Hip-Hop
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 ...
Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac Receiving Cassette Reissues
Tapehead City is celebrating Death Row Records’s 30th birthday in the most ’90s way possible. The popular cassette retailer is giving Death Row albums by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac their very first cassette reissues since the decade they were originally released in. The collection will include four seminal projects that every hip-hop head will know: Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me, and his follow-up The Don Killuminati (The 7 Day Theory). Like vinyl, tapes present a fun opportunity for labels to choose colors that match the artwork and mood of the albums themselves, and Tapehead chose hues that are unique to these special releases. The Chronic will be available in “chronic” green, “up in smoke” smoke tint, and “standard” white with b...
Chika Unveils New EP Once Upon A Time: Stream
Alabama rapper Chika has released a new EP called Once Upon A Time. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. The 24-year-old is nominated for Best New Artist at this Sunday’s Grammys, so this new joint serves as a celebration of how far she’s come in just a few years. The six-song effort follows her well-liked 2020 EP Industry Games, and the handful of singles she released last year. Only one of those — the lustful “FWB” that she originally dropped back in December — appears on Once Upon A Time, while the others are all fresh cuts. As its storybook title and castle-adorned cover art imply, Once Upon A Time has a fairytale concept weaved through it. The first song, which features BJ The Chicago Kid, is literally called “FAIRY TALES”, and there are two other tracks cal...
Kenny Mason Announces Angelic Hoodrat: Supercut Project, Shares “Pup”: Stream
Kenny Mason turned Atlanta hip-hop on its ears with last year’s debut album, Angelic Hoodrat. The genre-mashing artist is now set to keep his momentum going with a new project dubbed Angelic Hoodrat: Supercut, which features the new single “Pup”. Due out April 16th, Supercut consists of 12 new tracks and a quartet of features. Denzel Curry, a frequent collaborator who has emerged as something of a mentor to Mason even though he’s only a year older, appears on “A+”, while Freddie Gibbs drops in on “Much Money”. Alongside those heavy-hitters, Mason welcomes a pair of fellow risers, with Dallas’ Angel White featuring on “Titan” and bi-lingual New Jersey singer-songwriter contributing to “Breathe”. The new collection was first teased last month with “Partments”, a low-key track that further pe...
Fugees Scored Big at the Crossroads of Hip-Hop
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Consequence of Sound and Sony present The Opus, an exploration of legendary albums and their ongoing legacy. For Season 13, host Jill Hopkins (The Moth Chicago, Making Beyoncé podcast) will explore the Fugees’ second and final album, The Score. Hip-hop had considerably changed from when the Fugees started recording their first album in 1992 to just three years later when they began working on their second effort. The “Golden Age” was coming to a close, and the genre was at a crossroads. So were the Fugees, though. Coming off their critically and commercially divisive first album, 1994’s Blunted on Reality, the New Jersey trio of Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Pras Michel were ...
CHIKA Covers Billie Eilish’s “my future”, Reimagines “U SHOULD”: Stream
All this week, the Spotify Singles series is highlighting the nominees for the 2021 Best New Artist Grammy. But the contribution from CHIKA comes as a double celebration, as today happens to be the Alabama MC’s 24th birthday. As a gift for your ears, she’s delivered a new rendition of her single “U SHOULD” as well as a cover of Billie Eiilish’s “my future”. Plenty of artists have put their own spin on Eilish’s single from last summer, including Artist of the Month Arlo Parks and Miley Cyrus. CHIKA takes it into a new realm, however, taking ownership of the luscious, jazzy ode to self worth with a whole new verse of her own. “Ain’t no stopping shooting stars/ They got their own mind, and that’s the gold mine,” she raps. “The whole grind is nuts, so hold mine/ I promise you I’m set for go ti...
