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Content creator Khaby Lame has just made a major move that will ensure his global presence is long-lasting. Lame was the 10th-highest-earning creator of 2025, earning $20 million, according to Forbes. The TikToker, who was once a factory worker in Chivasso, Italy, has found success by creating content without saying a word, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. “You should not be in a rush to make money,” Lame said, according to Forbes. “Start by making the content you like.” Content creation has led Lame to work with major Hollywood studios and secure brand deals with Hugo Boss, Holafly, LEGO, Mr. Pink Beverages, and more, per AFROTECH™. He has at least 360 million followers across social media, and he is viewed as a “global-tier traffic entrance,” driving attention in many major regions at once, say industry observers, according to a Jan. 11 press release. Rich Sparkle Holdings, a Hong Kong-based company that also trades in the U.S. under ANPA.US, is looking to propel Lame’s brand...
Beyoncé Knowles may be a superstar, but she understands she’s not above losing. In a video on YouTube labeled “Self-Titled: Part 2. Imperfection,” the Houston-born singer admitted she didn’t have measured expectations around losing at the start of her career. Before Destiny’s Child, Knowles was part of Girl’s Tyme. When Knowles was nine years old, the group performed on a show called “Star Search.” She admitted in the video that, at the time, her dream was to win the show and land a record deal; losing was never an option. “At the time, you don’t realize that you can actually work super hard and give everything you have and lose. It was the best message for me,” she expressed in the video. “The reality is: sometimes you lose. And you’re never too good to lose. You’re never too big to lose. You’re never too smart to lose. It happens. And it happens when it needs to happen, and you have to embrace those things,” Beyoncé added. Beyoncé learned to become resilient, and is now the most...
Coco Gauff has doubled down on her commitment to HBCU students. Gauff comes from a family of HBCU graduates, Tennis reports, but didn’t have a chance to follow suit, choosing her tennis career instead. She has secured numerous titles, including 2025 French Open champion, 2023 U.S. Open champion, and is the highest-paid women’s athlete for the third year in a row, according to Sportico. Yet, she told Tennis that if she weren’t playing the sport, an HBCU would be in her playbook. “If I didn’t play tennis, I would have loved to attend an HBCU,” she told the outlet. “I have family members on both sides, both my grandmothers went to HBCUs, uncle and aunt went to HBCUs, and growing up, just attending, going to HBCU Classic games and things like that.” Coco Gauff Scholarship Program Gauff donated $100,000 to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) in 2025 to provide scholarships to HBCU students playing competitive tennis. This led to the launch of the Coco Gauff Scholarship Program, which...
Rapper Nas is behind a first-of-its-kind academic fellowship at Harvard University. Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellowship In 2013, the Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellowship was established at Harvard University through the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research. It is reportedly the first academic fellowship named after a Hip-Hop artist, according to the Ivy League school’s website. The rapper, born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, is known for “his lyrical skill, social analysis and commitment.” His works include a debut album “Illmatic” (1994), followed by “It Was Written” (1996) and later the “King’s Disease” trilogy (2020, 2021, 2022). He also is investing $2 million to establish The Hip-Hop Museum in The Bronx, alongside the Resorts World New York City casino, as AFROTECH™ perviously told you. The fellowship reflects what Nas said he always recognized in Hip-Hop. It is a form of education. “One thing that drew me to Hip-Hop was the things Kurtis Blow was saying, the things Melle...
Megan Thee Stallion opened her first location as a Popeyes franchisee. The Houston-born rapper has pursued ownership across various ventures. As an artist, she secured full ownership of her master recordings and publishing through her 2024 Warner Music Group deal, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. As an entrepreneur, she is now a Popeyes franchisee. “Popeyes’ one-of-a-kind partnership with Megan Thee Stallion goes well beyond the average marketing collaboration. We are unifying two pop culture icons, and Megan’s innovative, creative, and entrepreneurial vision is at the core of everything we’re doing,” Sami Siddiqui, president of Popeyes Americas, said in a news release. “We are thrilled to welcome Megan to the Popeyes franchisee family and look forward to working closely with her over many years as she begins her journey as a restaurateur,” he added. Megan Thee Stallion’s first Popeyes location is now officially open in South Beach, Miami. It is located at 1427 Washington Avenue,...
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson plans to make Shreveport, LA, the flagship city for his film and television production company, G-Unit Film & Television. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, in 2024, the company secured a 30-year lease in the former Millennium Studios, which was subsequently renamed the G-Unit Studio. Now, G-Unit Film & Television plans to invest more than $124 million in three entertainment venues in Northwest Louisiana, KSLA News 12 reports. This will include renovating the former Stageworks facility, upgrading Millennium Studios, and constructing G-Dome in downtown Shreveport. Louisiana Economic Development (LED) will work alongside G-Unit to support the project through $50 million in performance-based funding, which can be applied to infrastructure revitalization and improvements across the multi-phase project, notes the outlet. The Shreveport Film & Entertainment Economic Development Corporation will manage LED for accountability. “This project is the realization of the...
Kevin Durant has a lot of love for Austin, TX. The NBA superstar previously played one year at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) in 2006. It was one of the best seasons of the program’s history, according to KXAN Austin. Durant was named Collegiate National Player of the Year, ranking fourth nationally in scoring and rebounding, and led the team to the second round of the NCAA tournament, per the Texas Longhorns. He went pro in 2007 and was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics. Throughout Durant’s climb in the league and in business, he has continued to pour into Austin. He donated $3 million to UT Austin in 2018, which went to Texas Basketball and the Center for Sports Leadership and Innovation, and paved the way for the men’s basketball facilities to be renamed the Kevin Durant Basketball Facility for Men. The main entrance to Denton A. Cooley Pavilion was also named The Kevin Durant Texas Basketball Center. Speaking of the university he said, “This was kind of the...
will.i.am is working to ensure that children from low-income communities are prepared with skills in robotics and agentic systems. will.i.am is an innovator whose work spans music and technology. However, the root of his work ethic lies in his time growing up in the Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, housing project. He credits some of his most meaningful memories to that time, noting that those experiences gave him the ability to dream. “If someone said, ‘Hey, gimme all your Black Eyed Peas memories for your project memories,’ I would give my Black Eyed Peas memories away because the memories in the projects were my ingredients to get those Black Eyed Peas memories. It’s the most wonderful thing that I could ever imagine,” will.i.am told AFROTECH™ at CES 2026. Still, he was clear that his upbringing came with real challenges, including the loss of friends who passed away or were sent to prison, and even once standing in line at the welfare office for unemployment. “It was hard … If you...
Dwayne Johnson’s energy drink has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Johnson is the co-founder and chief energy officer of ZOA Energy, an energy drink that contains electrolytes, amino acids, vitamin B and C, and natural caffeine. The company generated $100 million in sales in 2022, a 138% year-over-year increase, per Benzinga. Lawsuit Explained In 2023, a lawsuit was brought against the company by class representative Mikhail Gershzon, alleging that its drinks contained chemical preservatives and were not preservative-free as marketed, according to USA Today Settlement Details ZOA Energy denied the allegations but has agreed to a settlement fund of $3 million, per USA Today. “ZOA denies these allegations and maintains that its labeling and marketing are truthful, accurate, and compliant with applicable law. The Court did not rule in favor of either side. The Parties agreed to settle this case to avoid the expense and risk associated with the...
Wu-Tang’s RZA is leaning into AI to accelerate his creativity across both film and music. Born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, RZA admitted during a CES 2026 panel titled “ From Concept to Reality: Creatives Using AI to Bring Big Ideas to Life,” that he views the technology as a strong creative assistant. It has provided a foundation for his work, enabling him to operate more efficiently. “Creativity is time … It could take three days to get something good with today’s technology. And with AI assistant, I could turn that three days to three hours. So even quicker,” RZA told the audience. Gemini He also shared he uses Gemini, Google’s AI assistant that can turn words into videos and create images in seconds, according to its website. While working on a film project where he wanted the characters to board the Staten Island ferry, then travel across a frozen Hudson River with RZA’s logo, RZA used Gemini to create those conditions, which would typically be difficult for productions to achieve,...
Kevin Hart has just signed a deal to give his brand a stronger global presence. According to a news release, the comedian and serial entrepreneur has entered into a strategic partnership with Authentic Brands Group, a leading sports, media, entertainment, and lifestyle intellectual property platform. This will permit Authentic Brands to co-own and manage the Hart brand and expand it into new areas across consumer products, digital channels, and live experiences, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Authentic Brands produces new products and merchandise for its portfolio brands and can license it for digital media, hospitality, and more. Authentic Brands has more than 50 brands in its portfolio, including the rights to names such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali, and Shaquille O’Neal. Additionally, it has a social media reach nearing 1 billion followers and generates $32 billion in annual systemwide retail sales worldwide. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, O’Neal, who...
50 Cent has tapped into the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) industry. 50 Cent Action His FAST channel, 50 Cent Action, debuted with Roku in 2025 before expanding to LG Channels, Deadline reports. The FAST channel is also available on Pluto TV, Prime Video, DIRECTV, Philo, and more, and includes the rapper’s curated selection of movies and TV shows. This month’s lineup will feature “Escape Plan,” “Freelancers,” “Empire State,” and “Den of Thieves,” according to the channel’s website. Photo Credit: 50 Cent Action During a CES 2026 session titled “ A Media Realignment: Streaming, The Creator Economy & Podcasts,” Tony Marlow, chief marketing officer of LG Ad Solutions, spoke about 50 Cent’s involvement in building publicity for the FAST channel. “This channel is something he feels very passionately about … He and his team were very engaged in saying, ‘We would love to come to a new front, discuss this on stage, let the advertisers know that this is a thing that they can get...
Shaquille O’Neal is making more money with his fast-food chicken chain than he did while in the NBA. NBA Career The center was drafted to the league in the first round as the first overall pick in 1992. He started out playing for the Orlando Magic and spent the majority of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, leading to three consecutive national championship rings. In total, he won four, per StatMuse. He retired in 2011 with $286.3 million in career earnings, with $30 million earned annually at his peak, according to Entrepreneur. Business Moves After The League O’Neal’s earnings have only soared after his exit from the league through a slew of strategic decisions that have paid off, including serving as the second-largest shareholder of Authentic Brand Group; having his own investment portfolio, which includes Google; accumulating endorsement deals such as with The General and The Hershey Co.; and a business empire with an affordable shoe line that has sold more than 470...
Drake has been named in a class-action lawsuit tied to the betting industry. Lawsuit Explained As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the Canadian-born rapper, born Aubrey Drake Graham, has bet more than $1 billion on Stake.us, a casino and poker website, since 2021. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Virginia by LaShawnna Ridley and Tiffany Hines — and representing other residents in the state who lost at least one wager through Stake Cash within the last three years — it claims that they were “influenced to participate” and engage in its “predatorial gambling environment,” through Drake’s promotion of the platform, which includes live-streamed gambling sessions and giveaways, according to Rolling Stone. View this post on Instagram The lawsuit also mentions as defendants Adin Ross, a popular streamer on Kick, and an Australian national named George Nguyen, who allegedly acted as a “broker and operational facilitator” and receive cryptocurrency through Stake channels. Their efforts...
Actor Mike Colter, known for portraying Luke Cage in Marvel shows like “Luke Cage” and “Jessica Jones,” has launched a haircare venture inspired by his children. While traveling in Europe with his wife, Iva, they were scouring the area for products for their daughters who have mixed-textured hair. After running into the issue time and again with no luck, one of their daughters suggested they create their own products. For Colter, the idea didn’t feel far-fetched, especially considering the expertise of his wife, whom he describes as having “business acumen” in a conversation with Forbes’ senior writer Jabari Young. Iva previously served as Netflix’s vice president of talent acquisition and is now chief people officer for the Wonder Project, according to information on her LinkedIn. “She thought, ‘Let’s try it. Let’s see first can we engineer and find the right products that we can actually stand behind that are sustainable, that are paraben-free, that are vegan , that don’t have any...