Sports business

One's the speaker of the house, the other's a filmmaker-actress-activist and daughter of a Democratic politico. Amid the impeachment drama, they spoke Nov. 26 about powerful women, whether Hollywood activism helps or hurts and how to take down "whatever that is in the White  House." Nancy Pelosi is the highest-ranking elected woman in the history of the American government. This is the fact that I keep repeating in my head as I wait on hold while her press secretary connects us for this interview. I am, suffice it to say, shitting myself. I have cleared the house of all children and loud adults, switched off any electronic device within a 500-foot radius and settled into the most reliably non-squeaky chair I can find, taking deep Lamaze breaths and trying not to jump out of the window. I have prepared enough questions to generate a multivolume biography for the speaker, who has served in Congress as representative to California in three districts (covering San Francisco) since … [Read more...] about Nancy Pelosi and Olivia Wilde: The Hollywood Reporter Conversation

Malik Taylor, the rapper known as Phife Dawg whose nimble, clever rhymes helped launch A Tribe Called Quest to both commercial and critical success, died Tuesday at the age of 45 from complications resulting from diabetes. Rolling Stone has confirmed the rapper’s death. Taylor had had health issues for years, undergoing a kidney transplant in 2008 to deal with a longtime battle with diabetes. “It’s really a sickness,” Taylor said in Beats, Rhymes & Life, Michael Rapaport’s candid 2011 documentary on the group. “Like straight-up drugs. I’m just addicted to sugar.” “Malik was our loving husband, father, brother and friend,” his family said in a statement. “We love him dearly. How he impacted all our lives will never be forgotten. His love for music and sports was only surpassed by his love of God and family.” “Family, my heart is shattered at the loss of my beautiful son,” … [Read more...] about A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg Dead at 45

Last night, after a week of silence, Meek Mill finally released a response to the beef he had started with Drake, which ends with a mention of T.I.’s friend urinating on the Toronto rapper-crooner. The Maybach Music Group artist was upset that his supposed friend Drake had perhaps used a ghostwriter for some verses, including “R.I.C.O.” from Meek’s latest album, Dreams Worth More Than Money. (Perhaps more importantly, Drake hadn’t tweeted in support of said album.) This “beef” hasn’t exactly ignited hip-hop fans. Drake did put out a couple of pretty good responses, including “Back to Back” where he mockingly asks, “Is that a world tour or your girl’s tour?” in reference to Meek’s opening slot on fiancé Nicki Minaj’s current run of dates. But the feud has existed mostly on Twitter, unfolding too slowly for today’s need-it-now appetite, so … [Read more...] about The 10 Wildest Rap Beefs of All Time

There are nine songs, five costume changes and 10,000 screaming fans. Explosions erupt from each side of the stage, eight dancers writhe suggestively in unison, and in the center of it all is one small girl. The songs are from her debut album,… Baby One More Time, a record that has sold more than 9 million copies and helped to fuel a phenomenon. A new album, Oops!… I Did it Again, is due on May 16th, and the plan is for an upcoming tour to be twice as lavish as the one she is currently headlining. At a time when indistinguishable teen acts clog the air-waves, she has managed to separate herself from the masses and become the nation’s prom queen. Onstage, she sings “Oops!… I Did it Again,” which is yet to be released at the time of tonight’s show. Despite the fact that they have never heard it before, the audience members scream in deafening unison. And when it is all over, the girl sprints from the stage to a waiting bus, still sweaty from the … [Read more...] about Britney Spears: The Girl Can’t Help It

Early in the morning in a parking lot just outside San Antonio, three skinny young men stumble from a bus and shield their eyes from the sun. Today the heat will top out in the mid-90s. This is not a good place to find yourself first thing in the day. “Fuck everybody and everything,” says Blink-182 bassist-vocalist Mark Hoppus. “I hope everyone catches gonorrhea and dies.” Hoppus has woken up on the wrong side of 8 a.m. to appear on the morning show of KRBE 104, an influential Top 40 radio station. The band – Hoppus, guitarist-vocalist Tom DeLonge and drummer Travis Barker – stands yawning, waiting to enter the studio. “There’s no call for this,” Hoppus insists, but the band’s tour manager, Alex MacLeod, ignores Hoppus – he’s heard these complaints many times before. MacLeod has officially limited him to 15 minutes of kvetching per day. Searching for a more receptive audience, Hoppus looks over at me, … [Read more...] about Blink-182: The Half-Naked Truth