Coolio performs at Riot Fest in Douglass Park on September 18, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/WireImage)
Posthumous Coolio Album
When the late rapper Coolio died suddenly in 2022, he had a new album in the works. Now that project, titled Long Live Coolio, is set to be released posthumously later this year with guest appearances from Ras Kass, Treach from Naughty By Nature and J-Dee from Da Lench Mob. The 11-track album is being pitched as a celebration of the legendary rapper's career, which took off in the 1990s with classic hits such as “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “Fantastic Voyage."
Southbox Raises $80 Million
The Atlanta-based media company Southbox Entertainment has raised a total of $80 million to greenlight new movie and TV projects, according to Deadline. The fundraising could have big implications for the industry, as the company is promising to spend a good portion on independent films with budgets of $5 million to $35 million. It's also likely that many of the projects will be developed in Georgia, where tax credits have helped spur a boom in production.
Sarah Silverman Sues OpenAI
Comedian Sarah Silverman is joining a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI and Meta alleging that both companies' large language models were trained using illegally-acquired data sets containing her work. Specifically, the suit claims that the companies tapped so-called “shadow library” websites such as Bibliotik, Library Genesis, Z-Library, which featured Silverman's copyright-protected work. Authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey are also joining the lawsuit.
'Blacklist' Finale
The NBC show The Blacklist is ending its 10-year run with a two-hour-long finale. Star James Spader, who plays Raymond “Red” Reddington, told AP News the cast was grateful for the chance to take their time saying goodbye. He also noted that the show, which was mostly shot in New York City, went overseas to Spain for the finale.
Tech apprenticeship platform Multiverse became a unicorn with a $1.7 billion valuation, after raising $220 million in a Series D round. As companies across the country face challenges in hiring and retaining tech talent, Multiverse says it's trying to offer a solution with a new way to train and hire workers that can serve as an alternative to college and corporate training. Sophie Ruddock, VP and GM North America of Multiverse, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Cheddar's Kristen Scholer caught up with all-time NBA great Shaquille O'Neal in his hometown of Newark, NJ, working with Icy Hot to repair rundown basketball courts around the country. The Hall of Famer also spoke about the current NBA finals between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors and had a lot of praise for the Warrior's guard Stephen Curry. "He's the greatest shooter of all time. I had a conversation with Stephen A. [Smith], where does he rank? He's a special player. He has his own category," Shaq said.
On this episode of On The Job presented by ADP: Gemma Burgess, CEO of Ferguson Partners, explains what people are looking for in an employer, and how to convey positive work culture to potential employees; Amy Leschke-Kahle, Vice President of Performance Acceleration at The Marcus Buckingham Company, an ADP company, breaks down how encouraging employee engagement and empowering employee voices can benefit every workplace and busts a myth about employee engagement while working from home; Jim Huether, CEO of Hyperice, discusses Hyperice's new employee mental health initiative, known as the Workplace Alliance, with 100-plus companies to combat the ongoing mental health crisis and how they're taking a hands-on, data-driven approach to the mental health crisis.
