Nicki Minaj, A$AP Rocky, Future to Headline Rolling Loud New York Festival

News 12 dominated with 80 nominations for the 65th annual New York Emmy Awards nominations, which were revealed today.

Nicki Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty, could face 15 months in prison for failing to register as a sex offender in the state of California.According to TMZ, federal prosecutors are refusing to allow Petty to serve his sentence under home confinement, arguing that the couple’s mansion in Calabasas does not qualify as sufficient punishment.Authorities in Beverly Hills first arrested Petty in November 2019 after learning that he had moved from New York to California, and that he failed to submit his sex offender status in the process. He was subsequently released on a $20,000 bail.However, it was discovered he was still facing similar federal charges for another arrest in March 2020.The charge stems from a 1995 case, where Petty was convicted of first-degree attempted rape in New York after pleading guilty.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Weeknd’s opening acts for his global stadium tour, which launches in his hometown of Toronto next Friday, will be R&B singer Snoh Aalegra, Canadian electronic artist Kaytranada and top DJ/producer Mike Dean, his team reveals in an exclusive interview with Variety. The full 19 dates, noting which acts are playing in which cities, appear below.The tour’s original opener, Doja Cat, pulled out last month to undergo throat surgery, and although “the phone was ringing” with calls from interested parties, according to Omar Al-joulani — Live Nation’s president of touring and a Toronto native who has worked with the Weeknd since 2014 — the choices reflect the artist’s long practice of having up-and-coming acts open his tours, even one as massive as the stadium show that will work its way across North America (slowly) through Labor Day weekend before moving on to the rest of the world.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorR. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison in a New York court on Wednesday.Kelly, one of the most successful hitmakers of the 1990s and early 2000s, was found guilty of all nine counts against him in September, after a six-week trial revealed how he had used employees and intermediaries to lure fans and hopeful singers into sexually abusive and controlling conditions, including locking them in rooms without food or access to a bathroom for days.The 55-year-old singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was convicted of racketeering and eight counts of violating the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting people across state lines for prostitution.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLegendary rocker Alice Cooper, who should need no introduction, has signed with CAA to represent his touring in North America.He has sold more than 50 million albums over the years and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. His nightly radio show, “Nights With Alice Cooper,” continues to air in nearly 100 cities in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs part of a big expansion of Shawn Mendes manager Andrew Gertler’s AG Artists, the company has signed fast-rising Canadian singer-songwriter Lauren Spencer-Smith and Arista’s JP Saxe, and Mendes’ longtime A&R Ziggy Chareton has joined as a partner on their management. Chareton will also co-manage Mendes.Gertler and Chareton have a long history together: They met in the early 2010s when both were interns in Atlantic Records’ marketing department.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFast-rising 18-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter Lauren Spencer-Smith has inked with both Warner Chappell Music publishing and longtime Shawn Mendes manager Andrew Gertler’s AG Artists in partnership with Ziggy Chareton, Variety has confirmed. The news was first published in Hits.A native of Vancouver Island, the singer’s confessional, intimate songs like “Fingers Crossed” and her latest single “Flowers” have effectively set her on a track to be this year’s Olivia Rodrigo.

New York State Police, troopers responded to a possible drowning call at 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKanye West made a surprise appearance some three hours into the BET Awards on Sunday night to pay tribute to Sean “Diddy” Combs, the show’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award.Wearing a grey leather Hood by Air jacket, a matching baseball cap, a full black-stocking facial mask and shades, he gave a speech in Sean Combs’ honor, who has also called himself Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, just Diddy and most recently, simply Love. As West attests below, he is no stranger to changing names: Last year he legally changed his name to “Ye.” Below, he speaks movingly of Combs’ influence on him, stressing that he considers him an artist — and it is easy the influence of Combs viewing his entire creative and business output as part of a whole.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor“Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia,” a symphonic work by composer Him Sophy and the first major such piece to address the Khmer Rouge genocide in the country, recently was released on Entertain Impact label.Sophy, himself a Khmer Rouge survivor, places the musical ritual of a Bangsokol – a traditional Khmer ceremony that accompanies Cambodian Buddhist funeral rites – within the form of a Western requiem.“When I composed the requiem,” Sophy says, “I relived the feelings I had during the Khmer Rouge times. It was Hell on Earth.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLincoln Center has announced a musical tribute to Greg Tate, a veteran music writer and musician and a ‘godfather of hip-hop journalism’ who died in December at 64.The performance will feature more than 30 members of Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, the group that Tate founded (head here for more information). “For this homecoming concert, curated and presented with The Tate Family at one of his favorite venues, more than thirty BSAC members will perform in celebration and tribute to one of the most essential voices in the history of 21st Century Avant Groidd music and thought,” the announcement reads.Titled
“More Than Posthuman: Rise of the Burnt Sugar Arkestra Mojosexual Cotillion”
An “Oh the Utter Negrocity of It All,” the tribute is one of three in Tate’s honor being held this summer: one last week at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and another, also featuring Burnt Sugar, on August 20 at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem as part of New York’s SummerStage concert series.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJapanese Breakfast, Wet Leg and Madlib were among the top winners at the Libera Awards on Thursday night, the American Association of Independent Music’s annual awards ceremony.The event returned in a hybrid setting, with people from the indie community gathering at New York’s Webster Hall to receive awards, catch a DJ set from Madlib (featuring a freestyle from Talib Kweli) and live sets from Sammy Rae & the Friends and others, while concurrently a livestream of performances from Japanese Breakfast, Brittany Howard, Jason Isbell, Helado Negro and Cautious Clay was played in a separate room at the venue. Also performing live at the event were Tré Burt, Canadian Brass and Adrian Daniel.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Grammys might be the most well-known music awards show in the world, but the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s ceremony is arguably the most unique. The invite-only event, being held June 16 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, and its awards honor the most important and yet most frequently overlooked people in the music business — the songwriter, duh — and it resembles a cross between the Grammys and an annual family reunion for the tight-knit songwriting and music-publishing community.At each ceremony, superstars receiving honors frequently tell the room that the accolade means more to them than any other award they’ve received, because it’s an endorsement and a validation from their peers.

Nicki Minaj, A$AP Rocky and Future are set to headline the 2022 edition of Rolling Loud New York – see the full line-up below and get tickets here.The travelling roadshow festival will return to New York for three nights at Citi Field in Queens from September 23-25.Minaj will top the bill on the first night, with September 24 being headlined by Rocky before Future closes things out the following night.Other names on the line-up include Pusha T, DaBaby, Busta Rhymes, Abra and many more.Tickets will be available here from noon local time on Friday (June 17) – see the full line-up below.ROLLING LOUD NEW YORK 2022ON SALE FRI, 6/17 @ 12PM EThttps://t.co/E246RhavwJ pic.twitter.com/RFU4lpDZWI— Rolling Loud (@RollingLoud) June 14, 2022Rolling Loud Miami is set to be held in July, with Kanye West (billed under his legal name, Ye), Future and Kendrick Lamar headlining across the three-day event.Set to run from July 22-24 at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, this year’s event will also feature appearances from the likes of Playboi Carti, Lil Durk, Three 6 Mafia, Lil Uzi Vert, Gucci Mane, Lil Baby, Kodak Black, Baby Keem, Trippie Redd and many more.Notably, this year’s iteration will also see DaBaby return to the Rolling Loud Miami stage, almost exactly a year since the rapper sparked backlash at the event for making homophobic comments and offensive remarks about people living with HIV.DaBaby’s comments prompted criticism from the likes of Elton John and the rapper’s ‘Levitating’ collaborator Dua Lipa, and saw him dropped from festivals like Lollapalooza, Governors Ball and Austin City Limits.The inaugural Rolling Loud Portugal will also take place next month, with J.

LCD Soundsystem have added another date to their 2022 tour, headlining Miami’s III Points Festival alongside Flume and Rosalía.James Murphy and co. made their comeback last year with a multi-night residency at Brooklyn Steel in New York, playing 17 shows of a planned 20-show run before the run ended prematurely due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.They held smaller residencies at the Franklin Music Hall in Philadelphia and Roadrunner in Boston this year, and later this month, they will head to the UK for six shows at London’s O2 Academy Brixton.On the weekend of October 21-22, they will headline III Points at the Mana Wynwood venue, with James Blake, Orbital, Kenny Beats, A.G.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAfter a three-year hiatus, the Brooklyn edition of the Afropunk festival will return this fall, taking place over the weekend of September 10-11 at its traditional location of Commodore Barry Park in the New York City borough’s Fort Greene neighborhood.The lineup, announced Tuesday, (June 14th) includes  the Roots, Lucky Daye,m= Tierra Whack, Burna Boy, Freddie Gibbs, Isaiah Rashad, Earl Sweatshirt, Bartees Strange, Adekunle Gold, Fana Hues, Pink Siifu, Butcher Brown, Alex Mali, Mick Jenkins, and others.The festival is divided into two stages: the “Brooklyn Baby” stage and the “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” stage.See the full lineup below.The Afropunk franchise continues to expand, holding its first-ever Midwestern event this weekend at Minneapolis’ Sheridan Memorial Park. Titled Planet Afropunk Live: Minneapolis, the lineup will include Ari Lennox, Noname, and Mereba just to name a few performers who will make an appearance on both days.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust three days after he replaced Migos on the lineup for New York’s Governors Ball this weekend — and just hours before he was due to perform — Lil Wayne has pulled out due to “flight disruption” and been replaced on the bill by A$AP Ferg (who prefers to be known as just Ferg), the festival announced late Friday afternoon.Due to flight disruptions, Lil Wayne will no longer be performing this evening.