Entertainment
Chicago Filmmaker Wins Oscar for “Hair Love” & Brings Special Guest Teen On The Red Carpet With The Team
Chicago filmmaker Matthew Cherry took home the Oscar for best animated short film for “Hair Love,” a six-minute short film about an African American father attempting to do his daughter’s hair for the first time.
Chicago filmmaker Matthew Cherry took home the Oscar for best animated short film for “Hair Love,” a six-minute short film about an African American father attempting to do his daughter’s hair for the first time.
Matthew and the “Hair Love” team brought the Texas high school teen DeAndre Arnold who’s story has recently gone viral in the news for refusing to cut his locs. DeAndre was suspended for wearing dreadlocks and told he couldn’t attend his graduation ceremony in the spring unless he cut them in accordance with school dress code. Arnold, who has been growing his hair in locs since the seventh grade, has said that his hairstyle —rooted in Black pride, culture and sometimes religion — is a nod to his Trinidadian heritage.
As a surprise to Arnold, Cherry teamed up with Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade (who helped produce this short film) to create a special video invitation for the Texas teen. On Oscar Sunday, DeAndre walked the red carpet and attended the full Oscar’s ceremony along with the “Hair Love” team. During the acceptance of their award, Matthew directed the following statement to DeAndre and the crowd saying, “I want to say “Hair Love” was done to normalize black hair.”
Alongside co-producer Karen Rupert Toliver, Cherry who also directed and co-wrote the film gave tribute to Kobe Bryant saying, “May all our second acts be as great as his”. Bryant and Glen Keane won the best animated short film Oscar in 2018 for “Dear Basketball.”
When speaking of the inspiration behind the short film, Matthew shares his personal story. As a former NFL player and graduate of Loyola Academy in Wilmette and the University of Akron, Matthew shared: “You have a situation where Mom may have to go into work early and Dad has to get the kids ready. The gender norms that existed back in the day aren’t really the same as they are now.
“I feel like everyone has to step up and get it done. Black fathers have had one of the worst raps in mainstream media as being portrayed as being deadbeats and not being involved.”
“It was important to us to showcase a black father that was young, that had tattoos. I think if you saw someone like him on the street, you would assume that wasn’t a loving father that does his daughter’s hair,” Cherry said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We’re just trying to change the conversation, one project at a time.”
“Our hair is an extension of ourselves,” Cherry previously told HuffPost speaking about the short film. “And the cool thing about this story is that it really represents pure love: what we’re willing to do for the people we love even when they ask us to do something we don’t know how to do.”
If you’re looking for new music to add to your playlist, this is a single you can’t forget! Grammy award winning artist Jekalyn Carr and Christian R&B newcomer have come together for their newest collab “Hands On Me”! In just four days, their new video for the single hit 100K and the numbers continue to climb!
Surprisingly to some, Christian R&B is not a new genre. But, it has recently become more widespread outside of the Christian R&B community in the last few years due to much of the music going viral on TikTok. There have been a host of artists who have been pushing out creative music with this sound as far back as 2012 and before. In recent years, we have seen new artists jumping into the genre style with a fresh take merging Gospel and Christian R&B together!
Following in the steps of recent collaborations from artists like Erica Campbell and Jordan Armstrong and more, Jekalyn Carr and Mike Teezy are continuing the trend of Gospel + Christian R&B artists coming together for a new era of Gospel music!
Watch the video below, then scroll down further to watch clips of the artists behind the scene on the set of their video recording:
WATCH FULL VIDEO HERE:
WATCH BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE VIDEO RECORDING ON OUR IG PAGE:
LISTEN 24/7 TO DISCOVER NEW INDEPENDENT ARTISTS ALONG W/ YOUR FAVORITE MAINSTREAM ARTISTS!
Justin Timberlake and Tobe Nwigwe recently performed on Saturday Night Live debuting Timberlake’s newest single “Sanctified”. Prior to this performance, only a short portion of the song had been previewed in an NFL Wildcard ESPN commercial. Now that the full song has been released, fans are sharing their love and a few concerns. Considering the Christian references throughout the song, Christian fans are sharing their thoughts as well. While some major websites such as Rollingstone have reported the two artist’s collaboration as a Gospel release, a close listen to the lyrics from fans is bringing a new response that is correcting that perspective.
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How Are Fans Responding?
The response from fans so far depends on the audience. Most agree that musically the song hits! Everything was done extremely well! With Adam Blackstone involved in combination with all of the artists featured, that was almost a guarantee. But, lyrically is where the divide comes in from the faith based audience and the general mainstream audience.
While it’s clear that the song has a strong sexual connotation, some from the Faith based community specifically feel that the correlation to the crucifixion and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Glory of God might be taking things too far. It has also been stated that the song might have originally been created as a love letter to his wife Jessica Biel as the lyrics also seem to point to the Trolls star feeling grateful for someone who has led him through a dark time:
“You take all of my wrongs, move right along, take mе and fix my mess / Get me up whеn I’m low, hand on my soul, like you see right inside,” Timberlake sings. “I come out a new man, no blood on my hands, sanctified.”
– Excerpt from Justin Timberlake’s “Sanctified”
Knowing that the song might be a love letter to his wife, what do you think of the lyrical direction? Was it still too much? Scroll down to read the lyrics and to see the performance in full. Then, share your thoughts with us on Instagram via the link below: We want to hear from you!
Watch The Full Performance Here
Read the Lyrics to the Song Here
Join us on Instagram below and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
LISTEN 24/7 TO DISCOVER NEW INDEPENDENT ARTISTS ALONG W/ YOUR FAVORITE MAINSTREAM ARTISTS!
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Looking for more new music? DOE just released her latest single “Holy Hands” and she shared a few words with us about what she loves about it the most!
Doe is signed to Jonathan McReynold’s label Life Room Label and has been making waves since the release of her first project under the label.
Doe continues to expand her sound collaborating with Christian artists like Wande, Donald Lawrence, Johnathan McReynolds, Orlando Palmer and more! Partnering up w/ artists from various Christian genre styles continues to expand her audience while exposing them all to new sounds in the process!
We’re excited about this single and about everything she has coming up next!
Mike Teezy and Jekalyn Carr’s Release New Video for Single “Hands On Me”
Fans Give Mixed Reviews of New Justin Timberlake and Tobe Nwigwe Collab
Doe Releases New Single “Holy Hands”
K-Ci of R&B Group Jodeci Shares Near Death Experience & How His Faith Helped Him Recover
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