by Jeroslyn JoVonn

August 9, 2023

Raven Symoné Speaks About Plastic Surgery As A Minor And ‘The Pain Of It All’

Raven-Symoné is opening up about some of the effects of growing up in the public eye, including going under the knife to enhance her appearance at the age of 18.

The That’s So Raven star spoke candidly about the pressure she felt about her weight as a teenager and the drastic lengths she went to conform to society’s standards. When she turned 18 in 2004, Raven-Symoné decided to undergo two breast reductions and liposuction at the encouragement of her father.

“There was paperwork involved. My dad suggested strongly that I should get my breasts reduced,” she revealed on The Best Podcast Ever With Raven and Miranda.

“He was like, ‘So you don’t feel bad, is there anything that you want?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, if I get lipo, will people stop calling me fat?’”

She continued: “So I got a twofer. It was just a mess, just being that young and the pain of it all.”

The former Cosby Show actress even recalled having a seizure after her first breast reduction surgery.

“I remember waking up and seeing everything…and then I just started to have this dry mouth and couldn’t breathe and went back under,” she said.

She recalled disassociating from reality after the seizure and not knowing what caused it “freak[ed] her out a bit.” Yet, she moved forward with a second breast reduction to prevent her “t**ties reaching her ankles.”

“I don’t know if I regret it because they grew back not to that big of a size,” Raven said.

She has credited her wife, Miranda Pearman-Maday, for helping her “kick sugar” and gain new inspiration to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

“I want to be here for her as long as I can,” she said on The View per The Independent. “I found out some numbers at the doctor that were not pleasant for someone in my age bracket–or any age bracket, to be honest with you…”

“She doesn’t want to take me to an early grave, and I want to make sure I am there for her in the best health possible.”

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

August 9, 2023

Questlove To Honor 50 Years Of Hip-Hop With New Book, ‘Hip-Hop Is History’

Questlove will honor 50 years of hip-hop with his new book, Hip-Hop is History, slated for release next year.

Set for release in early 2024, Hip-Hop Is History, will have a similar format to The Roots drummer’s first book, Music is History, an encyclopedia of significant moments in music for every year since his birth.

The musician will publish the book under his own AUWA Books since “no one else is writing it.”

“I was 8 years old when ‘Rapper’s Delight came out,” Questlove told variety. “To be a living witness for every first in hip-hop and have an exact memory of it.”

Recalling his introduction to hip-hop when he and his sister stayed at their grandmother’s house while their parents were on tour, a young Questlove, born Ahmir K. Thompson, heard The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” on his grandmother’s clock radio.

“I used to record songs off the radio and had Radio Shack cassettes always on stand-by,” the music producer shared of his early days listening to DJ Dr. Perry Johnson on Philadelphia’s WDAS-FM. “When he said that, ‘This was going to be magic,’ I was ready to tape.”

Aside from his books, Questlove produces hip-hop sets for shows like the Grammys and tours and performs while running the music on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Questlove wants “to beg Black people to understand that we have legacy,” he said.

“There is a nihilistic attitude around hip-hop, and I feel like Laurence Fishburne at the end of [Spike Lee’s 1988 film] School Daze yelling, ‘Wake up!’”

“No one asked me to, but I’m carrying that burden. And for all those who are present and accounted for, there is something to celebrate with hip hop’s 50th,” he continued.

“There may be a lot of water under that bridge,” he said. “Our disdain for looking in the rearview mirror is entrenched in pain and trauma. But as a child of legacy and nostalgia culture, I want to be the GPS for people to celebrate that thing called hip-hop.”

by Stacy Jackson

August 9, 2023

White Mom Sues Airline After Being Racially Profiled While Traveling With Biracial Daughter

A white woman accused of “human trafficking” while traveling with her biracial daughter is taking legal action.

The woman, identified as Mary MacCarthy, is suing Southwest Airlines for the incident that happened on October 22, 2021, CBS News reports. Denver police stopped the mother and daughter after traveling to the state for a funeral for MacCarthy’s brother.

“The officers informed them that they wanted to question Plaintiff MacCarthy and her daughter because a Southwest Airlines employee had reported them as suspicious and Plaintiff MacCarthy as a potential human trafficker,” according to the legal complaint.

The woman said she and her daughter suffered “extreme emotional distress.” MacCarthy also claimed in the lawsuit that her daughter does not speak when the incident is discussed, according to CBS News. MacCarthy’s daughter, identified as Plaintiff M.M. in the lawsuit, was 10 at the time of the incident.

“We were disheartened to learn of this mother’s account when traveling with her daughter,” a Southwest Airlines spokesperson said, according to CBS News.

The woman’s attorney said the mom and daughter were victimized because of their race. “This is the type of situation that mixed‐race families and families of color face all too frequently while traveling,” the lawsuit states.

Flight attendants are taught to watch for signs of human trafficking in the skies. Keturah Johnson, international vice president for the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO, believes training is important for appropriately spotting signs of trafficking.

“Training is in place for more than a hundred-thousand flight attendants, and I think it’s important to know that all of us when we travel, can also be eyes in the skies,” Johnson said in a U.S. Chamber of Commerce panel.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Blue Lighting Initiative (BLI) trains personnel in aviation to spot potential traffickers and human trafficking victims. The initiative is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign to teach law enforcement, the public, and others how to recognize the signs of trafficking.

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

August 9, 2023

LeBron James Escorts Son Bronny To Mayo Clinic After Cardiac Arrest

LeBron James was spotted with his 18-year-old son Bronny James at the Mayo Clinic after the college freshman’s cardiac arrest last month at basketball practice.

LeBron and Bronny were at the clinic seemingly to receive answers as to why the recent high school grad suffered a cardiac arrest on July 24. Fans swarmed father and son after they and some friends enjoyed dinner at Terza Ristorante in downtown Rochester, MN.

Bronny spent a few days in the hospital following the health scare and was released July 27. He was seen enjoying dinner with his family in Los Angeles the next day.

The 911 call related to Bronny’s health scare was released shortly after the incident, revealing that the caller demanded “an ambulance here now.” Bronny was reported to be “fully conscious, neurologically intact, and stable” when he arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to a statement from Merije Chukumerije, MD, FACC, a consulting cardiologist at the hospital.

The four-time NBA champion followed up with a statement on Twitter thanking fans for their prayers and letting them know more would be explained in the near future.

“I want to thank the countless people sending my family love and prayers. We feel you and I’m so grateful,” he wrote at the time.

“Everyone doing great. We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love. Will have more to say when we’re ready but I wanted to tell everyone how much your support has meant to all of us! #JamesGang,”

I want to thank the countless people sending my family love and prayers. We feel you and I’m so grateful. Everyone doing great. We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love. Will have more to say when we’re ready but I wanted to tell everyone how much your…

— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 27, 2023

LeBron James, who made his NBA debut in 2003, has long wished to play an NBA game with Bronny, who was a much-ballyhooed high school guard before deciding to attend the University of Southern California. LeBron, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, currently plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

August 9, 2023

Busta Rhymes’ Health Scare During An Intimate Act Led To 100-Pound Weight-Loss Journey

As we get older, our health becomes more paramount, and with most people, an incident has to take place to take action. In the case of Brooklyn, New York-born, Long Island-raised hip-hop recording artist Busta Rhymes, being involved in an intimate act justified his pursuit of weight loss.

In an exclusive interview with Men’s Health magazine, the man born Trevor George Smith Jr. explained what led to his transformation to get back to a healthy weight after gaining so much over the years. After having an “intimate” moment with an ex-girlfriend, his breathing took a hit, and his ex was very concerned.

“One night, I was getting ready to have, make, you know…I was getting ready to have an intimate moment with my ex. I had a breathing issue after the intimate interaction.”

He left the bedroom to get himself out of his then girlfriend’s view because he was panicking and having trouble breathing, and he didn’t want her to witness that. It was what happened next that gave him a reason to get back to the Busta he once was.

“When I came back in the room once I got right, I laid back down next to her, and she said something to me that really f**ked me up. She was like, ‘Yo, this is not who I fell in love with.’ She didn’t know what had happened outside, but she was looking at my body and the weight. She was like, ‘You gotta lose this weight. This breathing is scaring me. When I met you, you wasn’t like a musclehead, but you, you was slim, you was cut, you had your shit right. I need you to get back to who I fell in love with.'”

That was the initial enlightenment.

A day or two later, after coming out of his bedroom, his son slapped the rapper on his stomach while reaching out to give his father a pound. When this transpired, after some words with his son, he told himself, “I gotta fix all of this.”

The third and last sign was when security and his son took about 45 minutes to get him up in the house after he passed out in the car in 2019.

“I was also scared about surgery for the polyps on my vocal cords because my voice is how I feed my family—the voice is the dragon. I ran from the surgery as long as I could, but after that weekend, I saw the doctor, and he looked at my throat, and he said I could die in my sleep. That’s when I got surgery and started to get back in shape.”

Over the next several years, Busta lost 100 pounds and is in better shape today.

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

August 9, 2023

Saweetie Promises ‘Spicy Content’ On OnlyFans Competitor Fansly

An OnlyFans competitor has tapped Saweetie to promote it by offering “spicy content” for her fans.

The “My Type” rapper stole the show on Saturday, August 5, when she served as the ring girl at the Jake Paul-Nate Diaz fight. Stepping out in a metallic blue two-piece short set, Saweetie stunned as she held the card for “Round 2” which included an advertised placement for a new platform dubbed Fansly.

https://twitter.com/MikeDixon_VST/status/1688059547670503424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1688059547670503424%7Ctwgr%5E0860985d7334310dab6f0bacb57843ed93a2f498%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fuproxx.com%2Fmusic%2Fsaweetie-joins-fansly-spicy-content%2F

Following the high-profile gig that impressed many like UFC fighter Conor McGregor, Saweetie took to Instagram to show off her look and announce her new partnership with Fansly.

“Chanel me… off the top shelf please!” she captioned her post.

“& btw… 😛 subscribe to my page on fansly.com/saweetie for my spicy side 🤫 exclusive content, music, BTS and moreeeee.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @saweetie

She further expressed her excitement for the deal in a press release that teased the inside look fans will get into her “world,” according to UpRoxx.

“I’m so hyped to team up with Fansly and give my loyal ICY GIRLS a peek into my world like never before,” Saweetie said.

“We’re about to bring the fire and empower creators to connect with their fans on a whole new level. Brace yourselves for some spicy content, baby!”

Fans applauded Saweetie’s new partnership with Fansly which comes amid her long-awaited and recently renamed debut album as well as her tour with her current boyfriend YG and Tyga.

“She Smart af for taking a deal with fansly,” one fan wrote.

“You’re really that girl frfr,” added someone else.

As for the fight Saweetie served as the ring girl for, the YouTube sensation Paul won an unanimous decision against Diaz in 10 rounds, The Mirror.

McGregor, though, was less interested in the fight and more interested in watching Saweetie.

“F*** this, sweetie what’s up,” he tweeted on Saturday.

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

August 9, 2023

Made In America Concert Cancelled Amid Lizzo Scandal

Jay-Z‘s annual Made In America Festival has been canceled for the first time ever as the show’s headliner, Lizzo, navigates controversy.

Organizers cited “severe circumstances outside of production control,” according to Variety.

Lizzo and Sza, the festival headliners, were to be joined by Ice Spice, Lil Yachty, Miguel, Latto, Coi Leray, Doechii, Metro Boomin, along with a joint set from hip-hop legends Mase and Cam’ron. The show was scheduled to take place Sept. 2 and 3 at Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

The festival debuted in 2014 and reportedly has had an $180 million economic impact for Philadelphia.

“This decision has been difficult and has not been made lightly nor without immense deliberation,” organizers wrote in a statement.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Made In America Festival (@miafest)

Ticket holders will be refunded and the festival has already announced plans to return in 2024. But with Lizzo listed as the headliner during her onslaught of legal woes, fans are speculating if her current controversy is what led to the 2023 festival being cancelled.

The festival posted the cancellation message on social media Tuesday, with many fans blaming Lizzo and the two-day show’s lineup for the halt.

“No surprise when your headliner is literally being sued. And y’all lessen the genre of music and the number of artist,” one fan wrote.

“The circumstances was that trash a** lineup 💀 Lizzo headliner is insanity,” added someone else.

One user claimed fans only wanted Lizzo removed and not the entire lineup. The Grammy award-winning singer has been under fire amid accusations from former dancers and team members who claim Lizzo practices a hostile work environment.

Some dancers claimed to have been weight shamed, sexually harassed, and mistreated, among other slights. Lizzo has denied the accusations.

by Daniel Johnson

August 9, 2023

Lupe Fiasco Embraces AI But With A Caveat

Lupe Fiasco is not among the rappers who hate the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence. Rather, the rap professor is pushing for AI to be included in the songwriting process for rappers.

Fiasco collaborated with Google to create a “Glass of Water” track using TextFX. TextFX is an artificial intelligence-based program that allows a user to input words or phrases, and TextFX, in turn, will generate alternate meanings, phrases, or spellings for the words the user inputs, Afrotech reported.

Fiasco is featured in a GoogleLabs video depicting the rapper working with the program to help him create a new song. Fiasco can be seen describing how it could help improve the songwriting process.

“Depending on what you want to get out of it, it is there for you to get it,” Fiasco said.

“It does require you to do the work; it’s not doing the work for you. It’s just providing you with different opportunities and workflow, and being efficient, and you know, offloading certain things so your mind can focus on other things.”

According to a statement from Aaron Wade, a creative technologist at Google, Google may have misunderstood how Fiasco intended to use the program.

“Initially, we thought that maybe Lupe would want an AI system to write lyrics for him, verses and raps. But it turns out that he didn’t want that at all.”

Wade continued. “What he wanted was a tool that helped him explore the universe of possibilities that can arise from any given word, or phrase, or concept.”

Google may not have seriously engaged with much of Fiasco’s work, as he has long been an artist who has placed a premium on creating universes out of his material. That being said, it will be interesting to see if other rappers are willing to follow Fiasco down this road with AI or if they will continue to shun it because of the potential disaster it could present for the music industry.

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

August 9, 2023

Tiffany Haddish’s Ex-Friend Asks Judge to Deny Actress’ Attempt To Bring Lawsuit To Arbitration

After comedian Tiffany Haddish’s former friend Trizah Morris filed a lawsuit against the actor for defamation earlier this year, Haddish responded that she wanted the suit settled by an arbitrator, preferably in private.

Now, according to Radar Online, Morris wants a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to deny Haddish’s motion.

Haddish claimed that Morris signed an agreement that all disputes would be brought before a private court. But Morris contends the agreement was signed under “extreme duress, threats, bullying, intimidation and coercion” from Haddish and her attorney—specifically, exposing the names of her son and daughter.

Although she admitted to signing the agreement, Morris said Haddish hasn’t held up her end of the deal. Haddish is accused of not making payments of $100,000 per breach of the agreement.

Morris is the mother of the two children who accused Haddish and comedian Aries Spears of sexual abuse. The current lawsuit was filed one year after her children sued Haddish and Spears.

According to the documents filed, Morris said Haddish became close with her family, with the two children calling the comedian “Auntie Tiff.” In the summer of 2014, Morris alleged that Haddish “groomed and solicited” the children, then minors, to “perform in, film, record, publish, and distribute sexually inappropriate” material.

Morris alleges that after her children dismissed the case in September 2022, Haddish and Aries defamed her by publicly stating that she was trying to extort them. In February, Morris claims she contacted the attorneys of both comedians requesting they release a statement clearing her from the extortion claims. That did not happen.

Morris says she has suffered personally, academically, professionally, and financially due to the comedian speaking ill of her. According to the lawsuit, she has suffered anxiety and mental anguish over the damage done to her reputation.

Attorney Ben Crump Keynote Speaker for National Black Business Conference

by Lauren Nutall

August 9, 2023

Attorney Ben Crump Keynote Speaker for National Black Business Conference

Prominent civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump will serve as the keynote speaker for this month’s National Black Business Conference. The 123rd annual conference runs from Aug. 23 to 27 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel in Atlanta.

This year’s conference features several events and activities, according to a press release. The multi-day event will include a Booker T. Washington Tuskegee Tour, Black Tie Awards Gala, Pan-African Diaspora Luncheon, panel discussions, and networking opportunities.

Focused on ensuring economic security and promoting entrepreneurial endeavors within the African American community, this conference is a collaborative effort between the National Business League, the National Alliance for Black Business, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, and the World Conference of Mayors. This year’s theme, “We Are Together,” is symbolic of a unified future between Black businesses. Both the Atlanta Business League and the Greater Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce will be hosting this year’s conference.

Crump is a respected figure in the African American community. A staunch supporter and advocate of civil rights, Crump is the president of the National Civil Rights Trial Lawyers Association and former president of the National Bar Association.

He has been featured on many distinguished lists, including TIME‘s 100 Most Influential People of 2021, Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 Most Influential African Americans, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Lawyers, and the 2014 NNPA Newsmaker of the Year.

Crump has drawn international attention to cases surrounding racial justice and has represented the families of victims of such crimes, including Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery.

Crump’s mission has always been to be a voice for the voiceless, demonstrated by his unwavering commitment to aiding in the legal recourse for victims of racially-motivated brutality. In light of the recent Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action, it’s hard to think of a person better suited for this year’s honor as keynote speaker.

For more information about the National Black Business Conference, including a schedule of events, click here. This year’s theme is “We Are Together.”