“As incomprehensible as it is, it appears that Hugo has no idea which compositions or sound recordings he supposedly authored," Pharrell's new dismissal motion says

Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo on Aug. 20, 2003 in New York City.

Pharrell Williams is pushing to dismiss the lawsuit from his Neptunes partner Chad Hugo, arguing that after three years and three versions of the complaint, Hugo still hasn’t clearly identified a copyright claim that belongs in federal court.

In a new filing obtained by Rolling Stone, Williams and his lawyers say Hugo named no specific songs in his original complaint, identifying only the album No One Ever Really Dies. An amended complaint later listed eight songs that were not on that album, but Hugo dropped all eight from a second amended complaint filed last month. The latest version of the lawsuit identifies only EarthGang’s “U Gotta,” but it doesn’t say whether Hugo is claiming rights in the musical composition, the sound recording, or both, the filing argues.

“The [second amended complaint] is so vague and ambiguous with respect to the copyrights placed at issue that defendants cannot reasonably prepare a response,” the new motion argues. “As incomprehensible as it is, it appears that Hugo has no idea which compositions or sound recordings he supposedly authored — even though he claims to have been there, right by defendants’ side, the whole time.”

Williams is asking the court to dismiss the entire lawsuit, arguing that without a viable federal copyright claim, Hugo’s state-law claims for breach of fiduciary duty and an incomplete accounting should also be dismissed, leaving him to pursue those claims separately in state court if he chooses. The eight songs Hugo previously identified and later dropped were Rosalía’s “Motomami” and “La Combi Versace”; “Cash In Cash Out”; “Love Is Not Written”; “Pure”; “Real One,” featuring Latto; and “Lost and Found” and “Freestyle,” both featuring Tyler, the Creator.

Hugo’s lawyer did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment on Wednesday. The court has not yet ruled on the dismissal motion or set a possible hearing.

In the lawsuit, Hugo says he and Pharrell co-founded the Neptunes and the musical group N.E.R.D., and made them into the “most influential musical forces of their generation, whose innovative, genre-blending sound helped shape modern hip-hop, R&B, and pop music.” Hugo says he contributed to the groups’ output as a writer, producer, arranger, and performer.v

“Although Defendant Williams often received greater public visibility, plaintiff’s contributions as a founding creative partner, co-writer, producer, and co-founder of both The Neptunes and N.E.R.D. were indispensable to the commercial value, goodwill, and brand recognition associated with these ventures,” his second amended complaint states.

The latest complaint still identifies the album No One Ever Really Dies, alleging that Hugo is owed damages that could exceed $1 million from that project alone. It notes that the album debuted at Number 10 on the Billboard charts and has generated millions of streams.

Jack White, Donald Trump.

Following U.S. President Donald Trump‘s suggestion that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego during a rally speech Monday night in Nebraska, musician Jack White posted a message for Trump supporters living in the regions.

“Hey republicans and conservatives that live in L.A. and San Diego; how do you feel about your Fuhrer recommending that the cities you live in get attacked?” White wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “Let me take a wild guess: it was a joke, owning the libs, insert cult rhetoric here, etc. The allegiance these people have to this corrupt felon is so laughable and ignorant.”

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Trump’s remarks garnered swift backlash from leaders of the blue state that has been a target of his administration. During his Nebraska speech, Trump insisted that soaring costs are “a small price to pay” to ensure Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon. He added, “They could take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay.”

The president’s Rapid Response X account responded to the fierce criticism the next morning and claimed Trump “was saying the U.S. is fighting to STOP Iran from having the ability to take out LA and San Diego with a nuclear weapon — which they would if they had the chance.”

In White’s post, however, the singer said that Trump had “recommended that two major cities in our country be bombed because they don’t give total allegiance to his ego.” He continued, “False flag incoming anyone? Just wait till next month when he begins enacting illegal measures to not allow democracy at the polls to prevail when the right lose badly in the mid term elections. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Worst American of All Time.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was among the wave of lawmakers emphasizing that Trump’s words during the campaign rally were to be taken seriously. “After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California, Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego,” wrote Newsom. “He is deranged and dangerous.”

Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff, 2025.

Apparently there’s a whole lot more to the “Fresh Prince” Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff‘s origin story than maxin’, relaxin’ all cool, and shootin’ some B-ball outside of the school. The duo are working together again now on a scripted series, 215, that will dramatize their struggle to break out of West Philadelphia to perform hip-hop on the world stage.

The show, of course, is set in West Philly in the late Eighties. “It follows a quick-witted teenage rapper, the DJ who is his musical other half, and the friends who helped fuel the dream,” the official synopsis says. “Together they chase a record deal, money and a way out as the city’s hip-hop scene takes off. Along the way they deal with label meetings, hometown loyalty, sudden fame and the friendships that hold them together, or almost don’t.”

The show is being developed by Smith’s Westbrook Studios and investors the Malar Group. “Westbrook has always been focused on developing stories with strong characters, distinctive worlds and a clear point of view,” Terence Carter, Westbrook’s president of television, said in a statement. “215 is especially meaningful to us because it draws from the rise of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince and celebrates Philadelphia during such a defining era in the city’s late-Eighties/early-Nineties hip-hop scene.”

DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince released their debut single, “Girls Ain’t Nothing but Trouble,” in 1986, and their first album, Rock the House a few months later in 1987. Their second album, 1988’s He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper, was certified triple platinum thanks to “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and “A Nightmare on My Street.” The duo released three more hit albums, the last of which, Code Red, came out in 1993, long after Smith became a megastar thanks to the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which debuted in 1990.

Even after Smith became a movie star and released his own hit records, the pair remained friends and have reunited sporadically, the most recent for an appearance during the Grammys’ “Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop” in 2023.

Future in "Build a Bitch" video.

Future dons a welding mask and fires up power tools in his new video for “Build a Bitch,” which appears on his latest album, The Real Me.

In the Cole Bennett-directed visual, Future appears in an aluminum-walled room in the black-and-white clip. As he sings the beatless ballad and sparks fly, he creates an animatronic endoskeleton, which later joins him to harmonize on the chorus.

As far as what the rapper is building into his creation, it’s a “Whole lot of self-esteem/yeah, whole lot of potential/Whole lot of confidence and a rose-gold presidential/whole lot of loving on her/Whole lotta fire in her soul,” as he details in the song.

The clip ends on a cliffhanger with the words “TO BE CONTINUED” on the screen and the sound of more tools in the background.

In a behind-the-scenes video for “Build a Bitch,” Bennett reveals it was shot in Miami. Future comments that they haven’t shot a video together since they were with Juice WRLD seven years ago, likely referring to “No Issue” from Future and Juice WRLD’s collaborative album WRLD on Drugs. “This is for Juice,” Future says before they roll.

Singer FKA Twigs

FKA Twigs has been freed from an “unlawful” NDA that her ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf tried to secretly enforce after claiming the singer violated the terms of their 2025 settlement agreement, according to court papers obtained by Rolling Stone.

In court documents filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles on Tuesday, the Grammy-winning singer, born Tahliah Barnett, notified the court that she’d be withdrawing her March complaint against LaBeouf after he agreed to terminate and void the NDA.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, the singer’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, praised her bravery in fighting the agreement that would have barred her from speaking about her experience and her work with domestic violence groups. “Twigs stood up for something larger than herself: female survivors of sexual abuse,” Rosengart said. “This victory frees her to discuss her experience, advocate for other women who might be less privileged, and support the charitable causes of her choice.”

Barnett first sued LaBeouf in 2020, accusing him of sexual battery, assault, and mental abuse that played out over the course of their one-year relationship between 2018 and 2019. The two settled in July 2025, but months later LaBeouf allegedly tried to extract an “exorbitant” sum of money in a “secret arbitration complaint” over an interview Barnett gave to The Hollywood Reporter that October.

Responding to a question about whether she felt “a sense of safety” by settling her lawsuit and putting the LaBeouf chapter behind her, Barnett answered candidly. “No, I wouldn’t say I feel safe,” she said. “I feel really passionate about being involved with organizations such as Sistah Space and No More, to help survivors in any way that I can. I think it’s less about me at this point and more about looking forward. Just, you know, moving on with my life.”

LaBeouf then turned around and used that “laudable, generic, and benign” statement to claim that Barnett had violated the settlement agreement’s NDA provisions, Barnett’s lawsuit claimed.

Under California’s Stand Together Against Non-Disclosure Act (“STAND Act”), NDAs that “attempt to prevent and chill victims of sexual abuse from speaking about the facts related to their suffering” are forbidden.

“This resolution, together with Mr. LaBeouf’s dismissal of the arbitration he commenced against Ms. Barnett on December 19, 2025, seeking money from her based on her statements to The Hollywood Reporter, means that Ms. Barnett is now free to discuss her own experience and to speak about and support the charitable and other causes of her choosing without fear of reprisal,” according to the court filing.

Justin Timberlake performing in 2002, during the era of peak beatbox.

Over the past few years, Justin Timberlake has done a lot of apologizing and taking accountability. The pop star hasn’t had the smoothest mid-career run, whether he’s solemnly copping to new indiscretions, or confronting old ones. Social media, after all, has a way of resurfacing old, embarrassing incidents just when you think everyone’s forgotten. Like the content creator Hannah Young, who shed fresh light on one of the more problematic patterns from the early days of Timberlake’s career: incessant beatboxing.

On Monday, Young shared a video about Timberlake’s penchant for spitting “boots and cats,” and the audience’s questionable willingness to just go along with it. “Nobody said, ‘Justin, you know, we have drums? This is a professional recording studio. There are instruments available to you,’” Young deadpanned. “But, no. Justin Timberlake wanted to make space noises with his mouth.”

Well, it turns out Timberlake himself was listening and learning. In the comments to Young’s post, he admitted, “I often look back on that time as well. I still haven’t come up with any answers. I don’t know how to apologize enough for whatever those ambitions were. Too many boots. Too many cats.”

Timberlake even went so far as to seek forgiveness. But not without reminding everyone that humans are flawed, complicated creatures who, despite best intentions, sometimes act against their own self-interest and the well-being of others.

“I can’t promise I won’t do it again,” Timberlake solemnly wrote. “God help us all.”

Beatboxing was indeed a huge part of Timberlake’s shtick during the final days of ‘NSync and the beginning of his blockbuster solo career. (And it goes without saying this is very much part of a larger discussion about the pop star’s long, complicated relationship with, use of, and profiting off of Black culture and music.) Timberlake’s beatboxing featured on ’NSync’s 2001 single “Pop,” and he and producer Timbaland incorporated it liberally on solo songs like “Cry Me a River.”

But if you really want the full unhinged, uncut Timberlake beatboxing experience, check out the “Justin’s Beat Box” segment from ’NSync’s 2000 concert film, Live from Madison Square Garden. Harrowing stuff. And that’s before we even talk about the outfit.

While it’s great to see Timberlake reckoning with this distressing period, credit to Young for not letting everyone else off the hook so easy. “We liked it,” she pointedly notes. “That’s what I need us to sit with. We were watching that man make drum noises with his mouth. Like, ‘Oh my god, what can’t he do?’”