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You hit the nail on the head Jim man! It's clear as day he's afraid to fail with his music and man that is so worrying just put something out it doesn't have to be Big Willie Style of success he's is letting all of us down and it's so sad i got so excited when he posted that freestyle and at the en of the video it said new music soon i guess not

I understand obliations but man this is disappointing Will says his first love is hip hop really hard seeing that with things like this

Will Smith jets to Saudi Arabia to attend AlUla Camel Cup https://www.arabnews.com/node/2270851/lifestyle

‘Bel-Air’ Renewed for Season 3 at Peacock https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/bel-air-renewed-season-3-peacock-1235557658/

Hopefully now that Rock put his stuff out there this whole thing can be put in the past.

Vanessa Hudgens Returns For ‘Bad Boys 4’ https://deadline.com/2023/03/vanessa-hudgens-bad-boys-will-smith-martin-lawrence-1235299091/

This was very disappointing, Bad Boys hadn't started filming so ?uestlove's excuse doesn't stack up. Besides that the performance was amazing until it got to the post 2000s and mumble rap.

Will Smith Raps 'Just the Two of Us' with 10-Year-Old Bass Player Ellen Alaverdyan: 'Fantastic' Tracey Harrington McCoy Fri, March 10, 2023 at 10:21 AM EST will smith, Ellen Alaverdyan will smith/instagram Will Smith and Ellen Alaverdyan Will Smith is gettin' jiggy with it again. The musician and actor posted a video of himself rapping his hit song "Just the Two of Us" alongside 10-year-old bass player Ellen Alaverdyan on Instagram. The young musician — who boasts close to 200,000 followers on Instagram — regularly posts videos performing hit songs, and in January, she shared a video playing the bass line of "Just the Two of Us." On Thursday, Smith, 54, shared an update to her video that included him rapping his 1998 hit as she played the bass. "Wow!! @ellenplaysbass, this is FANTASTIC. You are the Sweetest!" he wrote alongside the video. He also tagged singer Jac Ross and jazz pianist Eric Lewis, asking them to "put somethin' on it" — and Ross did just that, sharing his rendition of the song later on Thursday and adding his vocals to Smith and Ellen's version. "@willsmith THANK YOU FOR THIS MAGIC ❤️❤️❤️," Ellen captioned a repost of Smith's video, writing in a comment of his original post, "❤️❤️❤️❤️ THANK YOU WILL." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. It's been a while since Smith has performed. He was set to make his musical comeback at the Grammys last month, but had to cancel the surprise. The Fresh Prince was originally supposed to be part of the awards' 50th anniversary of hip-hop tribute performance, Questlove — who produced the over-10-minute-long performance — told Variety. Host Trevor Noah had previously insinuated there would be a few surprise performances, but Smith had to drop out after starting to shoot Bad Boys 4. "I'll give the spoiler alert away. Will Smith was a part of the festivities tonight, but they started shooting Bad Boys 4 this week," Questlove, 52, told Variety on the red carpet. "There were a lot of preliminary shots that he had to do, so we had to lose Will." Smith and Martin Lawrence announced that Bad Boys 4 was officially happening on Jan 31. The franchise stars shared the news on their respective Instagram accounts, posting the same video that they each captioned, "IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME!" The clip began with Smith recording himself as he drove to Lawrence's home, telling viewers that he was going to provide a "hint" as to what his big news was — before "Shake Ya Tailfeather" by Nelly, Diddy and Murphy Lee, from the Bad Boys II soundtrack, began playing through the speakers. "I wish I was you not knowing what I'm about to show me," the Oscar winner told the camera. Upon arriving at his costar's home, Smith greeted Lawrence, 57, who opened the door and asked with a smile, "It's about that time?" After the two cheered and embraced, Smith turned the camera on them both and confirmed jubilantly, "It's about that time!" "It's official, y'all," he continued, confirming production on the fourth film. "Bad boys for life, baby!" https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/smith-raps-just-two-us-152104091.html?ncid=facebook_yahooenter_yxwbqqk7sto&fbclid=IwAR2epogn5BwIjzoY5oeEmouchda_MnHKTb5M1aRWiF6DpNFliGMF3hNmpCM

Sources say Will is poised to shoot Sony’s “Bad Boys 4“ and Netflix’s “Fast and Loose” back to back. https://variety.com/2023/film/news/will-smith-chris-rock-oscars-slap-bad-boys-4-netflix-fast-and-loose-career-fallout-1235549487

Thank you Tim! For sharing!

**** Chris Will apologizes like a man and what does this bitter son of a bitch do **** Chris

Review: Chris Rock becomes a sad old man yelling at clouds in live Netflix special https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/review-chris-rock-becomes-sad-052019169.html

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/chris-rock-selective-outrage-review-netflix-live-will-smith-1235341301/ ‘Chris Rock: Selective Outrage’ Review: Despite Scathing Will Smith Material, Live Netflix Special Feels Conspicuously Canned The comic addressed Will Smith and wokeness in his new comedy special, which aired live with a pre-show and post-show. BY DANIEL FIENBERG MARCH 4, 2023 10:56PM Chris Rock during his live Netflix special, 'Selective Outrage' COURTESY OF KIRILL BICHUTSKY/NETFLIX One day, a century from now, somebody will be checking out Netflix’s Chris Rock: Selective Outrage special. They’ll be doing it on a streaming service dedicated to serving viewers their entertainment in five- or ten-minute chunks — quick bites, as it were — because that will be the way everybody will be ingesting their entertainment in 2123. That person won’t be watching with any interest in the timeliness of the special. They won’t be watching with any hunger for what Chris Rock had to say about wokeness or Will Smith, because if we’re still talking about cancel culture and Slapgate in 2123, that will make mushroom zombies look like utopia. But anyway, they’re gonna be watching and they’re going to very, very briefly be confused by Rock doing a joke about how Slapgate started when Jada Pinkett Smith got pissed off that Will Smith didn’t get an Oscar nomination for Emancipation. And they’re going to be so darned confused. For five seconds. “Not Emancipation. I ****ed up the joke. Concussion,” Rock said, quickly realizing that the punchline on his horizon involved Smith not getting a nomination for Concussion and then … giving him a concussion. And that, kids, is the beauty of live TV. Netflix attempted to build a live stunt out of Rock doing stand-up material that he’s been doing on the road for 10 months, and the only thing that would tell you the special was live was — after making viewers wait 61 minutes for the inevitable Will Smith material — Rock ****ing up the joke. A joke he’s probably made around the country dozens of times. It’s not judgment, by the way, to note that a comedy special is the filmed version of an oft-repeated, highly refined stand-up set. If there’s ever been a comic who did an entirely improvised filmed special, I don’t know who it was — but then again, there’s very rarely been a comic whose workshopped reactions to a very public event were getting printed in newspapers in every city he went to. “Chris Rock Breaks His Silence on Oscars Slap” is a headline I’m sure you’re going to see on every website in the known universe, which will then repeat the punchlines that journalists in Phoenix and Shreveport and Atlanta reported when Rock made those jokes on the road. Sure, “breaks his silence on national TV,” or whatever it is Netflix is. But this prior workshopping is how I already knew, going into the Netflix special, that Rock was going to make the joke about their respective differences in stature, noting that even in animation, Smith was a shark and Rock was a zebra. This is a joke he has made repeatedly, and nobody cares that in Shark Tale, Smith voices a TINY little fish who hangs out with the shark voiced by Jack Black. For live TV, Chris Rock will correct the Concussion/Emancipation joke, but he’ll keep perpetrating lies about Shark Tale. Anyway, as for the actual Will Smith material that everybody was waiting for? Yeah, Rock went off, mostly blaming Jada Pinkett Smith for the whole thing and mocking Will for taking out his frustration about his wife’s very public cuckolding conversations on him. “That is some bitch-ass ****,” Rock said. Not controversial, but pointed. I could talk about the text of the special itself, but I’m a TV critic and not a comedy critic. I could point out that a shocking amount of Rock’s material felt somewhere between dated and embalmed. That was a very long run of jokes about Elon Musk’s sperm. That was a weirdly stale series of jokes about the Kardashians and O.J. Simpson. And it’s all fine and well to make jokes about victimization culture in 2023, but it’s material that’s funnier if you didn’t watch Rock’s last Netflix special, Tamborine, in which the entire second half was Rock lamenting his status as the victim in his recent divorce settlement. The stuff about people getting triggered and woke corporations that started the show? Not awful. Just stale. Material that has been done to death by 50 late-night comics and other comedians who got their new specials out earlier. Rock is a provocateur, darnit! Nothing in Selective Outrage raised my hackles. I didn’t even get a semi-hackle. My hackles were flaccid. Like Rock’s “Why didn’t Meghan Markle Google the royal family?” bit? The number of people on Twitter who made that joke when Meghan sat down with Oprah and then during her Netflix documentary and every day in between could be in the millions. The thing you have to remember: Rock’s version of the stalest and oldest jokes will always be written better than 99 percent of the comics out there and delivered better than 100 percent of them. Rock is, in this current landscape, a stand-up without peer. This will probably, however, be the first Rock stand-up special ever that didn’t have a moment or many moments that instantly embedded themselves in the culture. The culture moves fast. That’s part of why Netflix wanted to accentuate the liveness of this special, complete with a pre-show that nobody needed and a post-show that, well, nobody needed. Ronny Chieng’s intro to the pre-show, mind you, was fantastic. “We’re doing a comedy show. On Saturday night. Live. Genius,” Chieng deadpanned, mocking Netflix’s “innovation” here. That was pretty good. The post-show had some good moments as well, especially everybody on the panel making fun of nominal hosts David Spade and Dana Carvey for the strangeness of two white guys orchestrating the analysis of jokes by a Black comedian. The real joke, though, is how unnecessary post-comedy-special analysis turns out to be in the first place. That, again, is what Twitter is for! As for how the liveness impacted the show on a formal level? Well, the easiest thing to do is go back and watch Tamborine, a generally uneven but frequently brilliant special that’s notable for how fantastically directed it is. Bo Burnham made a Chris Rock special that looked like no previous Chris Rock special. There are so many close-ups. Almost all close-ups for long stretches. The lighting is impressively evocative. It’s a moody piece of material, and it looks moody! The camera is in exactly the right place to catch every micro-expression when subtlety is the thing Rock is going for, and every piece of physical comedy when he dances or mimes oral sex. Chris Rock comedy specials have been really well-directed as a rule, and “comedy special direction” isn’t a thing we talk about very often. Give it up to Keith Truesdell for capturing the almost feral, prowling intensity of a young Rock in Bigger & Blacker. Or to Joel Gallen for reflecting the more mature version of Rock a few years later in Never Scare. Gallen was back behind the camera on Selective Outrage and he just got beat down by live-ness. I can’t say whether or not every Rock performance on his recent tour has been as overlit as this one, but it was like the comic was standing in the floodlights for 72 minutes tonight and the only reasonable justification was that it’s just easier to film if you don’t need to worry about what happens when the performer wanders into a shadow or fails to travel in perfect unison with the spotlight. Instead, Rock was blandly and perfectly over-illuminated every second. Again, go back to Tamborine and see what Burnham accomplished. It’s darned artistic. Then again, Burnham was lucky enough to be dealing with a slightly more stable piece of Rock self-choreography. Rock began his career as a stage-marcher, going back and forth and back and forth. He seemed to slow and mellow with age. For Selective Outrage? Back to prowling! Back and forth and back and forth! And if you have three or four cameras rolling at all times and you can edit stuff together, that doesn’t need to be a nauseating experience. Here, it was like the primary camera was stuck in the same medium shot, on a tripod, and it just went back and forth and back and forth with him. Like rocking, so to speak, back and forth on a rickety vessel while the audience at Baltimore’s Hippodrome laughed, but never in quite the immersive way we’ve come to expect from crowds at Rock’s specials, which have always been half-entertainment and half-church. A well-directed comedy special gives you, simultaneously, the impression of being in the audience and having access and intimacy that nobody at home (or even in the venue) gets. There was basically none of that intimacy here. It was like watching a comic appearing on The Tonight Show or something where there’s one camera setup and that’s the perspective you get and you accept it because that’s what the format looks like. This was live, but it felt canned. Except for that one moment when Rock confused Concussion and Emancipation. So when you see that guy in 100 years watching Selective Outrage and he gets to the gaffe and he briefly looks confused, that’s when you lean over to him — yes, you’re immortal in this situation, which gives you the right to butt in — and say, “That! That imperfection. That’s the magic of live TV! Oh, and Will Smith was a Bluestreak cleaner wrasse and not a shark in Shark Tale.”

Chris Rock Slams Will Smith in Live Comedy Special for Netflix: “I’m not a victim, baby” "You will never see me on Oprah crying. It's never gonna happen," the comedian said. BY CHRISTY PIÑA MARCH 4, 2023 8:27PM Chris Rock during his live Netflix special, 'Selective Outrage' COURTESY OF KIRILL BICHUTSKY/NETFLIX It was the moment many had been waiting nearly a year for — a chance to hear just how Chris Rock would finally address Will Smith’s Oscar night smackdown of the comedian on the Academy stage with a slap that will live in infamy. Perhaps because Rock knew much of the audience who tuned in were waiting for just that moment, he saved it toward near the end of his set Saturday night during Netflix’s much hyped first live special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage! But when the moment finally came, Rock didn’t hold back — taking down Smith, dragging his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and targeting the couple’s marital issues (in which Pinkett Smith acknowledged a relationship with singer August Alsina as the couple addressed their marriage on an episode of Red Table Talk). “Will Smith practices selective outrage,” Rock told the audience. “Outrage because everybody knows what the **** happened. Everybody that really knows, knows that I have nothing to do with that ****. I didn’t have any entanglements.” He continued, “His wife was ****ing her son’s friend. OK, now, I normally would not talk about this ****, but for some reason, these n—-s put that **** on the internet. I have no idea why two talented people would do something that lowdown. What the ****? And we’ve all been cheated on. Everybody in here has been cheated on. None of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television.” “She hurt him way more than he hurt me. Everybody in the world called him a bitch. I tried to call the mother****er, I tried to call that man and give him my condolences, he didn’t pick up for me.” He continued by listing all the people who called Smith a “bitch” after that interview on Red Table Talk, including Charlamagne Tha God and The View. “Everybody called him a bitch, and who did he hit? Me — a n—a he knows he could beat. That is some bitch ass ****.” While this is not the first time Rock addressed Smith’s slap — much of Saturday’s material was present in his shows as he toured the country over the past year — they were the first comments before a wide audience as Rock headlined Netflix’s first foray into live programming, a global event that featured a pre-show and post show with guests that included Arsenio Hall, Amy Schumer, J.B. Smoove, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dana Carvey and others. “I’m gonna try to do a show tonight without offending nobody,” Rock said, kicking off his stand-up special from Baltimore. “I’m gonna try my best because you never know who’s going to get triggered.” He added he didn’t mind “wokeness” but isn’t a fan of the “selective outrage,” the kind of people who will listen to Michael Jackson but not R. Kelly: “same crime — one of them just got better songs.” Among the topics Rock covered included the Capitol Riots: “White men trying to overthrow the government that they run?” Rock said. “They’re like, ‘Damn, we gotta get them out of office.’ Who? Us?” Later, he touched on the idea that white men felt they were being edged out of power, and joked whether commercials featuring interracial couples were part of their ire. “There’s no Black couples either,” he said. “Every commercial has a mixed-race couple,” adding that he saw a commercial the other day where a Japanese woman was married to a caterpillar. “By the way, speaking of commercials, when did Snoop Dogg become Morgan Freeman?” Rock joked. “I saw a commercial the other day where Snoop was selling reverse mortgages.” But he made it a purpose to note that he loves Snoop Dogg. “I’m not dissing Snoop. The last thing I need is another mad rapper,” he added, to cheers from the crowd. But of course, the rapper who was the main target of the night was Smith, though a good deal of his ire was directed toward Pinkett Smith. Rock recalled when Pinkett Smith had called for Blacks to boycott the Oscars amid the #OscarsSoWhite controversy in 2016; Rock went on to host that year’s show. “She started this ****. She said that me, a ****ing grown ass man, should quit his job because ‘My husband didn’t get nominated for Concussion,‘ and then this n—-a gives me a ****ing concussion.” Toward the end of the special, Rock changed his tone a bit, saying, “I loved Will Smith. My whole life, I loved Will Smith. I saw him open up for Run-D.M.C. … He makes great movies. I have rooted for Will Smith my whole life,” Rock said. “And now I watch Emancipation just to see him get whooped.” Rock used the last minute of Selective Outrage to answer the question he’s gotten a lot since the Slap: Why didn’t you do anything back? “‘Cause I got parents,” Rock said. “‘Cause I was raised. And you know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.” The pre-show featured appearances from fellow comics and Rock’s friends, including Schumer and Jerry Seinfeld. The Daily Show‘s Ronny Chieng hosted the special, with Hall, Deon Cole and Leslie Jones also appearing. Chieng kicked off the night live at Los Angeles’ Comedy Store. “I cannot emphasize how live things are today,” The Daily Show correspondent said. “We are live from two different locations simultaneously, Los Angeles and Baltimore. Why? For absolutely no reason. This is extremely expensive and difficult and irritating.” The comedian also poked fun at how they’re doing a live comedy show on a Saturday night, a concept that has existed for decades, aka Saturday Night Live. Chieng then introduced Hall, who shared how Rock got him back into stand-up. Toward the end of his brief set at the Comedy Store, Hall said that he hopes everyone enjoys the night “because I know somewhere Will Smith will not.” “Trust me. We won’t know this, but I bet you Will Smith slaps the **** out of a TV tonight,” he joked. “He gon’ knock that mother****er off the wall.” Matthew McConaughey, Ali Wong, Woody Harrelson, Paul McCartney, Rosie Perez, Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Hart, Sarah Silverman, Ice-T, Adam Sandler and many others wished Rock luck ahead of his live event. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/chris-rock-will-smith-oscars-slap-netflix-live-stand-up-special-1235341227/

CR has just proved that the moment he went on stage at the Oscars and opened his mouth it was not about any jokes, free speech, comedian thing or any of that IT WAS ALL PERSONAL period. I have no doubt that something happened between the Smiths and him in the past. There are pics of them together here and there until Jada and CR promoted Madagascar and then nothing, zero, null. Coincidence? I don't think so. Fck that guy.

Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel really is an underrated album but man it's been crazy how much traction It's A wrap has been getting twitter has been going nuts on it

The love that JJFP have from Hip Hop that's got to feel good to Will and Jeff Man!

Wow this man is bitter people really hold on to things and never let them go

I really wish this mess would get dropped everybody is ****ting on Will and it's infuriatig

https://www.businessinsider.com/fresh-prince-bel-air-short-peacock-tv-show-will-smith-2023-3?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=entertainment-sf&fbclid=IwAR3Ay8IDP37qfkSoche1D7r2iPEfFDQ18jj4HEHzKFK6itH3BiK8as0uw74 I was promised a part in the 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' remake — instead I left LA jobless and in debt Eboni Boykin-Patterson Mar 2, 2023, 5:05 AM Rufus Burns (left) met DJ Jazzy Jeff at a Kansas City festival in 2019 after the viral "Bel-Air" short film dropped. Jeff played Jazz in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" sitcom, and Burns played Jazz in the short. Courtesy of Rufus Burns Rufus Burns played the role of Jazz in the viral short film 'Bel-Air,' based on the sitcom, 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.' When the television version of the short film was picked up by NBC, Burns believed he'd reprise the role. Burns moved to LA on his own dime and contributed creatively to the show, but was never cast. Top editors give you the stories you want — delivered right to your inbox each weekday. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rufus Burns, a producer who works in Kansas City. Insider has verified Burns' creative involvement in the "Bel-Air" reboot with email correspondence, text messages, and other supporting documentation. His words have been edited for length and clarity. I moved to Kansas City to get my master of fine arts in acting and directing. I'm a classically trained artist. I've spent most of my time since 2012 in Kansas City, working, living, and creating art there. Morgan Cooper — who would eventually become a co-creator, director, and executive producer on "Bel-Air" — and I met in 2018, on a film project. I remember really appreciating our partnership when we first met. We just hit it off, talking about characters and filmmaking in general, and how it can help Black people. We agreed early on that our motto working together would be that our art isn't what we make, it's who we are — because we can make beautiful things, but if it's destroying our community, it's not worth it. It seemed like a great creative match and friendship at the time. In 2018, the idea for a dramatic version of 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' came up We were working on some other projects together and Cooper called me up and said he had an idea for a spec he wanted to shoot. He was like, "I want to do 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' but as a serious drama." And I was like, "Yeah, man, absolutely. I love that." I thought it was the most brilliant idea in the world. He said he wanted me to play Jazz in it (Will's best friend character in the sitcom), which I was excited about. Rufus Burns played Jazz in the viral "Bel-Air" short film. Morgan Cooper/Vimeo We shot what would become the viral short that inspired the 'Bel-Air' reboot in 2018, and I played Jazz. It was a great experience. Six or seven months went by, and Cooper was still working on post-production and stuff for it. We continued to shoot other stuff together — two other films since then. Looking back, I realize that what I really missed out on was the business part of show business. I just wanted to talk shop and pitch ideas — but then he would go and write the ideas down and come back with scripts. I thought it was cool — I liked seeing my ideas come to life. Cooper called me when he went to go meet Will Smith and pitch the show. He showed me the pitch deck, and my character, Jazz, was a big part of it. I had shared part of my own personal story with him to add to the character — I've been blind in my left eye since birth, and we talked about adding that to Jazz's story. He wears sunglasses all the time because it's an insecurity of his. He's committed to overcoming this setback by giving his heart and soul to music and art. That's all my personal experience. When the show was picked up, I had chills — it was incredible to see the impact we had, making this short. Cooper sent me messages like, "Hey man, you're gonna be Jazz in the television version — get ready for your life to change." When I heard him say that, especially with him being attached as the executive producer and co-creator on "Bel-Air," I figured it was a done deal. I proceeded to mold my life around that opportunity. We moved out to LA to start pre-production on 'Bel-Air,' and I worked for free As we started to get closer to pre-production for "Bel-Air," Cooper said I should move out to LA. I thought it made perfect sense — we should be there for when things start to ramp up. I'm playing one of the lead roles after all, right? I should go research my character and learn the area he's from. Cooper had me drive his car, with all of his stuff, out to LA in October of 2020. I could feel that I was putting myself in a vulnerable position, but it felt like the opportunity of a lifetime. You throw all these cautions to the wind, dive in, and give yourself over to it because you're thinking it has to pay off. I was in the writers room Zoom call when they kicked off pre-production for "Bel-Air." I'd sit in the virtual writers room meetings and take notes, do research, and pitch storylines. Cooper would send me scripts that NBC would send him, and have me read them and give my feedback — then I would sit in the meetings and hear him pitch my feedback verbatim to NBC. I didn't see a problem with it at that time. I was just mesmerized, like "Wow, I'm part of something historic," when what I should've been thinking was, "Hey, I should be getting paid for this." But Cooper would say stuff like, "I'm gonna shoot you some bread for this," or "I'll see about getting you paid." It was never, "I'm gonna put you on the show as an employee," though. After a couple of months of me working like this, the show eventually hired a writer's assistant to do what I was doing — and Cooper never followed up about payment or anything. I'm a producer and actor with common sense, but when you have someone in your ear promising you certain things, it's really hard to stop and be like, "Hey, I'm not getting paid for months and months of work and I'm starting to struggle financially." It was a weird balance because it's like, you're my homie, but I'm not eating, and you're eating off all this. During pre-production, we started another project together that feels like it was a distraction from 'Bel-Air,' looking back on it now Cooper and I continued to work on other projects together. He came to me with another idea for a short film that I would star in, which was supposed to take a week to shoot but ultimately turned into three months. Some of it was written and some of it was improvised, so it was a heavy lift that felt like it would go on and on forever, shooting this thing. He sent me $1,000 at the start of the film project we were doing and was like, "Hey man, here's a little bit for the film." I was really struggling at this point because LA is expensive, and I have no job because I'm working with him all the time — so $1,000 wasn't going to help me much. I'm thinking we're biding time until 'Bel-Air' is ready to shoot, so I'm down to keep moving forward with nothing else steady to live on. We got some of the same team together from the viral "Bel-Air" short, and we all worked on this feature film together while pre-production continued on the TV show. We'd all been offered the opportunity to be part of "Bel-Air" in some form or another — to be seen by casting for a role, or to apply for crew work — so I wasn't the only one fueled by that promise. Months later, in July of 2021, Cooper brings us together and says he's canceling the feature film. His day job ("Bel-Air") was taking up too much of his time and he wouldn't be able to finish the film. So basically, we did all that (unpaid) work for nothing. A producer from the "Bel-Air" short who had been financing the film was offered reimbursement. I wasn't. I'd paid over $12,000 on a months-long Airbnb stay. As that's happening, I see Cooper's posted the production schedule for "Bel-Air'' — and I see it starts shooting in a couple of weeks. I never got to read for or be cast as Jazz, which I was fully expecting was going to happen, so I was wondering how it's possible the cast isn't set when shooting's about to start. That's when I heard whispers from other people involved that "Bel-Air" had already been cast. I'd been part of this project in one way or another for three years — so not getting any word from Cooper about what was going on felt like a real betrayal. We haven't talked since then. A couple of weeks later, the official cast list was released. Jordan L. Jones was cast to play Jazz in the "Bel-Air" series. Peacock/Contributor/Getty Images I was crushed. We were supposed to be boys I felt like that feature film was a distraction to keep me from asking questions and finding out that I wasn't going to be part of the show in any way. I had moved all of Cooper's stuff from Kansas City out to LA, I'd been paying LA rent with no job and living off of nothing but a dream and a prayer. At the same time, I had bills that had accrued during that time. I moved out of LA the first week of August — I just couldn't afford to continue living there. Not only that, I was devastated; I just couldn't be in the area. Cooper did eventually reach out in December of 2021, offering to mend the relationship. It was too little, too late for me. After six months of not speaking, I realized that my friendship was profitable to him — and without him acknowledging what had happened, there was nothing to fix anymore. I have advice for other artists Things looked up for me pretty quickly after returning to Kansas City. I got a full-time gig producing and I've been loving it ever since. I hire actors now, and I see how these artists are feeding themselves on their day rates — so to skip out on somebody's day rate is unimaginable to me, as I look back on the experience I had. I thought about swallowing my story and just taking the L — I learned a lesson, and I'm going to choose to move differently from now on — but I wanted to share this story so other artists can learn this: Somebody's promise isn't going to feed you. If they love you, they'll put it in writing. I also want artists to know that your personal story is important. Don't be so quick to give that up to a director or another producer who can then go make millions of dollars off of it. Editor's note: Insider reached out to both Morgan Cooper and NBC, which owns Peacock, for comment. NBC declined to comment. Cooper and his representatives did not respond to repeated messages. Were you involved in the "Bel-Air" short film? Do you work in Hollywood and have a story to share? Email Eboni Boykin-Patterson at eboykinpatterson@insider.com.

I mostly hate the streaming game. It's just a way to further rob artists and prevent new talent from ever hitting sucess on the charts. However, I do like that it makes music assessable to people and how it makes all content current. Anyway, I thought this was cool. To be honest, I didn't listen to Mariah's 2009 a lot, but I wore out her 2014 album. When this song started finding a new buzz weeks ago, I thought it was from her 2014 album, exclusively. https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/mariah-carey-its-a-wrap-hot-rb-songs-chart-tiktok-1235278892/?fbclid=IwAR25XGECdHBTks6epQu845mNx9gGBlQiDZlvxvKKxpPhkYaaaJAjhUwrjNY TikTok Helps Mariah Carey ‘Wrap’ Up a New Hit on Hot R&B Songs Chart The singer's 2009 track is a new viral hit and is the latest example of an older song reaching the charts thanks to the social media app. By Trevor Anderson 03/2/2023 Mariah Carey photographed on Nov. 8, 2019 at Spring Studios in New York.Ruven Afanador A Mariah Carey track more than a decade old makes its debut on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart, as “It’s a Wrap” arrives at No. 24 on the list dated March 4. The track, first released in 2009, earns its debut after the song became the latest viral hit on TikTok, leading to increased streams and sales. (Activity directly on the TikTok platform does not currently count toward the Billboard charts.) 03/02/2023 “Wrap” earned 3.6 million official U.S. streams in the week ending Feb. 23, according to Luminate, a 4% jump from the week prior. The tune also sold 1,000 downloads in the same period, though a 60% drop from the week before. One week ago, the cut entered the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart at No. 22. With “Wrap,” Carey achieves her 12th visit to the Hot R&B Songs chart, which launched in 2012, well into the superstar’s recording career. On the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, which encompasses Carey’s entire career, she claims 60 appearances since her 1990 debut, including 10 No. 1 hits. “Wrap” first appeared on Carey’s 2009 album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, and surfaced again in a remix form with Mary J. Blige on the deluxe edition of Carey’s 2014 set, Me…I Am Mariah: The Elusive Chanteuse, though it was never released as a single. The song generated attention earlier this year on TikTok, particularly through a sped-up version, that became a common soundtrack on many users’ posts on the social media app. Carey herself has joined the trend, posting a clip of herself and Kim Kardashian, and their daughters, North and Monroe, lip-syncing to the track. Carey’s newest success is the latest example of an older song finding a new audience and streaming gains thanks to TikTok. It has plenty of company on the Hot R&B Songs chart: The Weeknd’s 2016 track “Die for You” sits at No. 3 on the current ranking, Chris Brown’s 2019 track “Under the Influence,” ranks at No. 5, after peaking at No. 2 last November, and Miguel’s “Sure Thing,” a 2011 release is at No. 6. Due to the viral streaming support and fan engagement, “Die for You” and “Sure Thing” were re-promoted to radio stations as official singles, while “Influence” was sent out for the first time. Plus, Justine Skye’s 2014 single “Collide,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, in its own revival on the app, debuted at No. 25 two weeks ago on Hot R&B Songs thanks to its social traction. The wealth extends to other genres too. Songs outside the R&B realm also enjoying a TikTok-fueled rise include Lady Gaga’s 2011 pop cut “Bloody Mary,” at No. 47 on this week’s all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart and rock band Arctic Monkeys’ “505” from their 2007 album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, which climbs one spot to No. 14 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart after having reached a No. 12 best last month.

'He played Muhammad Ali, I played Pookie!': Chris Rock FINALLY breaks his silence on infamous Will Smith Oscars slap in new Netflix special Selective Outrage Rock, 58, participated in workshop set in Charleston this past January, in which he honed material for upcoming special slated to air live from Baltimore He said, 'The thing people want to know ... did it hurt? Hell yeah, it hurt' The Netflix special will air live on March 4 from Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre By ADAM S. LEVY FOR DAILYMAIL.COM PUBLISHED: 19:37 EST, 1 March 2023 | UPDATED: 10:42 EST, 2 March 2023 Chris Rock has opened up for the first time about the infamous Oscars slap he received from Will Smith, in workshopping material for his forthcoming live Netflix special. In a January set in Charleston, South Carolina in preparation for his upcoming Netflix special Selective Outrage, The Wall Street Journal reported that Rock, 58, talked about the incident that dominated talk of the evening. He said, 'The thing people want to know . . . did it hurt? Hell yeah, it hurt;' Rock also referenced their respective roles in the 2001 Smith film Ali and his 1991 movie New Jack City: 'He played Muhammad Ali! I played Pookie!' Continue watchingAdam Sandler makes rare appearance with wife Jackie at SAG Awards 2023 after Rock added, according to The US Sun, 'Even in animated movies, I’m a zebra, he’s a f***ing shark.' Rock referenced one of Smith's rap tracks, saying, 'I got hit so hard I heard Summertime ringing in my ears.' The latest: Chris Rock, 58, has opened up for the first time about the infamous Oscars slap he received from Will Smith, 54. The two were seen March 27, 2022 at the ceremony in LA he special will air live on March 4 from Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre on the streaming service, a week ahead of this year's Academy Awards broadcast March 13. The Oscars exchange between Smith and Rock took place after Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head, saying, 'Jada, I love you, G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it!' The reference was to the 1997 movie which featured Demi Moore with a shaved head. (Pinkett Smith, 51, has diagnosed with alopecia, which causes hair loss.) The Philadelphia-born actor then walked onstage and smacked Rock, then returned to his seat and shouted at him twice, 'Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth!' to a stunned audience. Later in the evening - in his acceptance speech after winning the Best Actor Oscar for his role as tennis patriarch Richard Williams in King Richard - Smith apologized to the Academy and other nominees, but made no reference to Rock. Smith subsequently apologized on multiple occasions over the incident, and resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ahead of being issued a 10-year ban from the Oscars. In an apology he issued in July over the incident in an online clip, Smith said his spouse 'had nothing to do with' his attack on Rock. 'I made a choice on my own from my own experiences, from my history with Chris,' he said. 'I want to say sorry to my kids and my family for the heat that I've brought on all of us. I've reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he's not ready to talk, and when he is he will reach out. So I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable, and I'm here whenever you're ready to talk.' Rock will speak about the infamous award show exchange in his new Netflix special Selective Outrage He referenced their respective roles in the 2001 Smith film Ali and his 1991 movie New Jack City: 'He played Muhammad Ali! I played Pookie!' Smith made international headlines for his outburst toward the comedian at the event at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California The Oscars exchange between Smith and Rock took place after Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head Smith subsequently apologized on multiple occasions over the incident, and resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ahead of being issued a 10-year ban from the Oscars Last month, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced it established a crisis team ahead of this year's March 12 ceremony. 'Because of last year, we've opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars,' Academy CEO Bill Kramer told TIME. Kramer said that the institution has implemented the organization of a group focused on handling emergency situations at the annual event. He said: 'We have a whole crisis team, something we've never had before, and many plans in place. We've run many scenarios. So, it is our hope that we will be prepared for anything that we may not anticipate right now but that we're planning for just in case it does happen.' Kramer said that the return of Jimmy Kimmel as host - the late night star previously hosted in 2017 and 2018 - adds another layer of protection in having a veteran entertainer at the helm of the show. 'That's why you want someone like Jimmy on stage who is used to dealing with live TV: Things don't always go as planned,' Kramer said. 'So you have a host in place who can really pivot and manage those moments... because of last year, we've opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars.' Kramer said that Academy officials 'could have moved more quickly' in their reactions to the incident involving Smith and Rock, both on the evening of the show and in the aftermath. 'This is really our response after the show, and how we spoke about it, and how we talked to Will and Chris, and our hosts and our members,' he said. 'It was a moment to really bring people together.' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11810105/Chris-Rock-speaks-time-infamous-Smith-Oscars-slap-new-Netflix-special.html?ito=social-facebook&fbclid=IwAR0vJfeFcZhX-TSseRWmgF41S7qrBudR54NY5tDGUj5cNVCG42w8mfEfxXY