Black Panther Family "Very Emotional" as Sequel Starts Production Without Chadwick Boseman

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever started production this week. Marvel's Kevin Feige told Variety, "We’re going to do it in a way that would make Chad proud.”

Watch: Chadwick Boseman Brought Black Superheroes to Life with “Black Panther”

Attention, Marvel fans!

Studio chief Kevin Feige told Variety the highly anticipated Black Panther sequel—Black Panther: Wakanda Forever—began production on June 29 at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta.

Ryan Coogler is returning to direct the movie from his screenplay. While details about the plot have yet to be revealed, Feige did tell the outlet the cast from the first movie—minus the late Chadwick Bosman—will return to reprise their roles. Boseman died at the age of 43 last August following a private battle with colon cancer. 

“It’s clearly very emotional without Chad,” Feige told Variety ahead of the Black Widow Global Fan Event in Los Angeles. “But everyone is also very excited to bring the world of Wakanda back to the public and back to the fans. We’re going to do it in a way that would make Chad proud.”

In December, Disney announced that Marvel Studios will not recast Boseman’s role of T’Challa “but will explore the world of Wakanda & the rich characters introduced in the first film.”

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Chadwick Boseman’s Best Roles

The original Black Panther movie earned billions at the box office and won three Academy Awards. In addition to Boseman, the film featured an all-star cast including Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, Sterling K. Brown, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis.

Moviestore/Shutterstock

After Boseman’s passing, several of the film’s stars took to social media to honor his legacy. “He was fueled by love, not fear,” Lupita wrote on Instagram. “He moved quietly, deliberately, and without imposing himself or his ideals on others. And yet he also made damn sure that his life meant something. He cared so deeply about humanity, about Black people, about his people. He activated our pride. By pushing through and working with such high purpose in the films he chose to commit to, Chadwick has made the infinite his home.”

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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is scheduled to be released July 8, 2022.

How Taraji P. Henson Celebrated the Year of the Black Woman at 2021 BET Awards

Taraji P. Henson said celebrating Black women isn’t a fad or a trend, but a “forever mood” while hosting the 2021 BET Awards. Relive her opening message to fans.

Watch: Taraji P. Henson Is Ready for BET Awards & “Thot Girl Summer”

Taraji P. Henson is once again using her platform for good.

While kicking off her hosting duties at the 2021 BET Awards on June 27, the Empire star took to the stage with a message to viewers across the country. While she was excited to celebrate “culture’s biggest night” in the presence of a live audience, there was a bigger message at hand.

“Tonight you gonna get 100 percent of our full blackness,” Taraji declared. “I’m going to tell you why. Because this is where we matter, where our Black entertainment matters. It’s 2021 and we are celebrating the year of the Black woman. Period.” 

She continued, “Look at us, though. Look around the room. Look at this power. The grace, the class, the edges. We are everything, honey. Celebrating Black women isn’t a fad or a trend. It’s a forever mood, okay? And there is more than enough room for all of us to thrive. ‘Cause can’t nobody be me like me. And can’t nobody be you like you. And tonight, I’m giving my sisters their flowers.”

Taraji later gave a shout out to fellow audience members including Zendaya and Issa Rae before giving credit to a few world-famous athletes unable to attend in person.

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BET Awards 2021 Red Carpet Fashion

“Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Sha’Carri Richardson, we see you young queens,” she shared. “I’m that girl too. And so when you see me, you see her. When you see her, you see me.”

Broadimage/Shutterstock

During her opening monologue, Taraji said she would be paying tribute to some of her favorite Black women with a variety of fashionable outfits.

And with help from celebrity hairstylist Tym Wallace, the 50-year-old actress warned fans that she as going to have several show-stopping looks.

But before the show continued, the Howard University alum also gave a shoutout to all the Black men including Migos. who were set to take the stage next.

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“We love you, we see you, kings,” she shared. “And most importantly, we need you.”

Kodak Black Comes Under Fire for His Kobe BryantInspired Helicopter

Kodak Black, who recently turned 24, is receiving backlash for his Kobe Bryant-themed birthday party, in which he posed with a purple and gold helicopter.

Kodak Black is receiving backlash for his recent birthday celebration.

The rapper, who turned 24 on Friday, June 11, took to Instagram to share behind-the-scenes photos of his party. However, his festivities didn’t sit well with his followers.

Per his images, the “Gleerious” musician appeared to celebrate his birthday with a Kobe Bryant theme. For one, he wore a Los Angeles Lakers jersey with the late athlete’s name and number displayed on the back. Moreover, Kodak posed between a purple and gold Tesla Model X and a matching-colored helicopter.

“I’m Ouchea 24 a Day I’m Like KOBE #KtB @kobebryant #HappyBirthdayKodak Out Now,” the 24-year-old star captioned his post on Monday, June 21.

It didn’t take long for Kodak’s fans to point out the Kobe-inspired helicopter, especially considering the basketball legend tragically died in a helicopter crash, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, and several others, in January 2020.

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Kobe Bryant: Life in Photos

“nahh bro not the helicopter…,” one user wrote, with someone else responding, “No one else think the helicopter is just a little disrespectful.”

Another person replied, “So nobody on ya team advised you not to do the helicopter?”

Instagram

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Although Kodak has yet to publicly comment on the backlash over his Kobe theme, he previously opened up about why he chose to honor the late star for his birthday.

“I want to send all my love to the Bryant family,” he said in a 4-minute video clip that he posted on June 14. “I feel so connected to Kobe’s unfortunate demise. When I was in prison, I was planning on coming home in a helicopter, but [on] January 26, when I found out about what happened, I took it as a sign not to due to the fact that we share the same initials…Today I celebrate your life, your legacy.”

In another clip, Kodak, whose real name is Bill K. Kapri, released purple and gold balloons in the air, writing, “Fly High KOBE. We Love You @kobebryant.”

Elsa/Getty Images

The rapper isn’t the only one in recent weeks to honor Kobe. Just last weekend, Vanessa Bryant celebrated her late husband with a heartwarming Father’s Day message.

“To the best girl dad. Happy Father’s Day, Papi,” she shared on Sunday, June 20. “We love you forever and always, always and forever. Love you always, Nani, Gigi, B.B, Koko and VB.”

Following Kobe’s untimely death, he’s received numerous accolades and heartfelt tributes. Most recently, he was posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in May.

“Congratulations, baby,” Vanessa said in part, accepting the prestigious award on his behalf. “All of your hard work and sacrifices paid off. You once told me, ‘If you are going to bet on someone, bet on yourself.’ I’m glad you bet on yourself, your overachiever. You did it. You’re in the hall of fame now. You’re a true champ. You’re not just an MVP. You’re an all-time great. I’m so proud of you. I love you forever and always.”

Rachel Lindsay Says The Bachelorette's "Angry Black Female" Label "Still Follows" Her

On The View, Rachel Lindsay recalled the moment on The Bachelorette in which she was labeled "angry" because she decided to stand up for herself.

Watch: Would Rachel Lindsay Consider Being Next “Bachelor” Host?

Rachel Lindsay is shutting down the “angry Black female” label once again. 

The former lead of The Bachelorette appeared on the June 4 episode of The View, in which she weighed in on the situation surrounding Real Housewives of New York‘s Eboni K. Williams. In an episode that aired earlier this week, Eboni, the first Black cast member on RHONY, accused Luann de Lesseps of labeling her an angry Black woman during an argument over a previous conversation about sex. Following the discussion, Eboni announced on Instagram that she would be taking a short break from social media.

Rachel said she relates to Eboni’s feelings about being called angry. 

“In my season finale of The Bachelorette when I was sitting on stage with my runner up, my runner up told me that I was going to live a mediocre life if I didn’t choose him and my response to him was, ‘Actually I’m living my best life,'” Rachel said of her conversation with Peter Kraus. “When I came back from commercial break, the host [Chris Harrison] said to me, ‘Rachel, you seem angry.’ I looked and I said, ‘That’s a strong word.’ And he said, ‘Well, you seem upset.’ I hadn’t raised my voice, I hadn’t yelled, I hadn’t said any type of curse word.”

When he was asked for an explanation as to why he felt attacked by Rachel, Peter couldn’t offer one. 

“I have been labeled an angry Black female in Bachelor Nation,” Rachel continued. “It follows me around to this day.”

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Rachel Lindsay’s Bachelorette Party Weekend

The attorney added, “If in 2020 we’re supposed to be having these type of conversations, then we need to address micro-aggressions that are placed on Black women. We need to address these racial stereotypes. I think it’s important that we continue to do that.”

Rachel, who was the first Black lead of The Bachelorette, is one of the most outspoken alum in terms of fighting for equality and representation within the franchise. Earlier this year, she and Chris engaged in a conversation about a former contestant, Rachel Kirkconnell, who was called out on social media for attending an antebellum-themed party, which many believe glorifies the institution of slavery. While Chris defended Rachael, the former Bachelorette reminded Chris of what she may have represented had she gone to the event. 

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Following the conversation, Rachel spoke to Extra TV‘s Billy Bush about the controversy. 

“In 2020, it was all about people realizing things that they hadn’t before. It was a level of awareness that was created that people hadn’t necessarily recognized,” she explained. “And out of that also came conversations that we should be having whether they’re tough, uncomfortable, whatever it may be. Isn’t that what this should be as well? It’s bigger than just The Bachelor, it’s bigger than just a reality TV show. There are a lot of issues that have come up because of this interview, and I think it’s important that we continue the conversation, we continue to move forward. And I think that’s the best thing that we can hope for out of all of this.”

The Largely Forgotten Black Musicians Whose Innovations Shaped Nearly Everything

From Sister Rosetta Tharpe's prototypical guitar skills to Frankie Knuckles' pioneering Chicago house sound, these are the Black musicians responsible for nearly everything you love about music today.

“There would be no American history without Black people in it. The fabric of what American society is socially, economically, industrially—it wouldn’t be what it is without Black people. And you can see that especially when it comes to music.”

That’s how music journalist and NPR podcast Louder Than a Riot co-host Sidney Madden described the impact of the Black community on the entirety of American music to NBC News in February. 

As she explained, “Every genre that is born from America has Black roots associated with it, from rock and roll to blues to disco. The fingerprints of Black creators are all over what makes American music so unique.”

It’s an undeniable facet of the history of music in this country, and yet one that largely goes unspoken among even the most diehard music fans. Nearly everything you love about popular music today takes its cues from something a Black innovator breathed into life decades ago. 

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The Black Women Who Ruled Music in 2001

With that in mind, join us as we kick off Black Music Appreciation Month with an introduction to the Black musicians who history has largely forgotten, but without whom American music would sound very different. Our hope is that this list, though hardly comprehensive, will serve as merely a jumping-off point for music lovers’ continued exploration of the industry’s aural ancestors. It’s time to give credit where credit’s due.

Getty Images; Melissa Herwitt/E! Illustration

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Donaldson Collection/Getty Images

Mamie Smith

Born in 1891, Smith was a vaudeville singer known for performing jazz and the blues. In 1920, she made history by becoming the first Black artist to record the blues. And despite threats against the record company for working with a Black artist, the record went on to become a commercial success, opening the door for more Black musicians to record. Billed as “The Queen of the Blues,” Smith’s success was instrumental in the genesis of the classic female blues era, known for featuring a female singer accompanied by pianists or small jazz ensembles. The sound popularized the 12-bar blues, a now prominent chord progression in popular music, in the United States. Smith and her contemporaries, including Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, introduced increased improvisation on melodic lines, unusual phrasing that altered the emphasis and impact of the lyrics and dramatic vocals that included wails, groans, shouts and moans—all styles of singing still utilized by countless artists recording today.

David Redfern/Redferns

Muddy Waters

Often cited as the “father of modern Chicago blues,” the singer and guitarist born McKinley Morganfield influenced a generation of rock musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and more. Led Zepplin‘s hit song “Whole Lotta Love” is based on the Waters’ song “You Need Love,” while AC/DC‘s “You Shook Me All Night Long” takes its title from his song “You Shook Me.” In fact, the Rolling Stones took their name from a 1950 release of Waters titled “Rollin’ Stone.”

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Ella Fitzgerald

It’s hard to point to a female vocalist who the First Lady of Jazz didn’t influence. From her 1934 debut at Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater through to her final public performance in 1993, Fitzgerald was celebrated for her purity of tone, pristine diction, intonation and an uncanny “horn-like” improvisational style of scat singing. She’s been cited by superstars like Adele, Lady Gaga and Lana Del Rey as the artist who turned them on to singing.

Rounder Records

Lesley Riddle

Born in 1905, Riddle took up the guitar as a young man after an injury while working at a cement plant resulted in the amputation of his right leg. He eventually developed an innovative picking and sliding technique that would go on to influence the guitar playing of Maybelle Carter, one-third of the seminal folk band the Carter Family, when he began working with them in 1928. The trio comprising Maybelle, her cousin Sara and Sara’s husband A.P., who were the first vocal group to become country music stars and record commercially produced country music, recorded a number of songs that Riddle either composed or transmitted as the group’s “human tape recorder,” memorizing melodies on song-collecting trips with A.P. The Carter Family had a profound impact on future bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians, notably during the folk revival in the 1960s. Maybelle’s distinctive Carter Scratch became one of the most copied styles of guitar playing, which means that most people are actually copying Riddle. Fun fact: One of Maybelle’s daughters, June, grew up to marry Johnny Cash.

GAB Archive/Redferns

Robert Johnson

A Mississippi-born blues guitarist and singer-songwriter who only lived to the age of 27, Johnson had little success or recognition in his lifetime. But two recording sessions in 1936 and 1937, which produced a combined total of 29 songs, would come to have a major influence on the British blues movement of the 1960s after they were released by Columbia Records in 1961. The collection, titled King of the Delta Blues Singers, have been cited by Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Robert Plant and Eric Clapton as inspiration. Johnson’s wholesale invention of the boogie bass line, which saw him use his guitar to mimic the boogie-woogie style of piano playing, has become a standard in any guitarist’s repertoire. 

Charlie Gillett/Redferns

Fats Domino

A pianist and singer-songwriter who got his start performing in New Orleans bars at age 14, Domino was a pioneer of rock and roll who’d become one of the biggest stars of the 1950s and one of the first R&B singers to gain popularity with white audiences. His 1949 song “The Fat Man” is widely cited as the first rock and roll single. The track was also the first to sell more than 1 million copies. Elvis Presley cited Domino as a “huge influence” and once told a crowd in Las Vegas, “Let’s face it: I can’t sing it like Fats Domino can. I know that.” Paul McCartney and John Lennon were also inspired by him, with the former reportedly writing the Beatles song “Lady Madonna” in emulation of Domino’s style. 

James Kriegsmann/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

While Domino helped pioneer the genre, it’s Tharpe who created the prototype for what a guitar-playing rock star would look like for centuries. Attaining popularity in the 1930s and ’40s with gospel recordings that made heavy use of a heavy distortion on her electric guitar and a spirited stomp-and-shout performance style, she’s been referred to as the “Godmother of rock and roll” and the “original soul sister.” Her influence can be seen everywhere, from the early rock gods like Elvis, Little Richard, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis to legends like Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin.

Val Wilmer/Redferns/Getty Images

Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton

And while we’re on the topic of Black women who inspired Elvis, his hit 1956 single “Hound Dog” was originally recorded and popularized three years earlier by Thornton. Her version sold half a million copies and spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the R&B charts. She received no royalties from Elvis’ version, as she wasn’t the songwriter, and barely any credit, either. In the ’60s, Janis Joplin released “Ball and Chain,” an unreleased Thornton track that she’d written herself. This time around, however, Thornton did receive some royalties after granting Joplin permission.

PhotoQuest/Getty Images

Mahalia Jackson

The gospel singer reached nationwide recognition in 1947 when her song “Move On Up a Little Higher” sold two million copies and reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts, both firsts for gospel music. Jackson’s passionate and frenetic stage presence and extensive improvisational skills were credited with influencing R&B, soul and rock singing styles, with artists like Donna Summer, Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples and Ray Charles naming her as an inspiration.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Bo Diddley

Born Ellas Otha Bates, Diddley was a singer-songwriter whose guitar and production skills influenced everyone from Elvis to Buddy Holly and the Beatles to the Rolling Stones. His use of African rhythms and a signature five-accent hambone rhythm beat have become the cornerstones of rock, pop and hip-hop, with 1950s songs “Who Do You Love?,” “Say Man” and “Say Man, Back Again” cited as progenitors of the latter. His innovations on the guitar include a resonant “shimmering” sound and self-designed rectangular-bodied instruments.

Frans Schellekens/Redferns

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

Best known for the 1956 track “I Put a Spell on You,” Hawkins was a wildly theatrical performer who made use of a powerful, operatic vocal delivery and elements of the macabre on stage, making him an early pioneer of shock rock and goth. His influence can be seen in the careers of Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie and more.

BMI/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images

Otis Blackwell

While his own records never garnered much attention, Blackwell’s skills as a songwriter powered the early rock and pop scene. He’s the writer behind the hits released by Peggy Lee (“Fever), Elvis (“Don’t Be Cruel” and “All Shook Up”) and Jerry Lee Lewis (“Great Balls of Fire”).

GAB Archive/Redferns

DeFord Bailey

A country and blues star working from the 1920s-’40s, Bailey was the first performer introduced on the Grand Ole Opry and was one of the first musicians to record his music in Nashville. His prodigious harmonica skills popularized the instrument in the country genre.  

Wayne Taylor/Fairfax Media via Getty Images/Fairfax Media via Getty Images via Getty Images, Matt Cowan/Getty Images for Coachella, Michael Tullberg/Getty Images

The Belleville Three

While a sort of electronic music that came to be known as “techno” had developed in Germany in the early 1980s, a trio of Black DJs out of Detroit, comprising Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, created a sound all their own in the late ’80s. By melding the synthpop sounds of Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder and Yellow Magic Orchestra with Black styles like house, electro and funk, they created Detroit techno. In fact, a complication album put together, in part, by May called Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit marked the first use of the term for the genre.

Teresa Lee/Getty Images, PYMCA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Frankie Knuckles and Larry Heard

While Detroit was giving rise to a regional form of techno, Chicago was busy creating house music, as DJs from the city’s underground club culture began moving disco tracks away from their original pop sound by giving them more mechanical, four-on-the-floor beats and deeper basslines. The openly gay Frankie Knuckles helped pioneer the sound as the resident DJ at the Warehouse, a members-only Black gay nightclub known as the genre’s birthplace, earning him the title “Godfather of House.” Larry Heard, known as Mr. Fingers, would advance the genre further, bridging the gap between the futurism of house and the lush, soulful sounds of disco to create deep house.

(Originally published Feb. 26, 2021, at 11:32 a.m. PST.)

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