Hip-Hop
Rap Song of the Week: AZ Performs a Rhyming “Ritual” with Lil Wayne and Conway the Machine
Rap Song of the Week breaks down the essential rap and hip-hop tracks released each week. Check out the full playlist here. This week, AZ teams up with Lil Wayne and Conway the Machine on a cut from his highly-anticipated album, Doe or Die II. After more than a decade in the making, New York hip-hop royalty AZ has finally dropped Doe or Die II, the sequel to his mafioso rap classic debut. Lyrical exercises like “Ritual” ensure the album was well worth the wait, as The Firm member tag-teams with Lil Wayne and Conway the Machine over a grimy beat by The Alchemist to remind fans and fellow MCs alike that he’s been a force to be reckoned with since the mid ’90s. Using an effortless multi-syllabic flow, AZ raps about not needing the spotlight to prove he’s been one of the best rappers over...
Nicki Minaj’s Husband Kenneth Petty Pleads Guilty for Failing to Register as Sex Offender
Nicki Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty, who was convicted of first-degree attempted rape in 1995, has pleaded guilty for failing to register as a sex offender. Via NBC News and Pitchfork, he had initially pleaded not guilty, but in August reached a deal with prosecutors, and formally entered a guilty plea yesterday, September 9th. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 24th, 2022. In July of 2019, Petty moved from New York to California, at which time he was legally required to register. Law enforcement officials noted his failure to do so during a November 2019 traffic stop in Beverly Hills and arrested him. Petty walked free after posting $20,000 bail, but found himself arrested again in March of 2020 because he still hadn’t registered as a sex offender. In that instance,...
J Balvin Announces 2022 Jose Tour, Performs “In Da Getto” on Fallon: Watch
J Balvin stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night to announce he’s headed out on a world tour next year in support of his new album Jose. “There was rumors of you announcing a tour or going on tour, and you haven’t done anything or said anything that you’re going to. But is there anything you would like to tell me?” host Jimmy Fallon asked, leading Balvin to playfully quip, “Besides that I love you?” He continued: “Yes, we’re going on sale next week. Yes! Jose’s tour! We’re gonna start in the West. Are you guys ready?” The 27-date jaunt will kick off April in San Antonio before indeed heading west to Arizona and California. Balvin will then hit major cities including Las Vegas, Houston, Miami, and Boston before closing out the tour with a performance in San Juan,...
DaBaby Drops Introspective Track ‘Lonely’ With Lil Wayne
Nearly a year after his older brother Glenn Johnson died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, DaBaby released the introspective Lil Wayne collab “Lonely” on Thursday (Sept. 9), on which he appears to address the incident, as well as his feelings about being an outcast in the music industry. “As if I got a reason to act like I’m lonely/ I saw my big brother laid out with his brains blown out/ It’s been catchin’ up on me/ S—, how would you act if your bro took his life?/ And you know that you rappin’ like all of these n—-s/ And you don’t even trap and you livin’ your life,” he raps on the second verse of the mid-tempo tune on which he sings “Lonely, lonely baby” on the chorus. You Deserve to Make Money Even Whe...
Aaliyah’s Chart-Topping Final Album Arrives on Streaming Platforms: Listen
Since then, most of her consequential works have been kept off digital service providers and out of print. Last month, Aaliyah’s sophomore album One in a Million finally dropped on all streaming services. The long-overdue streaming release follows a deal struck between EMPIRE and Blackground Records, founded by her uncle Barry Hankerson, which makes available the late singer’s biggest albums for the first time in over a decade. That deal unlocks all Aaliyah catalog for streaming, and other releases on Blackground, including albums by Timbaland & Magoo, Tank, Toni Braxton and JoJo. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful p...
J Balvin Drops New Album Jose: Stream
J Balvin has released his latest full-length album, Jose. Stream the new effort below via Apple Music and Spotify. Jose comes just a year and a half after Balvin’s last LP, 2020’s Latin Grammy Award-winning Colores. Over the intervening months, the reggaeton artist has dropped a number of singles, “7 De Mayo,” “Otra Noche Sin Ti” featuring Khalid, “Qué Más Pues” with YouTube star María Becerra, and “Que Locura”. The collaborative cut “Una Dia (One Day)” with Dua Lipa, Bad Bunny, and Tainy, which originally appeared on Lipa’s Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition, also has a place on Jose. Other guests on Jose include Skrillex (“In da Getto”), Tokischa (“Perra”), Jhay Cortez (“La Venganza”), Yandel (“Te Acuerdas de Mi”), and Myke Towers (“Billetes de 100”). A remi...
Baby Keem Drops Debut Album The Melodic Blue: Stream
Baby Keem has finally released his debut studio album. The California rapper’s long-awaited project The Melodic Blue dropped today through his cousin Kendrick Lamar’s pgLang production company via Columbia. The Melodic Blue follows Baby Keem’s 2019 mixtape, Die for My Bitch. It includes the previously-released “Durag Activity” featuring Travis Scott, the aptly-titled Kendrick collaboration “Family Ties,” and “Issues,” which Keem debuted on The Tonight Show Starring Fallon earlier this week. The Melodic Blue clocks in at 16 tracks total, including two more collaborations with Kendrick on “Range Brothers” and “Vent.” Rosalía, James Blake, and Don Toliver are among the album’s other contributors. Advertisement Related Video Listen to The Melodic Blue and watch the new video for “Issues” below...
Afrika Bambaataa Sued for Alleged Sex Abuse & Trafficking
The lawsuit claims that after Doe attended Zulu Nation meetings, Taylor began inviting Doe to his apartment “several times a week” and encouraging him to use a gym on the premises, where Taylor “would comment about Plaintiff’s muscular body and would touch Plaintiff on the shoulders, biceps and torso.” At Taylor’s apartment, Taylor began touching Doe’s “private areas” and encouraging him to masturbate while watching pornographic videos together, the lawsuit alleges, and the “mutual masturbation” later “progressed to sodomy.” The lawsuit claims that Doe is also a sex trafficking victim, as Taylor allegedly transported Doe to other locations and offered Doe “for sex to other adult men” in exchange for m...
Afrika Bambaataa Sued for Sexual Abuse and Child Sex Trafficking
A new lawsuit alleges that Afrika Bambaataa sexually abused and trafficked a 12-year-old boy beginning in 1991 and continuing through 1995. Via Metropolis and Pitchfork, the suit was filed in New York State Supreme Court on August 4th, as part of the 2019 Child Victims Act, which temporarily opened a window for adults to sue over childhood sexual abuses even in cases where the statute of limitations had expired. The 64-year-old Afrika Bambaataa, who was born in New York as Lance Taylor, has been accused of sexual misconduct numerous times, with several different now-adult men saying they were molested as teenagers in the 1980s and ’90s. These latest allegations come on behalf of a plaintiff listed as John Doe, and include civil battery, assault, gross negligence, intentional...
G-Easy Teases New Album ‘These Things Happen Too’ with ‘The Announcement’ Video
“I know it’s been a long, long time,” he says over instrumentals. “But, crazy people do crazy things. It’s finally ready, I’ll see y’all on Sept. 24, let’s go.” His all-new album These Things Happen Too comes as a sequel to G-Eazy’s 2014 album with a similar name, These Things Happen. The original LP peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, where it charted for 138 weeks. In G-Eazy’s upcoming project, out later this month and featuring fellow artist Demi Lovato, G-Eazy reflects on the changes he’s experienced in both his personal life and career since the 2016 releases of his first-ever top 10 Hot 100 hit single “Me, Myself & I” featuring Bebe Rexha. Also exciting for G-Eazy fans aim...
Rick Ross, Jeezy, Gucci Mane, and 2 Chainz Announce “Legendz of the Streetz Tour”
Rick Ross, Jeezy, Gucci Mane, and 2 Chainz are hitting the road for their long-awaited “Legendz of the Streetz Tour.” The 11-jaunt trek throughout the South will kick off September 30th at James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia and hit major cities including Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, Dallas, and Miami before wrapping up its first leg October 22nd in Memphis, Tennessee. Formerly billed as “Feed the Streetz,” the tour has been upped to legendary status following its delayed start courtesy of the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to the four headliners, Fabolous and Boosie Badass are also on the roster, with DJ Drama serving as the tour’s official MC. Meanwhile, Lil Kim and Trina will each stop in as supporting acts for multiple dates, and more stops are expected to be added. Advertisement ...
Five Burning Questions: Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ Debuts At No. 1 With 2021’s Best First-Week Numbers
1. The reasons for Kanye West’s Donda posting the year’s biggest first-week number are numerous — but what would you cite as the biggest? Rania Aniftos: While Kanye being Kanye is an obvious factor, in the elusive Donda’s case, the anticipation even had me (who is not typically a Kanye fan) listening to the album to see what all the hype was about. Ever since Kanye began teasing Donda last year, not a day went by without seeing a “Donda? More like Donde esta?” meme or album predictions on TikTok. Donda had such a mysterious energy around it, that by the time it actually arrived, it felt like a legendary Pokémon that needed to be beheld. Lyndsey Havens: The hype — no one generates more of it ...
