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Comedian & ‘Rel’ Co-Creator Kevin Barnett Dead At 32

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Vulture Festival Presents: Comedy Night

Source: Bryan Bedder / Getty

Comedian and Rel co-creator and executive producer Kevin Barnett died while away on vacation in Mexico according to still-developing reports. The cause of Barnett’s death is not known and it appears to have been sudden.

Deadline reports:

Barnett, a rising comic in New York City, recently co-created and executive produced fellow comedians Lil Rel Howery and Josh Rabinowitz Rel, the freshman Fox/20th TV comedy series starring Howery.

“Our hearts are broken, as are those of everyone at Rel, at the news of Kevin Barnett’s passing. He was an incredibly funny, wildly talented man who had so much more to do and so many more stories to tell. We send our thoughts and prayers to his friends and family during this difficult time,” 20th TV and Fox Entertainment said in a statement.

With Robinowitz, Barnett previously wrote a comedy project for NBC as a starring vehicle for the duo, who previously served as executive producers, head writers, and cast members of TruTV’s sketch series Friends of the People. The two also worked together as writers/consulting producers on the NBC/20th TV comedy series The Carmichael Show.

Barnett previously was a series regular on MTV2’s Guy Code, a writer for Comedy Central’s Broad City, Fox’s Unhitched, The Eric Andre Show Show (Adult Swim) and the animated Lucas Bros Moving Co. (Fox). He also made appearances on Adam Devine’s House Party as well as in Funny As Hell (HBO) and Top Five (written and directed by Chris Rock).

Kevin Barnett was 32.

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Photo: Getty

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Hip Hop, Hip Hop News, News

Legendary Jazz Singer Nancy Wilson Has Passed Away

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The 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards - Arrivals

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Jazz lovers and the music world, in general, is joined in mourning after news that legendary vocalist Nancy Wilson has passed away. The Grammy Award-winning Ohio native had one of the genre’s most distinctive singing styles and a body of work that spanned over the course of decades.

NPR writes:

Born in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1937, Wilson has recounted in interviews that she started singing around age 3 or 4.

“I have always just sung. I have never questioned what it is. I thank God for it and I just do it,” she told Marian McPartland, host of NPR’s Piano Jazz in 1994.

She never had formal training but was influenced by Dinah Washington, Nat “King” Cole, and others. Wilson says she knew at an early age what she would do for a living.

During her decades-long career, Wilson performed jazz ballads, standards, torch songs, show tunes and pop songs. She told McPartland that she loves a song with a good story and good lyrics. A song that has a beginning, middle and an end.

After attending Central State College in Ohio for one year, she left to pursue music full time. She had been touring continuously in her 20s when she met saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. He suggested she move to New York and in 1959 she did. Many successful singles and albums followed.

Wilson won three Grammys and recorded well over 70 albums, with one of those awards coming by way of her 2006 album, Turned To Blue. She also worked alongside the aforementioned Adderley and jazz legend Ramsey Lewis as well.

Nancy Wilson was 81.

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Photo: Getty

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The 41st President George H.W. Bush Has Died, Twitter Has Varied Reactions

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US-POLITICS-OBAMA

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The 41st President of the United States George H.W. Bush has died. Reactions to the world leader’s passing have been ongoing since the news broke on Friday (Nov. 30), and on Twitter, those thoughts have been quite varied.

Bush, who was a two-term Vice President to the late Ronald Reagan, began his political career in 1963 in his native state of Texas, going on to become a congressman at the U.S. House of Representatives before going into a failed bid for a U.S. Senate seat. He remained a visible and popular member of the Republican Party, becoming the chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1973. In 1976, Bush was named Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

After a failed bid to gain his party’s nomination for president in 1980, Bush was named Reagan’s running mate and the pair served from 1981 to 1989. Bush served one term as president, losing his post to President Bill Clinton, who went on to serve two terms.

Twitter users have both politely given salutes to President Bush but others are definitely going for critique as well. We’ve collected some of the responses below.

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Photo: Getty

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“What Are Those?” Creator Brandon “Young Busco” Moore Dead At 31, Twitter Reacts

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Brandon Moore AKA Young Busco

Source: Young Busco / Instagram

Brandon “Young Busco” Moore became an Internet legend after his infamous “What Are Those?” catchphrase went viral and became social media meme fodder. According to his family, Young Busco has died and fans on Twitter are celebrating the funnyman’s life.

So universally known was Young Busco’s catchphrase that even Michael Jordan fell victim to the “What Are Those?” moment during a basketball camp when an attendee looked at the basketball legend’s shoes to clown. The phrase also made its way to Black Panther after Letitia Wright’s Shuri snapped on King T’Challa AKA The Black Panther and his choice of footwear during a funny scene.

However, Young Busco didn’t reap many rewards from his oft-used joke. Back in March, he sat down with Huffington Post, explaining that despite the reach of the phrase, he didn’t take care of the business end that would have given him some financial kickback. Further, Moore struggled with drug addiction and being present in the lives of his five children but an arrest after the 2015 video on a narcotics charge led to him turning his life around.

This past Sunday, just hours before he passed, Young Busco did what he was known best for by telling a joke about sneaker choices.

Instagram Photo

According to chatter around social media, a candlelight vigil will be held this Friday (Nov. 30) in Moore’s hometown of Berkeley, Calif.

Instagram Photo

Rest powerfully in peace, Young Busco.

We’ve collected some of the Twitter reactions to the news below.

Instagram Photo

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Photo: Instagram

Source: HipHopWired.com

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“What Are Those?” Creator Brandon “Young Busco” Moore Dead At 31, Twitter Reacts

Leave a comment
Brandon Moore AKA Young Busco

Source: Young Busco / Instagram

Brandon “Young Busco” Moore became an Internet legend after his infamous “What Are Those?” catchphrase went viral and became social media meme fodder. According to his family, Young Busco has died and fans on Twitter are celebrating the funnyman’s life.

So universally known was Young Busco’s catchphrase that even Michael Jordan fell victim to the “What Are Those?” moment during a basketball camp when an attendee looked at the basketball legend’s shoes to clown. The phrase also made its way to Black Panther after Letitia Wright’s Shuri snapped on King T’Challa AKA The Black Panther and his choice of footwear during a funny scene.

However, Young Busco didn’t reap many rewards from his oft-used joke. Back in March, he sat down with Huffington Post, explaining that despite the reach of the phrase, he didn’t take care of the business end that would have given him some financial kickback. Further, Moore struggled with drug addiction and being present in the lives of his five children but an arrest after the 2015 video on a narcotics charge led to him turning his life around.

This past Sunday, just hours before he passed, Young Busco did what he was known best for by telling a joke about sneaker choices.

Instagram Photo

According to chatter around social media, a candlelight vigil will be held this Friday (Nov. 30) in Moore’s hometown of Berkeley, Calif.

Instagram Photo

Rest powerfully in peace, Young Busco.

We’ve collected some of the Twitter reactions to the news below.

Instagram Photo

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Photo: Instagram

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Former Wu-Tang Clan Affiliate Lord Superb Dead At 41

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Jamel Cummings Lord Superb Mugshot

Source: NYPD / NYPD

Lord Superb, a former collaborator of Ghostface Killah and the Wu-Tang Clan, has apparently died. The Far Rockaway, Queens rapper was long split from Ghostface’s crew and the Clan years prior to his passing.

The Source reports:

Superb, whose real name is Jamel Cummings, is mainly known for his ghostwriting contributions to the WTC, but Superb made a memorable appearance on Ghostface Killah’s 2001 Supreme Clientele album, however, he was originally a member of Raekwon’s Cream Team.

After Cummings cut ties wit the Wu, the Far Rockaway, Queens nativew served time in jail for sexual molestation after reports revealed that he allegedly had sex with a 12-year-old girl.

There has been no confirmation as to his cause of death, however, it was reported that Superb passed out in New Jersey earlier this month, fell into a coma and never regained consciousness.

Cummings was convicted twice of sexual abuse charges involving a minor. His first such conviction took place in 2003, for which he was given six years in state prison for sexual abuse first-degree: contact by forcible compulsion after assaulting a 12-year-old girl in 1997. Cummings was convicted a second time in 2010 over second-degree sexual abuse charges in a 2008 incident. The victims in that related case were 13 and 15 at the time.

Superb first gained noticed on Ghostface Killah’s sophomore solo album Supreme Clientele and made appearances on other Wu-Tang Clan projects before being ousted. In 2010, Superb took several shots at Ghostface and Raekwon, claiming he built the bulk of the Ghost’s verses in an interview with Forbez DVD.

Jamel “Lord Superb” Cummings was 41.

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Photo: NYPD

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