Mariah Carey for Billboard Magazine - December 2019!
At a time of year that brings us oft-told holiday fables and yarns about Christmas miracles, the moral of this story is simple: When it comes to the Billboard charts, never, ever count out Mariah Carey. In the same year Carey experienced the defeat of a storied Billboard chart record, she sets another, more singular and improbable one: the longest trip to No. 1 of any Hot 100 hit, ever.
That song—do I even need to say its name?—is “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” a 1994 recording from Carey’s album Merry Christmas that has emerged as the stealth hit of the past quarter-century, more popular than the industry, the public, or even Carey herself fully appreciated for most of those 25 years. It is now Carey’s 19th career Hot 100 No. 1, a triumph both improbable and yet inevitable. (I predicted this a year ago, and it wasn’t a hard call.) Barring any unexpected late-in-the-year challengers, it’s likely to be the final chart topper of the 2010s. Which, given that Team Mariah just world-premiered a brand-new high-concept music video for the 1994 song this week, seems virtually guaranteed at this point.
The ironies of this chart victory are manifold, not least because 2019 was going down as a year when Billboard’s history books were beginning to close on Carey. Just over four months ago, Carey and Boyz II Men’s 1995–96 megahit “One Sweet Day” was outlasted at No. 1 by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ own collaboration, “Old Town Road.” It was not only a passing of the torch between pop generations. It felt like we were closing the book on the chart-conquering career of Carey, a Hot 100 titan whose last No. 1, “Touch My Body,” was more than 11 years ago. She hadn’t recorded a new Top 10 hit in a decade or even a Top 40 hit in more than six years. As she settled into a perennial Las Vegas revue that showcased her remarkable roster of, until recently, 18 No. 1 hits—the most of any soloist, and second only to the Beatles, with 20 U.S. No. 1s—Carey seemed on a permanent nostalgia tour of past glories, resigned to fall two short to the Fab Four in the record books. And now, at the age of probably 50 but possibly 49, Carey has her elusive 19th Hot 100 topper, just a couple of years younger than female record holder Cher was in 1999 when “Believe” rang the bell.
Notably, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is Carey’s first chart topper of the streaming era on the charts, which goes a long way toward explaining, in raw-data terms, how this happened. Billboard reports that the song is tops this week in both digital metrics that contribute to the Hot 100: streams, where it racked up more than 45 million plays in the tracking week—a gargantuan number for such an old song—and digital sales, where it sold 27,000 dollar downloads last week, another number that would not be remarkable except for the fact that it’s already sold 3.6 million downloads over the years, and folks are still buying it. As for the Hot 100’s third metric, radio airplay, the song this week “only” ranks 27th among radio hits. But the fact that it’s on the airplay chart in the vicinity of current hits by Halsey, Dua Lipa, and Arizona Zervas is exceptional. Carey’s new holiday standard ranks higher at radio than any other holiday favorite, from Bobby Helms to Burl Ives to José Feliciano.
This data breakdown is helpful as far as it goes. But explaining how “All I Want for Christmas Is You” had its biggest year ever in 2019 means going deep down the rabbit hole of American musical consumption habits and Billboard chart policy. (I will also have a new Christmas episode of my podcast Hit Parade next week that goes into even greater detail about the history of holiday music on the Billboard charts—with handy musical aids!) Basically, a perfect storm of technological and chartological ephemera conspired to give Carey this chart topper.
One thing to understand about Christmas and the Billboard charts is that the music-industry bible has never, in nearly a century of charting hit songs and albums, had a consistent policy on holiday music that lasted more than a few years. Sometimes Christmas songs were included on the Hot 100, and sometimes they were segregated on a separate Christmas or Holiday Songs chart. Going all the way back to the age of Bing Crosby and Nat “King” Cole, holiday hits would chart one year, disappear for a few years, then come back on a different chart. And some of these songs were album cuts, not issued as retail singles, which means that often they weren’t allowed on the Billboard hit parade at all.
This might sound frustrating, but I don’t blame Billboard—especially in that analog era—for its inconsistent approach. Simply put, holiday music is a hard fit for the charts. Keep in mind that the Hot 100, and most music charts, only reflect popularity a week at a time, and a typical chart run for a nonseasonal pop hit is a dozen weeks or more. So even when holiday songs were allowed on the Hot 100 back in the day, they would often have modest chart peaks—like Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” an immortal holiday jam but only a No. 14 hit in 1960, thanks to its truncated four-week chart run. You’d be surprised how many bulletproof holiday hits—from Darlene Love to Vince Guaraldi to Wham!—either charted poorly, or not at all, in their day.
Conversely, this also helps explain how, in the entire history of the Hot 100, there’s been only one prior Christmas song at No. 1—and it’s by three imaginary singing rodents. That prior No. 1 Christmas single was “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” by the titular marmots but really David Seville, who (in)famously sang the song slowly and then sped his voice up to achieve the chipmunk voice. “The Chipmunk Song” topped the chart 61 years ago—in 1958, coincidentally the year the Hot 100 launched—and honestly, it’s more a relic of that year than a holiday song per se. As it happens, 1958 was a huge year for novelty records, and specifically singles with comically sped-up voices. Prior Billboard No. 1s that year included Sheb Wooley’s “The Purple People Eater” and the single that launched the tape-trickery trend, “The Witch Doctor” by David Seville—recording, at first, under his own name, before inventing the Alvin, Simon, and Theodore characters for his year-end single. “The Chipmunk Song” wasn’t No. 1 that December because it was a Christmas record. It was No. 1 because it was part of a then-hot fad.
The last one-two punch that changed the song’s chart fortunes came in 2012—and the first was sparked by a sad event.
So Carey’s chestnut is arguably the first Christmas record that feels like an actual Christmas song to hit No. 1. Of course, the very idea of what “feels” Christmassy is an ever-shifting yardstick. But Carey, cleverly, evoked a very specific holiday mode when she penned “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in 1994. By her own admission, she was replicating the peak girl-group sound of Phil Spector, as captured on his classic 1963 album A Christmas Gift for You. This various artists compilation was a showcase for the stable of acts on Spector’s Philles Records label, from the Ronettes to the Crystals, and for Spector’s legendary Wall of Sound production style. The album was basically a flop, and none of its tracks were hit singles—not even Darlene Love’s original “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”—but after the LP entered the canon as one of the greatest albums, period, of all time, it became a standard. Evoking this sturdy girl-group template, the song Carey penned with her former producer-collaborator Walter Afanasieff sounded instantly familiar, with a sumptuously chromatic melody concocted by Carey and the Spector-esque “boogie-woogie piano” Afanasieff added to the track. Throw in Carey’s universal lyric of love and anti-materialism—sung, Eartha Kitt–style, by a woman who is actually very glamorous—and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was destined for immortality.
And yet, for all that effort, the song wasn’t a hit in 1994, and it wasn’t just the built-in chart bias against holiday music. For starters, in 1994, Sony elected not to issue “All I Want for Christmas Is You” as a retail single, at a time when that was still required for a song to appear on the Hot 100. This was simply cold business logic. It would sell more Merry Christmas albums in the peak era for the compact disc. And Carey was at the peak of her imperial phase, racking up a string of No. 1s—given that most holiday songs over the prior four decades had underperformed on the Hot 100, why break Carey’s streak of chart-topping hits? So the only chart the song appeared on in the holiday season of 1994–95 was Billboard’s Radio Songs chart, where it peaked at No. 12—impressive for a Christmas song, though a bit low for Carey in this period.
That might have been the end of the story, if Billboard hadn’t made multiple chart rule changes over the next two decades. The first came in 1998, when the magazine caved to the labels’ great war against the retail single by allowing album cuts onto the Hot 100. One year after that change, during the holiday season of 1999–2000, “All I Want for Christmas Is You”—still an album cut—made its first Hot 100 appearance, at a lowly No. 83. Then, in 2003, Apple opened its iTunes Music Store, effectively kicking off the era of the legal dollar download. That holiday season, Carey’s holiday song was a Top 10–ranked download. By Christmas 2005, “AIWfCIY” actually ranked No. 1 among digital downloads—but now there was another Billboard rule to contend with. The Hot 100 restricted “recurrent” songs from reappearing on the chart, unless they were being actively repromoted to radio and music stores (generally a rarity, although in prior years, hits by the Beatles, UB40 and Queen were allowed to return). Christmas songs, in particular, were not permitted to return, given their short window of annual activity. So each holiday season from 2005 to 2011, Carey’s song would sell hundreds of thousands of downloads but remained absent from the Hot 100.
The last one-two punch that changed the Carey song’s chart fortunes came in 2012—and the first was sparked by a sad event. When Whitney Houston died in February of that year, her songs flooded the radio airwaves and sold piles of digital singles. Billboard’s editors took this occasion to make a rule change they’d been contemplating for a while. They would now allow recurrent songs—like Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” which ranked among the Top 10 songs that week—to reappear on the chart, as long as they amassed enough points to make the Top 50. According to the magazine’s director of charts, the digital age had changed their calculus: “The line has blurred between the relevancy of new and older recordings.” Adding to the blurriness was the arrival of Spotify in America, which Billboard began tracking on its charts in the spring of 2012. Streaming gave the music industry a metric of music consumption that was much finer—and, vitally for Christmas music, faster. Now, even if a holiday song only generated sizable chart data for four or five weeks a year, that data would be massive enough and trackable enough to be meaningful on the big chart.
The more data we have, the more we realize how much Americans love this song.
Carey’s Christmas song benefited from these 2012 rule changes within the first year. It didn’t hurt that, during that year’s holiday season, she appeared on Late Night to perform a special toy-instruments version of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” with host Jimmy Fallon, house band the Roots, and a classroom full of kids. The spirited performance spurred another wave of streaming and digital downloading of Carey’s 1994 classic—only, this time, after the Whitney Houston–inspired rule change, the song was eligible for the Hot 100. It redebuted on the big chart at No. 29. For the first time ever—in 2012!—“All I Want for Christmas Is You” was a Top 40 hit.
Three years after that, in the 2015 holiday season, Carey’s Christmas song broke into the chart’s Top 20. (She was joined that year on the Hot 100 by Brenda Lee, whose classic “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was back in the Top 40 for the first time in 55 years.) Two years after that, at Christmas week 2017, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” broke into the Top 10. Streaming was now the single biggest factor on the Hot 100, and Christmas playlists from Spotify and Apple Music were fueling more holiday song streams than ever. On the Hot 100, Carey was joined in the Top 40 by recurrent holiday hits by Lee, Nat “King” Cole, Burl Ives, and Andy Williams. Then, just last year—the week after Christmas 2018—Carey had the No. 3 song on the Hot 100, and holiday songs took up 16 spots in the Top 40. Carey’s near miss at the top slot all but guaranteed the song would reach No. 1 in 2019, the song’s silver anniversary. Team Mariah left nothing to chance, releasing everything from a new version of the music video built out of outtakes from the original to a vintage live video of Carey singing the song at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine to—why not?—a release of the song as a physical single for the first time on CD and even cassette. All of this activity counts for the Hot 100.
In short, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has long been a smash waiting for the metrics to catch up. Separately this decade, Billboard rebooted its former Christmas minichart as the Holiday 100, and ever since its launch in 2011, the Holiday chart has basically been the Mariah chart: “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was No. 1 on the first edition of the rebooted chart and has returned or held there for an absurd 38 weeks out of the 43 weeks it has existed. The more data we have, the more we realize how much Americans love this song.
Many have called “All I Want for Christmas Is You” the last Christmas standard. It’s been covered dozens of times since 1994, from an emo-rock version by My Chemical Romance to an adult-contemporary chart-topping version by Michael Bublé. So … will it also be the last Christmas song to top America’s flagship chart? At this writing, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is ranked No. 3 on the Hot 100, suggesting it, too, is on its way to topping the chart, if not this year then maybe in another season or two. I doubt Carey would mind another song beating her mark for oldest single to top the Hot 100. She’s got a bigger target in the record books: getting that 20th No. 1 and finally beating the Beatles. Honestly, the path by which “All I Want for Christmas Is You” got to No. 1 is so fluky, I’m not sure how a fiftysomething Mariah Carey is going to duplicate the feat. But what did I say at the top? Even a Fab Four fan like me would be a fool to call the feat impossible. Never doubt that the elusive chanteuse will find a way to make her wish come true.
#RHOA: Kenya Moore Reveals Why She and Husband Marc Daly Didn't Sign a Prenup Before Their Split!
Sunday’s Real Housewives of Atlanta gave viewers a glimpse into more of the troubles between Kenya Moore and her now-estranged husband Marc Daly.
The couple — who separated back in September — went out for a couples dinner with Kandi Burruss and her husband Todd Tucker, as well as Cynthia Bailey and her fiancé Mike Hill.
It was meant to be a celebratory meal, with the outing filmed back in July, just days after Bailey and Hill got engaged. But in between courses, the conversation got tense as the hot topic of a prenuptial agreement was brought up.
Burruss was advocate for one, having gone through the battle to get Tucker to sign a prenup before the two said their “I dos” in 2014.
“We all feel like we’re going to be together forever, right? And to me, a prenup is just like insurance. You never want to use it but you want to have it just in case,” she explained. “I feel like, I would rather us work out what is going to happen when we’re in a good place, rather than when you’re in a bad place and you turn into somebody that I don’t know.”
Moore, 48, agreed, but said that Daly, 49, had a different option before they tied the knot in June 2017.
“You know, Marc didn’t want a prenup. We don’t have one. Like, he wouldn’t even have the conversation,” Moore said, adding that Marc said he “didn’t want one” when she tried to bring up the topic. “That’s how strongly he felt about it.”
Why was Daly so against it? He explained: “We never had a discussion about [a] prenup because for me, you bring up prenup to me, it’s over,” he said. ” I’m not going to marry someone who has a prenup. If you’re with me, you’re all the way with me or you’re not with me.”
The restauranteur only doubled down on that opinion when asked more about it, specifically what he would do if he and Moore split and she tried to take part of his business.
“You know what I told her? ‘You can have it. I’ll build another one,'” Daly said. “I told her that. ‘You can have everything, just take it all. You can take everything I don’t care. I built it from scratch, I can do it again.'”
That was very different from Moore’s perspective.
“I started off my career in the entertainment industry,” she said. “I was a corporation since I was 17 years old. I’m a self-made person. If you helped me build something, that’s different.”
But Daly argued with Moore, even claiming that her Kenya Moore Hair Care was “a little messy” when he first met her. “I helped you fix it,” he said. “That’s what we do!”
That didn’t sit well with Moore. “What?” she said. “Excuse me!?”
“Marc’s a dirty player,” she told audiences. “He’s the type of person who will grab dirt off the ground and throw it in your face.”
Elsewhere during the dinner, Daly and Moore bickered over what he dubbed her penchant for “flash.”
“We’re different in a lot of ways. Kenya likes a little flash,” he said. “Opposites attract. You got to respect people for their differences. It’s fine, but for me, I don’t want to be flashy. The flash is not real.”
“I don’t necessarily think I like flash,” Moore said. “I’m a self-made person and I’m very proud of that factor.”
As an example, the two pointed to a conversation they had before the wed about Moore’s desire to drive a Bentley.
“I said, ‘Let’s take care of the house before we take care of the Bentley.’ It’s priorities,” noted Daly.
“But my house is paid for, so if I want to buy a car, it’s my money,” snapped Moore. “If I want to buy a Bentley, so be it.”
In the end, even Bailey remarked on their back and forth.
“One of the biggest issues between Kenya and Marc is, Kenya is a big personality but Marc is a strong personality,” said Bailey. “Somebody’s got to bend and somebody’s got to give. And I don’t see either one of them bending and giving.”
“It is with profound sadness that I regret to inform my fans that I am divorcing my husband Marc Daly,” Moore said. “Due to recent and ongoing circumstances, I can no longer continue in the marriage. My sole concern and focus is and will always be my daughter, Brooklyn, my miracle baby. She was made in love and true commitment. I ask for our privacy to be respected moving forward.”
Said Daly: “I have come to the difficult decision to separate from Kenya at this time. Our daughter has two parents that love her very much and in her best interests, this situation should remain as private as possible. I cherish our family’s good times together and will continue to co-parent in a loving way. Rumors, innuendo or false accusations only serve to hurt our family and will be addressed through counsel as the law permits. Please respect our privacy during this challenging period.”
Since then, the couple has been amicably co-parenting their daughter Brooklyn, and were even together in November to celebrate her 1st birthday.
Days before that, Moore said she was hopeful she and Daly could find a way back together, but only if they can work through their communication issues.
“I didn’t get married to quit,” she said. “I love my husband. I don’t doubt that he loves me. Let me be clear, I took my vows seriously. I believe in for better and for worse and I believe in trying it all before you walk away, especially when we do have a child and we are a family.”
The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sundays (8 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
#Empire: Taraji P. Henson Shares Snap Of Herself In An Ugly Christmas Sweater On Set!
Actress Taraji P. Henson surprised her 15 million Instagram followers with a festive update that featured her in seasonal attire on the set of her hit show, Empire. Her adorable dog, K Ball, was by her side, also dressed up in his holiday best.
In the snap, Taraji leaned against a pile of gear with the show’s name on the side of one of the pieces. The ground featured plain beige rugs and a black curtain was visible behind her. Though her surroundings were neutral, Taraji herself was a burst of color in an ugly Christmas sweater.
The actress rocked a forest green sweater that had long sleeves and came to just below her booty, almost turning it into a sweater dress. She paired the green top with black leggings or tights and some shiny gold boots. The sweater itself was covered with all types of seasonal embellishments. Gold tinsel was wrapped around her arms, crossed her chest, and ran along the hem of the sweater. Small ornaments and holiday embellishments were scattered along the front and the arms and even had functioning lights. Taraji’s hair was down and she wore a red, white, and green hat with a red pom pom on top to complete the ensemble.
Her dog K Ball stood on top of the pile of gear and had on his own red and green outfit. Taraji smiled for the camera and seemed to be having a blast in the festive ensemble. She told her fans in the caption that both she and her dog were styled by Apryl Henson, whose Instagram bio identifies her as “the personal assistant to Taraji P. Henson.”
Taraji’s fans couldn’t get enough of the fun, festive post and it racked up over 171,200 likes within just 22 hours. Even Mariah Carey, the pop star behind the Christmas classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” liked the post.
Many of Taraji’s fans took to the comments section to compliment the silly seasonal outfit — and praise her cute dog.
“K Ball is ADORABLE!!!” one follower commented, drawn to her canine companion.
“Screamingggg. Y’all so cute I love it,” another fan said.
“One of my favorite parts to the holiday! Long live ugly/cute Christmas sweaters!!!!!!” a third social media user said who appeared to be feeling her festive vibe.
“Omg, I love that sweater dress! I want one like that to wear to my company Christmas party!” gushed a fourth fan.
Taraji isn’t afraid to have a little fun with her fashion choices, as she has demonstrated before. A few months ago, as The Inquisitr reported, the actress celebrated her 49th birthday with a retro roller-rink party. She shared several snaps of the birthday bash on Instagram, including pictures in which she rocked shiny pink short shorts, a silver tube top, bedazzled fishnet stockings, and roller skates. She even kept the accessories retro, adding fishnet gloves, neon glasses, and a headband.
#NewMusic: RL (of Next) – Christmas Mornin’!
RL from the legendary group Next checks in for the holidays with his new original Christmas song “Christmas Mornin'”. The song is a collaboration with his frequent production partner Brian “B-Flat” Cook, the duo who created the hit song “Pull Up” for Lil Duval.
LISTEN HERE
The song is currently available as a free download from RL and Cook as a thank you to their fans for years of support.
As you can immediately hear from listening, this is not your traditional holiday song! “Christmas Mornin'” is tailor made for the bedroom as RL croons about the good love he’s going to give his woman for a Christmas gift.
#HipHopNews: Gucci Mane Returns With ‘East Atlanta Santa 3’!
After releasing Delusions of Grandeur and Woptober II earlier this year, Gucci Mane caps off 2019 with his third album, East Atlanta Santa 3.
The fourth installment in his beloved holiday series kicks off with “Jingle Bales Intro” before St. Nick Brick serves up Xmas trap tunes like “Drummer,” “12 Days of Christmas,” and “Snow,” which samples Boyz II Men’s “Let It Snow.” Gucci also invites some friends to his party including Jason Derulo (“More”), Asian Doll (“Magic City”), Rich the Kid (“She Miss Me”), and Quavo (“Tony” and “Slide”).
LISTEN HERE
East Atlanta Santa 3 is the follow-up to 2016’s The Return of East Atlanta Santa, which debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard 200. Prior to that, Gucci dropped East Atlanta Santa 2: The Night Guwop Stole X-Mas in 2015 and East Atlanta Santa in 2014.
Bill Cosby's spokesman calls Eddie Murphy a 'Hollywood slave' after SNL appearance!
A spokesman for Bill Cosby has fired back at Eddie Murphy after the comedian made jokes at Cosby's expense during his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live.
Murphy compared his current situation to Cosby's, who's serving three to 10 years in prison after being found guilty in April 2018 on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home in 2004. Earlier this month, a Pennsylvania appeals court upheld the conviction.
"But if you would have told me 30 years ago that I would be this boring, stay-at-home ... house dad and Bill Cosby would be in jail," Murphy said to laughter, "even I would have took that bet."
"Who is America's Dad now?" Murphy added, impersonating Cosby's Cliff Huxtable, the sitcom character who was once often referred to as America's Dad.
In a statement released Sunday, Cosby's spokesman Andrew Wyatt criticized Murphy for the jokes, saying it was Cosby who "broke color barriers in the Entertainment Industry" so that Murphy and other comedians like Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart could perform.
Murphy's jokes were "disparaging," the statement said, adding, "One would think that Mr. Murphy was given his freedom to leave the plantation, so that he could make his own decisions; but he decided to sell himself back to being a Hollywood Slave."
Wyatt's statement then appeared to accuse Murphy of perpetuating racial stereotypes by saying he was "cooning" and comparing him to Stepin Fetchit, the stage name of actor Lincoln Perry, who embodied racist cliches.
"Remember, Mr. Murphy, that Bill Cosby became legendary because he used comedy to humanize all races, religions and genders; but your attacking Mr. Cosby helps you embark on just becoming click bait," Wyatt's statement said.
"Hopefully, you will be amenable to having a meeting of the minds conversation," the statement said, "in order to discuss how we can use our collective platforms to enhance Black people rather than bringing all of us down together."
French fashion designer Emanuel Ungaro dead at 86!
French fashion designer Emanuel Ungaro, who was known for his use of vibrant color, mixed prints and elegant draping, has died at the age of 86.
Ungaro’s death was confirmed Sunday by the eponymous Paris fashion house he founded in 1965, which said in an Instagram post that he “will remain in our memories as the Master of sensuality, of color and flamboyance.”
The designer died Saturday in Paris, according to French media.
Born in the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence in 1933, Ungaro learned to sew from his father, an Italian tailor.
When he was 23 years old, he moved to Paris. Two years later, he started working as an assistant to Spanish fashion designer Cristobal Balenciaga. Ungaro then worked for a couple of years for the Courreges house before creating his own company.
For decades, Ungaro clothed celebrities and actresses, including Jacqueline Kennedy, Gena Rowlands and Catherine Deneuve.
In 1996, he sold his house to the Italian group Ferragamo. He kept creating collections and retired in 2004.
He is survived by his wife and their daughter.
Joshua Jackson & Jodie Turner-Smith Step Out for First Time Since Getting Married!
Joshua Jackson and Jodie Turner-Smith are enjoying a day out as a married couple!
The 41-year-old Dawson’s Creek actor and the 33-year-old Queen & Slim actress picked up lunch to go on Sunday afternoon (December 22) in Los Angeles.
Joshua kept things casual in a black sweats – and you can see him wearing a wedding ring! – while Jodie tried to keep a low profile under a hat paired with an orange outfit.
A few days before, it was reported that Joshua and Jodie are married AND expecting their first child together!
Joshua and Jodie have been together for a little over a year
Dababy Responds To Alleged Nude Video Leak!
DaBaby is the latest rapper caught up in a NSFW video leak scandal and now the 2019 XXL Freshman is addressing the matter.
On Saturday (Dec. 21), DaBaby became a trending topic on Twitter after a nude video of a man purported to be the North Carolina MC hit the internet. In the video in question, a man many people on Twitter believed to be DaBaby can be seen from the chest down with his erect penis exposed. The person, or audio of DaBaby, can be heard rapping DaBaby’s lyrics from his verse on Stunna 4 Vegas' song “Animal.”
“Know you not s'posed to touch me, I keep it pimpin'/Make my bitch beat her up,” DaBaby’s voice raps in the seven-second clip.
According to the "Bop" rapper, the video is not him, which means someone may have dubbed his audio with the video. Early Sunday morning (Dec. 22), DaBaby hopped on Twitter to address the uproar.
"Ion send nudes," he posted on Twitter.
Despite the video apparently not being of the rapper, Twitter had a field day with reactions to the X-rated clip.
Coincidentally, the alleged DaBaby nude leak comes on the heels of A$AP Rocky having to deny he was in a sex tape that made its way online last week. He had more of a sense of humor about the whole situation.
In other DaBaby-related news, the rapper closed out a stellar year by making Forbes' 2020 30 Under 30 list. He was also recently nominated for two 2020 Grammy Awards.
Beyoncé's Latest Feline-Inspired Fashion Looks Are Both Fierce and Fun!
You never know when Queen B is going to surprise and bless us with her social media presence but today was our lucky day.
As pop culture fans prepare their last-minute holiday gifts and get ready for some much-needed time off work, the "Run the World" singer is channeling her inner Sasha Fierce for the 'gram.
Donning a custom Duckie Confetti leopard print corset, pencil skirt, and gloves, Queen B's latest feline-inspired look is one for the books. She also accessorized the fierce look with matching gloves, heels, and a pair of white cat-eye sunglasses.
The singer also wore a clutch and emerald statement chandelier earrings. As for her makeup look, the "Partition" singer kept it neutral wearing a nude shade on her lips and a subtle smokey eye.
While it's unclear where Queen B was headed to in this fabulous getup, it looks like she's got a busy weekend going on.
#BoxOfficeNews: 'Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker' Delivers $175.5M Debut While 'Cats' CATNIPPED TO #4!
Disney's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker led the weekend box office, though there is likely to be a bit of pushing and pulling from analysts as to whether the film's $175.5 million debut is a worthy opening for the final installment in the now 42-year-old Skywalker saga. Meanwhile, Universal's Cats fell well short of expectations and appears to have already been left out in the rain.
With a $175.5 million three-day debut, Disney's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker delivered the third largest December opening of all-time. While the performance tops the studio's conservative, $165 million opening, many expected the film to top $200 million for the weekend and the slide to $175.5 million is a bit below where expectations were just yesterday, when it appeared the film would open anywhere from $190-195 million after Friday estimates. The slide began following the film's opening day, which was pretty much on par with recent Star Wars releases, which saw preview grosses making up 44% of the film's opening day. However, it is the only Star Wars release of the five released by Disney thus far, to see the Friday gross make up over 50% of the film's total opening weekend, which brings into question what kind of impact word of mouth will have on the film's final gross.
While The Force Awakens and Rogue One saw multiples that came in at 3.78x and 3.43x respectively, The Last Jedi and Solo could only muster multiples finishing at 2.82x and 2.53x respectively. That said, the four previous Star Wars releases saw multiples averaging 3.14x, which would give The Rise of Skywalker a $551 million domestic run, which is hardly a small number, but it does show a downward trend for the brand following the massive performance for The Force Awakens in 2015. Of this weekend's audience, 59% were male and 64% of the crowd was aged 25 or older, all of which pretty much lines up with the last four Star Wars releases, though the film's "B+" CinemaScore is the first Star Wars film outside of 2008's animated Clone Wars to receive a CinemaScore outside the "A" range.
Internationally, Rise of Skywalker delivered a $198 million debut overseas from 52 markets, giving the film a $373.5 million global launch. Leading the way was the UK with a $26.8 million opening followed by Germany ($21.8m), France ($15.2m), Japan ($14.6m), Australia ($12.6m), China ($12.1m), Spain ($7.6m), Mexico ($7.4m), Brazil ($5.9m), Italy ($5.9m), Russia ($5.8m) and Sweden ($4.6m). The film is now open in 98% of the international marketplace with January debuts still set for Vietnam, Korea and the Philippines.
In second, Sony's Jumanji: The Next Level dipped -56%, bringing in an estimated $26.1 million for a domestic cume that now tops $101 million after ten days in release. The performance is significantly below Mojo's pre-weekend expectations, which were perhaps a bit unfair given the release of a new Star Wars film, but it will be interesting to see how Jumaji progresses over the next couple days as Christmas Day is one of the biggest movie going days of the year. The first Jumanji feature fared very well in the face of The Last Jedi two years ago and perhaps with the debut of Rise of Skywalker out of the way, audiences will again turn their attention to Sony's adventure comedy over the coming days.
Internationally, Jumanji added another $32.6 million from 52 markets this weekend, bringing the film's overseas cume to $210 million for a global tally that now stands at $312 million. The film will debut in Italy and Australia in the coming days, finishing in Brazil in mid-January.
Disney's Frozen II landed in third with an estimated $12.3 million giving the animated feature a domestic cume that now now stands at $386.5 million. Internationally the film's cume is now over $717 million for a global tally reaching $1.103 billion, making it the fourth largest animated release of all time worldwide, passing Despicable Me 3 ($1.035b), Toy Story 3 ($1.067b) and Toy Story 4 ($1.074b).
Landing in fourth position is Universal's Cats with a disappointing $6.5 million from 3,380 locations, ranking in the top twenty among worst openings all-time for a film playing in over 3,000 locations. Negative reviews for the film heading into the weekend were met with a disappointing "C+" CinemaScore from opening day audiences and the film continued to lose momentum from there. Internationally it opened in the UK this weekend with an estimated $4.4 million for a global launch just shy of $11 million. Cats expands next week in 37 markets including France, Australia, Germany, Korea and Mexico, and continues its international rollout through February.
Rounding out the top five is Lionsgate's Knives Out with an estimated $6.1 million for a domestic cume that now stands at $89.5 million. Internationally the film added another $6.4 million for an overseas cume that now stands at $96 million for a global tally reaching $185.6 million with January releases in Germany and Japan still to come.
Britney Spears And Sam Asghari Cuddle Up In Front Of A Giant Christmas Tree!
Sony Pictures' "Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood" Los Angeles Premiere - Red Carpet
Christmas is just a few days away, and Britney Spears and her boyfriend Sam Asghari showed their festive spirit by sharing a photo of themselves posed in front of a gigantic Christmas tree inside the pop star's Thousand Oaks home on their Instagram feeds.
Spears kept her caption nice and simple. "Merry Christmas," she wrote, tagging her 25-year-old beau.
The model took a funnier approach with his caption. "She got mad at me so she gave my number to all the kids and told them it was Santa’s hotline 😂🎄🎁" he wrote, tagging his girlfriend.
As Entertainment Tonight reports, Spears will spend Christmas Eve with her sons 14-year-old Sean Preston and 13-year-old Jayden James; however, they'll be spending the rest of the week, including Christmas Day, with their father Kevin Federline.
The 38-year-old reportedly plans to fight for more time with her kids in the new year. She and her ex-husband split custody 50-50 until a judge ruled in Federline's favor in September, reducing Spears' custodial rights to 30 percent.
“Britney’s goal in the new year is to go to family court and petition the judge for increased custody time with the boys,” a source told Us Weekly earlier this month.
Ex Fort Worth Cop Aaron Dean Indicted For Murder Of Atatiana Jefferson!
Aaron Dean, the ex Forth Worth police officer who gunned down Atatiana Jefferson in her home, was indicted for her murder on Friday.
Ex Fort Worth Cop Aaron Dean Indicted For Murder Of Atatiana Jefferson
Aaron Dean, the ex Forth Worth police officer who gunned down Atatiana Jefferson in her home, was indicted for her murder on Friday, December 20.
Dean was conducting a welfare check after Jefferson’s neighbor, James Smith, called the non-emergency line because her door was ajar and the lights were on around 2 a.m. on October 12, 2019.
The officer’s body cam showed he fired the fatal shot, striking Atatiana through a window, just two seconds after calling out a command towards her.
Aaron Dean resigned two days after fatally shooting Atatiana.
Ashley Carr, Atatiana’s sister, spoke out at a press conference following the indictment saying, “When I heard it, it was definitely surreal because it was kind of facing the fact that this is the reality we are having to face at this moment.”
The family’s attorney, Lee Merritt, took to Twitter writing:
The former @CityofFortWorth cop that shot #AtatianaJefferson to death in her home was indicted for murder by a Tarrant County Grand Jury today! Atatiana’s family is relived but remain cautious that a conviction and appropriate sentence is still a long way away. Keep pushing.
Please send up a prayer that this family gets justice for Atatiana Jefferson’s senseless murder.
Chris Tucker Plays Secret Santa at Georgia School, Surprises Students With Gifts!
Chris Tucker put smiles on the faces of a lot of children and their parents at Henry County Middle School in the Atlanta suburb of McDonough, Georgia, on Thursday, Dec. 19.
He did it by donating hundreds of gifts to students for the holidays. At the beginning of the school year, the children were asked to sign a Christmas wish list, but it wasn’t known that Tucker would be their Secret Santa. In total, about 300 Henry County families received gifts at the school, which were waiting for them when they arrived.
The actor and comedian, who’s probably best known for playing detective James Carter in the “Rush Hour” films, has his own 501(c)(3) organization called the Chris Tucker Foundation. And it was through that foundation that he donated the toys.
Reportedly, Tucker got all of the gifts together in under six short days.
“We raise money all year to do things like this, and if anybody needs something we want to help out,” he told WSB-TV in Atlanta. “The little we can do, if that makes them happy, it makes me happy.”
Besides swooping in with new toys for schoolchildren, Tucker’s foundation also puts on a musical theater program for kids ages 7-17 called “Camp Spotlight.”
Plus, each year he gives scholarships for people pursuing a two- or four-year degree. And he works with New Life Tabernacle Church of God In Christ in Atlanta to help combat homelessness.
Some of the toys the children received included bicycles, “Star Wars” action figures and scooters, which they started enjoying right on the spot.
AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES
‘THE CHRISTMAS CLYDESDALE’
Not every horse makes the big leagues of Budweiser. Some gotta earn a living at Walmart.
EGGPLANT NATION: Meet Eli
Meet Eli! You can see more when GO HERE TO SEE THE PICS! And remember they’re NSFW!
DISCLAIMER: WE DO NOT OWN any images posted on this blog. All images are found online or submitted.
Enjoy!
HAVE A GREAT DAY EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!
EFREM
No comments:
Post a Comment