Author: djfrosty
Page: 5
Bootsy Collins‘ endless alter-egos — Boot-Tron, Zillatron, King of the Geepies, Bootdullivan, Bedroom Bootsy and, of course, Bootzilla — have always battled for space inside the funk pioneer’s brain. But early in his career, as a teenager in the early 1970s, they hit a wall. “All them boys have wanted to do all kinds of genres, but when I was coming up, I got stuck with James Brown,” the bassist recalls with a laugh. “It’s hard to get out of that funk, you know?”
Collins, now 73, was playing with Cincinnati’s Pacesetters in 1970, when Brown sent a Learjet to fly the band to a Columbus, Ohio, gig, abruptly replacing his own disgruntled road band. The Pacesetters, who’d been hanging around Brown’s King Records studio, knew his songs and could play any of them on demand. “I said, ‘Just call out whatever song you want to go into. We got you,’” Collins recalls. “That’s how we made it through that night — but after that night, we had about two weeks of straight rehearsal, every single day. Which we were used to anyway.”
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Collins and company scrupulously adhered to Brown’s funk orthodoxy for a year. Then, for a gig at the Copacabana in New York, Brown cut the band’s pay and forced them to wear jackets and ties, so they split. Collins went on to join another funk pioneer: George Clinton, whose alternating bands Parliament and Funkadelic were innovating a looser, more improvisational and funnier style that would help define Black music in the ’70s.
In P-Funk, Bootzilla and the rest of Collins’ alter-egos found a receptive home. “By the time I got with George, I got a little more freedom — well, a lot more freedom — to do funk. And the name was Funkadelic,” he says, in an audio-only Zoom from his Cincinnati home, along with his wife and manager, Patti Collins. “So what am I going to do? Am I going to come there and play everything else but funk? No, you’ve got to bring the funk: ‘I’m up to my trunks in P-Funk.’”
Collins — whose bass style “had sap flowing through it, it moved,” according to Brown’s biographer R.J. Smith — was part of a funky bass coalition in the ’70s, including Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone and the late Louis Johnson of the Brothers Johnson, which brought the instrument into the foreground. Collins had unlimited musical creativity, and a weird, say-anything persona that he capped with star-shaped shades, bright-colored suits and spangled ringleader hats. And he made several great albums with his solo outfit Bootsy’s Rubber Band, notably 1977’s Ahh… the Name Is Bootsy, Baby. But even then, he felt limited.
“I just got caught, like, ‘OK, Bootsy’s thing is funk,’ so everybody levitated towards that — except me,” he says. “I wanted to play other music, but it was who I wound up with that solidified what I was going to be and what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Collins’ Album of the Year #1 Funkateer, due April 11, allows all these musical detours and imaginary best friends to do whatever they want. In addition to straightforward funk (“The InFluencers,” with guest star Snoop Dogg, a vocal P-Funk adherent), Collins travels into guitar-shredding metal (“Barbie T & Me”), electronic dance music (the murmuring “I.Am.AI,” with competing robot voices) and hip-hop (“Bootdullivan is Soopafly”). Collins’ solo albums in recent years have been long and varied, unlike the Bootsy’s Rubber Band days, when he hit the studio, jammed with his bandmates and occasionally turned on the recording machines.
“Those jams were just so long. You could only put so much on an album back in the day without it not sounding good,” he says. “I never thought we were going to be doing as many songs as I’m doing now, but that’s where technology has taken us.”
On the Zoom, Bootsy and Patti Collins discuss a number of projects, beginning with Bootzilla Records, the pair’s indie label, distributed through Jay-Z‘s Roc Nation, which puts out Collins’ own albums as well as a roster of young artists he discovers online, such as singers Fantaazma and Myra Washington. Collins is also working on an album for guitarist Buckethead, with whom he collaborated in experimental-music bandleader Bill Laswell‘s band Praxis in the ’90s. He’s working with the Wooten Brothers, jazz, funk and bluegrass stars, on an album. And he’s in touch with his old P-Funk mate, Clinton, for the first time in years, discussing a tour.
The two reconnected last summer, after then-Vice President Kamala Harris bought a George Clinton Funko Pop doll during a campaign stop, then asked reporters, “Do you know P-Funk? No. OK, well there are lessons to be taught. Bootsy Collins. Does everybody know who Bootsy Collins is? OK, there’s some education to be done, I can see that.”
So what education needs to be done? Collins explains that P-Funk made great albums, performed on tour for thousands of fans and became influential for generations of best-selling artists from hip-hop stars like Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube to funk bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone, but never hit that multiplatinum megastar stratosphere. “Of course, we sold some gold and platinum records, but it wasn’t like Prince, it wasn’t like Rick James, it wasn’t like all the big boys that raised all that noise with all those records,” Collins says. “Funk was a bad word when we first brought it. Radio wouldn’t even touch us in the beginning. But it was something that the people stood up for and I would never forget that. And that’s what Kamala was talking about: ‘I’m going to have to educate y’all.’”
From touring with Taylor Swift in 2013 to selling out stadiums on his own in the years since, Ed Sheeran has performed on some pretty big stages in his career — but the Super Bowl Halftime Show probably won’t ever be added to that list, he says.
On the latest episode of Call Her Daddy posted Tuesday (April 8), the “Bad Habits” singer opened up about his friendship with the Eras superstar as well as revealed whether he’d ever headline the biggest American sporting event of the year. When host Alex Cooper asked if he’d ever been asked to play the Super Bowl, he began, “There was a conversation about 10 years ago to go on with someone, and I think that’d be the only way that I would do it at the moment.”
“I don’t think English artists … I mean, there are some that have the pizazz of Super Bowl, fireworks, dancers, blah, blah, blah, but me going up there and being like, here’s ‘The A Team’ and here’s ‘Perfect,’ no one wants to see that,” Sheeran continued, laughing. “Whereas if there was a show with a lot of that, like if it was Beyoncé’s show, and she had all the bells and whistles, and then there was a moment where we sang ‘Perfect’ together, that makes sense to me.”
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The four-time Grammy winner did say that he thinks he could “nail one song” as a guest artist sharing the Super Bowl stage with someone else, but beyond that, he thinks his catalog “doesn’t really lend itself” to the high-energy gameday environment. “Have you seen me play as well? Because it’s with a loop pedal and you have to build the things,” he added. “Doesn’t really lend itself to the Super Bowl. ‘Hey, hang on guys. I’ve just gotta set this up for two minutes.’ You know?”
The interview comes about two months after the 2024 Super Bowl, which Kendrick Lamar headlined with assistance from SZA. In recent years, Usher, Rihanna and The Weeknd have also all added the coveted gig to their resumes.
One star who has generated much speculation over the past few years as to whether she might ever headline is Swift, whom Sheeran has known for more than a decade. Also on Call Her Daddy, the “Shape of You” musician opened up about his longtime friendship with the pop star, sharing that he recently went through their text conversations after being forced to dig out his old devices while preparing his defense for his ongoing legal battle over copyright issues.
“It was really nostalgic going through,” he told Cooper. “I lived in Nashville, and she lived in Nashville, and we used to fly to and from the gigs together and do all sorts of … I don’t know. I literally spent almost every single day with her for about six months, so I think that period of time [was my favorite].”
Sheeran opened for Swift on the North American leg of her global trek supporting 2012’s Red album, on which the pair had a duet titled “Everything Has Changed.” The two singers have since worked together on several more duets, including “End Game” on Swift’s Reputation (2017) and “The Joker and the Queen” on Sheeran’s = (2021).
Now, the British star says he probably sees the “Karma” artist “like, four times a year.” “I see her when I see her,” he said on Call Her Daddy. “Like, instead of catching up the whole time, we have a proper sit-down, six-hour catchups, and I think that’s like a really nice way to do it.”
Watch Sheeran’s full interview above.
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Source: Lilly Lawrence / Getty
Travis Scott recently opened up about his relationship with Kanye West, which dates back to the early stages of his career.
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Travis was signed to Kanye’s label, G.O.O.D. Music, as a producer, and quickly became an integral part of Kanye’s creative process. He played a pivotal role in producing tracks for Kanye’s Yeezus album, Big Sean’s Dark Sky Paradise, and many of the GOOD Fridays songs. Travis has often referred to Kanye as a mentor, a figure who not only taught him about music but allowed him to experience firsthand the art of music creation.
In a recent interview, La Flame reflected on Ye’s influence in his life, saying, “That’s my kids’ uncle.” He described how Kanye took him in at a young age, when Travis was just 19, and helped shape his musical journey. According to Travis, Kanye’s mentorship extended beyond just teaching him; it was about collaborating and creating together. Travis expressed that his time working alongside Kanye played a crucial role in his growth, not only as a producer but as an artist in general, helping him hone his skills in music, film, fashion, and more.
Despite recent controversies surrounding Kanye, including his inflammatory comments online, some of which have targeted the Kardashian family, Travis emphasized the enduring bond they share. His children’s connection to the Kardashian family, with Kylie Jenner being his partner and Kim Kardashian’s sister, may have created tension between Kanye and the family. However, Travis kept it vague for the sake of the history between the two artists.
Save this storySaveSave this storySaveLido Pimienta has announced her first new album in five years, La Belleza. The follow-up to 2020’s Miss Colombia arrives May 16 via Anti-. The Colombian and Canadian musician’s third studio record is led by the single “Mango,” which comes with a lyric video filmed in a humble courtyard. Check out the new song below.La Belleza follows Pimienta as she dips her toes into the enriching world of classical music. It was written by Pimienta and co-orchestrated with Owen Pallett. Despite not being classically trained, Pimienta felt compelled to try her hand at the genre after falling in love with the Luboš Fišer soundtrack for the movie Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.“The thought of making ‘classical music’ never occurred to me before, but making experimental electronica on Miss Colombia was not premeditated either,” said Pimienta in a press release. “All I create is a natural evolution of my curiosity and stubbornness.”Read about “Eso Que Tú Haces” in “The 22 Best Songs by Latinx Artists in 2020” and revisit Matthew Ismael Ruiz’s essay about the liberating qualities of Lido Pimienta’s record in “The Year in Latin Music.”La Belleza:01 Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna)02 Ahora03 Quiero Que Me Beses04 Mango05 Aún Te Quiero06 El Dembow del Tiempo07 ¿Quién Tiene la Luz? (El Perdón)08 Tengo Que Ir09 Busca la Luz
Save this storySaveSave this storySaveMJ Lenderman has shared a new music video for his Manning Fireworks single “Wristwatch.” In the hilarious Lance Bangs-directed clip, Lenderman makes many failed attempts to clear a low overpass while driving a pickup truck loaded with various items: basketballs, brightly-colored pool floats, and more. Watch Lenderman and members of his band the Wind star in the visual below.“I had been drawn to make things with Jake for a while, and spent the late summer listening to the songs that would make up Manning Fireworks,” Lance Bangs said of the collaboration with Lenderman in press materials.The director continued: “The imagery of characters caught in persistence without progress that has recurred in his writing was there in ‘Wristwatch’ and that song was the one I went back to the most while listening to the batch of recordings. I had seen low clearance bridges in this part of North Carolina in my past travels, a mismatch between the train trestles that were built in the first half of the 20th Century and the modern 13ft height of most tractor trailers. Durham has a notorious one called the ‘Canopener’ that is featured on a website and Youtube channel 11foot8.com by Jurgen Henn, who has captured 186 crashes since April of 2008. I took measurements and designed plans to add a few more crashes to Jurgen’s tally.”Lenderman recently announced the reissue of a 2021 collaborative six-song EP with Wednesday. Revisit Pitchfork’s 2023 interview “Low-Key Indie Rocker MJ Lenderman Wants to Tell a Bigger Story.”
Lucy Dacus reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts for the first time as a soloist, debuting atop the April 12-dated surveys with Forever Is a Feeling. Dacus’ fourth solo LP bows with 30,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending April 3, according to Luminate. […]
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Soulja Boy hasn’t had a hit record in quite some time, so you know whenever he’s trending or making headlines it’s for something wild he said or allegedly did, and in this case, it happens to be the latter of the two.
According to Court House News, a woman has just slapped Soulja with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit with an explosive claim saying that the “Crank That” rapper basically kidnapped her, beat her and raped her for a year while she was employed as his personal assistant. This past Monday (April 7) closing arguments in the civil case in which Jane Doe described the physical and emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of Soulja in 2018, which not only included being raped multiple times, but even starved as she said she was locked in a room for days without being fed.
On Tuesday (April 8), the 12 members of the jury began deliberations to determine whether or not to hold Soulja Boy liable for the claims and determine what kind of damages he may owe his former personal assistant if found guilty.
Court House News reports:
“If you don’t believe my client, don’t give her a dollar,” Ron Zambrano, a partner at West Coast trial lawyers, said. “But if you do believe her, give her everything.”
He added: “He raped her. He punched her. He kicked her. He cut her. He pointed a Draco gun at her. He locked her in her room … He told her, ‘I hope you die slow.’”
The plaintiff, who has asked to remain nameless throughout the trial, says she wasn’t paid while employed beginning in 2018 by the rapper, during which time she claims she was raped and beaten numerous times, and subjected to various acts of emotional abuse.
For his part, Soulja Boy (born DeAndre Way), denied the allegations and even called her claim that he punched her in the face and recorded a sex tape in order to blackmail her “disgusting” as he fights off any notion that he abused her in any way, shape or form. That being said, Soulja claimed that he never even hired her to be his assistant and according to his lawyer, Rickey Ivie, only offered her a place to stay so long as she became the designated “blunt roller” on his team.
Still, both admit things did eventually get amorous between the two only for things to become toxic as time went on.
Both Way and the plaintiff have said that for a time, they were in a consensual romantic relationship, one that could be loving and tender, but that it soured amidst mutual distrust.
A long text message thread between Way and the plaintiff screenshots of which were shown to the jury, showed the two exchanging terms of endearment. But the thread also showed both, especially Way, to have a violent temper, with Way going so far as to text her: “Die bitch. Shoulda killed your stupid ass.”
Showing the jury pictures of the bruises that she claims Soulja left on her person as evidence of the physical abuse, Jane Doe is suing for a whopping $73.6 million for her trauma. Whether or not a jury agrees with her story and demands remains to be seen. Unfortunately for Soulja though, this isn’t the first time he’s been sued for similar behavior as he took a court ordered L under similar circumstances not too long ago.
In 2021, a jury ordered Way to pay $471,800 to an ex-girlfriend named Kayla Myers, who accused Way of domestic violence and kidnapping, among other things. Myers was mentioned a number of times throughout the current trial. According to testimony, the plaintiff and Myers once got into a fight in Way’s driveway in Malibu.
Looks like Soulja may have to cough up a little something-something when this is all said and done.
What do y’all think about this latest legal issue for Soulja Boy? Let us know in the comments section below.
All Sheryl Crow wants to do is listen to Kelly Clarkson‘s new cover of “All I Wanna Do” on repeat. After the talk-show host sang a gorgeous rendition of the early ’90s hit for the latest installment of The Kelly Clarkson Show‘s Kellyoke segment, the guitarist had nothing but praise when commenting on a video […]
The negative response to the song “+57” by Karol G, J Balvin, Maluma, Feid, Blessd, Ryan Castro and DFZM reached a new peak on Tuesday (April 9), when a high court in Colombia ruled that it violated the rights of children because its lyrics “sexualized” minors, reports the Associated Press.
The Council of State, the supreme court for administrative litigation in Colombia, ordered the reggaetón stars to refrain from publishing music that violates the rights of children and teenagers. “Sexualizing minors reduces them to becoming objects of desire, and exposes them to risks that can affect their development,” the court said in a 14-page ruling, according to AP.
The track received a barrage of criticism since its release on Nov. 7 of last year. Rolling Stone En Español published an article titled “The Disaster of +’57′,” which Colombian President Gustavo Petro shared on his X account expressing that “it’s OK to have a cultural debate.” And the ICBF issued a statement saying that the song “reinforces the sexualization of childhood in our country” and that it “does not contribute to our fight against the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.”
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On Nov. 11, Karol gave a lengthy response to the criticism and apologized, saying, “I still have a lot to learn.” A couple days later, the lyrics were changed on the music video, saying “a hot mama since she was 18” instead of “14.”
“+57,” whose title is the international phone code for Colombia, was produced by hitmaker Ovy on the Drums and written by all of the aforementioned artists along with Keityn and newcomer DFZM. The name of the song, and the union of these superstars, had caused anticipation among fans eager for a new reggaeton anthem for Colombia.
The song was recorded in Karol G’s hometown of Medellin, a city that has become famous for nurturing several famous reggaeton singers. A main tourist destination, the city has also struggled to protect minors from sexual predators who visit the city in search of young women, reports the AP.
Save this storySaveSave this storySaveLast month, Miley Cyrus announced her new album, Something Beautiful, and, soon after, released the opening song, “Prelude,” and the title track. That first song, “Prelude,” was co-written by Model/Actriz frontman Cole Haden. In a new statement to Pitchfork, Haden reflected on his experience working with Cyrus. He shared:When Miley asked me to write poetry for Something Beautiful, we had already known each other for some time—both as friends and admirers of each other’s work. Early in the process of developing the album, she invited me over for a kiki to play me demos and share her vision for the project. The album I heard then, albeit unfinished, already had an identity that felt complete. What touched me most deeply about this collaboration was the profound trust she placed in me, believing I could add something meaningful to it.As someone who rarely writes for others, I took my time to really internalize what this album means to me, so that what I wrote could speak the same language that Miley had already written.When I eventually sent my work back to her, it became the opening of the album. I was deeply honored that Miley chose to start her album with words I had written. It’s a reminder of the interconnectedness of art and creation—how, through collaboration, we give life to something that is not just ours but belongs to everyone who experiences it.Miley Cyrus and Shawn Everett are Something Beautiful’s executive producers, and they both co-produced “Prelude” with Michael Pollack, Jonathan Rado, and Maxx Morando. The new album is out on May 30.Model/Actriz are readying their sophomore album Pirouette, which follows their fantastic 2023 debut, Dogsbody. It comes out on May 2.