In this full-length interview, Illmind shares his thoughts on winning two Grammy awards, the depths of his music catalog moving to Brooklyn about 12 years ago, and the way in which J Dilla inspired his style as a music producer. From there, the 41-year-old reflects back on working with 50 Cent and G-Unit for the first time before sharing what it was like to work with Lin Manuel on the soundtrack for “Moana” and the “Hamilton Mixtape.” As the discussion moves along, the New Jersey native shares his thoughts on why Kanye West chose to boycott the Grammys this year. Lastly, Ill Mind talks about working with heavy hitters such as Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, and Beyonce.
Yahoo Finance Live checks out Coca-Cola’s decision to discontinue Sprite’s signature green plastic bottle on cut down on its environmental footprint.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
DAVE BRIGGS: All right, before we go, a little food news roundup. Some headlines out there. Soft drink Sprite is retiring its classic green plastic bottles in favor of a clear plastic bottle starting August 1. Coca-Cola announcing the change Wednesday and pinned it on an effort to become more environmentally responsible. The clear plastic is more easily recycled and made into new bottles. So going green by ditching green, Seana. Does it bother you?
SEANA SMITH: It bothers me a little, but I think it’s something that I’ll be able to get over. I’m so used to seeing those green bottles. I don’t think I’m as opinionated about this as maybe our EP, Val, was this morning. She used the word– she was like, that’s disgusting. I’m never drinking Sprite again. So I don’t think I’m necessarily that far, but Rachelle, what about you?
RACHELLE AKUFFO: I mean, I do get it that yes, it does make it easy to just have the clear bottles and recycle them. But it’s like, these are the things that you cherished and grew up with. So it’s sad to see them go. But I mean, I guess at least, it’s for good reason, you know.
DAVE BRIGGS: Listen.
RACHELLE AKUFFO: I can’t really complain.
DAVE BRIGGS: Recycling plastic bottles is one of the greatest crises our world faces, so anything that helps curb that a little bit, I am on board with. We don’t hear enough about it.
This woman started producing her own “pink sauce” after videos of her eating it with chicken and other food went viral. Customers were not too happy with the results.
Illmind came through for his first-ever VladTV interview, where he spoke about growing up in New Jersey, but having a strong connection to New York. He then spoke about J Dilla inspiring him to become a producer, and Illmind revealed that he copied J Dilla’s beats to learn how to make them and start producing. Moving along, Illmind opened up about 50 Cent’s “Make a Movie Out of Em” being the break-out song that he worked on, and he added that “The Morning” on GOOD Music’s “Cruel Summer” was another turning point in his career. After speaking about working with Little Brother, Illmind detailed getting a production management deal with G-Unit as 50 Cent was on top of his career. To hear more, including Illmind speaking about working with 50 Cent in the studio, hit the above clip.
In this clip, Illmind reflects back on signing a publishing deal that he should not have signed back in 2010. The iconic record producer states that the he signed the contract out of desperation because he needed the money. He also shares that anyone who intends on signing a publishing deal should get a lawyer first. From there, the New Jersey native reveals that he used to sell hip-hop beats for $25-50 before sharing that he now charges $50,000 per beat. This prompts Shirley Ju to ask the record producer how the track that he created for “The Morning” landed on the radar of Kanye West. To that, Illmind details the events leading up to the epic collaboration for the “Cruel Summer” compilation album and the doors that opened for him in the music industry afterwards. The 41-year-old then shares his feelings on Kanye West, the artist/producer before explaining why he looks up to him so much as a creator. Moving along, Illmind talks about being on one the first music producers to release his own brand of sound packs (back in 2012) for musicians to use with their production software. Lastly, Illmind gives the origin story for how he earned his stage name.
In June 2022, American Girl dolls received the meme treatment. Now, TikTok and Instagram users are associating themselves with a literary character that was consistently found on the shelves of young millennials. Do you remember the colorful, miniature characters wearing nothing but bows in their hair, sometimes a fashionable pair of shoes, or a hat too small for their body? These adorable characters are the internet’s newest form of emotional therapy — using “Mr. Men” and “Little Miss” to call out their own insecurities and personality traits.
What started out as children’s books such as Mr. Grumpy, Little Miss Bossy, and Little Miss Stubbornhave now turned into a legitimate Instagram takeover, with Gen Z creating their own Little Miss, followed by a hyper specific quality about themselves. Whether it’s “Little Miss Repressed Childhood Trauma,” “Little Miss Daddy Issues,” or “Little Miss College Dropout,” these colorful, four-fingered, recognizable creatures from childhood are more relatable than ever.
Just like the American Girl trend, the “create your own” Little Miss is essentially a fill in the blank situation. Yes, the wording is a bit outdated — women being associated with “little” and men being tied to “Mr.” For that reason, the gender neutral character “Mx” has commonly replaced the use of “Miss” and “Mr” in order to represent the nonbinary community within this meme.
Users of the trend use it for everything — from calling out their emotional instability or hyping themselves up — the Little Miss possibilities are endless. Take “Little Miss Cries When She’s Mad” for example, because like, same. If you want to expose yourself by using the Little Miss meme, keep reading to understand what, why, and how this trend became a thing.
The Mr. Menbook series was created by Roger Hargreaves in 1971 with the birth of “Mr. Tickle” — a squiggly yellow creature sporting a tiny blue hat. Looking to open up to a wider audience, Hargreaves created the Little Miss series in 1981 — introducing his young readers first to “Little Miss Sunshine,”“Little Miss Naughty,” and “Little Miss Bossy.”
The book series took readers through a day in the life of each Mr. Men or Little Miss — showing how their names impacted their traits, personalities, and individual choices. Past the Spice Girls getting their own “Little Misses” and “Little Miss Princess” being created to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Duchess Kate, the Mr. Men and Little Miss books have taken on a new form and are once again connecting with Gen Z, one of the audiences they helped raise.
The memes started as a way for people to speak candidly about their mental health, physical struggles, and even insecurities. Examples like “Little Miss Homewrecker” and “Little Miss Anxious Attachment” resonated with people and provided laughter toward less lighthearted topics. Instagram users have since started to repost “Little Miss” memes describing themselves to their story in hopes that their followers would find it funny, or possibly even a bit relatable.
Along with “Little Miss,” @starbucksslayqueen and other creators incorporated “Mr. Men” as well. “Little Miss” isn’t the only one who deserves to be called out. With that, characters like “Mr. Can’t Get It Up,”“Mr. Get On Top,” and “Mr. Doesn’t Use Deodorant” were born — giving people the avenue to reference their ex’s red flags that they otherwise would’ve kept hidden. Hey @starbucksslayqueen, I need a “Mr. Told Me I Was The Only Girl But Was Actually Talking To Three Of My Closest Friends,” please and thank you.
On TikTok, people have started describing themselves, their exes, or their friends as “Little Miss” or “Mr. Men” characters in 30 second long videos — claiming traits they might have been embarrassed about in the past. Starting at the beginning of July 2022, @starbucksslayqueen started sharing their graphics on TikTok, gaining even more attention for characters like “Little Miss Forgets To Eat” and “Little Miss Depression Nap.” The hashtag #LittleMiss now has over 41.4 million views and is overtaking the TikTok FYPs and Instagram Discover pages of Gen Z’ers everywhere.
Fast food chains often operate differently in different countries: different menu items to fit local tastes, different names to fit local dialects, different promotions to appeal to a different audience. Last year, Wendy’s returned to the United Kingdom for the first time in over 20 years, and by last month, the burger chain opened their eighth British location in the hip London neighborhood of Camden. This time, however, Wendy wanted to make a lasting impression in an area known for music and fashion — and the resulting Emo Wendy has certainly captured the internet’s attention.
Originally part of a Camden street art mural — and now adorning the outside of the new Wendy’s — is a depiction of the chain’s iconic redhead but with what the brand calls a “flowing emo fringe” instead of her usual pigtails. The actual restaurant opened back on June 28, but photos of Emo Wendy have emerged as a social media meme in the last few days as more people have gotten a chance to snap pics of the restaurant’s exterior.
So what happened in Wendy’s life that made her switch her style? The whole thing is actually an advertising campaign. Back in June, Wendy’s teamed up with the ad agency VMLY&R and the artist platform Camden Open Air Gallery to design three new mascots that fit the Camden vibe. Three different looks were designed in total — punk, bouffant quiff, and emo — and Twitter followers were then asked to vote on which Wendy should be the face of the Camden location.
Los Angeles’ Sixth Street bridge has only been open for a week, but police say there have already been street takeovers and stunts at the spot.
Tire marks from car stunts, such as “donuts” and burnouts, covered the road of the bridge Monday after incidents over the weekend.
One video showed two people walking on the archway of the bridge and take pictures while sitting atop the concrete arch.
Another video showed one driver do a burnout as other motorists drove by. Los Angeles police say no arrest have been made in connection with the stunts.
On Monday around 11 p.m., a street takeover ended in a crash that involved three cars.
Witnesses said the driver who caused the crash was in a white Dodge Challenger and was doing stunts. At one point, the driver lost control and crashed into passing traffic.
The driver then got out and took off on foot.
LAPD and CHP’s street racing task force does arrest people in certain cases. Penalties include fines and jail time.
The Sixth Street Viaduct connects Boyle Heights and the downtown Arts District. The previous Sixth Street Viaduct, which was built in 1932, was a Los Angeles landmark seen in countless films and television shows, most notably “Grease” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”
Japanese camera maker Nikon will withdraw from the single-lens reflex camera business and shift toward digital offerings amid intensifying competition from smartphone cameras, Nikkei has learned.
Nikon’s SLR cameras have been widely used by professional photographers for more than 60 years and have come to be seen as synonymous with the Japanese company.
It now plans to focus resources on mirrorless cameras, which have become mainstream products on the back of more advanced digital technologies.
Nikon’s cameras have been losing out to smartphones, which increasingly feature powerful cameras. Nikon aims to beat them by offering products with more unique features.
Since June 2020, when Nikon launched its flagship D6 SLR, no new SLR models have been released. The company has already stopped development of compact digital cameras.
From now on, Nikon intends to focus on digital mirrorless cameras, but production and distribution of existing SLR models will continue.
Nikon is the second largest SLR maker after Canon. An SLR camera uses a mirror to reflect an image the photographer sees through the viewfinder.
Nikon dates from 1917 and adopted the company name in 1946. It released its first SLR in 1959, and has long been held in high esteem by professional photographers and journalists. It made its name offering top quality alternatives to German makes such as Leica that once dominated the market.
By the late 1990s, Nikon had made the switch to digital SLRs. Last year, it sold more than 400,000 SLRs, competing head to head with global leader Canon. SLRs are also produced by Ricoh under the brand Pentax.
Mirrorless cameras have a different viewing system and use image sensors that convert light into electrical signals. Like SLRs, they can accept interchangeable lenses that offer much more range than the fixed focal lengths used in most smartphone cameras. A feature of Nikon cameras has been the F-mount introduced in 1959. It has always allowed photographers to use a wide range of old lenses on recent SLRs.
Shipments of mirrorless cameras overtook SLRs for the first time in 2020 with 2.93 million and 2.37 million units shipped respectively, according to Japan’s Camera & Imaging Products Association.
There has been an overall decline, however. The combined market peaked at 11.67 million cameras in 2017, but had fallen to 5.34 million by 2021.
The dramatic falloff has forced Nikon to focus on the segment that still has potential to grow. In 2021, the market for mirrorless cameras expanded 31% to 324.5 billion yen, even as that for SLR cameras dropped 6% to 91.2 billion yen.
Mirrorless cameras have powerful capabilities. Artificial intelligence provides facial and pupil recognition. They can also identify animals, vehicles and objects.
The Nikon Z9, released last year, can shoot 120 images per second — more than ten times faster that most SLRs without the wear and tear of a moving mirror. This makes them ideal for sports and wildlife photography. Mirrorless cameras are lighter, smaller and virtually silent.
Mirrorless cameras have also been coming down in price to below 100,000 yen ($730), which is less than comparable SLRs.
With enhanced viewfinders and less lag, the quicker image processing helps photographers in fast-moving situations.
Mirrorless cameras already account for half the revenue from Nikon’s imaging products business, compared with about 30% for SLRs. In the year ending in March, sales of imaging products totaled 178.2 billion yen, or 33% of total group revenues.
Rival Canon also plans to follow Nikon and stop producing flagship SLR modelswithin a few years.
The same man who attacked Irene Lee, 51-year-old Semeon Tasfamarean, also assaulted former Olympian and model Kim Glass last week when he allegedly threw a construction bolt at the silver medalist. Joy Benedict reports.
For years, fast-food enthusiasts have had a chip off their shoulders. Sometimes there’s too much ketchup on their French fry, rendering it a flabby mess. At other times, it’s barely there. And don’t get them started on the concept of double-dipping.
Heinz UK claims to have the perfect solution to end this fries-stration for good: ‘Spoon Friez’. As their name suggests, they’re fries in the shape of spoons.
According to the condiment maker, the mouths of spoons are just the right size to carry the perfect amount of ketchup for the ultimate eating experience. “Carbs in the shape of a spoon? Fry-nally,” the brand tweets.
LADBible reports that the company began dipping into (or scooped into?) the idea of making edible cutlery after a self-conducted survey that revealed 95% of consumers would rather not eat their fries if there was no sauce. The research also found that 84% were annoyed at how they couldn’t nail the perfect potato-to-ketchup ratio.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to find Spoon Friez at your favorite fast-food joint. Heinz only gave them away as part of a sweepstakes for National Fries Day, which falls on July 13 each year. The fact that that’s a Wednesday this year, and not a Friday (Fry-day, get it?), is kind of infuriating.
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