Lizzo Scores Partial Legal Victory as Fat-Shaming Claims Are Dropped

Lizzo performs on President James Madison’s 1813 crystal flute during a visit to the Library of Congress in Washington on Sept. 26, 2022. The Grammy-winning artist, known for her musicianship and advocacy for body positivity, recently celebrated a partial legal victory after former dancers dropped fat-shaming allegations in an ongoing lawsuit. (Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress)

Lizzo called it “devastating” to stay silent while the world picked her apart. On Monday, the Grammy winning singer finally spoke — not through a press release, but through a social-media video — confirming that one of the loudest accusations against her has fallen away.

“The fat-shaming claims against me have been officially dropped by my accusers,” she wrote across the screen. “They conceded it had no merit in court. There was no evidence that I fired them because they gained weight — because it never happened. Now the truth is finally out.”

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It was the first major turn in a lawsuit that’s shadowed Lizzo since 2023, when three former backup dancers — Arianna Davis, Noelle Rodriguez and Crystal Williams — accused her of creating a hostile work environment filled with sexual misconduct and body-shaming. Their most publicized claim, that she punished or fired employees for weight gain, has now been withdrawn after a judge dismissed it under California’s anti-SLAPP statute and the plaintiffs declined to appeal.

But while this moment clears a major piece of her legal slate, it doesn’t end the story. Other parts of the case — including allegations of inappropriate behavior and tour-related misconduct — remain active. Lizzo says she’ll fight them all.

“This claim has haunted me since the day it came out,” she said. “It has been devastating to suffer through this in silence, but I let my lawyers lead, and I’m so grateful for this victory. I am still in a legal battle. I am not settling. I will be fighting every single claim until the truth is out.”

The case, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, has become one of pop culture’s most polarizing. It’s a collision between celebrity image and workplace ethics, fame and accountability, and a test of how quickly social media can rewrite a reputation before a court ever rules.

Carl Carlton, Voice of Funk Classic ‘She’s a Bad Mama Jama,’ Dead at 72

Carl Carlton on the cover of his 1981 self-titled album, which featured the Grammy-nominated hit “She’s a Bad Mama Jama (She’s Built, She’s Stacked).” The Detroit-born singer, who also scored with “Everlasting Love,” died Sunday at age 72. (Album cover image via 20th Century Records)

Carl Carlton — the R&B, soul and funk singer whose hits “Everlasting Love” and “She’s a Bad Mama Jama (She’s Built, She’s Stacked)” became part of America’s musical DNA — has died. He passed away Sunday at age 72, his son announced, following years of health challenges after a stroke.

“RIP Dad, Legend Carl Carlton,” his son, Carlton Hudgens II, wrote on Facebook. “Long hard fight in life and you will be missed… Always love you.”

Born Carlton Hudgens in Detroit in 1953, Carlton began performing as “Little Carl Carlton” in the 1960s, a nickname that stuck because of his resemblance in tone to Stevie Wonder. By the early ’70s, he dropped the “Little” and started making his own mark on the soul scene with “I Can Feel It,” his first appearance on Billboard’s soul chart.

His breakout came in 1974 with “Everlasting Love,” a triumphant cover of Robert Knight’s R&B song that shot into the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 and became the version most listeners remember. Nearly 50 years later, it remains a timeless anthem of devotion, with more than 25 million Spotify streams and steady rotation on classic-soul playlists.

Carlton’s defining moment, however, arrived in 1981 with “She’s a Bad Mama Jama (She’s Built, She’s Stacked).” Written by Leon Haywood and released on his self-titled album, the song was a master class in funk confidence — slick, strutting and impossible not to dance to. It earned Carlton a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance and later became a pop-culture fixture, appearing in everything from “Friends” to “Miss Congeniality 2.” The track’s bassline has been sampled or referenced by Foxy Brown, Flo Milli and Das EFX, among others, proving its groove never aged out.

Carlton recorded steadily through the early 1980s, then shifted focus but never stopped performing. In 2010, he released a gospel album, “God Is Good,” a project that reflected the faith and optimism that often underpinned his music.

Tributes poured in from across the soul and funk community after his death. The group Con Funk Shun wrote, “With heavy hearts, we mourn the passing of the legendary Carl Carlton. His voice, talent and contributions to soul and R&B music will forever be a part of our lives and the soundtrack of so many memories. Rest in power, Carl. Your legacy lives on.”

Music outlet Okayplayer added that Carlton’s “voice helped shape generations of rhythm-driven sound,” describing his catalog as “a blueprint for what authentic soul and funk should feel like.”

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Carlton’s career reflected a deep love for melody and groove — the kind that reached church pews, roller rinks and dance floors alike. His songs were built to last, and so was his influence.

He is survived by his son, Carlton Hudgens II, and a body of work that continues to find new life through samples, remixes and every DJ who still knows that when “Bad Mama Jama” drops, the room moves.

Tyrone ''Fly Ty' Williams, Cold Chillin’ Founder and Hip-Hop Pioneer, Dies at 68

Tyrone “Fly Ty” Williams, the pioneering founder of Cold Chillin’ Records and one of hip-hop’s first major-label executives, in an undated photo shared on his Instagram. The Brooklyn-born architect of rap’s golden age — who helped launch Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane and Roxanne Shanté — died Monday. (Photo via Instagram / @flytywilliams)

Tyrone “Fly Ty” Williams, a foundational architect of hip-hop’s golden era who founded Cold Chillin’ Records and helped launch some of rap’s most influential artists, died Monday in New York. He was 68.

Williams’ passing was confirmed on social media by the Hip-Hop Museum and peers in the culture, though no official cause of death has been publicly disclosed.

Rocky Bucano, CEO of the Hip-Hop Museum, shared a personal tribute on Facebook:

“This afternoon I received the heartbreaking news that my friend and brother in this culture, Tyrone ‘Fly Ty’ Williams, has passed away,” Bucano wrote. “Fly Ty was more than the former CEO of Cold Chillin’ Records — he was a pillar in the architecture of hip-hop. A trusted colleague, a champion for artists and one of the earliest executives to truly understand the power and potential of our culture.”

Artists and fans flooded social platforms with remembrances, celebrating Williams not just as a label head but as a mentor and cultural catalyst. Among them was MC Shan, a longtime Juice Crew member whose career Williams helped shepherd. Popular hip-hop feeds on Instagram and Facebook honored his legacy with tributes citing his vision and influence.

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Born and raised in Brooklyn, Williams came of age deeply steeped in music and culture before finding his calling in hip-hop. In 1986, at 27, he founded Cold Chillin’ Records — originally a subsidiary of Prism Records — which went on to become one of rap’s most influential labels during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Under his leadership, Cold Chillin’ became synonymous with the Juice Crew, the groundbreaking collective that included artists such as Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane, Roxanne Shanté, Kool G Rap and MC Shan. Their records helped define New York rap’s early identity and set the template for lyricism and cohesion in hip-hop.

Williams’ business acumen played a crucial role in positioning hip-hop for broader audiences. A distribution partnership with Warner Bros. Records helped bring Cold Chillin’ releases into national markets without diluting the music’s authenticity — a rare achievement at a time when major labels were only tentatively embracing rap as a commercial art form.

Before his label tenure, Williams worked as a radio executive and producer, collaborating closely with influential DJ Mr. Magic and helping to expand dedicated hip-hop programming on commercial airwaves — the first steps toward bringing the culture out of block parties and into mainstream listening rooms.

Though Cold Chillin’ closed in 1998, its influence persists through the artists it championed and the career pathways it opened. Generations of rappers and producers have cited the label’s work as foundational to hip-hop’s culture and business evolution.

Williams’ death marks the loss of one of hip-hop’s earliest visionaries — an executive who, at a time when few in the broader industry grasped the cultural potential of rap, believed in the music’s power and helped turn that belief into reality.

Phil Upchurch, Soulful Architect of Modern R&B and Jazz, Dies at 84

Phil Upchurch, a Chicago-born guitarist and composer whose six-decade career bridged jazz, soul and R&B and included collaborations with Donny Hathaway, Chaka Khan and Michael Jackson, died Nov. 23, 2025, in Los Angeles at 84. (Photo by Sonya Maddox-Upchurch)

Phil Upchurch’s guitar never shouted for attention, but if you grew up on Donny Hathaway, Chaka Khan, Curtis Mayfield or Michael Jackson, you’ve been living in his chords your whole life.

His wife, singer and actor Sonya Maddox-Upchurch, confirmed in a statement shared Dec. 2 that the guitarist died Nov. 23 in Los Angeles at 84.

“Phil was my husband, my musical partner, and my heart,” she wrote. “He touched so many lives through his gift and his spirit, and I thank everyone for the love and memories being shared. Please keep our family in your prayers as we celebrate his life and legacy.”

News of his passing spread slowly outside musician circles, as tributes from peers like Chaka Khan and George Benson began appearing in early December — a delay that feels fitting for a man who spent a lifetime behind the spotlight, shaping songs that defined modern soul and jazz without ever demanding the credit.

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A Chicago native born July 19, 1941, Upchurch came up in neighborhood R&B bands before becoming a house guitarist for Chess Records, backing artists like The Dells and Jerry Butler. In 1961 he scored his own hit with the instrumental “You Can’t Sit Down,” which reached the pop Top 40 and made his name a fixture on soul jukeboxes.

From there, he built the kind of resume that makes other musicians speak his name with reverence. He anchored Curtis Mayfield’s “Super Fly” era, worked with the Staple Singers, and became a trusted collaborator for Quincy Jones — a relationship that eventually landed him on Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall,” where his guitar on “Workin’ Day and Night” drives one of Jackson’s funkiest grooves.

Jazz, blues, gospel, R&B — Upchurch moved through all of it without ever sounding out of place. Over the decades he recorded or toured with B.B. King, Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, Carmen McRae, David Sanborn and Ramsey Lewis, while still cutting his own albums like “The Way I Feel,” “Darkness, Darkness,” and the late-career favorite “Tell the Truth!”

For soul heads, his most sacred work may be with Donny Hathaway. Upchurch’s playing on “Donny Hathaway Live” helped turn those 1971 club dates into a master class in feel — the kind of record musicians still study to understand how to lift a vocalist without crowding them.

That sensitivity is exactly what Chaka Khan singled out in her tribute shared after his passing:

“Phil Upchurch was a rare light — steady, brilliant & deeply rooted in the music we created together. From the earliest days of my career, his playing carried a grace and sensitivity that lifted every note and every moment. I’m grateful for all the years of friendship, the wisdom he shared, and the joy we found in making music side by side. May he rest in peace, and may we continue to honor him by celebrating the music he helped bring into this world.”

Coming from an artist whose own catalog helped define ’70s and ’80s soul, that’s not boilerplate condolence — it’s peer-level recognition of a musician other legends leaned on.

Upchurch’s story is also a reminder of how much Black music history rests on names that never make the marquee. The same hands that drove his own hit “You Can’t Sit Down” were there for sessions and soundtracks that powered an entire era — from blaxploitation classics like “Super Fly” and “Claudine” to jazz-fusion experiments and church-bred soul.

For nearly six decades, if you cared about the intersection of jazz, gospel, R&B and pop, you’ve been hearing Phil Upchurch whether you knew his name or not.

Now the name is on the record, too.

Jay-Z Bets Big on Korea’s Creative Boom in $500M Partnership With Hanwha

Jay-Z, whose firm MarcyPen Capital Partners is launching a $500 million fund with South Korea’s Hanwha Asset Management, continues to expand his global business empire from boardrooms to Seoul.

Jay-Z’s 2025 was quiet on wax but loud in boardrooms. Now, months after his billion-dollar MarcyPen Capital merger, the Brooklyn mogul is taking his hustle global — partnering with South Korea’s Hanwha Asset Management to launch a $500 million investment fund aimed at the booming Asian culture and lifestyle markets.

The deal, signed during Abu Dhabi Finance Week, creates MarcyPen Asia, a new vehicle to back fast-rising brands in entertainment, beauty, fashion and food — essentially, the same creative engines powering the worldwide “K-wave.” MarcyPen, which manages roughly $1 billion, will be the majority investor. Hanwha, one of South Korea’s largest financial groups with about ₩120 trillion (nearly $81 billion) under management, will lead sourcing and fund operations.

“South Korea is a cultural nexus of Asia, influencing global trends in beauty, content, food, entertainment and lifestyle,” said Robbie Robinson, MarcyPen’s managing partner and CEO. Hanwha CEO Kim Jong-ho told the Financial Times that the partnership marks “a rare inflow of private equity” into industries that have traditionally relied on corporate or government backing.

Hanwha Asset Management CEO Jong-Ho (James) Kim, left, and MarcyPen Capital Partners managing partner and CEO Robbie Robinson pose after signing a memorandum of understanding during Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2025 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The agreement underpins a planned $500 million fund to invest in Asian culture and lifestyle companies. 

The move connects two of the world’s most powerful creative economies — hip-hop’s blueprint for ownership and K-culture’s mastery of global influence. The K-pop explosion that gave rise to BTS and Blackpink reshaped how music and style move across borders. Now, Jay-Z’s investment arm is betting that what started as sonic and visual influence can become equity.

MarcyPen, formed in 2024 when Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners merged with Pendulum Opportunities, focuses on businesses that “create, move and lead culture.” The firm’s portfolio has included spirits, wellness and tech startups grounded in the same ethos that powered Roc Nation: cultural authenticity as economic capital.

Jay-Z, MarcyPen and the Business of Culture

From Marcy to MarcyPen
Shawn "JAY-Z" Carter moved from rapper and label head to full-scale investor over the past two decades, building on ventures that ranged from Rocawear and Roc Nation to streaming platform TIDAL and his stake in Armand de Brignac champagne. In 2024, his venture firm Marcy Venture Partners merged with Pendulum Opportunities to form MarcyPen Capital Partners, a U.S.-based private equity firm that now manages around $1 billion in assets and focuses on brands that "create, move and lead culture."

What MarcyPen does
MarcyPen backs early- and growth-stage companies in consumer goods, technology, lifestyle, health and entertainment. The strategy is built on the idea that cultural influence can translate directly into equity and long-term value, especially when the founders come from the communities driving those trends.

Why Korea — and why now
South Korea has become a global culture engine, exporting everything from K-pop and film to skincare, food and streetwear. The planned $500 million MarcyPen Asia fund, launched with Hanwha Asset Management, is designed to help high-potential Korean and Asian brands scale worldwide while giving Black-led capital a direct stake in the next wave of global culture.

The Korean partnership takes that vision further. From K-dramas and Seoul streetwear to skincare routines that went viral through Black and Brown influencers stateside, the cultural traffic between South Korea and the diaspora has been real for years — this deal simply formalizes the money flow behind it.

Hanwha and MarcyPen plan to begin raising capital in the second half of 2026, targeting sovereign funds, private investors and global institutions. If successful, MarcyPen Asia could help Asian-owned creative companies expand worldwide — and put Black-led venture capital squarely at the table shaping that growth.

Still, there’s a cautionary note. Private equity has a history of chasing short-term wins over long-term community investment. But Jay-Z’s track record — from Armand de Brignac champagne to Tidal to Roc Nation Sports — shows he tends to build equity, not just headlines.

If this plays out, it won’t just mark another billionaire move. It could signal a new era of cultural cross-ownership — where the next global hit, brand, or creative platform might be financed by a pipeline that runs from Marcy Projects to Seoul.

Teyana Taylor’s Golden Globe Nod Crowns a Year When the Culture Took Center Stage

Teyana Taylor in “One Battle After Another.” Her fearless performance in Ryan Coogler’s drama, now a Golden Globe contender, embodies the rise of authentic, culture-rooted storytelling that reshaped this year’s awards season. (Photo Courtesy Warner Bros.)

Teyana Taylor walked into awards season as an outsider again — no big-budget campaign, no glossy magazine spread, no studio whispering her name into voters’ ears. But when the 2026 Golden Globe nominations dropped today, the Harlem-born artist’s name landed right where it belonged: on the list.


Her supporting role in “One Battle After Another,” a bruising indie drama that went from festival buzz to nine nominations, marked one of the few times the Globes have recognized a performer who started her career choreographing for Beyoncé and grinding through the same hip-hop hustle that Hollywood pretended didn’t exist.

For longtime fans who first saw her dancing in Jay-Z videos or directing her own visuals under the moniker “Spike Tey,” the news hit different. Taylor, now nominated for Best Supporting Actress for “One Battle After Another” — the year’s most-nominated film — walked into awards season with the same mix of grit and grace that’s carried her through every reinvention.

Where the Culture Showed Up at the 2026 Golden Globes

Key nominees announced Dec. 8, 2025, for the 83rd Golden Globes:

• "One Battle After Another" – Leads all films with 9 nominations, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and a Supporting Actress nod for Teyana Taylor.
• "Sinners" – Scores 7 nominations, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director (Ryan Coogler), Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Best Original Score (Ludwig Göransson) and Best Original Song for "I Lied to You" by Göransson and Raphael Saadiq.
• Tessa Thompson – Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for "Hedda".
• Cynthia Erivo – Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for "Wicked: For Good", which also picked up Best Original Song nods.
• Ayo Edebiri – Returns to the TV comedy race for her work in "The Bear".
• Quinta Brunson – Continues her awards run with another nomination for "Abbott Elementary" in the comedy series field.

For the full list of 2026 Golden Globe nominees, visit GoldenGlobes.com.

She wasn’t alone. With "Sinners," Ryan Coogler’s return to prestige filmmaking, Michael B. Jordan earned a Best Actor nod, solidifying the pair as modern cinema’s Scorsese and De Niro.. Composer Ludwig Göransson and Raphael Saadiq’s “I Lied to You” brought the film its fourth nomination, giving soul music a rare home inside a category once dominated by pop ballads and movie musicals.

From Teyana to Michael, from Cynthia Erivo’s “Wicked: For Good” nomination to Ayo Edebiri and Quinta Brunson representing television’s comedy elite, the 2026 Globes quietly told a story years in the making: the artists shaped by Black music, hip-hop aesthetics and R&B storytelling no longer sit at the margins of Hollywood — they are the pulse.

That change didn’t come from committees or press releases. It came from the culture refusing to wait for permission. When the HFPA scandal forced the Globes to rebuild, the world outside kept moving — through mixtapes, streaming, indie film circuits, and TikTok threads where music, politics, and performance blur daily. The result? Hollywood’s old party suddenly sounds like something new.

There are still gaps. No major hip-hop documentaries or biopics made the cut. Streaming platforms with Black showrunners remain under-nominated. But the list feels alive — reflective of a generation that grew up with Dilla drums under Scorsese cuts and Nina Simone lyrics sampled on Billboard hits.

If the Globes are finally listening, it’s because the culture stopped asking to be heard.

Chance the Rapper, 50 Cent and Mariah Carey Lead Culture-Shifting 'Rockin’ Eve'

Chance the Rapper, co-host of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2026,” will lead the show’s first-ever live Central Time Zone countdown from his hometown of Chicago, joining 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and Coco Jones in a lineup that blends hip-hop, R&B and pop across four time zones. (Courtesy ABC / Dick Clark Productions)

The clock still drops in Times Square, but this year the sound belongs to us. For the first time in its half-century run, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve feels less like a network broadcast and more like a playlist — one where hip-hop, R&B and pop collide in real time instead of being boxed off by genre.

The 2026 lineup is its most ambitious yet: 50 Cent, Chance the Rapper, Ciara, Coco Jones, Busta Rhymes, Wyclef Jean and T.I. share space with Mariah Carey, Charlie Puth, Post Malone, and country star Maren Morris, while newcomers like Chappell Roan, LE SSERAFIM, and BigXthaPlug stretch the sound across generations and continents. Over 80 performances will air across four time zones and eight hours of live television — the show’s longest broadcast in its history.

Chance the Rapper hosting the first-ever Central Time countdown from Chicago hits different. For a city that’s given the world everyone from Common and Kanye to Chief Keef and Noname, seeing Chance lead a national celebration from home feels like a long time coming. Out east, 50 Cent returns as New York royalty — not the provocateur he once was, but a fixture of the same culture that built Times Square’s pulse.

And in a moment that says everything about R&B’s quiet resurgence, Coco Jones takes center stage with the same voice that made “ICU” one of the genre’s defining songs of the decade. Then there’s Mariah Carey — timeless, theatrical and inevitable — the connective tissue between every generation the show’s ever tried to serve.

But the real cultural moment comes when DJ Cassidy’s “Pass the Mic Live!” unites Busta Rhymes, Wyclef Jean, and T.I. for a run that’s part cipher, part celebration — the kind of thing that never used to make it to network TV. For a show built on pop polish, this year’s lineup finally looks like the culture it’s been chasing for decades: messy, electric, and unapologetically Black at its core.

Sure, pop and rock names like Goo Goo Dolls, OneRepublic, and New Kids on the Block will keep the nostalgia crowd covered. But what gives Rockin’ Eve 2026 its spark is the mix — a reflection of how people really listen now: crossfade to crossfade, mood to mood, vibe to vibe.

It’s not that the show suddenly belongs to hip-hop or R&B. It’s that television finally understands it can’t ring in a new year without them. Because when midnight hits, it won’t be the confetti that gets remembered — it’ll be the bassline that carried us into the next one.

For more information on the show and to view the full lineup click here.

Federal Jury Rules in Favor of Megan Thee Stallion in Online Harassment Lawsuit

Megan Thee Stallion was awarded damages Monday after a federal jury found blogger Milagro Cooper liable for defamation and harassment tied to a deepfake video that circulated following her 2020 shooting.

Megan Thee Stallion didn’t cheer, didn’t gloat, didn’t throw a bar. She just looked tired and said, “I’m just happy.”

And that was enough.

A Miami jury ruled Monday that online blogger Milagro Cooper — better known as “Milagro Gramz” — defamed and harassed the Houston rapper by pushing false stories and promoting a sexually explicit deepfake video that spread across social media. The nine-member panel awarded her $75,000, later reduced by the judge to $59,000, but the number wasn’t the headline. The verdict was.

Megan Thee Stallion leaves the Miami federal courthouse after a jury found online streamer Milagro Cooper liable for defaming her, promoting a fake sexually explicit video of her and intentionally inflicting emotional distress by coordinating with Tory Lanez. pic.twitter.com/TYGI6yG10r

— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) December 1, 2025

After years of being mocked, doubted, and digitally dissected, Megan finally got a courtroom acknowledgment of what she’s been saying all along: that the lies hurt, that the internet isn’t a free-for-all, and that even rap’s toughest woman can bleed from words.

The case traces back to the fallout from her 2020 shooting by Tory Lanez, when online conspiracy theorists tried to turn her trauma into clickbait. Cooper’s posts and livestreams fanned that fire, urging thousands to share a fake video built from AI and spite. Jurors heard how the content spread faster than the truth ever could, and how it nearly broke her.

“She’s been through hell,” one of Megan’s lawyers told reporters after the ruling. “This was about setting a boundary for basic decency.”

Somewhere in the middle of all this noise, Megan has found calm again — smiling in photos on her boyfriend Klay Thompson’s boat, the one he just renamed the “SS Stallion.” Maybe it’s coincidence, maybe it’s a love note, but after everything she’s endured, it’s hard not to see symbolism in a vessel built to stay steady through rough waters.

Because on this day, that’s exactly what she did.

Jay-Z’s Roc Nation School Earns Repeat Billboard Spot, Stirs Debate Over Fine Print

Inside the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment’s new Dolby Atmos studio at Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus. The state-of-the-art space, designed by Young Guru and modeled after the legendary Baseline Studios, is the first of its kind in Brooklyn and among the largest in New York State. (Photo credit: Long Island University / Roc Nation)

Long before he owned a label, a liquor brand, or an NFL halftime show, a sixth-grader from the Marcy
Projects stunned his teacher by reading at a 12th-grade level. That same prodigy, JAY-Z, would go on to co-found Roc Nation — and partner with Long Island University to create a college that now bears its name. The Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at LIU-Brooklyn has again landed on Billboard’s Top Music Business Schools list, even as questions linger over what “debt-free” really means.

Founded in 2021 through a partnership between Roc Nation and Long Island University, the school was built to merge hip-hop’s creative DNA with the formal structure of higher education — turning hustle into curriculum. At the launch announcement, Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez said, “The Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment will provide unique insight, knowledge and experiences for students and will empower the next generation of leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs.”

LIU President Kimberly Cline called the partnership “an opportunity to open doors for countless young people who might never have imagined a pathway into these industries.”

From the start, the vision was ambitious. Roc Nation stated that its Hope Scholarship program would “help students graduate without debt, ensuring that financial barriers don’t stop creative potential.” And JAY-Z’s guiding principle, quoted in the company’s early materials, set the tone: “Education and opportunity should go hand in hand. Our hope is to teach the business, not just the art.”

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That vision carried the school into Billboard’s national spotlight for a second consecutive year. The magazine cited its “Music Entrepreneurship” course — which trains students to pitch business ventures to executives from Universal Music Group and Live Nation — and its financial-literacy partnership with JPMorgan Chase’s Money Smart program. Together, they reflect an attempt to fuse cultural capital with real-world economics — something hip-hop has long practiced, but academia is only starting to teach.

The honor comes as the school faces scrutiny over its “Hope Scholarship” program, which promised to help a quarter of students graduate “without debt.” Some recipients told Black Enterprise and HipHopDX they were surprised to learn that while tuition was covered, housing and fees were not — leaving them with debts of up to $40,000. University officials maintain that the scholarships were always meant to cover tuition only.

Still, the Roc Nation School’s footprint is growing. Its first graduating class crossed the stage in May 2025, with alumni joining Roc Nation, Bob Elliott’s Music Makers Studio, and other music firms. The Brooklyn campus has also become a hub for industry events, including this fall’s MetaMoon Summit on Asian representation in entertainment, drawing executives from Live Nation, Roc Nation, the NBA, and Foot Locker.

 

This year’s recognition also lands amid a broader debate about education in hip-hop. When Juelz Santana went viral this fall for downplaying reading skills in favor of financial literacy, artists and fans pushed back — while Lupe Fiasco continued teaching hip-hop at MIT, proving the classroom and the culture can coexist. Against that backdrop, the Roc Nation School represents hip-hop’s evolution: the same ambition that once fueled mixtape grinds now fuels accredited degrees.

As Roc Nation summarized in its own 2021 mission statement, “From the studio to the stage to the front office — this school exists to make sure our culture owns every part of what it creates.”

For a generation raised on the idea of ownership, Billboard’s honor feels symbolic — a stamp of legitimacy from an industry that once kept hip-hop out of its classrooms. But as the “debt-free” debate shows, the culture’s next test isn’t whether it can build institutions. It’s whether those institutions can live up to hip-hop’s original promise: freedom, fairness, and financial truth.

50 Cent Takes His Feud Global With Netflix Doc 'Sean Combs: The Reckoning'

Promotional poster for Netflix’s “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” a four-part documentary series executive-produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. The series, directed by Alex Stapleton, explores decades of sexual-assault and trafficking allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs and premieres December 2, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

When 50 Cent trolls, it’s entertainment. When he warns, it’s prophecy. And this time, Curtis Jackson wasn’t joking.

The Queens mogul’s long war of words with Sean “Diddy” Combs has exploded into something bigger — a global event. Netflix just dropped the trailer for “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” the four-part documentary executive-produced by 50 Cent and directed by Emmy nominee Alex Stapleton, set to premiere December 2, 2025. It’s the project nobody in hip-hop wanted to touch — until now.

“They said I was capping 🤷 What happened?” 50 wrote on Instagram after posting the teaser. The clip opens with a voice, low and final: “You can’t continue to keep hurting people, and nothing ever happens.” Then the screen cuts to black, stamped with 50’s calling card — “GLG 🚦 GreenLightGang 🎥 G-Unit Film & TV.”

The message landed like a gavel. For years, 50 and Diddy have traded public jabs — one man the corporate kingpin of the “All About the Benjamins” era, the other a bulletproof hustler who built an empire off instincts and smoke. But what started as an ego clash has now turned into one of hip-hop’s most consequential reckonings.

The series pulls back decades of headlines, lawsuits, and whispers around Diddy’s rise — from “No Way Out” and Bad Boy’s platinum run to Cîroc, Revolt TV, and the empire that once made him untouchable. Netflix’s synopsis calls it a “complex human story spanning decades,” but the timing says more than the tagline ever could. The streaming giant announced “The Reckoning” just a week after Combs’ 2024 arrest on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transporting individuals for prostitution.

50 Cent had been teasing this moment since December 2023, when he first revealed plans to produce a documentary on the mounting allegations, pledging to donate proceeds to sexual-assault victims. At the time, many thought it was just another viral 50 stunt. By the fall of 2024 — after raids, indictments, and settlements — nobody was laughing.

In a joint statement, 50 and Stapleton said their mission was to “give a voice to the voiceless and present authentic and nuanced perspectives,” while reminding viewers that Combs’ story “is not the full story of hip-hop and its culture.” It’s a take that shows how carefully this project is walking the line — a film that both calls out individual power and protects the broader culture it came from.

The rivalry itself is pure hip-hop mythology — born in the early 2000s, when 50 accused Diddy of exploiting artists and disrespecting the streets that made him. For years, their feud simmered through cryptic interviews and social media. When the lawsuits hit, 50 shifted from jokes to journalism, posting court filings and clips like he was running his own newsroom. His followers called it obsession; now it looks like documentation.

Alex Stapleton’s direction adds weight to the production. Known for “Reggie” and “Black Hollywood: They’ve Gotta Have Us,” she approaches the story like an autopsy of fame and silence — combining survivor testimonies with archival footage and insider accounts from inside Diddy’s once-impenetrable circle. Netflix insiders describe “The Reckoning” as “methodical, not messy” — a rare attempt to dissect power without glorifying it.

When the trailer hit social media, hip-hop stopped scrolling. Within hours, 50’s post hit six figures in likes. Comments split between applause and disbelief — some called it overdue justice, others called it opportunism. But either way, the same name dominated the feed: Diddy.

Fifty Cent’s greatest gift has always been timing — and this time, his timing might have changed the course of hip-hop’s accountability era. The streets remember the shine, the suits, the whispers, and the silence. Now, with “The Reckoning” set to stream worldwide, it’s all coming back under lights no bottle service can dim.

Watch the full teaser below:

B2K to Reunite After Two Decades for National Tour With Bow Wow

Official poster for the “Boys 4 Life” Tour, the 28-city 2026 run produced by the Black Promoters Collective and headlined by B2K and Bow Wow. The tour begins Feb. 12, 2026, and features Amerie, Jeremih, Waka Flocka Flame, Yung Joc, Crime Mob, Dem Franchize Boyz and Pretty Ricky. (Image courtesy of Black Promoters Collective)

B2K will reunite for its first nationwide tour in more than two decades, a return that brings the group behind “Bump, Bump, Bump” — one of early-2000s R&B’s definitive hits — back into the spotlight after years marked by commercial triumph, internal conflict and public distance. The announcement arrives as part of the upcoming “Boys 4 Life” Tour with Bow Wow, reconnecting two acts whose ascents helped shape a formative chapter in millennial pop culture.

For fans who remember the group debuting with two albums in the same year, topping the Billboard 200 in early 2003 and igniting the hysteria of the Scream Tour era, the news reads not just as a reunion but as a re-entry into unfinished history. B2K’s run was brief — a two-year burst from 2002 to 2004 — but its impact reverberated far beyond its lifespan. Their polished harmonies, precision choreography and youth-centered R&B helped define the sonic and visual identity of the period. Their leading roles in “You Got Served” brought that blueprint to a wider audience, cementing the group as both chart staples and cultural touchstones.

The group’s dissolution was as public as its rise. In January 2004, their label, T.U.G. Entertainment, announced that Omarion would continue as a solo artist while B2K disbanded — a decision later complicated by disputes over management, finances and personal fallouts among members. Over the years, the fractured dynamics played out in interviews, social media exchanges and reality television, reinforcing the perception that a full reunion was unlikely.

That perception shifted in June 2025, when Omarion, J-Boog, Lil Fizz and Raz-B made an unexpected joint appearance at the BET Awards. Though the moment lasted only seconds, it was the first time all four had stood together publicly in years, immediately triggering speculation about whether their long-running divisions had finally begun to ease. The brief reunion circulated widely and reopened conversations about their legacy. Omarion later referenced the chemistry the group once had in a short Instagram clip, saying, “There was a certain level of authenticity that we all had. So in a way, we’re completing it.”

Bow Wow’s participation connects the tour to another central figure of the same era. Signed by Snoop Dogg as a child and mentored by Jermaine Dupri, Bow Wow’s debut album Beware of Dog went platinum before he reached high school. Over the next decade, he delivered seven No. 1 singles, sold more than 10 million albums and built a parallel acting career that included “Like Mike” (2002), “Roll Bounce” (2005) and “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” (2006). His tenure as host of BET’s 106 & Park solidified his role within youth-driven hip-hop culture.

The tour will open Feb. 12, 2026, in Columbia, S.C., with stops in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Washington, D.C., before closing April 19 in Hampton, Va. The lineup features Amerie, Jeremih, Waka Flocka Flame, Yung Joc, Crime Mob, Dem Franchize Boyz and special guests Pretty Ricky.

Both B2K and Bow Wow are expected to release new albums in February through BPC Music Group. The releases coincide with the tour calendar and mark a formal return to recording for both acts.

Cardi B Announces Birth of Her Baby and a New Chapter Focused on Reinvention

Photo Credit: Warner Music

Cardi B didn’t just introduce her new baby to the world Tuesday afternoon — she declared a shift in her entire life.

In a deeply personal Instagram post, the Bronx superstar confirmed the arrival of her fourth child and her first with New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs, framing motherhood and reinvention as the driving force behind her next era.

“My life has always been a combination of different chapters and different seasons,” she wrote. “I brought new music and a new album to the world. A new baby into my world — and one more reason to be the best version of me.”

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The announcement closed weeks of speculation surrounding the due date, following both Diggs’ confirmation that the baby was a boy (she did not reveal the name) and Cardi’s own "CBS Mornings" interview in September revealing she was pregnant again. It also follows her recent rollout for her “Little Miss Drama” tour, which she said she was preparing for “while creating a baby.”

In Tuesday’s post, Cardi framed the moment not as a soft reset but a full transformation. “This next chapter is Me vs. Me,” she wrote, describing a season of healing, discipline, and purpose. “It’s me against all odds… getting my body right, getting my mind right. There’s nothing that’s gonna stop me from giving you guys the performance of a lifetime.”

Sources close to the couple — and Diggs’ own comments to People — have consistently described this pregnancy as grounding for both artists. Diggs told the outlet he was “100% team boy” prior to the birth and said he was ready for fatherhood “real soon.”

Cardi’s post arrives at a pivotal moment for her career. She released her long-awaited sophomore album this fall, marking her first full project since “Invasion of Privacy,” and opened the door for a new sonic era steeped in vulnerability, sharpened confidence, and hard-earned growth.

Cardi closed her message with a simple declaration that reads as much like a thesis for her next era as it does a promise to herself: “I’ve learned, I’ve healed, and I’m loving the woman I’ve become.”