Hip-Hop
Dr. Dre and Anderson .Paak to Star in New GTA Online Expansion: Watch the Trailer
Dr. Dre and Anderson .Paak are speeding their way into the Grand Theft Auto universe. Rockstar Games has confirmed a new expansion for GTA Online today, which features the rapper and R&B star as characters. Naturally, they’ve also contributed to the soundtrack, which you can preview now in the expansion’s new trailer. GTA Online: The Contract is out on December 15th, and sees the return of GTA V character Franklin Clinton. Set years after his last appearance, Franklin is now tending to his “celebrity solutions agency,” which promises to provide Vinewood’s elite with “solutions to high-society problems.” This sounds fitting for a game featuring Dre, whose character has lost his cell phone — as well as all the unreleased music stored on it. “This could be the big break your agency n...
Tierra Whack Announces New EP Pop?
Less than a week after sharing her latest EP Rap?, Tierra Whack already has another project in the pipeline. Pop?, the sister EP to Rap?, is out this Thursday, December 9th via Interscope. While details are light regarding the new project, we have every reason to believe that Pop? will boast a similar left-field, semi-theatrical quality to its predecessor. The three-track Rap? included Consequence’s Rap Song of the Week “Stand Up,” which was inspired by a conversation Whack had with JAY-Z. “So I’ve seen the most recent Joker, the movie, about five times, it’s like one of my favorite movies,” Whack said in an interview with Apple Music. “I watched it once just by myself when it first came out, and then I had a conversation with JAY-Z and he was like, ‘Yo, you’r...
Kanye and Drake’s Free Larry Hoover Concert to Stream on Amazon Prime Video
On Thursday, Kanye West and Drake will reunite for the Free Larry Hoover benefit concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. For those who cannot be there in person, the concert will be livestreamed for free on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music’s app, and Amazon Music’s Twitch channel. It will air live in 240 countries beginning at 8:00 p.m. PT. Additionally, IMAX will host screenings of the concert in select theaters across the United States. Tickets are available now at www.tickets.imax.com. The concert, which marks Kanye’s first headlining show in five years, was organized by the Chicago rapper in an effort to raise awareness and support for the release of Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover. Advertisement Related Video Hoover is currently serving six life sentences after being ...
An NFT Collector Spent $450,000 to Be Snoop Dogg’s Virtual Neighbor
As if flailing to keep up with NFT news hasn’t caused you enough headaches yet this year, here’s a doozy for you: An NFT collector spent almost $450,000 for a plot of virtual land — yes, virtual — in the Snoopverse, an interactive world being developed by none other than Snoop Dogg. You can find the Snoopverse in The Sandbox, an Ethereum-based platform for creating and monetizing online hangout spaces and gaming experiences. By being Snoop’s virtual neighbor, you’re promised access to exclusive, members-only parties at a digital replica of his California mansion. Snoopverse residents (Snoopites? Snoopers?) can deck their avatars out in designer duds, drive souped-up sports cars, and build on their own Snoopverse plots, which allows them to profit off other residents who visit. Kind of like...
Top 50 Albums of 2021
Our 2021 Annual Report continues with our Top 50 Albums list. As the year winds down, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles about the best music, film, and TV of 2021. You can find it all in one place here. We’re all friends here, so let’s be honest: Most playlists are boring. Corporation-curated playlists are boring, influencer playlists are boring, and the playlist you made for your high school crush became boring the moment you liked someone new. We use them at times — road tripping, studying, or working out — for a pleasant background vibe. But when it comes to prolonged active listening, only an album can demand your full attention. Advertisement That was especially true in 2021. Many workers returned to the office, even as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to teach us new let...
Drake Withdraws Name as Grammy Nominee
Drake has reportedly withdrawn his name as a nominee at next year’s Grammy Awards. The Toronto rapper had been up for two awards — Best Rap Album (for Certified Lover Boy) and Best Rap Performance (for “Way 2 Sexy”). However, Variety reports that Drake’s name has been removed from both categories at the request of the artist and his management. The Recording Academy will not replace Drake’s name on the ballot – presumably since voting is already under way — but will instead move forward with only four nominees in the two categories. Advertisement Related Video Best Rap Album nominees include J. Cole’s The Off-Season, Nas’ King’s Disease II, Tyler the Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost, and Kanye West’s Donda. Meanwhile, the finalists for Best Rap Performance are Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar...
Travis Scott Begins Effort to Dismiss Astroworld Lawsuits: Report
Travis Scott has begun the process of dismissing the hundreds of lawsuits over his deadly Astroworld festival. Per TMZ, the Houston rapper has filed to have a civil suit against him and his companies — Jack Enterprises and Cactus Jack — be dropped with prejudice. Scott is issuing a “general denial” in response to attendee Jessie Garcia’s lawsuit, meaning he wants to deny responsibility for all allegations in one blanket response. TMZ reports that Travis and his legal team are preparing a similar response to every civil suit filed against him. This may not be necessary, however, as attorneys for both victims and festival organizers filed a joint petition last week to combine the mounting number of cases into a single “multi-district litigation.” As Billboard points out, this is standar...
Top 50 Songs of 2021
The 2021 edition of our Annual Report continues with our Top 50 Songs of 2021 list. As the year winds down, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles about the best music, film, and TV of 2021. You can find it all in one place here. While 2020 felt like the year that didn’t happen, 2021 has felt like the year that just… kinda did. As the calendar pages flipped by, we cautiously began searching for a semblance of a familiar life, culminating in a summer-fall explosion as festivals returned and venues reopened. But for so many reasons, we were always looking over our shoulders, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even as the world proved ever stubborn, we were desperate to put the worst behind us. The term “post-pandemic” entered the lexicon, a fallacy we were all fully aware of as we ...
Cardi B Debuts Boozy Whipped Cream Partnership During Miami Art Week
Jumping on the celeb-back booze train, Cardi B is now peddling liquor, but her “authentic” spirit isn’t tequila or rum — it’s vodka-infused whipped cream. Whipshots by Cardi and Starco brands are available on Whipshots.com in 500-can-per-day Whip Drops, and the three launch flavors — vanilla, caramel and mocha — have been selling out in under four minutes daily since Dec. 1. Explore Explore Cardi B See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “I’m not really a hardcore liquor-drinking person. And I like things that are sexy and tasty. It’s going to be a party in every can,” Cardi tells Billboard. “At one time I was planning to do margaritas, but this is more fun.” On Dec. 4, Cardi debuted Whipshots with a sweets-themed party at Pharrell and David Grutman’s The Good...
Mach-Hommy Drops New Album Balens Cho: Stream
Less than a year after his last full-length project Pray for Haiti, Mach-Hommy is back with a new album. Balens Cho — which translates to “hot candles” in Creole — is out today, offers an even deeper understanding of the New Jersey rapper’s Haitian roots. Balens Cho is 13 songs total, with its subject matter detailing Mach’s hopeful outlook on Haitian youth, for whom he hopes to soon build a technology-focused school. Though Pray for Haiti was unfortunately snubbed for a Best Hip-Hop Album Grammy this year, Balens Cho further cements Mach’s status as one of today’s most exciting underground rappers, serving up an innovative take on East Coast rap. Stream the album on Apple Music or Spotify below. Last month, Mach-Hommy was featured on Kaytranada’s la...
These Hip-Hop Songs Prove Rappers Have A Strong Love For ‘The Matrix’ Film Franchise
Source: Ronald Siemoneit / Getty Film and Hip-Hop have a unique relationship being that you can always find a reference to a particular movie in a rap song. One movie in particular that always gets a nod from your favorite rapper is The Matrix. There is no denying how much of a stranglehold The Matrix has on pop culture. It’s made evident due to the film’s many references in other movies, television shows, cartoons, and music, especially in Hip-Hop. Since the movie’s 1999 release, The Matrix, plus its mind-blowing plot, has found its way into the songs of many rappers over the years. With Lana Wachowski’s highly-anticipated 4th film in the franchise, The Matrix: Resurrections, right around the corner, you can bet there will be even more Matrix-related bars popping up in new songs. Until we...
Rap Song of the Week: Tierra Whack Embraces Her Inner Joker on “Stand Up”
Our recurring new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the hip-hop tracks you need to hear at the end of every week. Check out the full playlist here. This week we highlight “Stand Up” off Tierra Whack’s new Rap? EP. In the three years since releasing her innovative debut Whack World, Tierra Whack has put out a steady stream of one-off singles that have kept her in the conversation as one of the most talented rappers in the game. The Philly native officially returned this week with her new EP Rap?, which is unfortunately only three tracks long. With the opener “Stand Up,” however, Whack serves up a reminder that she will never stop pushing forward. In an interview with Apple Music, Whack shared her love for the most recent Joker film and expressed her ambitions to ...
