Category: News

John Legend To Develop Music Competition Series for Netflix

John Legend and former NBC exec Jeff Gaspin have teamed up to bring Netflix’s first music competition series, “Rhythm&Flow.” Read more on TheOriginalChatman.Com!

Although John Legend is currently on tour promoting his latest album Darkness and Light, he will use his creative prowess to develop a music-based program for Netflix. According to Variety, the show—titled Rhythm & Flow—will be the first of its kind for the giant streaming service. Rhythm & Flow‘s format of an unscripted talent competition pits rappers against each other while also shifting focus on soul and R&B music.

John Legend is slated to team up with former NBC network executive Jeff Gaspin. Both Legend’s Get Lifted Film company and Gaspin’s Primary Wave Entertainment will produce the competition series. Both men previously collaborated on the WGN America cancelled slavery drama, Underground.

Legend’s team-up with Gaspin is a smart move. Gaspin is responsible for having developed  VH1’s “Behind the Music”, NBC’s “The Apprentice”, “The Biggest Loser”, and “The Voice” in addition to and Bravo’s “Project Runway.”

No official word yet if John Legend will play another role on the show besides producer.

Let me know in the comments if you’re looking forward to Rhythm or Flow!

Kelly Rowland and Syd to Collab for Rowland’s Next Album

Kelly Rowland and Syd to Collab for Rowland’s Next Album. Read more info on TheOriginalChatman. As always like, share, comment, and provide feedback!

The beautiful and extremely talented Kelly Rowland hasn’t dropped a new album since 2013’s, Talk A Good Game. However, she still has her foot deep within her music.

Recently on a Beats 1 radio show, Rowland discussed her upcoming music, and even mentioned a collaboration with someone in the industry whose been gaining a lot of traction lately. The collaborator will be none other than Syd, the lead singer of The Internet (the Odd Future affiliated soul-R&B band). Apparently Kelly is a huge fan of Syd’s voice and her music.

According to Rowland, she thinks everything about her voice “is just so effortless”  which allows her to be sucked in while Syd sings. She used the hit Internet song “Girl” as a reference to express her fandom for the leading lady.

Besides her love of all things Syd, Kelly discussed the delay in new music while also dabbling on finding a neutral ground between youth and older age. “I’m in this really glorious time where I’m receiving a lot of information and I feel like I have to give that back out too.”

I’m sure once Kelly and Syd release their collab together, our ears will be blessed with amazing music. Also, minor spoiler alert! On last night’s episode of HBO’s Insecure, Syd made a cameo on the show! I was lowkey excited, yall!

Want to listen to the full Beats 1 Radio Show? Click here!

Source: Blavity 

The ‘Fast and Furious’ Franchise Reinvents Itself As A Live Tour

The ‘Fast and Furious’ Franchise Reinvents Itself As A Live Tour. Read more info on TheOriginalChatman.Com!

Vin Diesel
Image via Universal Studios

No doubt, the Fast and Furious franchise will be one of the greatest and most remembered franchises of all time. This past Wednesday, one of the biggest stars from the franchise made an announcement via Facebook that sparked new life into F&F.

According to a video posted to his official Facebook page, Vin Diesel will be part of a live Fast and Furious world tour. Could you imagine jumping from car to car while in motion? Or driving exotic cars through buildings!?

You probably won’t get the chance to jump in a car and experience the stunts firsthand; however, once the tour comes to an arena near you, you’ll be able to witness the potential hype surrounding the tour. Watch Diesel make the announcement in the video below.

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“I am in New York, believe it or not, and we are filming something that is going to be pretty state of the art,” said Diesel, “something no one’s ever seen before, which is a live show. I think it’s first going to be showed at the O2 Arena in London, but it’s going to go all over the world and we’re really excited about it.”

Variety says that the live world tour will be produced by Universal Studios. The tour reportedly is slated to recreate some of the biggest stunts in the history of the series.

The live tour details are still under wraps. Be sure to check it out January 2018 in an arena near you.

Source(s): Complex, Variety

Big Boi Blesses A 5-Year-Old Paralyzed Child With A Gift

Big Boi Blesses A 5-Year-Old Paralyzed Child With A Gift

Antwan “Big Boi” Patton, one-half of legendary rap duo Outkast, has done a good deed that is enough to warm anyone’s heart.

Back in April, five-year-old Abriya Ellison was shot by an unknown shooter while playing in her bouncy castle. Although Ellison survived the tragic incident, it left her paralyzed from the waist down. Once hearing of the Georgia native’s story, Big Boi began to reach out to Ellison and her family.

Big Boi
Image via Channel 2 News/WSBTV Atlanta

Abriya was gifted with a bulldog puppy that will be trained to be her service dog, courtesy of Big Boi’s Pitfall Kennels.

WSB Atlanta asked what she’d name her new puppy enthusiastically shouting, “King!”

The Atlanta news outlet also mentions Big Boi and his brother James will cover the animal’s vet care. Meanwhile, Patton will pay Ellison’s GoFundMe needs while also giving her a handicapped-accessible bathroom.

Despite what happened to her, the rapper took note of Abriya’s positive spirit and energy in an on-camera interview with WSB Atlanta.“She’s been through a lot and to see how strong she is now, that was just like ‘Oh my goodness.’ She’s definitely inspiring and it just touched our heart, so we’re just trying to do what we can do to help.”

Check out video of the interview here.

Source: WSB Atlanta, HipHopDX, AJC.com

Will Packer and Aaron McGruder To Develop Alt-History Series for Amazon: ‘Black America’

Will Packer and Aaron McGruder To Develop Alt-History Series for Amazon: ‘Black America’

 

I’ve never watched HBO’s Game of Thrones, but after last week’s news on the Internet about GoT creators developing an alt-historical based show called Confederate in which the southern states seceded and slavery is legal, it may be difficult for me to get into Thrones now.

In what seems like a direct response to Confederate, Will Packer (Think Like A Man franchises, Ride Along, Girls Trip) and Aaron McGruder (best known for his comic strip turned Adult Swim series The Boondocks) are developing Black America for Amazon Studios.

Aaron McGruder; Will Packer
Side by side photos of Will Packer and The Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder. Image via Rex/Shutterstock.

In the same arena as Confederate, Black America also serves as an alt-history series where newly freed African-Americans create a sovereign nation called New Colonia from the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as reparations from slavery. 

Previously under wraps, the Black America team decided to reveal the project’s premise. According to Deadline, HBO’s announcement of Confederate was the right time for Packer and McGruder to move forward with their brainchild of a project. “It felt this was the appropriate time to make sure that audiences and the creative community knew that there was a project that preexisted and we are pretty far down the road with it,” Packer told Deadline. Packer even says there are few black Americans today who haven’t considered the concept of reparation.

Furthermore, we can thank activist April Reign (the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag creator) for spearheading the #NoConfederate trending Twitter hashtag.

What are everyone’s thoughts on Confederate and Black America, respectively?

Source(s): Deadline, Variety

HBO’s ‘Insecure’ Has Been Renewed for a Season 3!

Despite it’s current second season run, fans will be happy HBO’s Insecure has been renewed for season 3! The hit comedy will also compete with fellow comedy series Ballers, which has also been renewed for a fourth season.

Straight from the Twitter of Issa Rae— we’ll be getting a season three of her hit HBO comedy series Insecure!

Although currently in its second season run, this is great news for those of us who are still undecided as to whether we’re #TeamIssa or #TeamLawrence.

Insecure follows the narrative of Issa and Molly, her best friend, as they navigate their relationships at work and in the love department. The premise of season 2 we witness the rocky relationship (or what is left of it) after her breakup with boyfriend Lawrence who has already moved on yet still has lingering feelings for his ex.

HBO has also renewed Ballers for a fourth season, the Dwayne Johnson-helmed project which is currently in its third season.

 

 

Cozy Tapes Vol. 2 Is On The Way!

A$AP Mob’s follow up to Cozy Tapes Vol. 1 is on the way!

ASAP Mob is shaping up to drop the second installment of Cozy Tapes with Cozy Tapes Vol. 2! ASAP Rocky confirmed it Saturday afternoon with this tweet. The project has only spawned two tracks thus far: “Wrong” with Rocky and Ferg, and “RAF” featuring Rocky, Playboi Carti, Frank Ocean, Lil Uzi Vert, and Quavo.

In addition to Cozy Tapes Vol. 2 on the way, ASAP Twelvyy’s debut studio album 12 will be out next Friday, August 4th (8+4 =12). That’s lowkey genius!

2017 belongs to the Mob!

Source(s): Complex

Kendrick Lamar and Nas Discuss the Swizz Beatz-Timbaland Beat Battle

Kendrick Lamar and Nas Discuss the Swizz Beatz-Timbaland Beat Battle. Between the two producer giants, who do y’all think is #WithTheSmoke?

At its forefront, not only is hip-hop a young man’s game, it’s also a competitive sport in which rap adversaries go head to head with bars—the end result guiding us (the fans) to determine which is the best emcee.

Although emcees fighting for “the throne” in rap is nothing new, a beat battle between producers is something worth the surrounding hype. I’m not necessarily certain if beat battles have been around; however, a match-up between the legendary Swizz Beatz and Timbaland will definitely go down in the rap history books.

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Photo by Frazier Harrison/Getty Images for Bacardi

Just a couple weeks ago (July 14), Swizz challenged Timbo the King to a beat battle. The challenge was offered during a Hot 97 promo run for the upcoming Mayweather-McGregor fight. 

Timbaland has since accepted the battle leaving both producers to prep for the epic battle via their Instagram accounts.

Both super producers have campaigned the hottest names in rap— such as Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, and Nas— about the outcome of the epic battle. Swizz caught up with Nas in a studio somewhere in which the Queensbridge legend calls Swizz and Timbo, “two top tier n-ggas going at it.” Nas didn’t give a clear answer on whose side he’s reppin’ but he encouraged the beat battle as “what the game needs.”

“Y’all both my brothers, so I just want to watch it go down,” he continues.

On the other side of the scale, Timbaland posted a video of Swizz chopping it up with Kendrick and Soulo. While Kendrick almost speaks a victory for Swizz into existence, he bounces back quickly by changing the subject. Watch what Kendrick says to Swizz regarding the battle and determine for yourself who Kendrick’s rollin’ with.

Swizz and Timbo just need to give us a date for this battle already. Both super producers are in it to win, no doubt. Whose everyone rooting for in the battle?

Source(s): HipHopDX

PARTYNEXTDOOR Reveals Insane Collabs via Twitter

PARTYNEXTDOOR Reveals Insane Collabs via Twitter

PARTYNEXTDOOR practically does it all when it comes to music.

The OVO singer has penned hits for huge names such as DJ Khaled and Rihanna, meanwhile collaborating with everyone from Travis Scott to his frequent collaborator and OVO boss, Drake.

In case you missed it, on Thursday (July 20th), PND shook up the Twittersphere when he revealed three artists we’ve never seen him align with. The artists in question are Ne-Yo and T-Pain. Although trailblazers in their own right, I think the biggest name drop of them all is a future collab with Yeezy aka Kanye West. It’s been reported all over the Internet that Kanye is secretly working on a new album; however, no word on the street has popped out for a release date.

PARTYNEXTDOOR
Image via PartyNextDoor’s Twitter (@partynextdoor)

Without a doubt, Party and Kanye’s song (whenever the two stars decide to drop it) will be a hit in the making. Check out PND’s tweetstorm below.

Besides the release of Colours 2 earlier this year, PND  has remained quiet dropping his own music. Once the new stuff drops, he’ll for sure be back to being the talk of the town.

 

Beyonce’s Wax Figure Still Has People Pressed!

Beyonce’s Wax Figure Still Has People Pressed!

Happy Saturday everyone!

It’s no secret that Beyoncé is pretty much a big deal. She sneezes and literally the whole world will bless her. No shade.

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However, the shade was thrown heavily on the Internet on Wednesday (July 19th) when photos of a wax figure of Queen Bey was revealed. The wax figure, located in Madame Tussaud’s New York museum, received a slew of social media criticism after saying the statue looked whitewashed and didn’t capture the essence of the Queen.

Within the next day, Madame Tussaud’s removed the original statue claiming the issue was due to “the styling and lighting of her figure.”

On a personal note, I remember going to Madame Tussaud’s in Orlando a year ago, and the wax statue I saw definitely had zero resemblance to Beyoncé. Unlike the Beyhive, I wasn’t particularly offended; however, the power of her fans is TOO REAL. Madame Tussaud’s New York has since replace the criticized wax figure and updated it with a better one.

Peep the new statue here.

Source(s): HipHopDX, The New York Times