Serena Williams Announces Second Pregnancy at Met Gala

Photo Credit: Serena Williams/Instagram 

Serena Williams announced on Instagram Monday night that she is pregnant with her second child, just ahead of her appearance at the 2023 Met Gala, an annual event that benefits the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.

The tennis legend, 41, attended the star-studded event with her husband Alexis Ohanian and shared a photo of the couple, captioning it, "Was so excited when Anna Wintour invited the 3 of us to the Met Gala."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams)

Williams and Ohanian, 40, already have a five-year-old daughter, Olympia, who Williams famously carried during her win at the 2017 Australian Open. Ohanian expressed his excitement on Twitter, saying, "Mama & Papa love this parenting-thing, so we're back at it 😁 and @olympiaohanian is gonna be the best Big Sister—she's been asking & praying for this for a minute. #MetGala."

Mama & Papa love this parenting-thing, so we're back at it 😁 and @olympiaohanian is gonna be the best Big Sister—she's been asking & praying for this for a minute. #MetGala pic.twitter.com/Ycv9FBtV61

— Alexis Ohanian 🧠 (@alexisohanian) May 2, 2023

In a first-person essay for Vogue in August, Williams revealed that she would be "evolving away" from tennis to expand her family, saying, "In the last year, Alexis and I have been trying to have another child, and we recently got some information from my doctor that put my mind at ease and made me feel that whenever we're ready, we can add to our family."

Williams has been open about the challenges she faced during her first pregnancy, which included a difficult childbirth and a long recovery. Despite these difficulties, she returned to professional tennis just six months after giving birth and has since reached four major finals, winning a title at Auckland in 2020.

Wintour, who co-chairs the Met Gala, is a friend of Williams's and the tennis star is a frequent attendee of the event.

Kendrick Lamar's Tour Smashes Records, Earns Over $110 Million

Kendrick Lamar's "Big Steppers Tour" has broken the record for the highest-grossing headline tour by a rap artist, according to Touring Data. The Live Nation-promoted tour, which covered 73 dates, generated $110,886,026 from 929,056 ticket sales.

.@kendricklamar's "The Big Steppers" is the highest-grossing tour by a rapper as headlining act in history with $110.9 million from 929,000 tickets sold in 73 shows.

— Touring Data (@touringdata) April 26, 2023

Lamar's tour grossed $69,255,230 from 492,283 tickets sold for 40 North American shows, $31,593,834 from 26 European shows with 349,401 attendees, and $10,036,962 from seven Oceania gigs that drew in 87,372 fans.

The figures show Lamar surpassing previous record-holders Drake and Future's "Summer Sixteen Tour" from 2016, which grossed $84.3 million from 54 shows, and Drake and Migos' "Aubrey & The Three Migos" run from 2018, which grossed $79 million from 43 shows, according to Pollstar. It also topped Kanye West and Jay-Z's "Watch The Throne Tour" from 2011/12, which earned $75.4 million from 57 concerts, and Lamar's own "The Damn Tour" from 2017/18, which earned $62.7 million.

Top Tours by Rappers:

#1 #KendrickLamar, "The Big Steppers"
#2 #Drake, "Aubrey & the Three Migos"
#3 #Drake & #Future, "Summer Sixteen"
#4 #KanyeWest & #JayZ, "Watch the Throne"
#5 #KendrickLamar, "Damn"
#6 #TravisScott, "Astroworld"

— Touring Data (@touringdata) April 26, 2023

The tour, presented by Rotation, Amazon Music's hip-hop and R&B brand, and produced by Live Nation, concluded on December 16, 2022, at Auckland's Spark Arena in New Zealand.

Lamar's "Big Steppers Tour" supported his fifth album, "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers," and took him to arenas worldwide after he headlined Glastonbury Festival 2022 with Billie Eilish and Paul McCartney.

This summer, Lamar is scheduled to headline a series of festival dates across Europe, North America, and Asia, including Denmark's Roskilde, Lollapalooza Paris, and Poland's Open'er. In the US, he is set to headline Outside Lands in San Francisco and Life Is Beautiful in Las Vegas, while also performing at Bonnaroo in Tennessee and New York City's Governors Ball.

Watch: Rock the Bells Festival Announces 2023 Lineup With Epic Trailer

The Rock the Bells Festival announced its lineup for 2023 on Thursday, and it features some of the most iconic and trailblazing performers in the hip-hop industry.

Queen Latifah, Ludacris, De La Soul, Method Man & Redman, Swizz Beatz, Salt-n-Pepa, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Fabolous are just a smattering of the rap icons that will be on hand to perform at the event, which also promises to offer an immersive experience for hip-hop enthusiasts, highlighting the genre's impact on fashion, art and food.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ROCK THE BELLS (@rockthebells)

"We've made it a priority to honor hip-hop culture! This is a celebration for artists who paved the way and the legions of fans around the world throughout hip-hop's 50th-anniversary year," James Cuthbert, President of Rock The Bells, said. "The stage is set for the overdue acknowledgment and celebration of our culture and the fans who live and breathe it! This lineup represents icons and artists from various decades, cities, and styles, ensuring fans have the best hip-hop experience possible."

Along with the musical performances, the festival will also include a range of experiences, such as a tribute to the late Sean Price by Rock & Bernadette Price and a showcase of hip-hop pioneers' debut albums and hit singles, including the 35th anniversary of The Great Adventures of Slick Rick.

The festival takes place on August 11 at Forest Hills Stadium in New York City, marking the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop. Fans can purchase presale VIP packages and general and reserved tickets for the festival through the festival's website.

To announce the lineup, Rock the Bells released a promotional trailer on Thursday featuring LL COOL J, Mike Epps, Salt-N-Pepa, Slick Rick, and Yo-Yo. The trailer is based on the seminal hip-hop-heist movie Set It Off and provides a sneak peek of what fans can expect from the festival.

Watch the full trailer below:

Former Fugees member Pras Michel Convicted in International Scandal

MiamiFilmFestival, via Wikimedia Commons

Grammy-winning rapper Pras Michel, a former member of the hip-hop supergroup Fugees, has been
convicted of 10 criminal counts related to an international conspiracy that reached the highest levels of the US government.

A jury convicted Grammy Award-winning rapper Pras Michel of The Fugees on criminal charges that he conspired with a Malaysian financier to orchestrate a series of foreign lobbying campaigns aimed at influencing the U.S. government under two presidents.
https://t.co/40svRQ9WKT

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 26, 2023

Michel was found guilty of charges that included conspiracy to defraud the US, witness tampering, and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

Prosecutors accused Michel of participating in a conspiracy to help Malaysian businessman Jho Low and the Chinese government gain access to US officials, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. They alleged that Michel funneled over $800,000 of Low's money to Obama's campaign through straw donors in 2012 in exchange for a photo of himself with Obama.

Here is the Vlad interview that allegedly got Pras Under Investigation pic.twitter.com/XMLowLzR4i

— O.T.G (@365OTG) April 24, 2023

While Michel testified that he never used the money at Low's direction, in 2017, prosecutors claimed that Low again turned to Michel when investigations into Low's alleged role in embezzling billions of dollars from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund began to ramp up. They alleged that Low directed over $100 million to Michel to help push the US government, including Trump, to drop its investigation into Low.

Prosecutors also accused Michel of advocating for the extradition of a Chinese dissident, Guo Wengui, on behalf of the Chinese government. Michel denied the allegations, claiming that he only tried to help Low find an attorney in the US and told authorities about Guo because he thought he was a criminal. He also claimed that the $100 million was for a media business he was starting and wasn't from Low.

Michel could face up to 20 years in prison, although no sentencing date has been set. During the trial, he sat stoically as each count came down on Wednesday and declined to comment to reporters outside the courthouse. His attorney, David Kenner, expressed disappointment about the verdicts but remained confident that their mistrial motions would work out in their favor.

"If we do move to a sentencing hearing, I remain very confident we will certainly appeal this case," Kenner said. "This is not over."

LL Cool J Announces First Arena Tour in 30 Years With All-Star Lineup

Call it a comeback: LL Cool J is headlining his first arena tour in 30 years, and he's bringing some of hip-hop's biggest and brightest stars with him.

The tour backed by Live Nation and dubbed The F.O.R.C.E Live (Frequencies of Real Creative Energy) will boast a rotating cast of some of hip-hop's most historic figures and groups.

Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Rakim, Common, Method Man & Redman, Big Boi, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Ice T, Juvenile, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, De La Soul, Goodie Mob, Jadakiss and Rick Ross, are just some of the acts expected to take the stage where they will be backed by iconic hip-hop group The Roots and legendary DJs Z-Trip and Jazzy Jeff.

The tour kicks off on June 25 at TD Garden in Boston, MA and will roll through arenas across the continent before closing out on September 3 in Los Angeles, CA at Kia Forum.

This is not a moment, it’s a movement. For my first Arena tour in 30 years, I am bringing you THE F.O.R.C.E. (Frequencies of Real Creative Energy.) @theroots, @ztrip & @djjazzyjeff215 will join me in the ultimate Hip-Hop mash-up with a legendary non-stop continuous set! We hit… pic.twitter.com/j6OalpogG3

— LLCOOLJ (@llcoolj) April 25, 2023

Fans can purchase tickets through the Live Nation presale, Ticketmaster presale, or local venue and radio presales on Thursday. General sales begin Friday. Click here for more information or to purchase tickets.

The F.O.R.C.E Live tour dates are as follows:
6/25 - Boston, MA - TD Garden
6/27 - Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Center
6/28 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
6/29 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena
7/1 - Baltimore, MD - CFG Bank Arena
7/2 - Washington, DC - Capital One Arena
7/4 - Atlanta, GA - State Farm Arena
7/6 - Hollywood, FL - Hard Rock Live
7/8 - Raleigh, NC - PNC Arena
7/9 - Charlotte, NC - Spectrum Center
8/12 - Cleveland, OH - Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
8/13 - Chicago, IL - United Center
8/18 - Detroit, MI - Little Caesars Arena
8/19 - St. Louis, MO - Enterprise Center
8/20 - Indianapolis, IN - Gainbridge Fieldhouse
8/22 - Memphis, TN - FedEx Forum
8/23 - New Orleans, LA - Smoothie King Center
8/24 - Ft. Worth, TX - Dickies Arena
8/25 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center
8/27 - Albuquerque, NM - Sandia Casino Amphitheater
8/29 - Denver, CO - Ball Arena
9/1 - San Francisco, CA - Chase Center
9/2 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena
9/3 - Los Angeles, CA - Kia Forum

Activist and Music Legend Harry Belafonte Passes Away at Age 96

Manfred Werner-Tsui, via Wikimedia Commons

Harry Belafonte, the iconic performer and civil rights activist, died on Tuesday at his New York home at the age of 96 due to congestive heart failure, according to his publicist Ken Sunshine. Belafonte's wife, Pamela, was reportedly with him at the time of his passing.

Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to achieve mainstream success in the entertainment industry, with chart-toppers such as "Banana Boat Song (Day-O)" that sold millions of records. However, his impact went beyond music. In the 1960s, he emerged as a leading activist and humanitarian, forging a unique bond between Hollywood, Washington and the civil rights movement.

Harry Belafonte passed away. I remember 'Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)' being stuck in my head for the longest time when I was a kid. RIP Legend! pic.twitter.com/p8EQDc34AG

— Sha Hartley (@shahartley) April 25, 2023

Belafonte's commitment to social justice saw him go beyond participating in protests and benefit concerts. He organized and raised funds for them, working closely with his friend and peer, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. His activism continued throughout his life, and he appeared in Spike Lee's 2018 film "BlacKkKlansman," portraying an elder statesman schooling young activists about the country's past.

When I was a child, #HarryBelafonte showed up for my family in very compassionate ways.

In fact, he paid for the babysitter for me and my siblings.

Here he is mourning with my mother at the funeral service for my father at Morehouse College.

I won’t forget…Rest well, sir. pic.twitter.com/31OC1Ajc0V

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) April 25, 2023

Belafonte was also a trailblazer in the entertainment industry, winning a Tony Award in 1954 and becoming the first Black performer to receive an Emmy five years later. He co-starred in the all-Black cast of "Carmen Jones" and starred in the banned-in-the-South film "Island in the Sun." Belafonte's album "Calypso" became the first million-selling album by a solo performer, sparking a national fascination with Caribbean rhythms. Though nicknamed "the King of Calypso," he shunned the title.

Archival Video: Harry Belafonte sits with Senator John F. Kennedy and endorses him for President in 1960.pic.twitter.com/Y3C92FnTq0

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) April 25, 2023

Belafonte was a force in politics as well. John F. Kennedy sought his support during the 1960 presidential campaign, and Belafonte later became an advocate for Kennedy's civil rights agenda. He challenged segregationists, liberals, and even President Barack Obama, who he famously recollected had asked him and fellow activist Cornel West to "cut him some slack" during the first Black president's first term. Belafonte replied, “What makes you think we haven’t?”

Beyond the entertainment industry and politics, Belafonte set high standards for younger Black celebrities, mentoring Usher, Common, Danny Glover, and many others. He also scolded Jay Z and Beyonce for failing to meet their "social responsibilities."

Otis Redding III, Musician and Son of Iconic Singer, Passes Away at 59

Photo Courtesy The Otis Redding Foundation  

Otis Redding III, the musician who shared a name with his iconic 1960s soul singer father, died of cancer on Tuesday. He was 59.

The youngest child of soul legend Otis Redding, Redding III's death was announced in a statement shared Wednesday by his sister, Karla Redding-Andrews, via The Otis Redding Foundation's Facebook page.

"It is with heavy hearts that the family of Otis Redding III confirms that he lost his battle with cancer last evening at Atrium Health Navicent in Macon, GA," Redding-Andrews wrote. "Otis was 59 years old. Please keep our family in your prayers at this time, and please respect our privacy as we consume this huge loss. Arrangements will be announced at a later date."

Otis Redding III covering his father’s hit “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay”… RIP pic.twitter.com/D9EOZ1FrXg

— Marvin L James II (@sportsguymarv) April 22, 2023

Redding III's father, nicknamed "The King of Soul," died at the age of 26 in a plane crash on December 10, 1967, when Redding III was just three years old. He and his three siblings, including brother and future bandmate Dexter, were raised by their mother Zelma on the 300-acre Big O Ranch where their dad was buried.

In the 1980s, Redding III formed the funk band The Reddings with Dexter and their cousin Mark Lockett. The trio released six albums together, with their biggest hit being "Remote Control."

The Reddings had a strong debut as the beginning 1980 ringed in. A lotta so called historians and DJ's criminally overlook this song. It was in heavy rotation. Rest In Harmony Otis Redding III https://t.co/xTPSGExWDk

— A-Ski (@MrUnique74) April 19, 2023

Though The Reddings released their final album in 1988, Redding III continued to play music, performing his father's music at weddings and private parties. He also made a high-profile appearance at Carnegie Hall in 2018 for an Otis Redding tribute concert.

Redding III gave back to his community in Georgia, working with The Otis Redding Foundation to offer musical education to young people and serving as the board president for his local chapter of Meals on Wheels.

"Who can live up to Otis Redding? I mean, I had his name, I got a little bit of talent, but you know, nobody can really live up to the King of Soul," Redding III told The Telegraph in 2017. "We do his songs, my brother Dexter does a great job. We do our thing. But we know that we respect the game — he's the King of Soul."

Redding III noted in the same interview that he believed his father's legacy was "timeless," and hoped that younger artists would be inspired by all that he accomplished in his short life.

Berklee College of Music to Honor R&B Star Usher and Music Icon Roberta Flack with Honorary Doctorates

Photo Credit: Bellamy Brewster

Usher, the global music superstar who has sold more than 80 million records worldwide and won eight Grammy Awards, will be honored with an honorary Doctor of Music degree at Berklee College of Music's 2023 commencement ceremony.

Joining Usher in receiving honorary degrees will be R&B icon Roberta Flack and Gambian composer Sona Jobarteh. Flack is a legendary singer-songwriter known for hits like "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," while Jobarteh is a highly regarded kora player and vocalist who has been credited with revitalizing the centuries-old tradition of griot music in Gambia.

According to a release announcing the news, the three honorees will be celebrated and recognized for their invaluable contributions to the worlds of music and philanthropy.

They will be joining an elite club of past recipients of honorary degrees from the college, which includes legendary musicians such as Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, Celine Dion, B.B. King, Joni Mitchell, Chaka Khan, Missy Elliott, Ringo Starr, Gloria Estefan and John Legend.

The commencement festivities will feature over 200 graduating students from Berklee's vocal, instrumental, dance, arranging, and production programs, who will pay tribute to each of the honorees with a concert that showcases musical tributes to the work of each artist.