evidence,” they said, “our office is declining to file based on no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
Kanye West. Credit: Gotham/GC Images
In a televised report following the incident, journalist Gigi Graciette said: “A fan says he saw Kanye sitting in his car and walked up to the window to ask him for an autograph.
“Words were exchanged – what those words are, well, that’s all part of the police investigation – but the fan told officers that Kanye jumped out of his car, called him some … words not suitable for television, and then punched him, knocking him to the ground.”
Shortly after the news was aired, TMZ posted a video of West engaging in a heated exchange between two unknown figures in a public street. The surreptitiously filmed clip, said to be shot “sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning”, appears to show West yelling: “Did y’all say that or not? Because that’s what happening right fucking now.”
Posting on Instagram earlier this month, the rapper shared a note that reads: “Look to the children… Look to the homeless… As the biggest inspiration for all design.”
Speaking to Fox News’ Fox & Friends following accusations of insensitivity, West apparently declared it was “God’s plan” for him to clarify his comments on television, according to quotes summarised by the network’s correspondent Eric Shawn, who added that Ye felt he was being “misrepresented and misunderstood”.
“I’m an innovator, and I’m not here to sit up and apologise about my ideas,” West said in the interview clip. “This is not a joke, this is not a game, this is not just some celebrity collaboration. This is my life. I’m fighting for a position to be able to change clothing and bring the best design to the people.”
Weeks after Capitol Records announced the “signing” of FN Meka – a virtual “robot rapper” launched by creative start-up Factory New – the Universal-owned label has shared a statement confirming it has “severed ties” with the project.
Capitol Music Group announced their partnership with Factory New on August 12, with Ryan Ruden – the company’s executive vice president of experiential marketing and business development – saying the FN Meka project “meets at the intersection of music, technology and gaming culture” and “is just a preview of what’s to come”.
The same day, Capitol released its first FN Meka single, ‘Florida Water’, which featured guest vocals from (real life) rapper Gunna and ancillary involvement from gaming streamer Clix. Though vocals credited to FN Meka were performed by a real human being (the identity of whom is currently unknown), the lyrics were reportedly generated by an AI-powered algorithm.
Shortly after the song was released and the “signing” made public, Capitol faced backlash over its involvement with the project. Critics pointed to the way the project trivialised elements of Black culture and used them for shock value – something the label alluded to in a formal apology shared online by The New York Times’ Joe Coscarelli.
The statement reads: “CMG has severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately. We offer our deepest apologies to the Black community for our insensitivity in signing this project without asking enough questions about equity and the creative process behind it.
“We thank those who have reached out to us with constructive feedback in the past couple of days – your input was invaluable as we came to the decision to end our association with the project.”
breaking: Capitol Records “has severed ties” with the A.I. rapper FN Meka, “effective immediately,” following days of backlash over the caricature
Hours before Capitol announced it was backing out of the deal made with Factory New, activist group Industry Blackout made a statement calling the partnership “a direct insult to the Black community and our culture”.
They labelled the project – which has been spearheaded, at least in part, by two figureheads of Factory New that are not Black – “an amalgamation of gross stereotypes [and] appropriative mannerisms that derive from Black artists, complete with slurs infused in lyrics”.
As detailed in a video essay by Genius, FN Meka was primarily created by Factory New’s founder, Anthony Martini (who is caucasian), and his Asian-American business partner Brandon Le.
Several of the early songs released though the FN Meka project feature lyrics including the N-word, and as a Twitter user pointed out yesterday (August 23), the “rapper’s” Instagram page shared a post making light of police brutality and the mistreatment of incarcerated peoples in July 2019.
In their statement, Industry Blackout said the FN Meka project is “a careless abomination and disrespectful to real people who face real consequences in real life”. The group pointed to Gunna as a prime example of why: although the Georgia rapper is featured on ‘Florida Water’, he is currently imprisoned while he awaits trial over charges of conspiracy to violate the RICO Act – an indictment that relied heavily on the use of his song lyrics as evidence. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Noting how Gunna’s real-life imprisonment relates to FN Meka’s problematic lyrics, Industry Blackout continued: “The difference is, your artificial rapper will not be subject to federal charges.”
— Industry Blackout #IndustryBlackout (@industryblkout) August 23, 2022
As Coscarelli noted in his own New York Times report on Capitol ditching the FN Meka project, Factory New’s founder, Anthony Martini, predicted that would happen on Tuesday (August 23). He blamed the impending cancellation on “blogs that have latched onto a clickbait headline and created this narrative”, seemingly alluding to the notion that FN Meka as a character is primarily developed by artificial intelligence (a narrative that Factory New championed themselves last year).
Martini told Coscarelli that the project was “not this malicious plan of white executives”, and that the FN Meka character was primarily the work of an anonymous human rapper – who Martini described only as “a black guy” – with Factory New’s role being “literally no different from managing a human artist, except that it’s digital”.
The executive also claimed that the expanded team behind FN Meka is “actually one of the most diverse teams you can get”, with Martini himself being “the only white person involved”. Additionally, he claimed that Capitol had not pledged any financial commitment to the project, and did not pay Factory New an advance in finalising the deal. The New York Times reportedly confirmed this with the label.
It’s unclear what will come next from the FN Meka saga: at the time of writing, the “artist’s” official Instagram page is private, while its last post on TikTok was made last week. ‘Florida Water’ has also been removed from streaming platforms.
Rick Ross has pledged $10million (£8.5) to secure an opponent for Jake Paul’s next fight.
The controversial boxer and YouTuber has been searching for his next opponent after a number of bouts were cancelled for various reasons.
Taking to Instagram and sharing a photo of himself and Paul, Ross wrote: “Since everyone seems to be afraid to fight Jake Paul Im down to put another 10million on top to make the right match happen.
“What fight would you want to see?” he added. “We talking big shit on the homie podcast so stay tuned.”
“I want to because he deserves to get his ass beat, and I want to do it for all the people he’s disrespected,” wrote Paul.
“But honestly would be too easy and a 30-second fight + he wouldn’t show up in the ring on the day of the fight, but yes I would love to knock him out.”
It didn’t take long for Tekashi to respond, as he commented on a screenshot of Paul’s post that was shared by the DJ Akademiks. “I think he’s on steroids like his security guard who passed away @jakepaul,” wrote Tekashi.
As Consequence Of Sound notes, the Detroit-born rapper and comedian premiered the track during the latest episode of the Your Mom’s House podcast last Wednesday (August 17).
Later, he quietly uploaded ‘Winter’ to SoundCloud and posted a brief note note about it on his Twitter profile. “Produced by me as well,” Brown wrote of the atmospheric two-minute-30-second new cut.
Brown has since shared a link that allows fans to download the a cappella version of ‘Winter’. “yall know what to do,” he captioned that tweet.
The upcoming project is slated to be Brown’s last full-length release on Warp Records before he embraces independence with his own Bruiser Brigade label. A release date is not yet known.
Diddy has clarified his recent declaration that “R&B is dead”.
Last Wednesday (August 17), the rapper – real name Sean Combs – asked his followers on Twitter: “Who killed R&B?” Many responded by stating that the genre was still very much alive.
Diddy later participated in an Instagram Live broadcast alongside the likes of Mary J. Blige, Kehlani and Timberland in which he asked each of them to share their thoughts on the current state of R&B.
During the debate, Diddy double down on the view he’d expressed in his earlier tweet. “R&B is muthafuckin’ dead as of right now,” he said (via Hot New Hip Hop).
“The R&B I made my babies to? R&B gotta be judged to a certain thing – it’s the feeling though, doggy. No, no, no. It’s a feeling. You gotta be able to sing for R&B and then you gotta tell the truth. R&B is not a hustle. This shit is about feeling your vulnerability.”
Diddy continued: “You gotta muthafuckin make a n***a dick hard or a woman’s vagina wet. You gotta cry. You gotta be able to get your girl back. I don’t wanna hear all this bullshit […] It’s our fault for accepting anything less for anybody getting on a mic. I feel like there was a death of R&B singing, and I’m a part of bringing that shit back! I ain’t feelin’ no emotions.”
Timberland disagreed with Diddy, and in turn was asked to name five R&B artists who could sing without the help of autotune. After the producer struggled to do so, Diddy responded: “R&B don’t sound too alive. You don’t even know anybody’s name.”
Last Saturday (August 20), Diddy took to Twitter once again to speak further on the subject. “It’s been 3 days of the debate…This is the clarity of the message…It’s not disrespect to anybody,” he began.
“This conversation was out of love and me purposely wanting to bring attention to R&B! It was something that I saw the effect of the Hip hop and R&B balance. That balance is honesty and realness when it comes together, melodies, vulnerability and most importantly LOVE!!!”
In summary, Diddy concluded: “This message is that R&B game needs more love, vulnerability [and] support!!” You can see those posts below.
It’s been 3 days of the debate…This is the clarity of the message…It’s not disrespect to anybody.
“Music has always been my first love. Love Records is the next chapter, is about getting back to the love and making the best music of my life,” Diddy explained in a statement at the time.
“For the label, I’m focused on creating timeless R&B music with the next generation of artists and producers. Motown is the perfect partner for my album and I’m excited to add to its legacy.”
The trio of toys sees Ad Rock, MCA and Mike D dressed as their alter-egos from the 1994 music video for ‘Sabotage’.
The Spike Jonze-directed visuals saw Beastie Boys play fictional movie stars in a ‘70s crime drama, with MCA playing Nathan Wind playing Cochese, Ad-Rock playing Vic Colfari playing Bobby, ‘The Rookie,” and Mike D playing Alasondro Alegré playing ‘The Chief’.
Super7 has made some official ReAction Figures paying homage to the original cast of Sabotage. Collect them all!
The Super7 action figures remain faithful to these characters and cost $20 (£17) each. They’re available to pre-order individually or as a set here and are due to ship in September.
Super 7 have previously turned members of Ghost, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Misfits and Run DMC into action figures, with the company saying: “Music inspires everything that Super7 does and we all have songs and artists that are the soundtrack to our lives.”
The street was made famous by the band on the cover of ‘Paul’s Boutique’. The new sign will recognise the achievements of Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz, and the late Adam “MCA” Yauch.
“As many of us know, once the Beastie Boys hit the scene, it really changed the hip-hop game,” said council member Christopher Marte. “I see it as a celebration. A celebration for the Lower East Side, a celebration for hip-hop, and especially a celebration for our community who has been organising for a really long time to make this happen.”
Stormzy took on the role of football pundit on live TV last night (August 22) following Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool – check out the clip below.
The Croydon MC – who supports Man Utd – attended the Premier League game with his young nephews, and took the time out to share his post-match thoughts on Sky Sports. “That was amazing,” he said. “That’s the best we’ve been this season.”
Later, he admitted that he was feeling “a bit flustered” and “starstuck” after being asked to take part in a chat with pundits Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville: “Someone gave me a mic and now I’m here like ‘Mum, I made it!'”
Stormzy was then asked his opinion on Cristiano Ronaldo being dropped from United’s starting line-up. “You know what it is with Ronaldo, when he’s that great, you can’t speak on him man,” he replied.
“You’ve just got to let the man be great, do you know what I mean? There’s been a bit of a fuss but that’s a GOAT [greatest of all time]. You just have to let the GOAT be the GOATs.”
Before leaving, Stormzy said: “You’ve made my whole year with this. Thank you, man. Appreciate it. See you at Glasto.” You can watch the full video below.
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