Activist artists

EXCLUSIVE : Artists First on Friday announced its signing of boxing Hall of Famer, Sugar Ray Leonard . Leonard enjoyed an elite, 20-year career in the ring before being inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in 1997, winning three National Golden Gloves titles, two Amateur Athletic Union championships and the 1975 Pan-American Games crown. He first got into boxing at age 14 and turned professional after winning a gold medal at the 1976 Olympic games, in a last-ditch effort to help his family with medical bills incurred from his father’s hospitalization with meningitis. Leonard won his first professional fight at age 20, then going on to defeat some of the greatest boxers of the modern era, from Wilfred Benetiz to Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, from whom Leonard won the world middleweight title. His boxing career also saw him win world titles in the welterweight, junior middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight division, … [Read more...] about Sugar Ray Leonard Signs With Artists First

TMZ.com Latto seemingly wasn't phased by the fact she can't sell her panties ... she got back into her MC bag performing for Spotify's Best New Artist on Thursday!!! The "Big Energy" rapper was among several performers at the event inside Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood ... and blitzed through a melody of hits dropped by her own DJ Von . She and her backup dancers also put on a twerking display right before wooing the crowd with her signature "Big Energy" banger, which is up for Best Melodic Rap Performance at this year's Grammys!!! Gallery Launch Gallery Getty Latto is also up for Best New Artist at the upcoming awards ... and we can safely say she's capping off a crazy week after nearly becoming $100K richer after attempting to pawn her used underwear on eBay. TMZ.com As we told you, eBay removed the sale of the cheetah-print panties just as it was hitting the six-figure mark, -- potentially giving her manager … [Read more...] about Latto Performs Melody Of Hits At Spotify’s Best New Artist Party

Getty Lil Baby 's 4PF artist Rylo Rodriguez is bound to his double cup by his own admission ... admitting to shelling out nearly $4K a week to feed his lean habit. The Atlanta rapper left Awaiz Dawave speechless when he made the shocking revelation during their chat inside Lenox Square last year, and the footage has slowly been shocking fans across the internet. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. Rylo says it takes him about 3 days to finish a pint of lean ... hence the swift re-up that runs his bank account over $200K annually!!! Rappers getting it out of the mud has become a common practice, but maybe Rylo should take a page out of Sada Baby 's book of sobriety and reroute the course to save his finances ... and his liver. TMZ.com TMZ Hip Hop recently spoke to the Detroit rapper who once had an even bigger budget for his lean excursions ... dropping $20K per week just to go codeine crazy. Sada told us he … [Read more...] about Lil Baby’s Artist Rylo Rodriguez Admits Spending $4K Per Week On Lean

EXCLUSIVE : AGBO , the film and TV company founded by Anthony and Joe Russo , has a new President of Film. Michael Disco , fresh from producing superhero film The Flash , has joined the company in that role. He will oversee the creative and business strategy for AGBO’s film activities. He reports to AGBO’s Chief Creative Officer Angela Russo-Otstot, who was promoted to that role in November. It comes eight months after the company expanded its senior team with hires including Scott Nemes as President of Television. AGBO is behind films including Oscar nominated Everything Everywhere All At Once and Ryan Gosling-fronted The Gray Man as well as the upcoming Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt film The Electric State. For the last couple of years, Disco has been running his own production banner The Disco Factory, in addition to producing The Flash , alongside the Muschietti siblings. Before that he had a 20-year run at New Line, including as EVP, … [Read more...] about Michael Disco Joins Russo Bros’ AGBO As President Of Film

Oscar-nominated All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger has launched a production outfit and struck a first-look deal with Fremantle. Berger has forged Nine Hours with partner Luke Rivett ( The Tomorrow Man) and producer Jeanne Tremsal ( So Long Daddy, See You in Hell) and the indie will make global TV and film projects. Fremantle will house Nine Hours’ TV projects for the next two years as well as being given second-look access to Berger’s new film pipeline. Berger is fresh off the back of nine Oscar nominations for critically-acclaimed Netflix adaptation All Quiet on the Western Front , which has also secured a record 14 BAFTA noms. Other high-profile credits include Patrick Melrose, Your Honor, The Terror and Deutschland 83 , the latter of which he made with Fremantle. “Great drama comes from filmmakers who have an undeniable urge to tell their story,” said Berger. “We intend to find and nourish these filmmakers in their endeavors to … [Read more...] about ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’s Edward Berger Launches Production Outfit & Partners With Fremantle

EXCLUSIVE : Leading boutique firm, the Daniel Hoff Agency, is celebrating an impressive 30-year track record in entertainment via an expansion into Atlanta with a new office to be led by senior agents Renee Banks and Marta Parrillo . Banks and Parrillo are both longtime veterans of the Daniel Hoff Agency who had previously been based in Los Angeles. The agency, with an established presence in both L.A. and New York, now looks to capitalize on the burgeoning hotbed of production in the South, with local agents to bring the personal touch that has been key to the firm’s growth over the decades. Daniel Hoff Agency founder, Daniel Hoff, told Deadline: “Ten years ago, we seized the opportunity to open a Manhattan office with Dave Secor leading the charge, and in 2020, we expanded that New York presence as we brought on power Broadway and musical theater agents Dustin Flores and Marc Anthony Ferre. Now, with the explosive industry investment and growth in the South, … [Read more...] about Daniel Hoff Agency Expands With Addition Of Atlanta Office

Lil Keed 's family has released a new song from the YSL rapper ... nearly one year after his tragic passing from a rare blood cell disorder. Keed's mother, Tonnie "HoodMama" Woods-Reed , lead the charge for the rollout with a heartfelt message of bereavement, but still wanted his fans to have music to attach to their own sorrow. "On May 13, 2022, I lost my son Raqhid Render—who many of you knew as the artist Lil Keed. While this journey through the different phases of grief has been indescribably hard, a way that I have found to cope is through his music." Getty Rapper Lil Keed Dead at 24 She continued, "Right before his passing, Keed was hard at work on what would’ve been his highly anticipated next album, Keed Talk to ’Em 2. As much as he was a great father, son, and friend—he was also an artist who (thanks to many of you) lived and continues to live through his music. With that being said, the time has come to share some of our last pieces of … [Read more...] about Lil Keed’s 1st Posthumous Song ‘Long Way to Go’ Drops

Gallery Launch Gallery Getty It's Grammy weekend once again in Los Angeles, and some of the industry's biggest stars aren't wasting any time in celebrating music's biggest honor. Tons of parties popped up across the city Thursday ... events dedicated to the rookies of the biz and even some dedicated to the veterans. Gallery Launch Gallery Getty For starters -- there was the Warner Music Party at The Hollywood Athletic Club -- which brought out Anderson .Paak , Nile Rodgers , Missy Elliott , Wiz Khalifa , Saweetie and Bebe Rexha ... just to name a few. BACKGRID Some of the biggest names turned out at the Black Music Collective Party at The Hollywood Palladium. While there was plenty of celebrating, Lil Wayne was honored with the Global Impact Award at the event. Drake presented him with the awards, cracking jokes about The Grammys in the process. BACKGRID Lil Kim , DJ … [Read more...] about Grammy Weekend Kicks Off in Los Angeles with Celeb-Packed Parties

EXCLUSIVE: It’s a happy Fourth of July in Hollywood. After nearly two months of talks and three last-minute 24-hour extensions, a tentative agreement has been reached on a new three-year SAG-AFTRA film and television contract. Terms were not announced. Here is the sides’ verbose joint statement: “Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) today reached tentative agreement for motion picture production. Negotiations, which began on May 5th, resulted in a new 2014 Producers-SAG-AFTRA Codified Basic Agreement and an industry-wide 2014 SAG-AFTRA Television Agreement as the successor agreement to Screen Actors Guild Television Agreement, Exhibit A of the AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting, The CW Supplement, and the basic cable agreements. The terms of the new agreements will be presented to the SAG-AFTRA National Board of Directors at its … [Read more...] about SAG-AFTRA, Producers Reach Tentative Agreement On New Film & TV Contract

Looks like not everyone in Hollywood is on the same page when it comes to combating copyright infringement . Specifically, the Writers Guild of America West thinks that the multimillion-dollar damages the Motion Picture Association of America wants extracted from file-sharing sites “has little additional deterrent effect” and “high statutory penalties are not only often unreasonable but unpayable.” The strong comments from the WGAW comes in a submission the guild made on January 17 ( read it here ) to the Commerce Department on its paper on Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy. Citing that “television and film are controlled by a handful of media companies who decide what content consumers have access to,” the guild’s remarks are a clear slap to the MPAA and the studios from the representatives of more than 8,000 frontline content creators. Related: WGA Sets Feb. 3 As Start Of New Contract Talks With Producers No surprise … [Read more...] about WGA West Rejects MPAA’s “Unreasonable” Approach To Copyright Infringement