Arts & Entertainment
Tyler Perry Is “Looking Forward To Telling Unique Stories” As He Signs Deal With Amazon Studios
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Phillip Faraone / Getty Love him or hate him, you have to respect Tyler Perry‘s hustle and work ethic. According to Variety, arguably one of the most successful Black directors in TV and film is now taking his brand to Amazon Studios by signing a four-picture film deal with the platform. That means Perry will write, direct, and produce four new movies for release on Prime Video, which already has a few of Perry’s gems available for streaming such as Daddy’s Little Girls, Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family, For Colored Girls, and, for those trying to get into the holiday spirit, Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas. “I’m excited and grateful to start working with Amazon Studios to bring movies to Prime Video,” Perry said in a statement announcing the deal. ...
Pharrell To Feature Korean Pop Sensation BTS On New Album ‘Phriends’
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Jemal Countess / Getty Legendary producer Pharrell is readying a new album and shared that it will be packed with special surprises including an appearance by multi-platinum superstar group, BTS. Per Rolling Stone, Pharrell and RM from the group sat down for a candid conversation for the magazine where he shared the news about the feature. “Well, my project, it’s called . . . it’s [under] my name, and the title of the album is Phriends. It’s the volume one,” he said. “You guys [BTS] are on there, obviously. And I’m actually talking about this way more than I’m supposed to, but it’s a song from my album that [BTS] sang and it’s amazing, and I’m super grateful.” RM shared the same sentiments, “I f*cking love it.” Per Hypebeast, RM is also finish...
‘The Best Man: The Final Chapters’ Trailer Hits And That Book Is Still Causing Trouble
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Gilbert Carrasquillo / Getty Peacock is giving out an early Christmas gift. The Best Man: The Final Chapters is heading to the streamer on Dec. 22 just before the holiday. A teaser trailer dropped late over the weekend to preview the show. The 8-episode series began with two popular movies, 1999’s The Best Man and 2013’s The Best Man Holiday, helmed by director Malcolm D. Lee. The movies starred Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Sanaa Lathan, Terence Howard, Morris Chestnut, Monica Calhoun, Melissa de Souza, and Harold Perrineau, becoming one of the most beloved of the black rom-coms. In the first movie, Diggs plays Harper, a writer who draws animosity from his college buddies after publishing his first novel Unfinished Business, a thinly disguised version of their l...
Wyclef Jean Joins The Board Of The Harlem Festival Of Culture
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: press handout / Harlem Festival of Culture The award-winning musician Wyclef Jean is the latest major figure to join the group behind the reboot of the iconic music festival, the Harlem Festival of Culture. On Thursday (Oct. 27), the Harlem Festival of Culture announced that the Grammy Award-winning rapper, actor & musician would be joining the organization. The role that he has been appointed to is Chair of the Music Advisory Board. As Chair, the Fugees member will be the main person tasked with bringing in artists to bolster support for the festival from the community and be an advisor to the executive leadership of the group. “I am thrilled to join HFC as Chair of their Music Advisory Board. On a personal note, Harlem has always held a specia...
Grand Re-Re-Reopening: P-Valley Renewed For Third Season
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty Fans of the Starz Network highest-rated show are excited to learn that they will be going back “down to the valley” of Chucalissa, Mississippi—but, it may be a while. P-Valley has been renewed for a third season of 10 episodes about the love and lives of the dancers and staff at The Pynk—described by Vulture as the “little strip club that could.” But, the third season isn’t slated to air until 2024. Creator, showrunner and executive producer Katori Hall said in a statement, “I am blessed beyond measure for this opportunity to write the next chapter of P-Valley. With its complex, dynamic, and beautifully flawed characters, this show is a love letter to marginalized communities in the American South who rarely see t...
Harlem Festival Of Culture Enters Partnership With AMC Networks
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Rudi Von Briel / Getty The Harlem Festival of Culture has entered a new partnership with AMC Networks as they prepare for the launching of their festival next year. AMC Networks announced their commitment with the HFC, which formed in April of this year as a contemporary edition of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, which was chronicled in the Academy Award-winning documentary produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson of The Roots, Summer of Soul(…Or When the Revolution Could Not be Televised). The aim of the new group is to revitalize and celebrate Harlem much as the original festival did. The multi-year deal will see AMC Networks help the HFC put on the inaugural multi-day festival in the summer of 2023, and that will be a tribute to the original festiv...
USC’s All-Black Majorette Dance Team Responds to Online Outrage
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Chris Millard/Warner Bros. / Chris Millard/Warner Bros. The Cardinal Divas were formed out of desire for a safe space for young Black women at the predominantly white University of Southern California. USC junior Princess Isis Lang told The Huffington Post that she had been dancing on majorette teams since middle school and that she wanted to bring some of those experiences into her college life. “I didn’t see a space for Black women, so I created one,” Lang said. “Black people deserve to be seen any and everywhere. They also deserve to take their culture everywhere.” Related Stories However, when Lang posted a video clip of the team performing at the USC vs. Fresno football game last month—she was not prepared for the backlash. The post quick...
Relatives Of Jeffrey Dahmer Victim Blast Netflix For New Series
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Marny Malin / Getty The latest Netflix series focusing on the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer has received criticism, some coming from relatives of those he murdered who feel “retraumatized” by the project. DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story series was released Sept. 21 and it has encountered a wave of mixed reactions, with many expressing their anger and disgust over the way the streaming platform put the series together. Eric Perry, who is related to Errol Lindsey, one of Dahmer’s numerous victims, voiced his displeasure in a post on Twitter: “I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime media is huge rn, but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family (the Isbell’s) are pissed about this show. It’s retraumatizing over and ov...
Gospel Singer Marvin Sapp Shares Past Booger Sugar Use
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Ambre Anderson, Willie Moore Jr. Marvin Sapp, Sheree Whitfield, Lisa W / TV One Bishop Marvin Sapp’s life story has been made into a movie that will debut this Sunday (August 21) on TVOne. In Never Would Have Made It: The Marvin Sapp Story—the Grammy Award-nominated gospel star shares that despite a lifelong dedication to the church, he also experimented with drugs and alcohol. “I’ve always sung gospel music but [that was] because my mother made us go to church,” Sapp told Page Six, “But just because we went to church did not mean the church was in us.” He said, “after my mother and father got divorced I started smoking marijuana daily at the age of twelve,” adding that he started “drinking and popping pills at the age of sixteen and at eighte...
Oscar Winner Viola Davis to Play Lead Villain In ‘Hunger Games’ Prequel
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Joe Maher / Getty The forthcoming Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, will star Academy Award-winner Viola Davis as deranged Head Gamemaker, Dr. Volumnia Gaul. The exciting announcement came from the film’s official Twitter account writing, “Meet your Head Gamemaker. Viola Davis has been cast as Dr. Volumnia Gaul in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – arriving in theaters November 2023.” The Hunger Games movie franchise grossed over $2 billion worldwide. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the prequel’s synopsis reads: “Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a ...
Texas Church Puts On “Unauthorized” ‘Hamilton’ Play And Now Might Be Facing Lawsuits
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Chicago Tribune / Getty You know the Christian church is in decline when it starts resorting to copyright infringement in order to stay relevant. This appears to be the case for The Door Christian Fellowship Ministries in McAllen, Texas, which live-streamed a Bargain Basement version of Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s Hamilton last week. According to NBC News, not only did the church put on its rendition of the famed musical without permission (what happened to “thou shalt not steal,” bro?) but the performance ended with associate pastor, Victor Lopez, equating substance abuse with homosexuality—in 2022. “Maybe you struggle with alcohol, with drugs, homosexuality, maybe you struggle with other things in life, your finances, whatever, relationships,” Lopez said. “God...
Alton Brown Drops Knowledge On The Origin Of Korean Fried Chicken
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: skaman306 / Getty Chef Alton Brown who is a staple of the Food Network and host of several shows had a mic drop moment on Netflix’s Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. The moment came as Brown and co-host Kristen Kish were watching challenger chef Esther Choi and iron chef Marcus Samuelson whip up some dishes, as reported by Blavity. As they noticed Chef Choi dropping stuffed chicken wings into the fryer, Brown said that the challenger was about to serve the judges stuffed Korean fried chicken wings. Kish, who is Korean, added, “Korean fried chicken is by far the best fried chicken on the face of the earth.” “And do you know why?” Brown asked Kish. “Because it was taught to Korean cooks by African American GIs after the World War....
