Just months after JAY-Z became the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, more hip-hop icons are up for potential entry: the collective members of N.W.A. are among this year's nominees. Also on the ballot: singer-songwriters including Mariah Carey, John Mellencamp, Tracy Chapman, Alice Cooper, Jimmy Cliff, the Isley Brothers, Chrissie Hynde, Alan Jackson, Kool & the Gang, Tom Waits, and Tom T. Hall. There are also some non-performing songwriters on the ballot, including Carey collaborator Jermaine Dupri and '80s boy-band mastermind Maurice Starr (New Edition, New Kids on the Block). Eligible members have until Dec. 17 to cast their votes. (Billboard)

Musicians push for emissions reductions, gun control

A year after President Donald Trump was elected despite widespread opposition from music stars, they're still pushing back against his policies. Paul McCartney tells the BBC that Trump's refusal to recognize the reality of climate change is "madness." The former Beatle went on to say that "It's maybe a good time now to try and focus people's attention and say, 'Look, forget about [Trump] — we can do something.'"

Meanwhile, while Trump calls the recent mass shooting at a rural Texas church a "mental health problem" that's not "a guns situation," numerous prominent musicians are disagreeing and saying it's time for new gun control legislation. Among them: Lady Gaga, Rosanne Cash, and Bette Midler. (Billboard)

Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES shared her thoughts in a video. "Mike Pence is among one of many republicans who take thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars from the NRA every single year, and he wants to talk about prayers and religion and being a good Christian," said Mayberry before mentioning a 1996 school shooting in her native Scotland. "My thoughts and sadness and outrage are 100 percent with the people who lost loved ones yesterday, and in all these other horrific attacks, but prayers are not what stopped more atrocities like Dunblane from happening in the United Kingdom. Gun control did." (Billboard)

Shock-rock star Marilyn Manson has defended his use of a model gun onstage Sunday night in San Bernadino, Calif. "In an era where mass shootings have become a nearly daily occurrence this was an act of theater in an attempt to make a statement about how easily accessible semi-automatic weapons are and how seeing them has become normalized," said Manson in a statement. "My performance was not meant to be disrespectful or show any insensitivity." (Pitchfork)

Taylor Swift vs. ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union is protesting Taylor Swift’s demand that a blog remove a post arguing that Swift's video for "Look What You Made Me Do" bears "uncanny and unsettling" similarities to Nazi propaganda.

Swift's legal team sent the blog, PopFront, a cease-and-desist letter saying the post "appears to be a malicious attack against Ms. Swift that goes to great lengths to portray Ms. Swift as some sort of white supremacist figurehead, which is a baseless fiction masquerading as fact and completely misrepresents Ms. Swift."

The ACLU argues that the post is a mixture of political speech and critical commentary, and is constitutionally protected as such. (Pitchfork)

New name for Sean Combs Puff Daddy P. Diddy Diddy Love

He was born Sean Combs, then he became Puff Daddy. Then he became P. Diddy, then just Diddy. Now, the Bad Boy Entertainment founder has announced a new name, and his name is Love. No, really. (Billboard)

Update: It was just a joke, apparently. "You can address me by any of my older names," said...whoever, in an Instagram video. "But if you still wanna call me Love, you can call me Love, baby. But I was only playin'." (Pitchfork)

Lin-Manuel Miranda takes his son to Hamilton

Lin-Manuel Miranda and his wife took their two-and-a-half-year-old son Sebastian to see Hamilton...but just the first act. The Broadway star later tweeted the young boy's reactions. (Billboard)