Chance The Rapper is thanking Yeezus today, as last night Kanye West, who Chance publicly been a huge fan of ever since his come up, gave a big shout-out to Chance during his performance at Ottawa’s Bluesfest. Although to two have been hanging out a good amount lately (Chance even brought out Kanye and Vic Mensa for one of his Open Mike events), this is the first time Kanye publicly gave a shout-out to the young Chicago rapper. In an Instagram video from Bob Zegler, a member of Chance’s team, Chance is ecstatic in his priceless reaction to Ye’s kind words, calling Chance one of “the most talented young new artists.” “Let’s go! That’s all I needed!”, you can hear Chance saying from the soundboard, as he realizes the Kanye-stimulus-package is incoming.
In one week, Future is releasing the sequel to his critically acclaimed 2011 mixtape, Dirty Sprite. And to promote his forthcoming Dirty Sprite 2 (DS2) album, which is set to feature Drake, Future has released the official music video for one of the album’s 18-tracks, ‘Blow a Bag’. You can get Dirty Sprite 2 on July 17th on iTunes (pre-order now).
You may anticipate a lot of different people to bring out The Weeknd during their concerts, but Taylor Swift may not be the first you’d expect. Tonight, during the first of her two East Rutherford, New Jersey stops on her “1989 World Tour”, Taylor brought out the ‘I Can’t Feel My Face’ singer out for a guest performance. The two shared the stage while The Weeknd, whose new album The Beauty Behind The Madness is coming in less than a couple months (August 28), performed his new hit single. Don’t miss Taylor when she comes to your city, you never know who she may bring out.
Check out photos and a clip of The Weeknd’s ‘I Can’t Feel My Face’ performance below.
Although Spotify is doing better than ever, Apple Music is doing all it can to take over the throne. And now, exclusively for Apple Music users, Drake has released his new and highly anticipated music video for his If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late track ‘Energy’. The video is absolutely hilarious, so you judge for yourself if it’s worth getting Apple Music.
Watch Drake’s official music video for ‘Energy’ here at Apple Music or stream it here or belowwhile you still can (it won’t be up for long).
Atlanta’s own, singer/rapper Future, is releasing a follow up to his critically acclaimed 2011 mixtape, Dirty Sprite. The project, of course titled Dirty Sprite 2 (DS2), will be on sale through iTunes (pre-order now) and releases in just one week (July 17)! Not only will DS2 feature 18-tracks, which so far include ‘Blow a Bag’, ‘Real Sisters’, and his successful ‘F*ck Up Some Commas’, but the project will also feature Drake.
It should never come to anyone’s surprise when Hopsin calls out another rapper. This time around, Hopsin sent shots at (Donald Glover) Childish Gambino during his new interview with Ebro and Laura Stylez on Hot 97. However, to be fair, Hopsin wasn’t overtly disrespectful to his rap peers this time at least. When talking about rappers and their strategic styles and images, Hopsin said:
A new Jake Gyllenhaal boxing-themed blockbuster is about to hit theatres on July 24th, but something else even more exciting might be coming our way along with the film.
On the website ‘Letterboxd’, users are able to post reviews for films and filmmaker and reviewer James Healey posted some very interesting information not only regarding the film, but about a new Frank Ocean song that appears at the end of the film. Read his review below.
“Southpaw is going to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the summer. Jake Gyllenhaal is phenomenal, giving a heart breaking performance. The film is very depressing and a bit manipulative, but overall incredibly touching and made me cry a lot. The plot is formulaic and predictable at times but still enjoyable. Use of color during matches is fucking beautiful. The action is so good, POV shots look so fucking cool. The worst thing Southpaw does is HEAVILY over scoring, butat least there is a new Frank Ocean song at the end.“
Wait, what?! Healey might have just informed the world that new music from the one and only Frank Ocean is included in the film, which means that either a new song is going to be exclusively premiered in the film, or, we might even get new music before then and the usage of the song would be used promotionally. Frank Ocean has already teased new music coming this month with a photo he posted on his website back in April with the hashtags underneath it reading “#ALBUM3” and “#JULY2015”.
The music for the film has already been well publicized due to Eminem and Shady Records executive producing it, but a new Frank Ocean track would only add to the hype. Whatever it is, any news regarding new music from Frank Ocean is good news, and we’ve never been more ready.
Peep the trailer for ‘Southpaw’ below, in theatres July 24.
UPDATE: It seems as though the Frank Ocean track included in the movie may be the previously released “Wiseman”. Check out the tweet below.
Mike Posner is currently on the road, traveling across the United States with a few friends while he makes stops in a number of cities for surprise pop-up shows, for crowds of just a couple hundred people. Last night, Posner brought this tour of intimate performances to Chicago’s Lincoln Park, which holds some of the best views of the Chitown skyline. Introduced by his friend and co-writer, Adam Friedman, Mike performed his new EP, The Truth, as well as his catalog of hits (‘Cooler Than Me’, ‘Please Don’t Go’) and even some unheard music from his forthcoming sophomore album. The scenery was beautiful, as Posner and some of his most dedicated fans hung out just before dusk, playing music and sharing laughs.
Check out our photos from Mike Posner’s “Ninja Show” tour stop in Chicago’s Lincoln Park below.
Andy Grammer is music’s easiest guy to root for, and that just may be an understatement. Today you can’t turn on the radio without hearing Grammer’s single ‘Honey, I’m Good.’, and while a lot artists may see their commercial success come almost overnight, Andy Grammer, who is one of the nicest guys in the industry, has truly worked his way up the charts. Sharing stories about studying music and learning to fail in college, to his version of “grad school” where he would pay rent by performing on the street 6 to 10 hours a day, we sat down with the ‘Keep Your Head Up’ singer to talk about his come up, temptations, his next album, and blurring the lines between “pop music” and other genres. Before his studio debut and self-titled album, which brought his first successful singles like ‘Fine By Me’ and ‘Keep Your Head Up’, Andy would sell his demo CDs for $5 on the street to Santa Monica tourists, only to have those same people come up to him half a decade later with those same CDs, while Andy is touring the country in promotion of his latest album and performing a single that reached the Top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 list. Hard work really does pay off.
A little bit of legal trouble isn’t going to stop the Migos from releasing their forthcoming debut album. Y.R.N.: Tha Album is set to release this month (July 31st), and today we have a new single from the album, titled ‘Pipe It Up’. Takeoff kills it on this one, which is produced by Atlanta’s own, Metro Boomin. Stay tuned for the LP and our review to come soon after! But meanwhile, let the new track tide you over.