Hip-Hop
Polo G Details New Album Hall of Fame, Shares Snippet of Unreleased Song
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-26T20:42:17+00:00“>May 26, 2021 | 4:42pm ET Chicago spitter Polo G has set a release date for his third studio album, Hall of Fame, and shared some details about the project through a cinematic announcement video. Slated to drop June 11th via Columbia Records, the 22-year-old rapper envisions the full-length as the next step in his continued level-up. “My goals for Hall Of Fame was just to make sure that I can show my diversity as an artist,” he said in a video posted on Instagram. “Really like elevate my sound, for the people to hear something that I ain’t ever did before.” The clip closes out with a soulful preview of the album dedicated to his friend Lil Wooski. On the unrelea...
Machine Gun Kelly Celebrated the One-Year Anniversary of Megan Fox’s Endless Love
Love, it’s a many splendored thing. Especially when it takes place in public and you’re a world famous rapper and actress in the midst of a whirlwind romance. Case in point: on Tuesday (May 25), Machine Gun Kelly noted a very special moment in his relationship with Megan Fox. “She said ‘i love you’ one year ago today,” the rapper/rocker tweeted out. For those of you keeping score (thanks Cosmo), that carbon dating appears to reveal that the couple got serious a month before they were first officially thought to have begun hanging out in mid-June 2020. The pair reportedly met on the set of their upcoming film, Midnight in the Switchgrass, in March 2020, which was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking f...
DMX Links Up with Griselda on New Song “Hood Blues”: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-25T21:18:02+00:00“>May 25, 2021 | 5:18pm ET DMX’s posthumous album, Exodus, is out on Friday, and today we get a first preview with “Hood Blues”, a gritty new song featuring Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher, and Conway the Machine. Check it below. Produced by Swizz Beatz, the single features a sample of Lee Mason & His Orchestra’s 1971 track, “Shady Blues”. The Yonkers rapper previously teased the Griselda collaboration during a February appearance on the Drink Champs podcast. In his closing verse, DMX recalls the trauma of growing up in the hood. “Do damage ’cause I’m a savage,” he raps. “Sometimes I can’t manage all the shit in my attic/ I was promised the world but I got t...
Kehlani Shares the Key to Having ‘Fun’ With Makeup & Her Go-To Product
As for the key to Kehlani’s effortless look? Lime Crime’s best-selling Freckle Pen, which easily allows users to “tap and dab” on some natural-looking freckles. “I oftentimes end up with makeup artists covering up my freckles,” she explains. “I do like coverage a lot for my acne and acne scars, but often, it erases my freckles and so my makeup artist just tends to replace the freckles I already have with the freckle pen.” While makeup artistry seems to come easily to the “Can I” singer, she jokes that her beauty journey was a bit “forced.” “I remember going to Sephora when I was about to go on my first tour and I was like, ‘Can somebody in here teach me how to do a basic face that I can do onstage every day? I wi...
J. Cole Charts All 12 Songs From ‘The Off-Season’ in Hot 100’s Top 40
All 12 tracks from The Off-Season flood the Hot 100’s top 40, including a record-tying four concurrent debuts in the top 10. Here’s a recap (all are debuts except where noted): Rank, TitleNo. 2, “my.life,” with 21 Savage & MorrayNo. 5, “amari”No. 7, “pride.is.the.devil,” with Lil BabyNo. 8, “95.south”No. 13, “applying.pressure”No. 14, “100.mil’,” with BasNo. 17, “interlude” (down from its No. 8 debut/peak)No. 19, “let.go.my.hand,” with 6LACKNo. 20, “punchin’.the.clock”No. 25, “the.climb.back” (re-entry; new peak)No. 28, “hunger.on.hillside,” with BasNo. 33, “close” J. Cole is the first artist to chart as many as 12 songs...
Solange Knowles to Expand Creative Expression Platform Saint Heron: ‘We Are Creating a Legacy’
Saint Heron, founded by Solange Knowles, is officially expanding. On Monday (May 24), it was announced that the creative expression hub will become a multidisciplinary platform, studio and creative agency. Speaking on her decision to broaden Saint Heron into a cultural institution, Knowles, 34, said in a statement, “Worldmaking has been a huge part of my practice. … As we transition to an institution, the answer and the vision become abundantly clear. We are creating a legacy where we not only continue the work we have already built, but preserve collections of creators with the urgency they deserve. She continued, “Together we want to create an archive of stories, and works we deem valuable. We want to open up these works publicly, and make them accessible to student...
Chi Modu, Legendary Hip Hop Photographer, Dies at 54
Born in Nigeria in July 1966, Modu was raised in New Jersey. He attended Rutgers University, graduating in 1989 with a degree in economics. It was at Rutgers that he began to dabble in photography and upon leaving college he studied the medium at Manhattan’s International Center of Photography. His first job as a photographer was at Harlem-based New York Amsterdam News. In the early 1990s, he joined The Source, one of the premier hip hop magazines, and rose to become the director of photography. Influenced by the likes of Roy Decarava and André Kertész, he was known for capturing candid, unguarded images of artists, many of whom had never been shot professionally before. In all, Modu shot 30 covers for The Source during what many consider to be hip hop’s golden age. His images documented b...
Doja Cat and SZA Perform “Kiss Me More” at 2021 Billboard Music Awards: Watch
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-24T00:17:37+00:00“>May 23, 2021 | 8:17pm ET Open a new tube of chapstick and check out Doja Cat and SZA’s first performance of “Kiss Me More” at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards. “Kiss Me More” is the first single from Doja Cat’s upcoming album, Planet Her, and Sunday marked the first time she and SZA have sung it together live on stage. Surrounded by dancers with their heads in giant orange balls, the pair delivered a stylish performance. SZA sang from atop a rotating pedestal platform before kicking it down to Doja for a dance-remix breakdown. Check it out ahead. After jumping into bed with hyper-sexualized songs like the “34+35” remix, you might be wondering, why a song about l...
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis Bring Timely ‘Optimistic’ to the 2021 Billboard Music Awards With Sounds of Blackness and Ann Nesby
Legendary songwriter/producer duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis linked up with soul and gospel singers Ann Nesby and the Sounds of Blackness for a mighty performance of the early ’90s hit “Optimistic” at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night (May 23). Delivered as a tribute to the duo’s hometown of Minneapolis, from Prince’s Paisley Park, Jam and Lewis shouted out the “place that musically has always represented change to the status quo.” They were then joined on stage by Nesby and the Sounds of Blackness, who performed “Optimistic” in a towering a cappella rendition, with powerful photos of recent activism (much of which has been recently centered in Minneapolis) shown on a screen behind them. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you a...
Lil Nas X Rips His Pants on ‘SNL’ While Pole Dancing During ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’: Watch
Surrounded by a hell-themed backdrop and shirtless dancers, the artist was noticeably caught off guard by the wardrobe malfunction, evidenced by a wide-eyed look of surprise as it happened, followed by a quick grab of his crotch for the remainder of the performance. Nevertheless, he finished out the song like a pro. Lil Nas X dropped “Montero” on March 26, along with a video that generated plenty of controversy, which led to a spoof on SNL. In the visual, the artist at one point pole dances down to hell, where he proceeds to give Satan a lap dance. The track debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and went on to top both the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts. For his second song on the SNL finale, hosted by actress Anya Taylor-Joy, Lil Nas slowed things down ...
Lil Nas X Perseveres Past Wardrobe Malfunction for Memorable SNL Debut: Watch
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-23T14:40:08+00:00“>May 23, 2021 | 10:40am ET Lil Nas X helped close out Saturday Night Live’s 46th season by performing his two latest singles: the chart-topping “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” and his recent follow-up, “Sun Goes Down”. However, Lil Nas X’s appearance on SNL’s season finale nearly proved disastrous, and not because angry conservatives bum-rushed the stage. Rather, all that gyrating during Lil Nas X’s performance of “Montero” caused the front of his pants to split open. He spent the last minute of his performance with one hand on his crotch — which, to be honest, wasn’t all that out of place when juxtaposed alongside some of the other sultry moves carried out by ...
Nas, LL Cool J & Fat Joe Help Break Ground At Universal Hip Hop Museum
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Sylvester Zawadzki / Universal Hip-Hop Museum Our culture will finally have a destination where its’ rich history will be formally exhibited. Some living legends helped break ground at the Universal Hip-Hop Museum. Source: Sylvester Zawadzki / Universal Hip-Hop Museum As reported by HipHopDX the build out of the Universal Hip Hop Museum is officially underway. On Thursday, May 20 several Rap icons appeared on site to put shovels to dirt in honor of the sound that raised many of us. At the ceremony were the likes of Nas, LL Cool J, Fat Joe, Lil Kim, Naughty by Nature, Grandmaster Flash, Slick Rick, Michael Bivins (of Bell Biv DeVoe), Public Enemy’s Chuck D, MC Sha-Rock, EPMD and more. The event was hosted by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr....
