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      Missy Elliott, Pop World Builder, Brings a Hip-Hop Fantasia to Brooklyn

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      For her first headlining tour in an innovative three-decade career, Elliott unleashed a relentless and exhilarating display of theatrical and visual ambition.It’s nearly impossible to fathom that until this summer, almost three decades into her career, Missy Elliott had never headlined an arena tour. One of the most influential hip-hop and pop performers, songwriters and producers of all time, she built a career on hyperreal imagery and music that suggested an intergalactic, quirky, sensual future that even now feels fanciful and far-off.And judging by the performance Elliott, 53, delivered at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Monday night, it would have been impossible to ascertain that she’d never toured at this level before. The deftness and imagination on display suggested a performer with a hyperdeveloped sense of image-making, a bone-deep understanding of her catalog, and a desire to make up for lost time and opportunity.The tour, titled Out of This World — the Missy Elliott Experience, was a taut, relentless and exhilarating 75 minutes full of theatrical and visual ambition. At times, it had the complexity and density of recent peak pop spectacles, like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, or the Weeknd’s 2021 Super Bowl halftime show. But it was also kin to the films of Baz Luhrmann, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics — events in which precision, creativity and absurdism comfortably coexist, and actually rely upon each other.The show was less a conventional concert than a dynamic carnivalesque D.J. set of strung-together Elliott smashes (her own, mainly, but at one point late in the night, some which she wrote or produced for others, like Aaliyah). It presented as one grand adventure — the front-loaded section of hits like “Sock It 2 Me,” “I’m Really Hot” and “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” (which was preceded by a quizzical nod to “Singin’ in the Rain”) wasn’t much more distinctive than the mid-show run of sex romps “Get Ur Freak On,” “One Minute Man” and “Hot Boyz.” And neither of those sections was more commanding than the sometimes choppy closing run, peppered with laser-beam bouncers like “Work It” and “Lose Control.” The less effective songs sprinkled throughout worked as accent pieces, but also at times undermined the potency of her biggest hits.But Elliott was trying to make a point: Like all the most memorable and durable pop heroes, she has built a worldview much bigger than any one of her songs.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What Happens Now in Young Thug’s YSL Trial?

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      Already the longest in Georgia history, the star rapper’s trial has been turned upside down. Here’s the latest as the case resumes after an eight-week delay.More than two years since the arrest of the star Atlanta rapper Young Thug on racketeering, gang conspiracy and weapons charges, his trial alongside five co-defendants is already the longest in Georgia’s history. And it is nowhere near finished.On Monday, some 19 months after the start of jury selection and nine months following opening statements, the jury will return to the courtroom to hear testimony for the first time since June 17.They will do so in a changed landscape: Judge Ural Glanville, who had been presiding over the case since the start, was instructed to step down last month and was replaced by Judge Paige Reese Whitaker following a series of heated back-and-forths and motions from the defense about the handling of an uncooperative witness for the prosecution.About 75 witnesses have testified so far, and prosecutors have told Judge Whitaker that they plan to call some 105 more; estimates backed by the new judge predict the trial will likely last through the first quarter of 2025.But the appointment of Judge Whitaker — actually the case’s third judge, because of another typically dramatic twist — is in some ways a fresh start, as she attempts to put a runaway train of a trial back on track.“This has been a long-running and multifaceted proceeding,” Judge Whitaker wrote in one of many decisions she had to make before the case could resume. “Challenges have been myriad and formidable. Frustrations may have been mounting while fortitude was waning.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Travis Scott Released From Custody After Confrontation at a Paris Hotel

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      The star rapper had been accused on Friday of assaulting a security guard at a luxury hotel in Paris. No charges were filed against him, according to prosecutors.The rapper Travis Scott was released from police custody on Saturday, a day after he was detained following a confrontation with a security guard at a Paris hotel, prosecutors said.Scott, 33, whose birth name is Jacques Bermon Webster II, had been detained on Friday after prosecutors said he had assaulted a security guard at the George V, a luxury hotel in the city’s Eighth Arrondissement. No charges were filed against him, according to the prosecutor’s office.The office said in a statement on Saturday that “the case opened on the grounds of assault was dropped as the offense was not sufficiently substantiated.”Scott, a multiplatinum rapper, was visiting the city for the Summer Olympics when the confrontation took place.The prosecutor’s office said, “The security guard had intervened to separate the rapper from his bodyguard.” Additional details about the confrontation were unavailable.Scott had posted photos on social media from the crowd of the men’s U.S. basketball team during their game against Serbia on Thursday.In June, Scott was arrested in Miami Beach, Fla., after causing a disturbance on a docked yacht, according to the police. He was released after paying a $650 bond for charges of trespassing and disorderly intoxication after the police responded to reports of people fighting on the vessel.Hours later, Scott began selling T-shirts that featured his mug shot, with a caption that read “It’s Miami,” which he was quoted as saying in the police report.The future of Scott’s career was cast in doubt after 10 of his fans died and hundreds were injured during a crowd crush at the rapper’s concert, which was part of the Astroworld music festival in Houston in 2021.A grand jury later declined to indict Scott and settlements were reached in multiple lawsuits stemming from the deaths.Aurelien Breeden More

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      Shawn Mendes Returns Full of Questions, and 8 More New Songs

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      Hear tracks by Leon Bridges, Ravyn Lenae, Kelsea Ballerini and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.Shawn Mendes, ‘Why Why Why’“I stepped off the stage with nothing left,” Shawn Mendes sings, referencing his headline-generating 2022 decision to cancel a scheduled world tour and focus on his mental health. The stomping, acoustic-guitar driven “Why Why Why,” from his forthcoming album “Shawn,” represents a new level of candor and pathos from the 26-year-old pop star, who has returned to the spotlight but admits he still doesn’t have all the answers: “I don’t know why, why, why, why,” he croons as the instrumentation builds around him, offering fleeting catharsis in the form of a folksy, singalong chorus. LINDSAY ZOLADZLeon Bridges, ‘Peaceful Place’Leon Bridges, the singer and songwriter based in Texas, sets aside past troubles to enjoy unexpected contentment in “Peaceful Place.” His recent collaborations with Khruangbin have moved him away from soul revivalism toward hybrid, open-ended grooves. “Peaceful Place” hints at funk and Nigerian Afrobeat, with a steady-ticking beat and a hopping bass line as he reassures everyone, “I found something no one can take away.” JON PARELESRavyn Lenae, ‘Genius’We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Travis Scott Is Accused of Assaulting a Security Guard in Paris

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      The rapper, who was in France for the Olympics, was taken into police custody at the George V hotel, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.The star rapper Travis Scott was detained on Friday in Paris, where he was visiting for the Summer Olympics, after a conflict with a security guard at a luxury hotel, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.The prosecutor’s office said Mr. Scott, 33, whose real name is Jacques Bermon Webster II, had assaulted a security guard at the George V hotel, in the city’s Eighth Arrondissement.“The security guard had intervened to separate the rapper from his bodyguard,” the office said in a statement.There are no known charges against Mr. Scott. It was unclear later Friday whether he was still in custody. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had referred the case to the judicial police.Representatives for Mr. Scott said in a statement, “We are in direct communication with the local Parisian authorities to swiftly resolve this matter and will provide updates when appropriate.”Mr. Scott, a multiplatinum artist in the United States with a string of No. 1 albums, was arrested this summer in Miami Beach, Fla., after what the police called a disturbance on a yacht. He was charged with trespassing and disorderly intoxication. His lawyer said at the time that he had been “briefly detained due to a misunderstanding.”On Thursday night, Mr. Scott had posted on Instagram from the crowd of the men’s basketball game between the United States and Serbia, snapping photos of the American stars LeBron James and Stephen Curry.In 2021, 10 fans died as a result of a crowd crush at Mr. Scott’s Astroworld festival in Houston, his hometown. A grand jury declined to indict Mr. Scott and others who oversaw the festival, and settlements have been reached in the lawsuits over the deaths.Aurelien Breeden More

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      A Hip-Hop Comic Book Star Comes to Life in Steel

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      A statue of Rappin’ Max Robot is bound for Paris. But first it’s making a stop in the Bronx.Good morning. It’s Thursday. We’ll meet a new iteration of Rappin’ Max Robot that is bound for Paris, via the Bronx. We’ll also get details on Robert Kennedy Jr.’s testimony in the court case seeking to have him removed from the November ballot in New York.Clark Ivers, Welder UndergroundRappin’ Max Robot began life as a comic book character only a few inches tall. Now he is a man of steel. He has a skin of steel plates up to an inch thick that covers an I-beam skeleton.He is on his way to Paris, to take note of breaking’s debut in the Olympics, but he will get there a little late. First he will spend some time in the Bronx, the birthplace of hip-hop.Today an 18-foot-tall statue of Rappin’ Max Robot that was fabricated in Brooklyn will be hauled to a spot outside the Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx. The museum is not scheduled to open until next year. But Marc Levin, who with his wife, Adina, runs the studio and foundry where the statue took shape, said it would be assembled for a Champagne toast on Saturday, the second day of breaking events at the Olympics.Hip-hop is a “wondrous and centerless tangle,” The New York Times critic Jon Caramanica wrote last year, so perhaps it is not surprising that the toast will not be the only hip-hop event this weekend. Sunday is the 51st anniversary of the day hip-hop is said to have gotten its start, in the rec room of the apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, and a group that is not affiliated with the museum is planning a march from that neighborhood to Crotona Park, a couple of miles away.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Man Is Found Guilty in Killing of Rapper PnB Rock

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      Prosecutors said that the man, Freddie Lee Trone, sent his teenage son into a restaurant armed with a handgun to rob the rapper.A man was found guilty on Wednesday in connection with the fatal shooting of the rapper PnB Rock at a Los Angeles restaurant in 2022 in a brazen attack that shocked his fans and the music industry.A Los Angeles County jury found the man, Freddie Lee Trone, 42, guilty of one count of felony murder, two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said in a news release on Wednesday.The prosecution said that Mr. Trone sent his son, who was 17 at the time, into the restaurant armed with a handgun to rob the rapper and his girlfriend, who were dining there. He then shot and killed PnB Rock, prosecutors said.PnB Rock, whose legal name was Rakim Allen, was part of a wave of rappers whose popularity and unique sound was partly built on their ability to effortlessly switch between singing and rapping. He gained fame in 2015 with his song “Fleek.” Then came “Selfish,” which peaked at No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.Deannea Allen, the mother of PnB Rock, said in an interview on Wednesday evening that she was “elated” when the verdict was read.“I just said, ‘Hallelujah, thank God,’” said Ms. Allen, who said she was shaking and so elated that she wanted to scream. “Justice has been served.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Missy Elliott on Her Out of This World Tour and Groundbreaking Career

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      The tour’s fun house stage The tour’s fun house stage “Lose Control” (2005) “Lose Control” (2005) Another look from the Out of This World tour Another look from the Out of This World tour Elliott’s “sexy hip-hop” outfit Elliott’s “sexy hip-hop” outfit Elliott’s ‘Out of This World’ stage design Elliott’s ‘Out of This World’ stage […] More