Halle Bailey Makes Her Red Carpet Debut With Boyfriend DDG: Here’s What We Know About Him
Halle Bailey and her boyfriend DDG are one of the cutest celebrity couples in the game right now. After confirming their relationship in March 2022, Halle, 22, and DDG, 24, made their red carpet debut as a couple over the weekend during the 2022 BET Awards. In an interview with Extra, The Little Mermaid star shared that she was “nervous” about their debut. “We’re like tryna figure out what we were going to wear. All this stuff,” she said. The couple matched each other’s fly with both wearing all-black outfits.
While Halle and her sister Chloe began to reach stardom after singing covers on YouTube, reach led to a record deal with Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment, DDG also started his career on YouTube and built a very impressive fanbase from there. Here are a few other things about DDG that we know thus far.
Who is DDG?
PontiacMade DDG or DDG, which stands for his name Daniel Dwayne Grandberry Jr., is a rapper from Pontiac, Michigan. He got his start in the music industry in 2014 by releasing music videos in high school where he graduated as valedictorian and later through vlogs on his YouTube channel. He attended Central Michigan University but later dropped out to focus on being an entertainer. While he was signed to Epic in 2018, in 2020 he founded his own record label called Zooted Music with his longtime managers.
In an interview with Billboard, he opened up about owning his masters. I met with every single label you can think of, and I knew what I brought to the table,” he said. “I came with a good fanbase already, I came with good music and a hit already. I came with everything already. So to not get what I wanted from a label would just be shooting myself in the foot. It was never about the money.”
“Before I signed, I already had the money. It’s just good to have a machine behind you and the whole building trying to take you to the next level. I just knew what I brought to the table. I knew what type of deal I wanted and that it should work in my favor.”
DDG’s Relationship with Halle Bailey
While they’ve dropped hints on social media that they were dating, it wasn’t until March that they made it Instagram official. The “Treat Me Right” artist gave his boo a birthday shout on Instagram and displayed several moments of them together. “Happy Birthday to the beautifulest, the flyest, the sweetest ❤️ love you forever 🥺💎 @hallebailey,” he wrote for the caption. She replied, “u will make me cry again” along with heart emojis.
Since making it Instagram official, Halle has gushed about her man multiple times. More recently, she tweeted two photos of herself wearing the “Moonwalking in Calabasas” rapper’s clothes. “i live in my mans clothes lmao,” she wrote.
But perhaps one of their sweetest moments was when the “Ungodly Hour” songstress was giving DDG singing lessons on TikTok. The couple was singing Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” and fans couldn’t get over how adorable they were. Some were even impressed by DDG’s singing capabilities.
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Featured image by Momodu Mansaray/WireImage
ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
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You've Never Seen Luke James In A Role Quite Like This
Over the years, we've watched Luke James play countless characters we'd deem sex symbols, movie stars, and even his complicated character in Lena Waithe's The Chi. For the first time in his career, the New Orleans-born actor has taken on a role where his signature good looks take a backseat as he transforms into Edmund in Them: The Scare—a mentally deranged character in the second installment of the horror anthology series that you won't be able to take your eyes off.
Trust us, Edmund will literally make you do a double take.
xoNecole sat down with Luke James to talk about his latest series and all the complexity surrounding it—from the challenges taking on this out-of-the-box role to the show's depiction of the perplexing history of the relationship between Black Americans and police. When describing the opportunity to bring Edmund's character to life, Luke was overjoyed to show the audience yet another level of his masterful acting talents.
"It was like bathing in the sun," he said. "I was like, thank you! Another opportunity for me to be great—for me to expand my territory. I'm just elated to be a part of it and to see myself in a different light, something I didn't think I could do." He continued, "There are parts of you that says, 'Go for it because this is what you do.' But then also that's why it's a challenge because you're like, 'um, I don't know if I'm as free as I need to be to be able to do this.' Little Marvin just created such a safe space for me to be able to do this, and I'm grateful for everything I've been able to do to lead to this."
Courtesy
Them: The Scare, like the first season, shines a light on the plight of Black Americans in the United States. This time, the story is taking place in the 1990s, at the height of the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. While the series presents many underlying themes, one that stands out is Black people and the complicated relationship with the police. "For the audience, I think it sets the tone for the era that we're in and the amount of chaos that's in the air in Los Angeles and around the country from this heinous incident. And I say it just sets the tone of the anxiety and anxiousness that everybody is feeling in their own households."
James has been a longtime advocate against police brutality himself. He has even featured Elijah McClain, the 23-year-old Colorado man who died after being forcibly detained by officers, as his Instagram avatar for the past five years. So, as you can imagine, this script was close to his heart. "Elijah was a soft-loving oddball. Different than anyone but loving and a musical genius. He was just open and wanted to be loved and seen."
Getty Images
Luke continued, "His life was taken from him. I resonate with his spirit and his words...through all the struggle and the pain he still found it in him to say, 'I love you and I forgive you.' And that's who we are as people—to our own detriment sometimes. He's someone I don't want people to forget. I have yet to remove his face from my world because I have yet to let go of his voice, let go of that being [because] there's so many people we have lost in our history that so often get forgotten."
He concluded, "I think that's the importance of such artwork that moves us to think and talk about it. Yes, it's entertaining. We get to come together and be spooked together. But then we come together and we think, 'Damn, Edmund needed someone to talk to. Edmund needed help... a lot [of] things could have been different. Edmund could have been saved.'
Check out the full interview below.
Luke James Talks Ditching Sex Symbol Status For "Them: The Scare", Elijah McClain, & Morewww.youtube.com
Featured image by Getty Images