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Dj Frosty 2025-02-21 MIX 1

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Hip-Hop

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Sexyy Red is about to be a beauty mogul: The 26-year-old rapper introduced her Northside Princess beauty brand on Monday (Aug. 19). “BO$$ LADY SPEAKIN …. New and improved @sexyyred_products is back better den eva !! introducing NORTHSIDE PRINCESS the brand @getnorthside,” she wrote on Instagram. The first product from her Northside Princess line is lip gloss called […]

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: @aydeethegreat / Instagram
HipHopWired got to interview Dr. A.D. Carson, the renowned University of Virginia professor and author who is building bridges between Hip-Hop culture and academia.

Hip-Hop has always been about education in various forms. It’s become a fixture on college campuses due in part to pioneering work done at The University of Virginia by Dr. Kyra Gaunt, and the establishment of the Hiphop Archive and Research Institute at Harvard University by Marcyliena Morgan in 2002. These days, artists such as 9th Wonder and Lupe Fiasco are among those teaching courses and seminars on Hip-Hop at institutions such as M.I.T., and adding to that legacy of work at UVA is A.D. Carson, Associate Professor of Hip Hop and the Global South.

Dr. Carson’s robust body of work began with his groundbreaking dissertation at Clemson University, a 34-track album entitled Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes and Revolutions. Since then, the Decatur, Illinois native has earned numerous achievements including having the first peer-reviewed rap album for publication by an academic press, i used to love to dream with the University of Michigan in 2020. His music is imbued with a vigorous dexterity and matter-of-fact perspective shining a light on multiple issues facing Black people and other people of color in America and abroad throughout history, demonstrating the true educational power of Hip-Hop culture. Dr. Carson has been a featured contributor to Rolling Stone, as well as having been interviewed by NPR, The Undefeated, and many other outlets.

We had the chance to interview Dr. Carson recently about his work. This interview has been edited for clarity.
HHW: The conceptualization behind Owning My Masters – what was the impetus behind making that decision?
Dr. A.D. Carson: It’s probably important that when I left Illinois to go get a PhD, I knew that it would be Hip-Hop related. The time that I left Illinois was around the time that Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman. I imagine that many people can like, look back on that, and then think “Wow, that was like 10-12 years ago.” But as that’s happening, I’m moving from Illinois to South Carolina. And Clemson is football country. I didn’t know all of the stuff about John Calhoun being Thomas Clemson’s father-in-law. I didn’t know that Clemson was a plantation. I get there and they’ve got a plantation house in the middle of campus. And then you walk out in front of the plantation house, you look to your left, and you can see the like the tiger eyes in the endzone. And it’s like, “Oh, they’re producing NFL football players and millions of dollars of revenue. And I don’t know if folks know that this place is a plantation.”

Anytime I tried to say something about that, or about what was going on in the world, then there was this loud chorus of people who were like kind of politely saying “You shouldn’t say that.” Or like, very violently saying, “You need to go back to Illinois.” I don’t think that I would have even made the album if it wasn’t for people not just trying to tell me what I can’t say, but also telling me how to say whatever it is that I do get to say. Because as much as people claim to love Hip-Hop, as much as people claim to love the culture, I don’t think that people have like very high cultural literacy or cultural fluency. 
And so that’s a way that you might be able to say the thing directly to folks’ faces while they smile and nod and be like, it’s so great that you did this, but like you’re saying directly to them, “I’m not f—–g with this.” the decision like had everything to do with being in Clemson at that time, and I don’t know that it would have even had the kind of like potency or resonance if I was in Chicago, or in LA or in New York because I imagine that like those are the kinds of places where the politics they express are like a little more receptive. At Clemson, they were trying to shut it down even at a university where you’re supposed to be able to have academic freedom. I’m saying it was a social response, not an academic response, And with the folks in Clemson’s administration on down to the undergraduate students, it was consistent. This is also like the ascent of Donald Trump. So as you’re trying to trace what’s going on in the world, it’s really easy to move from central Illinois to South Carolina and think “Oh, these people are living in the past.” And that was what I thought for a good portion of the time that I was there. But then Trump gets elected. And it’s like “The whole time they didn’t live in the past, they were in the future.” 
So Owning My Masters was a way of trying to document that. The early songs that I’m recording are from my first week, being in town, all the way up through all of that stuff happening. The album moves chronologically. It just seems more despairing over the duration of it. It’s because that’s like literally what was happening. And maybe it’s not desperation, much more like defiance. But that was because people were asking, “So this music that you do, or this stuff that you’re studying, like, are you saying this stuff in front of everybody?” And I’m like, “Why wouldn’t I say it in front of everybody?” That means that they need to hear it as much as anybody. It’s really important that the people who are perpetuating the stuff and acting like we’ve progressed, those are the people who need to hear these messages, which also means that they need to have they need to be invited into ways of hearing that they’re actually going to tune into.

HipHopWired: In terms of comprehension, and having Hip-Hop be a way in academia to navigate, confront, and ultimately provide some answers, if not all to some of these questions within your role as Associate Professor of Hip-Hop at UVA, are there any set guidelines or curriculum that you use to those interested in navigating the same path?
Carson: I have to say, when I defended the dissertation I talked on the phone with Mickey Facts and Lupe Fiasco because they were working on what they call a “rapper guild”. I asked, “What are you trying to do, be affiliated with a university?” Part of it was to create the conditions for people who were really interested in emceeing to be better at emceeing and to have that connected to these volumes of scholarship that would be able to bear on it. And it might not be about rap, it could be about linguistics, or it could be about history, or it could be about other kinds of stuff like I was reading as a doctoral student, because, of course, I didn’t go to Clemson to learn how to rap.  I think it’s important to say that because folks get that twisted as well, like no I didn’t start rapping when I got to Clemson. Rap was just a way to detail he findings in the research. 
In the classes that I teach now, with undergraduates and graduate students in my brand, the graduate students I work with are the ones who are most likely to teach and become professors. I mentioned Lupe and Mickey Factz, because I think to a certain degree, both of them have been interested and engaged in some kinds of teaching appointments in their engagements at other universities or independently. So, in my writing rap class, I’m teaching techniques. Literally, what do you rely on to start a rap?  And then, what techniques are you going to use to get from bar one to bar 16? At the same time, there’s some of the mundane like simile and metaphor to the more complicated ways that people might use structured rhyme schemes. But also in that class, I’m alternating between teaching those techniques and listening to people who have been doing this for a long time. So that’s the whole archive of rap music going back to the 70s, as well as reading about the context for those things being made. So it’s not trying to get like a grand narrative of the “capital T” history of Hip-Hop but the histories of Hip-Hop.

HHW: In terms of dealing with academia and trying to have this conversation through the culture and the machinations of Hip-Hop, has there been any kind of pushback that you’ve experienced on a social level, not necessarily administrative, in terms of trying to sanitize the work that you do?
Carson: I think that there’s been pressure – I don’t know if you’re familiar with the professor watch list that exists, basically unmasking radical professors?
HHW: I’m familiar with that, yes.
Carson: So that kind of thing – but what they call radical is the fact that I make music. (Laughs) They don’t even understand the content of the music, but on their websites, they’ve got screenshots of lyrics.  I realized that this is a very real thing in these cases, where people are having their lyrics used against them in court. And people are explaining what the lyrics mean, like police officers. That definitely means the system is like gamed against you, because like the people who arrested me, and in the system that’s trying to use my lyrics, also illegally against me, to convict me, are having people who work for them, tell the jury what the lyrics mean? This is also why getting tenure is important, because then you have at least the supposed protections of job security and academic freedom
I did write one album where one of my colleagues was like “Yeah, it’s been good knowing you”, thinking I’d get fired. And my response to that was like, “if this is the kind of thing that gets me fired, then they’re not serious about what the professor of Hip-Hop, not in the way that I choose to do the work.” I’m not pulling punches, because how do they know what I shouldn’t be saying and how I should be saying it? They trusted me enough to put me in the position. Trust me to do my work, I’ll trust the people whom I trust in that regard. And then that means that I have to have mentorship, collaborators, and people whose opinions I trust. In a real way, some of this is supposed to make you uncomfortable, right? I mean, I’m not making this up. I am not creating controversy, when I talk about the fact that Black folks are being erased from history, and having our lives taken from us for that. People don’t believe that rappers deserve to be treated as human beings. I’m not making that s–t up.

HHW: In terms of being a notable figure, creating In this space within academia to have these conversations through the media and the culture of hip hop, and then confronting newer problems like AI and technology, has it posed any obstacles for you?
Carson: A part of it is – maybe the fancy word to say is legibility, but it’s like, “How do you get the message out?” I’ve talked to people at NPR, or writing for Rolling Stone or whoever else but that’s not really my target demographic. That’s not gonna get to the people at home in Decatur. So it’s, “How do I most effectively speak to black communities?”And this might also mean t places like The Breakfast Club, Sway in the Morning, or Black media where you don’t have to explain the concerns before you launch into ways we might think about them. But that means that you have to get past the hurdle of folks believing that because you work at a university, the thing that you’re doing is not for them or directed toward things that they might be interested in. 
The thing about AI thinking about that – I’m not worried about somebody cloning Tupac’s voice or cloning Drake’s voice or Kendrick (Lamar’s) or Jay Z, because all of these people with their estates have the power to be able to be like, cease and desist with the s—s immediately. They can fight that because they got money, but what about like the dude like one of my cousins or anybody that you know from your hometown, who is incredibly gifted, but nobody knows them? And then they put their work online on SoundCloud, or Spotify or Bandcamp, something like that. And then one of these companies gets it. What I think we should be thinking about more is what happened to regular people in blues clubs, and juke joints across the country, whenever white folks were able to export Black music or cordon it off to these particular kinds of places, including academia, where working-class Black folks didn’t have any kind of access. So that’s not a problem where I need to say “Hey, white folks, make sure that whenever you decide to exploit us, that you have like some kind of ethics when you do it.” 

This is why I appreciate you talking to me, because who are the people in HipHop media who talk to the people who are dealing heavily with Hip-Hop regularly to bring these issues to the fore, rather than only the things that are being puppeted by these media machines that are pushing out particular kinds of stories. The conversations about how rappers are being utilized in this particular election cycle is something that we absolutely need to be talking about, right? But who’s gonna host that conversation, Ari Melber? If we’re dependent on NBC, to like, talk about how Hip-Hop intersects with politics, then I think that we f——d up. I’m just saying it’s important to get the word out and to challenge us to think differently about all of these things that are going on. And part of my doing that is of course, making the music and teaching the classes, but the other component is commentary.

Travis Scott‘s Days Before Rodeo is getting re-released, with previously unreleased bonus tracks, for the mixtape’s 10th anniversary. The re-release of the project means Scott’s mixtape will be available on streaming platforms later this week, on Aug. 23. Days Before Rodeo was originally released on Aug. 18, 2014, and featured guests Young Thug, Big Sean, […]

Fresh off their headline-grabbing performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics closing ceremony, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre are gearing up to drop their latest project, Missionary, this November.

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But the biggest surprise? Legendary musician Sting is among the featured artists on the album.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Dr. Dre couldn’t hold back his excitement, revealing, “We have Sting on the song. Man, it’s an amazing roster of artists that’s on this album. I shouldn’t have revealed that, to be honest.”

Trending on Billboard

The unexpected collaboration adds a twist to the forthcoming album, which already carries the weight of being the first full-length project Dre has produced for Snoop since their iconic 1993 album Doggystyle.

The friendship and musical chemistry between Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg is legendary.

It all began with Dre’s groundbreaking 1992 album The Chronic, which introduced Snoop to the world and set the stage for his debut album, Doggystyle, a year later. Missionary promises to be a continuation of this storied partnership, with Dre sharing, “This one’s gonna show a different level of maturity with his lyrics and with my music. I feel like this is some of the best music I’ve done in my career.”

The Compton native added, “It’s an album that women are going to enjoy, and like I said, it shows a massive amount of growth and maturity with the lyrics and with the music.”

Dre also offered some insight into the production process, saying, “I wanted 14 songs, Snoop wants 16, so we have that thing happening. I’m on song number 11 as far as the mixes go. I have to be done and delivered by September 1 to have a November release.”

Dr. Dre has consistently shaped the Billboard charts over the years, starting with his groundbreaking debut solo album, The Chronic (1992), which hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and produced the iconic single “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang,” reaching No. 2 on the Hot 100.

His 1999 follow-up, 2001, continued this momentum with smash hits like “Still D.R.E.” and “Forgot About Dre.” Beyond his own music, Dre’s production genius has been behind numerous chart-topping albums and singles, and, of course, the Doc was instrumental in launching Eminem’s career.

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Just days after Lauryn Hill abruptly cancelled the highly anticipated Fugees reunion tour, band member Pras Michel has taken aim at his former bandmate with a scathing diss track.

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The song, titled “Bar Mitzfa,” was teased on Pras’s Instagram Story before being exclusively released on TMZ, further fanning the flames of controversy within the iconic hip-hop group.

The Fugees’ reunion tour, which was set to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hill’s groundbreaking album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, was supposed to kick off on Friday, Aug. 9, in Tampa, Fla., and continue through major cities across the U.S. and Europe, concluding in Amsterdam on Oct. 22.

However, just days before the first show, Hill announced the tour’s cancellation, citing “sensationalism” by the media over past cancellations as a reason for low ticket sales.

Trending on Billboard

In “Bar Mitzfa,” Pras doesn’t mince words. He directly blames Hill for the tour’s failure, rapping, “No one will remember: click bait beefs, how many Gucci bags you owned, bogus excuses. People will remember: How you made them feel, if you kept your word, if they could count on you, if you come on Time!!!”

The track, which is now exclusively on TMZ, also touches on Pras’s own legal struggles.

Last year, Pras was found guilty in a political money laundering conspiracy, a high-profile case that has marred his public image. In the track, he references this ordeal, rapping, “Obama’s name in the discoveries had to plead the fifth!”

The Miseducation Anniversary Tour was set to kick off on Friday (Aug. 9) in Tampa, Fla., and stretch throughout the next few months, wrapping up on Oct. 22 at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. The tour, which was scheduled to reunite Hill with The Fugees to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Billboard 200 No. 1 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, was also to feature music from The Fugees’ No. 1 album The Score, with Hill’s son YG Marley as the support act.

The 21-date trek was previously postponed in November after Hill revealed that she was struggling with vocal issues.

“As many of you may know, I’ve been battling serious vocal strain for the past month. I made it through each show by taking prescribed prednisone, but this can be detrimental to the body when taken in large amounts over long periods of time,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “In order to prevent any long term negative affect on my voice and my body, I need to take time off to allow for real vocal recovery so that I can discontinue the medication completely.”

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Rapper Quando Rondo pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal drug offense before a judge in Georgia. The 25-year-old rapper, whose given name is Tyquian Terrel Bowman, was indicted in U.S. District Court last December on charges of conspiring with others to possess and distribute drugs including methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana. […]

Navy Blue, born Sage Elsesser, released a surprise album earlier this month. Memoirs In Armour comes on the heels of the professional model and skateboarder-turned-rapper being unceremoniously dropped from Def Jam, where he had released the project Ways of Knowing in 2023. Fans were surprised to see that an underground darling such as himself would […]

Travis Scott was released from French police custody without a charge after his arrest at a Paris hotel following an altercation with a security guard, French prosecutors said Saturday (Aug. 10). In a statement, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, “the police custody order for Travis Scott has been lifted and all proceedings (against him) were […]

With the newly released version of ATEEZ’s No. 1 single “Work” poised to make crossover impact for the K-pop group via the all-English remix featuring G-Eazy, the rapper’s verses have also sparked speculation among fans online that he used the track to take a jab at his ex-girlfriend, Halsey.

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Released Friday, Aug. 9, the “Part 4” remix of “Work,” which topped World Digital Song Sales in June for ATEEZ’s first chart-topper on the ranking, features G-Eazy delivering a verse that has fans talking: “Actin’ innocent, no, it’s not your first time/We’re far away if Libra is her sign/ Oof, danger, danger (Danger, danger)/Don’t be a stranger (Don’t be a stranger)/ She said no one can save her.”

This particular line has drawn attention due to Halsey’s Sept. 29 birthday, making her a Libra and leading to widespread speculation that the lyrics could be a thinly veiled reference to his experiences and their past relationship. The stars were in a highly publicized relationship from 2017 to 2018 before an abrupt breakup in July 2018. While neither has spoken up directly about what ended their time together, both artists have released music that fans believe alludes to their breakup. Halsey has also previously mentioned being in an “abusive relationship,” though she has never explicitly confirmed if G-Eazy was involved.

Trending on Billboard

After the collaboration’s release, one user on X (formerly known as Twitter) wrote that they “got weirded out when he sings that [because] I immediately remember Halsey…this is ATEEZ’s song why tf did u make it about u.” One X user added, “A collab of all things to make a little diss at your ex,” with another saying, “G-Eazy shading Halsey in a K-pop collab…this was not on my bingo list AT ALL.”

As some fans have noted, the particular lyrics in G-Eazy’s verse stand out against the backdrop of ATEEZ’s original message in “Work,” which is about focusing in on pushing toward your goals and achieving success. One fan on X wrote, “We’re talking about clocking in and he’s over here harassing his ex.”

Indeed, the K-pop group sings about the hustle in lines like, “I like to party when it’s a party/That’s payin’ me to pull up” and the addictive chorus of “Gotta work, gotta work / Gotta make that money, make purse.” G-Eazy later adds, “Work, flex, work, flex, always in the lab/ How I earn checks/ Hundred thousand dollars for a verse, yes/Wouldn’t lift a finger if it were less.”

The collaboration comes after ATEEZ’s established admiration for Halsey. The K-pop group’s fans, known as ANTINY, know the members frequently share music recommendations: Both Wooyoung and Jongho have shared their fondness for “Boy With Luv,” her hit collaboration with BTS, Yeosang has recommended Halsey’s chart-topping Billboard Hot 100 hit “Closer” with The Chainsmokers to fans. Mingi has also praised G-Eazy’s work, notably his Hot 100 hit “Me, Myself & I” featuring Bebe Rexha, and previously recommended Calvin Harris’ Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 album, where Halsey features on two tracks.

Representatives for G-Eazy nor ATEEZ did not return Billboard‘s request for comment at press time.

Even if the potential diss has dominated most of the conversation, it’s important to recognize the latest steps in ATEEZ’s barrier-breaking 2024 that includes multiple “Work” remixes, being named an “Up Next” star in Variety’s Young Hollywood Impact Report, and the ongoing [Towards the Light : Will to Power] in North America arena and stadium tour that just took over New York’s CitiField on Saturday, Aug. 2. This year has also been momentous for G-Eazy with the June 21 release of his seventh studio album, Freak Show, marking his first full-length project in nearly three years, which precedes a world tour hitting North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand through this and next year.

Listen to Part 4 of ATEEZ’s “Work” with G-Eazy below:

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Air Drake is getting a facelift. The Toronto rapper recently previewed Air Drake 2’s redesign on Instagram, and it features a message that confirms your suspicions: “Chances are she’s on board.” Air Drake’s first iteration had the message, “If you’re reading this we left,” a play on his classic 2015 mixtape If You’re Reading This […]


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