Hip-Hop
UK Rapper Ty Dies At Age of 47 from COVID-19
Nigerian-British rapper Ty has died at the age of 47 due to complications from COVID-19. According to The Guardian, Ty (born Ben Chijioke) was hospitalized in early April. He was subsequently put in a medically induced coma, and though he initially showed signs of improvement, his condition ultimately deteriorated. He passed away Thursday, May 7th. Ty’s 2003 sophomore album, Upwards, was nominated for the Mercury Prize, the annual award given to the UK’s best record. Other nominees that year included Amy Winehouse’s Frank, Belle & Sebastian’s Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Basement Jaxx’s Kish Kash, and Franz Ferdiand’s self-titled debut, which ultimately claimed the prize. Ty’s follow-up album, 2006’s Closer, featured collaborations with De La Soul, Zion I, and Speech of Arrested Dev...
DMX Wants to Go Head-to-Head With Jay-Z in a ‘Verzuz’ Battle
Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s Verzuz series might serve as the battleground for a potential heavyweight bout between Jay-Z and DMX. During an interview with Drink Champs on Wednesday (May 7), the question of who DMX would be interested in competing against in Verzuz came up. With no hesitation, The Darkman replied “Jay.” Bemused by his answer, N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN promptly sought clarity, and when asked again, X doubled down and said, “Yeah! Who you think, n—a?” In the late ’90s, Jay-Z and DMX were Def Jam’s most successful stars. The friendly rivalry includes several rap battles between the legendary MCs, including their Backstage Freestyle match in 2000. In 1999, they also created the infamous supergroup Murder Inc, which starred both rappers ...
Travis Scott & Kid Cudi’s ‘The Scotts’ Blasts in at No. 1 on Streaming Songs Chart
It’s Scott’s fourth No. 1 and Kid Cudi’s first. Travis Scott earns his fourth No. 1 – and Kid Cudi his first – on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart with “The Scotts,” which debuts atop the list dated May 9. “The Scotts,” credited to The Scotts, Travis Scott and Kid Cudi, bows at No. 1 with 42.2 million U.S. streams in its first week, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. It’s Scott’s fourth leader and third as a lead artist. He first reigned in October 2018 as a featured artist, alongside Offset, on Kodak Black’s “Zeze,” for three weeks, followed by a one-week reign with “Sicko Mode” (January 2019) and the three-week leader “Highest in the Room” (October 2019). Three of those songs – “Zeze,” “Highest in the Room” and now “The Scotts” – debuted at No. 1, making Scott just the second artist t...
Lil Durk, Lil Baby, and Polo G Link Up on “3 Headed Goat”: Stream
Friday brings the release of Lil Durk’s latest album, Just Cause Y’all Waited 2, but he couldn’t wait to unveil one of the tracklist’s biggest collaborations. On the aptly titled “3 Headed Goat”, Durk links up with two of hip-hop’s most exciting names: Lil Baby and Polo G. Take a listen below. Spanning 15 tracks in all, Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 also boasts appearances from Gunna and G Herbo. He previously previewed the album with the lead single, “Viral Moment”. Lil Durk mostly recently popped up on G Herbo’s “Chiraq Demons”. Earlier this month, Lil Baby released a deluxe edition of his smash album, My Turn, and Polo G just dropped “DND” from his own upcoming album due out later this month. [embedded content]
Mobb Deep Proved Experience Outweighs Practice
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS The world seems to have gone mad since the release of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Outliers. Thanks to his 2008 best-selling book, everyone seems to think that all you need is 10,000 hours of practice to achieve greatness. While that may work on a skill or a craft, the rules go out the window when it comes to art. Prodigy and Havoc certainly put a lot of hours into making beats and rapping before they made The Infamous, but there are other powerful forces that truly shaped them into becoming artists. After all, 10,000 hours will only take you so far, and much of that greatness depends on perspective and experience. Editors’ Picks In this season’s final episode, host And...
Little Simz Releases New EP Drop 6: Stream
Little Simz has released the new EP called Drop 6. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. Drop 6 is her first solo release since last year’s excellent LP GREY Area, one of our favorite albums of 2019. The rising UK artist — whom Kenrdrick Lamar once said “might be the illest doing it right now” — recorded the new EP during one month of quarantine. Little Simz produced the tracks herself, with additional production from Kal Banx, BLK VYNL, St Francis Hotel, and OTG. While she started the EP at the beginning of April and finished it by the end, the interim was filled self-doubt and depression. In a statement, she wrote about getting in her own head, thinking, “‘This isn’t good enough, people won’t like this, it’s shit, the mix is trash,’ everything negative under the...
Here Are the Lyrics to Lil Uzi Vert’s ‘Sasuke’
Lil Uzi Vert‘s love of anime landed him at No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his “Sasuke” single (chart dated May 9). He named the song after Sasuke Uchiha, his favorite character from the Naruto manga and anime franchise. It’s his first single since his sophomore studio album Eternal Atake blasted to the top of the Billboard 200. Check out the lyrics below. I can make her left-right when she shake her a– cheeks (whoa)Yeah, she’s so nastyYeah, she’s so nasty (oh)Yeah, she’s so nastyYeah, she’s so nasty (oh)Yeah, she’s so nastyYeah, she’s so nastyYeah, yeah Yeah, Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, SasukeThis is not no Naruto, but I chop that like SasukeShe keep tryna clean me up, but I ju...
Things Get Hairy on JPEGMAFIA’s “BALD! REMIX” Featuring Denzel Curry: Stream
In February, JPEGMAFIA released a new jam for everyone with a “fucked up hairline,” “BALD!”. While Denzel Curry has a full head of hair, he also takes great pleasure in rapping about anything at all, and the two off-kilter MCs have unleashed a “BALD! REMIX” that takes on the haters and promises there’ll be hell toupee. After Peggy’s initial exuberant verse, the remix shaves down the beat to bare percussion. Curry starts off with a relentless, driving flow, before switching it up to a jazzier delivery. The accompanying music video was filmed on a cellphone outside of a convenience store, as the two artists take turns filming each other. It’s a delightfully lo-fi experience, as simple and full of joy as a couple of kids rapping on the corner. Check out “BALD! REMIX” below. In addition to “BA...
Lil Tjay Drops “Ice Cold” Verses About Quarantining on New Song: Stream
New York rapper Lil Tjay has returned with his first new solo single of the year. It’s called “Ice Cold” and it’s arrived with a new music video in tow, too. Update: Lil Tjay has announced the impending release of a new mixtape, State of Emergency, due out on May 8th. Lil Tjay has helped re-popularize Auto-Tune in hip-hop with tracks like his Polo G collaboration “First Place” or his 2019 album True 2 Myself, and he doesn’t step away from the effect here either. As it turns out, he dropped “Ice Cold” as birthday gift to himself to celebrate turning 19 years old earlier this week. “Ice Cold” is an of-the-moment single that’s as mellow as it is catchy. Over a straightforward beat, Lil Tjay sing-raps about losing his mind during the coronavirus pandemic and how exhausting it is experiencing t...
Mobb Deep’s The Infamous Samples Sounds from a Rich Cultural Heritage
The Opus: The Infamous is currently ongoing, and you can subscribe now. To celebrate the new season, stream Mobb Deep’s iconic album via all major streaming services. You can also enter to win a copy of The Infamous on vinyl — signed by rapper Havoc himself. Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Follow on Facebook | Podchaser If they’d never released another album after 1995’s The Infamous, Albert “Prodigy” Johnson and Kejuan “Havoc” Muchita of Mobb Deep would still reign as hip-hop visionaries 25 years later. Heavy on realism and scant on hope, the record stands as one of the most unflinching documents of hip-hop’s East Coast Renaissance. As our own Okla Jones put it in a recent retrospective, “The indelible legacy of [The Infamous] will be that it helped shift the co...
Migos Celebrate “Taco Tuesday” on New Track: Stream
Cinco de Mayo falls on a Tuesday this year, and I didn’t even realize it until Migos dropped their new song. The auspiciously timed track is called “Taco Tuesday”, and you can stream it below. As far as the song itself goes, “Taco Tuesday” is a pretty basic cut that barely goes over a minute and a half. The Migos trio, represented by different colored hot sauces in the corresponding lyrics video, trade verses in which they drop a bunch of Mexican food puns while making standard boasts about cash and girls. The whole affair opens with a sample of LeBron James screaming for his favorite weekly meal. Listen to “Taco Tuesday” via its lyric video below, and perhaps get ready for more Migos in the near future. Last month, Quavo teased the possibility of a “Quarantine Mixtape” to keep fans satiat...
