Rap
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...
Johnny Depp Investigates The Notorious B.I.G.’s Death in New Trailer for City of Lies: Watch
Three years ago, City of Lies was one month away from hitting theaters before it was pulled by its distributor due to Johnny Depp’s less-than-flattering public image at the time. Now, the crime drama is finally scheduled to hit select theaters and VOD on March 19th, and a newly revealed trailer is streaming below. In case you forgot — which, considering how much time has passed since the first trailer came out in 2018, would be understandable — City of Lies is based on the true story of The Notorious B.I.G.’s death in 1997. Directed by Brad Furman, the movie follows a retired LAPD detective named Russell Poole (Depp) and a journalist (Forest Whitaker) as they try to uncover the identities of those responsible for the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Allegedly a handful of co...
Corey Taylor Compares Gen Z Attempt to Cancel Eminem to the Salem Witch Trials
Eminem was recently the target of a cancellation attempt for a lyric from “Love the Way You Lie”, his 2010 hit featuring Rihanna. After seeing the story, Slipknot singer Corey Taylor compared the situation to the Salem witch trials. As the story goes, a group of Generation Z TikTok users apparently attempted to cancel Eminem for “Love the Way You Lie” line, “If she ever tries to f**king leave again/ I’mma tie her to the bed and set this house on fire.” Eminem responded by sharing a lyric video for his 2020 song “Tone Deaf”, which contains the lyrics, “I won’t stop even when my hair turns grey (I’m tone-deaf)/ ‘Cause they won’t stop until they cancel me.” Taylor, seeing the story make headlines this week, brought up the topic when speaking with Matt Pinfield on Los Angeles’ 95.5 KLOS radio....
Azealia Banks Sold an Audio Sex Tape as an NFT for $18,000
What’s that fucking sound? Why, it’s “I FUCKED RYDER RIPPS”, an audio-only sex tape by rapper Azealia Banks that just sold as a blockchain NFT for over $18,000. (Via Vice.) The Non-Fungible Token (NFT) was created by the titular Mr. Ripps and posted on the Ethereum blockchain for 10.00 ETH. At the time of this writing, 1.00 ETH is worth about $1,827.08, which brings the total haul for the heavy breathing to $18,270.80. Now, that 24 minutes and 22 seconds of light cardio belongs to Bond villain user Rulton Fyder, who has the right to do anything they want with it, from whacking off, to helping others whack off, to playing it at parties while passing out drinks. As Banks and Ripps wrote in the product description, “This sale is for the full rights and sole access to the first audio...
Cardi B Becomes First Female Rapper with Diamond Single for “Bodak Yellow”
Cardi B turned “bloody shoes” into a diamond on the wall. Her breakout single “Bodak Yellow” has been RIAA-certified diamond, making her the first female rapper to ever achieve the feat. The artist born Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar teased fans with the news late last night by posting a video on Twitter. She had been working on her upcoming Grammys performance, she said, when she learned of an unplanned meeting with Atlantic Records. As she explained, “I’ve been rehearsing all day today, I’m really stressed out, my body’s aching. At rehearsal, they said to me, ‘Yo, you gotta meet up with Atlantic execs.’ I’m like, ‘Yo I’m fucking tired like I don’t wanna talk about no Grammys, I don’t wanna talk about no album, I’m just tired.’ And then I still got drove to a restaurant. I’m like, ‘Are y...
Mykele Deville on Coping With Racism and Generational Trauma
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Stitcher | Google | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Presented by Consequence of Sound and Sound Mind Live, Going There with Dr. Mike is a new interview podcast series in which clinical psychologist and life coach Dr. Mike Friedman talks with musicians about the crossroads where music and mental health meet. Mykele Deville joins the show this week to discuss how he copes with the effects of systemic racism and inter-generational trauma on mental health. In particular, the Chicago artist discusses how these stresses can result in a core belief of being unlovable. The Growing Concerns Poetry Collective artist also talks about how he addresses social justice in his music while making sure that he creates “freedoms” for himself to be ...
The Zamundan Palace in Coming 2 America Is Actually Rick Ross’ House
Eddie Murphy reclaimed his acting throne last week with the release of Coming 2 America, a sequel to the 1988 comedy flick. In it, Murphy stars as the iconic Prince Akeem Joffer of the fictional country of Zamunda, and he lives in an enormous palace with his ultra royal family. Not everything is as it seems in the movie, though. As it turns out, Zamunda was recreated in Georgia, not Africa, and the stunning mansion is the real-life home of Rick Ross himself. Ross’ home is a casual 45,000 square-foot mansion in Fayetteville, Georgia with 235 gorgeous acres surrounding it. There are 12 bedrooms, a dining room that seats up to 100 people, and a gold ceiling trim throughout the entire mansion. It’s an absurdly ornate palace both internally and externally, and the team behind Coming 2 America w...
Eminem Fires Back at Attempts to Cancel Him in “Tone Deaf” Lyric Video: Watch
Eminem has been a target of cancel culture before the phrase was even part of the lexicon. His lyrics have long been violent, homophobic, misogynistic, and sexist (with more than a dash or rapey-ness), with most of his shocking locutions attributed to “alter egos” Slim Shady and Eminem, while Marshall Mathers stood separate as a sincere wordsmith. Now, it’s Gen Z’s turn to try and put an end to one of the most controversial hip-hop icons, and Em is having none of it. As Hot New Hip-Hop reported, Gen Z TikTok recently set their sights on Eminem for his past lyrics, particularly a line in his Rihanna collaboration “Love the Way You Lie” where he spits, “If she ever tries to fucking leave again/ I’mma tie her to the bed and set this house on fire.” (Which is kinda like trying to cancel D...
Song of the Week: Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak Play It Smooth as Silk Sonic on “Leave the Door Open”
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, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak dropped their first single as Silk Sonic. Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak have teamed up under the name Silk Sonic, which seems to have been a good name choice. Their first single, “Leave the Door Open”, is nothing if not luxurious, velvety goodness. The full-length project, An Evening with Silk Sonic, reunites the two artists who previously toured together with .Paak as an opening act on Bruno Mars’ 2017 “24K Magic World Tour”. Sonically, “Leave the Door Open” is a return to form for Bruno Mars, who ha...
