Yesterday, Nick Cannon announced the birth of his ninth child, a girl he has named Onyx Ice Cole Cannon. If you thought this new addition to the Cannon clan was one of the previously identified 10 (born and on the way), you’d be mistaken. There’s a new muva in the lineup, and her name is Lanisha Cole. Naturally, she’s a model.
This brings Nick’s total to 11, one of which passed away last December and two of which are expected to arrive in the near future.
The announcement of his new baby girl’s birth was accompanied by a lengthy statement that would only be released by man who knows this shit is objectively weird.
Cardi B appeared in court earlier today, where she pled guilty to third-degree assault and second-degree reckless endangerment. The rapper took a last-minute plea deal that will have her only serving 15 days of community service.
Jury selection was supposed to take place tomorrow and the trial was scheduled to start on Monday.
The charges stem from the 2018 incident where sisters and strip club bartenders Jade (a.k.a. 6ix9ine’s girlfriend) and Baddie Gi were assaulted. Cardi admitted to paying an acquaintance $5,000 to beat them up. If you’re wondering why this happen, she is said to have believed they slept with her husband, Offset.
Following her guilty plea, Cardi has an order to stay away from both women for three years. In a statement posted via Instagram caption, the rapper said, “Every day, the sun won’t shine, but that’s why I love tomorrow.”
Yesterday, R. Kelly was found guilty of six of the 13 charges, including three counts of child pornography. The federal case, which was tried in Illinois, stemmed from videotaped sexual encounters with his goddaughter, who had testified that he started having sex with her when she was only 14. The goddaughter, who’s now 37, is believed to be the girl in the infamous pissing tape.
The singer had already been convicted in a federal trafficking and racketeering case in New York, where he was sentenced for 30 years in prison. With this new conviction, he’s facing up to an additional 90 years in prison.
If you’re anything like me, Pink’s transformation from contemporary R&B to rock star has never quite sat well on your spirit.
A million zillennials just said, “Huh?”
Yes, my dears. Once upon a time, Ms. Alecia Moore used to sing rhythm and blues. In fact, before she was a solo artist, she was part of an R&B girl group called Choice — they had a record deal with LaFace Records and everything. They even recorded an album that never saw the light of day.
It’s not entirely clear why, but at some point, LaFace co-founder L.A. Reid gave Pink an ultimatum to go solo or go home, so she left the group and signed a solo contract with the label. Soon after, she began recording her debut album, Can’t Take Me Home, which was decidedly R&B. She worked with big names like Babyface and Daryl Simmons, and future big names like Tricky Stewart and Robin Thicke. She also worked with Kevin “She’kspere” Briggs and ex-Xscape member Kandi Burruss, both of whom were on a winning streak, having co-written hits like “No Scrubs” by TLC and “Bills, Bills, Bills” by Destiny’s Child. They would contribute two tracks to the album, “Hell wit Ya” and what would become Pink’s debut single, “There You Go.”
“There You Go” was followed by “Most Girls,” which was written by Babyface and Damon Thomas (and produced by the former). Not that anyone has ever doubted Babyface’s range as a music-maker, but this track right here sounds like nothing we would associate with him. The track would go on to be the album’s biggest hit, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Its parent album, Can’t Take Me Home, would sell over four million copies worldwide.
Despite her success, Pink’s R&B era was short-lived. By her second album, she would do a whole 180 and become this rock girl, and to be honest, I have never not thought of this drastic code switch as problematic. She is only somewhat forgiven because them rock joints slapped.
In any case, today is Pink’s 43rd birthday, and in honor of her contributions to popular music, let’s take a look back to the version of her we were introduced to.
Pediatrician Chidimma Acholonu and entrepreneur Emmanuel Egolum stopped by to discuss the state of R&B, FN Meka, Nick Cannon’s latest baby announcement, Irv Gotti’s obsession with Ashanti, and so much more.
In a statement posted to Instagram yesterday, Tiffany Haddish expressed regret for participating in the “Through a Predator’s Eyes” skit that led to her and Aries Spears being sued.
The little boy featured in this skit — and his elder sister — accuse the comedians of grooming them in a lawsuit filed last week. The boy also accuses them of molestation. A lawyer for Haddish has called the suit an extortion attempt by the plaintiffs’ mother, Trizah Morris, who has been “trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years.”
Fifty-four years after his passing — and 24 years after the movie of about his life, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, was released — everything about Frankie Lymon seems iconic. However, he actually had a very brief run of commercial success. After he left The Teenagers, his popularity declined significantly.
By 1960, Lymon was now years removed from his days as a teenage star. That being said, he was still a heck of a performer. On August 13 of that year, he performed his cover of “Little Bitty Pretty One” at the Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show. Originally written and recorded by Bobby Day, the song was made famous by Thurston Harris, whose cover of a song was a top 10 hit in 1957.
If you’re like me, you’ve seen this live performance many times and probably assumed that the white girls the camera keeps panning to are mean-mugging because they’re racist. Yes, they are, but there’s more to it: For whatever reason, they thought Frankie Lymon was white. This hilarious fact makes this amazing performance that much more interesting, and serves as a reminder of just how challenging it was to be Black recording artist in the early days of the rock & roll era.
A brother and sister — who have both chosen to remain anonymous — accuse Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears of grooming in a new lawsuit. They claim they met the comedians as children — through their mother, Trizah Morris, who was also a comedian.
The lawsuit says the comedians made them film sexually suggestive skits when the girl was 14 years old and the boy was seven, including one where the girl was taught to mimic fellatio. The boy also accuses both comedians of molestation.
According to TMZ, the lawsuit cites an incident where Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears made the then seven-year-old boy film a skit called “Through a Pedophile’s Eyes,” which was uploaded to Funny or Die.
In a statement, Tiffany Haddish’s lawyer, Andrew Brettler, said, “Plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, has been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years.” He adds, “Every attorney who has initially taken on her case — and there were several — ultimately dropped the matter once it became clear that the claims were meritless and Ms. Haddish would not be shaken down. Now, Ms. Morris has her adult daughter representing herself in this lawsuit. The two of them will together face the consequences of pursuing this frivolous action.”
In a statement to TMZ, Funny or Die said, “Funny Or Die found this video absolutely disgusting and would never produce such content. We were not involved with the conceptualization, development, funding, or production of this video. It was uploaded to the site as user-generated content and was removed in 2018 immediately after becoming aware of its existence.”
When she’s not being shady on Twitter, Diane Warren can write a hell of a song.
Ms. Warren wrote “The One I Gave My Heart To,” the fifth and final single from Aaliyah’s sophomore set, One in a Million. She sought out the then-17-year-old singer, reaching out to an exec at Atlantic Records to make the collaboration happen. Her intent was to showcase a side of Aaliyah that audiences were not used to seeing, and that she did.
“The One I Gave My Heart To” is a lavish, ‘90s-style power ballad, and its heartfelt lyrics are peak Diane Warren. Babyface was initially tapped to handle production, but he ended up having to abandon the project. He recruited Daryl Simmons and Guy Roche in his place.
The song was sharp departure from the R. Kelly productions of Aaliyah’s debut album, and the Missy Elliott and Timbaland productions of her sophomore album. We got to experience Aaliyah in her Whitney & Mariah bag, and she showed that she was a very capable vocalist even though she generally showed restraint.
Many describe “The One I Gave My Heart To” as Aaliyah’s finest vocal performance, but that isn’t quite true. However, it was the biggest hit from One in a Million, peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Today marks 21 years since we lost Aaliyah, so in her honor, let us enjoy this spectacular song from a star we lost far too soon.
Yesterday, Nick Cannon announced the birth of his ninth child, a girl he has named Onyx Ice Cole Cannon. If you thought this new addition to the Cannon clan was one of the previously identified 10 (born and on the way), you’d be mistaken. There’s a new muva in the lineup, and her name is Lanisha Cole. Naturally, she’s a model.
