Akon stopped by The Zeze Millz Show this week for a wide-ranging interview and ended up giving his stamp of approval to Nick Cannon‘s rapidly growing bevy of babies.
Host Zeze Mills brought up the topic by touching on Akon’s belief in polygamy, which he clarified was part of his Senegalese culture. “So do you agree with Nick Cannon and his spreading of his seed?” Mills asked, to which Akon responded with an emphatic “100 percent!’
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“I agree with him one-thousand percent. That’s how life is supposed to be. Why not? He’s rich … He’s responsible. He takes care of every one of those children … And the baby mothers with it. And they hurt for nothing and they live comfortably!” he continued over the host’s protestations.
Interestingly, Akon’s comments come on the heels of one of the mothers of Cannon’s 11 kids seemingly shading him on social media. “There’s no need to mention me or send anything to my DMs. It has nothing to do with me… and no need to be messy. It’s all love over this way,” LaNisha Cole, whose daughter with Cannon, Onyx, is 3 months old, wrote in a since-expired Instagram Story. “It’s not easy but I have to do it for my daughter. She is incredibly blessed and is surrounded by so much love – and it’s not fake IG photo op love – it’s real day in and day out love.”
Akon also shed light on collaborating with TikTok on his new EP TT Freak, saying, “Me, I see TikTok as an opportunity. I see it as a huge platform. I see it as a way of also opening up the opportunity to create and discover a new audience. ‘Cause I think it’s been a quick, what, 13, maybe 14 years since I released my last album? That’s crazy, when I look at that I’m like, ‘Man, where was I?’ Time flew by so fast. But then what woke me up was the fact that my catalog was re-streaming and kinda resurfacing through the TikTok platform.
“And I’m looking at the demographic that’s actually on TikTok, it made complete sense to me,” he continued. “‘Cause this is a generation that wasn’t around to experience my kind of music at that time.”
Watch Akon’s full chat on The Zeze Millz Show below.
Lizzo is going Christmas tree crazy this holiday season.
In a preview of her upcoming interview on CBS Sunday Morning, the pop-rap star opens up about owning her first home in Los Angeles and dishes on how she’s been going a tad overboard with her Yuletide decorations.
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“It’s like not having stuff for a long time, and now [that] I’ve got it, I’m going overboard,” Lizzo says during the sit-down. “I’m literally Santa Claus.”
The Grammy winner’s interview airs Christmas Day (Dec. 25) on CBS Television Network and will stream on Paramount+.
Lizzo, who recently brought holiday cheer during her musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, also discussed the joy of owning her very first house. Prior to the success of her 2019 breakout hit “Truth Hurts,” which reigned for seven weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, the Detroit rapper and singer spent many nights forced to sleep in her car.
“Staying in people’s rooms and sleeping on their couches,” Lizzo recalls. “Now, on this past tour, which I was blessed to stay in really nice places, but I was like, ‘I miss my house. Like, I can’t wait to come back to my own home and to my bed.’ I was like, ‘This is the first time I’ve ever said this.’ It’s a milestone for me.”
Lizzo has much to be thankful for in 2022. Her latest smash hit, “About Damn Time,” topped the Hot 100 for two weeks in July and August and is nominated for both record and song of the year at the 2023 Grammy Awards on Feb. 5. The artist’s fourth album, Special, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in July. The set follows her 2019 blockbuster, Cuz I Love You, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and charted for over 100 weeks.
Watch a preview of Lizzo’s upcoming appearance on CBS Sunday Morning below.
The Hip Hop Nutcracker “turns Tchaikovsky on his head in the coolest possible way.”
The reimagining of the Russian classical composer’s 130-year-old ballet set in contemporary New York City has been living up to that promotional promise for the last 10 years. Now a holiday tradition in its own right, the dance extravaganza is currently in the midst of a 30-city tour. And there for each and every beat, notwithstanding a heart transplant in December 2020, has been the show’s special guest MC and one of rap’s founding fathers, Kurtis Blow.
“I was always a fan and supporter of the fusion of hip-hop with other genres of music,” says Blow, recalling the first time he watched a show rehearsal in 2013. “I saw these young b-boys and b-girls just doing their thing, representing with all the styles from popping and locking to electric boogaloo; kicks, head spins, back spins, windmills, air twists — and doing so to Tchaikovsky’s incredible classical music with hip-hop beats under it.I said, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to be a part of this.’”
The trailblazing artist known for classics such as “Christmas Rappin’,” “The Breaks” and “Party Time,” a fusion of rap and go-go, Blow was the first rapper to be signed to a major label (Mercury Records) in 1979, among other accolades. This past summer, Blow and fellow hip- hop legends, Chuck D and KRS-One founded the Hip Hop Alliance, the first ever union for hip-hop and R&B artists and the workforce that supports them.
The Hip Hop Nutcracker will wrap its 10th season in Hartford, Conn., on New Year’s Eve. The remainder of the tour will be dedicated to the late Stephen “tWitch” Boss, freestyle hip-hop dancer/choreographer and The Ellen DeGeneres Show co-host/co-exec producer. “We want to acknowledge the passing of one of our Nutcracker family members,” Blow says of Boss, who was part of Disney’s version of the show, now streaming on Disney+.
During a phone interview during the tour’s New York stop, Blow reflected on why The Hip Hop Nutcracker still resonates, life after his heart transplant and hip-hop’s monumental 50th anniversary in 2023.
For those who haven’t seen the show, what does your role entail?
I get everyone prepared for what they’re about to see by first taking them back with a medley of old school hip-hop songs because the show starts out in 1980 on New Year’s Eve. At the end of the intro, I sing a song called “New Year’s Eve” and in the middle of that, I have everyone count down from 10 to one. When we get to one, we scream Happy New Year as loud as we can. Then the show starts. At the end I come back and do “The Breaks” with the whole cast. These talented dancers from all over the world give 150% every night. Audiences come to the show — whose theme is love conquers all — and leave revitalized. I’m seeing generations from grandparents to their grandchildren and their daughters and sons. That’s what hip-hop is about too: all races, all ages.
What has your life been like since the transplant?
I am a walking, living, breathing testimony that God is still in the miracle business. What God did for me, God is able to do it for you and everyone else. This is a big part of my faith because I’m a preacher as well. Waking up the next morning after the operation, seeing the doctors and nurses and getting a thumbs up … I still get that joy every morning when I wake up. I thank God that I’m still alive — and [I’m] so grateful to be a part of this opportunity to spread love during the holiday season.
Which is something you first did in the late ‘70s with “Christmas Rappin’.”
I think it was 1978. Billboard included me, a young college student, in the last section of an interview about this new thing called rap. I will never forget it because during that time, there were other more popular MCs like DJ Hollywood, Eddie Cheeba, Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa. But that article became the basis of my credibility, and I think it was indirectly a part of me getting my record deal with Mercury. Robert Ford Jr. wrote that article. Later, he and J.B. Moore, who also worked for Billboard, produced my first gold single, “Christmas Rappin’”. I owe Billboard and just want to say thank you!
What does the genre’s upcoming 50th anniversary mean to you?
I started break dancing in 1972, became a DJ in ’73 and started rapping in ’74. I’ve witnessed this culture rise from the ashes of the ghettos of the Bronx, Harlem, Queens and Brooklyn. It was out of that cultural trauma that hip-hop was created; it was escapism in the music. Now it’s been around for 50 years and it’s still powerful — the No. 1-streamed genre in the world. Everyone around the globe is tuning in to listen to what hip-hop has to say. We definitely changed the world. And we have the opportunity to do it again. My message to all the young people out there is: We did it, and now the world is yours. The future is yours. You have the opportunity to build up your families, build up your communities and build up humanity.
Earlier this month, Grupo Frontera landed a major collaboration with Carin León, resulting in their latest single, “Que Vuelvas.” Composed and produced by Edgar Barrera, the heartfelt track debuts at No. 15 on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs chart this week — and in less than two weeks since its release, its video has amassed nearly 10 million views on YouTube and is quickly becoming a popular sound on TikTok.
The group is also simultaneously making the rounds with two Fuerza Regida collabs, called “911” and “Bebe Dame,” proving that they are Música Mexicana’s “it” boys right now.
But this time last year, Frontera — a six-man ensemble comprised of Adelaido “Payo” Solis III (vocalist and bajo quinto player), Juan Javier Cantú (vocalist and accordionist), Julian Peña Jr. (percussionist and animator), Alberto “Beto” Acosta (bajo quinto), Carlos Guerrero (drums) and Carlos Zamora (bass) — was merely a local band from the Texas border town McAllen, creating music as a hobby and performing at family gatherings.
“We all had our own jobs and didn’t really do things as a group,” Cantú tells Billboard, expressing that once they took the project seriously at the beginning of 2022, great things began to happen.
The indie Mexican group officially launched this March with an independently-released debut EP that contained four cover versions of timeless pop songs, such as Diego Verdaguer’s “La Ladrona.” But it was a one-off released just a month later — their norteño rendition of “No Se Va,” a 2019 single by Colombian folk-pop group Morat — that catapulted them to fame.
To date, the music video has nearly 170 million views on YouTube, and the sound has hundreds of thousands of creations on TikTok, where it first gained momentum. “No Se Va” debuted on Hot Latin Songs in September and scored the group their first top 10 hit on the chart, peaking at No. 3. The track also became only the fifth regional Mexican song to hit the Billboard Hot 100 in the chart’s history, and topped Latin Digital Song Sales for one week in October.
“Honestly, I think it was the seasoning that we put with the congas,” Cantú says of the cover’s runaway success. “It doesn’t sound like your typical norteño song; in fact, it sounds like something fresh with that reggaetón vibe.”
And it’s precisely that — the group’s “fresh Norteño sound” — that’s making big waves in the music industry.
“The group’s appeal is very easy,” assures Peña Jr. “We’re trending, we’re moving up, and we’re doing great music that everyone likes. We’re creating music for people of all ages. We’re making romantic songs that you can dedicate. I feel that a lot of artists right now want to release love songs as opposed to party songs, and that’s why they want to work with us.”
Since their popularity skyrocketed earlier this year, Frontera has sold out shows in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, California and Mexico, to name a few. They also closed the year with over 125 million streams on Spotify and established a relationship with the McAllen-based hitmaker (and Latin Grammy winner) Barrera, who’s working on the group’s upcoming music. Frontera is managed by Victor Ruiz (founder of indie record label VHR Music), who also serves as its booking agent.
“You’d think we’ve been playing together for 10 years, but we’ve only been out for a couple of months,” Cantú notes. “I still can’t believe everything that’s happening to us.”
Below, learn more about this month’s Billboard Latin Artist on the Rise.
Names: Adelaido Solis III, Alberto Acosta, Carlos Guerrero, Carlos Zamora, Juan Javier Cantú and Julian Peña Jr.
Ages: 19 to 32
Recommended Song: “Que Vuelvas” (with Carin León)
Biggest Achievement: “Up to now, it’s been two [different career achievements],” Peña Jr. says. “A very important one for us was our concert at the Auditorio Citibanamex in Monterrey. This is where artists such as Luis Miguel and Juan Gabriel have performed, and it was a dream come true for us. The other big accomplishment is that we’re managing to break away from being just a ‘one-hit wonder’ group.”
What’s Next: “We plan to go international in 2023, and already have two very big and important collaborations lined up,” he adds. “We’re also going to announce the tour. Hopefully the first week of January, everyone will already know about Grupo Frontera’s first-ever tour.”
1:50 p.m. UPDATE: Multiple crashes have shut down lanes along I-44 from the Oklahoma state line to near Cuba.
There’s been a crash involving multiple vehicles, including tractor trailers, blocking eastbound Interstate 44 east of Lebanon.
The wreck is at the 143 mile marker past the Stoutland exit. Both the left and right lanes are closed.
Backups are estimated at two miles, and crews estimate it could take up to six hours to clear the wreck.
Motorists headed east on the interstate are being asked to exit at the 129 Lebanon exit.
Another crash is being worked westbound on the interstate near the Oklahoma line just past the Downstream exit at the 0.2 mile marker.
And both eastbound lanes of I-44 are shut down at the 205 mile marker near Cuba. The estimated backup is two miles.
One spotter says they traveled from Rogersville to Seymour, with visibility of 100 to 200 feet the entire way. The road was plowed and mostly clear.
2.1 inches of snow have been measured in Republic, with 1.9 inches in Northview (Webster County) and 1.0 inch in Shell Knob. 2.0 inches of snow are on the ground in Joplin and 2.0 inches in Rocky Comfort (McDonald County).
10:45 a.m. UPDATE: The National Weather Service says snowfall intensity will be increasing across the Springfield Metro through 1:30 p.m. Visibilities will be reduced to less than 1/4 mile at times due to falling and blowing snow. Wind chills of -13 to -25 will occur. Snow intensity is picking up along the I-44 corridor west of Springfield. The snow is increasing along the remainder of the I-44 corridor from Mount Vernon to Springfield to Lebanon to Fort Leonard Wood and Rolla.
The Ozarks first winter storm of the season is making travel challenging, even with relatively small amounts of snow accumulation.
The National Weather Service says a Winter Storm Warning is now in effect until midnight for all of southwest and south-central Missouri.
Forecasters say they are becoming increasingly confident that a one to three hour duration of moderate to heavy snow and blowing snow will impact the entire region.
This is on top of the one to two hours of freezing drizzle before the snow arrives.
Visibilities will fall to around 1/4 mile at times across these far southern Missouri counties with occasional near white out conditions.
One to three inches of snow are possible in these areas, with the best snow chances from late morning into the early afternoon, when moderate to heavy snow is possible as well as wind gusts of 35 to 45 miles per hour, causing blowing snow and very low visibility.
Some areas in central Missouri could see around four inches of snow.
The front moved through Springfield around 6:00 a.m. Thursday, taking temps from 37 down to 27 degrees with a wind chill of 12.
Those temps and wind chills will continue to drop throughout the day.
Wind chills by the early afternoon will range from the teens in the southeastern Ozarks to round -15 near Springfield, to around -20 to -25 in the northwestern Ozarks.
Dangerously cold wind chills will continue Thursday night, with readings from -25 to -32.
Blowing snow will make travel difficult in several parts of the state.
U.S. Bank, Community Foundation of the Ozarks and others are donating thousands of dollars to help shelters with the ongoing winter storm hitting southwest Missouri.
Reports say the banks charity, the Musgrave Foundation, pledged $10,000 to support temporary staffing for shelters and warming centers scattered across Springfield.
In the release, publicized Thursday, CFO also says it’s donating $8,500, and the Thomas and Josephine Baird Memorial Fund donated another $5,000.
The donations were made out to the Community Partnership of the Ozarks to assist with a lack of volunteers due to the extreme cold.
If you would like to volunteer at a local shelter, click here. If you would like to make a donation to Community Partnership of the Ozarks, click here.
Due to extreme winter weather, all staffed Springfield-Greene County Park Board facilities have closed at noon Thursday and will remain closed all day Friday.
All scheduled classes and programs are cancelled both days.
Facilities are currently scheduled to reopen for holiday hours Saturday, December 24th
Also, the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks donor center in Springfield will close at 3:00 p.m. Thursday due to the winter storm.
Original Story:
With accumulating snow and subzero wind chills expected throughout the Ozarks beginning Thursday, several schools and government offices are closing their doors.
A full list of closures can be found below:
School Closings:
Cassville
Christian Schools of Springfield
Drury University–All campuses
Eminence (AMI Day #1)
Marshfield
Monett
Nixa
Skyview
Springfield Public Schools
Springfield Catholic Schools
University of Missouri-Springfield Clinical Campus (Virtual Learning—Building Closed)
Willard
***Note: Many schools across the Ozarks were already scheduled to be out of class Thursday for winter break***
Non School Cancellations:
Christian County Government Offices, Courts & Health Department Dec. 22-23
Dickerson Park Zoo
Fellows Lake
Fort Leonard Wood normal operations for all personnel not critical or essential
Lawrence County government offices and courthouse Dec. 22-23
Greene County government offices and courts Dec. 22-23
Springfield-Greene County Library District branches will delay opening until 10 AM on Dec. 22
Springfield Greene County Botanical Center Dec. 22
Valley Mill Equestrian Center Dec. 22-26
Greene Valley School
Here’s the official statement from Springfield Public Schools:
Springfield Public Schools will be closed on Thursday, Dec. 22, due to the forecast for extreme winter weather, including dangerous wind chill and snow during the commute. Both seated classes and live virtual instruction have been canceledfor Dec. 22. In addition, all activities and athletic games are canceled for Thursday and Friday. Today will be the last day of the first semester. When students return to school Jan. 4, the second semester will begin. For more information, visit the district’s website at sps.org.
This story will be updated periodically with more closures as they come in.
The theme of the highly acclaimed drama series silent is still going strong in streaming, logging 17,468,383 weekly streams to extend its record at No. 1 for the metric to nine consecutive weeks and 15,910 downloads to stay at No. 1 for the sixth non-consecutive week. It’s also performing well in video with 2,878,313 views to hold at No. 2, and moves up a notch to No. 5 for karaoke.
Kis-My-Ft2’s “Omoibana” ruled physical sales this weeks with 248,255 copies sold, more than the Johnny’s group’s previous single, “Two as One,” which launched with 173,309 copies. But the boy band’s 30th single couldn’t supplement that advantage with other metrics — No. 2 for radio, No. 56 for streaming, and No. 73 for video — and couldn’t overtake Kenshi Yonezu’s “KICK BACK,” which came in at No. 2 for streaming and No. 3 for video. Yonezu rises 3-2, while Kis-My-Ft2 debuts at No. 3 on the Japan Hot 100 this week.
The global popularity of the Netflix series First Love starring Hikari Mitsushima and Takeru Sato continues to fuel Hikaru Utada’s “First Love,” which soars by about 200 percent from the previous week to 3,879 downloads (84-15), 15 percent for streaming to 7,792,651 streams (6-3), and also rises in video, radio and karaoke. The resurgent J-pop hit originally released in 1999 rises 7-5 on the Japan Hot 100 this week.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, YouTube and GYAO! video views and karaoke data.
Check out the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Dec. 12 to 18, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
With just days left until Christmas, TWICE‘s Tzuyu is spreading cheer to ONCEs everywhere by gifting them a cover of a holiday track on Wednesday (Dec. 21). The K-pop star went with a modern Christmas song and put a sweet spin on Ava Max‘s 2020 song “Christmas Without You.”
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The TWICE vocalist filmed a video to accompany her take from the studio, and is in a cozy white sweater, red scarf and a festive reindeer headband complete with small antlers.
Kicking off the first verse, Tzuyu went with a serene delivery of the track and its chorus. “Lights on the trees under fallen snow/ You get a bit closer when the winter’s cold/ Now I can’t wait ’til you’re by my side/ All of the best gifts, you just can’t buy,” she sang.
“Wherever you go, you light up the room/ I hope that you’ll make it back home soon/ ‘Cause it won’t feel like Christmas without you,” Tzuyu continued on the upbeat track.
She isn’t the only member of TWICE prepared to celebrate the holidays. She and the rest of the group’s members — Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun and Chaeyoung — had some fun holiday shenanigans in a new video for their 2017 holiday track “Merry & Happy.” The new version sees all the girls decorating a Christmas tree and dancing.
Watch Tzuyu’s cover of “Christmas Without You” above.
Chrissy Teigen is proving that being a swimsuit model and being pregnant aren’t mutually exclusive. In a new Instagram photo from her and John Legend‘s beachside holiday getaway, the former Sports Illustrated covergirl showed off her baby bump in a black bikini — a shot she hilariously dubbed “Storks Illustrated.”
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In the a photo shared Wednesday (Dec. 21), Teigen stands on a sandy shore with her feet in the water, looking on as her son, 4-year-old Miles, runs from an approaching wave. Facing slightly away from the camera, the Cravings founder’s belly is on full display in her two-piece, which she revealed in a followup post is from the brand Monday Swimwear.
“storks illustrated? I don’t know,” she jokingly captioned the post.
Teigen is currently expecting her third child with Legend, with whom she shares two children (before Miles came daughter Luna, who is 6). As revealed by the “All of Me” singer in an Instagram post of his own, the whole family is spending the holidays on the coast, somewhere sunny and sandy.
“’Storks Illustrated’ is some of your best work,” Legend commented on his wife’s post.
“A pregnant woman is a true athlete!” added one of Teigen’s followers. “This should be the cover of Sports illustrated!”
A couple days before her beachside photo, the cookbook author posted a different swimsuit snap with one of her trademark responses — this time aimed at commenters who’ve been bugging her with remarks that she’s been “pregnant forever.”
“‘omg I feel like she’s been pregnant foreverrrrrr,’” she captioned the Monday (Dec. 19) post, referencing the comments. “how do you think I feel thank u.”
See Chrissy Teigen’s “Storks Illustrated” photo below:
