Nick Minaj’s latest tour is breaking records! According to Billboard, the Queens, NY, native’s “Pink Friday 2 World Tour” is the highest-grossing and bestselling rap tour by a woman in Billboard Boxscore history after reports revealed that it grossed $67 million and sold 439,000 tickets. Kicking off on March 1 in Oakland, CA, the tour’s first stop brought Minaj $2.3 million thanks to 14,000 tickets sold. The show concluded on May 13 in Oklahoma City, OK. She now joins the likes of her former label mate Drake, as well as Kendrick Lamar, Future, and a host of other rappers with high-grossing tours. Not to mention, she bumped out Doja Cat, who just five months prior had set the record with $37.3 million for “The Scarlet Tour.” With four double-headers, the “Pink Friday 2 World Tour” brought in more than $3 million for each stop in Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Brooklyn, NY; Chicago, IL; and Toronto, Canada. Minaj’s biggest moneymaking nights were both in New York, at the Brooklyn Barclays...

Mary J. Blige’s Strength Of A Woman Festival (SOAW) returned for a Mother’s Day takeover in a new city this year, along with new faces and places to support. “We started doing pop-ups at bars, and it was just me and my daughter,” Chef Shelly Flash of 2 Girls & A Cookshop told AFROTECH™ during the third annual SOAW, the festival’s first time appearing in Blige’s home of New York, NY. “We used to get kicked out all the time, and it’s like we just had a mission. We were like, ‘We should share our food with the world because we’re first-gens, and a lot of times first-generation Jamaicans, we’re not represented.’ Either you’re all in the culture or you’re in this melted pot. We are always in this floating melting pot. We live in the best city in the world — that’s New York — and so what we decided to do is just keep putting out one Jamaican taco at a time.” She added, “And in Jamaica, we always say ‘Out of many, one person.’ At 2 Girls we say, ‘Out of many, one culture.’ We believe that...

This healthcare company is one funding round closer to fulfilling its goal of making mental health care more accessible. Backpack Healthcare shares in a press release that it has officially completed a $14 million Series A funding round led by Healthcare Capital. Also participating were ECMC, Techstars, Collab Capital, Bridge Builders Collaborative, Portland Seed Fund, Hopelab, Rethink Education, Genius Guild, and Unlikely Collaborators. Additional angel investors included Maya Ghosn Bichara and Jeffrey Walker. Founded in 2018 by Hafeezah Muhammad, the company uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to combat the current youth mental health crisis through its app and teletherapy services, specifically honing in on those with Medicaid insurance coverage. “The funding we have raised underscores the U.S. healthcare system’s need for more inclusive, tech-enabled solutions to tackle the growing pediatric mental health crisis,” said Muhammad, who also serves as the company’s CEO....

Equinox has reportedly launched the world’s most expensive gym membership. According to NBC News, the exclusive fitness chain has kickstarted a $40,000 annual program geared toward helping people improve their overall health and longevity. In partnership with lab-test startup Function Health, Optimize by Equinox, is a personalized health program curated by the company to equip participants with a variety of services, including personal training, nutrition plans, sleep coaching, and massage therapy. “It’s really a paradigm shift in how we’re able to live with vitality and avoid suffering,” Jonathan Swerdlin, co-founder of Function Health, said. “It deals with what’s above the surface, your abs and glutes, which you can see in the mirror, that are great. But it also deals with what’s below the surface and what you can’t see in the mirror. And that’s revolutionary.”   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Equinox (@equinox) Kicking off with a range of tests, t he program is...

TikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG) have agreed on new licensing conditions to bring the group’s tunes back to the social media platform. According to the TikTok newsroom, the joint agreement between the two entities “marks a new era of strategic collaboration.” “By harnessing TikTok’s best-in-class technology, marketing, and promotional capabilities, UMG and TikTok will deliver improved remuneration for UMG’s songwriters and artists, new promotional and engagement opportunities for their recordings and songs, and industry-leading protections with respect to generative AI,” read the report. What’s more, fans will see a return of UMG’s recorded music and publishing catalogs on TikTok, thus allowing users to go back to creating content with sounds from some of the culture’s biggest musicians. “Music is an integral part of the TikTok ecosystem and we are pleased to have found a path forward with Universal Music Group,” TikTok CEO Shou Chew said. “We are committed to working together...

Sony Pictures Entertainment has officially announced its next EVP, Chief Communications Officer, and the move is a major one… a historic feat, if you will. According to a press release shared with AFROTECH™, Tahra Grant will serve in the position, succeeding Robert Lawson who will relocate to the company’s headquarters in Tokyo, Japan as SVP of Corporate Communications for the entire Sony Group. Not only is Grant the first Black woman to be named Chief Comms Officer at a major Hollywood studio, she is also the only Black woman to hold the position at a major studio among the stars. Since joining the studio in 2016, Grant has “streamlined and sharpened corp comm ops, handling crisis and issues with def skills during Covid and the double strikes, before and after,” per the report. Within a year with the company, she was promoted to SVP of Media Relations and her expertise in the industry continues to expand. She has also worked on several Sony blockbusters, which include Little Women,...

Joe Budden is getting candid about his career podcast earnings. According to Vibe, the rapper-turned-podcast-host recently shared that he has earned at least $7 million since he made the career transition, pocketing a reported $4 million from that after taxes. “Off podcasting, off of this?” Budden said during an episode of “The Joe Budden Podcast.” “All together in the whole 10 years? About $4 million… Gross is $7 million.” He also opened up about how he and his team managed to get to those numbers, noting that inking partnerships with various brands along the way has been beneficial. “Early on we were doing it for free,” Budden recalled. “Then we hit a little lick, Spotify. Then n—as left, the building crumbled a little bit, and my friends came and saved the day.” As previously reported by AFROTECH™, he shared the real reason that he walked away from Spotify’s initial offer. “In business, there are signs, for me, that show faith in a relationship,” Budden said at the time. “And me...

The Antetokounmpo family doesn’t play when it comes to their own. Nike has been a long supporter of Giannis Antetokounmpo and his family since the very beginning of his career in 2013, and it’s also what encouraged the NBA superstar to pass on another endorsement deal with one of the athletic apparel company’s competitors. According to Bleacher Report, during an appearance on the “Thanalysis Show,” Antetokounmpo recalled the moment he decided to walk away from a deal at Adidas because he was in a position where he needed to help support his family. After an initial offer featuring a deal for both Giannis and his brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Adidas backtracked on the plan, prompting Giannis to turn down the proposal. “[An Adidas representative] brought the contract and put it in front of me, and I’m like, ‘Okay great, where is my brother’s?’” Antetokounmpo explained, per Bleacher Report. “And he was like, ‘We’re not going to sign your brother’s today. You’re going to sign yours,...