music blog
Kari Wahlgren Delivers Celebratory 4-Track EP, “Kaleidoscope”
Singer-songwriter Kari Wahlgren has officially made her electronic dance music debut. Over the years, Wahlgren’s distinctive voice has been featured in numerous syncs across film, television and video games. Some may recognize her from Rick & Morty, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, DC Super Hero Girls, Trolls: The Beat Goes On, Mortal Kombat 11 and FLCL, to name a few. Now, she’s emerged into the dance music space with the release of Kaleidoscope. The four-track EP includes the titular track as well as three stellar remixes by Falcone, Arnie G and OnenO. Opting for a variety of unique spins on “Kaleidoscope” only added to the message Wahlgren wanted to leave her listeners with. “Kaleidoscope is about being you,R...
Parties, Panels and Pro Tips: 22 Things You Can’t Miss at the 2022 Amsterdam Dance Event
It’s hard to believe the Amsterdam Dance Event is less than two weeks away, but here we are. Our community is abuzz ahead of the world’s largest electronic music summit, which returns to Amsterdam from October 19th to the 23rd. And despite its billing as a conference, this year’s ADE is more akin to a dance music utopia. Between its Lab, Pro, Festival and Arts & Culture programs, there are enough events to make even the most experienced ADE veteran’s head spin. So we dug deep into the programming to highlight various must-attend parties, panels and more. Read on to discover 22 events you can’t miss at ADE 2022, in no particular order. And if you’d like to connect with the team at EDM.com in Amsterdam, RSVP to our first-ever global networkin...
University of California, Berkeley To Offer Course On Nicki Minaj’s Impact On The Music Industry
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Arturo Holmes / Getty It’s always a wonderful thing to see Hip-Hop be included in academia. It’s not that the culture really needs that validation, but whenever specific artists inspire college-level school curricula, it’s a reminder that Hip-Hop isn’t just a genre or even just an art form — it’s a movement and a tool to inform the masses. The University of California, Berkeley, will soon be offering a course that explores the cultural impact of none other than the “Chun Swae” queen herself, Nicki Minaj. Related Stories The course is titled “Nicki Minaj: The Black Barbie Femmecee & Hip Hop Feminisms,” and if you’re a UC student who also happens to be a Barbz and a scholar, you might want to head to the nearest course registration office. It’s no...
Kanye West Admits He Was Jealous Of Virgil Abloh Via Texts With Tremaine Emory
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Edward Berthelot / Getty The Kanye West hot mess express continues. He reveals that he was indeed jealous of Virgil Abloh in a text conversation with Tremaine Emory. As spotted on Complex, the Chicago, Ill. native reached out directly to the Creative Director at SUPREME after Emory called him out for treating Virgil Abloh poorly prior to and after his death. Last Friday (Oct. 7), Ye shared screenshots of their conversation. Emory went ten toes down on his prior stance. Related Stories “You still ain’t tell the people why you weren’t invited at Virgil’s private funeral,” he wrote. “Why you rode on him when you knew he was sick. That’s the ether. That’s the sh*t you can’t address. The sh*t you can’t live with. All the hate you spewed on your brother.”...
Check Out Some Of The Trailers That Premiered At New York Comic Con 2022
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Roy Rochlin / Getty The 2022 New York Comic Con has come and gone and in its wake left many fan boys and fan girls satisfied what with giving them a reason to finally go out in public dressed up as superheroes and sci-fi characters and not get clowned for it. But aside from the superb cosplaying and exclusive merchandise sold at the annual event, fans get excited for the new trailers to whatever shows or films they follow and this year we got some highly-anticipated reveals including the first trailer for the animated Super Mario Bros. movie (Chris Pratt voicing Super Mario is hella weird). Aside from that we got a sneak peak at the upcoming fourth season of HBO Max’s Teen Titans, Netflix’s Adams Family spinoff, Wednesday, and Teen Wolf: The Movie am...
Dallas Woman Shot & Killed Over Basketball Game Victory
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Jackyenjoyphotography / Getty A young Dallas woman was shot to death, allegedly due to the results of a basketball game she won against the person who killed her. According to reports, Asia Womack was found by first responders on the sidewalk on Laglow Street in South Dallas last Monday evening with multiple gunshot wounds. They rushed her to a local hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries later that evening. Police have not publicly named a suspect, but Womack’s family has come out and said that the man who killed her did so after Asia beat him in a pick-up game of basketball. “This was supposed to be a friend of Asia’s. She’s eaten with the man,” her mother, Andrea Womack said to the local news network Fox4. “She’s fed him, and he turned on her an...
Nicki Minaj, Lil Baby, Kane Brown & More ‘Sqaud Up’ for ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’ Trailer: Watch
Are you ready to squad up? Some of your favorite rappers and pop stars are. On Sunday, Call of Duty released a trailer for the newest installment of its video game series, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, and enlisted a few music industry heavyweights to get fans inspired to play. The trailer kicks off in an airplane hangar, with Lil Baby as a drill sergeant, corralling troops with a cry of “left, left, left, right, left.” His troops — on motorcycles with their engines ready to roar — head out as he shouts “Squad up!” into the hangar. From the interior of a monster truck, Lil Baby sings, “It don’t matter where you’ve been/ Modern Warfare is back again.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Kane Brown then swoops in for the assist, from a vastly diff...
Downtown-owned CD Baby and Soundrop Lay Off Employees, Citing ‘Economic Conditions’
CD Baby and Soundrop have both laid off employees, citing “economic conditions” and “uncertain times,” according to a company-wide email written by Downtown’s new chief people officer Love Whelchel on Oct. 5. Whelchel started at Downtown just last month. News of the layoffs was first published by Digital Music News. While the outlet reported that 30 employees were let go from the two companies, a spokesperson for CD Baby and Soundrop tells Billboard this figure is incorrect. It remains unclear how many people were laid off from the companies. News of these layoffs arrives about a week after parent company Downtown announced that it would be combining multiple of its businesses to consolidate and streamline its B2B operations under the new monicker Downtown Music. This new one-stop-shop wil...
Rex Orange County Charged With 6 Counts of Sexual Assault in the U.K.
British singer-songwriter Rex Orange County has been charged with six counts of sexual assault in his native U.K., Billboard has confirmed. The charges stem from an accusation that the artist (born Alexander O’Connor) twice assaulted a woman in the West End on June 1. That was allegedly followed by four additional assaults against the same woman the following day: once in a taxi and three more times at his home in London’s Notting Hill district. On Monday (Oct. 10), O’Connor denied all counts during an appearance at Southwark Crown Court in London. He has been set free on unconditional bail ahead of a provisional trial date on Jan. 3. The news was first reported by The Sun. “Alex is shocked by the allegations which he denies and looks forward to clearing his name in court,” said a represen...
Inaugural ‘Hollywood & Mind’ Mental Health Summit Set for May 2023
Hollywood & Mind, a new mental health and entertainment-focused event, will launch its inaugural iteration in May 2023. The one day experience and brainchild of veteran entertainment journalist Cathy Applefeld Olson will take place on May 11, 2023, at the Beverly Hills campus of founding sponsor United Talent Agency. Additional sponsors include Hallmark Media, Milk & Honey Music + Sports + Ventures, MTV Entertainment Studios and Publicis Health. “Hollywood & Mind is a formal expression of the need and willingness for both mental health professionals and the entertainment industry to come together to provide a powerful platform for discussion,” Olson said in a statement. “We are thrilled to be having our in-person launch event on UTA’s beautiful campus.” Cathy Applefeld Ols...
Robert Glasper Drops New Song “Therapy Pt. 2” With Mac Miller
Robert Glasper has enlisted the late rapper, Mac Miller, for a new track. Titled “Therapy Pt. 2,” the song appears on Glasper’s forthcoming album, Black Radio III: Supreme Edition. The forthcoming deluxe album expands the foundation of Black Radio III, which was released this past February. In its elevation, the work’s “Therapy Pt. 2,” aptly posits the vocals and cadence of the late rapper as a follow-up to Miller’s 2014 track, “Therapy.” “You will find that we not very different, no you and I / Although I usually, usually find a way out / Feelin’ like I’m in the skies / My hands could separate clouds,” raps Miller in the first verse. In Glasper fashion, the smooth track harbors a steady tempo, while incorporating elements of hip-hop, jazz and piano. “I was working with my friend. We were ...
Boogie Nights at 25: How Paul Thomas Anderson Foresaw Changing Attitudes Towards Art, Porn, and Commerce
25 years ago, Boogie Nights arrived in theaters, introducing audiences to a promising-turned-renowned filmmaker (Paul Thomas Anderson) and showcasing a fantastic ensemble of young breakout performers (Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman), rising character actors (Don Cheadle, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore) and Hollywood veterans (Burt Reynolds, Philip Baker Hall) in an endlessly entertaining depiction of the Golden Age of Porn. Laced with colorful period detail and a vibrant wall-to-wall soundtrack of pop, disco, and Motown, Anderson’s sun-soaked chronicle of the San Fernando Valley in the late 1970s illustrated a seemingly halcyon time in American culture. As the film’s trailer posits, it was an era when “sex was safe, pleasure was a business, and business was booming....
