As the recent lawsuit between Kesha and Dr. Luke proves, your texts can get you in trouble.
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Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners Raises $85 Million Fund
While the business of hip-hop continues to grow, hip-hop’s first billionaire continues his climb into the thermosphere of business. Marcy Venture Partners (MVP), the venture capital company co-founded by Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, has raised $85 million, according to Crunchbase.
According to an SEC filing, the San Francisco-based entity raised the money from 54 different investors. The company has already invested in six other companies, according to Crunchbase, including electric mobility startup Wheels last October. The biggest round MVP has led so far was the $70 million round for singer and businesswoman Rihanna’s lingerie line, Savage X Fenty. Its first investment was made in March 2019 with Hungry Marketplace’s $8 million Series A in April 2019.
The firm was co-founded by Roc Nation rapper/owner Jay-Z, former Roc Nation CEO Jay Brown, and longtime venture investor Larry Marcus. Brown has also invested in Bay Area brands like RightRice. Marcus is a venture capitalist and the director of Walden Venture Capital, which has invested in companies like Pandora. Marcus also backed companies like Netflix as an angel investor; Jay-Z has backed Bay Area companies like Uber and Impossible Foods.
According to MVP’s Crunchbase page, “the firm has a passion for building game-changing consumer businesses and mass-market brands that resonate with culture across products and services, media and technology. We combine unique access, instincts, deep networks, operating and venture capital expertise to be long term partners in growth.
“MVP’s portfolio companies embrace positive values including sustainability, empowerment, inclusivity, accessibility, convenience, health & wellness and personal expression. Our companies are led by top-tier management teams with clear vision, purpose and executional excellence. We lead or co-invest in companies that have meaningful brand values, high customer joy driven by an outstanding product, demonstrated growth and clear catalysts for the next level of scale.”
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Monday, February 24, 2020
Dwyane Wade Still Worries About Being Broke
There is one thing that retired NBA legend Dwyane Wade should never have to worry about and that is financial ineptitude. Despite making millions and primed to make several more, the former Miami Heat superstar has a fear of not having money.
“It takes moments sometimes when I’m like, ‘Huh, that’s what I got in the bank, OK.’ But I still live with that mentality [of not having money] like literally, I have one car. And I have an Audi Q8,” Wade told Yahoo! Finance.
Not including his endorsements, Wade earned more than $120 million in a successful 16-year NBA career with the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers. In addition, he inked a comprehensive, multiyear agreement with WarnerMedia, released a new sneaker with Rick Ross to continue his Way of Wade sneaker line. His fashionable sock line, PKWY, founded in 2013, is available nationwide at Target stores. Chinese consumer electronics brand Hisense recently inked Wade as its first U.S. brand ambassador. Wade also has a lucrative lifetime contract with the Chinese sneaker brand Li-Ning.
Wade was a three-time NBA Champion (2006, 2012, and 2013) and 13-time All-Star selection. In 2006, three years after first joining the Heat as the No. 5 overall draft pick, he led the Miami Heat to its first-ever NBA Championship and was named MVP of the Finals. In 2004, he created the Wade’s World Foundation, which provides support to various educational, health, and family service programs, in particular, those that benefit underserved communities in Miami and his hometown of Chicago.
In 2011, Wade was appointed to President Obama’s Fatherhood Task Force. In September 2012, he became a New York Times best-selling author, with the release of his first book, A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger than Basketball.
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Pioneering NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson of ‘Hidden Figures’ fame has died at 101
HAMPTON, Va. (AP) — NASA says Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who worked on NASA’s early space missions and was portrayed in the film Hidden Figures, about pioneering black female aerospace workers, has died.
In a Monday morning tweet, the space agency said it celebrates her 101 years of life and her legacy of excellence and breaking down racial and social barriers.
Johnson was one of the so-called “computers” who calculated rocket trajectories and earth orbits by hand during NASA’s early years.
Until 1958, Johnson and other black women worked in a racially segregated computing unit at what is now called Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Their work was the focus of the Oscar-nominated 2016 film.
In 1961, Johnson worked on the first mission to carry an American into space. In 1962, she verified computer calculations that plotted John Glenn’s earth orbits.
At age 97, Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Johnson focused on airplanes and other research at first. But her work at NASA’s Langley Research Center eventually shifted to Project Mercury, the nation’s first human space program.
“Our office computed all the (rocket) trajectories,” Johnson told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in 2012. “You tell me when and where you want it to come down, and I will tell you where and when and how to launch it.”
In 1961, Johnson did trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 Mission, the first to carry an American into space. The next year, she manually verified the calculations of a nascent NASA computer, an IBM 7090, which plotted John Glenn’s orbits around the planet.
The post Pioneering NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson of ‘Hidden Figures’ fame has died at 101 appeared first on TheGrio.
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The Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation Donates $5 Million to New Jersey After-School Program
The Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation has given a $5 million donation to Pathways to College, a Newark, New Jersey-based and nationally-operated after school program that helps prepare students of color for a college education, according to NJ.com.
The program aims to expand the pipeline to college in underserved communities. The program also works toward:
- Creating a nationwide, networked community of high-achieving primarily minority children.
- Assisting these students, with their families, to become knowledgeable, attractive college applicants, students, and successful graduates.
- Partnering with colleges, schools, and communities to provide ongoing, consistent encouragement and support to these children.
- Building on the examples our students and teachers set, helping foster and support a school-wide cultural change that emphasizes academic and career achievement.
The founder of Pathways to College, Judith Griffin, received that important phone call last September from then-president of the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation, Rebecca Sykes.
$5M Grant just announced to @PwaysToCollege from @Oprah. Grateful beyond words for this investment in the lives of “Our Children”!#EdLeaders #Education #College pic.twitter.com/Ekpn7hutue
— Pathways To College (@PwaysToCollege) February 20, 2020
“Words cannot express how grateful we are for Ms. Winfrey’s support of Pathways to College,” Griffin said in a statement. “Ms. Winfrey’s extraordinary generosity will help us partner with an increasing number of schools that want our help and set in place the necessary plans to inform and involve local donors to help supply funding beyond what is possible for schools to absorb. We are deeply grateful to her.”
In a video, Winfrey said: “I celebrate and honor the work Pathways to College does in securing futures for young people who want to go to college. I am proud to sponsor and support all of these young people and their dreams for a better life through education.”
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Will Laila Ali come out of retirement to fight Claressa Shields?
For the past several days, Laila Ali and Claressa Shields have traded smack talk about a potential fight between the retired heavyweight and the current female boxing champ.
Ali says if the money is right, she will fight.
READ MORE: Laila Ali talks about her boxing legacy and her secrets to maintaining a peaceful family home
“It would be my absolute pleasure for the right amount of money to come back” Ali told ESPN‘s First Take.
“We want to see women grow and continue to inspire other people, right? And she has been calling me out, and she has taken offense to some things that I have said in the past that had nothing to do with her. And people have asked me, would you come back? Well, I have to be inspired by the opponent, I have to be inspired by the ‘purse’ because I have multiple things going on and multiple streams of income I don’t need to do it and I have to want to do it.”
Ali has been retired for over a decade, but she tells First Take she has maintained her health and fitness and could get the job done.
Shields said she is ready and willing to fight Muhammad Ali’s daughter, anytime, anywhere, and that she will knock her out if given the opportunity.
“Absolutely. I have no problem with that,” Shields responding when ESPN’s Myron Medcalf asked her if she would fight Ali. “I feel like I’m the greatest woman of all time. I cannot be beat, not by a champion right now, a former world champion, a champion who’s bigger, stronger, faster, whatever you want to say. All these fighters have to prove it to me. And when she gets inside the ring, I have a game plan for everybody who I step in the ring with. And the fact that she’s going to bring out that 100% in me, you’re going to see a whole different Claressa Shields. And it’s going to be a war.”
And Shields, 24, wants Ali to leave the excuses at home.
“Let’s not talk about age. You can’t say in one sentence, ‘Oh, I’m gonna knock Claressa Shields out, I’m a better fighter, I’m gonna come out of retirement and I’m gonna do this, but I’ve been retired 13 years.’ Take the 13 years out of it, or you can’t say, ‘but I’m 42.’ She’s making excuses already. ‘Oh I’ve been retired 13 years. Oh, I’m 42,’” Shields said. “If you really feel like you’re the baddest, you’re either going to come out of retirement and beat me at the age you’re at, or you’re going to leave boxing alone.”
Further, Shields said an unnamed person has already put up $15 million for the two to fight, with $5 million going to the loser and $10 million being paid out to the winner.
Many on social media seemed excited about the prospect of a bout.
Laila Ali said she hasn’t fought in 13 years, but she’ll knock a bitch out for the right price! And she was not playin!!!! 24-0 and 21 knockouts! Shiiiitttttt…..
— BIG MAMA🍯 (@heLUVZkeke) February 21, 2020
“Laila Ali said she hasn’t fought in 13 years, but she’ll knock a bitch out for the right price! And she was not playin!!!! 24-0 and 21 knockouts! Shiiiitttttt,” Big Mama tweeted.
Laila Ali out here talkin shit like her daddy. pic.twitter.com/0kgGAYjR2m
— Izzy OldSoul (@Izzy_OldSoul) February 21, 2020
READ MORE: Laila Ali accidentally hits elderly pedestrian with her car
“Laila Ali out her talkin’ shit like her daddy,” tweeted Izzy OldSoul.
Laila Ali basically said: Since homegirl keeps calling me out & no female boxer has ever made a million. I’ll come out of retirement if the bag is right, just to knock a bitch head off.
— 8:24 (@KingLetty_) February 21, 2020
@KingLetty_ said “Laila Ali basically said: “Since homegirl keeps calling me out & no female boxer has ever made a million. I’ll come out of retirement if the bag is right, just to knock a bitch head off.”
The post Will Laila Ali come out of retirement to fight Claressa Shields? appeared first on TheGrio.
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Black Twitter responds to Red Table Talk promo clip of Snoop Dogg episode
A Red Table Talk promo clip with Jada Pinkett Smith telling Snoop Dogg that his profanity-laced Instagram video skewing Gayle King actually insulted all Black women was met with scorn and agreement by Black Twitter.
READ MORE: Snoop Dogg set to appear on ‘Red Table Talk’
In the clip, Pinkett Smith tells Snoop that she was shocked when she first heard his comment.
In the spirit of healing ❤️✨@snoopdogg pic.twitter.com/PwXaqFmFbw
— Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) February 23, 2020
“When you first came out and you said what you said in regards to Gayle, my heart dropped,” Pinkett Smith. “I felt like not only were you talking to Gayle, but you were talking to me… I was like, ‘Not Snoop.’ And so that’s one of the reasons why I felt like I really wanted to have this conversation with you in the spirit of healing.”
Black Twitter had a lot to say about the clip. Many backed Snoop and said King deserved to be cussed out. Some slammed Red Table Talk for seemingly siding with King. Others thought the rapper took it too far.
“Is @RedTableTalk the new sunken place? @SnoopDogg RUN RUN RUN RUN and never return unc!!!!!!! You did the right thing by calling out YEARS of hack journalism and disrespect, please run from this table and never look back,” tweeted Regina&Roger.
Is @RedTableTalk the new sunken place?@SnoopDogg RUN RUN RUN RUN and never return unc!!!!!!! You did the right thing by calling out YEARS of hack journalism and disrespect, please run from this table and never look back pic.twitter.com/NbFqT1F7qP
— Regina&Roger (@RogerStan123) February 23, 2020
“@jadapsmith you know good and well that @SnoopDogg wasn’t talking about you. He was talking to @GayleKing because she deserved it. She was wrong for that insensitive interview with Lisa Leslie. @SnoopDogg don’t keep apologizing. You were right,” wrote Keisha W.
@jadapsmith you know good and well that @SnoopDogg wasn’t talking about you.🙄 He was talking to @GayleKing because she deserved it. She was wrong for that insensitive interview with Lisa Leslie.@SnoopDogg don’t keep apologizing. You were right.
— Keisha W. (@Taurus510W) February 23, 2020
“When is Gayle coming on to apologize for her tasteless conduct,” added OurStory.
When is Gayle coming on to apologize for her tasteless conduct?
— OurStory (@OurStor21136994) February 23, 2020
About a week after Kobe Bryant died last month in a helicopter crash, King did an interview with his longtime friend, former WNBA star Lisa Leslie, and among the questions she asked Leslie, she brought up Bryant’s 2003 rape case.
“It’s been said that his legacy is complicated because of a sexual assault charge, which was dismissed in 2003, 2004. Is it complicated for you as a woman, as a WNBA player?” King asked Leslie during the interview.
“It’s not complicated for me at all,” Leslie responded.
King asked Leslie whether she thought it was fair to bring up the rape charge and Leslie responded that the rape case was dismissed so she thinks it’s time for the media to stop asking about it, particularly since reporters had the opportunity to address it while Kobe was still alive, but didn’t.
The questions pissed off a lot of people, Snoop included. He, along with several other rappers, including Boosie Badazz and 50 Cent, blasted King for the interview.
Still, while some people questioned King’s motive or need to ask the question, they thought Snoop was wrong in his approach.
“Every woman in this comment section that thinks what Snoop said was acceptable is a disgrace,” tweeted Necole Kane. “He would never to Martha Stewart but again, the black woman is the most disrespected woman in America.”
Every woman in this comment section that thinks what Snoop said was acceptable is a disgrace. He would never to Martha Stewart but again, the black woman is the most disrespected woman in America. Couldn’t have said it better than this https://t.co/iWTcKFehbW
— Necole Kane (@hellonecole) February 23, 2020
Snoop later issued an apology to King.
“Two wrongs don’t make no right. When you’re wrong, you gotta fix it,” Snoop, whose birth name is Calvin Broadus, Jr., said in an IG video. “So with that being said, Gayle King: I publicly tore you down by coming at you in a derogatory manner based off of emotions. Me being angry at questions that you asked …overreacted. I should have handled it way different than that.”
“I would like to apologize to you publicly for the language that I used and calling you out of your name and just being disrespectful,” the Los Angeles rapper added.
King accepted his apology.
READ MORE: How Jada Pinkett Smith schooled an ‘incredibly apologetic’ T.I. during a candid ‘Red Table Talk’
Now Snoop will appear on Facebook Watch’s Red Table Talk, alongside Jada, Willow and Adrienne, this Wednesday.
“@snoopdogg is coming to @redtabletalk Wednesday, February 26th to have an in-depth and insightful conversation about The Culture of Disrespect Between Black Men and Black Women. Join us” Pinkett Smith captioned her Instagram post about the upcoming show.
The post Black Twitter responds to Red Table Talk promo clip of Snoop Dogg episode appeared first on TheGrio.
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