Four and a half years after Dr. Dre was prematurely anointed hip-hop’s first billionaire after selling Beats Electronics to Apple, Forbes has officially crowned Jay-Z hip-hop’s first billionaire. The Marcy Projects product, once known as “Jigga” and “Hov”, came up in an era where MC’s simply rapped while leaving the business side to entrepreneurial minds like Puff Daddy, Master P, Birdman, Jay Prince, Irv Gotti and Russell Simmons. Meanwhile, Rocafella was run by business minds Damon Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke while Jay-Z was allowed to focus on being the best in the game. After the empire they built came…
Author: Kevin Bourne
Kevin Bourne
Kevin Bourne, also known as "KB The Boss" or simply "KB", is a Toronto-based host/on-air personality, arts & entertainment journalist, TV/film producer, and communications and content strategist. As a commentator and freelancer, he has appeared nationally as a correspondent on CBC News Network and host on CBC Music. He has also appeared locally on CTV, CBC Radio, CityNews, Newstalk 1010, and ByBlacks.com, and in the United States on Fox’s Black digital TV network, Fox Soul. He has covered some of Canada’s top red-carpet events, from the Toronto International Film Festival to the Canadian Screen Awards, and has interviewed everyone from Kevin Hart and "Fast and the Furious" star Tyrese Gibson to Ziggy Marley, Ava DuVernay, Dascha Polanco, Lilly Singh, and Howie Mandel. His years of work as an entertainment journalist led to him being named a Golden Globe® Awards voter and Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-Approved critic and being quoted as a critic in national ad campaigns for Black films and TV shows, both in Canada and the United States. Pivoting into the world of film and television, Kevin co-founded the film, TV, digital content, and live experiences company, SHIFTER Entertainment, alongside his wife and business partner, Koliah. Through SHIFTER he has produced a number of projects, including the Bell Fibe TV1 unscripted reality series A Date In The Life, serving as showrunner, executive producer, writer and co-director. Now, with a number of pilot and feature film scripts written and projects in development, KB is poised to continue to be a champion for Black entertainment and culture alongside his wife and business partner, Koliah.
On the heels of successful TV shows and films like “Kim’s Convenience” and “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018), Netflix’s latest release “Always Be My Maybe” is the most recent production to bring Asian American (or Asian Canadian) culture to the mainstream. Starring Ali Wong and Randall Park, who also produced and co-wrote the screenplay alongside Michael Golamco (screenplay) and Nathan Kahame (producer), the film is your classic romantic comedy set in the Chinese community in San Francisco, Wong’s real life hometown. It’s a refreshing and well-needed window into an aspect of American culture rarely seen on the big and small screens.…
Today Liverpool will play Tottenham in the 2019 Champions League Final at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid. Both teams have had similar fates leading up to the final which could easily leave both teams believing that it’s their ‘destiny’ to take home the trophy. How the teams got to the final While Liverpool picked up a 1–0 win in their final group game against Napoli at home to get out of the groups after picking up only three points in their first three games, Tottenham managed to draw away in Barcelona on the final game of the groups after only…
Artpreneur, Ottawa’s premiere conference for creative entrepreneurs, is just around the corner and this year’s edition is going to be better than ever. With a new film studio on the horizon and a music strategy in full effect, the creative industries are as important as ever in the capital. Here are four reasons to be excited about Artpreneur 2019. 1. New location After being located at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orleans for the past five years, Artpreneur is moving downtown to the Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards. Why the change? First, to make the event as accessible as possible…
Sunday morning, the Toronto Argonauts signed five new players to fill apparent voids in their roster. Of these five signees, one name stands out — Donald De La Haye, better known as Deestroying. De La Haye played for the University of Central Florida during all 13 games of the 2016 season as the kickoff specialist. Around June of 2017, De La Haye conceived Deestroying. His channel became a huge success, hitting 250K subscribers around August 2017 and 500K by the beginning of 2018. In the summer of 2017, UCF and the NCAA told De La Haye that he was violating NCAA rules…
The music scene in Canada’s capital is growing rapidly, but sometimes lost in the mix is the francophone side of the scene. But with a number of Gatineau artists having had success on the latest season of La Voix, the Quebec version of The Voice, and with Ottawa having recently played host to the 2019 Trille Or awards, the premiere awards for francophone artists in Ontario and the provinces west of Quebec, the spotlight is increasingly shining on francophone music coming out of the capital region. Looking to add a little fuel to the fire is David Muipatayi, founder of…
Just in time for Mother’s Day, today Toronto-based, Ottawa-raised hip-hop artist City Fidelia released a new song called “Mama Knows”, the first single off his upcoming album. While the song opens with a real life conversation between Fidelia and his mother (with the two sharing a laugh), it is really a celebration of all mothers who have persevered and held it down for their children. The song also tackles some hard issues like his mother’s reaction to his brother’s cocaine use, and provides a glimpse into what it is like to grow up in a Caribbean home in Canada. In the…
After a very lean roundup in March, this month’s Ottawa music video roundup includes artists from both sides of the river, including Timal Garnier, SVDVM, Sean Lightz, KVY, and OTG featuring Sixonetrey. April was dominated by music video maker Goat Vision Studios who was responsible for three out of the five videos on our list. We’re continuing to ask you, the fans, to vote for the capital’s Video of the Month. Check out the videos below in order of release date, then help us crown the top video in the city for April. As usual, if there are any videos we…
Welcome to our second Toronto Music Video Roundup! Every month we’ll be featuring some of the top music videos coming out of Toronto. This month’s list features Alessia Cara, Jessie Reyez, Maestro Fresh Wes, Pressa and more. We’re asking you, the fans, to vote for Toronto’s Video of the Month. Check out the videos below in order of release date, then help us crown the top video in the city for April. If there are any videos we forgot make sure to comment below. Alessia Cara Out of Love Release date: April 4, 2019 Shot by: Sunny Visual This video starts with…
Vladimir Jean-Gilles recently sat down with Chilean filmmakers Silvio Caiozzi and Edgardo Viereck ahead of the Canadian Film Institute screening of their film …And Suddenly the Dawn (…Y de pronto el amanecer) at the Ottawa Art Gallery. They talked about the creative inspiration for the film and Caiozzi’s long-awaited return to the director’s chair. Vlad: So for starters, the first thing I wanted to talk about is in regards to the filmmaking process – the pre-production side of it, how the two of you got connected to make this film, and what exactly inspired you to put that together. Silvio: Well, with Edgardo,…
You’ve asked and it’s finally here. This weekend marks Ottawa native Maurice Moore’s first homecoming show of 2019. Brought to you by Smallworld Live, this intimate all-ages show will take place on Saturday, April 27 at The 27 Club in the Byward Market. Holding down emcee duties are Kevin B. and Vladimir Jean-Gilles of SHIFTER magazine. Fresh off releasing his latest EP Destination Unknown, the Canadian singer-songwriter sensation has consistently shown that he is able to go beyond the traditional horizon of the R&B genre. Through his down to earth persona, Moore paints the picture of an up-and-coming artist who’s…
The NBA Playoffs are back and there’s a notable name missing from any of the eight first-round series. Lebron and his baby Lakers (no surprise) are nowhere to be seen this postseason. A first for LBJ in 8 years, but a reccurring theme for the Lake show which hasn’t been to the playoff since Kobe retired. In the absence of Lebron’s star power, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of intriguing storylines to follow—Kawhi in the East, DeRozan with Pop in the West, and of course everyone’s default Finals pick, the Dubs of Golden State. Let’s take a closer…
