Hip-Hop
Kanye West’s Free Larry Hoover Merch Sales Are Not Going to Charity
Kanye West performed his first show in five years at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Thursday night, teaming up with longtime frenemy Drake to host the Free Larry Hoover concert, an event meant to raise awareness and funds for the clemency of Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover. But while ticket sales to the concert were said to benefit a number of criminal justice organizations, including Ex-Cons for Community and Social Change, Hustle 2.0, and Uptown People’s Law Center, profits from the expensive merch West dropped to commemorate the event will not be donated, a rep confirmed to GQ. Available on the Amazon Fashion store only through this weekend, West teamed with Balenciaga creative director Demna to create a pullover hoodie ($200), a tee shirt ($100), a baseball tee ($160), a ...
RZA and Flatbush Zombies Team Up for Collaborative Single “Plug Addicts”: Stream
RZA and Flatbush Zombies have released their new joint single “Plug Addicts,” as well as the track’s accompanying music video. Watch it below. “Live now or die today/ We ain’t used to holidays, we ain’t used to commonplace,” Flatbush Zombies’ Erick the Architect raps on the opening verse before tossing the mic to RZA. “We ain’t got no common sense, we ain’t got no confidence/ Fuck a 9 to 5, a n***** worth the length of monuments.” “I’ve had my eyes on the Flatbush Zombies for some time now,” said the Wu-Tang Clan leader in a statement about the collaboration. “Their style of Dark hip-hop lyricism is reminiscent of my days in the Gravediggaz. This type of collaboration was overdue.” Advertisement Related Video Erick the Architect added, “In a lot of ways I saw RZA in myself, as a fellow pro...
Top 10 Rap Albums You May Have Missed in 2021
Our 2021 Annual Report continues with our list of the year’s top 10 overlooked rap albums. As 2021 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. With the colossal amount of rap music that drops every single day of the year, it’s impossible to keep track of new hip-hop releases — let alone listen to them all. Here at Consequence, we’ve kept our favorite albums tucked in our back pockets all year for that very reason. Containing the records we kept going back to long after their release dates, this list is meant to highlight projects that likely flew under the radar for the average fan. It’s tailor-made for that one friend who is constantly complaining about the state of rap music today. Dro...
2021 Producer of the Year The Alchemist Was a Chameleon at Every Turn
Our 2021 Annual Report continues with the announcement of The Alchemist as Our Producer of the Year. 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. Whether it’s stacking beats in the lab or hitting the road, The Alchemist spends the majority of his time laser-focused on music. So it took a rare moment of downtime for Consequence to catch up with the prolific producer in late November — when he was still recovering from being sick after coming off a tour of Europe. Not one to stay idle for too long, ALC gamely hopped on Zoom from his Los Angeles studio with a cup of coffee in hand to discuss an outstanding year in which he teamed up with Armand Hammer and Boldy James for Haram and Bo ...
Kanye Stages First Concert in Five Years with Drake as Special Guest: Setlist + Video
Kanye West staged his first headlining performance in five years at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night, teaming up with longtime frenemy Drake for a concert that Kanye organized in order to raise awareness and support for the release of Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover. The evening began with a few hymns performed by Kanye’s Sunday Service gospel choir, including slowed-down, harmonious versions of Adele’s “Easy On Me” and Fugees’ “Ready or Not.” As the choir sang “Ultralight Beam,” Kanye and Drake entered the coliseum through one of its arches. And thus began, one of the most anticipated concerts in recent memory. Kanye kicked off his headlining set with a prayer that segued into “Praise God.” “Wait, wait! Hold up, let’s take it back to day one,” he then shouted...
Posthumous Juice WRLD Album Fighting Demons Released: Stream
Juice WRLD’s second posthumous album is here. Today the late emo rapper’s mother, Carmela Wallace, and record labels, Grade A and Interscope, released Fighting Demons. Listen to the LP below. Born Jarad Higgins, Juice WRLD died in December 2019 after suffering a seizure; authorities believe he ingested a large amount of painkillers just beforehand. Fighting Demons, then, naturally examines the rapper’s struggles with drug addiction and mental illness. His mother discussed the record’s content in a statement. “Jarad was always searingly honest about his struggles and through his musical genius he articulated what was on his heart and mind vividly through his art,” Wallace said. “He never gave up and his friends and family never gave up on offering their support to him. We encourage all...
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...
