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Dave, Stormzy, Little Simz Win Big at 2022 Rated Awards (Full List)
Dave was the big winner at the 2022 GRM Rated Awards, which focuses on the U.K. rap and grime scene. The rapper won four awards, including track of the year and video of the year for “Clash” (featuring Stormzy). The Rated Awards were held on Saturday Oct. 22 at Magazine London and will be broadcast on E4 on Tuesday Oct. 25 at 10 p.m. BST. Big Zuu and Julie Adenuga hosted the show. Dave’s second studio album, We’re All Alone in This Together, was named album of the year. It topped the Official U.K. Albums Chart for two weeks in August 2021. Dave also took home the award for male artist of the year. While accepting the award for track of the year, Dave discussed the long journey that the song took to become a hit. The song reached No. 2 on th...
Stormzy Rushes U.K. Top 10 With ‘Hide & Seek’
Stormzy secures a 26th top 10 as “Hide & Seek” (via Def Jam) storms the U.K. singles chart, while Sam Smith and Kim Petras complete a full month atop the survey with their “Unholy” collaboration. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Hide & Seek,” lifted from Stormzy’s upcoming third album This Is What I Mean, is new at No. 7, giving the homegrown hip-hop star the week’s top debut. This Is What I Mean is due out Nov. 25. Meanwhile, Anne-Marie and Aitch’s “Psycho” (Atlantic) collab is on the climb. After chasing a top 5 spot on the midweek survey, some five weeks after its release, “Psycho” finishes the chart week up 9-6. No less than seven singles make a splash in the U.K. top 40 for the first time, including British rapper Central Cee, whos...
Hacker Who Stole Unreleased Music From Ye, Frank Ocean, Lil Uzi Vert and More Jailed for 18 Months
23-year-old Adrian Kwiatkowski has received an 18-month jail sentence after he stole and sold unreleased music from the likes of Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Lil Uzi Vert, Post Malone and more. According to reports, the computer hacker admitted to “three charges of gaining unauthorised access to a computer, 14 copyright offences, two charges of possessing criminal property and one offence of converting criminal property” and confessed that he sold a Frank Ocean song for $1,000 USD, hacked his Tumblr page and the Dropbox accounts of Uzi and Posty and downloading material from Ye’s Dropbox. Kwiatkowski’s Bitcoin wallet was supposedly connected to a Coinbase account that was linked to a Lloyds Banks account, which received a total of £61,855 GBP between June 2018 and July 2019, and experienced 35...
Lil Baby Earns Third No. 1 With ‘It’s Only Me’
Lil Baby is opening this week’s Billboard 200 at No. 1 with It’s Only Me. The rapper’s latest solo studio effort debuts with a total of 216,000 equivalent album units, including 209,000 in streaming equivalent album units (288.97 million on-demand officials streams of the 23 tracks), 6,500 in album sales and 500 in track equivalent album units. It’s Only Me marks his sixth top 10 effort and third No. 1 following The Voice of the Heroes with Lil Durk in 2021 and My Turn in 2020. Other new entries in this week’s top 10 are Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Return of the Dream Canteen at No. 3 with 63,000 equivalent album units, The 1975’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language at No. 7 with 32,500 equivalent album units and Bailey Zimmerman’s Leave the Light On at No. 9 with 32,000 equivalent album units. E...
Lil Durk No Longer Facing Attempted Murder Charge in Atlanta
In May, 2019, Lil Durk turned himself in to authorities after a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with a February 2019 shooting outside of an Atlanta restaurant called the Varsity. At the time, a Fulton County, Georgia judge found probable cause to charge Durk and since-deceased rapper King Von with criminal attempt to commit murder, as well as aggravated assault, participation in criminal street gang activity, possession of firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of firearm by a convicted felon. Now, the charges against Durk have been dropped, local ABC affiliate WSB-TV reports and Pitchfork can confirm. In a Dismissal of Charges Motion issued by Georgia’s Superior Court of Fulton County, District Attorney Fani T. Willis writes that “the facts of this case ...
Lil Baby Lands Third No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 With ‘It’s Only Me’
Lil Baby lands his third No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Oct. 29) as It’s Only Me debuts atop the tally. The set earned 216,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 20, according to Luminate. It also claims the third-largest streaming week for an album in 2022. Lil Baby previously topped the list with The Voice of the Heroes (a collaborative set with Lil Durk in 2021) and My Turn (2020). The latter finished 2020 as Luminate’s most popular album of that year. It’s Only Me was announced in early September and marks the rapper’s sixth top 10, all consecutive, on the Billboard 200. Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ second album of 2022, Return of the Dream Canteen, enters at No. 3; The 1975’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language star...
Soccer Mommy on Playing the Pavement Museum in New York: Behind the Setlist Podcast
Through three albums of guitar-driven, melodic ear candy, Soccer Mommy has reveled in the sounds of ‘90s indie rock. So it was no surprise the band was chosen to perform at Pavements 1933 to 2022, the indie rock legend Pavement‘s pop-up museum in New York City that ran from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 and will be displayed permanently in the band’s hometown of Stockton, California. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “It was really fun,” Sophie Allison, a.k.a. Soccer Mommy, tells Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast. “I mean, it was it was something that we were dying to do, honestly, because me and all the people in my live band love Pavement.” Allison and her band covered three songs at the Oct. 1 performance: “Here,” “Gold Soundz” and “Spit on a ...
Hayley Williams Pens Emotional Letter Ahead of When We Were Young Fest Headlining Set
Las Vegas’ When We Were Young Festival has Hayley Williams reflecting on the music scene that she grew up in with Paramore. Paramore is set to take the stage at Las Vegas Festival Grounds on Sunday night (Oct. 23) after Saturday, the opening day of the festival, saw the fest’s lineup canceled due to high winds. On the bill alongside Paramore this weekend are My Chemical Romance, Bring Me the Horizon, Bright Eyes, Avril Lavigne, Taking Back Sunday, Jimmy Eat World and more. “To grow up in this scene was not a simple thing,” Williams wrote in a lengthy letter posted on Instagram Stories Sunday. “To be celebrating it (and to be celebrated by it) is not a simple thing. Nothing about this life — for you, me, or anyone — is simple. We fell in love with this subset of post-punk and hardcore likel...
Tina Knowles-Lawson and Richard Lawson’s Wearable Art Gala Celebrates Black Excellence and the Harlem Renaissance
The feathers were swaying and sequins were glittering at last night’s star-studded Wearable Art Gala, a benefit celebrating the 5th anniversary of WACO Theater Center, founded by co-artistic directors Tina Knowles-Lawson and Richard Lawson. Inspired by the aesthetics and Black excellence of the Harlem Renaissance era, the benefit is designed to support the company’s artistic and youth mentorship programs through a fine art auction. “Each year we find a theme that connects us historically with our past,” Richard Lawson told THR. “[We explore] the evolution of African culture in the western world.” Previous themes have included The Lion King and Black Panther‘s Wakanda. But this year, 50,000 square feet of the Barker Hanger at Santa Monica&nb...
Akeos Unleashes Fierce Dubstep Single, “Nexus Loop”
On the heels of multiple statement-making EP releases in 2022, Akeos reminds listeners why she’s a dance music switchblade with “Nexus Loop.” The EDM.com Class of 2022 inductee recently kept listeners on their toes with Libellule, an EP which saw the ascendant bass music producer breaking convention by stringing together a series of genre-bending techno tracks fit for the dancefloor. But like the flip of a switch, Akeos is back tearing it up on the dubstep front with “Nexus Loop.” And the track continues to demonstrate that with her unique and cohesive sound design, Akeos can stand her ground on a multitude of stylistic fronts. The track opens with saccharine arpeggiated melodies before evolving into a furious volley of spitfire synths. Teed up ...
Skrillex Announces His First Festival Performance of 2022 Will Be at Porter Robinson’s Second Sky
When seemingly all hope had been written off for a Skrillex festival set in 2022, he delivered a surprise no one saw coming. Skrillex was slated to return to the festival circuit this year with scheduled performances at Tampa’s Sunset Music Festival and Detroit’s Movement. However, just as we turned the corner into summer, the pioneering electronic music producer announced he simply hadn’t had the time to prepare as he’d been preoccupied with finishing work on his upcoming albums. Skrillex confirmed his first festival set of 2022 at Porter Robinson’s Second Sky Festival. Marilyn Hue It seemed that was going to be the end of it. Then in late September, Fred again.., who was one of the scheduled artists set to play at Porter Robinson’s Second Sky, an...
Alan Walker’s “Walkerverse” Tour Tears Through Brooklyn, L.A. and Vancouver With Added Dates
Spider-Man and Doctor Strange have nothing on the interdimensional scale of Alan Walker and his “Walkerverse” tour. Walker is trekking all over the world in support of his latest album, Walkerverse, Pt. 1 and its impending follow-up, Walkerverse, Pt. 2. Walker has already made his way through much of Europe, performing sold-out shows in the U.K. and Belgium, plus stops in Germany, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. “Walkerverse: The Tour” has doubled up on concert dates in three cities after the initial shows were filled to capacity. Brooklyn is getting a second show on November 10th, followed by an additional November 24th date in Vancouver and another on December 1st in Los Angeles. “Walkers, over the last months, I’...
