Joy Reid said the GOP is using Nicki Minaj to put "blackface on MAGA" during appearance on Don Lemon show, launching racially-charged criticism of the rapper's Trump alignment.

Rap star Nicki Minaj is celebrated by a human rights lawyer for using her platform to bring attention to the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

A group of more than 200 high-profile musicians have signed an open letter calling for protections against the predatory use of artificial intelligence that mimics human artists' likenesses, voices and sound. The signatories span musical genres and eras, ranging from A-list stars such as Billie Eilish, J Balvin and Nicki Minaj to Rock and Roll Hall of Famers like Stevie Wonder and REM. The estates of Frank Sinatra and Bob Marley are also signatories. The letter, which was issued by the Artist Rights Alliance advocacy group, makes the broad demand that technology companies pledge not to develop AI tools that undermine or replace human songwriters and artists. "This assault on human creativity must be stopped. We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists' voices and likenesses, violate creators' rights, and destroy the music ecosystem," the letter states.

There's a new era of social self-expression and mobile entertainment happening, enabled by always-on cameras, real-time computer vision, social media, and other tech. Several of these phenomena -- from emoji to stickers to filters to cultural memes -- emerged in Asia or were popularized in messaging apps there before they made their way into global products. Well, livestreaming is currently exploding in China. And while it's been around in the U.S. for years in various forms, it hasn't really taken off at mainstream scale… yet. So what can we learn as livestreaming evolves in China (and perhaps here too)?