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Election season is in full swing with just over three months (92 days, but who’s counting?) until Election Day. Donald Trump appeared on internet personality Adin Ross’ Kick stream on Monday (Aug. 5), where he entered the building to 50 Cent’s “Many Men” as his soundtrack of choice.
The Get Rich or Die Tryin’ anthem has become a rallying cry of sorts for Trump in the wake of last month’s assassination attempt. Trump steps into the venue to the menacing track co-produced by Eminem, and greets the supporters in attendance — most of whom are rocking red Make America Great Again caps and holding pro-Donald Trump signs.
Of course, 50 references himself being shot on “Many Men” and the G-Unit boss himself leaned into all the viral memes, which resulted in a boost to the 2003 album on the charts.
“How is this real life?” a fan asked on X.
In the streaming week following the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania (July 12-July 18), “Many Men” registered 6.4 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week, which is 224% higher than the 2 million total streams in the prior frame.
During the stream, Ross had Trump comment on various political leaders and pop-culture figures including Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Young Thug.
“He’s a very complicated,” Trump said of West. “Let’s say complicated because he is. He’s a really nice guy, but he can get some people into trouble. And he can get some other people. He’s got a good heart — he does, he does, but he’s complicated.”
Trump and West have plenty of history dating back to DT sending well wishes to Ye and Kim Kardashian when the couple tied the knot in 2014. West said he would’ve voted for Trump in 2016, and paid 45 a visit at the White House in October 2018. The Graduation rapper rocked a MAGA hat on Saturday Night Live in 2018, and then went on to face-off with Trump and Joe Biden in a failed 2020 presidential election bid.
The twice-impeached former president even gave his thoughts on Young Thug’s much-delayed YSL RICO trial and called for the incarcerated rapper to be “treated fairly” by the Georgia legal system. “I hear Young Thug — I heard the name, I heard it from other people where they say he’s being treated unfairly. He’s gotta be treated fairly,” he demanded on Ross’ stream.
Thug — born Jeffery Williams — has been behind bars since May 2022 and there is no end date in sight for the YSL trial. According to NBC News, it’s the longest trial so far in Georgia’s history.
Lil Yachty‘s song with Drake, “Super Soak,” continues to cause controversy.
First, Soulja Boy took issue with some of Drake’s lyrics that mentioned his record label Stacks on Deck. Then, during an appearance on the podcast Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant With Akaash Singh in late July, Yachty revealed the reason why he sent the song to streamer Kai Cenat to begin with.
“I sent a song to Kai to leak. We couldn’t get the sample cleared, so I just let Kai play it,” he said. When asked why the sample wasn’t cleared, Boat said the social media personality “went down a Christian path.”
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The social media personality that he’s referring to is Mr. Hotspot. He’s mostly active on Instagram, and his posts are generally of him dancing and telling people to smile. He’ll also make songs like “Smiling Good Like” and the song Yachty and Drake sampled “Goodness Gracious.”
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Over the weekend, Mr. Hotspot hopped on IG Live to tell fans his side of the situation, saying he’s open to clearing the sample if they make a clean version of the song. “We recorded them a clean reference and we sent it into them, so hopefully they rerecord the clean reference and we come out with the clean ‘Goodness Gracious’ altogether,” he said. “So I said it’s a process, but it’s … it’ll be good for both of their brands like that, and I’m blessed to work with children, so we just gotta make it clean for them.”
He added, “We don’t need no children getting whooped ’cause they said this or that, you understand? And if you look at the backside, it’s the children who really runnin’ these views up. So, if we make sure both verses clean, everybody coming clean, everybody gonna benefit for sure. It’s a process, but we appreciate you being patient. We sent it in, they got it today and them boys about to turn up. We ain’t tryin’ to hold them back from nothin’, but we just need the morals correct, that’s all.”
This wasn’t the only drama Yachty found himself in.
During the same podcast interview, he also mentioned Drake was “unfazed” after his rap battle with Kendrick Lamar, which, of course, became a topic of discussion on social media. But, that’s not all. A couple weeks ago, he went viral for saying people from New York couldn’t dress when he had Cash Cobain on his podcast A Safe Place.
“Everyone used to just kinda copy Atlanta. You said it yourself,” Boat told the Bronx rapper. “You just said even like the influence was extremely heavy from Atlanta. … As far as style goes, I don’t think it’s s–t going on when it comes to New York fashion.”
This, too, caused a stir on social media, which leads us to what the the rapper said Thursday (Aug. 1). Yachty to took Instagram Live and announced that he was going to stay quiet going forward. “I’m not doing no more talkin’,” Yachty said. “I don’t got s—t else to say. I’m gone off this internet s—t. I think I’m gone for the rest of the year. I swear to God. I ain’t got s—t else to say.
He added, “Contracted to do this podcast s—t, unfortunately contracted to, but I ain’t posting no more hs—t. I ain’t posting no fits. I’m deleting the apps off my phone. I swear to God … I’m not tweeting, I’m minding my f–king business.”
For Ye — the artist formerly known as Kanye West — and Ty Dolla $ign, the third time was indeed the charm. After a pair of potential Vultures 2 release dates came and went, fans were apprehensive to believe the Aug. 2 arrival that was announced on the Yeezy website last week. Ye (who hasn’t […]
After a series of release dates that came and went, Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla Sign’s Vultures 2 album finally dropped on Saturday. And, like its predecessor, the second volume from the two MCs is getting criticized for allegedly not clearing some samples.
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In a tweet from producer/DJ Geoff Barrow, the Portishead member wrote “FFS [for f–ks sake] Not Again [shrug emoji],” along with a screen shot of the Vultures 2 track “Field Trip.” The song seems to very prominently sample the instantly recognizable drum pattern from the 2008 Portishead track “Machine Gun,” though at press time neither Spotify nor Apple Music listed any production or sample credits for the song also featuring Don Toliver, Kodak Black and Playboi Carti and attributed to the rap duo’s joint name, ¥$.
At press time a spokesperson for Barrow confirmed that the tweet was from Barrow, but it was unclear if the musician or the group were planning to take official legal action for the alleged unlicensed sample; legal representatives for Ye and Ty (born Tyrone William Griffin Jr.) had not returned requests for comment.
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Back in February, the estate of Donna Summer filed a copyright lawsuit against West in which they accused the rapper/producer of “shamelessly” using Summer’s 1977 hit “I Feel Love” without permission on the Vultures 1 song “Good (Don’t Die).” The estate’s attorneys said at the time that West “shamelessly used instantly recognizable portions” of Summer’s song in his track, despite her estate having already “explicitly denied” him authorization to do so. After the Summer estate’s public statements regarding the song before the filing, “Good (Don’t Die)” was pulled from streaming platforms and appeared to be pulled from digital versions of the album; at press time it was still not available on major streaming platforms.
In addition, after Ozzy Osbourne denied West’s request to sample one of his songs on Vultures 1 — a solo Ozzy version of the Black Sabbath song “War Pigs” recorded at the 1983 US Festival — the metal icon lashed out at Ye in February after the sample turned up during a listening party at Chicago’s United Center for the serially delayed first Vultures album.
“REFUSED PERMISSION BECAUSE HE IS AN ANTISEMITE AND HAS CAUSED UNTOLD HEARTACHE TO MANY,” Osbourne wrote at the time. “HE WENT AHEAD AND USED THE SAMPLE ANYWAY AT HIS ALBUM LISTENING PARTY LAST NIGHT. I WANT NO ASSOCIATION WITH THIS MAN!” Osbourne’s comment about Ye was a reference to the barrage of antisemitic comments and insults from Ye in late 2022 that caused the downfall of his once billion-dollar music and fashion empire and led to pariah status in the music and business world.
This is not the first time that West has been sued for illegally sampling or interpolating other artist’s songs into his tracks. In 2022 he was served with a lawsuit claiming his song “Life of the Party” illegally sampled rap group Boogie Down Productions. In another case he was tagged for using an uncleared snippet of Marshall Jefferson’s 1986 house track “Move Your Body” in the song “Flowers” and another case claimed he allegedly sampled a sermon by a Texas pastor on “Come to Life.”
This also isn’t the first time Barrow has called an artist out for allegedly sampling his band’s song “Machine Gun” without permission. In 2013, he accused The Weeknd of sampling the track from Portishead’s Third album on “Belong to the World” without asking first. “When someone asks to sample you and you refuse they should have the respect as a fellow artist to not use it,” Barrow tweeted at Abel Tesfaye at the time.
See the tweet from Barrow below.
In case you’ve missed it so far, Snoop Dogg is absolutely living his best Olympic life right now. The Long Beach legend has been taking in as many events as possible in Paris over the past week in his gig as a special correspondent for NBC and this weekend was no exception. After carrying the […]
Drake had some exciting news for his hometown fans on Friday night (August 2) at Budweiser Stage in Toronto.
After surprising the crowd with a full set of R&B songs, he announced that he’s working on a new collaborative album with his OVO labelmate PartyNextDoor.
“On behalf of me and Party, we’ve been working on something for y’all,” he announced at the end of the concert. “So, you get the summer over with, you do what you need to do. I know all you girls are outside. When it gets a little chilly, PartyNextDoor and Drake album will be waiting right there for you.”
It was actually PartyNextDoor’s concert, not Drake’s — the Toronto date of the Mississauga rapper’s Sorry I’m Outside Tour — but he ceded the stage to his famous collaborator for nearly a whole hour at the end of his show. PartyNextDoor finished his own set — already a career-spanning show filled with R&B hits and slow-burning deep cuts from a decade of recording — then, after the stage set was changed over, the lights came back on with Drake standing in front of the microphone instead of him.
“I’m here tonight as a thank you,” he said, “to each and every one of you for all your years of unwavering support.”
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While shouting out Toronto is always good for a cheap pop from his local fans, Drake’s words felt genuine at this show. At a time when Kendrick Lamar’s ubiquitous diss track “Not Like Us” is contending for the song of the summer and even longtime friends are throwing their support behind it, it makes sense for Drake to do something special for the fans who’ve stood by him the most.
He said he had never done a full show of just R&B songs before, but he has more than enough to fill a strong setlist. He stuck mostly to one register: Drake with the melodies.
He nodded to Caribbean Carnival happening this weekend in Toronto with his Caribana ’99 tank top. That’s usually the weekend he puts on OVO Fest, but this was a little different than that yearly triumphant special-guest fest. Instead, it was a set filled with deeper cuts he rarely performs and one he debuted live for the first time.
He started with “Sweeterman,” the smooth 2015 remix of Mississauga artist RamRiddlz that he hasn’t played in years. Then came the first live performance of “Wah Gwan Delilah.” It was definitely a surprise. When Drake jumped on Snowd4y’s viral patois-laden cover of Plain White T’s emo-pop ballad “Hey There Delilah,” it was so divisive and strange that many people couldn’t figure out if it was really him or an AI deepfake. On this night, it was definitely him singing, and the crowd loved it.
Drake went back into his discography for “Practice” from Take Care and “Connect” from Nothing Was the Same, then got newer with “Finesse,” “Pipe Down” and “Redemption” — lower-key favorites from albums like Scorpion, Views and Certified Lover Boy. He brought up another OVO artist, Roy Woods, to play “Drama,” their vibey 2015 song.
Then, he brought back PartyNextDoor for a few collaborative songs, including the PND hit “Come and See Me.” Drake offered a lot of praise for him. He called him “the King of R&B” and his favorite R&B singer of all time, crediting him for inspiring him and “changing my life and changing my sound.” He even shouted out PartyNextDoor’s parents, who were in the audience.
With a collaborative album with PartyNextDoor on the horizon, we could hear a lot more of Drake’s softer side soon.
This article was originally published by Billboard Canada.
Oh my God, they’re back again. Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign have returned to deliver their Vultures 2 sequel. The joint LP hit streaming services after plenty of uncertainty early Saturday (Aug. 3). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The sequel arrives about six months after the […]
Boldy James has been on a run for the ages this year. First he dropped the critically acclaimed album Penalty of Leadership with producer Nicholas Craven and then followed that up with another great project in Across the Tracks alongside Griselda producer Conductor Williams. He now plans to release yet another “He’s the producer, I’m the rapper” collab […]
A$AP Rocky has released the lead single from his upcoming album Don’t Be Dumb.
Produced by Greg Kurstin, Jordan Patrick, Zach Fogarty, Hitkidd and Rocky himself, “Highjack” shows the Harlem rapper getting back in his bag of being one of the most confident rappers out. With bars like “Don’t compare that p—y boy to me (I don’t like that)/ Feelin’ like I’m Sosa, Chiefie Keef (I don’t like that)/ Tired of them n—as sleepin’ on me, I don’t like naps/ N—as f— around and stole the flow and y’all like that?,” he’s leaving things up to interpretation, and we’re sure fans will speculate online about whom he’s referring to exactly.
Those aren’t the only lines packed with subliminals.
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“Before we dropped ‘Peso’ on you n—as, you ain’t like Raf/ N—as want a feature from me? This ain’t a life raft” and “These n—as want my wife bad, the people want my next track/ The coppers want my Black a–, f—ed up, but it’s like that” shows Rocky reminding the game about his influence.
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Rocky spoke with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe recently and he talked about his new music and fatherhood.
About his new single, Rocky had this to say: “I feel like the real is back, man, and it’s just like, this sh– is for the taking. It’s a highjack. Not only that, it’s just we coming with a whole new aesthetic on everything, especially with German expressionism and the whole ghetto futurism grim thing. So that’s just what the sound sounds like and whatnot. The sonics of it.”
About tapping Jessica Pratt and Jon Batiste for a couple unlikely features on “Highjack,” he said this: “I just love alternative. I love just different sounds and whatnot. [Jessica Pratt] kind of gave me this kind of Portishead meets Stevie Nicks vibe a little bit. … So I always f—ed with her as a artist, and so I figured it was necessary to get her, Jon Batiste on this one and kind of make it feel soulful to bring it on home in the outro.”
And on fatherhood influencing his new music, he told Lowe: “I got more personal vulnerable things to talk about and whatnot, and it’s just, I think the trick is having that fine balance of just entertaining and telling a story or giving something, telling somebody listening and view something informative about you and whatnot.”
Don’t Be Dumb is set to release Aug. 30.
You can watch the Zane Lowe Apple Music interview below.
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Just four days into 2024, 4Batz made an appearance in Billboard’s weekly Trending Up column off the strength of the virality of “Act II: Date @ 8,” the second single of his burgeoning career. Seven months later (Aug. 1), the ascendant Dallas-bred R&B star sold out Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg for the third stop […]