Latest news with #Fugees
Metro
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Grammy-nominated singer Robbie Pardlo dies aged 46
The Grammy-nominated singer Robbie Pardlo has died at the age of 46. A representative has confirmed that the musician, who was lead singer of the R&B group City High, passed away on July 17. Pardlo rose to fame alongside bandmates Claudette Ortiz and Ryan Toby with their 2001 single What Would You Do? produced by founding Fugees member Wyclef Jean. An iconic rallying call for single parents, its memorable chorus and lyrics became an early 00s' anthem. Reaching number eight on the Billboard Top 100, their hit single earned Pardlo and City High a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group. According to TMZ, Pardlo has passed away surrounded by family and close friends in Willingbro, New Jersey. No cause of death has been determined yet, although the family are said to be planning the singer's memorial service. Details will be released to the public over the coming days. Following news of the star's death, tributes have rolled in, with fans taking to social media to share their thoughts on his musical legacy. 'RIP ❤️ such a classic and beautiful song,' wrote Instagram user alessandra_ak in response to a tribute from celebrity news brand Baller Alert. 'The internet has been playing 'what would you do ' a lot lately. Hope he felt the love before he left,' said _key_lo_lo. 'Damn, I was in middle school when City High came out. Rest in Paradise Robbie 🕊️' recalled realisticview. Snappleapple wrote: 'Wow, I remember 'What would you do ' was me and my sisters jam. I can see the video vividly. May he rest in peace. My condolences to his family 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽♥️' Pardlo started out as a solo artist before adding school friends Ortiz and Toby. During their time at school, Pardlo and Ortiz had dated, with Ortiz then going on to date other bandmate Toby, whom she married in 2004, before divorcing in 2007. City High ultimately released only one album as a group, spawning their other hit single, Caramel, featuring American rapper Eve. In spite of the positive critical reception, the group disbanded shortly after the album's release. More Trending After going their separate ways in 2003, Pardlo went on to join the R&B quartet First Take, collaborating with stars such as Whitney Houston and Lil Kim. In 2010, Pardlo appeared in an episode of the documentary series Intervention, in which he talked openly about his issues with alcoholism and depression after City High disbanded. As an enthusiastic fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, he could often be seen cheering on his favourite team in a series of Instagram posts – sharing a selfie in a team shirt ahead of their Superbowl win this February. The singer is survived by wife Anika Pardlo and their two children, Lyric and Chord-Andrew Pardlo. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Robbie Williams releasing the album he actually wanted to after quitting Take That MORE: Gavin Rossdale clears up decades-long misconception about his band Bush MORE: Frontman abruptly ends concert mid-set after declaring 'I can't sing anymore'
New York Times
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Drake Returns Robustly, With Reinforcements
At the end of the first night of Wireless Festival on Friday, after Drake had been hoisted out over the tens of thousands of fans who had taken over the bottom half of London's Finsbury Park while Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' blared over the speakers and fireworks brightened the night sky, he asked the audience, and also festival organizers, for a little indulgence. Curfew was firm, but art has its own clock. Boom, there was Lauryn Hill, suddenly onstage performing the feisty Fugees classic 'Ready or Not.' Drake had dropped down into the pit below the stage, and was looking up at Hill with joyful awe. He popped back onstage while Hill performed her biting kiss-off 'Ex-Factor,' which formed the base for one of his breeziest songs, 'Nice for What,' which he performed alongside her until the festival cut their mics off. This year's Wireless Festival was a three-day affair given over to Drake and his many spheres of influence, and in a weekend full of collaborations and guest appearances spotlighting various corners of his very broad reach, this was perhaps the most telling. During her career, Hill has been a ferocious rapper, a gifted singer, a bridge between hip-hop and pop from around the globe. She is the musician who, apart from Kanye West (now Ye), provided perhaps the clearest antecedent for Drake and the kind of star he wished to be: eclectic, hot-button, versatile, transformative. Apart from a few dates on an Australian tour earlier this year that got cut short, this was Drake's first high-profile live outing in over a year. That public retreat came in the wake of last year's grim and accusation-filled battle with Kendrick Lamar — in which Lamar's Not Like Us,' which suggested Drake had a preference for too-young women, became a pop anthem, a Grammy winner and a Super Bowl halftime showstopper, as well as the focus of a lawsuit by Drake against Universal Music Group, the parent company both rappers share. The question of what's next for Drake has, for most of the last 15 years, also pointed to what's next for hip-hop, and often what's next for global pop. And that's part of what's made the past year so disorienting — the sidelining of Drake has left an explicit hole in that conversation. But the post-conflagration part of his battle with Lamar has been something of an anticlimax. The struggles with Lamar often distilled to one central perceived tension — Lamar had purchase over a purer version of hip-hop, while Drake had less claim to it. Side-picking was hip-hop's primary sport last year. But if Lamar's victories were arguments for a traditionalist view of hip-hop ethics, Drake's performances here, and the ones he orchestrated around him, offered a more catholic approach, and also one focused on the future — an implicit rebuke to that mode of thought. Drake headlined each night of Wireless with a differently themed set list: a day focused on R&B, a day of rap, a day of club and party music. And his sets were peppered with guests — he kept referring to the calls he'd made, the subtext being that plenty of people still happily answer those calls. And so these appearances were about alliances, sure — with American rappers like 21 Savage and Sexyy Red, or British stars J Hus, Skepta, Headie One, Dave and Central Cee. (Drake even anointed a young British comer, Fakemink, who delivered an out-of-breath version of 'LV Sandals.') 'Nobody can outrap London rappers,' Drake said. The Nigerian star Rema, during the festival's third night, gave one of its most electrifying performances, ranging wide from the tender flirtation 'Calm Down' to the warlike 'Ozeba.' Opening night tilted toward the sensuous with Mario, sounding hale on 'Let Me Love You,' and Bobby Valentino, slightly less so on 'Slow Down.' Giveon did an austere three-song set wearing silk and cradling a glass of wine. Bryson Tiller, perhaps the first R&B singer to respond to Drake's innovations in real time in the mid-2010s, excelled on 'Exchange.' There was also an intoxicating but slightly overlong run of songs with Drake sharing the stage with his longtime collaborator PartyNextDoor, with whom he makes some of his most astrally placid music. Sometimes these performances felt designed for an audience of one: Drake. Few stars of his level are so vividly fans of other musicians, and certainly not in hip-hop. His joy while watching Skepta rap, or helping Sexyy Red out of her shoes so she could twerk more freely, was infectious — even when others were performing, Drake was working harder. Around half of Drake's time onstage was devoted to his guests. When he himself performed, he leaned on high-energy strings of like-minded tracks — on night two, it was the pugnacity of 'Headlines,' 'Energy,' 'Know Yourself' and 'Nonstop'; on opening night, it was a tender run of 'Teenage Fever,' 'Virginia Beach,' 'Feel No Ways' and 'Passionfruit,' which he sang just a touch behind the beat, then smeared the back half into a quiet-storm vamp. He didn't overindex on his biggest songs: often just a hint of a familiar warm-bleed synth sent the crowd into a roar. His opening songs each night weren't hits, per se — they were Easter eggs for loyalists. On the first night it was 'Marvin's Room,' his 2011 magnum opus of toxic solipsism. On night two, it was 'IDGAF,' a rage-rap experiment with Yeat, who joined him onstage in a matching Chrome Hearts poncho. And on the final night, it was an unheard new song with the British star Central Cee, manna for the local crowd. Each time, it was the equivalent of walking in a room and immediately making yourself comfortable on the couch — no pretext, no pretense. Drake is also not immune to schmaltz — at the end of each night, he took to the same crane-hoisted platform to thank the crowd during 'I Will Always Love You' (a gesture he borrowed from his mentor Lil Wayne). And on the second night, just before that, the pop singer Vanessa Carlton emerged at a piano and pounded out a sweet rendition of her yearning 2002 hit 'A Thousand Miles' while Drake cheesed madly. (The daily pre-Drake performer lineups displayed deep reverence for each form: sets from the nimble R&B singers Summer Walker and Sailorr, Southern rap surrealism from Sahbabii, the inventive British rappers Lancey Foux and Fimiguerrero, the South African amapiano star Uncle Waffles, the Nigerian neo-traditionalists Burna Boy and Odumodublvck.) Though joy was his dominant mode throughout the weekend, Drake was also keen to project strength. On the first night, he was wearing a bull-riding vest (or something like it) that read 'Stay Cocky.' Drake also brought his own press, sending a private jet to ferry a boatload of popular livestreamers and YouTubers — Adin Ross, BenDaDonnn, DDG, Los Pollos, Kyle Forgeard of Nelk, and more — who provided nonstop content online throughout the weekend. It was a sophisticated media strategy — their collective reach exponentially outstripped the real-time crowd, and allowed Drake to do for high-profile streamers, still a media curio to many, what he once did for promising little-known regional rappers: boost their profile with his simple stamp of approval. Here, Lamar and other enemies were mostly an afterthought, or at the most, a subtext. At one point on night two, the crowd erupted into a vulgar chant directed at Lamar, spurred on by Ross. Drake heard it and puffed his chest a little: 'Y'all thought y'all could knock the boy off for real?' Earlier this month, Drake livestreamed on YouTube for an hour, driving an ice delivery truck through the streets of Toronto to premiere his new single, the sinister 'What Did I Miss?,' which just made its debut at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's almost foaming at the mouth with disdain, a strong entry in Drake's long catalog of I-wish-you-would disdain. He performed it on the festival's second night, but only then. However, he played 'Nokia,' his optimistic up-tempo party hit from earlier this year, each of the three nights. 'Nokia' was released in February on 'Some Sexy Songs 4 U,' Drake's collaborative album with PartyNextDoor. As a whole, that release felt like a tentative place holder, a style experiment with loose energy and low stakes. But 'Nokia' was different, an electro-rap hybrid that recalled 'Hotline Bling,' one of his biggest hits. It felt of a piece with the story about himself he was telling especially on the festival's third night, which showed off his gift for big-tent pop — 'Controlla,' 'Find Your Love,' 'Work' — that absorbs elements from around the globe, from vital music scenes often overlooked in the mainstream. Drake's reach takes in British drill, Jamaican dancehall, Nigerian Afrobeats, South African amapiano, Southern rap, and so much more — in short, a trans-Atlantic cosmopolitanism unconcerned with any one local rule book. The rest of the world is so, so big.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Newly Named Global Ambassador Wyclef Jean to Join Mark Cuban at Inaugural Global Citizen NOW: Detroit Event
Newly named Global Citizen Ambassador and Fugees co-founder Wyclef Jean will join special guests including billionaire entrepreneur and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban on Thursday (July 10) at the inaugural Global Citizen NOW: Detroit summit. The event at the city's new multi-purpose Hudson's Detroit development will bring together leaders from the worlds of business, entertainment, media, philanthropy, government and nonprofits to discuss what it takes to build sustainable, inclusive cities, while spotlighting the integral role music, culture and the arts play in shaping the city's growth, according to a release. The creative economy panel conversation with Jean will also include Motown Museum chair/CEO Robin Terry and Third Man Records co-founder/co-owner Ben Blackwell and will be moderated by longtime Billboard contributor Gary Graff. More from Billboard Anitta, Gaby Amarantos & Seu Jorge to Perform at Inaugural Global Citizen Festival: Amazonia Concert 'Pride & Prejudice' Film Soundtrack Bewitches the Charts With 20th-Anniversary Vinyl Reissue Fred again.. Releases 'Victory Lap' Remix Featuring Denzel Curry 'It's a true honor to be named a Global Citizen Ambassador. I've always believed in the power of music, not as simply for entertainment, but to awaken, to connect, to move people toward something greater,' said Jean in a statement about the announcement on Thursday (see below) that he will join a roster of A-list GC Ambassadors that includes Coldplay singer Chris Martin, Hugh Jackman, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, John Legend, Usher, Charlie Puth, Common, Billy Porter, Adam Lambert and others. The singer and activist has a long history of working with the international organization focused on the fight to end extreme poverty and promote social justice. Jean first teamed up with Global Citizen in 2021, when he reunited the Fugees for a special performance during Global Citizen Live, then took the Global Citizen Festival stage again in 2023 — where he was joined by Fugees mate and surprise guest Lauryn Hill — as well as participating in this year's Global Citizen NOW event in New York in April. 'As an artist and activist, my mission has always been to bring people together across borders and backgrounds,' Wyclef continued. 'From New York to Detroit and beyond, music speaks the language of resilience, of hope, and of purpose. At a time when the world is in need of unity, I remain committed to turning that rhythm into real change. This is not about awareness, it's about action, and together, we will continue to be the change we wish to see.' According to organizers, Thursday's event will look at the creative economy's impact on Detroit via chats with the business leaders, activists and creatives who are shaping the city's culture, including AfroFuture Festival founder Abdul Abdullah, chef Amanda Saab, Motown Museum 2024 Amplify artist of the year Jasmine Terrell and retired Detroit Lion and filmmaker Romeo Okwara, among many others. See the Jean announcement below. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
News.com.au
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
‘‘Unacceptable': Grammy winner Lauryn Hill plays to empty stadium after huge delay sparks outrage
Justice for Lauryn Hill. The Grammy Award winner, 50, took the stage at the 2025 Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans over the weekend hours later than expected, forcing her to perform in front of a nearly-empty crowd at Caesars Superdome. Hill's set was supposed to take place late Friday night as part of the rest of the line-up, which included GloRilla, the Isley Brothers, Babyface, Maxwell, Lucky Daye and Psiryn. However, the event ran late and most of the performers didn't go onstage until at least an hour after they were scheduled to do so. In Hill's case, she finally started her set at 2:30am on Saturday, just minutes after the festival announced there were 'technical difficulties.' By that time, only several hundred people were in the stadium, which can accommodate over 80,000 people. Hill's performance lasted about an hour and ended at around 3:37am, according to Despite the delay, Hill put on an electric performance for the crowd. She wore a blue polka dot full-length dress with a gele atop her head as she sang some of her classics including Ex-Factor from her critically acclaimed debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Hill even brought out her sons Zion Marley, 27, and YG Marley, 23, onstage to perform with her. After belting out a rendition of Killing Me Softly With His Song as a tribute to the late Roberta Flack, Hill took a request from the crowd for her final song of the night. She chose Fu-Gee-La, a song by her hip-hop group, the Fugees. Following the event, Essence Festival released a statement defending Hill over her delayed performance. 'Family is family and around here we protect our own no matter what the PEOPLE have to say,' the festival wrote on Instagram Sunday. 'Let's be very clear — WE don't play about Ms. Lauryn Hill. Not for clicks. Not for headlines.' 'She arrived on schedule, stepped on that stage, and delivered the kind of performance only a legend can,' the statement continued. 'The delay? Not hers. We will take that. The moment? One for the books. The legacy? Still unmatched.' 'Put some respect on her name. Keep the takes, but keep her out of them,' the festival added. 'All love and deep profound admiration for Ms. Lauryn Hill.' Hill's devoted fans showed her support on social media as well. 'If I'm Lauryn Hill, I'm probably cussing out Essence cause this is just unacceptable,' one fan wrote on X. 'It's very easy to get Lauryn Hill trending with false narratives. Let's provide the facts. The entire festival was pushed back,' another fan said. 'This was literally not her fault.' Someone else tweeted, 'I think a few blogs and publications owe Ms. Lauryn Hill an apology. I know she's had TERRIBLE time problems in the past, but that Essence Fest situation didn't sound like it was on her. No need for them (or the event) to use her as a scapegoat.' Ironically, Hill has a history of being late for performances. She even addressed her constant tardiness during a delayed concert in Los Angeles in November 2023. 'Yo, y'all lucky I make it on this blood ras stage every night,' Hill reportedly told the crowd at the time. 'I don't do it because they let me do it. I do it because I stand here in the name of God and I do it.'
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Essence Fest Takes Blame For Lauryn Hill's Delayed Set: 'Put Some Respect On Her Name'
After Lauryn Hill closed out the opening night of Essence Festival in the wee hours of Saturday morning, festival organizers shouldered blame for the delay. On Sunday, Essence shared a statement in defense of the 8x Grammy winner, accepting responsibility after she reportedly finished performing her set at almost 4am for a nearly empty Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. More from Deadline Lauryn Hill Postpones 2023 Tour Dates Due To 'Serious Vocal Strain' 'The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill' Named No. 1 Album Of All-Time By Apple Music The Fugees Reunite At Philadelphia's "Roots Picnic" Concert For What May Be A Final Performance 'Family is family and around here we protect our own no matter what the PEOPLE have to say,' they captioned a video of her performance. 'Let's be very clear— WE don't play about Ms. Lauryn Hill. Not for clicks. Not for headlines.' The statement continued, 'She arrived on schedule, stepped on that stage, and delivered the kind of performance only a legend can. The delay? Not hers. We will take that. The moment? One for the books. The legacy? Still unmatched. Put some respect on her name. Keep the takes, but keep her out of them. All love and deep profound admiration for Ms. Lauryn Hill.' Despite being notorious for arriving late to her own performances over the years, Hill was apparently at the mercy of poor management. View this post on Instagram A post shared by ESSENCE (@essence) The Fugees alum was quietly added to an already packed lineup just two days before, pushing the entire event behind schedule, according to She went on at 2:31am, shortly after the stage was ready for her, and finished at 3:37, during which only a few hundred audience members remained. The outlet reported that she kept the nightclub-sized crowd energized until the very end. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About Christopher Nolan's Next Film – 'The Odyssey': Release Date, Cast And More 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery
