R&B/Hip-Hop
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Nicki Minaj faced quite a bit of backlash in 2021 for sharing her stance against the coronavirus vaccine. Now, more than two years later, she’s still not walking back. In one of the rapper’s biggest controversies to date, Minaj was accused of spreading misinformation back when the government first started rolling out preventative shots about […]
Beyoncé dropped a new trailer for her upcoming RENAISSANCE: A Film by Beyoncé movie on Thursday morning (Nov. 9), which promises to capture the eye-popping global tour of the same name in all its silver-streaked, bass-thumping glory. The film, directed by the singer, will hit theaters around the world on Dec. 1 after its Los […]
Megan Thee Stallion‘s new single, “Cobra,” already hits pretty hard. With its chunky guitar riff and ominous beat, the latest song from the “Bongos” MC — which dropped last week — came locked-and-loaded with a slamming surfeit of grit and gravity in lyrics about stress, anxiety, pain and determination.
So it makes perfect sense that Meg would take all that angst and roiling emotion, turn it up to 11 and break off the knob on a metal-edged remix. Which is exactly what she did on Wednesday (Nov. 8), when the Houston spitter dropped a face-melting rock re-do of the track featuring Canadian alt-metal band Spiritbox.
The 2.0 version opens with the same big guitars, but then explodes into a booming, reverb-drenched cascade of arena rock attitude as Megan’s voice is joined by yearning/screamo vocals from Spiritbox singer Courtney LaPlante and guitarist Mike Stringer’s sonic boom strumming, giving the song a Linkin Park/Evanescence-like vibe.
LaPlante thanked Megan for roping her band into the remix, writing on Instagram, “Thank you Megan for allowing us the opportunity to collaborate on your already iconic new song ‘Cobra.’ I am beyond grateful to you.” Guitarist Stringer added, “Thank you to Megan for trusting us to mash up both of our worlds. Nothing but respect, and gratitude. It’s an absolute honor.”
After dropping the song last week as the first single on her own label, Megan said the song about losing her grandmother, a rough breakup and the trauma of two court cases was a track that exemplifies the fierce, hooded snakes that exemplify “courage and self-reliance. They stand tall and fierce in the face of challenges, teaching one to tap into their inner strength and rely on oneself to conquer their threats. Emulating the cobra helps one be more confident in the person they are within.”
The three-time Grammy winner revealed last month that she wasn’t signed to a label anymore. “This part of my album is very much so funded by Megan Thee Stallion because we’re trying to get off … Y’all know what’s the tea. But I have no label right now,” she explained of her decision to go it alone after recently settling a yearslong legal battle with her former record label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. “We’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pockets. So, the budget is coming from me. Motherf—ing Hot Girl Productions! The next s— y’all about to see is all straight from Megan Thee Stallion’s brain and Megan Thee Stallion’s wallet. We are in my pockets, hotties, so let’s do our big one.”
Listen to the “Cobra” remix below.
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Frank Ocean‘s resting pulse for most of his career has been elusiveness. The singer who has never followed any of the traditional music industry rules releases music, or not, on his own, often erratic schedule, typically with no advance notice and with little commentary.
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Which is why it was no surprise that his latest musical missive arrived with no fanfare in his Instagram Story on Wednesday (Nov. 8) in the form of a minute-long, unnamed moody track. In audio captured here, Ocean can be heard crooning in his hazy manner over a droning keyboard, with the lyrics coming through only in brief, intelligible bits as the words often slide together in a blur.
“Way more laid back than I did when I was my younger [unintelligible]/ … assumptions but they were educated guesses/ that’s why I … trying to see all your sides/ but your heart’s been tangled in barbed wires/ If you hand it to me, I can’t handle it,” he sings. “You got boundaries, but they’re just obstacles you’re putting in between us/ Pick and choose but we both got options.”
The rest of the lyrics that appear to be about love confusion are hard to decipher, but fans were typically psyched to get anything new from Ocean, who has not issued any new music since he surprise-dropped two singles, “Dear April” and “Cayendo” in 2020, which was followed by a never-released untitled nine-minute song on the Christmas special on his Apple Music 1 Blonded Radio show in December 2021. Ocean has not released a proper album since 2016’s Blonde.
At press time no additional information was available about the song or whether it will be officially released.
Ocean once again receded from public view after his confusion, glitchy appearance at the Coachella Festival in April, which was his first public show since 2017. During the headlining set that began an hour late, Ocean didn’t perform any new songs (but did play radically reworked versions of his familiar tracks), was sometimes hard to spot on the cavernous stage and then was was cut off due to curfew, which ended the set whose livestream on the festival’s official YouTube broadcast was scrapped at the last minute.
It later emerged that Ocean reportedly performed with a serious ankle injury and that his planned elaborate stage set-up — which was to feature a giant ice rink and professional hockey players and olympic skaters doing choreography during the show — was scrapped at the 11th hour after weeks of rehearsals; Ocean later dropped out of a planned second weekend headlining slot due to the injury, costing the festival millions of dollars.
In classic Ocean fashion, he peeked back out in June with the announcement of his 48-page Mutations photo book, which a release said would be printed on “tissue-weight paper.”
Technically, Offset, his new album and his son all share a name, so it’s only right that he found away to wrap all three together for the latest offering from his Set It Off promotional schedule. In a new Vevo CTRL live performance video, the “Clout” rapper delivered a fiery rendition of album cut “On the River,” featuring an adorable guest appearance from his youngest child.
Performing in a dimly lit room cast in the color palette of a burning fire, Offset tore through “On the River” while holding his son Wave Set, 2, whom the rapper shares with wife Cardi B. Although the performance was just over one and a half minutes long, Wave was incredibly well behaved, even joining his father in bopping along to Southside’s skittering bass toward the end of the clip. At several points in the video, Wave was hilariously more concerned with toying with his dad’s diamonds chains than paying attention to the camera.
“On the River” is the opening track of Offset’s sophomore solo studio album Set It Off, the follow-up to 2019’s Grammy-nominated Father of 4. Set It Off opened at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, becoming Offset’s third career top five entry on the chart as a soloist. Four singles preceded the album’s full release, including the Cardi B-assisted “Jealousy” — which peaked at No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100 — “Worth It” (with Don Toliver), “Say My Grace” (with Travis Scott) and “FAN,” which received a Michael Jackson-inspired music video starring Kai Cenat and Everybody Hates Chris actress Paige Hurd.
Set It Off is Offset’s first LP since Wave’s birth. Offset and Cardi started dating in early 2017, and by June the following year, the “Bongos” rapper confirmed that she and Offset married the September prior, one month before the Migos star publicly proposed to her. After giving birth to their first child together, Kulture Kiari Cephus, in 2018, Cardi welcomed her first son and second child with Offset, Wave Set Cephus, on Sep. 4, 2021.
In September, the hip-hop power couple celebrated their sixth anniversary. In an Instagram post documenting her gifts from her hubby, Cardi set her footage to a series of uncannily apt lyrics from Beyoncé and Diddy’s 2003 track “Summertime”: “Wanna grow old wit’ ya/ Fill a house wit’ your pictures/ Have a son for you, a little girl for me/ Together we’ll raise a family.”
Watch Offset and Wave perform “On the River” above.
Diddy and Giggs teamed up in the spirit of charity to aid the Black British community in London on Tuesday (Nov. 7). The concert — which benefited Sickle Cell Society and Black Minds Matter — featured a bunch of appearances from the rappers, mainly Diddy, who brought out his once-prized Bad Boy signee Shyne for […]
C-Knight, a founding member of Long Beach G-funk rap crew Dove Shack, has died at age 52. The news was confirmed by TMZ on Tuesday (Nov. 7), when a member of the rapper’s family reportedly told the gossip site that the MC born Arnez Blount had died that day after being taken off life support […]
The long-awaited joint album between Rick Ross and Meek Mill looms closer after the Maybach Music Group teammates unwrapped the tracklist for their forthcoming effort, Too Good to Be True. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The 17-song album boasts features from Future, DJ Khaled, Fabolous, Teyana Taylor, The-Dream, […]
Weeks after news of his divorce from media personality Jeannie Mai due to “irreconcilable differences” broke, Jeezy opened up about their breakup in a candid one-on-one interview with actress Nia Long. Released Tuesday (Nov. 7) on the rapper’s YouTube channel, Jeezy didn’t shy away from breaking down his efforts to salvage his marriage, explaining that […]
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Summer Walker, Love Renaissance Records (LVRN) exec. vp/GM Amber Grimes and Atlantic Records senior director of A&R Sammye Scott are ASCAP’s 2023 Women Behind the Music honorees. Presented by the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul department, the 15th annual celebration will take place on Nov. 16 at The Atrium in Atlanta. Explore Explore See latest […]