Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Drake Brings Out Lil Wayne & Rihanna In Miami

Drake brought out Lil Wayne & Rihanna while in Miami for his "Summer Sixteen" Tour.
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/drake-brings-out-lil-wayne-and-rihanna-in-miami-new-video.38447.html

Sonny Digital "50 On My Wrist" Video

Watch Sonny Digital's new video for "50 On My Wrist."
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/sonny-digital-50-on-my-wrist-video-new-video.38446.html

Chris Brown - What Would You Do?

After posting bail, Chris Brown releases the fitting new song "What Would You Do?"
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/chris-brown-what-would-you-do-new-song.1971147.html

Watch the All-Star Remake of Black Eyed Peas' '#WHERESTHELOVE'

The “Love” is here. Thirteen years after the original, the Black Eyed Peas call for peace, love, and unity once again with the reimagined all-star version of their 2003 Elephunk single, “Where's the Love?”

Of course, the 2016 edition features BEP stars will.i.am, Fergie, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, but it also includes their famous friends such as Diddy, Cassie, Mary J. Blige, Jamie Foxx, Nicole Scherzinger, The Game, Snoop Dogg, Jessie J, Andra Day, Tori Kelly, Ty Dolla $ign, Usher, DJ Khaled, Jhené Aiko (and her daughter), Wiz Khalifa, LL Cool J, Usher, and Justin Timberlake, who appeared on the original as well.

The powerful black-and-white video stars the aforementioned artists, plus Kendall Jenner, Rosario Dawson, Alton Sterling's wife, Philando Castile's mother, children all over the world, religious leaders, and police offers.

“Overseas, yeah, they're tryna stop terrorism / Over here, on the streets, the police shoot the people, put the bullets in 'em,” raps Diddy, while Khaled proclaims, “Love is the key!”

Spread LOVE ❤️❤️ Thank u @AppleMusic for donating all US proceeds BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest

37 Perfectly Snarky Tweets About 'Bachelor In Paradise,' Week 5

Another week of “Bachelor” wouldn't be “Paradise” without spot-on snark ― not to mention a few heart-wrenching exits, a near-fight, and the return of Wells to our TV screens.

Below are 37 tweets that nail the glory and pain that is watching “BIP”:

For more on Week 5 of “Bachelor In Paradise,” check out HuffPost's “Here To Make Friends” podcast below:

Do people love “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” or do they love to hate these shows? It's unclear. But here at “Here to Make Friends,” we both love and love to hate them - and we love to snarkily dissect each episode in vivid detail. Podcast edited by Nick Offenberg.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Tom Brady & Michael Strahan -- We're Teammates Now ... Co-Producing TV Show

Look out LeBron ... Tom Brady & Michael Strahan are proving they can jump into the TV game too ... teaming up to co-executive produce a brand new docu-series ... according to a report. Called "Religion of Sports" ... the series will consist of…

Gucci Mane - Last Time Feat. Travis Scott (Prod. By Zaytoven)

Gucci Mane & Travis Scott link up for the new collab "Last Time."
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/gucci-mane-last-time-feat-travis-scott-new-song.1971146.html

New Music: Chris Brown – 'What Would You Do?'

A day after his arrest on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Chris Brown gets back to the music. But he's not singing the blues. Instead, Breezy asks “What Would You Do?” on his dance floor-ready jam, which may also be a response to his current situation.

“What do you do? Fighting for your life and no one's on your side,” he sings. “I can't stand to lose / You see you're in too deep and don't know where to hide / I got a question: What do you do?”

https://t.co/BKsZq3Yk4Y MUSIC!!!!

- Chris Brown (@chrisbrown) September 1, 2016

Brown was arrested on Tuesday at his Tarzana home after a woman accused him of threatening her with a gun. He has since posted $250,000 bail and was released from jail.

Prior to the setback, he had been working on his next album Heartbreak on a Full Moon and recently premiered the video for “Grass Ain't Greener.”

Hear him let the music speak.

Kylie Jenner -- Surprise Bentley for Tyga Takes Sting Out of Repo (VIDEOS)

Kylie Jenner just gave Tyga a very expensive smoke screen -- a new Bentley Bentayga. Kylie says the $300k SUV was the reason she was at the dealer on Tuesday. She claims the story we broke -- about Tyga's Ferrari getting repo'd -- nearly…

New Music: Gucci Mane feat. Travis Scott – 'Last Time'

It's lit. On the last day of Woptober, Gucci Mane unleashes his fiery collaboration with Travis Scott, “Last Time.”

Guwop kicks things off, reflecting on his past as a drug user (“I'm an ex-ex-popper, an online shopper”) and addressing the Internet rumors (“Ni**as thought I was a clone, they heard me speak proper”).

Travis provides a healthy dose of Auto-Tune on his verses and the hook. “Last time I took drugs, I just took half of it,” he sings over trickling piano keys.

Gucci's album Everybody Looking arrived last month, while Travis' sophomore album Birds in the Trap Sing McNight has been plagued by delays.

Listen to Guwop and La Flame come together on the trap banger.

Gucci Mane - Last Time Feat. Travis Scott

Gucci Mane & Travis Scott link up for the new collab "Last Time."
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/gucci-mane-last-time-feat-travis-scott-new-song.1971146.html

Waka Flocka Flame -- Chris Brown's Accuser Should Be In Jail! (VIDEO)

Waka Flocka Flame is 100% team Chris Brown when it comes to the drama that went down at his house -- and he thinks Baylee Curran's the real villain, not CB. We got Waka at LAX ... he says Breezy was targeted for being black and…

Taylor Swift Makes Donation To Cedars-Sinai Hospital On Behalf Of Jaime King's Son

Taylor Swift has proven, once again, that she's a better human than most of us. (Aside from that time she apparently lied, but we digress.)

On Wednesday, Swift squad member Jaime King tweeted that the “22” singer had made a donation to Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Hospital on behalf of her son, Leo Thames, who also happens to be Swift's godson. King revealed that her son was diagnosed with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) at just 20 weeks old, and as a result, had major heart surgery.

“Taylor does countless selfless acts that go unnoticed because she does them silently, from such a great place of unconditional giving,” King wrote in a note on the social media app. “As the Godmother of Leo Thames for his birthday she gave an incredible donation to the people that saved his life Dr. Allistar Phillips [sic] and his brilliant team.”

The “Hart of Dixie” actress shared an image of the donation confirmation letter, which states Swift made the donation to support the hospital's “efforts in Congenital Heart Surgery.”

@taylorswift13 #CedarsSinai #DrAllistarPhillips pic.twitter.com/UIJi06PbdS
- Jaime King (@Jaime_King) August 31, 2016

Swift was announced as Leo Thames' godmother back in March 2015, while King was still pregnant. At the time, King told People Swift was “going to be, like, the best godmother in the whole world.”

Guess who just got named Godmother of this little one..... (ME) @jaime_king @kyle_newman

A photo posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Mar 1, 2015 at 9:39pm PST

Looks like she's living up to the title.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Lil Wayne Records Theme Song for Fox Sports Show

Lil Wayne's love for sports and music collide once again.

Weezy has been tapped by Fox Sports to craft a theme song for the network's new debate series, “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed,” and he doesn't disappoint.

Over a thumping instrumental, the Young Money boss raps about the show's focus. “Let's go face to face,” he rhymes with just a hint of Auto-Tune. “I embrace debate / I don't make mistakes / I just make my case.”

Listen to a snippet below.

Host Skip Bayless, who built rapport with Tunechi at his former home ESPN, explained why Wayne was perfect for this job.

“Lil Wayne has been a friend and frequent guest on my show and I've told him how honored I am to have such a legend create such a great song for our new show 'Undisputed' on FS1,” Bayless told Billboard.

In a behind-the-scenes video, Wayne praised Bayless too. “I like the fact that he's super intelligent,” he explained. “He probably came up with the term 'debate' and he can debate his ass off.”

The track was written and produced by Jingle Punks' president and CCO, Jared Gutstadt. Fans can expect it to drop on iTunes within the next month via Cash Money Records.

'Stranger Things' Actor -- Will Byers Made $tacks ... For Going Missing!

The kid who played Will Byers in "Stranger Things" got a sweet paycheck ... especially for an 11-year-old ... who was barely in the show. Noah Schnapp's contract says his pay rate was $10k per episode for season 1, with 5 episodes guaranteed. That…

Travis Scott's "Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight" Might Finally Be Dropping

Both Travis and Mike Dean have been dropping hints on social media.
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/travis-scotts-birds-in-the-trap-sing-mcknight-might-finally-be-dropping-news.23839.html

Tom Brady Got A Haircut And Twitter, Well, Went For It

“Tom Brady ready for the first day of Jr. High.”

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Kanye West Wants To Bring Uniforms To All Chicago Schools

Kanye shares a few thoughts he didn't get to in his VMAs speech.
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/kanye-west-wants-to-bring-uniforms-to-all-chicago-schools-news.23836.html

Grand Jury Indicts Atlanta Officer For Murder Of Unarmed Black Man

ATLANTA - A white former Atlanta police officer was indicted for murder and other charges by a grand jury on Wednesday in the shooting death of an unarmed black man in June, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Five counts, including violating his oath of office, were brought against James Burns, who said he shot Deravis Caine Rogers in self-defense, the newspaper said. Prosecutors contended that Burns' life was not in danger when he fired into the vehicle being driven by the victim.

The case sparked protests in Atlanta, with many saying race was a major factor in the shooting. It was one in series of incidents nationwide where unarmed black men have been shot by police, raising questions of racial bias in U.S. policing.

Prosecutors were not immediately available to comment on the reports of the indictment from the grand jury, which met behind closed doors.

An attorney for Burns was not immediately available for comment.

Burns was one of three Atlanta police officers who responded to a report of a suspicious person at an apartment, the Fulton County district attorney's office said. Burns tried to block Rogers, 22, who was leaving the scene in his car, prosecutors said.

Even though Rogers “made no attempt to strike the officer and Burns was safely standing at the rear of his own patrol vehicle,” the officer shot Rogers in the head, killing him, prosecutors said.

Burns said Rogers drove toward him and he fired into the vehicle because he thought he was in danger.

(Reporting by David Beasley; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Peter Cooney)

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

New Music: Sampha – 'Blood On Me'

After teaming with the likes of Beyoncé, Drake, Frank Ocean, and Kanye West, Sampha is ready to step out on his own with “Blood On Me,” the British crooner's new single.

Self-produced with co-production from Rodaidh McDonald, the track is a haunting journey through a difficult time.

“I nearly lose my grip,” sings Sampha. “But you hold on to me / And assure me, and tell me that I'm okay / But I swear they smell the blood on me / I hear them coming for me.”

“Blood On Me” follows “Timmy's Prayer,” both of which are set to appear on Sampha's upcoming debut album, Process. Prior to the LP's release, the soulful singer will make his solo TV debut on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” tomorrow.

For now, listen to “Blood On Me” below.

"University Blue" Air Jordan 11 Lows Are Making A Return Next Year

These low-top 11s are returning for the first time since '01.
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/university-blue-air-jordan-11-lows-are-making-a-return-next-year-news.23835.html

37 Perfectly Snarky Tweets About 'Bachelor In Paradise,' Week 5

Another week of “Bachelor” wouldn't be “Paradise” without spot-on snark ― not to mention a few heart-wrenching exits, a near-fight, and the return of Wells to our TV screens.

Below are 37 tweets that nail the glory and pain that is watching “BIP”:

For more on Week 5 of “Bachelor In Paradise,” check out HuffPost's “Here To Make Friends” podcast below:

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Tom Brady & Michael Strahan -- We're Teammates Now ... Co-Producing TV Show

Tyler, the Creator Lands Viceland TV Show

Tyler, the Creator is bringing his creativity back to television.

The Odd Future MC is teaming with Viceland for a late-night program, said to be inspired by his Golf Media app and the same production company that brought the “Kardashian apps to life,” according to High Snobiety.

This won't be his first go-around on the silver screen. Fans may remember his three-season long stint on Adult Swim's “Loiter Squad,” which debuted in 2012.

Few details are available regarding Tyler's new series, but it is set to air during Viceland's next programming block, according to the report.

Tyler won't be the only rapper on the network. Currently, Viceland has Action Bronson starring in two shows: “Fuck That's Delicious” and “Action Bronson & Friends Watch Ancient Aliens,” which recently featured Tyler as a guest.

In related news, Felicia the Goat is also cleaning up his act, or at least his Twitter handle. He recently changed his name from @fucktyler to @tylerthecreator.

RIP FUCKTYLER, WILL MISS YOU, ITS BEEN GREAT, BUT NOW ITS TIME FOR ME TO……IDK WHAT EXACTLY, BUT ITS TIME, IM OK WITH THAT. LOVE YOU.

- Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) August 24, 2016

Speaking to Afropunk, Tyler said the move was strategic. “My stock just went up because of that name change,” he explained. “How can I contact corporations, like 'yo invest a bunch of money in me.' Oh yeah, my name has this in it. First impression is automatically out the window.”

Watch Tyler discuss the name change and politics below.

Jayaire Woods - FREETHEFALL

Download Jayaire Woods' new mixtape, "FREETHEFALL."
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/jayaire-woods-freethefall-new-mixtape.116538.html

U.S. Veterans Explain Why They're Standing With Colin Kaepernick

WASHINGTON ― Many have accused San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick of not supporting veterans since he decided not to stand for the national anthem at a preseason game on Friday in protest of how people of color are treated in America.

But not all former members of the military see Kaepernick's protest as disrespectful.

Marcus Newsome, who served in the U.S. Army from 2000 to 2011, told The Huffington Post he was tired of seeing Kaepernick bashed for “exercising his 1st Amendment right.” In an email, he said he was also tired of people using veterans to argue against Kaepernick's stance, “especially when that flag and anthem has been racist towards people historically, treated Veterans like crap in the past and now, and in some cases [using] us as a vehicle for their ignorant agendas.”

So he started #VeteransForKaepernick ― a hashtag for veterans to voice their support for the quarterback.

I serve for his right to protest.. I don't serve for Police Brutality.. #VeteransForKaepernick pic.twitter.com/Q6GUNTwHDO
- Airbnb Papi (@JoeOnDemand) August 31, 2016

“I literally had no choice but to stand with him ― not because he's biracial, not because he's a 49er, which I'm a fan, but as a Veteran who got tired of people using us as a political vehicle when he had every right to do so,” Newsome continued.

Joe McCastle, who is currently serving in the U.S. Army, said he stands behind Kaepernick's message as well as his right to freely express himself.

“Too much focus was given to the symbol of [Kaepernick] sitting rather than the message,” McCastle said. “His message was being clouded by constant slander ... there are veterans who are not only not offended but are actually behind him and are indeed proud of how he exercises the rights we fight tirelessly for.”

Kaepernick's decision has certainly emboldened those who take issue with certain methods of protest as well as the skin color of the protester. The focus hasn't been on the crux of Kaepernick's message, the staggering rates at which black people are killed by police or how often police kill people in mental distress (some of whom are veterans). Instead, people have chosen to criticize a vocal black man who is unapologetic in his refusal to stand up for the national anthem.

But for Brandy Lochette, who served in the Army and the Marine Corps, supporting Kaepernick is the right thing to do.

“We as service members take an oath to defend the Constitution and all that it stands for. That includes everyone's right to stand up for what they believe in, whether it's popular or not,” she said.

The fact that Kaepernick is African-American, Lochette pointed out, also makes him susceptible to experiencing police violence ― as some professional athletes have. James Blake, a retired tennis player, was tackled by an NYPD officer in September 2015 after being misidentified as a robbery suspect. When Milwaukee Bucks player John Henson tried to enter a high-end jewelry store during regular business hours in October, he said employees locked the door and told him to leave before police arrived.

Instances like that give Kaepernick “every right to stand up for what he believes in,” Lochette said. “As a result, because of my choice to serve this country, I support his right to protest in the peaceful manner that he has chosen.”

Matt Lorscheider, a former Marine, echoed Lochette's sentiments.

“There is horrible injustice in this country for people of color and I agree with his decision to not show reverence to a symbol of a country that has allowed it to persist,” he said. “It is his protected right ― a right I swore an oath to defend.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

'Love & Hip Hop' Star Tommie Lee -- All Dolled Up to Go to Jail (VIDEO)

'Love & Hip Hop' star Tommie Lee just got dressed to the nines for a mug shot. Law enforcement in Atlanta tells TMZ Lee turned herself in Wednesday afternoon. Cops say they got an arrest warrant because Tommie allegedly threatened to kill…

Solange Stars in Michael Kors Campaign

Solange is the new face of Michael Kors.

The R&B songstress stars as the leading lady in The Walk, the brand's first-ever street-style campaign, which was shot by photographer Tommy Ton.

The images, snapped in Manhattan's West Village and Greenwich Village, are accompanied by a stunning 43-second long Wednesday Agency-directed visual.

In the pics, Solange rocks a faux fur green jacket over a matching neck tie blouse paired with black leather pants and white kicks.

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A Brown Girl's Tribute To The Glory That Was 'Bend It Like Beckham'

It was 2003. The year of “Love Actually,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and “Elf.” Three iconic blockbuster films with predominantly white casts and a meager sprinkling of diverse faces thrown in to move the plot along.

And then, like a unexpected gift from the cinema gods above, came “Bend It like Beckham,” a movie that had one thing all those other theater-packing, Hollywood hits didn't have.

Jess Bhamra. A brown girl like me.

When I first saw the trailer for the film, I thought, “Beckham … What a strange name for a brown girl.”

It wasn't until I sat down with my younger sister to watch the movie that I understood ― this was a film that about the immigrant Indian experience. Jess, wasn't just the nerdy best friend, the submissive shy girl, or the exotic temptress (all tropes that are far too common for Asian women). She was the main character ― a girl with many layers and quirks, whose long braid came loose, a girl who had a knack for getting what she wanted.

And this wasn't the kind of movie that played only at the South Asian theater in my hometown in Rockland County, New York. “Bend It Like Beckham” was an unexpected global smash hit. It was something people at school were talking about. So much so that once, when I reluctantly answered the eternally infuriating question, “Where are you really from?” the person who asked responded with, “Oh, like 'Bend it like Beckham?' Yeah, I know all about that.'”

In the movie, Jess Bhamra, played by the English actress Parminder Nagra, is an 18-year-old budding soccer star from London who desperately wants a chance to play her sport. She joins a local women's team (with a conveniently smoking hot coach). When her parents, Sikh immigrants to the U.K., find out that she's playing, they're furious and ban her from the field.

The rest of the film has all the elements of a beloved romantic comedy ― a grand, colorful wedding, a sudden change of fortune, and of course, a scintillating kiss in an airport.

Now, there are a few differences between Jess and me. Her family was Sikh, mine is Christian. Her family is likely from Punjab, while mine is from a state much farther south in India, called Kerala. She speaks a language at home that my family wouldn't understand. She was raised in England, with its imperialist history of subjugating Indians, and I was raised in America, with its own racist history of discriminating against Indians. (I guess some things are sadly universal.)

But while it's important to note that not all immigrant experiences are the same, my 14-year-old self couldn't help staring at Jess on the screen and seeing a kindred spirit. I felt incredibly confident that Jess would know what it's like to be constantly confused with the other brown girls in her class. Jess would know what it's like to run through her mom's kitchen like it was on fire, to avoid having the smell of chicken curry cling to her clothes. Jess would know what it's like to love your immigrant parents fiercely, protectively, and still be frustrated beyond belief when they aren't able to float freely between two cultures the way you can.

What I love the most about “Bend It Like Beckham” was that the heart of the problem ― the reason why Jess' dad is preventing her from doing what she loves ― is not because his culture is strange and backwards and oppressive towards women or because he is a foreigner unwilling to mingle.

It was racism. Jess's dad had his own dreams of playing for an English team. He was once part of a cricket club, but the men on the team had made fun of him, and eventually kicked him out.

The experience taught Jess's dad a hard truth. Along with adjusting to a new language and culture, he also had to learn how to navigate through a society that didn't always see him as one of their own. He didn't want his daughter to feel the shame of that rejection.

This kind of plot line, this truth that pervades the life of immigrant families and at times, defines how they interact with the majority culture, was only possible in “Bend It Like Beckham” because this movie was not just about visibility on the screen, but also about representation behind the scenes. The film was produced, written and directed by Gurinder Chadha ― an English film director of Indian descent.

This is why we need to make sure people of color make it to writers' meetings and boardrooms even before the cameras start rolling ― so that our experiences are added to the conversation about what it means to be a human being.

Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, editor-in-chief of MuslimGirl.com, spelled it out perfectly during a panel at The White House's first United State of Women Summit.

When asked, “How do we empower the people we call the voiceless?” she responded:

“One of the most important things for us to do to amplify those voices is to pass the mic whenever we have it,”Al-Khatahtbeh said at the summit. “If there's someone that can speak to a lived experience that you cannot, do not take up that space, do not speak on their behalf, let them speak for themselves.”

If there's someone that can speak to a lived experience that you cannot, do not take up that space, do not speak on their behalf, let them speak for themselves.

Amani Al-Khatahtbeh

So even though “Bend It Like Beckham” is a movie about a brown girl that's bizarrely named after a rich white man, even though it perpetuates the idea that Indian women need to be saved from their family's culture and properly assimilated into the West, this moment was a milestone for Indian girls of my generation. For the first time in my life, I saw an echo of myself on the screen.

So my South Asian sisters, let's give credit where it's due: Before Kelly Kapoor on The Office, CeCe Parekh on New Girl, and Alex Parrish on Quantico, there will always be Jesminder Kaur Bhamra.

This essay is part of the HuffPost Voices series “When Representation Mattered.” The series highlights stories from people of all racial backgrounds, religions, abilities, ages, sexual and gender identities on what representation means to them. To submit your story (in written or vlog form) for consideration, email representationmatters@huffingtonpost.com.

Past blogs in the series:

When Representation Mattered: On Truly 'Seeing' Yourself In Pop Culture

Dear Hollywood, I May Be Invisible To You, But I'm Very Real

What I, A White Man, Want Everyone To Know About The Power Of Black Women

I Grew Up In Europe, But Found My Blackness In African-American Culture

How Ilana From 'Broad City' Taught Me To Be Unapologetically Bi

How Aaliyah Helped Me Love Myself More As A Black Woman

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

37 Perfectly Snarky Tweets About 'Bachelor In Paradise,' Week 5

Another week of “Bachelor” wouldn't be “Paradise” without spot-on snark ― not to mention a few heart-wrenching exits, a near-fight, and the return of Wells to our TV screens.

Below are 37 tweets that nail the glory and pain that is watching “BIP”:

For more on Week 5 of “Bachelor In Paradise,” check out HuffPost's “Here To Make Friends” podcast below:

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Kourtney Kardashian Says Her Kids Don't Watch Their Show

“Who is Blac Chyna?”

You might know Kourtney Kardashian, eldest daughter of Kris Jenner and Robert Kardashian.

And sister to like 500 more Kardashian/Jenners.

Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images

And you might know that Kourtney has three kids of her own: Mason, Penelope, and Reign.

Pictured here with their cousin North.

Kourtney Kardashian / Via instagram.com

View Entire List ›

Sampha - Blood On Me

Sampha shares "Blood On Me," the second single from his upcoming debut album.
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/sampha-blood-on-me-new-song.1971143.html

Rob Kardashian -- I Followed Doctor's Orders ... And I'm Diabetes Free Now

Rob Kardashian has made an incredible turnaround in his fight against diabetes ... he's telling his family he's no longer diabetic ... TMZ has learned. We're told Rob says he's in remission and his doctor told him he doesn't have to take…

The Meaning Of Ariana Grande's 'Side To Side' Is Way More Sexual Than We Thought

Ariana Grande sure has come a long way from the cat-ear-wearing days of yesteryear. Now, she's a bona fide dangerous woman who isn't afraid to tell us all about her sex life.

First, there was “Love Me Harder,” in which The Weeknd sings about making her (or any girl, in general) moan, then came “Into You ,” when the pop star told us she wanted “a little more touch my body.” Finally, we were blessed with “Side to Side,” a catchy pop tune featuring Nicki Minaj that's all about having so much sex you can't walk straight. (Yes, you read that right.)

Grande confirmed this very meaning of the song to reporters at the MTV Video Music Awards, where the video premiered.

“That whole song is about riding leading to soreness,” she said, adding, “'Ride dick bicycle' is the lyric, indeed.”

Upon learning of the song's meaning, “Girls” creator Lena Dunham had a lot of feelings.

Jack just explained that the song Side to Side is about getting railed so hard you can't walk. SO MANY EMOTIONZ.
- Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) August 30, 2016

Grande to responded with a collection of relevant emojis.

☕️ https://t.co/TArrIJFfGJ
- Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) August 30, 2016

We're not so sure what to make of that, but at least now we know what “Side to Side” means.

You can watch the whole video below:

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

14 Things We Learned From Blac Chyna's First Big Interview

The reality show is Rob's idea!?

Yesterday, Elle released an exclusive interview with Blac Chyna and it's the first time she's given an in-depth interview since she beat the Kardashian's at their own game. Here are some of the most important things we learned:

Blac Chyna / Via Instagram: @blacchyna

She's an independent woman, who is all about her coin.

"I always liked having my own money and buying my own stuff," she tells Elle. "I didn't want to depend on somebody to do it for me." She mentions later in the interview that her work ethic is something Rob loves about her.

Blac Chyna

Her first job was at a McDonalds.

And even there she strived to be the best. "Normally you start on fries or burgers, but I was never back there," she told Elle proudly. "I guess it was because of my personality."

Blac Chyna / Via instagram.com

She initially started stripping to pay for college.

Her parents couldn't afford to send her to school, so she deferred admission to Johnson & Wales University in Miami and began stripping in Maryland. By the time she turned 20 she had enough money to pay tuition, but the Miami strip club scene proved to be too tempting. She tried to do both but couldn't keep up the schedule. "I was falling asleep all the time in class. It wasn't working out for me," she said. She ultimately dropped out and began dancing/modeling full time.

Blac Chyna / Via instagram.com

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Taye Diggs -- Rodney Harrison's Speaking Like A Slave Owner

Taye Diggs says Rodney Harrison's "not black" attack on Colin Kaepernick is straight out of the 1800's ... saying it's the same type of talk slave masters used to divide their black slaves. Diggs -- the father of a mixed son -- blasted…

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie "Not A Regular Person" Video

A Boogie releases the video for 'Not a Regular Person."
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/a-boogie-wit-da-hoodie-not-a-regular-person-video-new-video.38444.html

Miranda Kerr Reveals Orlando Bloom Was Embarrassed Over Nude Paddleboarding Photos

Now that the world has seen Orlando Bloom's manhood, Miranda Kerr has finally spoken about the infamous nude photos.

During an interview on Australian radio program “The Kyle and Jackie O Show,” the model, who was married to Bloom from 2010 to 2013, revealed that her ex gave her a heads up about the pics.

“Oh, my God ― he texted me and he was like, 'Um, I'm really embarrassed. Some photos are coming out. Just thought I should let you know,'” Kerr, 33, said.

The photos of Bloom surfaced online earlier this month while he was vacationing with his new girlfriend, Katy Perry. As a result, the internet went nuts.

“I was like, 'Hmm ... right, what were you thinking? Seriously, what were you thinking?'” she said of her response, before jokingly adding that she would send Bloom one of her new Bonds swimsuits for future outings.

You can listen to the interview below (it starts around 1:05).

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Chris Brown Released On $250,000 Bail

Chris Brown is out on bail.
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/chris-brown-released-on-s250-000-bail-news.23819.html

JK Rowling And Amy Schumer Just Had A Lovely Exchange On Twitter

Well this is unexpectedly amazing.

Danny E. Martindale / Getty Images

Getty Images

Amy Schumer is currently on her stand-up world tour, and last night she had a show in Edinburgh. Turns out, none other than JK Rowling was in attendance.

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Karlie Kloss' Personal Trainer Chooses Sleep Over Workouts

It's an age old question: If your alarm goes off and you're still feeling tired, should you get up and make your way to that 7 a.m. bootcamp fitness class or skip the workout and give yourself an extra hour of shuteye?

Now, thanks to a particularly glamorous source, we have an answer. According to Anna Kaiser, personal trainer of supermodel Karlie Kloss, sleeping in can be more important than hitting the gym ― even if you're a supermodel.

“If you have a choice where you've only been sleeping five or six hours and can sleep an extra hour or work out, sleep an extra hour,” Kaiser, who also trains the likes of Kelly Ripa and Shakira and founded the New York-based fitness studio AKT InMotion, told New York Magazine.

“Sleep more. I don't think anyone understands how important it is,” she said.

Sleep researchers aren't so sure

In the battle of health behaviors, sleep vs. exercise doesn't feel so clear cut to everyone. And in fact, the science isn't nearly as assured as Kaiser.

On the one hand, studies have shown that not getting enough sleep ups your risk of obesity, stroke, diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

On the other, regular physical activity helps protect your brain, your bones and your heart and is linked to living longer. Plus working out busts stress, boosts your mood and can actually help you see the world in a more positive way.

We get creative. EVERY. DAMN. DAY. (especially #InternationalWomensDay ) .

A photo posted by Karlie Kloss (@karliekloss) on Mar 8, 2016 at 9:27am PST

Considering how common the problem is, it's surprising how few studies there are on the issue, which means there's still no clear answer, according to Christopher Kline, an exercise and sleep researcher at University of Pittsburgh's Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center.

Some studies have suggested that swapping small amounts of sleep (approximately 30 minutes) for moderate or vigorous physical activity was associated with better measures of heart health, but those studies are correlational, Kline previously told The Huffington Post. They do not necessarily show that choosing to exercise for 30 minutes a day instead of sleeping during that time necessarily led to the improved heart health.

Kline told HuffPost even though the evidence suggests 30 minutes of exercise might have an advantage over sleeping the extra 30 minutes, he wouldn't recommend swapping sleep for gym time UNLESS you get enough sleep to begin with (that means seven to nine hours a night for adults).

So what should you do?

Of course, in an ideal world, there would always be time for the gym, whipping up a veggie-packed and wholesome lunch, clearing out your email inbox, having a meaningful and engaging book club discussion, meditating and getting eight hours of sleep.

via GIPHY

But on the days when you can't fit it all in, we're apt to go with Kaiser on this one and prioritize the sleep.

“Five to six hours for a week really prohibits your cognitive and hormone functions. You really need seven to eight hours. Working out harder or better or eating less isn't the answer. It's about getting enough sleep,” she said.

Kloss gets it...

weekend plans:

A photo posted by Karlie Kloss (@karliekloss) on May 6, 2016 at 3:40pm PDT

Sarah DiGiulio is The Huffington Post's sleep reporter. You can contact her at sarah.digiulio@huffingtonpost.com.

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Chris Brown Accuser -- Grand Larceny Suspect in Plaza Hotel Theft

The woman claiming Chris Brown pulled a gun on her is wanted in NYC for questioning in connection with criminal theft ... for allegedly stealing a fancy designer purse at a swanky hotel. The incident could be significant in the Chris Brown…

2 Chainz Eats Gold-Coated Popcorn On GQ's “Most Expensivest Shit”

Watch 2 Chainz eat some gold-coated popcorn on the latest episode of GQ's “Most Expensivest Shit” series
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/2-chainz-eats-gold-coated-popcorn-on-gq-s-most-expensivest-shit-new-video.38438.html

Tyga -- Ferrari Repo'd ... While Bentley Shopping! (PHOTO)

Tyga reunited with his old pal the repo man, who made off with the rapper's Ferrari at perhaps the most embarrassing time possible ... right in front of Kylie Jenner. We're told Tyga hopped in his fancy red sports car Tuesday with…

My Story: Why I Developed the Parent Pulse Check™

If you just watched Episode 1 of The Parent Pulse Check (www.parentpulsecheck.com), you might be wondering who created it and why. So I'm dedicating this blog post to telling my story.

First of all, I'm not a perfect parent. No one is. I had my son at age 17, while I was still in high school. I know what it means when they say it takes a village to raise a child. I couldn't have done it without the help and advice of my parents, close friends, and family members there to give me support (and a few extra dollars) along the way.

With a lot of hard work and prayer, I finished high school on time and got my bachelor's degree at Boston University. From there I landed in Hollywood, as a struggling screenwriter. When my writing career couldn't pay the bills, I decided to give teaching a try. I loved it, and have never looked back.

I started my teaching career in Compton, California just when N.W.A. was hitting the airwaves, and I taught in the classroom for 11 years - first in Cally and then in my hometown Boston. My teaching career spanned 1st and 2nd grade, then 4th and 5th grade, and I ended with 8th grade. In 11 years I taught elementary school, and middle school social studies, English and drama.

Even though I eventually left the classroom, I couldn't leave our kids. And never will. I've run nonprofit organizations working with middle and high school students for the past 20 years, first with Boston Learning Center and now with BUILD, which is a youth entrepreneurship program. I still live in the same neighborhood of Roxbury, Massachusetts where I was born and raised, and I see our kids and their families in my neighborhood at the supermarket and in church.

I spent this past year working with an amazing team of educators, parents, teachers, school administrators and community activists to write a new Policy for Eliminating Opportunity and Achievement Gaps in the Boston Public Schools. It became a labor of love for me. Actually it became an obsession. Opportunity and achievement gaps have plagued urban school systems for generations. As co-chair for the Task Force, I felt determined to help crack the code for helping students of color, English Language Learners, students with disabilities, and students from low-income families to excel at the highest levels. The Policy we wrote calls attention to the need for more training in culturally and linguistically sustaining and affirming practices, greater accountability at all levels from the district to the classroom, and an increased focus on social emotional learning and restorative justice as opposed to punitive school suspensions. Moreover, the policy also calls for students and parents to play an active role in shaping their educational destiny.

I've always admired the strength and grit of our parents who make incredible sacrifices for their children. At the same time, I've watched countless parents - who all want the very best for their child - really drop the ball when it comes to education and school.

No one wants to accuse someone of "bad parenting." But even good parents are guilty of bad parenting sometimes. If it takes a village to raise a child, then WE ARE THE VILLAGE. And when family, friends, neighbors, and teachers stand and watch in silence, who suffers in the end? Children do. Enough. I'm not trying to tell parents how to raise their child, but as an educator who's been in the trenches for almost 30 years, I feel a responsibility to show parents how to raise a child for school success. When it comes to parenting, there is a bar. It's time to raise the bar even higher.

If the Parent Pulse Check™ video makes you angry, great. Talk about it. Shout about it. I welcome the dialogue. Government and school districts can't shape parent behavior. That's the job of the community - the village. And the more we start to shine a light on good parenting versus bad parenting, the more people will be able to "check themselves" when it comes to raising their kids to thrive in school. The Parent Pulse Check™ is intended to be a wake-up call. Let's raise the bar together!

Learning expands great souls. ~ Namibian proverb

Shine on,

Ayele Shakur

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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

A$AP Twelvyy - Motivation Feat. Da$h & AZ (Prod. By Alchemist)

Listen to an unreleased collab from A$AP Twelvyy called "Motivation" featuring Da$h & AZ.
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/asap-twelvyy-motivation-feat-dash-and-az-prod-by-alchemist-new-song.1971138.html

Phresher - Wait A Minute (Remix) Feat. 50 Cent

50 Cent jumps on Phresher's buzzing new single “Wait A Minute.”
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/g-unit-phresher-wait-a-minute-feat-50-cent-new-song.1971137.html

Crime Survivors Are Organizing. They Want Criminal Justice Reform, Too.

Change has come to the criminal justice system in America's most populous state. California's arrest rate last year dropped to its lowest level ever recorded, the result of a voter-approved initiative to reclassify several nonviolent felonies as misdemeanors. Funds saved by the drop in arrests are being shifted to other priorities like victim services and mental health treatment. Meanwhile, state residents with criminal records are currently benefitting from the largest opportunity in U.S. history to remove certain felonies from their records. Supporting these policy changes is a first-of-its-kind statewide network of crime victims, including survivors of violent crimes, who have lent their moral authority to reform efforts.

A linchpin of all these developments is a former punk drummer turned prosecutor named Lenore Anderson. She was the co-author and campaign chair of Proposition 47, the state ballot initiative that reclassified several felonies, and the nonprofit she leads organized the network of crime survivors. With big victories under her belt, Anderson is expanding her focus. Her new organization, Alliance for Safety and Justice, will deploy a similar model in a host of other states with large prison populations. The group is organizing new networks of crime survivors and pushing more states to shift resources from incarceration to effective alternatives.

“Our most important goal is safety,” she said. “Over-incarceration is really unsafe. So our intervention is to ask, how are we spending our safety dollars?”

We spoke with Lenore Anderson for Sophia, a project to collect life lessons from fascinating people. She shared personal stories of the lives caught up in a broken justice system, and of the alternative approaches that are rising to replace it.

+ + +

You said of your younger years, “I made a lot of mistakes. For a time, it wasn't clear I would make it safely into adulthood.” What shifted you to the path you're on now?

(Laughs) Hindsight is always much more linear than reality, right? I was a troublemaker as a kid. I got in trouble with neighbors, parents, police, teachers, and it wasn't until I was older that I understood that the help that was offered me is not the help that is offered to kids of color in my exact same position. In realizing that, I made a commitment to work on racial equity and criminal justice reform for my career.

I was in California in the 80s. During the exact same time that I was in high school, the number of tough-on-crime laws that were being passed in the legislature, the number of laws that were focused on the juvenile predator ― that was when it was occurring. And at that same time, I'm in high school ― middle-class white female ― doing things that are not that different from what a lot of young kids of color would be doing at that time in their lives, and the response to me was one of forgiveness.

Police would take me home instead of taking me to juvenile hall; my parents had resources to get me counseling and therapy; teachers let me pass classes that I didn't actually pass. There was a perception that what I was doing were cries for help, and we need to figure out how to help her get on the right path; to see me as one that needed to be protected through my juvenile confusion to adulthood.

Fast-forward ten years and I'm talking to parents of incarcerated youth. These are young people whose stories are not that markedly different from mine, with the exception of the response ― the exception of what police did, what parents had resources to do, what teachers did. I think that's really why I do the work I do.

I didn't go straight to college after high school. Eventually I went to junior college, mainly because I needed health insurance, and I enjoyed it. I did really well and ended up at UC Berkeley, and there I was very much interested in social justice. I go to an event where one of the speakers is Cornelius Hall, whose son Jerrold Hall was shot in the back by a law enforcement officer working for BART [the Bay Area's rapid transit system] upon suspicion that he had stolen a Walkman.

That was a pivotal moment for me because, you know, half my friends stole Walkmans. No doubt, no question, I was one of the many teenagers who could have been Jerrold Hall, with the difference being he's an African-American male and I'm a white female. I think that was one of the key moments where I was clear on the privilege that I had benefitted from.

What we've done is just so far beyond the number of people we've stuffed into prisons. We actually took generations of people, mostly low-income communities of color, and completely stripped hope and opportunities for basic economic stability and dignity. And we called it public safety.

- Lenore Anderson

You've made it a major priority to elevate the voices of victims of crime.

I worked with parents of incarcerated youth for a long time. We were organizing to replace youth prisons with community alternatives. Then I was in the district attorney's office in San Francisco, and I similarly saw the gap between who is commonly victimized by crime and where the resources and attention go in the criminal justice system.

So when we started Californians for Safety and Justice, the mission was to replace over-incarceration with new safety priorities. And to me there has been a real big missing voice here ― the people who are most commonly victimized by crime. What are their current experiences with the criminal justice system? And what would they prefer to see?

When you look at the tough-on-crime era, they had a pretty successful media strategy. That was a 30-plus year march of dramatic expansion of a public system, dramatic expansion of the number of people incarcerated. And there were some myths that have been propping it up. One of the myths is, incarceration is the best way you protect public safety. The other myth is that that's what crime victims want.

Well, most of the people that have been victims of crime had never been the center of public policy making during the tough-on-crime era. So the question is, how can we be more authentic in integrating the experiences of people who are victimized by crime and violence in what we're going to replace over-incarceration with?

Safety has obviously got to be a top priority. There's possibly no more important role that government can play in the lives of its citizenry. And to know how we're going to deliver safety, you would think that we would talk a lot more to people who have experienced a lack of safety. We really have not. So from the outset, I wanted to make sure that we had a strategy for incorporating the voices of the victims of crime.

Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna recently announced donations of $2 million to the Alliance for Safety and Justice. They compared your political strategy to the one used by Freedom To Marry, the group that helped legalize gay marriage. What is your strategy?

Man, [Freedom To Marry] were great, weren't they? We certainly aspire to be that effective and that successful. They've changed the country in a pretty short period of time.

In terms of what we're doing in states, we're supporting local state-based advocacy organizations to advance criminal justice reform. We're building crime survivor leadership to advance criminal justice reform. And we're trying to advance public policies in states that reduce over-incarceration and replace spending on prisons with spending that'll get us safer. Smarter safety investments.

Our focus has been the state systems because that's where the majority of the money is and the majority of the people are.

Lenore Anderson

The role of the crime survivor work is valuable in terms of the substance, valuable in terms of a missing voice, and also valuable in terms of the political dynamic around criminal justice reform. The tough-on-crime era was very successful at framing all of those policies as “the pro-victim approach,” so we've tried to put forward an alternative vision that can allow us to see how those policies have been flawed. Those tough-on-crime policies actually haven't helped the majority of crime victims, and so here's the majority of crime victims ― here's who they are and these are the kinds of things that they want to see. Promoting their voices has both substantive value as well as political value.

In terms of political strategy, we're looking at the top 15 incarceration population states in the country. A smaller number of states are disproportionately responsible for a lot of the over-incarceration in the country. When you look at national incarceration rates and you start to see them come down a little bit starting in 2012, it's almost all California. One state has that much of an impact on that curve. Why? Because we're such a large state. We have a huge general population and a very, very large incarceration population. When we're talking about making big change, it makes sense to go to the big states, so we're looking at the top 15 large incarceration population states ― it's Florida, it's Texas, it's Illinois, Michigan, places where a lot of people live and a lot of people are incarcerated.

Are you focusing at all on federal legislation?

We just released a report on crime victims and we both hope and anticipate that it affects the conversation on federal approaches to criminal justice. But our focus has been the state systems because that's where the majority of the money is and the majority of the people are.

You just surveyed crime victims nationwide about criminal justice issues. What did they say?

Lots of things that are counterintuitive. The common assumption is that crime victims want vengeance, or that they want the toughest possible longest sentence. What we found is actually quite different.

We found that the majority of crime victims want rehabilitation over punishment. The majority of crime victims want shorter sentences and prevention spending over long sentences. We found the majority of crime victims think that prosecutors should spend more time focused on neighborhood problem solving and rehabilitation, even if it means fewer convictions ― even if it means fewer convictions. Those kinds of findings really stand out, and these are diverse crime victims from all backgrounds across the country.

There are enough people at this point that have had direct personal experience with the failings of our current approach to criminal justice that pretty much everybody agrees that most people get worse in prison, not better. How can that possibly be a good investment? Hearing that from victims I think is a really powerful intervention on the conversation on what we should be doing.

You told the New York Times, “My highest hope is that we start to really see some innovation that we haven't seen in the past.” What sorts of criminal justice innovations are you impressed by right now?

There is great innovation happening in the sphere of safety and justice. For the most part, they are boutique programs, they're on the side, they're operating on a dime. Getting those things to scale is the issue. We know what to do. The problem is, it's not the centerpiece.

So we have general run-of-the-mill felony calendars that all day churn out the same sort of stuff. And then you have the neighborhood court program that operates in one neighborhood, that's holistic in its approach, that has caseworkers on site that evaluate the drivers behind why someone's involved in crime and addresses those drivers, like addiction or mental illness or homelessness. Then the person is stable, the crime stops happening, the neighborhood's in better shape. Those things are often on the side. So I can definitely share the things that work well and are exciting, but also recognize the main issue is scaling them up.

So neighborhood court programs are excellent models of what could be done differently, especially when it comes to cycles of low-level crime.

There are a lot of wonderful restorative justice programs. They're really powerful because they involve the crime victim in the resolution of the case in a way that the traditional criminal justice system can't and won't. A lot of the members of our Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice team have become inspired around criminal justice reform precisely because of a restorative justice experience that they had in their own dealings with the crime that occurred. It is really a missing piece that victims should have when it comes to solving crimes, up to and including serious crime. That's a huge one.

There are a lot of excellent diversion programs. There's Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion that comes out of Seattle; this is where police officers say to people who are struggling with addiction: “Hey, I won't arrest you if you go into X treatment and case management program.” It's more of a public health approach, understanding that people may relapse, that that's part of the process of addiction. Law enforcement officers and case managers are trying to get this person out of the cycle of addiction and that is the goal of the program. It's very different than a goal of, “Hey, I saw you on the street again, you're still possessing drugs, we're going to arrest you once again.”

So, diversion programs; all of the collaborative court models, in particular the community court models; and then restorative justice stand out to me as some of the things that have really been missing in terms of priorities.

I'll mention one other, the Trauma Recovery Center model. We talk a lot in criminal justice reform about people committing repeat crimes and recidivism rates. But there's another less-discussed reality: the people who are most likely to be victims of crime have been victims before. Their pathway to recovery is one that we completely miss when it comes to our safety investments, and this is something that we've been pushing a lot.

What if we had a better sense of who around us are victims of crime that are vulnerable to being repeat victims of crime because they haven't gotten the help that they need to recover? There's this model in San Francisco called the Trauma Recovery Center, and we've been supporting them. Any victim can use it, and when you come in, you get help filling out your victim compensation forms, but you also get on-site access to mental health counseling, relocation assistance, and other things, they're all incorporated.

So we found this one program and started working with our state senator. We've now gotten enough pieces of legislation and budget allocations passed in the last four years such that in California, there are now nine Trauma Recovery Centers across the state. One of them, it's called Fathers & Families of San Joaquin, in San Joaquin County, a remarkable organization. They also work with kids who have been incarcerated and kids who are on probation. So right there in that one community center, they have the awareness and understanding of the risks that kids face to become victims of crime, and also are helping kids who have committed crimes get off that pathway and get onto productive lives. Really amazing stuff that's popping up.

The majority of crime victims want rehabilitation over punishment. The majority of crime victims want shorter sentences and prevention spending over long sentences. We found the majority of crime victims think that prosecutors should spend more time focused on neighborhood problem solving and rehabilitation.

Lenore Anderson

And how do you view the ideal role of prisons?

The Vera Institute of Justice took a group of people from the U.S. to Germany to see their system. One of them was the Santa Clara District Attorney, Jeff Rosen, and hearing him talk about what that looks like is really interesting. He's written a few pieces on it and given some speeches, you should check it out if you can because I think he paints an interesting picture of an actual real system today that works.

For example, in Germany, the people who run the prisons, it's a highly-regarded job. They are Ph.D.'s in criminology and sociology, they understand rehabilitation and so forth. It's taken very differently in that regard.

The proper role of our criminal justice system is to stop cycles of crime, and the vast majority of ways to best do that are at the community level; if people are a danger and cannot be in the community, then the priority responsibility is to rehabilitate them during the time that they're separated from society.

So the focus is on the pathways for someone to safely return to the community. A system that emphasized that and focused on that would look radically different than what we have now, and it would be for a smaller number of people. Because if we had the kinds of programs in place on the front-end at the community level that offered alternatives to incarceration ― diversion and mental health treatment, drug treatment, all those kinds of things ― you'd see a lot fewer people get far downfield in their involvement in crime.

What are some books that had a substantial impact on your intellectual development?

Certainly Maya Angelou was very influential. “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.” I read that when I was young, a very influential book, taught me perseverance and growth through challenge.

And when I was in college, Frederick Douglass. I had a college professor tell me there are only about 200 written autobiographies by people who were enslaved in this country. Slavery lasted over 200 years and there are only 200 autobiographies actually in print. Isn't that amazing? It's just horrifying that we have that little direct knowledge of what this country did. At any rate, Frederick Douglass's first autobiography was really impactful.

Violent crime in California was up about 10 percent last year. Why do you think that is?

There are a couple of things that are important to note. One is, most criminologists would say you want to look at crime trends for longer periods of time to be able to accurately evaluate where they're going and why.

Two, we know that crime trends are often very localized. A severe challenge in one jurisdiction may not be the same in another. So when you break out what's happening in San Francisco versus what's happening in Monterey versus what's happening in Fresno or Richmond, it looks pretty different. It doesn't look quite like there's one statewide trend. You can see a lot of diversity in how crime is happening. For example, it's down in Oakland, it's down in Pasadena.

There are a lot of jurisdictions where it's going up and I would say that there's a lot more that needs to be researched and understood to get a sense of what's happening. Violent crime is certainly up in other parts of the country, as well. This requires close attention.

The other thing I will say is that every reform that occurs does need to result in adaptive practices at the local level. Sometimes those adaptations happen and sometimes they don't. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what you're gonna do now that a particular crime no longer means automatic incarceration. What are the other strategies you're going to use to address these things? We've been clear, as it relates to Proposition 47, that implementation requires that locals change their practices. If locals do or don't, that could be having an impact as well.

There are enough people at this point that have had direct personal experience with the failings of our current approach to criminal justice that pretty much everybody agrees that most people get worse in prison, not better.

Lenore Anderson

You've been doing this work for years. Is there a moment that stands out when you knew you'd made a major impact?

Proposition 47 took six crimes, changed them from felony to misdemeanor, and applied that retroactively very broadly. Anyone in California who had one of these crimes on their old criminal record can apply to get that felony removed. Rough estimates are that there are about 1 million Californians that may be eligible for record change under Proposition 47.

So we're like: Let's tell the public about this. We did outreach to grassroots organizations, we did billboards, we did television, radio, and then we decided we wanted to organize a large-scale fair, like a community fair, where we would have free lawyers on site, we would have hot dogs, music, and get people to come on down and get their records changed.

So it was Exposition Park in Los Angeles, and we got 150 lawyer volunteers all trained up, and they came to volunteer. And we got 150 event volunteers. We had no idea how many people were going to show up. Just no idea, we're rolling the dice here.

The event starts at 11am on a Sunday and our team shows up at seven in the morning, and there are people who are already in line. At seven in the morning. My staff is like, “Hey, you know we don't start until 11am?” And people have lawn chairs, sleeping bags. The response from the people in line was, “Oh no, we've been here since four in the morning. This is a really important day for us.” Five thousand people showed up at this event!

Watch the video below for scenes from the Los Angeles record change event.

I mean, it was totally overwhelming, total chaos, computer systems break down (laughs), we need to get more water. We had no idea, we had no idea. And the stories of the impact of these felony convictions on people's lives was devastating and overwhelming. The grandma who can't get her granddaughter out of foster care because she has some drug possession conviction from like 30 years ago. The guy who's been only able to find part-time work for a decade, even though he has three kids. The woman who wants to get a student loan to go to college. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. There were moments where it was just tears.

And it is overwhelming. How are we ever going to possibly be able to help all these people ― not just on this day but in this country? What we've done is just so far beyond the number of people we've stuffed into prisons. We actually took generations of people, mostly low-income communities of color, and completely stripped hope and opportunities for basic economic stability and dignity. And we called it public safety.

Looking back, would you have handled your own education any differently?

I sure wish I took high school more seriously than I did because I probably would have gone straight to college. On the other hand, perhaps I needed those years for growing up. I certainly encourage younger folks to take high school seriously and go to college when they can. I am grateful for the junior college system in California. I think community colleges are critical tools. Not everyone can go to a four-year.

There's so much about education that is a luxury, in terms of the chance to grapple with ideas, learn as much as you can, absorb as much information as you can. Especially as a mom and working all the time, the opportunity to just read and learn is not the luxury that I have. I really wish that I'd spent more time in the libraries. I really wish I had taken more opportunities to learn everything I possibly could from the brilliant teachers that I was around.

Think of it as this very very short period of time where you're actual job is to learn. I mean, that's the coolest thing ever. And it's not permanent. That's a very, very short window. So absorb as much as you can.

I spent some time in other countries while I was in law school, and I remember a colleague of mine in Guatemala asking me all kinds of questions about the library at the law school that I went to. It was just such a remarkable thing that there would be this many books. Recognize that college and law school in particular are serious privileges and you should take them seriously and absorb everything you can.

To know how we're going to deliver safety, you would think that we would talk a lot more to people who have experienced a lack of safety. We really have not.

Lenore Anderson

Anything else to mention?

It's funny to me that this is even of interest to you, to be honest. Criminal justice reform is a totally new thing to all of a sudden be a very big issue. For the majority of the time I've been working on criminal justice issues, it has not been a major topic in the media or a major subject of presidential candidates, all this kind of stuff. That change just in the time that I've been doing this work has been interesting.

I'm really hopeful that means we've reached a point where we can have a breakthrough on this issue in the country. It certainly wasn't what I would have expected 10 or 15 years ago. I mean, we now have Democrats and Republicans talking about some of the same things when it comes to criminal justice reform. Wayne Hughes Jr. was a major backer of Proposition 47, a very prominent conservative business leader here in California. Newt Gingrich endorsed Proposition 47. It's just kind of amazing, right?

It's such an exciting time for criminal justice reform and the possibility of completely changing how the country understands safety. What that will mean for millions of people is really humbling to me. It's so important that we turn this moment into something meaningful, that we actually take the opportunity that I think we're being handed right now.

What's going to make the biggest difference? How are we going to turn mass incarceration into something of the past, something that we recognize was a huge mistake in terms of public policy and human development? That's a very humbling but exciting opportunity that I see that exists right now in this country, and something that I don't think I foresaw happening so soon.

This interview transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

Sophia

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