Sponsored by

In today’s issue we discuss if Taylor Swift got Kanye West kicked out of the Super Bowl, Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre are launching their ‘Gin & Juice’ Cocktails, OpenAI invests in Norwegian robot maker 1X’s Eve humanoid robot, American Pie’s Stifler is selling his Venice Beach home, and Bitcoin is now a $1 trillion dollar asset class of its own. 

YouTube

Disney & Epic Games Are Building The Most Magical Place In Fortnite

Business

I know what I’ll be sippin’ on this Summer.

From the legendary minds of Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre, they’ve come together to create and launch ‘Gin & Juice’ Cocktails, a play on Snoop Dogg’s 1994 hit song "Gin and Juice" that Dr. Dre produced.

The launch is timed to coincide with the anniversary of three decades since the West Coast duo's Grammy-nominated anthem first came out.

Their new Gin & Juice line comes in four flavors: apricot, citrus, melon and passion fruit.

Love me some passion fruit!

Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre aren’t the first musical artists to dip their toes in the spirits industry. That list is long and distinguished, and includes:

• Bruno Mars: SelvaRey Rum

• Blake Shelton: Smithworks Hard Seltzer Lemonade

• Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs: Cîroc

• Nick Jonas: Villa One Tequila

• Ciara: Ten to One Rum

• Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter: D’usse Cognac

• Luke Bryan: Two Lane Lager

Dr. Dre’s longtime partner Jimmy Iovine joined the party as an investor in the new spirits venture.

Dr. Dre recently said in a statement “Together, we always try to create magic. We’re having fun being creative, and everything about this product is really us. There’s passion behind it, and friendship and love and a culture. We’re shooting to make everything we do magnificent, and fortunately, most of the time we hit the target.”

Not to be outspoken Snoop Dogg added “Look where we’re at in our careers. Look at our age and look at what we’ve done, and we still love each other, so why not do something together? A lot of times people have been in a relationship for 30 years and can’t talk to each other, can’t hang out, so it’s just fun to be in a partnership with people that you actually love.”

This isn’t the first, or even second venture into the packaged goods industry for Snoop Dogg. He has his own line of ice cream in partnership with Happi Co., called Dr. Bombay Ice Cream. They recently launched a new flavor called Fo’ Shizzle Almond Fudge sold exclusively at Albertsons grocery stores.

You can’t even make this up.

When Snoop Dogg’s Dr. Bombay Ice Cream first debuted in July of 2023 with their “Free ya mind, find ya flava” brand launch launch they came out with six signature flavors including Bonus Track Brownie, Iced Out Orange Cream, Rollin’ In the Dough, S’more Vibes, Syrupy Waffle Sundaze and Tropical Sherbet Swizzle.

Looks like I’m going to need to find my closest Albertsons grocery stores and pick me up some Syrupy Waffle Sundaze!

Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre Reunite to Launch ‘Gin & Juice’ Cocktails

Tech

It looks like Tesla’s Optimus Bots aren’t the only AI robot game in town.

Now OpenAI has invested in their own humanoid looking robots that they are calling Eve, made by Norwegian robot maker 1X.

Catchy name.

OpenAI initially invested in 1X in a $25 million dollar Series A funding round in 2023, then invested in the company’s follow up Series Be $100 million dollar funding round. That’s how serious OpenAI about humanity’s robotic future that features their own AI at the controls.

1X's humanoid robot Eve looks almost cute compared to Tesla’s Optimus Bot, and it doesn’t even have feet yet, instead it rolls around on wheels for the time being. They do have a new version called Neo (what’s with the Matrix reference?) coming out that has legs in the near future.

The point of 1X’s humanoid robots is to handle simple, repetitive tasks like picking something up and moving it over there, or asking it to go find something and bring it back. I know that sounds like it’s setting the bar pretty low, but if they can handle that then it opens up a whole array of manual labor jobs in warehouses that robots could handle a lot easier than humans.

I know it's been said before, but we are literally seeing the beginnings of the AI robot revolution begin before our very eyes.

The question is will these new humanoid robots help humanity, or replace it?

OpenAI's Eve humanoids make impressive progress in autonomous work

Entertainment

Did Taylor Swift Get Kanye West Kicked Out Of The Super Bowl?

That’s the reporting/rumor that’s going around. So we thought we’d shed a little light on how we got here, and why it’s a big deal.

It turns out Kanye West showed up at the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 4, 2024 with tickets he bought for he and his Kim Kardashian look-alike wife named Bianca Censori just in front of the suite that Travis Kelce bought for his family, friends, and girlfriend Taylor Swift and her family and friends.

Kanye-being-Kanye had supposedly hatched a diabolical, self serving, egotistical plan to sit in front of Taylor Swift so everytime the cameras cut to her he would be on TV.

Genius plan, right?

Nope!

You see, apparently Kanye West showed up wearing a full face covering, a vintage Alexander McQueen mask from the designer’s Fall 1996 “Dante” collection, but with a special added piece of flair from Kanye West himself - a three-dimensional white crucifix between his eyes.

I’ll pause while you try to make sense of that last sentence.

Don’t even try to understand what Kanye West might have been thinking. There’s not enough time in the world to waste trying to figure that out.

Best guess is that Kanye West was somehow trying to honor the late Alexander McQueen, with Sunday, February 4, 2024 marking the 14th anniversary of the epic fashion designer’s death.

We won’t get into all the ways that Kanye West could have chosen to honor someone he looked up to. 

We’ll just stick to the facts that Kanye West showed up to the Super Bowl, wearing a full face mask with a three-dimensional white crucifix between his eyes, and sat in front of the suite that Taylor Swift was sitting in, hoping to get shown on TV to get attention in what turned out to be the most watched Super Bowl of all time, with 123.4 million people tuning in to watch the Kansas City Chief come back in the 2nd half and beat the San Francisco 49ers.

But this isn’t the first time there’s been drama between Taylor Swift and Kanye West.

To really understand the psychological mess that is Kanye West we need to go back in time to a simpler time when Kayne West was at the top of his game, and Taylor Swift was just starting her rise to mega-stardom.

Let me set the scene for you. It was September 13, 2009 and people from all walks of life including musicians, artists, athletes and the press were gathered together at Radio City Music Hall in New York City to watch the MTV Video Music Awards.

Taylor Swift had been nominated for Best Female Video for her song "You Belong with Me", along with a who’s who of amazing female artists including Beyoncé for her song "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", Kelly Clarkson for "My Life Would Suck Without You", Lady Gaga for "Poker Face", Katy Perry for "Hot n Cold", and Pink for "So What".

And you already know who won the award.

As Taylor Swift got up on stage to accept her moon man award for Best Female Video for her song "You Belong with Me", she began her acceptance speech when Kanye West jumped on stage, took the microphone and interrupted Taylor Swift to say:

"Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!"

That interruption would go down in history as the beginning of the feud between Taylor Swift and Kanye West.

Think about how egotistical Kanye West came off as when a man who had no business being on stage said “I’ma let you finish.”

Let Taylor Swift finish? As if Kanye West had the power to let a female artist, who had just won an award for Best Female Video, finish her own acceptance speech! 

Oh man, nothing gets more upset than thinking about that line!

After this whole thing went down, in an interview Taylor Swift told reporters:

"I was standing on stage and I was really excited because I'd just won the award and then I was really excited because Kanye West was on stage … And then I wasn't excited anymore after that."

You see, this is how an intelligent, mature, woman handles business when a man-child like Kanye West disrespects a female artist all so he can get more attention from his temper tantrum.

A day later on the September 14, 2009 edition of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Kanye West addressed why he interrupted Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards, saying:

"I immediately knew in the situation that it was wrong and it was a spectacle." 

Later on the show Ellen, Kanye West said he interrupted Taylor Swift out of a mixture of "sincerity and alcohol", and said "It's actually someone's emotions that I stepped on. It was very, it was rude, period. I'd like to be able to apologize to her in person."

On September 15, 2009 Taylor Swift revealed in an interview with ABC Radio that Kanye West actually called her to apologize saying:

"Kanye did call me and he was very sincere in his apology, and I accepted that apology." 

She went on to say "The support I got from other artists and from the fans, and so many people sticking up for me, that's what got me to the place where I could accept that apology. And I'm just very thankful that everyone showed me so much love."

Now that’s how a strong woman handles business. She rose above the drama with Kanye, and began putting the bizarre episode behind her.

Years later, on June 16, 2013 Kanye West began shooting his mouth off again and said he took back his apology to Taylor Swift, saying to the New York Times:

"I don't have one regret. If anyone's reading this waiting for some type of full-on, flat apology for anything, they should just stop reading right now. I have, as a human being, fallen to peer pressure."

So it was at this point that we knew Kanye West’s apology to Taylor Swift wasn’t genuine, and was probably the product and work of his Public Relations team. 

I guess that just goes to show what kind of a “man” Kanye West was; that he couldn’t even sincerely recognize the hurt he caused Taylor Swift, and even the damage he did to his own career in that moment.

Now fast forward 15 years, and Taylor Swift is at the Super Bowl with her friends and family to watch her boyfriend, Tight End for the Kansas City Chiefs Travis Kelce, play football.

In walks Kanye West, with a black mask that has a three-dimensional white crucifix between his eyes, and sits down in front of Taylor Swift - a woman who he has disrespected repeatedly over the years.

Full stop.

Who does that?

To reiterate, it isn’t known the exact reason that Kanye West was asked to leave the Super Bowl, but what is known is the fact that he and his wife Bianca Censori left the Super Bowl early.

Strange story, but sadly I wasn’t even surprised when I read about it. It seems like just another day of drama for Kanye West these days.

Taylor Swift May Have Had Kanye West Removed From The Super Bowl, Says Former NFL Player

Looking for visuals and charts, rather than words, to understand the daily news?

We explain the latest business, finance, and tech news with visuals and data. 📊

All in one free newsletter that takes < 5 minutes to read. 🗞

Save time and become more informed today.👇

Click here to sign up for free.

Real Estate

Is American Pie’s Stifler selling his Venice Beach home?

That’s the word in the world of high-priced California real estate.

Seann William Scott, as he’s known IRL, has listed his custom-built Venice Beach compound for $5 million dollars.

The property actually comes with not one, but two homes on it, hence the “compound” comment.

There’s a 1,300 square foot bungalow in the front, then there’s a glass-and-steel house behind it. Combined the two homes have five bedrooms, six bathrooms, and 4,600 square feet of living space.

Seann William Scott first bought the property in 2017, when he relocated from New York to LA, for $2.2 million with a plan of flipping the property for a profit, but then he fell in love with the home and the Venice Beach vibes.

It turns out is a bit of a design nerd, which makes sense since he’s married to Olivia Scott, who’s an interior designer, and partnered with him on the project.

He revealed the renovation took six years to complete due to the complexity of combining the two buildings after tearing the bungalow down to studs and remodeling it from the ground up.

What’s next for Mr. & Mrs. Stifler?

Possibly seller’s regret.

When asked about selling the home and handing the keys over to new owners, Seann William Scott said “This place is so cool, and I love Venice so much. Am I making a mistake selling it?”

Classic Stifler.

Seann William Scott Is Selling His Custom-Built Venice Compound for $5M

Crypto

There’s a reordering of the world’s financial asset classes, and Bitcoin is leading the way.

With Bitcoin’s recent price appreciation above the $50,000 mark in the last week, the crypto currency has again regained its $1 trillion dollar market cap for the first time in over two years.

As of this issue Bitcoin is trading at just over $52,000 per Bitcoin, which is off its lows of $16,655 set back in November of 2022, but not quite close enough for me to its high of $69,000 set in November of 2021.

Bitcoin’s surge in price in 2024 can be attributed to the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January of 2024, and the growing success of these investment vehicles as investors embrace the new asset class that they previously didn’t have easy access to.

There’s been a huge influx of capital into these newly approved spot Bitcoin ETFs. An estimated $9.5 billion dollars of new money has entered the Bitcoin market since the spot Bitcoin ETFs began trading on January 11, 2024.

Bitcoin had rallied 157% in 2023, and is up another 21% since this recent rally began in January of 2024.

As an OG Bitcoin investor and crypto connoisseur I’m excited that more investors now have access to the leading cryptocurrency in this now $1 trillion dollar asset class.

Bitcoin regains $1 trillion market cap as the cryptocurrency hits over two-year high

Have you ever thought “I have a strong opinion and I love to write - I should start my own newsletter!”? Well there’s no better time than today to sign up with beehiiv and get started.

I spent months evaluating over a dozen newsletter providers, and none of them came close to offering the features and functionality of beehiiv. I was looking for a newsletter platform that has a clean user interface, was easy to edit and publish, would empower me to promote and grow my newsletter, and provide me with opportunities to monetize my newsletter and start making money. Beehiiv checks all those boxes, so for me it was a no brainer!

 Sign up for a free account with beehiiv and launch your own newsletter!

So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris