Latest news with #PublicEnemy
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Is Peter Gabriel in my vocal range? I don't care. I'm singing it at karaoke': Xzibit's honest playlist
The first song I fell in love withFight the Power by Public Enemy from their Fear of a Black Planet album touched my soul. Hearing the vibrant production on that record is what really inspired me as a child to become a musician. I listened to it so much, I nearly wore it out. It was first single I boughtRuff Rhyme (Back Again) by my friend King T on cassette tape from Tower Records in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It has the Ruff Mix remix on the B-side, and to this day he and I fight about which is best. The song I do at karaokeIn Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel. Is it in my vocal range? I don't give care if I'm singing it right. I'll do my best. The best song to play at a party It depends on what they're serving. If it's a wild party and there's a whole bunch of drugs involved, it's gotta be uptempo. If it's kick back with some weed, then some 90s or 00s gangsta rap like Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang by Dr Dre featuring Snoop Dogg. The song I secretly likeI love Everything by Mary J Blige from her Share My World album, which samples You Are Everything by the Stylistics and The Payback by James Brown. I've been a fan of hers ever since she came out. She's one of my favourite artists who integrates hip-hop and R&B. The best song to have sex toIt's not about the music. Sometimes it's just about being into your partner: that's the music right there. Would I have sex to my own records? Hell no. Have you heard my shit, like Choke Me, Spank Me (Pull My Hair)? You can't have sex to those records. The song that changed my lifeBitch Please by Snoop Dogg featuring Nate Dogg and Xzibit was the beginning of an era. It launched us into the stratosphere, turned the page, and kicked everything up in my career. The song that makes me cryYou just reminded me I haven't cried in a minute. I gotta go look for that. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion The song that gets me up in the morningYankee and the Brave by Run the Jewels because it's adrenaline and goes good with coffee. The song I'd like played at my funeralPlay This at My Funeral, the first song on my new album. Xzibit's new album Kingmaker is out now.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Is Peter Gabriel in my vocal range? I don't care. I'm singing it at karaoke': Xzibit's honest playlist
The first song I fell in love withFight the Power by Public Enemy from their Fear of a Black Planet album touched my soul. Hearing the vibrant production on that record is what really inspired me as a child to become a musician. I listened to it so much, I nearly wore it out. It was first single I boughtRuff Rhyme (Back Again) by my friend King T on cassette tape from Tower Records in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It has the Ruff Mix remix on the B-side, and to this day he and I fight about which is best. The song I do at karaokeIn Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel. Is it in my vocal range? I don't give care if I'm singing it right. I'll do my best. The best song to play at a party It depends on what they're serving. If it's a wild party and there's a whole bunch of drugs involved, it's gotta be uptempo. If it's kick back with some weed, then some 90s or 00s gangsta rap like Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang by Dr Dre featuring Snoop Dogg. The song I secretly likeI love Everything by Mary J Blige from her Share My World album, which samples You Are Everything by the Stylistics and The Payback by James Brown. I've been a fan of hers ever since she came out. She's one of my favourite artists who integrates hip-hop and R&B. The best song to have sex toIt's not about the music. Sometimes it's just about being into your partner: that's the music right there. Would I have sex to my own records? Hell no. Have you heard my shit, like Choke Me, Spank Me (Pull My Hair)? You can't have sex to those records. The song that changed my lifeBitch Please by Snoop Dogg featuring Nate Dogg and Xzibit was the beginning of an era. It launched us into the stratosphere, turned the page, and kicked everything up in my career. The song that makes me cryYou just reminded me I haven't cried in a minute. I gotta go look for that. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion The song that gets me up in the morningYankee and the Brave by Run the Jewels because it's adrenaline and goes good with coffee. The song I'd like played at my funeralPlay This at My Funeral, the first song on my new album. Xzibit's new album Kingmaker is out now.
Miami Herald
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
‘Can't do nothin' for you, man': Nigeria rejects U.S. pressure to accept deported Venezuelans
Nigeria's foreign minister has delivered a pointed rebuke to the United States, rejecting what he described as mounting pressure from Washington to accept deported Venezuelan nationals — including some with criminal records — as part of a controversial third-country resettlement plan. Speaking during a nationally televised interview Thursday night, Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said it would be 'unfair' and 'unrealistic' for Nigeria to absorb hundreds of Venezuelan deportees who have no ties to the West African country. He added that Nigeria, with a population exceeding 230 million, is already dealing with its own internal challenges. 'We already have enough problems of our own,' Tuggar said. 'We cannot accept Venezuelan deportees in Nigeria, for crying out loud.' To emphasize his point, he quoted a line from American rapper Flava Flav of the 1990s hip-hop group Public Enemy: 'Flava Flav has problems of his own. I can't do nothin' for you, man.' Tuggar's candid remarks follow reports that the Trump administration is lobbying several African nations to accept deportees who cannot be sent back to their home countries — Venezuela chief among them — due to diplomatic or logistical hurdles. According to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. has approached at least five West African countries with formal requests to take migrants whose repatriation has stalled. Nigeria, one of the most populous and strategically important countries in Africa, is the first to publicly reject the proposal. The tug of war over deportations reflects a broader shift in U.S. immigration policy, where enforcement is increasingly intersecting with international diplomacy. The idea: If certain countries won't take back their citizens—whether due to political tensions or human rights concerns—third-party nations would be asked to accept them instead. Critics of the policy, including U.S. immigration advocates, have called it 'migrant dumping.' 'It would be unfair for Nigeria to accept 300 Venezuelan deportees,' Tuggar reiterated. 'You would be the same people criticizing us if we agreed.' The issue resonates particularly in Florida, home to one of the largest Venezuelan expatriate communities in the United States. South Florida, in particular, has become a focal point for immigration and asylum cases related to Venezuela's ongoing humanitarian crisis. Nigeria is not alone in rejecting Washington's approach. Liberia's Foreign Minister, Sara Beysolow Nyanti, told the BBC this week that her country had not agreed to accept deported Venezuelans and was not in negotiations with the U.S. over such an arrangement. 'We have not had discussions about deportees or criminals coming to Liberia,' she said. Still, the Trump administration appears determined to expand the use of 'safe third country' agreements, including in Africa. At a White House summit with five West African leaders on Wednesday, Trump expressed hope that the U.S. could reduce visa overstays and 'make progress on safe third-country agreements.' Earlier this month, the U.S. deported eight people to South Sudan following a legal standoff that left them stranded in Djibouti for several weeks. Invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the Trump administration deported a group of 230 Venezuelans in March to El Salvador, accusing them of being criminals or members of the feared Tren de Aragua gang. They have been incarcerated at the CECOT maximum-security prison, although critics argue that those sent were selected without any real evidence that they had done anything wrong other than trying to seek refuge in the United States. While the administration's plans to send unwanted migrants to third countries was challenged in court, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued in June made it easier for the government to proceed. In a brief, unsigned order that did not explain its reasoning, the court put on hold a federal judge's ruling that said affected immigrants nationwide should have a 'meaningful opportunity' to argue they would face torture, persecution, or death if sent to countries the administration has designated to receive deportees. As a result, the administration will be able to proceed with rapid removals to such third countries. Affected immigrants can still attempt to bring individual claims in court, but only on a case-by-case basis. 'The ramifications of the Supreme Court's order will be horrifying,' said Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, one of the groups that brought the legal challenge. 'It strips away critical due process protections that have been shielding our class members from torture and death.'
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hip-Hop and Classical Orchestras: Cypress Hill, Chuck D, And How ‘The Simpsons' Inspired the Latest Genre Mash-Up
The latest trend in hip-hop has the genre going highbrow. More than a half-century since it started, the most popular genre in the country has achieved not only mainstream acceptance but critical claim as well, producing a Pulitzer Prize-winner in Kendrick Lamar and long-overdue recognition as one of hte country's major cultural exports. And for a genre that's proven capable of melding with so many other forms of music, there's now a new trend surfacing among golden age rappers: Collaborations with symphony orchestras. More from The Hollywood Reporter Goo Goo Dolls Tapped to Headline 39th Annual Carousel Ball in Denver Hopeless Records Acquires Fat Wreck Chords Catalog in New Partnership Addison Rae, KATSEYE and Nikki Glaser Among Recording Academy's 2025 New Member Invitees 'Hip-hop has always experimented with and dipped into other musical forms, because it's basically a vocal on top of beats,' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Public Enemy frontman Chuck D says. 'This is just another application, an evolution and it's about time. Wu Tang and RZA were doing stuff like this back in the '90s, and it just made all the sense in the world.' The idea of a hip-hop/classical music fusion harks back to another melding in the '60s and '70s when groups like the Moody Blues, Procol Harum, ELO and Deep Purple all recorded rock albums with symphony orchestras. The trend arguably started when Nas released Illmatic: Live from the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra in 2018. The iconic rapper is in the midst of a current summer tour that includes dates backed by the Boston Pops, Atlanta Pops, Las Vegas and Chicago Philharmonic and Baltimore and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras, among others. He starts a five-night stand with the Vegas Philharmonic Wednesday. Just last April, in the latest signs it's a bona fide trend, LL Cool J took to the Coachella stage with conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil for a set that included hits like 'Mama Said Knock You Out' and a medley of 'I Need Love,' 'Murdergram' and 'Rock the Bells' alongside John Williams' 'The Imperial March,' from The Empire Strikes Back. L.A. mainstays Cypress Hill — now composed of founding members B-Real and Sen Dog along with Eric Bobo and ex-Public Enemy turntablist DJ Lord — teamed up with the 70-piece London Symphony Orchestra and conductor/arranger Troy Miller at the historic Royal Albert Hall last summer to re-create their 1993 Black Sunday album. It resulted in a feature-length film that got a brief theatrical showing earlier this spring and is now streaming on VEEPS, Amazon and Apple TV, along with an accompanying album that came out back in June. Speaking with THR, B-Real, aka Louis Mario Freese, admits the initial inspiration for performing with the London Symphony Orchestra came from a throwaway gag in a 1996 episode of The Simpsons. Cypress Hill – booked for the 'Hullabalooza' festival at the Springfield Fairgrounds by Peter Frampton – accidentally ordered the orchestra while 'really high' to perform an impromptu 'Insane in the Brain' with them backstage. 'That was what first sparked the idea,' B says. 'But it took some time to get there. DJ Muggs always thought doing orchestrated versions of our music would be cool. We just never found the time to do it until now.' B-Real exchanged a tweet with the London Symphony Orchestra, which led him to conductor/ composer/producer Troy Miller — who cut his teeth playing drums for both Amy Winehouse and Roy Ayers — to help put together the arrangements and charts for the classical musicians, who visibly beamed while working their way through the likes of 'I Wanna Get High,' 'When the Shit Goes Down' and 'Hits from the Bong.' 'I love any excuse for a creative explosion,' says Miller, who cited composers like Mahler and Stravinsky as influences on the score. 'And I love that hip-hop is so harmonically open; it's almost a blank canvas. I've always been a Cypress Hill fan, even though I wasn't allowed to listen to them growing up. The band was so receptive and keen to do something new. I was impressed with how musical they were. They didn't just want to use the orchestra to back them up, but to be an integral part of the overall mix. All music should be full of these kinds of surprises and cultural exchanges. For me, creativity is all about taking risks, teetering on the edge of failure. I was just honored to be a part of it.' B calls the collaboration ' just the culmination of a journey for us.' 'Troy exceeded all our expectations. We wanted it dark, and he really got that,' B-Real says. 'The whole process was very organic from the ground up. We played live, not to tracks, and the orchestra really helped maintain the nuances in our music. We gave them the freedom to be themselves, while we could be ourselves. I was in awe of them. It was truly surreal. Turned out a lot of them were fans of ours. They made us feel welcome.' 'It was like listening to Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' for the first time,' said fellow Cypress co-founding member Senen 'Sen Dog' Reyes. 'And just being taken away by the musicality of it all. We like showing other hip-hop cats that this can be done in a cool way. We're helping hip-hop and classical music grow and expand beyond their boundaries. It was definitely an eye-opening experience that the orchestra was into it as much as we were. Showed my anything is possible.' Beyond Cypress Hill, Red Bull Symphonic has also entered the fray, presenting its first hip-hop/classical music collaboration when Rick Ross joined Maestro Jason Ikeem Rodgers and his all-black symphony, Orchestra Noir at the Atlanta Symphony Hall in November of 2022. A little under a year later, in October 2023, rap producer Metro Boomin' reimagined his music (including collabs with Future and Travis Scott) accompanied by a 43-piece orchestra conducted by Antony Parnther at L.A. Dolby Theatre, featuring special guests John Legend and Swae Lee. Red Bull Symphonic has scheduled a July show with MC Kresha & Lyrical Son and an orchestra in Kosovo. 'That's the power of hip-hop… you can create it from anything, including classical music,' B-Rea says. 'That's what we did back in the day with sampling, taking the chaos to create a beautiful harmony. Now our idea is to do original songs in symphonic form with a hip-hop sensibility. We've always tried different things, thinking out of the box. 'In the end,' he continues, 'we still owe the original idea to The Simpsons… Just the perfect example of life imitating art.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter From 'Party in the U.S.A.' to 'Born in the U.S.A.': 20 of America's Most Patriotic (and Un-Patriotic) Musical Offerings Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Legendary Rapper Says He Fears for His Kids at School Drop-Off
Legendary Rapper Says He Fears for His Kids at School Drop-Off originally appeared on Parade. When you've got a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, 40-plus years of hits with Public Enemy, and a reality-TV resume that refuses to quit, you'd think the scariest part of your day would be dodging paparazzi. But for Flavor Flav, the real panic sets in when he pulls up to the school curb. 'I fear for my kids when I drop them off at school,' the 66-year-old rapper wrote in a Thursday, July 2 Newsweek op-ed that calls for a total U.S. gun ban. 'Our schools aren't safe and our kids aren't safe.' 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 Flav (real name: William Drayton Jr.) is dad to eight kids across four different relationships. He shares daughters Shanique, Karren, and Kayla with his ex Karen Ross. He has Da'Zyna, Quanah, and William with ex Angie Parker. His son Karma is from his relationship with longtime partner Liz Trujillo, and his youngest, Jordan, was born in 2019 with his ex-manager Kate Gammell. It's take yo kids and grandkids to the rink at @rockcenternyc season,!!! ⛸️🧊 — FLAVOR FLAV (@FlavorFlav) October 12, 2024 The Flavor of Love star says his worry comes from 'first-hand experience.' 'Guns are falling into the hands of the wrong people. I would know. I went to jail because of guns. I ended up on Rikers Island,' he wrote, recalling the firearm conviction that landed him behind bars in the early '90s. Many of y'all have opinions without reading the article. Guns did affect my life when they were brought into the black communities,,, so I speak from a place of experience. The only thing I'm carrying now is the conversation. — FLAVOR FLAV (@FlavorFlav) July 4, 2025 Now, he argues, weak laws have created 'domestic errorism' that slaps 'a price tag on the heads of our children.' The warning couldn't be clearer. CNN's running tally shows 23 U.S. school shootings so far this year — nine dead and 33 injured as of May 13 — spanning college campuses and K–12 hallways alike. By comparison, ABC News (via the K–12 School Shooting Database) reports that 2024 saw 330 K–12 school shooting incidents, the second-highest total since at least 1966 (which is as 'far back as the data goes'), surpassed only by the 349 incidents recorded in 2023. 'Fear and power are two of the biggest emotions that drive us,' Flav wrote. 'Let our fear of losing our children be more powerful than our fear of our next-door neighbor.' That belief fuels 'March Madness,' the protest single he and Chuck D released on Juneteenth. It opens with a real 911 call from a teacher reporting 'a school shooting and begging for help.' BLACK SKIES OVER THE PROJECT (Apartment) 2025PUBLIC ENEMY drop surprise new album,!!We hear you and we here to still Fight the Power with ya as The Hits Keep On CominYou can't stream it but you can pay what you want for the next 72 hours at bandcamp.… — FLAVOR FLAV (@FlavorFlav) June 27, 2025 Flav says the goal is to restart a national conversation. He hopes the song gives a voice to people who feel powerless and helps build what he calls a 'wall of unity' strong enough to stand up to fear and division. 💪 SIGN UP for tips to stay healthy & fit with the top moves, clean eats, health trends & more delivered right to your inbox twice a week 💪 'I hope this song sparks change,' he wrote. 'I hope this anthem gives a voice to those who feel powerless against a system of power and greed." The track appears on Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025, a surprise album Public Enemy released in late June on Bandcamp. It's their first new music since What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?, which was released on September 25, 2020. Legendary Rapper Says He Fears for His Kids at School Drop-Off first appeared on Parade on Jul 4, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
