Blogs

Drake sat down with Beats 1's Zane Lowe on Thursday, April 28, to cover a wide range of topics as the clock ticked down to the release of his latest album, "Views."

The OVO Sound boss talked about not liking a studio full of people while he's recording, how he and his go-to producer Noah "40" Shebib approach making albums, working with Future on "What a Time to Be Alive," upcoming "Summer Sixteen Tour," delivering his highest level of vocal performance on "Views," the Lil Wayne and Birdman situation, admits he doesn't talk to Nicki Minaj anymore because of the Meek Mill beef and explains how Jay Z ended up on "Pop Style" and much more.

On the Birdman and Lil Wayne conflict

I’m a person that’s very grateful for all the names that you mention, specifically Birdman and Wayne. It's tough. To be honest with you it's tough to watch. I have a mutual respect for both guys. I pray that it gets worked out and we'll find an amicable place again ,,, one day.

On Nicki Minaj: 

I don’t really talk to Nicki. Another person I have a lot of love for and a lot of respect. Not only for our past and how much work and time we've put it in, but even with the way she dealt with the situation at hand. I understand what love is. And I understand a personal situation. She dealt with me how I would expect her to -- with class and I could only ever do the same.

On collaborating with Kanye West and Jay Z on "Pop Style"

Jay didn’t really do a verse. I was just trying to get 'Ye on it first. And 'Ye just sent it to me like that. Like, 'Yo, Jay just kinda did my first few lines for me and he was just here.' And that’s how we flexed it ... It didn’t exactly play out how I would have wanted it to. I've expressed my admiration for Jay countless times. That'll never change. Sometimes we just fall on opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to the rap world. It’s always mutual respect but sometimes it has to be from afar, due to other situations that really don't have anything to do with me or him.

Check out the full interview up top.

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Lost Key Records and Team Bigga Rankin team up to bring you "So Much Money", the latest record from Cyko featuring Rich Homie Quan.

Connect w/ Cyko:
Twitter: @iamcyko_
Instagram: iamcyko_

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Machine Gun Kelly releases an official music video for "All Night Long."

Machine Gun Kelly’s album “General Admission” Out Now!
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/GeneralAdmission
General Admission Deluxe Bundle: http://smarturl.it/MGKGAStore 
Google Play EX DLX: http://smarturl.it/GeneralAdmissionGP
Amazon EX DLX: http://smarturl.it/GenAdmissionAmz
Spotify: http://smarturl.it/generaladmissionsp 

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Peep the visuals for the A$AP Ferg and Tory Lanez collaboration titled "Line Up the Flex."

THE LEVEL UP TOUR:
A$AP FERG x TORY LANEZ
WITH SPECIAL GUEST MADEINTYO

May 18 Philadelphia, PA
May 19 Silver Spring, MD
May 20 Durham, NC*
May 21 Atlanta, GA*
May 24 New Orleans, LA
May 26 Tulsa, OK
May 27 Austin, TX †
May 28 Cleveland, OH†
May 29 El Paso, TX †
May 31 Tempe, AZ 
June 1 San Diego, CA
June 2 Santa Ana, CA
June 3 Santa Ana, CA
June 4-5 Houston, TX †
June 7 San Francisco, CA
June 8 Sacramento, CA
June 10 Salt Lake City, UT †
June 11 Denver, CO
June 12 Kansas City, MO
June 13 Minneapolis, MN
June 15 Milwaukee, WI
June 16 Royal Oak, MI
June 17 Indianapolis, IN
June 18 Columbus, OH
June 20 Cincinnati, OH
June 21 Pittsburgh, PA
June 22 New Haven, CT
June 23 New York, NY (early show)
June 23 New York, NY (late show)
* Tory Lanez only
† no MADEINTYO

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Via Gary Suarez for Forbes

With Drake fans anxiously awaiting the arrival of his new album Views, the announcement of its official track listing via the artist’s Twitter account brought that anticipation to a fever pitch.

With the album due to premiere today via Apple’s Beats 1 program, it will assuredly exist as an Apple Music / iTunes exclusive for at least some period of time. Such was this case with last year’s Future collaboration What A Time To Be Alive, which stayed on the company’s proprietary streaming and download services for a full week before spreading to Spotify, Amazon, and other platforms.

Regardless of platform exclusivity or pricing decisions, the Views track list reveals a shrewd release strategy that guarantees it will be one of his most successful albums to date.

This past February, the Recording Industry Association of America announced changes to the methodology behind gold, platinum, multi-platinum, and diamond award certifications for albums. The new rules give streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify a significant role in the determination of an album’s sales performance, with 1,500 on-demand song streams in the United States holding the same value as 10 individual track sales or 1 full album sale. (Streams and sales that occur outside of the United States are not factored into RIAA certification.) The benefits for rap albums came swiftly, with artists like Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar, and Nicki Minaj earning fresh certifications in the first two weeks.

For an artist like Drake, for whom a new song release can generate millions of streams per day, the revised RIAA model assures him that Views will quickly achieve a platinum plaque. Using the RIAA’s model, 1,500,000 streams of an individual Drake song in the United States is the equivalent of 1,000 actual album sales. At 20 tracks long, that adds up to some potentially huge numbers for Views that would not have been factored into the award certification math prior to this year.

Views‘ tracklisting truly games the revised RIAA gold and platinum system by exploiting how the organization now factors in the streaming performance of pre-release songs following an album’s release. On just Spotify alone, recently released singles “One Dance” and “Pop Style” have amassed 67 million and 18 million global plays, respectively. Upon Views‘ release, any of those plays that occurred in the United States will apply not only to those songs’ qualifications towards RIAA digital single certifications, but towards the album certification as well. By the RIAA’s new methodology, that amounts to potentially tens of thousands of applicable and attributable sales the second Views drops, though notably it won’t factor into its placement on Billboard’s album charts.

Furthermore, the inclusion of 2015 single “Hotline Bling” as a bonus track could send Views‘ RIAA numbers skyrocketing. With well over 400 million Spotify streams worldwide and close to 700 million official YouTube plays globally on Drake’s Vevo channel, this aging hit could be the infusion that sends Views well on its way to multi-platinum status before year’s end.

The Views track listing is as follows:

1. Keep the Family Close
2. 9
3. U With Me?
4. Feel No Ways
5. Hype
6. Weston Road Flows
7. Redemption
8. With You ft. PARTYNEXTDOOR
9. Faithful ft. Pimp C & dvsn
10. Still Here
11. Controlla
12. One Dance ft. Wizkid and Kyla
13. Grammys ft. Future
14. Childs Play
15. Pop Style
16. Too Good ft. Rihanna
17. Summers Over Interlude
18. Fire & Desire
19. Views
20. Hotline Bling

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Jimmy Fallon welcomed Rae Sremmured to the Tonight Show on Thursday, April 28. Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi used the occasion to perform "Look Alive" from their forthcoming album titled "Sremmlife 2," due out June 24. Pre-order it now from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sremmlife-2-deluxe/id1104588126

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Iggy Azalea is getting ready to release her sophomore album titled "Digital Distortion" in June. The Australian rapper stopped by Late Night with Seth Myers Thursday, April 28, to perform the project's lead single, "Team." It's available now on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/team-single/id1093561467

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With his smash hit single "Panda" sitting at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Desiigner, looks to conquer the U.K. as well.

He recently stopped by the London studios of Tim Westwood to drop an acapella freestyle. Peep it below.

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Calvin Harris taps Rihanna for an assist on his new single titled "This Is What You Came For." The song is available now on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/this-is-what-you-came-for/id1108212521

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Styles P a.k.a. Holiday Styles doesn't let his fans down as he drops off two new freestyles titled "Ghost Boogie" and "Same Ol' Ghost" over the instrumentals to J. Dilla's "Gangsta Boogie" and Rihanna's "Same Ol Mistakes."

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Johnny Manziel, once thought to be the savior for the Cleveland Browns, now needs help to save himself.

Out of the NFL because of off the field issues, including getting indicted this week for allegedly assaulting ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowley, the former first-round pick and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback out of Texas A&M, was photographed looking disheveled while watching the NFL draft Thursday, April 28, at a bar in Columbus, Ohio.

2 yrs ago he was a 1st rd pick...now hes unemployed watching it at a bar in Columbus b4 the Bieber concert #Manziel pic.twitter.com/phXU96jL3K

— Will Burge (@WillBurge) April 29, 2016

@bustedcoverage here's another one from slightly different angle pic.twitter.com/pcyw3W7ST4

— Shaun Laibe (@Shaunlaibe) April 29, 2016

The photos have since gone viral. Those close to the man they call Johnny Football have begged him to get help for his hard partying ways, but he's resisted.

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The Strip Hop King Mr. Wired Up..... Is back with his latest joint "To the Floor" feat. Fellow HTOWN artist "Beatking" & "Sherro" so T'up season is here courtesy of Mr. Wired up so press play and enjoy keep up with the movement via Twitter / IG. @Mrwiredupohboy

Send interview request or drops scripts to bookmrwiredup@gmail.com

Whoooooooooooooooooooo Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidddddddddd!!

Whoo Kid was stopped by police in downtown Manhattan Tuesday, April 26, when he was spotted driving around in his Escalade at 1:30 in the morning with the headlights off.

When cops ran his information through the system they found out the popular DJ had a warrant from 2014, for failing to show up in court. His drivers license had also been revoked, so he got hauled off to jail.

Whoo Kid paid a fine and was out back on the streets the same day. He says he's going to be keeping a low profile across the border or a minute or 2.

This latest run-in with NYPD is reminiscent of Whoo Kid's 2013 arrest outside of G-Unit headquarters for 9 license suspensions.

In an interview with Sam Roberts following his 2013 arrest the Turn Up God was asked how he ended up with 9 suspensions.

"13 years with no license. They said I was texting. Whatever ... I think somebody was calling me from BET, another black thing," he joked. "I didn't have no I.D. I don't have a license. When you get pulled over in New Jersey they let niggas go. New York, you get locked up. You better have I.D. or money or something."

Listen to the rest of the hilarious interview below.

Source: TMZ

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Trae Tha Truth slides through with an official music video for "Takers" featuring Quentin Miller. This is off of Trae's latest album titled "Tha Truth, Pt. 2." Cop it now from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/tha-truth-pt.-2/id1067074513.

Visuals directed by Philly Fly Boy

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Houston Rockets point guard Jason Terry guaranteed his team would win game 5 of their playoff series against the Golden State Warriors.

Not only did the Rockets get blown out by a score of 114-81 on Wednesday, April 27, Terry went scoreless. He was 0-7 from the floor in almost 22 minutes.

That earned him the "Donkey of the Day" from Charlamagne Tha God. Listen up top.

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Taxstone recently sat down with VladTV, and he addressed N.O.R.E.'s story about Michael Jordan saying "f*ck rap" at a Def Jam Christmas party, and the famed podcaster revealed that he wasn't surprised at all. Taxstone then said that he's not sure that Jordan even likes Black people, and he added that the legendary NBA player "might be the blackest motherf*cker that's not Black." 

Moving along, Taxstone and DJ Vlad discussed what it would take for someone of Jordan's status to have a downfall, and Taxstone said he believes that it would take something big. When asked if he thinks Jordan would survive the rape allegations Bill Cosby is facing, Taxstone said he doubts even someone as famous and revered as Jordan could survive something like that. 

To hear more of what Taxstone had to say, including his thoughts on the women accusing Cosby of rape, hit the clip below.

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Check out DJ Entice's new song titled "What Would You Do?" featuring Busta Rhymes, OT Genasis, Ace Hood and T-Pain. This is a definite heater

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Curren$y a.k.a. Spitta Andretti always keeps new audio heroin on deck for the music fiends. Check out his latest cut titled "Kilo Jam." The song was produced by YoungStarr.

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MACKrynoms

feat. Chilly Palmer

O Yea

VIEW ON YOUTUBE

A high energy video with a collage of Jeepers Creepers meets the shinning, with skateboarding brought to the hip hop world.

Get your next project distributed at @Raphenom.

Both Trick Daddy and Rick Ross have dissed Birdman during interviews with The Breakfast Club. That was one of the reasons the Cash Money Records co-owner was so heated when he visited the show last week and told hosts Charlamagne Tha God, DJ Envy and Angela Yee they better start putting some "respek" on his name.

That's what makes the photo above seem so odd.

Lil Wayne and Young Money Records President, Mack Maine, posed for a pic with Trick and Ross Wednesday, April 27, at  Beyonce’s "Formation" concert in Miami.

The photo was posted on Rick's Instagram page.

Thoughts?

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