Hip-Hop
Tucker Carlson Decries “WAP” Grammys Performance: “Trying to Degrade Our Culture and Hurt Our Children”
On Monday night, conservative snowflake Tucker Carlson threw his latest hissy fit about Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s No. 1 hit, “WAP”, claiming their Grammys performance was proof that “they’re intentionally trying to degrade our culture and hurt our children.” Despite being so outraged about the display, the Tucker Carlson Tonight host continued to play the performance in the background and nearly showed the entire thing. The Daily Beast captured the segment, in which Carlson started disingenuously ranting about the “culture vandals” reexamining the racist and misogynist tones of Dr. Seuss, Disney, and Looney Tunes characters. He then aired “the only portion we can play you,” a statement he went back on shortly afterward. “No more Dumbo, it’s too filthy. We get that instead,” he said...
L’Orange and Namir Blade Announce New Album Imaginary Everything, Share “Corner Store Scandal”: Stream
Producer L’Orange and Nashville rapper Namir Blade have teamed up for a new collaborative album, titled Imaginary Everything. The project is out on May 7th through Mello Music Group. Imaginary Everything is entirely produced by L’Orange and features appearances from Quelle Chris, Marlowe, Fly Anakin, and Jordan Webb. It arrives on the heels of Blade’s breakthrough 2020 album, Aphelion’s Traveling Circus. To preview their project, L’Orange and Namir Blade shared the lead single, “Corner Store Scandal”, and its accompanying Joel Davis-directed video. “I wrote this song after making an exuberant purchase at a corner store,” the rapper shared in a statement. “Sometimes you just have to allow the mundane to be extravagant.” The track features boom bap production driven by a funky guitar loop an...
Mykki Blanco Unveils New Song “Free Ride”: Stream
Mykki Blanco has released their first new song of 2021, “Free Ride”. It marks the rapper’s debut on Transgressive Records. Watch the accompanying music video below. “Free Ride” is co-produced by FaltyDL and Hudson Mohawke. Originally recorded in spring 2018, the song was set aside until the summer of 2020, when Mohawke added his contribution to the track. Carried by Blanco’s playful flow, the song combines elements of retro soul and trap sounds. In a press statement, Blanco reflected on being inspired by the music on which they grew up: “Some of the most intimate moments and conversations I have ever shared were with my mother on long drives in the Southern countryside when I was a teenager. The music that soundtracked these memories on our daily journeys was the stuff of my mother’s ...
Five Burning Questions: Drake Debuts Take Up the Hot 100’s Entire Top Three
1. Drake has all of the top three on the Hot 100 this week — just the third artist to ever do that, and the first to do it with all three debuts. Does this him notching this achievement say more about Drake, about these three songs, or about the Hot 100 in general in 2021? Josh Glicksman: It’s a combination of Drake and the Hot 100 in general. In 2020, there were more No. 1 debuts on the chart (12) than in any other calendar year — and thanks to “Drivers license” and “What’s Next,” half of the No. 1s in 2021 so far have debuted atop the chart. The steadily ascending No. 1 hit certainly still exists — “Mood” first reached the pinnacle last October in its 10th week on the chart — but splashy debuts, particul...
Drake is First Artist to Debut Three Songs in Top 3 of Billboard Hot 100 Simultaneously
Drake has set yet another record on the Billboard charts, as each of the three songs from his latest EP, Scary Hours 2, entered the Hot 100 in the Top 3. As Billboard reports, “What’s Next” debuted at No. 1, followed by “Wants and Needs” featuring Lil Baby and the Rick Ross-assisted “Lemon Pepper Freestyle”. “What’s Next” becomes Drake’s eighth No. 1 hit on the Hot 100, and he now has a record-extending 45 Top 10 songs. He joins The Beatles and Ariana Grande as the only artists to simultaneously claim the Top 3 spots on the Hot 100 (though neither The Beatles nor Grande did it in their respective songs’ first week of release). Drake’s previous No. 1 hits include his Rihanna collaborations “What’s My Name?” and “Work”, as well as “One Dance”, “God’s Plan”, “Nice for What”, “In My Feelings”,...
Livestreams & Virtual Concerts to Watch: Week of March 15
For more virtual shows and livestreams to tune into this week, check out the roundup below. We’ll update this list as more events are announced. March 16-20: SXSW is taking place virtually this year, and will feature its film festival and music showcases online. Demi Lovato’s documentary Dancing With the Devil — a harrowing look at the singer’s near-fatal overdose — is among the films opening the event. An online pass is $399. March 17: U2 is marking St. Patrick’s Day by streaming their 2001 September concert at Ireland’s Slane Castle for the first time. The show is the first of the band’s four-show streaming series titled “U2: The Virtual Road.” Dermot Kennedy opens the livestream with a new set filmed outside of Los Angeles...
Grammys 2021: Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B Perform “WAP” Live for First Time
The 2021 Grammys were one of the smoothest award ceremonies in recent memories, and the proceedings never felt more well-lubricated than when Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion performed their smash hit “WAP” live for the first time. That climactic moment didn’t come without foreplay. The song was preceded by a medley of other songs, beginning with Megan, the newly minted Best New Artist, who turned up the heat with the Good News track “Body”. Dressed in Las Vegas showgirl glamour, she segued into “Savage”, which would go on to win the award for Best Rap Performance only a few minutes later. While Beyoncé herself didn’t join the stage, her voice was heard through the speakers, and Megan used that moment to bust into a dance break. From there, the focus shifted to another side o...
Megan Thee Stallion & Fashion Nova Donate $100K to Breonna Taylor Foundation on Anniversary of Her Death
“The core mission of the foundation is to support economic, social, and racial justice through police reform and government accountability. The foundation also seeks to help young people to realize their full potential, empowering them to participate in political processes and achieve better health, with mentorship programs for high-school girls, after-school initiatives, and educational support,” Megan said. The rapper — who slammed Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron last fall in her performance on SNL that advocated for the protection of Black women — previously announced that she was collaborating with Fashion Nova for their Women on Top initiative, which is pledging $1 million in support of women-led businesses and organizations. Megan made the announcemen...
How Cardi B Feels About the Grammys: ‘Congratulate the Small Black Artists’
In a lengthy note further explaining her thoughts, she clarified, “I do feel that there were some albums and songs that should have been considered for nominations. Maybe next year they will get it right.” “However let’s not forget the Grammy’s nominated soo many independent black artists this year that don’t get exposure by blogs, magazines and other award shows like Chika, D Smoke, Royce 5’9′, Freddie Gibbs, Jay Electronica, Kaytranada, Brittany Howard, Mykal Kilgore, Ledisi, Jean & Marcus Baylor, Luke James, Gregory Porter, Giveon, Ant Clemons, Robert Glasper, Free Nationals & Thundercat and so much more,” Cardi noted. (See the full list of 2021 Grammy nominations here.) “It’s frustrating sometimes to work and wor...
AI Robot Rapper FN Meka Releases New Single “Speed Demon”
From Bot Dylan to digital film curators, there’s a whole wide world of AI robots out there slowly encroaching on human skills, and FN Meka is the latest to join the bunch. The bot, who’s credited as being the world’s first AI-powered robot rapper, just released a new single called “Speed Demon” that’s already making waves on TikTok. According to a press release, FN Meka is powered by Vydia, a distributor that provides a platform for his label, “which lives in a dimension somewhere between the human world and the virtual world, empowering not only these unique creators, but the teams behind them.” Together, they’ve released a handful of singles like “Moonwalkin” and “Internet” in addition to this new track. What’s a robot rapper sound like exactly? Well, “Speed Demon” isn’t all that inventi...
Song of the Week: Lucy Dacus Delivers a Wrenching Ballad with “Thumbs”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each 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, Lucy Dacus delivered a wrenching ballad that left all of us speechless. Some songs end and sit in the pit of your stomach for the rest of the day, so visceral and affecting that they can’t be shaken. Lucy Dacus’ raw, devastating new release, “Thumbs”, is such a song, offering a gothic revenge fantasy that lingers long after the four and a half minutes have passed. Extremely minimal in production, “Thumbs” is also nearly formless, unfolding more like a whispered secret, twilight confession, or piece of local mythos than traditional...
Posthumous Tony Allen Album to Feature Damon Albarn, Danny Brown, Skepta & More
Last year, legendary Nigerian drummer Tony Allen was working on a new album when he suffered an aortic aneurysm and passed away at the age of 79. His collaborators have finished what he began, and the posthumous release There Is No End will arrive on April 30th, the anniversary of his death. You can catch a preview with lead single “Cosmosis”, which was co-written by Damon Albarn and features Skepta and Ben Okri. Allen pioneered the Afrobeat sound, drawing influences from American jazz, Ghanian highlife, and Yoruba polyrhythms to develop new grooves that continue to resonate today. He built his towering reputation by collaborating on over 30 albums with Fela Kuti, and his skills were so advanced that when he left to pursue a solo career, Kuti hired four drummers to replace him. Allen ...
