NEWS
Aluna Francis of AlunaGeorge Pens Social Media Letter About Racist Experiences in Music Industry
Aluna Francis of renowned musical duo AlunaGeorge took to Instagram today to pen a letter about her experiences with racism in the music industry. Francis, who is the venerated voice behind some of the most celebrated songs in dance music, detailed how she feels “practically invisible” despite her significant contributions to music from white collaborators. “Over the years I’ve accepted my role as the black accessory to white peoples dance music, internally bowing and scraping for these opportunities with no acknowledgement for my contribution because I’m just used to it. I would stand on huge stages singing to thousands of white people, bringing soul, meaning and magic while feeling like an alien,” Francis wrote. “Deep down I know dance music isn’t white m...
Carnage’s “Road Rave” Drive-In Festival Postponed In Solidarity with Nationwide Protests
In solidarity with those fighting for racial equality amid nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer, Carnage is pulling the plug on his Road Rave drive-in festival this weekend. Road Rave, which was supposed to take place at Central Florida Fairgrounds tomorrow, Saturday, June 6th, has officially been rescheduled to Saturday, June 20th. Carnage took to social media to announce the news. “As you know our country is going through some very tough times right now and out of respect for this powerful movement for equality we are postponing the Road Rave in Orlando, FL to June 20th,” says an official statement shared in Carnage’s post. “It would not be right to take attention away from this movement. We need to sta...
Serj Tankian Questions If System of a Down Fans Listen to Their Lyrics: ‘You’re Not Really Getting the Message?”
The past few weeks in the U.S. have seen many people’s opinions crystallized, including musicians. System of a Down’s Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan shared completely contrasting opinions on the protests and Donald Trump in the past few days, with the former in support of protests and the latter approving of the president. On the Side Jams With Bryan Reesman podcast, Tankian wondered how System of a Down’s fans could not understand the message of the band’s lyrics after hearing it for 20 years. He said that while he understood how fans could like the tunes if they like heavy music, the message in the words is laid out clearly for them. “So when I get people on my socials that are, ‘I love your music, but I don’t wanna hear your political ideas,’ that’s fair enough — if they’re ni...
Cam, Honne & More Set For Billboard Live At-Home Performances
A new week brings a new round of Billboard Live At-Home performances, as artists continue to partner with various organizations to raise much-needed funds for coronavirus relief. Country singer-songwriter Cam will kick the week off on Tuesday (June 9) at 1:00 p.m. EST/10:00 a.m. PST via Billboard‘s Facebook page. Other acts slated for the coming week include British electronic duo Honne, Mexican-American rapper Snow Tha Product and drag star Trixie Mattel. Back in March, the Billboard Live At-Home series launched with live-streamed performances by the likes of JoJo, Josh Groban and Russell Dickerson. During their sets, each artist selected a nonprofit to fundraise for, with a focus on aiding communities most at-risk amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the series has ...
Black Music Month 2020: TDE’s Reason on Petitioning For Cops to Be Local to Their Area & Why He’s ‘Never Been Prouder to Be Black’
HIP-HOP 6/5/2020 by Reason With Black Music Month in full effect this year, African American artists are looking for ways to stay active, motivated, and committed on the fight for social change within their communities in light of the recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Adbery and more. Spurred by the callous disregard for Black lives, artists are hoping to use their platforms as microphones to invoke reform in both the short and long term. Every Friday of this month, we will have an artist speak on today’s climate, offer their suggestions for revision going forward, and why being Black continues to be a gift more than a curse. TDE’s Reason is first at-bat with his take on why he wants America to reconsider the hiring process for cops, and why he values his sk...
Lauren London Speaks Out About Gun Violence, Nipsey Hussle’s Legacy: ‘It’s Like He’s Touching People Still’
Lauren London sat down with Jada Pinkett-Smith on Wednesday (June 3) to discuss the impact of growing up around gun violence, the legacy of her late parter Nipsey Hussle and how she educates her sons about handling police interactions. “What I instill in them is more about the police. How to handle yourself when you get pulled over. That’s more of my education, protecting them being black men in America,” said London about what she talks about with her three-year-old son with Hussle, Kross, and her 10-year-old with former partner Lil Wayne, Kameron. London said that growing up in Los Angeles she had schoolmates who were in gangs, and by summertime “they were gone… they had transitioned from gun violence.” And while she never got numb to hearing that one of them had ...
Meek Mill Shares New Protest Song ‘Other Side of America’
As the protests continue to go on throughout America and the world, a number of artists have released new material reflecting the times we’re living in. The latest comes from Meek Mill, who is very familiar with the perils of injustice and racism, to put it mildly. Today (June 5), the rapper shared “Other Side of America,” a song that encapsulates this time and was produced by Butter Beats and Shroom. Starting with words from President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign speech, Mill uses incisive lyrics to trace the perils of what African-Americans are going through and have gone through. “Reporting live from the other side/Same corner where my brothers died/Livin’ like we ain’t got care/Told my mama I ain’t dying here/40 on me I ain’t buying beer/Ain’t have a will, now I’m flying Lear/Bunch of ...
Switchfoot Share Cover of Vampire Weekend’s ‘Harmony Hall’
After announcing their upcoming EP, Covers, Switchfoot have shared a new track from that project. And this time they put their spin on Vampire Weekend’s “Harmony Hall,” off of the band’s latest album, Father of the Bride. Switchfoot stay true to the bones of the song but with the addition of Jon Foreman’s grittier vocals. Along with the song, Foreman explained why they decided to share this specific tune as opposed to any others this week. In the caption for the video, he wrote: During this difficult week, we have been wrestling with whether or not we should release new music — trying to listen more than speak. As an American, there are so many reasons to mourn, to be angry, to lament. There is so much that we need to change. Let’s take a good, long look at who we are and who we’ve been. L...
Sonic Youth Release 12 New Archival Projects
Sonic Youth had added to their ever-growing library on Bandcamp, and just in time for the site’s fundraiser. The group has dropped 12 new archival and side-project releases. It goes along with the other 12 that they dropped in March along with a slew of others that have trickled out in recent months. They’ve also recently shared their out-of-print 1987 EP Master-Dik, and some live albums. Last week, Sonic Youth shared their semi-official Hold That Tiger live album that was recorded in 1987 and released in 1991. These projects include four instrumental droney jams recorded in Melbourne on June 22, 2004, a Lee Ranaldo show from Toronto in 2001, Live In Yugoslavia 1985/1987, Live At Brixton Academy 1992, Live In Irvine 1990, Wylde Rattz proj...
Secret Recordings Capture Police Officers Framing & Beating Innocent Residents In Mount Vernon, NY
Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty It’s just allll coming to light now. A few days after NYPD were caught being told to run over and “shoot” protestors in the streets, another audio has surfaced confirming what we’ve already known to be the case for decades: police be framing people. According to Raw Story an officer of the Mount Vernon police department turned whistle blower decided to do the right thing and took audio evidence over to the Gothamist and WNYC-FM that captured conversations between authorities in which they discuss not only framing innocent residents, but also beating them while collaborating with local drug dealers. Talk about being all the way corrupt. Trump would be proud. 12-year department veteran Murashea Bovell had been fighting the good fight for years as a member of the M...
Forever President, Barack Obama Shows Support For Protestors & Calls For Nationwide Police Reform
Source: – / Getty Even though he is no longer in the White House, Barack Obama is still presidenting. Yesterday (Jun.3), as part of a virtual online roundtable moderated by Brittany Packnett Cunningham, former President Barack Obama joined his former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and activists from Minneapolis, and his nonprofit group My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. Lacking anything remotely resembling leadership coming from the White House, Obama gave a speech from his home in Washington DC echoing his statements from Medium post, How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change where he said he was extremely optimistic about the nation’s future despite the civil unrest going on. “For those who have been talking about protest, just remember that this country was fou...
‘NBA 2K20,’ ‘GTA Online,’ & ‘Red Dead Redemption Online’ Press Pause For George Floyd
Source: 2K / NBA2k20 In a show of solidarity and respect, the video game world is pressing pause on online gaming for George Floyd. As the WORLD is still protesting against police brutality and racial injustice, the video game community is letting the world know it cares about the issues plaguing the Black community. Today as the nation finally mourns the death of George Floyd, Rockstar Games, 2K Games, and their parent company Take-Two Interactive announced on Thursday (Jun.4) that servers for the Grand Theft Auto Online, Red Dead Online, and NBA 2K20 will shutdown from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. That also is the same time George Floyd’s memorial service will be taking place in Minneapolis. In a tweet on its official Twitter account, Rockstar Games “Black Lives Matter. To hon...
