All about J. Cole

Jermaine Lamar Cole or better known by his stage name J. Cole is a rapper who was born on January 28th 1985 in a army base in Frankfurt, Germany. His father is a african american former soldier of the U.S army and his mother is from Germany and worked at an american post office. Cole’s father abandoned their family which forced his mother Kate to relocate him and his brother Zach. They ended up moving to Fayetville North Carolina.

J. Cole started rapping at the age of twelve and realized it was an ideal profession at the age of fifteen. His first stage name was Blaza when he then changed it to therapist but people would read it as the rapist so he decided to stick with J. Cole. He was musically inspired by Nas, Tupac and Eminem. He graduated with a GPA of 4.2. He moved to New York realizing it would be better to be noticed there. He went to University of St. John's University before returning to Fayetville. While there he worked at several part time jobs like a roller skating center.

One day J. Cole waited three hours outside of Jay Z’s studio with a CD and wearing a shirt that said “Rap For Jay Z or die trying”. When Jay Z finally came out he gave him the cold shoulder saying to J. Cole, give it to one of them. A year later it was Jay Z asking the kid he once dismissed to come and meet him.

His first mixtape was called the come up and in 2009 he came out with his second mixtape called the warm up. That same year he signed to Jay z’s record label called ROC nation. In April of 2011 he released his first album called Sideline Story which had the lead single Work Out. That album inspired his first tour which was called A Dollar and a Dream tour where it costed only one dollar to get in. In 2013 he came out with his second studio album called Born Sinner. In 2014 J. Cole dropped probably his best album called 2014 Forest Hill Drive which went double platinum without any features. He is the first person to reach this accomplishment since 1990. Recently, in 2016 J. Cole released the album 4 Your Eyez Only which is all about his friends life who died at a young age and the album is for that guy's daughter.   

J. Cole has now also started his own record label called Dreamville records. In 2016 Cole revealed that he is married to long time girlfriend Melissa Heholt. He is now considered one of the best rappers to ever live.

KG

Eliud Kipchoge Beats Marathon World Record

32 year old Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, has just completed the world’s fastest run of a full marathon. Kipchoge completed the 42.2 kilometers in an incredible 2 hours and 25 seconds. He beat the former record holder, Dennis Kimetto who is also from Kenya, by just over 2 and a half minutes. Kimetto finished the marathon in 2 hours and 3 minutes in 2014.

By doing this, Kipchoge is living proof that even the toughest barriers can still be broken. Kipchoge was overjoyed when he found out he had successfully beaten the previous world record, saying “We are human, I am happy that I’ve reduced by 2 and a half minutes the world record.” Kipchoge also added, “ We are going up the tree...I have lifted a branch and I am going onto the next one. This is not the end of the attempt of runners on two hours.” Kipchoge, who is considered amongst many to be one of, if not the greatest marathon runner in the world, even broke his own personal record, which was 2 hours and 3 and a half minutes, at the London marathon last year. This year’s event that Kipchoge competed in, which was called ‘Breaking2’ was completely sponsored by Nike.

“I rank this as the highest-ever performance in my life,” said Kipchoge while being interviewed. “The aim of ‘Breaking2’ was to pass the message that running less than two-hour marathon is possible. That message is really special to me.” However, this marathon seemed more like a publicity stunt by Nike rather than an actual sporting event. It seemed to have been just a coincidence that Nike released a brand new line of running shoes onto the market, only weeks after Breaking2 took place. “I believe that this has everything to do with shoe sales and very little to do with marathoning,” Kevin Hanson told Runner’s World just this week (Hanson is an elite marathon coach).

Unfortunately, Kipchoge’s record breaking time will not be instituted or considered an actual record that has been broken, because of small, very specific rules. Since, during the event, many runners started the marathon half way through, and many were given water while running, not everyone was participating in the same activities, therefore no records cantechnically be broken at this event.

Sources:

Toronto Star (Click Here For Link)

New York Times (Click Here For Link)

Pictures:

First Image of Kipchoge

Second Image of Kipchoge

Top 5 Loyola High School SSX Companies

This week at Pop 5 we will be presenting the top 5 SSX companies. Every year, Loyola High School in Montreal, Quebec holds a competition called the Student Stock Exchange (SSX). During the competition, secondary 5 students get together in groups of around 8 to 12 and create a product that they will later sell to the student body. The students always get very excited about the event, and it always turns out to be a great success. Here are my top 5 favourite SSX companies this year.

1. Champion Chicken

It was a tough decision, but my number one pick for the best company would have to be Champion Chicken. This was an amazing company that sold panini pressed chicken sandwiches with whatever toppings you wanted. Their menu consisted of the ranch melt, the barbecue melt, and the spicy melt. You also had a choice of putting bacon, caramelized onions, lettuce, and tomato on your sandwich. I went with the barbecue melt, with bacon, lettuce and tomato, and thought it was delicious. Also, my friend told me that the spicy melt was also very good.  Overall, I found that champion chicken had a great bang for your buck, as you are getting a very filling sandwich for only 6 dollars.

2. Boomin’ Burgers

In second place, we have Boomin’ Burgers. Boomin’ Burgers was a company that sold hamburgers. Everyone I asked absolutely loved their burgers including myself. I found that the burgers they were serving were comparable to a standard burger from a restaurant like 5 Guys. My favourite thing about the company (besides the great tasting burgers) would have to be the cost.  You could get yourself a Boomin’ Burger with whatever toppings you wanted for only 5 dollars. Overall, I found that Boomin’ Burgers was very good, yet the only complaint I would make is that my food was slightly cold when I received it.

3. Stranger Rings

At the number 3 spot, we have Stranger Rings. Stranger Rings was company that sold battered, deep fried Nutella rings with an option of chocolate syrup, caramel or Nutella topping and powdered sugar. I had never tried anything like this before and I was surprised by how good it was, and anyone else I talked to seemed to agree with me. I also really liked that on the second day they were selling they lowered their prices to 3 rings for $2.50 which I thought was a very good deal. Overall, I thought that Stranger Rings could have been number one but because they didn’t serve the food hot, the ring was kind of chewy and didn't have that melt in your mouth sensation that many people look for.

4. Bello Frito

In the number four spot we have Bello Frito. Bello Frito was company that was a competitor to Stranger Rings, because they were very similar. Bello Frito was also a food company that sold Nutella and chocolate filled pastries for $4, or 3 pastries covered in sugar for $1. I didn't get the chance to actually try Bello Frito because I spent my money at other places, but now I regret it because when I spoke to my friends, they all thought it was delicious. The only complaint that they had were that when they got it, the pastry was pipping hot and would burn their mouth and they would have to wait to eat it.

5. Leaning Tower of Pizza

Finally, we have Leaning Tower of Pizza. Leaning Tower of Pizza was a company that sold homemade pizza. The cost was $3 for one slice, $5 for two slices, or $15 for a box. Also, if you bought a box, you were put into a raffle to win some Supreme clothing. I thought that the pizza was very good, especially the crust and they served it at the right temperature unlike some other companies. My only complaint is that there was only one small part of cheese on my pizza and the rest was tomato sauce.

2017 Billboard Music Award Nominations

Do not forget to tune in The Billboard Music Awards on May 21 at 8PM on ABC. It is an event you will not want to miss. The Billboard Music Awards is an event honouring the accomplishments of music artists throughout the year. The Billboard Awards is a publication and music popularity chart dealing with the music business. These awards have been held annually since 1990.

On April 10, 2017 at 12:00pm, this year's’ nominees were announced. Among the nominees, Drake and The Chainsmokers lead all artists with 22 nominations each. This came to no surprise, as both artists have been dominating the music industry throughout this past year. For Aubrey Graham, also known as Drake, 2016 has been has been the best year of his career. With his hit single “Work” with Rihanna going Number 1, to his albums “Views” and “More Life”, it is fair to say he deserves all the attention he is getting. Just to name a few, Drake is nominated for Top Artist, Top Male Artist and Top Billboard 200 Artist.

It is the same story with the Chainsmokers. In 2016, the Chainsmokers really made a name for themselves. With their huge hits “Don’t Let Me Down”,  to “Closer” to “Something Just Like This”, it was hard to keep them off the charts. To list some of their bigger nominations, they are runner-ups for Top Artist, as well as Top Duo/Group and Top 100 Artist.

Twenty One Pilots follows with the second highest number of nominations, being at 17. Then there's Rihanna with 14 and The Weeknd right behind her with 13. Although, Beyonce cannot be forgotten. The Queen B stands with 8.

There are many categories and artists to be awarded. Amongst the 50 categories, the most talked about by famous music creators are Top Radio Songs Artist, Top Touring Artist and Top Rap Artist.

It is great to be nominated for so many awards, but what does it feel like to win so many? Well, ask Taylor Swift, who has won a record breaking 21 awards. Adele and Usher are right behind her with just 3 less, at 18 awards won each. There is also the great Whitney Houston with 16, and the young and world known Justin Bieber with 15. Those are some amazing accomplishments for some amazing artists.

Sources:

"Billboard Music Award." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Apr. 2017. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.

Staff, Billboard. "Drake, The Chainsmokers Lead Nominees for the 2017 Billboard Music Awards." Billboard. The Billboard, 10 Apr. 2017. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.

Fate of the Furious Movie Review

“Fate of the Furious” was so good, it set the new world record for box office hits. They beat the original record of 529 million dollars made by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. The new world record is 532.5 million dollars in its first weekend. The fast and the furious cast consists of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Scott Eastwood, Jason Statham, Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson. The whole movie is about how all of the main characters are on a mission and then Dominic Toretto, the main character,  turns bad and attacks his own friends. The rest of them are trying to figure out why. He was being threatened by Cipher who was played by Charlize Theron. Apparently Cipher needed Dom for something huge.

Overall, I would rate the movie a 9/10. It had a good mix of action and comedy. It also had an excellent plot twist. Everyone including me thought that it was not going to be good because of the death of Paul Walker. Since he died, there has not been a Bryan or a Mia. But anyway during the movie, there is also a very funny scene that would make everyone laugh. The funniest character in the whole movie would be Tyrese’s character who is Roman Pierce. He kept making hilarious jokes about what they were doing and about his good friend Tej who was played by Ludacris. My favourite part would be toward the end of the movie. I would love to explain it to you, but I would be spoiling the movie. I recommend this movie a lot.

B.Z.

Sources:

http://www.slashfilm.com/fate-of-the-furious-box-office/

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjM5MDc5ODQ3MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZT

gwMDk3NDczMTI@._CR383,112,1407,1054_UX614_UY460._SY230_SX307_AL_.jpg

http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/fate-of-the-furious-poster-header-image.jpg

Top 5 Grossing Movies of All Time

Who doesn’t love a good movie? A great film could make you laugh, cry, or sing along. When a good movie comes along, people love it, and when people love it, it makes a lot of money. Here are the top 5 grossing movies of all time.

5. Titanic

The movie Titanic is a classic in the Romance genre. It tells the story of 2 lovers (Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater) who travel on the world’s largest ship ever made, the Titanic. This movie is well known for the very sad ending. Many well known and praised actors are starring in this movie, such as Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater, and Billy Zane as Caledon Hockley. This movie gathered a whopping $1.1 Billion in sales.

4. E.T

E.T is a family favourite movie. This is the story of an alien landing on earth who becomes friends with a boy named Elliot. Elliot and E.T go on many different funny adventures, such as trick or treating on Halloween, or walking around town with E.T dressed as a girl. E.T has some sad moments too, in one scene, E.T is almost dead from the hypothermia, after falling into a little stream after halloween, who is then saved by Elliot, which allows E.T to reunite with his extraterrestrial family. The movie E.T earned $1.182 Billion for this amazing movie.

3. The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is an older musical film from the late 60s. This movie won a total of 5 Oscar awards. This tells the story of a girl name Maria who keeps failing at becoming a nun. She then receives a job offer, to watch 7 kids, which she accepts. During her time with the children, many funny moments and joyful musical pieces are performed, and loved by most. This movie received $1.187 Billion from this masterpiece.

2. Star Wars

Star wars is a sci-fi movie. It tells the adventures of different Jedis and also their enemies, the Sith. With many plot twists and crazy scenery, this was truly a fan favourite, and even still to this day. The studio that created the original star wars saga 30 years ago, are still trying to add on to this story by creating new story lines and characters, with the same objective. Star wars gathered around $1.5 Billion.

1. Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind is an older movie, that was created in 1939. This Romance film is about a girl surviving the Civil War, on a plantation. It also focuses on the love of Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. This movie does have some use of slavery, because of the Plantations in that time period. In all it is an amazing movie that earned $1.7 Billion.

Sources:

http://www.imdb.com

http://www.businessinsider.com

Use of Google to find Movie Cast for each film

Pictures:

http://www.impawards.com/1997/posters/titanic_ver2.jpg

http://img.moviepostershop.com/gone-with-the-wind-movie-poster-1939-1010192906.jpg

Kevin Spacey To Host The Tony Awards

Kevin Spacey, an American actor who has won two Academy Awards, will be the host of this year’s annual Tony Awards. Many know Spacey for playing the iniquitous President of the United States on Netflix’s original series “House of Cards,” however, this successful actor had quite an interesting start.  

Spacey, who is currently 57 years old, won his first Tony Award for performing in “Lost In Yonkers” in 1991. However, Spacey was first put on the map for his performance in Bryan Singer’s classic drama film The Usual Suspects, in which he played the main antagonist, Verbal Kint. This role also landed him his first Oscar: Best Actor in a Supporting Role. This role was the one that really skyrocketed his career. Only four years later, Spacey appeared in his next big film, the Best Picture-winning American Beauty, which also won Spacey an Oscar for Best Actor.

It might surprise some to learn that Spacey is also a singer, and a very good one at that, having appeared in six Broadway productions. With the string of Academy Awards under his belt, plus his ability to sing and make a crowd his own, are very good reasons for why Spacey would be a great fit to host the 71st Tony Awards.

The award show will air on June 11th, at 8:00 PM, live from Radio City Music Hall.

This year, they seemed to have followed the same tradition that they did during last year’s Tony Awards, as the host was James Corden. What sticks out most as a similarity between these two hosts is that they both never pursued a career in singing or music for the most part, yet they both have the ability and comedic intelligence to make the show a success.

This year, the ceremony will only take into consideration shows that have opened any time during April 29th, 2016, and April 27th, 2017. The long-awaited nominations will be coming out on May 2nd.

Recently, Spacey sat down with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, and had this to say about the whole situation: “I love the theatre, I’m a theatre rat so for me it’s incredibly exciting,”

All that can be said so far is that Spacey is visibly excited to be hosting the prestigious event, we’re all excited to see him host, and all we can do is hope that the show goes smoothly.

Sources:

Paulson, Michael. "Kevin Spacey Is to Host the Tony Awards." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Apr. 2017. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. (Click Here For Link)

Fierberg, Ruthie. "Kevin Spacey Talks Preparing to Host the 2017 Tony Awards." Playbill. PLAYBILL INC., 19 Apr. 2017. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. (Click Here For Link)

"Kevin Spacey." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017. (Click Here For Link)

World, Broadway. "Kevin Spacey Theatre Credits." BroadwayWorld. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

(Click Here For Link)

Blistein, Jon. "Kevin Spacey to Host 2017 Tony Awards." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2017. Web. 20 Apr. 2017. (Click Here For Link)

Pictures:

First Picture of Kevin Spacey

Second Picture of Kevin Spacey

Arkansas Executes First Person Since 2005

On Thursday April 20 2017, the state of Arkansas executed their first inmate in 12 years after a long lasting legal battle that questioned aspects of the use of the death penalty in the United States. The inmate who was executed was 51 year old Ledell Lee who was pronounced dead at 11:56 p.m. Lee was convicted and sentenced to death for beating a woman to death with a tire iron in 1993, the relatives of the victim were at the Cummins Unit and told media Lee deserved to die for a crime that ripped their lives apart. According to the Arkansas Department of Corrections, Lee had no last words.

Although spending over two decades in prison, Lee stood by his innocence. He had filed numerous motions in various courts that had delayed the execution process. Lee was also seeking DNA tests that his lawyers claimed could prove his innocence. In the end, Lee received injections of three drugs: midazolam, to render him unconscious; vecuronium bromide, to halt his breathing; and potassium chloride, to stop his heart.

Lee is one of eight men the state originally wanted to execute over the course of 11 days before the supply of one of the drugs in its three-part lethal injection protocol expires at the end of the month. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced last month that the state would begin executing inmates who had exhausted state-level appeals. So far, courts have stopped four of the executions that were to take place.
The state's plan prompted an unprecedented flurry of legal filings that argued the process should be halted, with attorneys for the eight men attempting to block the executions, including using the argument that Midazolam, the drug used to make inmates unconscious before two more drugs paralyze and kill them, does not effectively prevent a painful death.

C.C

Citations

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/21/us/arkansas-ledell-lee-execution/

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-arkansas-execution-idUSKBN17L32F

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/us/arkansas-death-penalty-ledell-lee-execution.html?_r=0

http://globalnews.ca/news/3394247/arkansas-death-penalty/

http://globalnews.ca/news/3323179/arkansas-executions-april/

Online Fight Between YouTubers 'The Gabbie Show' and 'Ricegum'

On Tuesday, March 28th, There was a party thrown for a famous YouTuber Alex Wassabi. The fight was between Ricegum and The Gabbie Show who are both YouTubers. The fight is described as really aggressive on Ricegum’s  part. This is how it started. Gabbie was snapchatting because she did not know anyone at the party. The only one she knew was Ricegum. To get comfortable, she decided to be playful and fool around with Ricegum. As she was snapping and  posting all these little videos, Ricegum did not want her to post any of it. She ignored him and posted it anyway. There was one snap that might have made him mad, and it was about his “ghostwriter”. A ghostwriter is when someone writes for someone else but the other guy takes the credit. According to Ricegum, his friend, Diss God, writes with him to make the diss tracks that he does. Ricegum got a little bit upset and threw Gabbie’s phone. What probably triggered him was the mention of his ghostwriter and how she thinks that he cannot write music on his own. Then Gabbie goes to the balcony of the house and started to show bruises and scratches that Ricegum supposedly did. Everyone later finds out that the scratches and bruises were already there before the party. This is That was Ricegum’s side of the story, now it is Gabbie’s turn.

The Gabbie Show does YouTube but got famous by doing Vines. At the party when the fight happened, Gabbie claimed that Ricegum Pinned her down, twisted her arm, and then threw her phone. Only one of those claims are true and that would be the smashing of her phone. Ricegum felt bad and then tells Keemstar and Scarce, who are both YouTubers, that he paid over 2000$ for the phone. But In a YouTube video posted by The Gabbie Show showing that Ricegum told Gabbie that he sent to much money and wanted 1000$ back. So essentially, Ricegum lied to Scarce and Keemstar in the interview. But who was right? Obviously Ricegum was right and because she supposedly ruined his reputation, He made a fire diss track about her.

B.Z.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLjeYdjrGaM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAXcT5ZRzq8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLjeYdjrGaM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpLFIvpUYpw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whaJJM_HDHw

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0G9_zvy10Gg/maxresdefault.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9vqmpEs_4No/maxresdefault.jpg