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Day 1 of the ESSENCE + New Voices Entrepreneur Summit kicked off with a host of conversations that included inspiring stories about unforgettable moments along the journey’s of successful entrepreneurs that helped better their approach along the way.

Among those who took the Summit’s main stage was none other than Grammy-winning super-producer, entrepreneur and proud Atlanta native, Jermaine Dupri. Joined by ESSENCE Unbossed podcast host Marquita Harris, Dupri closed out the opening day of the inaugural event with a layered discussion that included a funny story about a studio session with Aretha Franklin that taught him an important career lesson.

Check out the video above to hear how the Queen of Soul helped JD tighten up his game and be sure to head back to ESSENCE.com for more of everything you missed on Day 1of the ESSENCE + New Voices Entrepreneur Summit and Target Holiday Market.

The post Watch: Jermaine Dupri Talks About The Studio Session With Aretha Franklin That Made Him Step His Game Up appeared first on Essence.

Source: OLIVIER DOULIERY / Getty

The 41-member House Judiciary Committee is currently taking up the next step of the impeachment process against Trump, deliberating in a marathon session spanning over the course of two days on Wednesday and Thursday.

Committee members are hotly debating Trump and accusations that he asked a foreign entity of Ukraine officials, to investigate his political opponent, Joe Biden, the former Vice President, and his son Hunter Biden.

Earlier this week chairs from six major House committees gathered with Nancy Pelosi and announced the process would move to vote on two impeachment articles against Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Judiciary Committee members must first vote to approve the two articles, which will then be passed to the Senate for a trial to determine if Trump is guilty of the charges. Senate members will also have the authority to remove Trump from office if he is found guilty.

So far during Wednesday and Thursday’s deliberations, there have been four votes according to NBC News: “One to eliminate the first article on abuse of power, a second to strike a reference to former Vice President Joe Biden, a third to note the aid withheld from Ukraine was eventually released and a fourth to strike entire second amendment on obstruction of Congress.”

Committee members engaged in contentious exchanges, hot takes and debates on a variety of topics, split down partisan lines. Most Republicans argued that the Biden’s should be susceptible to inquires regarding Hunter Biden’s tenure as a board member on one of Ukraine’s largest oil companies, and also tried to downplay whether or not Trump’s acts threatened national security measures.

Democrats remained firm that “no one is above the law,” and continued to steer the conversation back to on course the articles of impeachment. At one point, House Committee Ranking Member Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) walked out of the meeting after an angry tirade.

Here’s what Twitter is saying as House Judiciary Committee members seem well on their way to burning the midnight oil.

We are just a few days from the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the final installment in the Skywalker saga. It feels like only yesterday they announced a sequel trilogy, and now here we are “at the end of all things.” (Oops, wrong epic fantasy series.) As The Rise of Skywalker draws closer, Disney and Lucasfilm are treating fans to special behind-the-scenes videos from the making of the final installment. And a cool new featurette delivers some never-before-seen footage from the grand finale.

Lucasfilm

On Thursday, the folks at Screen Crush discovered Amazon’s exclusive new behind-the-scenes look into The Rise of Skywalker. It’s pretty easy to unlock access to this new featurette via Amazon’s website as well as through Fire TV: Either type #TheRiseofSkywalker into the search bar on Amazon.com, or simply say “Alexa, the Force will be with you always” into your voice remote on a Fire TV device.

Lucasfilm 

Although much of the footage in the video is stuff we’ve seen, combined with nostalgic looks at the original trilogy, there is new and fun stuff to discover. For starters, there’s a moment sure to bring a tear to the eye of anyone who has been a longtime fan of the saga. We watch Anthony Daniels’ Threepio tell his little buddy Artoo “I want you to know that you have been a real friend, Artoo. My best one in fact.” I don’t think there will be a dry eye in the house when that moment happens in the theater. I got teary just watching that brief little clip!

Anthony Daniels has more experience saying goodbye to his character than anyone else in the entire saga. He said his first goodbye to everyone’s favorite protocol droid back in 1983 when Return of the Jedi wrapped filming. He did it once again when Revenge of the Sith stopped rolling back in 2005. The Rise of Skywalker marks the third time that Daniels has had to make his final goodbyes to the saga. When George Lucas first envisioned his series as a nine-part epic, he always saw the story as told through the eyes of the droids. Daniels’ portrayal helped make that notion a reality. Only Daniels has been there for all of it – even in Clone Wars, Rogue One and in Solo.

Lucasfilm

Another cool moment we see here is Leia handing Rey her lightsaber. This further implies that Rey will be trained in the ways of the Force by Leia herself in at least some parts of the movie. Which also means that her Jedi training under her brother Luke got further along than anyone had previously guessed. Will we learn what finally drove Leia away from the ways of the Jedi? Suffice it to say there’s much to ponder until the final episode finally hits theaters next week.

Images: Lucasfilm

The post New THE RISE OF SKYWALKER Footage Reunites C-3PO and R2-D2 appeared first on Nerdist.

According to the NBA, there is a new professional league The Basketball Africa League (BAL), which will feature 12 teams from across Africa and scheduled to begin playing in March 2020. This past week they held the first BAL Combine in Brooklyn, New York.

The two-day scouting event featured 50 aspiring players from across Africa, the United States, and other parts of the world. The BAL Combine took place last week at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Training Center, the Brooklyn Nets official practice facility, in Brooklyn, New York.

Each of the 12 teams that are playing in the upcoming inaugural season of the BAL will have up to 16 players (12 active and four inactive), at minimum, eight of the players will be citizens of their teams’ home country and up to four can be from other countries, with no more than two players per team from outside of Africa.

“Our goal is to establish the Basketball Africa League as a destination for top players with U.S. college, G League and international experience,” said BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall. “Our first BAL Combine will provide teams with the opportunity to evaluate a deeper pool of talent as they fortify their rosters ahead of our first season, which tips off in four months.”

Related: Patrick Rishe Thinks The NBA Should Cut Schedule to 68 Games

The first BAL regular season is scheduled to take place in Cairo (Egypt), Dakar (Senegal), Lagos (Nigeria), Luanda (Angola), Rabat (Morocco) and Monastir (Tunisia). The first BAL Finals will be held in Kigali (Rwanda). NIKE and Jordan Brand will be the exclusive on-court outfitter of the new professional league.

The NBA and FIBA have plans to provide financial support and resources toward the development of Africa’s basketball ecosystem, including training for players, coaches and referees, and an investment toward the infrastructure.

The announcement about the NBA and FIBA’s launch of the BAL, which marks the NBA’s first collaboration with a league outside of North America, was initially made at the NBA All-Star 2019 Africa Luncheon in Charlotte on Saturday, Feb. 16.