Rap Music News
Anonymous Hacks Chicago Police Scanners to Play N.W.A.’s “Fuck Tha Police”
N.W.A. As the protests over George Floyd’s death and normalized police brutality continue into a new week, we’ve seen everything from celebrities marching in the streets to tone-deaf remixes of Martin Luther King Jr. speeches. Over the weekend, the notorious hacker group Anonymous joined the fray by tapping into Chicago Police Department’s radios and playing N.W.A.’s “Fuck Tha Police”. This past Saturday, the notorious hacker group returned to social media to announce their solidarity with the protestors fighting racism and corruption in the US. “If the police can’t restrain themselves and are shooting reporters, kicking protesters, punching protesters, and engaging in violence — how can anyone expect the people to restrain themselves? People are done being brutalised and murdered,” they t...
2 Chainz’s Atlanta Restaurant Shut Down by Police for Violating COVID-19 Guidelines
It’s probably no coincidence that a number of states began rolling back lockdown restrictions right around Memorial Day. While some businesses have committed to continuing operating cautiously within local health guidelines, others have been throwing caution dangerously to the wind. That includes rapper and restaurateur 2 Chainz, whose Atlanta eatery Escobar Restaurant & Tapas was so packed on Monday that police had to shut it down. As TMZ reports, Georgia State Police drove by Escobar on Monday night and noticed it “was rather loud, busy, and occupied to be operating as a restaurant at that time of night.” A look at the establishment’s Instagram Stories reveals more than food service was indeed going on, as there are clips of people dancing, receiving bottle service with sparklers, an...
Dr. Dre Thinks Social Media Destroyed the Artist Mystique
Dr. Dre (British GQ) No wonder Dr. Dre doesn’t post much online. In a new interview with Jimmy Iovine in British GQ, the prolific rapper said he thinks social media has “destroyed” the artist mystique by offering fans too much access into the life of musicians, reports NME. Dre and Iovine’s conversation primarily revolved around how digital fame plays a role in an artist’s success nowadays. “I probably would’ve hated social media when I was coming up,” said Dre. “There’s a certain mystique that gets destroyed. I like the mystique. I like waiting. I don’t need anybody to know where I am every minute or what I’m doing. Or what I’m about to do… There’s a certain mystique that came along with music that was entertaining to wait to see what was about to happen.” From there, Iovine took Dre...
JPEGMAFIA Is a “CUTIE PIE!” in His New Song: Stream
JPEGMAFIA is always a ball of energy, but 2020 appears to be the year where he lets off creative steam at every opportunity that arises. Today, the experimental rapper has released his fifth (!) new single of the year, “CUTIE PIE!”, alongside a low-res music video. Since dropping his album All My Heroes Are Cornballs last fall, JPEGMAFIA has shared a string of exclamatory tracks that read like flyer announcements thanks to names like “BALD!”, “BODYGUARD!”, and “Covered in Money!”. Clearly, this new single “CUTIE PIE!” continues the trend. “CUTIE PIE!” opens with a lo-fi percussion beat that sounds like it’s being recorded to an iPhone and a slinky bass beat. Combined, the rhythm section is a throwback to ’90s hip-hop — and JPEGMAFIA keeps that mood going by spitting nonstop verses in a mon...
Migos Team with YoungBoy Never Broke Again on “Need It”: Stream
The trap gods of Migos have teamed with YoungBoy Never Broke Again on their new single “Need It”. The track is all about money — but as the title implies, it’s not about merely wanting cash, it’s about doing anything and everything to get it. The structure involves pairs of rappers trading bars, with most of the song given over to a lyrical tennis match between YoungBoy and Offset. “I said I need it!” YoungBoy sneers, and Offset hits the ball back in his court with, “This Draco undefeated!” With those two on the first verse and chorus, Quavo and Takeoff are relegated to the second verse. That means every part of the song benefits from a high-energy tenor and a smooth-talking baritone, and that tried-and-true formula sure sounds easy on the ear. Listen to “Need It” below. The collab is anot...
Mr. Rogers Sued Ice Cube for Sampling Him in “A Gangsta’s Fairytale”
Mr. Rogers and Ice Cube Over the weekend, Ice Cube celebrated the 30th anniversary of his debut solo album, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, with a digital listening party. He hosted the event on Instagram Live where he rapped along to his hits, shared insight into the songwriting process, and recalled old memories. Unexpectedly, one of those recollections involved getting sued by Mr. Rogers himself. As noted by Stereogum, the N.W.A. rapper brought up the surprising legal tussle practically as an aside. “I actually wrote [‘A Gangsta’s Fairytale’] for Eazy-E. But y’all know what it is; we weren’t getting down at the time so I had to take it myself,” he said on Instagram. “It’s a trip because off this song, Mr. Rogers sued us. He was mad because we had the Mister Rogers theme at the beginning of thi...
Kendall Roy’s Succession Rap “L to the OG” Gets an Official Release: Stream
During Season 2 of Succession, the character Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) tried to honor his father Logan with a lot of effort and no self-awareness by writing the octogenarian a rap song. Now you can relive that cringeworthy moment, as HBO and WaterTower Music have released the official studio version of “L to the OG”. Written by Succession composer Nicholas Britell, who also plays DJ Squiggle on the show, “L to the OG” is an intoxicating mix of simple rhymes, brown-nosing lyrics, and one of the whitest characters in TV history appropriating black vernacular. “Yo, bitches be catty, but the king’s my daddy,” he raps, “Rock all the haters while we go roll a ’rati/ Squiggle on the decks, Kenny on the rhyme / And Logan big ballin’ on Hamptons time.” In an interview with Vulture,...
BROCKHAMPTON Share New Songs “M.O.B” and “twisted”: Stream
BROCKHAMPTON are turning quarantine into a music goldmine. Once again, the boy band have released two new songs, “M.O.B” and “twisted”, following the tracks they dropped last week. Apparently this will be a regular habit. “M.O.B” and “twisted” follow “N.S.T.” and “things can’t stay the same”, which BROCKHAMPTON dropped last week during a password-protected livestream. Reportedly, BROCKHAMPTON will be releasing new music every Friday for the foreseeable future on private streams via TechnicalDifficulties.Club. However, last week’s songs are no longer available on YouTube, notes Pitchfork, which could potentially mean fans have a limited amount of time in which to stream the music after it’s released. “M.O.B” opens by sampling the intro to Bunny Sigler’s 1974 song “Shake Your Booty”, as made...
Run the Jewels Detail New Album RJT4 Featuring Zack de La Rocha & Josh Homme
After years of anticipation, Run the Jewels have officially announced their new album, Run the Jewels 4. The follow-up to 2016’s RTJ3, the 11-track effort is due out digitally on June 5th via Jewel Runners/BMG. Physical versions are expected later this year in September. The full-length includes an impressive roster of guests, including Greg Nice of Nice & Smooth and DJ Premier, who appeared on the early single “Ooh LA LA”. Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de La Rocha cameoed in that song’s video, but it turns out he also features on the LP alongside Pharrell Williams on a cut called “Ju$t”. Soul icon Mavis Staples and Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme join RTJ on “Pulling the Pin”, while 2 Chainz drops in for “Out of Sight”. The previously revealed “Yankee and the Bra...
Tekashi 6ix9ine’s $200,000 Donation Rejected by Child Hunger Charity
Looks like Snoop Dogg and Meek Mill aren’t the only ones who don’t want to hear from Tekashi 6ix9ine now that he’s out of prison. The rapper/glorified snitch recently made a $200,000 donation to the child hunger charity No Kid Hungry, only to see it rejected. 6ix9ine announced his donation on Instagram, writing in a since-deleted post, “During this pandemic I understand we have nurses and frontline Hero’s who risk there life daily to save others. But NEVER forget the children & families who depend on OUR PUBLIC schools for daily meals and nutritions to keep our future leaders growing to their best potential.” [sic]. The caption accompanied a still from the video for his comeback single “GOOBA”; that song and the merch released alongside it reportedly netted him $2 million in under a we...
Snoop Dogg and Meek Mill Blast Tekashi 6ix9ine After Post-Prison Song
Snoop Dogg and Meek Mill have both called out the media for their coverage of Tekashi 6ix9ine following his comeback single, “GOOBA”. The two vented their frustrations on Instagram, with Snoop going as far to say, “Fuck Tekashi 6ix9ine… Feel me on this, and if u don’t fuck u 2.” Tekashi 6ix9ine got a lot of attention for his new song — it racked up over 36 million views in less than 24 hours on YouTube — and part of that praise was coming from music writers and influencers alike. Snoop Dogg and Meek Mill had enough when they saw Elliott Wilson, Rap Radar founder and a longtime hip-hop journalist, share the cover art for “GOOBA” in his Instagram Stories, notes HipHopDX. Snoop Dogg has been a vocal critic of Tekashi 6ix9ine for a while, so it’s no surprise he was angry to see the felon ...
Slowthai Turns His NME Awards Drama Into New Song “ENEMY”: Stream
Slowthai loves to get up to no good, and now he’s ready to immortalize one of his most egregious actions in a new song. Presenting “ENEMY”, a single the UK rapper released this weekend that digs deep into his controversial speech from this year’s NME Awards. To understand what he’s getting at on this new track, you must first revisit what went down at the awards show. Back in February, Slowthai was primed to have a big night at the NME Awards. He opened the evening by performing his excellent Mura Masa collaboration “Deal Wiv It”, which went swimmingly until he decided to get cheeky by mooning the crowd. Things somehow got worse. When Slowthai accepted his fan-voted award for Hero of the Year, he harassed host and comedian Katherine Ryan by propositioning her. One audience member was so re...
