TY DOLLA $IGN

When Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi recorded the bulk of his new album, the melodic rapper wanted to visually highlight the songs without depending on short music videos.

John Legend may have multiple Grammys and achieved the rare EGOT status, but the prolific singer still feels the need to prove himself.

This week’s new entertainment releases include fresh music from John Legend and Kane Brown, Samantha Morton stars as the 16th-century queen Catherine de Medici in an edgy Starz series and a race between two upcoming “Pinocchio” films begins with Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation.

Ready to party again, DJ supergroup Swedish House Mafia are back with a new collab with The Weeknd and a world tour on the horizon.

This week’s new entertainment releases include new albums from rapper Diddy and “Star Trek” star William Shatner, as well as Melissa McCarthy playing a grief-stricken mother in the Netflix drama “The Starling.”.

Post Malone accepts the top artist award at the Billboard Music Awards on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Post Malone accepts the top artist award at the Billboard Music Awards on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)NEW YORK – Walking into the show with 16 nominations, Post Malone won nine honors at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards, where John Legend gave a heartfelt performance that was dedicated to his wife. Garth Brooks accepted the Icon Award from Cher, who called the country star “a true music legend and my friend." Guitar rock legend Eddie Van Halen, who died last week, was honored as the show aired a clip of his Billboard Awards performance from 2015. This year’s Billboard Awards were originally supposed to take place in April but were postponed because of the pandemic.

This image released by Lionsgate shows co-writer/directors Christopher Renz, left, and Gerard Bush on the set of "Antebellum." Filmmakers Bush and Renz planned to release their feature-length debut film, Antebellum, in the spring of 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic exploded internationally. In Antebellum, Mone gives moviegoers a modern Black heroine who takes charge of her own liberation without a male-dominated cavalry. Their path to feature-length films with a racial justice message has been a long time coming, Bush and Renz said. Even as they anticipate finding box office success with Antebellum, Bush and Renz are already at work on their second feature-length script, under a newly formed production company, Gloaming Pictures.

The trio are among several artists who have released songs in response to the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. Its confusion.Other musicians have released songs in the last week in the wake of Floyd's death and those of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. Mickey Guyton, one of the few black voices on the country music scene, wrote the song Black Like Me last year about her life story and experiences with racism. The black man in the grip of the oppressor. It was the first time that I shed tears over a man that I didnt even know, over a black man.

click to enlarge Courtesy of Blind PigTy Dolla $ign, Questlove, Erykah Badu, and Common are among those who have cited Detroits late great rapper and producer J Dilla as an inspiration. Keeping Slum Villages iconic underground hip-hop sound alive is sole surviving member T3 and producer Young RJ, both of whom released a pair of collaborative albums with the Abstract Orchestra last year. The instrumental records, Fantastic 2020 V. 1 and Fantastic 2020 V. 2, interpret early Dilla compositions from Slum Villages first two records. For this Ann Arbor performance, Slum Village will share the stage with D. Vaughn, the Illest, Pariis Noel, and DJ Chill Will 734. Doors open at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 11, at the Blind Pig; 208 S. First St., Ann Arbor; 734-996-8555; blindpigmusic.com.