Hip-Hop
Cardi B, Mariah Carey & More Wish Rihanna a Happy Birthday: ‘One of the Nicest in the Industry’
“Rihanna!” Carey tweeted. “Happy birthday girl! I hope you’re feeling festive as always.. wherever you are!!!! Love you gorgeous!!!!!!” “Happy ri day,” Meg posted on her Instagram Stories, along with a recent Instagram picture of the star. “Happy Birthday to the [queen]. We love you @rihanna,” actress Kerry Washington tweeted. “A little Sunshine in our life hbd @badgalriri god bless you,” Fat Joe said on Instagram, while DJ Khaled uploaded a video clip and wrote, “Happy bday @badgalriri the light is love. BLESS.” Earlier in the week, Rihanna celebrated the release of a new collector’s item, an oversized, 504-page book featuring 1,000 images from throughout the singer’s career. The Rihanna Book: Qu...
Song of the Week: serpentwithfeet Gains Traction with Soulful “Same Size Shoe”
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, serpentwithfeet gains traction with “Same Size Shoe”. There are two types of hype in the music business. One type makes it feel like an artist has the primal forces of nature behind them, controlling all media and advertising to make it seem like their next album will not only be the next canonical masterpiece to change music forever, but also the antidote to all that ails our suffering species and planet. And, then, there’s the type of hype that seemingly finds root in the tiniest speck of soil imaginable and slowly grows from th...
DijahSB Announces New Album Head Above the Waters, Shares “By Myself”: Stream
DijahSB has announced the new album Head Above the Waters. It’s out in April, and the rising rapper is offering a preview with the single “By Myself” featuring Harrison. Based in Toronto, DijahSB first made waves with the deceptively-titled EP 2020 the Album. Unsurprisingly for an artist known for “Frontin’ Like Pharrell”, they rap over toe-tapping percussion accented with funk and disco vibes. The new eight-track effort features contributions from Ray HMND, Chris Castello, and Harrison, and it boasts one of the grooviest tracks of 2021 in “Throw That Back”. Anyone who’s been paying attention knows DijahSB can play lord of the dance, but with “By Myself”, the MC is offering a change of pace. Produced by Harrison, “By Myself” slows things down with glittering keyboards and a funky bass line...
Preview Jhené Aiko’s ‘Lead the Way’ in Disney’s ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ First Look
Jhené Aiko wrote and performed the new song “Lead the Way” for Disney’s upcoming Raya and the Last Dragon film, and now fans can hear a minute of it. A brand-new first look of the film premiered Friday (Feb. 19), in which the Grammy-nominated R&B singer’s triumphant anthem echoes in the background. “Lead the Way” will be featured on the soundtrack album Raya and the Last Dragon (Music From the Disney+ Film), which will be available digitally Feb. 26 ahead of the film’s premiere on Disney+ Premier Access and in theaters March 5. Premier Access for Raya and the Last Dragon will cost $29.99. Aiko is currently up for three 2021 Grammy nominations, with her third solo album Chilombo snagging two nods for ...
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian Officially File for Divorce
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian have officially filed for divorce, ending their marriage of seven years. TMZ reports that Kardashian recently filed the requisite documents through her lawyer Laura Wasser. Kardashian is asking for joint legal and physical custody of the couple’s four children, which West has apparently agreed to. Additionally, neither Kardashian nor West is said to be contesting their prenup. Settlement negotiations are reportedly “amicable” at this time. West first hinted at a riff in the couple’s marriage over the summer when he bizarrely tweeted about divorcing Kardashian in the wake of a meeting she had with Meek Mill. “I been trying to get divorced since Kim met with Meek at the Warldolf [sic] for ‘prison reform,’” he tweeted, seeming to refer to a criminal justice ...
Justine Skye Joined by Bella Hadid, Lil Yachty & Timbaland in ‘Intruded’ Video
All eyes and cameras are on Justine Skye in a music video for “Intruded,” her new Timbaland-produced single released Friday (Feb. 19). The mega-producer stars in the visual alongside Bella Hadid and Lil Yachty, who all try catching Skye’s attention from the confines of her security-camera footage and video calls, but to no avail. The 25-year-old R&B singer is too busy hitting all her angles while spinning around on a 360 platform in the six-minute Nina Holmgren-directed visual. “Intruded” spotlights a love that knows no escape because of how hard Skye is willing to keep it around. “Falling in love can make you feel kind of crazy,” she said in a statement. “When I wrote ‘Intruded,’ I wrote from a place of being comple...
Questlove to Direct Documentary About Sly Stone
Common will exec produce the project from MRC Non-Fiction. After making his feature directorial debut with Sundance-winning doc Summer of Love, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson has set his follow-up feature on Sly Stone. Questlove will direct the documentary about the influential artist, king of funk, and fashion icon, with his partners Zarah Zohlman and Shawn Geehis producing under their Two One Five Entertainment banner. According to the announcement, the doc will follow the musician “who was breaking all the rules at a time when doing so was extremely challenging, even dangerous. The pressure of explosive mainstream pop success and the responsibility of representing Black America forced him to walk the fine line of impossible expectations.” You Deserve to Mak...
Trace Lysette on Debut Rap Single ‘SMB’: ‘I Needed Another Outlet for My Artistry’
What made you want to get into music with “SMB”?In this business, we’re constantly evolving and showing the world more layers of who we are. I think that’s always a struggle with talent: this relationship of trying to figure out how to present your most authentic self to the world, and hopefully be loved for it. I grew up on hip-hop, had Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown plastered on my walls as an adolescent, and I always wanted to dive into that space. Acting can be so limiting, especially as a trans actor. You just get what’s thrown at you, and a lot of times, it’s crumbs. I needed another outlet for my artistry. I really wanted the song to have a message. Sometimes I feel like it might be going over people’s heads, cis people’s heads. Maybe they don’t quite get the meaning of being a self-made b...
Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats Announce Guest-Heavy UNLOCKED 1.5 Remix EP
Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats famously only took 24 hours to put together their collaborative EP, UNLOCKED. In the year since, they’ve put a bit more time into recreating the eight-track effort as the guest-heavy reimagining UNLOCKED 1.5. Due out February 26th, UNLOCKED 1.5 is described as “a brand new release inspired by Denzel and Kenny’s original.” Remixes of the tracks are presented by the likes of The Alchemist, Jay Versace, GODMODE, and Georgia Anne Muldrow, with new features coming from recent Artist of the Month Arlo Parks, Joey Bada$$, Benny the Butcher, Kenny Mason, and more. As a first listen, Curry and Beats have, well, unlocked Robert Glasper’s version of “So.Incredible.pkg”, which includes a guest verse from Smino. Take a listen via the visualizer below. That fighting-sty...
R.I.P. Prince Markie Dee, Rapper in The Fat Boys Dead at 52
Mark “Prince Markie Dee” Morales, whose swagger and humor with The Fat Boys helped define early hip-hop, has died at 52. The news was first announced by the SiriusXM radio channel Rock the Bells, where Morales hosted The Prince Markie Dee Show, and later confirmed by his longtime friend Louis “Uncle Louis” Gregory. AllHipHop reports the cause of death was congestive heart failure. Morales was born on on Feb. 19th, 1968 in New York City. He formed The Fat Boys in the early eighties with Darren Robinson, aka The Human Beat Box, and Damon “Kool Rock Ski” Wimbley. Alongside fellow Golden Age pioneers like Doug E. Fresh, The Fat Boys brought beatboxing to mainstream audiences, piling up the hits with self-deprecating humor and riotous party anthems. The trio put out seven albums between 19...
Tha God Fahim and Your Old Droog Release New Album Tha YOD Fahim: Stream
Rappers Tha God Fahim and Your Old Droog have released a new collaborative album called Tha Yod Fahim. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. That deja vu you’re feeling is totally justified. Tha God Fahim made two appearances on Your Old Droog’s December 2020 record, Dump YOD: Krutoy Edition, and then last month the prolific emcees teamed up for a fantastic mini-album of their own called Tha Wolf on Wall St. That one was only eight tracks, but its dense production and sharp lyricism gave fans a lot to chew on. Nevertheless, the pair have decided that it’s already time to swing back around with even bigger second helping. Tha YOD Fahim (incredible pun, by the way) adds 14 new songs to the stack we heard from them last month. Together, they make gritty jazz-rap that’s bo...
Lil Nas X Chronicles His Turbulent Road to Fame in Revealing ‘Life Story’ TikTok Series
So, in November of that year he moved in with his older brother into a situation where he says there was “domestic violence everyday.” The one-minute clips consists of a series of Lil Nas’ signature selfie videos, with part two kickinh off with the Dec. 2018 release of the mega-smash that would make Lil Nas a global phenomenon, the record-breaking No. 1 hit “Old Town Road.” With literally no money to promote, the rapper used silly memes to promote the song, which helped the track chart on Apple Music and unleashed an onslaught of label deal offers that he characterized as “terrible,” mostly because they were focused on the song, not him. He turned them all down and kept promoting “Road” in his own unique way and before he knew it the Ti...
