Hip-Hop
15-Year-Old Admits to Being Trigger Man in Pop Smoke’s Murder, According to Detective’s Testimony
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-09T21:30:55+00:00“>May 9, 2021 | 5:30pm ET A 15-year-old has allegedly admitted to being the trigger man in the murder of rising hip-hop artist Pop Smoke. The revelation came during testimony of LAPD Detective Carlos Camacho at a preliminary hearing for a different defendant in the case, 20-year-old Corey Walker. According to Camacho, the shooter, the youngest of four defendants in the case, admitted to a cellmate at a juvenile detention center that he indeed was the one who pulled the trigger on Pop Smoke. The interview from last May was recorded by police (via The Daily News). According to Detective Camacho’s testimony, the 15-year-old “admitted that they asked for the jewelry”...
DJ Khaled Lands Third No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With ‘Khaled Khaled’
Of Khaled Khaled’s 93,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending May 6, SEA units comprise 76,000 (equaling 106.87 million on-demand streams of the album’s tracks), album sales comprise 14,000 and TEA units comprise 3,000. Khaled Khaled was preceded by a pair of top 10-charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, both featuring Drake: “Popstar” and “Greece,” which reached Nos. 3 and 8, respectively, on the Aug. 1, 2020-dated chart. The next five albums on the Billboard 200 are all former No. 1s. Moneybagg Yo’s A Gangsta’s Pain slips 1-2 in its second week (70,000 equivalent album units earned; down 37%), Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 3 (53,000; down 2%), Justin Bieber’s Justice rises 5-4 (42,000; down 12%), the Slime Language 2 ...
Xscape vs. SWV in Verzuz Battle of ’90s R&B Greats: See the Scorecard and Winner
With the event serving as a true testament to the groups’ staying power, here’s how Billboard kept tally of the round-to-round showdown, with our overall winner declared at the bottom. Round 1: Xscape’s “Is My Living in Vain” vs. Coko feat. Faith Evans, Fantasia & Lil Mo’s “Endow Me” Following a heartfelt prayer led by Tamika Scott, Xscape jumped straight into full harmony, performing a cover of the Clark Sisters’ “Is My Living in Vain” from their 1993 debut Hummin’ Comin’ At Ya. In response, SWV’s frontwoman tapped into her gospel bag with her 2006 cover of The Clark Sisters’ “Endow Me”. Winner: Xscape Round 2: Xscape’s “Feels So Good” vs. SWV feat. Missy Elliott’s “Can We” In a battle of the bounce, Xscape turned the vibe up ...
Song of the Week: HEALTH and Nine Inch Nails Bring ’90s Apocalypse Vibes with “ISN’T EVERYONE”
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-08T15:11:59+00:00“>May 8, 2021 | 11:11am ET Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head ever week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, noise rockers HEALTH and industrial icons Nine Inch Nails are a match made in end-of-days heaven. Catharsis can take many curious forms: a good cry after a film, the euphoria among strangers dancing to an electric piece of pop, a long run (allegedly). Then, there’s HEALTH and Nine Inch Nails, two groups that have long harnessed the power of noise as their tool of choice, active...
L’Orange and Namir Blade Uncork New Album Imaginary Everything: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-07T16:44:03+00:00“>May 7, 2021 | 12:44pm ET Producer L’Orange and Nashville MC Namir Blade have uncorked their new collaborative album Imaginary Everything. Stream it below with Apple Music or Spotify. Blade broke out last year with Aphelion’s Traveling Circus, while L’Orange has been bubbling just below mainstream success for close to a decade. For Imaginary Everything, the Mello Music Group labelmates acquired guest verses from Quelle Chris, Fly Anakin, Jordan Webb, and Marlowe, with L’Orange producing every track. In an interview with Consequence, L’Orange explained how he achieved the soundscapes on Imaginary Everything using an Akai MPC. “T...
McKinley Dixon Deftly Navigates Grief and Healing on For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her: Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-07T15:45:52+00:00“>May 7, 2021 | 11:45am ET The Lowdown: From the first track of McKinley Dixon’s For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her, you’ll be floored by the Richmond, Virginia-based artist’s ability to marry extremely personal storytelling with dazzling, and often unpredictable, instrumentation. The final installment in a five-year trilogy, the record builds on the legacy of 2016’s Who Taught You to Hate Yourself? and 2018’s The Importance of Self Belief. Across each of these works, Dixon sounds like a highly-trained musician, with melodic arrangements that induce a visceral reaction. Coupled with his gripping delivery and impeccable lyricism, it’s hard to believe Dixon h...
Artist of the Month McKinley Dixon on Time Travel, Cowboy Bebop, and the Death of a Childhood Friend
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-07T00:06:38+00:00“>May 6, 2021 | 8:06pm ET Artist of the Month is an accolade awarded to an up-and-coming artist whom we believe is set to break out. In May, we turn our attention to rising rapper McKinley Dixon as he caps off an ambitious trilogy of albums with For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her. Less than 30 seconds into our conversation, McKinley Dixon abruptly travelled through time. It happens frequently if you learn to see the world from a certain perspective, as Dixon has. The DMV rapper has a boundless cache of interesting ideas, and one of them — involving shifts in chronology — lands somewhere between a philosophical framework and a poetic theory of know...
Madonna Is Smoking In Snoop Dogg’s ‘Gang Signs’ Music Video: Watch
“Was so much fun to show up in Snoop Dogg video for his new song Gang Signs!,” she tweeted, along with two goat emojis. Directed by 4 rAx, “Gang Signs” also follows Snoop as he gets to work in a green screen studio with a pair of cars as props. In the song, Snoop namechecks his famous friend. “Crip walking with my homegirl Martha/ While I’m passing joints to Madonna/ Who wants to smoke with snoop let’s have a smoke or two/ Puff puff pass that’s what real smokers do,” he raps. “Gang Signs” appear on Snoop’s his 18th studio album, From Tha Streets 2 Tha Suites which dropped last month (on 4/20, of course). Watch the clip below. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begi...
Isaiah Rashad Announces New Album The House Is Burning, Shares “Lay Wit Ya”: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-07T04:00:44+00:00“>May 7, 2021 | 12:00am ET One of the most hotly anticipated releases in hip-hop history is just around the corner, as Isaiah Rashad has finally announced his new album The House Is Burning. It’s slated for a June release, and Zay is offering an early taste with the new single “Lay Wit Ya” featuring Duke Deuce. Rashad’s legend owes a little to his 2014 debut Cilvia Demo and a lot to his 2016 magnum opus The Sun’s Tirade. Five years ago he seemed poised on the cusp of superstardom, but instead of following in the footsteps of his TDE label-mate Kendrick Lamar, he disappeared. Call him the Prodigal Sun. As he explained in a new intervi...
J. Cole Unveils New Song “i n t e r l u d e”: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-07T04:05:15+00:00“>May 7, 2021 | 12:05am ET J. Cole sent Dreamville fans into a frenzy on Tuesday by announcing a new album titled The Off-Season, and now he’s shared its lead single, “i n t e r l u d e”. Stream it below. To hear the North Carolina rapper tell it, releasing the track was an impulsive decision. “Told myself I would drop the album all at once,” he wrote on Twitter. “Sometimes you gotta say fuck it tho.” The Off-Season drops on May 14th. While announcing the project, Cole described the follow-up to 2018’s KOD as “years in the making,” which lines up with his first tease of the LP. “The Off Season coming soon… All roads lead to The Fall Off,” he wrote in the descript...
MF DOOM and Czarface’s New Album Super What? Receives Posthumous Release: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-07T04:11:17+00:00“>May 7, 2021 | 12:11am ET Czarface have just released Super What?, their new collaborative album with the late MF DOOM. The two recorded the LP together before the masked rapper’s unexpected death in October 2020. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. Out of nowhere, Czarface announced the album on Wednesday afternoon to a thrilled response from fans, less than 48 hours before it would be released. In total, Super What? spans 10 tracks. Four of those include guest verses by the likes of DMC, Del the Funky Homosapien, Kendra Morris, and Godforbid. Wu-Tang Clan‘s Inspectah Deck and 7L & Esoteric, who make up Czarface as a unit, never expected Super What...
Rapper G Herbo Charged With Lying to Federal Investigators
Authorities say the suspects used text messages, social media messages and emails to share account information taken from dark websites for trips on private jets, exotic car rentals, yacht charters, luxury vacation rentals, and even designer puppies. During the investigation in November 2018, G Herbo told a federal agent that he never worked with or was assisted by Strong; never provided Strong any money; never received anything of value from Strong; and had no direct relationship with Strong, prosecutors said. In fact, the two had worked together since at least 2016, had exchanged money and valuable goods, and had frequent direct contact through phone conversations, text messages and social media messages, prosecutors said. An email seeking comment was sent Thursday to G Herbo’s attorney....
