Have you ever had a situation, not necessarily personal, where you 'caught feelings' about a situation; whether good or bad? We had some discussions on trending topics for this show that may make you feel some sort of way. Facebook finally makes a virtual reality world! This year, the company announced new augmented reality features for your smartphone camera. Instead of putting on goggles, you will hold up your smartphone and watch as it overlays graphics on the world in front of you in real time. You can add sharks swimming around your morning coffee, or a virtual mug to your table to feel less alone. Add effects to a room, like dripping paintings or rain clouds, and pop-up informational boxes for products or locations. It uses precise location detection, 3D effects and object recognition to make the moving effects work. The platform was made available in a closed beta Tuesday - COOL. The Facebook killer, Steve Stephens was undone by McDonald's employees who ID'd him and made him wait a little extra time for his order so the cops could come and catch him. He ordered a 20-piece McNugget and a large fry ... but workers made it seem the fries weren't ready so they could buy time. Stephens was involved in a high-speed police chase shortly afterward, before committing suicide in his car. We’re sad to report that Carmelo Anthony and La La’s marriage has come to an end. But now some juicy details are coming out. It turns out that Carmelo Anthony allegedly got a stripper pregnant. Multiple sources say, the other woman often works at a gentlemen’s club in NYC, and we’re told she’s claiming to be 6 and a half months pregnant with Melo’s child. And we all thought that this would be one high-profile relationship that would have lasted...guess not. Gucci’s New Campaign Features Only Black Models. The line is heavily influenced by the black youth of the 60s, including England’s Northern Soul movement, the campaign, which is appropriately titled “Soul Scene,” also tips it hat to “Made You Look,” an exhibition focused on “black masculinity” and “dandyism” at London’s Photographer’s Gallery. Geraldo Rivera is accusing Kendrick Lamar of creating ‘more damage’ among Blacks. Lamar recently dropped his new album, “Damn,” on which he took a number of jabs at Fox News, including reporter, Geraldo Rivera. A broadcast in which Rivera takes issue with Lamar’s performance of “Alright” at the BET Awards in 2015 is sampled on the album’s opening track and on “DNA.” Furthermore, on “YAH,” the Cali native calls Rivera out by saying: “Fox News wanna use my name for percentage… Somebody tell Geraldo this nigga got ambition.” Catch us next week to get updated on what's hot, versus what's not.

Some things are to be. However, certain people and situations, don't have to be. In the news specifically this week, some topics of conversation were good to hear others, well? Perfect example, Donald Trump. A budget released shows Donald Trump's administration makes clear that he assigns no value to the human cost of his policy choices. Check out the show to find out specifically what all this is about! Would you like the chance to work directly with a Grammy-winning artist? Chance The Rapper is searching for a new worker to help him out. Maybe you can be the one? This was something that most certainly had, 'To Be'. Rapper Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre will reportedly reunite to induct their late friend Tupac Shakur into te Rock & Roll Hall of Fame next month. I think we all new this would be coming down the pike soon. Redman says filming for ‘How High 2’ could begin In 2018! It's been 16 years since Redman and Method Man teamed up for the stoner film, "How High". Slick Rick's track "Children's Story" is to be turned into a picture book. The rapper's 1988 classic tale of armed robbery, a police chase, hostage taking, drug abuse, and police brutality is being made into a book for Record Store Day 2017. This is one story that probably, "should NOT be"! Is Wearing Your Bonnet In Public Tacky? Or, is this a "to each her own" type of situation?? Most Black girls know how far a good bonnet can go in preserving the moisture in your hair, preserving your style and the strength of your hair as well. Sill, the assumption is the bonnets will be worn in the privacy of your own home. How you feel...we had a good discussion about this one, LOL! As a special guest host, we had in studio, rapper - Eddie Vanz. Check him out on social media @eddievanz! More to come next Wednesday from 9-10 pm - don't be late!!

We had to let our "hair down", if you would this week. We had the hilarious comedian, Honest John call in to the studio. He has made triumphant appearances on BET's Comicview, HBO’s Def Comedy Jam, and Showtime at the Apollo introduced him to fans all across the country, leading to appearances at clubs and theaters nationwide and a two year run on the Def Comedy Jam tour. He has also done many military tours in places as far away as Korea, Okinawa, and Japan. He's guest starred on The Jamie Foxx Show, The Lyricist Lounge Show, and Showtime in Harlem. He can also be seen in films like The Wash, For da Love of Money, Foolish, and other urban comedies. He is performing with Illastr8's own, Chris "The Mayor" Thomas in Berkeley, CA at the Black Repository Theatre; the oldest Black theatre in the country this Friday (3/24/17). Check him out @realhonestjohn. In studio, we had recording artist, songwriters & music producer, straight from the DMV, "Ruepratt" back in the building. After performing over 75 local and regional gigs in 2016, Rupratt begins 2017 with the release of her debut studio album "Est. 1994" on Valentine's Day. Following the release, Ruepratt will headline her very own "90's Babies Tour beginning Spring 2017. Follow up on her @ruepratt. We got more hot topics and great guests for you, each and every Wednesday from 9-10pm EST.

This week, righteousness was the common theme. Snoop Dogg takes a fake gun to a caricature of Donald Trump and shoots him in a music video. Snoop told Billboard he made the song because "Nobody's dealing with the real issue with this f****** clown as a president". The Notorious B.I.G. got his very own banner at the Barclays Center during the Brooklyn Nets' "Biggie Night" ... and Diddy, Lil Kim and Biggie's family showed up to witness the honor in person. Might wanna do Biggie Night every night ... or play the Knicks. This weekend, Jordan Peele made history by becoming the first African-American writer-director to hit a $100 million movie debut. What makes this particularly impressive is not just the fact that Peele did all this with a relatively unknown cast and a movie budget of just $4 million but also the fact that horror movies generally bank most of their money on the opening weekend. But Get Out seems to be enduring, continuing to beat projections after a $34 million opening weekend, $10 million more than what projections anticipated. ‘Get Out’ Star Daniel Kaluuya Responds To Samuel L. Jackson’s Comments About Black British Actors. During an interview with How 97, Samuel L. Jackson was critical of Hollywood for turning to Black British actors for roles in American movies. Reality TV star Blac Chyna is to launch her own line of doll figurines. In response to the video, bosses at My3DNA, a company which uses scanners and 3D printers to create dolls in their clients’ image, confirmed they had been collaborating with Chyna since last August. Chyna reportedly had a shoot last week to try out different looks for the dolls, which will come in around six to eight different versions and will reportedly retail at around $75. Also in studio, we had a very righteousness group from Silver Spring, MD's own Dem Minor Boyz. Check them out on Instagram and Twitter at @DemMinorBoyz. We'll be back before you know it, stay tuned!

International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. International Women's Day (IWD) has been observed since in the early 1900's - a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. In saying so, we had impromptu topics of conversation that discussed women's achievements...and possibly failures. Nike will soon begin selling a performance hijab for Muslim women athletes. The design process took 13 months, and the final product will be available for sale in the company's Spring 2018 season. Nike said the hijab is already being worn by Emirati figure skater Zahra Lari. Fantasia Barrino suffered 2nd degree burns to her arm when she knocked over a vaporizer in her sleep. She was dozing on her tour bus Sunday with an aromatherapy vaporizer nearby. She uses it to soothe her vocal cords. We're told she thinks she rolled over onto the machine's cord, which caused hot water to spill out on her right forearm. Tameka “Tiny” Harris is venturing into new territory with her latest business endeavor. On Thursday, the singer announced that she is the now the owner of the Atlanta Heirs, a gender-mixed basketball team. The newly formed team is a part of the Global Mixed Gender Basketball league. During a visit to Atlanta radio station V-103, original Xscape members Kandi Burruss, Tameka “Tiny” Cottle and Tamika Scott dropped the bombshell that fans have been waiting decades for…the group is officially reuniting with all four original members! Lead singer LaTocha Scott was out of town and couldn’t be present during the in-studio interview, but she joined in the announcement via phone. Delta pilots First Officer Dawn Cook and Capt. Stephanie Johnson ended Black History Month and brought in Women’s History Month on the right foot—or should we say the right flight—when they made history for Delta. The women became the first African-American women to make up the cockpit crew on one of Delta’s “mainline” flights. The special guest for the show was Rapper originally from Milwakee, WI - "Gee Wiiz." Check him out everywhere at @gee_wiiz and at www.geewiizdom.com.

In this weeks news, we spotlighted some events that were definitely instances of interest. Also, certain stories where surprises on things some of us had been waiting to see happen. For instance, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday aimed at signaling his commitment to historically black colleges and universities, saying that those schools will be "an absolute priority for this White House. Some people where waiting and wanting Trump to step to the plate on these sorts of issues. On a bitter, yet sweet occasion, at the 89th Academy Awards, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway pulled a Steve Harvey -- announcing "La La Land" won Best Picture, when it was really supposed to go to "Moonlight" ... and the fallout was hysterical. The crew talked on different points of view on both of these subjects. Veteran R&B group, "TLC" is finally releasing a new album funded by Kickstarter of $430,000. This is two years after fans helped them reach a funding goal online. The albums has an expected release date of summer 2017. Congrats to them! We've always enjoyed there music and hoped they would make a big return. You wouldn't believe that the black BMW rapper Tupac was riding in when he was shot in 1996 in Las Vegas, is up for auction. The vehicle, which ​was sold off shortly after Tupac died on September 13th, is being offered up for 1.5 million. Wow, I'm not sure if I would want a vehicle like that, due to the circumstances around what happen. Hear what the crew had to say about this one! This was most certainly a meeting of the minds, LOL. Everyone has heard of the "ShETHER" diss track that rapper Remy Ma goes in on Nicki Minaj over iconic rapper Nas' classic track "Ether." We had lots of different points of view on this one. You have to make this determination for yourself on who won and where it may go from here?? We also had a very insightful discussion as the segment topic on African-American's being hypocritical of each other and how that influences the culture and ultimately prison turnover for some. You know where to come back to every Wednesday from 9-10 pm!

Time is of the essence. Keeping this in mind, some situations, time just catches up with up. For example, O.J. Simpson, the man who allegedly did you know what, could be getting out of prison this year. Simpson has been locked up in Nevada since 2008 after he was convicted of 12 charges stemming from a sting operation he orchestrated to retrieve memorabilia that he claimed was stolen from him. In order to be considered for parole, an inmate must have between zero and two points based on 11 factors. Simpson is currently sitting at a favorable zero to two points which makes him a candidate for early release. Simpson turns 70 in July. For this instance, time served well. Barack Obama is ranked 12th Best President of all time C-SPAN gathered a group of historians to rank all of the Presidents. Barak Obama landed just outside of the top 10 which was occupied by Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Harry S. Truman, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Baines Johnson with Woodrow Wilson coming in at 11th. The parent company of the Burger King and Tim Horton‘s food chains are in motion to purchase the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen food chain. Restaurant Brands International Inc. will pay $1.8 billion. The inevitable REALLY happened with this situation, Chris Brown has been ordered to stay clear of ex-GF Karrueche Tran, after she filed legal docs saying he vowed to kill her and he's beaten her up before. This lead to our segment topic involving domestic violence. The crew had an in-depth conversation that you must check out! Also, the Original Hip-Hop Chef, Tye Atkins, gave us the "Menu of the Month - Future's Chicken Wings". Check the menu out on our social media @illastr8_radio. Check back with us same time same station!

​Big change is inevitable. For instance, there's a new Black pop culture trivia game, "Say It Loud". The game features questions that span decades of music, movies, television shows and literature with clues ranging from obvious to obscure. The five categories, S = Music, A = Books, Literature, the Arts, Y = Television, I = Movies, T = People, Places, and Things. Check out what the game is about from the crew. Was racism why Adele beat Beyoncé at the Grammys? Even Adele thinks Beyoncé "Lemonade" won for best urban contemporary album. Her hit "Formation" won for best music video. There have actually been a few artists of color who have won album of the year during that time period: "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" in 199; Carlos Santana's "Supernatural" won the following year; "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" by Outkast took home the Grammy in 2004 and Ray Charles won posthumously in 2005 for "Genius Love Company". Finally, a black contestant will be handing out the roses - multiple sources say Rachel Lindsay will be the next 'Bachelorette'. Rachel Lindsay, a Texas attorney, marks the first time a black contestant will be the lead in 21 'Bachelor' seasons and 12 'Bacherlorette' seasons. Unprecedented Proposed Law Provides African Americans Reparations and Opportunities to Better Their Lives. The Legislation will help descendants of American Slaves, many of whom live in poor, underserved, and high crime areas in the United States. The benefits are not handouts, and differ from other historical reparations, such as those given to Japanese citizens entered during WW II and Native Americans. Those claiming benefits must be 40% descendants of slaves, and born in the United States. Spanning the 19 years between 1989 and 2008, BET's Rap City was the longest running hip-hop TV show in history. It helped rap grow from urban shout to suburban obsession in the late Eighties, documented the initial reigns of Los Angeles and Atlanta in the Nineties and, most famously, helped make freestyling fashionable in the image-conscious society. To represent this, we had in studio BET Rap City Hosts (1989-93) Hans "Prime" Dobson and Prince Dajour (1991-94). You HAVE to check this interview out to get the oral history from the pioneers!

Trey Songz is latest celebrity to bring his search for "love" to a TV network. The R&B crooner, aka Tremaine Aldon Neverson, aka Mr. Steal Your Girl, is the center of VH1's new reality series "Tremaine the Playboy." Hosted by Draya Michelel and Steelo Brim, the show features 17 ladies competing for the singer's heart. The Trap House vs. the White House: Why Black America Needed the Flacons to Win. The New England Patriots are racist-adjacent. Their owner and quarterback kick it with the racist-in-chief, who not only openly opposes anything not white and male but openly loves the New England Patriots. The crew had a great conversation on why the Super Bowl ended the way it did. On the heels of the success of BET’s New Edition miniseries, The New Edition Story, it looks like its parent company, Viacom, sees that R&B biopics are the way to go when it comes to ratings. According to Jodeci member Mr. Dalvin, a Jodeci biopic is in the works and will air on BET’s sister network VH1. The series is going into production at the end of the month, with an end-of-the-year air date. There’s no word yet on who’ll star in the series. RushCard, the prepaid debit card company founded by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, is being bought by rival Green Dot for $147 million. Green Dot said Monday it will buy UniRush, the parent company of RushCard as well as the Rapid! payroll debit card. Simmons started RushCard in 2003 as one of the first prepaid cards to focus on minority customers and charge lower-than-average fees. In studio, we had Dr. Gybrilla Ballard-Blakes, who discussed her new book, "Give Your Parents a Standing Ovation." Come check Dr. Blakes book signing out in-person February 15th 2017 from 8-10pm - 1522 Rhode Island Ave, NE ,Washington DC.

This weeks updates, had us celebrating on one hand. On the other however, we had to shake our head and wonder...WHY! First the head shaking update; non other than our President, Donald J. Trump. Americans are sharply divided over President Donald Trump's order to temporarily block U.S. entry for all refuges and citizens of seven Muslim countries. This is most certainly a travesty and we should really look at how this rolls out - thoughts?? We finally have the first look at the "Ocean's 8" cast. The pic shows Rihanna along with fellow cast members Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Helena-Bonham Carter and Awkwafina in a subway car. Ocean's 8 hits theaters on June 8, 2018. Oprah Winfrey may have walked away from her own successful television show long ago, but she has not left television behind. CBS has announced that Winfrey will join the long-running news program “60 Minutes” as a new special contributor. Winfrey will join “60 Minutes” this fall. BET’s The New Edition Story resonated with viewers across generations, bringing in a reported average of four million viewers each night of the three-part mini-series. Day one fans, as well as newer ones, got a front row seat to the Boston crooners’ struggles with drugs, royalties, and fights from the studio to the stage. One of the most shocking revelations was Ricky Bell’s struggle with cocaine due to Bobby Brown’s battle with drugs and alcohol being the most publicized. The biopic had our eyes glued to the screen during the drama-filled and heart-tugging moments, but it also spawned some questions about other things that happened during the group’s three decades in the business. Here are five questions that went unanswered during The New Edition Story. What do you think? At this point #BlackGirlMagic and Serena Williams have become synonymous. Williams continued to motivate many while making history. The 35-year-old played against her sister Venus Williams at the Australian Open final on Saturday (Jan. 28) and won, landing her a historic 23rd Grand Slam title. Congrats to her! Check back with us next week for the same great entertainment you get every week.