By Nick Hamilton (@NickHamiltonLA)

Kobe Bryant was a unique and diverse individual that had a God-given talent to not only play the best basketball, but impact a generation.
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On Sunday morning, it was reported that Bryant along with eight others on board his personal helicopter were killed, as it crashed in Calabasas section of Los Angeles County.

According to reports by TMZ, the group was enroute to the Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks, California, for a basketball game where Bryant was scheduled to coach.

Bryant was a five time champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, multi time All-Star, Oscar Award winner and a philanthropist. Above all his was a great father, who coached his daughter Gianna who was also killed in the crash.

Bryant’s Mamba Mentality was witnessed by many with his work ethic on and off the court. Whether through basketball or business, he demonstrated black excellence to the fullest.

He donated his time and money to so many causes that included awareness to homelessness, building up courts around the communities in Los Angeles. Bryant recently donated $1 million to the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in South Los Angeles.

Recently he appeared at a Major League Soccer (MLS) event in Los Angeles, where BodyArmor (a company Bryant financially invested in) became an official partner with the MLS. He appeared in great spirits, spending time with the young soccer players and spoke with several media members.

From helping the Lakers win five championships, to his 81 point game to him ending his career with 60 points, Sunday’s tragedy was not the way Kobe Bryant should have left us.

He will forever be missed, appreciated, emulated and learned from for generations to come.

He is survived by his wife Vanessa, and their three other children. Bryant was 41-years old, and touched so many people across the globe.

Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna has died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas Sunday morning.

Kobe was traveling with at least 3 other people in his private helicopter when it went down. A fire broke out. Emergency personnel responded, but nobody on board survived. 5 people are confirmed dead. We're told Vanessa Bryant was not among those on board.

Eyewitnesses also say that they heard the helicopter's engine sputtering before it went down. As you can see, flames and smoke covered much of the scene from the wreck. The official cause of the crash is currently under investigation.

Kobe has used a helicopter to travel for years -- dating back to when he played for the Lakers. He was known for commuting from Newport Beach, CA to the STAPLES Center in DTLA in his Sikorsky S-76 chopper.

KB is survived by his wife Vanessa.
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A memorial to Kobe has already sprung up outside of Staples Center, where Kobe played for years.

Vic Mensa was riding a motorcycle in Glendale, CA earlier this month when police saw him make an unsafe turn.

An officer pulled over Vic, and at some point during the stop, patted him down. We're told the officer found the brass knuckles in Vic's pants pocket.

In most states they are considered for self-defense purposes, but they're banned in California.

Police booked him for felony possession of brass knuckles, and he was later released after posting $20,000 bond.
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Police decided not to ticket him for the alleged unsafe turn.

Meghan Trainor is releases new track Blink, on Friday (January 17).

“FREAKIN OUTTTTTT!” she wrote on Instagram. “#BLINK IS FINALLY OUT! My family and I have been bumping this song for so long and we are so excited it’s finally out! STREAM IT everywhere and share it to your friends ?? love u all.”

“There ain’t nobody like me, baby / So why don’t we dance? / Don’t miss your chance,” she sings. “Better not blink / You better not blink, blink / Better not blink /’Cause you don’t wanna miss this.”

“Blink” is part of Meghan‘s album Treat Myself, due out on January 31.

Louis Tomlinson releases a new song “Walls”, that is about overcoming obstacles, and is the final single and title track from his debut album on Friday (January 17).

On it, he talks about the hardships of life and relationships, and how they can eventually make you stronger.

“But these high walls, they came up short / Now I stand taller than them all,” he sings. “These high walls never broke my soul / And I, I watch them all come fallin’ down / I watch them all come fallin’ down for you, for you.”

A snippet of the song was featured at the end of his music video for “Don’t Let It Break Your Heart.”

Listen to Louis Tomlinson‘s “Walls” below! You can also download it on Apple Music.

Walls, the album – which also includes “Kill My Mind,” “Two of Us,” and “We Made It” – will be released on January 31.

 BTS just dropped the first single from its new album — Map of the Soul: 7, out Feb. 21 — and it's a swirl of string-swept emo-rap introspection. The song's artistic ambitions are impressive enough, but check out the accompanying art film, in which the MN Dance Company (from Slovenia, not Minnesota) interprets the song through lavish choreography, shot in what appear to be the bones of an old shopping mall.

It's a bold step for a group whose worldwide commercial dominance has only emboldened its artistic impulses. Opening with a quote from Martha Graham about a dancer's mortality, BTS's "Black Swan" film nicely reflects the song's message — about artists' fraught relationship with the work that sustains them.

Map of the Soul: 7 comes out Feb. 21 via Big Hit.

Halsey released Manic, which is her third studio album featuring the hit Without Me” and the previously-released tracks “You Should Be Sad” and “Graveyard.” It’s the followup to 2017’s Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, which topped the Billboard 200.

The new LP also features interludes featuring BTS’ Suga, Alanis Morissette and Dominic Fike.

Halsey will take part in a special livestream performance on the Amazon Music Facebook page on Friday at 9:45 p.m. ET. 
Halsey will support the new album with the Manic World Tour, with the North American leg kicking off June 2 at White River Amphitheatre in Seattle, WA.

Halsey will be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on Jan. 25,  Star Wars star Adam Driver will host.

BTS's RM and fellow Korean singer Younha debut their collaborative single “Winter Flower” at No. 1 on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart, instantly earning a huge win. The track is now the BTS member’s first to reach the top of the genre-specific sales tally without his bandmates, and that’s significant, since he’s come close before.

RM is now the second member of BTS to hit No. 1 on the World Digital Song Sales chart on his own. J-Hope has claimed two chart-toppers, making him the most successful vocalist from the group when it comes to solo output, at least in this regard. J-Hope first rose to the throne on the sales-focused ranking in 2018 with "Daydream,” and he followed that up last year with his massive Becky G collaboration “Chicken Noodle Soup.” 
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Several other BTS members have reached the top 10 on the World Digital Song Sales chart with various solo efforts (again, ones that aren’t credited to the full band), but so far, none aside from RM and J-Hope have conquered the list, though as they become more and more popular, that might change.

Singer, songwriter and producer Josh Stone, who performs under the name DOT, has sued Ariana Grande for allegedly ripping off the chorus of his 2017 track “You Need I Got It” for her 2019 single, "7 Rings", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight non-consecutive weeks last year.

The complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in New York on Thursday (Jan. 16) by Stone’s lawyer Tamir Young, opens with some impressive numbers related to "7 Rings," noting that the single broke records for the most Spotify streams in 24 hours and that the video has been viewed over 642 million times on YouTube. It further estimates the song has earned over $10 million in revenues to date. 

Young goes on to state that two different musicologists concluded “7 Rings” likely copied the choruses and hooks from “You Need I Got It,” with one finding 39 respective notes from the songs to be “identical.”

“From a scientific, musicological perspective, the rhythmic structure, metrical placement, duration of rhythmic pattern and lyrical elements of composition in ‘7 Rings’ are either identical or substantially similar to [‘You Need I Got It],” the suit reads.

The complaint further highlights the obvious similarities between “7 Rings” lyrics “I want it/I got it/I want it/I got it” and Stone's lyrics “You need it/I got it/You want it/I got it."

In an attempt to establish access, the suit goes on to note that songwriter and producer Thomas Lee Brown -- a co-defendant who has worked with Grande on all five of her studio albums -- was in attendance at meetings Stone had with Universal Music Group executives in June 2017, during which he played “You Need I Got It," among other songs.

Grande is slated to perform “7 Rings” at next week’s Grammys, where the song itself is up for two awards and Grande is nominated for five.

“The level of copying in ‘7 Rings’ is simply shocking,” Stone’s attorney Tamir Young tells Billboard. “This is a stronger case of infringement than ‘Blurred Lines’ or Katy Perry’s ‘Dark Horse.’ The rash of copyright infringement in music has caused incredible harm and injustice to lesser known or up and coming artists and songwriters.”

Stone is asking the court for declaratory judgment of copyright infringement; a judgment that enjoins Grande and her co-defendants from continued acts of infringement; judgment ordering defendants to deliver “7 Rings” to Stone for destruction; actual damages and profits attributable to the infringement or, alternatively, statutory damages; and attorneys’ fees and other related costs.

Grande’s co-defendants in the case are songwriter-producers Brown, Charles Michael Anderson and Michael David Foster; songwriters Taylor Monet Parks (a.k.a. Tayla Parx), Kimberly Anne Krysiuk, Victoria Monet McCants, and Njomza Vitia; BMG Rights Management; Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.; Kobalt Songs Music Publishing; The Royalty Network Inc.; Universal Music Corporation; and Concord Music Group.

Last week, BTS announced its new album, Map of the Soul: 7, which comes out Feb. 21 and will be preceded by a first single this Friday. But fans didn’t even have to hear a lick of the album before it began smashing records.

According to BTS’ management company, Big Hit Entertainment, Map of the Soul: 7 sold a record 3.42 million stock preorders in its first week of availability. On its official social media platforms, Big Hit shared a Naver News article that cited the figure from South Korean entertainment and distribution company Dreamus, formerly known as iRiver. 

BTS previously set the preorder record with their last album, Map of the Soul: Persona, which sold 2.685 million preorders in its first five days. Who held the record before that? You guessed it: BTS yet again, as their 2018 album Love Yourself: Answer sold 1.511 million preorders in its first week. Both Answer and Persona debuted atop the Billboard 200; based on early preorders, Map of the Soul: 7 seems likely to follow suit.