Despite the chaotic week, Ed Sheeran said his Linc stop was ‘the best show’ he has ever had

Ed Sheeran took the stage in South Philadelphia on Saturday night for the first time since the British singer-songwriter became the unwitting center of international political debate.

“This week has been the worst of my life, and today has been the weirdest,” Sheeran said to the sizable crowd to begin his performance at Lincoln Financial Field.

Rapper Macklemore was fired as the opener of Sheeran’s “Loop Tour” last week after he performed his 2024 protest song “Hind’s Hall,” about pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University while showing footage of the war in Gaza and repeatedly shouting “Free Palestine.”

Macklemore’s dismissal from the tour led to outcry among some, who saw it as the quashing of free speech. Other opening acts subsequently left the tour in protest, including Sheeran’s backing band.

With pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the Linc before the show, and the backlash that grew over the week, it seemed the weight of the world was on Sheeran’s shoulders.

He began the show solo, stepping onto an empty stage at 8:14 p.m. and delivered a speech seemingly read off a teleprompter, at one point getting emotional, saying he never wanted to be a political artist. He opened his set addressing the controversy.

“I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I am so, so sorry,” he told the crowd.

He directly addressed the war in Gaza saying, “What happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7 was horrific, and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate. My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and the loss of civilians’ lives. Children’s lives.”

He also said that his show had to be altered because of the events of the previous week — including his stage setup and backing band. Later in the three-hour set, he admitted that Macklemore’s exit from the tour led to a lost connection with longtime friends, many of whom urged him to cancel his tour. The new band and the broader audience on Saturday encouraged him to go on, he said.

Throughout the night, the sympathetic audience cheered and shouted “We love you, Ed” when Sheeran reaffirmed his intention to make music that unifies fans of differing creeds and political views. The crowd ranged from young children to gray-haired fans, each appearing to have their own distinct relationship to the songs sprawled across Sheeran’s catalog.

Sheeran may not consider himself a political artist, but the blowback from last week’s events largely altered his stage show.

“I hope you enjoyed my supporting acts,” he jokingly said to the amused audience. Of course, there were no supporting acts after the likes of Aaron Rowe, Finneas, Lukas Graham, and his backing band, Beoga, quit in solidarity with Macklemore.

Sheeran said that he removed a secondary stage that had been a part of his other concert stops, fearing retribution from the audience. “I took the B stage out because I was afraid of what would happen if I stood in the middle, and I will admit that,” he said.

But that change was unwarranted in South Philadelphia, as the outside pressures had little effect on the crowd, who danced in the aisles and aimed their cell phone cameras at Sheeran throughout the night.

He also introduced his new backup band, consisting of a drummer, guitarist, bass player, keyboardist, and violinist, who came on board on three days’ notice, knowing “the world may hate them” for performing along his side. The band impressed with its sharp performances of “Galway Girl” and “Nancy Mulligan.”

In a show that was marked by inconsistency, the musical star glided through his catalog of hits with an acoustic guitar and a series of loop pedals at his feet. As he sang hits like “The A Team” and “Castle on the Hill,” Sheeran layered his vocals and percussions, creating a live arrangement of synchronized sounds and stacked melodies.

The experience, with pyrotechnics and vibrant graphics displayed on a background screen, was akin to attending what felt like an open-air studio session. Though the clashing of unregulated sounds on songs like “Take It Back” occasionally drowned out his lyrics.

Sheeran’s pensive demeanor at the top of the show soon grew to comfort, as he rattled off jokes and peppered the crowd with stories linked to his songs.

Sheeran seamlessly transitioned from jubilant, up-tempo records like “Sapphire” and “Galway Girl” to emotional tracks such as “Eyes Closed.”

But the stories Sheeran shared of his first cheesesteak experience in Philadelphia back in 2012 and the past heartaches that led to songs like “Old Phone” often spiraled into disconnected tangents that pulled audiences out of an already lengthy concert experience.

“This is where we can congregate, and we all have differing opinions, but then we all come together for one night and agree on the same thing. And I think it’s a wonderful thing,” he said.

After what started as a week like no other Sheeran has faced in his music career, he said Saturday was “the best show [I’ve] ever had.”

Point Breeze’s Keith Haring mural is designated as a historical place

Keith Haring’s famed 1987 mural We the Youth, the artist’s only collaborative mural that still stands in its original location, is now an officially designated historical place.

At a public meeting on Friday, the Philadelphia Historical Commission voted unanimously to add the Point Breeze mural, on a rowhouse at 22nd and Ellsworth Streets, to the city’s Register of Historic Places.

With this designation, the building’s owner, listed as “2147 Ellsworth LLC” in city records, will not be allowed to remove or alter the appearance of the mural without the Historic Commission’s review.

It’s the fifth mural in Philadelphia to be an officially designated and protected landmark, and only the first outdoor mural to be so.

The other designated murals are The Dream Garden inside the Curtis Center, the New Deal-era murals inside the Family Court building, the frescoed ceiling at Old City’s St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church, and Iron Plantation Near Southwark inside the Southwark Station Post Office in South Philly.

“To finally see the community here stand for the recognition of this unique piece of collaborative work is particularly meaningful,” Simon Castets, executive director of the Keith Haring Foundation, said after the decision, citing Haring’s connection to Philadelphia and the foundation’s mission to preserve the artist’s local works.

Haring, a native of Reading, was one of the defining artists of the 20th century and known for his bold drawings and colorful graffiti-style paintings. He died in 1990, at age 31, due to AIDS-related complications.

In 1987, Haring and a group of 14 Philly and New York students collaborated on We the Youth to commemorate the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.

The mural features vibrant figures dancing across the facade of a three-bedroom rowhouse. In 2013, Mural Arts Philadelphia undertook a massive restoration of the mural, located on a shared wall at 2147 and 2149 Ellsworth Streets.

Friday’s decision comes after months of advocacy from the Haring Foundation, Mural Arts, and the Neighborhood Gardens Trust, which collectively oversee the mural’s upkeep.

The three parties have pushed for the mural’s historical protection because of the mural’s artistic and cultural significance to Point Breeze.

“This is an amazing moment, and I’m so proud of our city,” Mural Arts founder and former CEO Jane Golden said. Ahead of the vote, she said, “I thought, ‘Philly, you have to come through.’ And the city did. It was beautiful. It underscores why public art matters.”

The meeting largely drew support from Point Breeze residents and other community members, including those wearing shirts with Haring’s signature figurines.

However, prior to the vote, attorney Sean Whalen, who represents 2147 Ellsworth LLC, spoke out against the designation, citing the extensive preservation efforts needed to maintain the mural in its current state and location. He said he supported a “methodology that is feasible.” But under the bounds of this designation, these efforts, he said, are not “logistically capable.”

Whalen and Ori Feibush, the property manager at 2147 Ellsworth LLC, pointed to the structural infirmities of the wall on which the mural is placed, saying the mural has delaminated from the underlying salmon brick.

“We are not talking about a wall that is failing. We are talking about a failed wall,” Whalen said.

Feibush shared a video showing the back of the mural that he recorded last week with a scope camera. As a result of a poor “stucco and plaster connection,” he said, there are gaps between the mural and its support wall.

“There is absolutely no portion of the mural that is attached to the plaster in the brick wall. It is 100% freestanding,” said Feibush who, with Whalen, suggested the removal and reinstallation of the mural as the best step forward.

Throughout the hour-and-a-half-long discussion, commissioners Zachary Frankel, Emily Cooperman, Robert Thomas, and others agreed that the damage to the mural and shared party wall is common among decades-old properties and that there are viable options for preservation.

“There are many possibilities,” Cooperman said regarding the next steps in the mural’s preservation.

Current Mural Arts executive director Emily Mello said she and others will work diligently with community partners to ensure this newly designated historical marker and piece of Haring’s legacy remains a “cultural memory” that never fades.

“It may take a lot of resources,” Mello said. But the advocacy of the community members who are most impacted by the mural will anchor this initiative.

“That’s our greatest resource.”

– The Philadelphia Inquirer

A Penn State inventor brought the world’s first double Dutch machine to Philly

At 8 years old, Tahira Reid Smith drew the one thing she wished she owned: A double Dutch machine in never-ending motion.

As an only child growing up in the Bronx, Reid Smith dreamed of enabling someone to endlessly enjoy the the high-intensity jump-roping game.

“Jumping double Dutch is like being a part of a club,” Reid Smith said. “It’s culture. It’s a part of our history. It’s part of our heritage.”

For her school’s drawing competition, the then-third grader sketched two poles with three push buttons, and a girl jumping in the middle. Her drawing won first place in the competition, but decades later, she brought the invention she dreamed of as a child to life.

Nearly 40 years after submitting her class drawing, the mechanical engineer and Pennsylvania State University professor showcased a prototype of the world’s first automated double Dutch machine in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Reid Smith traveled from State College to bring the prototype of Jump Dreams to Awbury Park for Double Dutch Day, a community event led by Philly Girls Jump.

“It was important to be here,” Reid Smith said. “I love Philly Girls Jump’s mission, and what they are doing.”

It was another class project that rekindled her interest in double Dutch. While she was studying at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1997, her late professor Burt Swersey, who served with her as co-inventor of the machine, tasked her with a design class assignment that focused on sports and recreational activities.

It was then she thought about the double Dutch machine for the first time since making the sketch. After a long development, she has a prototype.

At Double Dutch Day, hundreds of participants, ranging vastly in age and skill, met at Awbury Park’s tennis courts to jump rope, dance, and enjoy local vendors.

Others stopped by Reid Smith’s booth to try out the app-controlled double Dutch machine.

Swan Fleming said, after a friend pointed her to the machine, “Well, I have to try it out.”

Fleming, who traveled from Atlanta to attend Saturday’s event, said the ropes moved a bit slower than she was accustomed to. But within seconds, she adjusted to the synchronized arms that whipped the beaded rope in motion.

“I think it’s great because sometimes it’s hard to find a good turner,” Fleming said. “And turners really matter. I think it’s awesome that this was so invented.”

Sarina Hudson, who jumped in to experience the mechanized double Dutch for herself, said it requires added skill to get comfortable.

“[The experience] was different,” the North Philly native said. “I’m used to turners who can adjust, but you had to adjust yourself.”

Hudson said she could see the invention being inside people’s homes, including her own.

“I want to see if I can buy it,” she said.

While the machine is not for sale, Reid Smith said the goal of having participants like Hudson and Fleming try out Jump Dreams was to get feedback for future iterations of the machine that could become widely available.

Among the current design’s challenges is the use of double-handed arms, which can lead to off-rhythm turns.

Reid Smith said a new version of her evolving invention, which she first constructed in 2000, will be easier to use for jumpers of varying skill. Not just experienced double Dutch athletes.

“The next design iteration is going to work out the kinks that we learned, and all the imperfections,” Reid Smith said. “The next iteration will make it so novices can do this.”

She’s hoping to launch the new design as part of a larger marketing push under her company Jump Dreams Inc. by February 2027.

Reid Smith said the aim is to place the double Dutch machine in schools, recreational facilities, and youth development centers. But she’s not ruling out other possibilities.

For now, she’s continuing to build up her early access list, expand her professional network, and market the forthcoming product at events like Double Dutch Day.

– The Philadelphia Inquirer

Years before her Emmy-winning TV career, Quinta Brunson was inspired by a FOX 29 meteorologist

If West Philly native Quinta Brunson never became an Emmy-winning actor, writer, and TV producer, chances are she would still be a recognizable name and a much beloved face on the small screen.

During Tuesday’s appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark, the creator and star of Abbott Elementary said her childhood dream was to follow the footsteps of longtime Fox 29 meteorologist Sue Serio.

“I did see myself becoming someone on screen. I wanted to become a weather person. There was a weather person in Philadelphia I loved, named Sue Serio. I thought she was the bee’s knees,” Brunson said.

South Jersey’s own Kelly Ripa, cohost of the long-running ABC talk show and Camden County native, instantly recognized Serio.

“You know she’s like a legend,” Brunson said, “and I wanted to be her.”

Since joining the Fox 29 News team as a weather anchor in 1997, Serio has been a fixture on Philadelphia TV screens. For decades, she has endured blizzards, thunderstorms, and the wild winds at the Jersey Shore to deliver weather reports.

Inside the studio, Serio has shared the green screen with famous actors to local children, supporting various nonprofits and going on to inspire a young Brunson.

“Imagine my surprise when I found out that the amazing Quinta Brunson — that’s right, the creator and star of [Abbott Elementary] shouted my out this morning on [Live with Kelly and Mark] !!!!! Thank you for the kind words [Quinta Brunson]. I would love to meet you next time you’re in Philly," Serio wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday.

Recognizing Brunson’s dream to be a “weather person,” Ripa and her husband and cohost Mark Consuelos directed the show’s producers to pull down a weather map for Brunson to flex her meteorology muscles.

Brunson then walked over to the digital screen, and leaned into her extraordinary sketch and improv skills. Within seconds, she transformed into a veteran meteorologist — broadcast voice, transitional phrases, and all.

“So, today in New York you might want to grab a jacket at 9 a.m. It’s going to be a little bit chilly. But don’t worry, at 3 p.m. it’s getting all the way up to 52,” she said, “But don’t get too excited though because at 7 p.m. it’s going to drop to 48. And you know what that means — You’re going to want to put that jacket back on.”

“At 9 p.m., you should be in, watching the playoffs so you don’t have to worry about it being cold. That’s the weather,” Brunson said at the end of her bit.

Along with displaying her weather anchor chops, Brunson also hinted at the season finale episode of Abbott Elementary‘s fifth season that airs on Wednesday night. The school’s teachers end up going on a trip to Florida, where they are informed that a new superintendent plans to shut down the school.

As for season six, Brunson said she hoped to shoot at Philly institutions that are particularly important to her. Her hope is to film inside Independence Hall or City Hall, but she said the chances may be slim.

“I feel like legally we shouldn’t be allowed to shoot there,” she said.

No harm in trying, we say. And there’s always the Fox 29 green screen if that doesn’t work out.

– The Philadelphia Inquirer

Tired of X, rapper Meek Mill now has a LinkedIn account. We tried to find out why.

We’re not the only ones updating our LinkedIn profiles, scrolling through workaversary posts, and flying through “easy-apply” applications.

Last week, Grammy-nominated artist Meek Mill joined LinkedIn, and has already shaken up things on the world’s largest professional networking platform.

The “Dreams and Nightmares” rapper and North Philly native said he’s done with the saturation of AI bots, deepfake slop, and “gossip people” on X.

“We basically in a deep matrix trapped between Instagram, x …, TikTok, snap, etc. we have millions of fans, we can’t even get real data on them, that’s where the bots live, free to control narrative,” Meek tweeted.

So, he decided to join … LinkedIn?

That’s a surprise and perhaps bit of a disappointment for anyone who has followed his unhinged and unintentionally hilarious tweets, including his memorable rap beefs with the likes of Cassidy, Wale, and Drake. But the Dream Chaser Records CEO said he’s ready to showcase his “true potential.”

And he thinks LinkedIn is the perfect platform to do that.

“For too long, others have spoken on my behalf, but now I am taking the reins and speaking for myself, supported by a strong team,” Meek wrote in his first LinkedIn post, last week. “I will be posting more content and business ideas to demonstrate the strength of the brand and my process.”

In his bio, the rapper wrote he’s “looking to build out and make business connections that’s aligned with meek mill, dream chasers & bikelife brand.” He added that he’s looking to connect with criminal justice reform advocates, and that he’s “nice at creating tech ideas.”

From the looks of it, those connections are already happening.

Since joining the platform, the rapper, born Robert Rihmeek Williams, has made posts looking to explore business partnerships and collaborations with music labels, AI programmers, and video game developers.

Meek’s recent foray into LinkedIn, and his calls for business collabs and partnerships, comes months after he announced his musical independence and broke away from recording labels.

In a June 2025 appearance on Philly-based content creator Raud‘s stream, Meek talked about only receiving 13% of his earnings for the first 13 years of his career. Now, as an independent artist, he said he’s getting 100% but keeping an open mind about future partnerships.

“I’m about to do something else, something they’ve never seen before. I’ll talk about it when we do it,” he said during the stream.

Maybe that explains the LinkedIn pivot.

He is the cofounder of the nonprofit Reform Alliance, which launched in January 2019. Through it, Meek has advocated for legislation and policy changes around parole and probation laws. The inspiration, as he explained in a LinkedIn post, was the wrongful conviction of a childhood friend who, according to Meek, was sentenced to 20-40 years for a crime he never committed, and was released only three years ago.

Meek also expressed an interest in making a documentary, building a clothing brand, and establishing his own beverage company.

LinkedIn users have commented on his posts.

“Very inspiring Mr Mill, I have followed your career rather closely and look forward to seeing your impact on the platform. I strongly believe you can certainly make a difference in the community and strengthen the culture,” one LinkedIn user wrote.

“I’ll automate your whole business for you Meek give me a dm,” another user commented.

He has replied with a “let’s work” to several of these comments, but clarified on Monday, “Please ensure you have a proven track record.”

Seemingly, Mill’s not the only artist to have made the jump to LinkedIn. Last week, a profile claiming to be Claire Boucher, the birth name of Canadian singer-songwriter Grimes, also appeared on the platform.

Even on the new platform, Meek hasn’t abandoned his old social media ways of bringing folks to task.

In a Sunday post, he called out an unnamed group in Albany, N.Y. who he claims has mounted “a noticeable smear campaign against my name.” But, he insisted, he wants to “focus on the positive. I am eager to collaborate with tech and marketing companies to elevate my brand to new heights.”

As Meek gets used to the lay of the land on LinkedIn, he hasn’t forgotten his X account.

On Saturday, he wrote a post on X describing the connections he’s made on LinkedIn before issuing a caveat: “... I don’t want the gossip people to follow me to LinkedIn just business...”

Meek’s plans include everything from a documentary chronicling the DVD era, to implementing AI courses in public schools and underserved communities, to finding a “long term meek mill supporter” who’s invested in a future tech startup.

He even added a music collaboration with J. Cole to his wish-list.

“I need j Cole on my project wassup bro let’s get it in the studio!!!!!,” he wrote.

Meek said he’s been using AI platforms like Claude to organize his music and business verticals, all thanks to “some tech youngbull” he met on LinkedIn who gave him a template to use.

“It’s moving my business forward at a high rate!” he explained on X.

Beyond his calls for partnership, Meek also hinted at a possible project this summer. And that nothing, not even “algorithms,” are going to “stop the soul” in his music from reaching his listeners, he said.

– The Philadelphia Inquirer

Justin Nagtalon aka El Toro, a beloved sticker artist and muralist, has died at 43

If you walk around Philly, there’s a high chance you’ve been smiled at by a Filipino water buffalo drawn on an USPS sticker label; be it in the back room of the South Street bar Tattooed Mom, on a newsstand on 15th and Walnut Streets, or stuck on street signs, buildings, cement barricades, and lamp posts around the city.

The buffalo and its creator are named El Toro, the pseudonym used by sticker artist Justin Nagtalon, who passed away at the age of 43 on March 7. The cause, confirmed by the family, was a heart attack.

Through a career that spanned more than 20 years, Nagtalon left a trail of multi-colored stickers across Philadelphia. With street artist Bob Will Reign, Nagtalon’s iterations of the two-legged buffalo brought the New York City and Western European culture of sticker art to Philly’s street corners.

In 2021, he shed his pseudonym and went from drawing on postage labels to turning the walls of restaurants like Baby’s Kusina + Market, Manong, and Tabachoy into his canvas. He also created the logo for WHYY’s Art Outside podcast series, and was commissioned to create an official game day poster for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2025.

His art inspired a generation of street artists to create sticker art and slap them onto surfaces all over Philly, “My heart hurts,” Nagtalon’s mother Jennifer wrote to The Inquirer in a text message. “[He was] such a loving husband ... a loving brother to his big sister and to his younger brother. A fun uncle to his nephews and nieces. Most of all, a very sweet and loving son to me.”

The joyous buffalo he created two decades ago was reflective of the artist himself, a man who is remembered for his radiant smile, vast imagination, and playful personality.

As a child growing up in in Quezon City, Philippines, Nagtalon spent days scribbling in his black moleskin notebook. By the time he was 7, he filled pages with hand-drawn images, using markers he stole from his older sister, Jamille Nagtalon-Ramos.

“Whenever I would attend one of his shows, I used to joke with him and say, ‘OK, you did good. I’m not mad at you for stealing my markers anymore,’” said Nagtalon-Ramos.

When Nagtalon was 10, he, with the rest of his family, moved from the Philippines to join their mother in Paterson, N.J., where she was recruited to fulfill a nurse shortage. Nagtalon’s father worked for the Bureau of Fisheries.

While the move was a significant cultural shift, Nagtalon found comfort in watching 1980s cartoons such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, ThunderCats, and The Simpsons, and reading comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes.

Those early interests inspired the friendly alter ego, El Toro, later in Nagtalon’s life.

“All of my core interests are because of my brother,” Jethro David “JD” Nagtalon, Justin Nagtalon’s brother, said. “He’s the one that influenced me with cartoons, anime, and certain art that I like. He got me into skateboarding, too. We both skateboarded, badly. But we skateboarded badly together.”

While his sister followed his mother’s career footsteps, Nagtalon opted for a career in the arts. In 2001, he enrolled at the former Art Institute of Philadelphia to study graphic designing.

In a 2020 interview with Streets Dept, Nagtalon said he developed an interest in graffiti while growing up in New Jersey. He started writing graffiti in college, but soon focused his attention on sticker art after discovering the fast-rising European scene in the early days of the Internet.

“He found his medium. He just wanted to spread love and happiness and positivity through the world,” JD Nagtalon said.

Before landing on El Toro, which was inspired by Carabao, a swamp-type water buffalo native to the Philippines, Nagtalon told Streets Dept that his stickers featured “weirder characters.” He even considered adopting a “poop monster” before settling on the cartoon water buffalo.

“Every time I saw one, I felt like I was a kid again,” said Conrad Benner, the founder and editor of the art blog Streets Dept and a friend to Nagtalon.

‘You were naturally happy to be around him’

By the time they met at the Art Institute, long-time friend Andrew Witter said Nagtalon’s artistic ambitions were in full bloom.

Witter recalled the two of them listening to MF Doom and playing Need for Speed: Underground on the Playstation 2. As early as 2003, Witter recalled, Nagtalon was putting up stickers throughout the city, Witter said.

“It was the path he wanted to take, and he never stopped,” he said.

Witter and fellow sticker artist Dana Williams watched as El Toro went from being one of Nagtalon’s many doodles, to a recognizable symbol of a burgeoning street art movement in Philadelphia. .

Williams called Nagtalon the “bigger visionary.”

“He saw the forest for the trees, as they say,” he said.

With frequent collaborator Bob Will Reign, Nagtalon forged connections with local gallerists, and soon drew the attention of early art sites such as Robots Will Kill (RWK).

ChrisRWK, who launched the site to spotlight underground artists, said Nagtalon and Bob “revolutionized the sticker scene” in Philadelphia.

Nagtalon worked anonymously for most of his arts career and collaborated with early sticker artists like Ticky 33, Underwater Pirates, and Noségo. He also played a significant role in transforming Tattooed Mom into an epicenter for street art. Not only by contributing his own work, but by connecting owner Robert Perry to other artists.

Nagtalon, ChrisRWK said, “was always smiling, and he had a positive feeling or attitude to any situation. You were naturally happy to be around him.”

‘I’m no longer afraid of who I am’

Nagtalon met his wife Amanda Benson outside of Good Dog Bar in 2007. Benson said he flashed an “adorable smile,” which made her walk toward him.

And “that’s when [Nagtalon] said he panicked,” she joked.

The two bonded over their love for vinyl toys, pop-surrealist artwork, and First Friday events in Old City. A year before they met, Benson had attended an art show that featured the work of El Toro. On their first date, she noticed his tattoo and asked if he was the man behind El Toro. He said yes with no hesitation.

Five years later, in 2012, they were married at the Valley Green Inn along the Wissahickon Creek. The couple then took a cross-country roadtrip and moved to Los Angeles.

There, Benson said, Nagtalon drew El Toro nearly every day.

Benson and Nagtalon moved back to Philly in February 2021 to be closer to friends and family.

Upon his return, Nagtalon decided to shed his anonymity and reveal his true identity.

He initially hesitated, fearing his “illegal” graffiti practices would result in an arrest, but he wanted a more formidable presence in the city’s street art scene. He also wanted his nieces and nephews to be proud of the legacy he had carved out.

“I’m no longer afraid of who I am. And I think that’s it’s such a big leap to connect, and also to understand my art more,” Nagtalon said in a 2023 interview on WHYY’s Art Outside. “I think bridging that gap before wasn’t important. But now it is. And I think I have a lot more things to say because of it.”

While they didn’t have children of their own, Benson said her late husband loved kids, and spoiled his nieces and nephews.

Nagtalon’s nephew Leo Ramos, 21, said he and his sister Leilani looked forward to playing video games, riding bikes, and baking cookies with their Uncle Justin on all the holidays.

“You didn’t really think about those moments that we had growing up in the moment,” said Leilani, 19. “And then when you realize that person is gone, those memories suddenly flood back into your mind. And for me, they were all very sweet and vivid memories.”

It was Leo who rushed to his uncle’s home in Philadelphia on March 7, after receiving an emergency call from his mother. Nagtalon was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a heart attack.

Nagtalon-Ramos said her brother’s death, and the call she made to her son Leo, were eerily similar to the one she received from Nagtalon when their father died at age 44, also from a heart attack.

“I’m really going to miss his youthfulness,” Nagtalon-Ramos said. “I’m going to miss his interactions with my children. I’m going to miss that playful side of him. And I’ll really miss how he interacted with the world.”

JD said he’s going to miss their hilarious phone calls, shared Instagram posts, and the time they spent with one another.

“He was the happiest and most living person I ever met,” he said.

With Nagtalon’s passing, Bob Will Reign said he had lost his “partner in crime.”

He plans to continue posting stickers across Philly’s street corners as a way to carry on his friend’s legacy, both as El Toro and the kind-hearted soul he first met more than 20 years ago.

Dozens of Philadelphia street artists took to social media to post Nagtalon’s stickers, past El Toro collabs, and their photos with the beloved sticker artist. Others have made their own renditions of Nagtalon’s iconic character to honor him and his work.

“It’s been incredible to see the outpouring of grief, but also the support that’s been in his direction,” Benson said. “I just want to thank the people who have reached out. I’m so grateful for it.”

El Toro sightings on her walks, Benson said, will always remind her of the “joyful, playful, and hilarious” man she fell in love with nearly 20 years ago.

No public memorial is planned at this time. A Meal Train to support Benson was started by Nagtalon’s friends.

– The Philadelphia Inquirer

Jalen Hurts doesn’t have much time to meet his Drexel look-alike

For years, Jalen Hurts’ face has been on TV screens and Philadelphia billboards. His unshakable cool and dashing good looks have drawn brand deals and a growing base of admirers.

But off TV and beyond the billboards, if you’ve spotted “Hurts” at a Sansom Street dive or on Drexel’s campus in recent years, chances are you ran into Drexel lacrosse midfielder Ronnie Gunter, the Minnesota native who recently went viral for his close resemblance of the two-time Pro Bowler.

In an Instagram video shared by user wooder_ice on Tuesday, Gunter, 22, is seen being approached by 16 people who mistake him for the NFC Championship-winning QB. The video, originally posted by Gunter’s girlfriend, Emma Carpenter, amassed over 160,000 views on Instagram as of Wednesday morning.

Gunter has drawn Hurts comparisons since his sophomore year at Drexel. And while the stares and photo requests can be annoying at times, he has playfully welcomed the attention.

Their shared likeness, however, does not just stop at the goatee and 6-foot-1 frame. Gunter, who played his last lacrosse game for Drexel in May, has some NFL connections too. His cousin David Boston and uncle Michael Gunter played in the league, and another uncle, Byron Boston, was an NFL referee.

We talked to Gunter about going viral, juggling Vikings and Eagles fandom, and his desire to meet Hurts in person for a Spider-Man meme moment.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

First things first, do you think you look like Jalen Hurts?

I can see where the comparison comes from, especially when I put our pictures side by side. But personally, I feel like we look different enough from each other. But some people are fully convinced I’m him. Like we’re actually twins, it’s crazy.

Since you grew up as a Minnesota Vikings fan, was it weird getting compared to the Eagles star?

When I was graduating high school, my friends and family said, “You better not be an Eagles fan.” But it grows on you, especially when your home team is losing. It’s hard not to be a part of [the Eagles fandom].

I fell in love with the Eagles the first time I stepped into the city. I get the “Nobody likes us, we don’t care.” And I think Philly will always be a part of me when I eventually move on.

Did you think the video would go as viral?

I thought about it. I was waiting for someone to repost it and say, “Oh my god, Jalen Hurts was just here,” just because so many people have come up to me and told me, “Has anyone ever said you look like Jalen Hurts?”

My girlfriend was like, “I want to make a video of this,” and I was like, “Sounds good.” She made the video and posted it, and we both thought it would go decently viral. But not as much as it did. But here we are.

How do you feel about the comparisons?

I think it’s funny. And I mean, he’s not a bad guy to be compared to. He’s one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, so I appreciate it. It’s an awesome comparison to be mistaken for that guy. I think it’s awesome.

Has anybody asked you to sign an autograph?

No, never an autograph. There’s been multiple instances where I’ve taken pictures with people. Some of them will do it just to fake out their friends, or other people actually believe that I am him. When I hang out with friends, I get it so much that by the end of the night I just play into it like, “Yep, I’m him.” It’s pretty funny because so many random people come up to me and I can finish their sentences for them.

Does it ever get annoying?

Sometimes it can get a little annoying, but other than that it’s pretty awesome. Especially being in Philly, everyone thinks Jalen Hurts is [at] wherever they’re hanging out. You can see people do double takes, then confirm with their friends and then realize, “Why would Jalen Hurts be anywhere I am right now?” I have always had a good spirit about it, and I don’t ever think it will get old. It’s still awesome because he’s such an inspirational person to get compared to.

I want to manifest you both meeting. It’ll be like the Spider-Man meme.

Me too. I’ve been getting compared to him since roughly the end of my sophomore year. I have gotten nowhere close to meeting him. I’m graduating next week and heading back to Minnesota. [So] I have like a week and a half to meet this guy, so hopefully we can get a side by side next to each other sometime soon.

You’re not going to act like the Drake look-a-likes who walk around wearing OVO hoodies, are you?

No, no, no. I’m going to obviously do me. I get some comments where people are like, “He’s trying to even dress like Jalen Hurts.” No, that’s just how I dress. I’m just out here trying to have a good time.

– The Philadelphia Inquirer

Keke Palmer Gets Raw On 'Just Keke': How The Multi-Hyphenate Reclaimed Her Narrative & Entered Her "Awareness Era"

Keke Palmer has made the evolution from child star to Hollywood empress look seamless. Whether it’s on set of a blockbuster movie, along the red carpet, or in the podcasting space, the actress, author, and entertainment mogul has remained the same Keke she’s always been.

For more than two decades, Palmer has been steadfast in her pursuits and intentional with her public image. She’s taken on bigger and more mature roles as an actress and launched KeyTV, a Los Angeles-based digital network that produces scripted and non-scripted shows starring other industry talents. As she’s expanded her horizons and ping-ponged from one big budget project to the next, she hasn't taken her sights off music.

Palmer has continuously poured into her music career. Beginning with 2007’s So Uncool to her newest release, Just Keke, the pop and R&B singer has gradually found her artistic footing. With the release of her latest album, Palmer has  shed the immeasurable weight of perfection that she carried for so long on her shoulders. 

Palmer has effectively abandoned the charismatic Hollywood persona reflected in her TV and movie roles and hilarious viral quips. Rather than disguise her anger, confliction, or heartbreak harbored since her last project, 2023's Big Boss, Palmer shed her previous "mask" in exchange for a mirror. Just Keke reflects the most authentic parts of Palmer's Hollywood star and Lauren, the girl from Harvey, Illinois who’s outgrown the small talk, lingering hangovers, and romantic drama. 

Released on June 20, Just Keke is Palmer’s rawest musical project to date. The album, and accompanying visual album, explores Palmer’s family life, her journey as a new mother, and her very public breakup. Throughout the album, she addresses her contentious split with Darius Jackson, and how her seconds-long dance with Usher at his Las Vegas residency in July 2023 placed an irreparable wedge between them. Rather than address it on social media, Palmer was compelled to put it to wax. 

Along with the pain of heartbreak, Palmer swats down the rumors and misconceptions that circulate online, and illuminates how motherhood and her recent experiences have made her an even firmer protector and believer in her future aspirations. GRAMMY.com spoke to the multihyphenate about her musical journey, how her role in an upcoming Boots Riley movie inspired her to get back into the studio, Issa Rae’s advice to go "Off Script," the honor of being memed, and her hopes to take her son, Leo, on tour for the album. 

The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Between movies, TV shows and your podcast, how do you have time for music, especially a new album?

The conversation always leads you, meaning I don’t always have something to say for an album. I feel like in order to put an album out, you have to have a topic. A lot of the other things I do are collaborative projects, so it’s somebody else's words or it’s a role, or even hosting is just a curiosity of life. 

But with [Just Keke], it’s like me putting all of my thoughts together — everything that I feel like I’ve learned or I want to reflect from society. It really guides me. Once I feel that feeling, then I make the time to put that project together. Otherwise, I kind of allow myself to keep living until that itch comes back. 

You even recorded Just Keke while filming a new film. What was that balancing act like?

It was something I needed because, as I said, that itch came back. I was working on this project for a while, and I was working on [the Boots Riley film, I Love Boosters]. I think being in that energy I was like, I think I’m ready. I should start trying to get my words out. 

Every night after I was on set, or on the weekend before I went back to start my week, Tayla Parx and Ispent about four days working on the project. And it just gave me that break that I needed. Sometimes when I’m doing one thing for a long time — whether it be a TV show, a movie, or my podcast — I need to mix it up. I needed to do something different, and it happened to be music. I was also ready to tell my story for this time period of my life. 

It’s been two years since Big Boss. How was your approach different this go around?

Well, I think I'm a way different person, and my conversation is different with myself. People say this is my most personal album, and I agree. Not because I was being fake on the other ones, but because anytime that you are deeper with yourself, it just changes the way you speak and communicate with others. It’s like a lived experience that just evolved me in a way that I didn’t even know I could evolve to. It just opened up a different perspective for me that you hear in the music.

This album was a peeling back of the layers and showing the world an insight into the life of Keke the entertainer, and Lauren the person. Were there any moments you thought might have been a bit too close to the chest?

Yes, and that’s the reason why I wanted to work with Tayla on the project because she was somebody that I trusted; not just because she’s so skilled, but because she cares about me. 

My [relationship] with my audience is communal. I’m a Black girl, I’m a Black millennial, and I’m a young person — I take all that seriously. That’s how my parents raised me with my platform. But at the end of the day, I’m a human being. People saw me, in the most public way, go through a very human experience. So, as a person and as an artist, not to address [the public breakup] would be a halt in my growth as a person. I didn’t want to exploit myself, but I wanted to talk about how this has impacted me… how the relationship impacted the way I perceive myself, and all the other ways that I needed to grow and heal.

It was kind of the inciting incident that allowed that barrier of feeling, that weight of perfection to kind of crumble. 

You dug deep on "My Confession." Was there a moment where you thought, Damn, maybe I went too far?

There absolutely was. And by the way, we went through that with every song, damn near. From "Off Script" to "Misunderstood" and "Expose." We went through that multiple times, but definitely with "My Confession," especially with the family line. I was thinking, Well, how much can I say? How were we going to say it?

The way [Tayla] produces projects, it’s not just what I’m saying. It’s also how I’m saying it, the inflections and the vibe. You really get to tap into the energy of how I feel that I’m confessing. I’m truly getting this s— off my chest that I need to get off, and it hurts to get it off my chest because I’m not trying to make nobody look crazy or look bad, but it’s part of my life. And I need to own my truth. 

It was very much a back and forth type of thing where I’m thinking, Damn, is this too messy? But music is your diary. Music is a big, deep expression for any artist that’s trying to be true. Again, it wasn’t that other projects I wasn’t trying to be honest. I didn’t have these experiences to realize that. The music went further on Just Keke because I further as a person. 

How would you define this new personal or artistic era you’re in?

I think this is like an awareness era; a true observational era in moving from just being the performer to also presenting to my audience that I'm the architect. Like, this is what Keke Palmer the brand is going to be talking about this season. 

With Just Keke, it’s clear that I’m talking about fragmentation, integration, and what it means to be a product. I’m talking about becoming who you are in front of the world. I'm talking about your love life and your love story not turning out the way that you want it. But I'm doing it with artistic awareness, while I also take you through the journey as the business and the creative person behind it. I put this together to transmute my personal experience, but in an art form. I’m taking off the mask, so to speak, and saying, "Hey, this is what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and how I’m doing it." 

In another interview, you said this album was about, "Turning your mask into a mirror." Break that down for me.

I call my fans my miracles. I never called them anything before because it always felt kind of strange to me. But then after this experience, I was just sitting with myself and looking at my life, I thought, They’re my miracles. They saw it in me before I saw it for myself. 

And we’re reflecting each other back to one another. Anytime you get memed, it’s because people see themselves in you, and that’s the biggest and greatest honor. I think I have a unique relationship with my generation. I feel mirrored by them, and they feel mirrored by me. I think that’s really special because that means they see the truth. 

As a performer, I always try to keep it on point. But whether it was at the Met Gala, when I said, "It’s your girl," or when I did Vanity Fair and I said, "Sorry, to that man," they saw the real person. Even though I was trying to be as perfect as I could, they already knew I wasn’t perfect. And that’s what they love about me. And for me, it’s about taking off the mask and owning being in front of the mirror. Being that mirror for them, and being that mirror for me. 

Within the last two years, you became a mother. How do you feel motherhood has inspired you creatively, or even beyond music?

Motherhood has just made me braver. I think that's spilled into everything that I do — the ability to just have the courage to say "no" and have boundaries. To be firm in times when I was it wasn’t as easy to do it myself, but I knew that my son was watching. I knew this was going to affect my son because it’s going to affect me. 

I think it’s hard sometimes for people to stand up for themselves, even for the most confident people you can think of. It can be tough, but when you have a child, it becomes so detrimental. The child needs you, so you become stronger, braver, and more loving to yourself simply because you need to be for the kid. That’s the biggest way my son has impacted my life. 

On the visual album, you honor R&B icons like Whitney Houston and Brandy. Do you see parts of yourself in them?

They’re commercial icons, but they’re also Black women. A lot of what we speak to is generally flattened, fetishized, or it becomes a mockery because of the nature of our society. When I looked at women like Brandy and Whitney, I saw myself in them and saw them trying to become who they are in front of the world. It was never enough; [even] when you’re trying to be perfect, trying to do everything right. 

I remember when Brandy first had her child, and people were shocked. And when people judged Whitney, too. I feel like it’s just a rite of passage when you decide to be somebody in front of the world. I just wanted to honor them because they deserve to be honored for who they are, not for who people wanted them to be. At the end of the day, that’s what I’m saying with Just Keke. Maybe I’m not perfect. Maybe I’m just misunderstood, and maybe I’m not everything you want me to be, but I’m doing my damn best. All I can be is Keke, just like Whitney could only be Whitney, and Brandy could only be Brandy. That’s what’s necessary as we encourage the next generation to come into their own. 

The album wasn’t just filled with heavy material. The song "Tea, Boo" is a fun, house-inspired record. How was it putting songs like those together for Just Keke?

"Tea, Boo" is obviously like my personality. I think all the songs speak to different vibes of me. But "Tea, Boo" is like, "Hey, we’re kicking back, having fun, and let’s make a moment." 

"Tea, Boo" was a lot of fun. We were in the studio, and I was literally asking for some tea. And I was like, "Okay, I have some tea, boo." And Mike, the guy who was in there writing with me, was like, "What’s tea-boo?" And I was like, "No, I’m saying tea, comma, boo." And he was like, "That’s a song." From there, we started working on this record, and it was so fun. I wrote it around the same time as my book, Master of Me, so I was in the early stages of getting back into music. I kept it in the tuck, and felt it was perfect for the album. 

You were gloating on "Ripples," and included your family in the vignette during the visual album. That had to have been a special moment.

I was showcasing the side of me I damn near forgot about myself because I was doing everything that I could to be Keke Palmer. But there’s Lauren Palmer inside that created that persona to be able to survive. But now, I don’t have to do it to survive. I can do it with intention. 

Aside from talking my s—, I also wanted to show what it means to build a legacy. To show this is what it means to play your role in your family, and to continue to do what you need to do at all costs. My family has supported me. I’ve supported them, and they won’t stop. That’s how we’re going to keep doing it. That’s how I was raised. My dad talked to me about [actors] Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, and I remember meeting Kyla Pratt for the first time. I was so nervous that I didn’t say anything. And he was like, "You need to always show respect to the people that put on before you." He was kind of checking me, even though I was starstruck. I think about that often because he was like, "You’re not in competition with each other." We are in support of one another, and we have to give each other flowers whenever we see each other. It’s like we all have ripples that we come from, so we have to pay respect to that."  

Will you have a tour for this album? And if so, will baby Leo be on board for the ride?

You know that baby Leo has to come. I literally can’t leave without baby Leo. I would love to figure out a way. I don’t know what my tour is going to be like because I definitely feel like it has to be its own shape. I’m a musician, but how I see myself as an artist is everything at once. I want to figure out what’s the best way to do that kind of show because it has to be very much Just Keke. But doing a show and doing a tour is definitely on my list. It’s been the main thing me and my team have been talking about.

– Grammy.com