Entertainment News
Anderson .Paak and Rick Ross Pay It Forward on New Single “Cut Em In”: Stream
Anderson .Paak’s prolific summer continues today with “Cut Em In”, a new collaborative single with Rick Ross. Produced by veteran beatmaker Hit-Boy, the track is about paying back the buddies who supported you when you were at your lowest. “Sometimes you need a friend/ Not the ones that just show up and don’t put nothin’ in/ You know the ones that lend a hand and wanna see you win/ When you come up on a lick, make sure you cut ’em in,” .Paak advises while at the mic. The R&B artist also later drops a shout-out to mentor Dr. Dre, who helped launch his some career years ago. A number of bars throughout “Cut Em In” also emphasize the importance of knowing your own worth, such as this one from Ricky Rozay: “Distinctive destinations, all I wanna see/ Oceans from residences, it’s three ...
Snoop Dogg Honors a Fallen Friend with “Nipsey Blue”: Stream
Tomorrow, August 15th, would have been Nipsey Hussle‘s 35th birthday. In honor of that day, Snoop Dogg has released a moving tribute song to the fallen rapper, “Nipsey Blue”. Before he was killed on March 31st, 2019, Nipsey built his reputation off of scorching g-funk mixtapes, community activism, a sharp entrepreneurial spirit, and one excellent album: 2018’s Victory Lap. Throughout his career, Snoop didn’t just co-sign Nipsey, he took the younger rapper under his wing. In a 2010 interview with Complex, Nipsey spoke about the profound influence of the Doggfather. “Snoop didn’t ask me to sign to him, ask for no percentage, ask for no cut, and he more or less just took his visibility and his celebrity and co-signed and spoke real highly of me as opposed to being like “Oh, fuck this you...
HBO Max Adds Disclaimer to Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles
HBO Max created a stir when it pulled Gone with the Wind from its platform in order to add a historical disclaimer. Still, the burgeoning service expressed commitment to contextualizing such potentially problematic films rather than completely removing them, and it looks like they’re following through. The streamer has now added another disclaimer ahead of Mel Brooks’ comedy classic Blazing Saddles. The 1974 Western satire centers on a Black man (Cleavon Little) who is made sheriff of a small town in a political ploy to sow chaos. With the help of an alcoholic but affable gunslinger (Gene Wilder), he ends up winning the townspeople’s respect and thwarting the crooked politicians’ plans. In a three-minute, 12-second introductory video, TCM host and University of Chicago cinema and medi...
Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold Debuts New Song “Featherweight” During Livestream: Watch
Some of the biggest names in indie rock got together virtually on Friday night to perform at Vote Ready, a Concert for Voter Registration, which was exactly what it sounded like. Arguably the most exciting set came from Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, because he debuted a new song called “Featherweight” that’s four minutes of pure bliss. Pecknold started off the livestream by thanking viewers for registering to vote before introducing drummer Joshua Jaeger (Angel Olsen) and Holy Hive singer Paul Spring. At the midpoint of their three-song set came the new song, “Featherweight”. A dark and skeptical folk number, it almost sounds like a stripped-down Fleet Foxes covering A Moon Shaped Pool. The new track was sandwiched between a pair of covers. First came a spirited, uptempo cover of Arthu...
Lawsuit Against Lizzo Over “Truth Hurts” Royalties Dismissed
Lizzo may finally get some peace and quiet after last year’s nonstop lawsuits. On Friday afternoon, a California federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against the breakout pop star over credits on her hit “Truth Hurts”. Last fall, songwriters Justin and Jeremiah Raisen accused Lizzo of plagiarizing the “Truth Hurts” lyric “I just took a DNA test/ Turns out I’m 100% that bitch” from “Healthy”, a collaborative demo they made together with the Cuz I Love You singer, Jesse Saint John, and Yves Rothman in April 2017. Lizzo pushed back by suing the Raisens and Yves Rothman, and instead granted a songwriting credit to Mina Lioness, the Twitter user whose original joke inspired the lyric. Then in February, the Raisens filed a countersuit against Lizzo to demand credit and royalties from “Truth Hurts”,...
Taylor Swift Slams Trump for “Calculated Dismantling” of USPS
The rise of Political Taylor Swift continues as the pop star has taken a swipe at Donald Trump over the worsening crisis with the US Postal Service. For those unaware, Trump recently admitted that he was holding up funding of the USPS — which has been removing mailboxes and sorting machines across the country — because of mail-in voting. He then said he’d only compromise on funding the vital service if Democrats caved on Republican’s demands for COVID-19 relief. Many see Trump’s crass handling of the situation as a corrupt attempt to sabotage the election, and that includes T. Swift. “Trump’s calculated dismantling of USPS proves one thing clearly: He is WELL AWARE that we do not want him as our president,” she wrote in a tweet. “He’s chosen to blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans...
Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen Debuts New Song, Plays “Saint Nothing” on Livestream: Watch
On Friday night, everyone from Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold to The War on Drugs participated in the Vote Ready, a Concert for Voter Registration livestream. While most of the sets were filled with comforting covers and stripped-down renditions of classics, a few artists used the opportunity to debut new material, including Grizzly Bear and Department of Eagles singer-guitarist Daniel Rossen. Rossen played two tracks in total, opening with the nameless new song. The six-minute-long number saw the virtuoso churning out gorgeous, acoustic, classical guitar melodies that change pace and mood throughout. Afterwards, he immediately turned to the piano to play his 2012 ballad “Saint Nothing”. Watch the full set below. Last year, Rossen published an essay on his website explaining his slow retreat ...
North Kingsley (System of a Down’s Shavo Odadjian) Unveil Vol. 1 EP: Stream
Last week, System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian’s new band North Kingsley unleashed their debut single, “Like That?”. Now, they’ve released the full three-song collection Vol. 1, along with a video for the track “Die for the Pic”. The trio is rounded out by vocalist Ray Hawthorne and producer Saro Paparian, with Hawthorne delivering biting commentary on social media trends in the song “Die for the Pic”. “Die for the Pic is a statement on modern hypocrisy,” explained Hawthorne. “The masses are tending to follow popular trends without taking the time to analyze what’s actually going on. People often agree with whatever they are told the correct way to think is, and then post about it online, in an effort to be perceived well by their peers. In my experience, most of these people don’t eve...
R. Kelly’s Manager Charged with Threatening to Shoot Up Movie Screening
R. Kelly on CBS This Morning Donnell Russell, manager of disgraced singer R. Kelly, has been charged with phoning a New York workspace and threatening a mass shooting unless they cancelled a screening of Surviving R. Kelly. The docuseries features interviews with girls and women who claim to have been victims of Kelly’s alleged sexual crimes. Multiple people who spoke in the documentary were scheduled to appear at the screening at Manhattan’s NeueHouse. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Russell tried multiple times to get the event cancelled, including sending a cease-and-desist order. When these legal measure failed, Russell allegedly turned to threats. He is accused of placing a December 4th, 2018 phone call to NeueHouse suggesting that an armed individual would open f...
The Weeknd Unearths Kiss Land Outtakes, Plus a Lana Del Rey Remix: Stream
Seven long years after its initial release, The Weeknd’s Kiss Land reached the top of the charts this week. In honor of the surprise achievement, the R&B singer has now dug up “a few songs and ideas that didn’t” end up making the final tracklist of that 2013 album. Abel Tesfaye shared these previously unreleased songs and outtakes during episode 9 of his “Memento Mori” radio show on Apple Music on Friday. He called the reveal a “special thank you episode to the fans for showing so much love to kiss land this week.” Amongst the demos and alternate versions is a remix of Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence cut “Money Power Glory”, as well as a demo of “One of Those Nights”, a track which appeared on a deluxe edition of Juicy J’s 2013 album Stay Trippy. Other demos include “Angel Face”, “For You...
Nickelback Covered “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, and It’s Actually Pretty OK: Stream
Remember back when Nickelback were wanted by police for “crimes against music”? Almost banned from performing in London? The Canadian natives have come a long way since then, thanks in large part to their willingness to be the butt of everyone’s jokes. (Lots of rock bands still have very fragile egos, in case you didn’t see the latest Trapt news.) Nowadays Nickelback have the support of the American people, Congress, and even Smashing Pumpkins’ own Billy Corgan, who once called frontman Chad Kroeger an “incredible songwriter.” It also helps that the group recently publicly slammed Donald Trump for copyright infringement after he tried to use Nickelback in a meme on Twitter. The tides have turned so much, in fact, that we actually welcome Nickelback’s latest music release, a cover of the Ch...
Lzzy Hale Shows Off Her Pipes on Cover of Dolly Parton / Whitney Houston Classic “I Will Always Love You”: Stream
Dolly Parton (CTK Management), Lzzy Hale (Jimmy Fontaine), Whitney Houston (from The Bodyguard) Halestorm frontwoman Lzzy Hale has one of the strongest voices in hard rock, and she shows off her pipes on a newly released cover of the Dolly Parton / Whitney Houston classic “I Will Always Love You”. The song appears on Halestorm’s new six-song Reimagined EP, which also features re-worked versions five of the band’s previous singles. A couple weeks ago, Halestorm released a new version of “Break In” featuring Lzzy duetting with Amy Lee from Evanescence. Lzzy has performed “I Will Always Love You” at select Halestorm concerts in the past, but this marks the first studio recording of her cover. While Dolly Parton wrote and originally recorded the heart-wrenching ballad in the ’70s, Lzzy’s rendi...
