Chicago music lovers were left with a bittersweet taste yesterday when news spread that the acclaimed band, Kids These Days, noted for recent performances at SXSW and Coachella, was breaking up after years of creating genre-defying music. Lead rapper Vic Mensa attributed the split to band members disagreeing about the direction in which their music was heading. “It was around the time of SXSW,” Mensa told VIBE yesterday (May 8), on a late-night phone call.

Disturbing sexual accusations against R.Kelly haven’t stopped the artist from performing across the country. As the singer continues to book shows, the founders of the #MuteRKelly movement are urging the city of Jackson City, Mississippi to cancel his upcoming concert. On Thursday (Nov. 8), a letter sent to members of the Jackson City Council, the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and local media like The Clarion-Ledger raised several points against Kelly, including why cities are welcoming him to perform despite the endless amounts of sexual assault accusations and the previous reports about holding women against their will in a sex cult.

Last week, actress Ashley Judd was put under fire after an excerpt of her new book, All That is Bitter, and Sweet referenced hip-hop as a ‘rape culture.’ “As far as I’m concerned, most Rap and Hip Hop music–with its rape culture and insanely abusive lyrics and depictions of girls and women as ‘ho’s’–is the contemporary soundtrack of misogyny. I believe that the social construction of gender–the cultural beliefs and practices that divide the sexes and institutionalize and normalize the unequal treatment of girls and women, privilege the interest of boys and men, and, most nefariously, incessantly sexualize girls and women–is the root cause of poverty and suffering around the world,” Judd writes in All That is Bitter, and Sweet.

Ava DuVernay shared a devastating detail about Korey Wise’s former girlfriend that was left out of When They See Us.  In response to a fan question during a Twitter Q&A  Tuesday (July 30),  DuVernay revealed that Wise never reunited with his girlfriend, Lisa (portrayed by Storm Reed in the film). “I’m sorry. Korey never reconnected with his girlfriend from the time of his arrest,” tweeted DuVerney. “Sadly, she passed away before he was released from prison 13 years later.

Veteran actor Bill Nunn, known for his role as Radio Raheem in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, has passed away. His death was confirmed by Lee via Instagram Saturday afternoon (Sept. 24.) “Now resting in power,” Lee captioned the photo of Nunn’s character. “Radio Raheem will always be fighting the powers that be. May God watch over Bill Nunn.” The actor made his film debut with Lee in 1988’s School Daze and continued to be a signature actor in the director’s films like She Got Game.