Hoping to recreate pop culture history, Diddy and crew are on the hunt for the world’s most promising singers. The Bad Boy Records executive issued a global casting call through Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. But the fiercest competition will be using Smule.

For the first time ever, Smule has partnered with MTV. Offering their users a list of curated songs to choose from, wide-eyed prospects can use the app to create video auditions shareable on every social media platform. While anyone over the age of 18 is welcome to compete, contestants must also be able to comply with the rules and eligibility requirements. Looks like someone better be ready to get that Junior’s Cheesecake!

Making the Band has not aired since 2009, but fans spammed the hashtag #IWantMyMTB, prompting MTV and Diddy to come to the table. Using the hashtag #MTBCASTING, singers now have a new chance at getting discovered. However, the details of their talent search have yet to be revealed. Through a rabbit hole of links, you can view the Terms of Use and User Content Submission Agreement. Just be sure to read the agreements before submitting your videos as the contracts are effective once your clips are posted. There’s a lengthy segment titled “Rights Granted to MTV”, which gives them, in so many words, the right to use and otherwise exploit any ideas, concepts, or content displayed in your submission without any credit or compensation. So stay sharp!

Hopefuls are already posting their talents across social media. Will you be joining them?

Sunday, Beto O’ Rourke shared the discovery of he and his wife’s descendants from slave owners. Acknowledging their benefit from institutionalized chattel slavery, the Presidential hopeful owned his painful legacy while outlining several policies, which include reparations.

“We all need to know our own story as it relates to the national story, much as I am learning mine.”

Beto O’Rourke

In a post written for Medium, O’Rourke stated he was provided with documents showing his paternal and maternal great-great-great grandfather’s owned, slaves. Rose and Eliza, whose names were found listed in a property log, were enslaved by O’Rourke’s paternal ancestor, Andrew Cowan Jasper. But the discovery would uncover that not only did he descend from slave owners, but his wife also had as well. Discussing their personal connection to the legacy of slavery in the US, O’Rourke lamented what Rose, Eliza, and other enslaved Africans endured, were denied, and what repercussions their ancestors suffered.

“I benefit from a system that my ancestors built to favor themselves at the expense of others. That only increases the urgency I feel to help change this country so that it works for those who have been locked-out of or — locked-up in — this system.”

Beto O’Rourke

You cannot navigate life in the America of today without first acknowledging its racist foundations. From the moment the first nineteen enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, the institution of slavery threaded them through a needle of cruelty and stitched them into the fabric of American society. Generations of Africans were denied their freedom, civil rights, and ability to amass wealth through a practice that forced them to push their White counterparts ahead. This advantage, hesitantly understood by O’Rourke, benefits him, his spouse, and his children while continuing to suppress the growth of Black families to this day. Still, Beto admits the wrongs of his ancestors while contemplating how he, as President, could enact policies to tip the scales.

“I will do everything I can”

Touching on the wealth disparity, Beto discussed the imbalanced incarceration rate and infant mortality rates between Black and White Americans. Seeing the nation as two Americas to be bridged, O’Rourke wants to rectify the economic, educational, criminal justice, and even technological biases that pervade our nation. Detailing his plan, Beto began with educational changes, providing $23 billion immediately to address underfunding in minority-majority public schools. With attention to economic biases, he plans to ensure equal pay and dispense capital to minority and women-owned businesses. With criminal justice being at the forefront of the conversation for many candidates and prospective voters, O’Rourke moves to end the drug war and expunging arrest records for nonviolent drug crimes. However, his stance on reparations, while he does support it, rests on Americans understanding of the country’s history before pursuing cash payouts.

The overall reception of Beto O’Rourke’s admission has been positive as he is being lauded for confronting his problematic legacy head-on. However, he is still being accused of performative activism. Detractors are labeling his recent discovery as a pandering attempt to garner votes from Black constituents.

Do you think this is a step in the right direction for Beto? Would you like to see this sort of genealogical research become a requirement for Presidential candidates?

Arrested Thursday on a 13-count indictment, R Kelly has been brought up on federal charges. For his sexual abuses against women and minors, Kelly is facing 13 new charges including child pornography and enticing a minor. But the singer’s woes don’t end there. According to a five-count indictment from the Eastern District of New York, he is also facing racketeering charges.

Federal charges against R. Kelly now include:

– 10 for sexual abuse against 4 women (3 were minors).
– 11 for sexual assault and abuse against 1 woman who was a minor.
– 13 new charges for federal sex crimes including child pornography and enticing a minor. pic.twitter.com/KNOO75mIwH

— AJ+ (@ajplus) July 12, 2019

While R Kelly was out walking his dog, agents of Homeland Security and New York Police Department detectives apprehended him. On the grounds of two separate indictments, officers began conducting a search of his Trump Tower residence in Chicago. As of now, R Kelly is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Illinois and is expected to appear in court later today.

“Where is my daughter?!”

R Kelly’s publicist, Darrell Johnson, held a press conference today in Atlanta where he discussed the events of the arrest, but he was interrupted by Joycelyn Savage’s family. Timothy Savage along with his wife, two daughters, and publicist Dontaye Carter arrived in Atlanta Friday morning after an unsuccessful wellness check in Chicago. The family says they arranged a visit to Kelly’s Trump Tower residence with the Chicago PD. Unfortunately, the Savages were unable to contact their daughter because the residence had been vacated. The Savages hoped to see their daughter for the first time since December 2016 and hear her voice for the first time since the phone call that followed the explosive interviews from two months ago.

Demanding to know the whereabouts of Joycelyn, the Savages thought their best course of action was to attack the press conference after hearing of Kelly’s arrest. However, Darrell Johnson denies having any knowledge of where Azriel Clary or Joycelyn Savage are. Johnson stated he had only arrived after spending time in New York and was not in Chicago. But Timothy Savage said they were tipped off that the girls were in Atlanta. Addressing previous attempts to reach an agreement, Johnson said he tried negotiating with the Savages but the talks fell through. Since then, there have been no updates provided to her family, which prompted the wellness check.