Author: JD
Pharrell Inks ‘Happy’ Deal for Kids Books
Pharrell Williams has a “Happy” deal for a series of children’s picture books. The Grammy Award-winning performer has an agreement with Putnam Books for Young Readers for four picture books, starting with one inspired by his hit song. Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’ & More: The 20 Biggest Crossover Hits Putnam announced Tuesday that the book, “Happy,” will be published Sept. 22 and will feature photographs of children from around the world “celebrating what it means to be happy.” It plans a first printing of 250,000 copies. Pharrell has won 10 Grammys, including two for “Happy.” “Happy” was featured on the soundtrack of Despicable Me 2 and was an Oscar nominee last year for best song.
Libya Faces ISIS Crisis: Italy Wants NATO Intervention
DAMN!!!! LONDON — Italy warned that ISIS is at Europe’s doorstep as France and Egypt called for the United Nations Security Council to meet over the spiraling crisis in Libya. The growing alarm came as Egyptian jets bombed ISIS targets in the North African nation as revenge for the beheadings — documented in an ISIS propaganda video — of 21 Coptic Christian Egyptian nationals in Libya. The release of the video has underscored fears that ISIS is taking advantage of the chaos in Libya to expand its reach and stake a firmer foothold there. French President Francois Hollande spoke by phone with his Egyptian counterpart, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to discuss the situation in Libya on Monday, according to Hollande’s office. It said the two spoke of the growth of ISIS in Libya and “underscored the importance of the security council meeting and for the international community to take new measures” against the threat. Libya has been unraveling since the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. There are rival governments operating under separate parliaments — each with their own security brigades — and a plethora of armed Islamist groups jockeying for control. United Nations negotiators have been meeting with representatives from the internationally-backed government and the one which claimed power through force in Tripoli last summer. But the presence of numerous and competing armed Islamist groups has added fuel to the political fire, and an upsurge in violence has had Western nations increasingly alarmed. Libya is not only situated close to Egypt and Algeria, but is just across the Mediterranean Sea from Europe. The spiraling violence has sent floods of migrants to European shores — and ISIS has repeatedly mentioned Rome as a benchmark of its growth. Italy’s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano expressed the growing alarm in an interview with La Republica and urged NATO to intervene “for the future of the Western world.” “ISIS is at the door,” he said. “There is no time to waste.” ISIS has been operating in Libya for months. One group of Libyan fighters pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in November and at least two other factions followed suit. Since then, ISIS supporters in Libya have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks — including the November car bombings outside of the Egyptian and U.A.E. embassies. In December, a top U.S. general said ISIS had set up training camps in Libya. At the time, Gen. David Rodriguez described the camps as “small and very nascent,” with an estimated “couple of hundred” individuals linked to ISIS. For now, ISIS is competing for influence against the many other Islamist militant groups in Libya. The group might be able to rely on the fact that they’re more disciplined and better organized than some of their rivals, according to Firas Abi Ali, who heads Middle East and North Africa forecasting for IHS Country Risk. The latest video, though, is aimed at an external — rather than internal — audience, Abi Ali said, adding that it will force governments fighting ISIS to make a choice: engage in Libya at great economic cost, or risk looking weak and inconsistent. Either option is a win-win for ISIS, he said. “This is more about saying to the west that [ISIS] has spread out to multiple countries and therefore showing that fighting ISIS is going to require a larger commitment,” he explained. Libya is strategically important because of its oil and also because of its neighbors. At the moment, ISIS isn’t controlling territory there that is important in and of itself, according to Abi Ali. “The importance of Libya is a lot more about whoever controls it being able to project power into Egypt Tunisia and Algeria,” he said. “That’s what actually matters far more than Libya.” NBC News’ Claudio Lavanga contributed to this report.
Slick Rick Says Today’s Hip-Hop Is “Altered And Diluted”
Last month, Slick Rick turned 50 years old. Today, The New York Times ran a profile on the revolutionary Bronx rapper as he passed the half-century mark. He is as unique as ever–always a few degrees left of his contemporaries, Rick recalls in vivid detail his formative years on Fordham Road, posited as an alternative to those locals commonly cited as hip-hop’s birthplaces. (Of the Bronx thoroughfare, Rick says “They had stores with all the clothes, the sneakers, the jewelry. It was a good place to go and talk to girls. The whole pace was electric, and where there is electricity, there’s fun. And where there’s fun, that’s where kids want to be.”) But the Great Adventures rapper wasn’t ready to let his relationship with hip-hop be bronzed just yet. In his mind, the art form began as a potent social tool. “Hip-hop disrupted the order of things,” Rick said. “It was the pulpit, and if you put the right person in front of the pulpit, they can speak for the youth of the planet.” As for its current state, though, he believes rap’s practitioners have diverged. “Instead, it was altered and diluted. What you see now are performers who have been broken to fit into a mold. They are not going to disrupt the order of things.” The Latin phrase that serves as The Bronx’s motto translates roughly to ‘Yield not to evil’; this is nothing if not a central credo of Rick’s music. Despite his chronological age, Rick has stayed young and vital (“I don’t talk like a 50-year-old person”), with his features in the last handful of years focusing on contemporary issues in nuanced fashion–check his verse on Mos Def’s “Auditorium,” where he gives voice to “a young Iraqi kid.” “Sometimes miserable old people depend on happy young people to give them a sense of purpose,” he says. “Not me. Of course not!” [The New York Times]
Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney Collab Tops Australia’s Chart, ‘Fifty Shades’ Soundtrack Is No. 1 Album
The Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack has proved to be a hot Valentine’s Day gift Down Under, while the triumvirate of Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartneycan add another No. 1 to their respective résumés. The Fifty Shades original soundtrack, which features songs by Beyonce, Sia, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra and Annie Lennox, has nudged Taylor Swift’sfour-times platinum-certified (280,000 units) 1989 (Big Machine/Universal) from the top spot on the ARIA Albums Chart, a position it had made its own for nine weeks (including five in 2015). ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Soundtrack Tracklist Revealed: Beyonce, Rolling Stones, Sia & More The No. 1 Fifty Shades Of Grey (Universal) set also features Ellie Goulding’s“Love Me Like You Do” (Polydor/Universal), which currently sits at No. 4 on the ARIA Singles Chart, published on Sunday (Feb. 15), a day after Valentine’s Day. Meanwhile, Sam Smith has enjoyed a sales lift from 6-3 following his triumphant night at the Feb. 8 Grammy Awards, where he collected four trophies. The British soul singer’s In The Lonely Hour (Capitol/EMI) is platinum-certified (70,000 units) in Australia and has spent 38 weeks on the ARIA chart, but has never climbed to No. 1. Its highest position is No. 2. The top five is rounded out by Ed Sheeran’s X (Warner Music) and Meghan Trainor’s Title (Epic/Sony Music), while Diana Krall enjoyed a No. 7 debut with Wallflower (Verve/Universal), the Canadian artist’s 12th album. It’s just ahead of Bob Dylan’s 36th studio album Shadows In The Night (Columbia/Sony), which opened at No. 8. Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney’s ‘FourFiveSeconds’ Tops Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Over on the singles chart, FourFiveSeconds (Island Def Jam/Universal) has hit the top spot in its third week, rising 3-1. The song gives Rihanna a seventh, McCartney a third (post-Beatles) and Kanye his second No. 1 single in Australia. The trio performed the track at the 57th annual Grammy Awards, which was beamed into Aussie households on Fox8. At age 72, McCartney (who plays guitar on the song) is understood to be the oldest artist to hit No. 1, a record that was previously held by Cher, who was 52 when “Believe” reached No. 1 in 1999. Kanye and McCartney cracked the Australian top 10 just last month with their collab “Only One,” on which the Beatles great plays on guest keys.
Kanye West Debuts More adidas Yeezy Footwear at New York Fashion Week
During the exclusive show he debuted a previously unseen low top variation of the adidas Yeezy Boost, in both white and black colorways as well as a fairly classic duck boot model. It seems we are indeed one step closer to Kanye’s promise of “everyone who wants a pair of Yeezys being able to get a pair of Yeezys” coming true.