Back in March, we had reported that YG and Mozzy are working on a joint album, as per information revealed by Mozzy’s manager DaveO on Twitter.
Today, the two artists have confirmed the development and the project’s title: Perfect Timing. According to the press release, the album will be released later this month so stay tuned. To kick start the campaign, the duo has dropped the first single, the title track, which features one of our favorites, Blxst.
A music video has arrived along with the Summer ready song as well, shot in the beautiful locals of Cabo San Lucas. Watch it below
Hip-hop’s reciprocal relationship with anime has been bumping and slashing along for years now, collaborating on a number of seminal projects and cutting a swathe across multimedia platforms before wiping the blade off and flicking an errant strand of hair away in slow-motion. A clear evolution of Wu Tang’s Shaolin style, it marks a continuation of the culture clash that keeps on giving. A high point of this union so far was the recent release of Yasuke, a new anime series on Netflix which tells the tale of the real historical figure of the same name, the first and only Black Samurai. Naturally, they have added robots, demons and magic, all topped off by eye-popping gore and a world-building soundtrack from experimental hip-hop pioneer Flying Lotus. Barely a day after the release of the series, the soundtrack was released to much anticipation and fanfare. Having directed his own horror film in 2017, the shall we say “visceral” Kuso, and picking up a writing credit for Yasuke, FlyLo is clearly becoming the renaissance man he was destined to be.
The music of the series is integral to setting every masterful scene, and it holds up as a beautiful piece of work when enjoyed separately. It did feel like a musical journey, even though I could never bring myself to say something like that. It is psychedelic, immersive, bombastic, unsettling, and a million other commonly used descriptors for Flying Lotus’ output. In the introduction alone, tribal drums underpin rapid fire hi-hats while mournful saxophone notes melt into neon synth lines, adding a powerful sense of drama without needing to refer to the source material to elaborate.
The theme tune to the series, “Black Gold”, features frequent FlyLo collaborator Thundercat. Usually known for more playful tones, some may have wondered how this would meld with the typically intense and serious world of samurai. Those people were of course exposed as fools. There is no facet of culture which could not be improved by that vibrating falsetto. The track dreamily recalls the unbridled emotion of classic anime themes, giving them the modern funk reboot. Thundercat’s allusions to the metaphorical possibilities on the sun took me back to the classic 80s anime The Mysterious Cities of Gold, and this is one minor example of what makes the soundtrack work as a whole. While Flying Lotus indulges his more esoteric impulses gleefully, he always manages to circle back to the classic anime music which serves as inspiration, keeping the sense of authenticity demanded from the legions of Anime-niacs.
As the album progresses, the style expertly switches from heartbreak to euphoria to beats Kill Bill would have killed for, Japanese percussion and Miami bass sharing the stage like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Flying Lotus’ well documented love of retro Japanese video games also shines through in some of the crunchy 8-bit melodies he deploys throughout. It’s a glorious mess overall, one I would describe as akin to floating in an isolation tank concealed within a 3D hologram of a Basquiat painting.
Denzel Curry steps into the fray for the track “African Samurai” and delivers a verse the famously anime-obsessed rapper seems to have been waiting his whole life to drop. The tone and references suggest a love and encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject, which is lucky as anything else would have been extremely jarring and detrimental to the soundscape.
“Blood-stained katanas, black man from Ghana
I battle over my honour and guided by Nobunaga
The power in every Kada has channelled most of my Oni
Years later, ended up scarred, broken and lonely”
As the album builds ominously to the inevitable crescendo, the darkness envelopes the listener and the astral plane becomes a very real consideration. Flying Lotus uses huge bass drops and Eastern samples in his audio collage to escalate the tension and disorientate the listener, to ensure they don’t get too comfortable bathing in the lush textures and realise that honour is at stake here. The drums of war get the adrenaline flowing and the ascending chord patterns let you know that this is a winnable fight. I feel like even explaining the rest of the album from this point might inadvertently provide spoilers for the series, so I will refrain. Suffice to say, it is a musical journey.
I recommend watching the series to attain the initial high, then using the soundtrack as a kind of daily application to maintain the high. This is the most efficient way to consume this content, although this may vary from person to person. The soundtrack is phenomenal on so many levels: as an indicator of the peerless talents of Flying Lotus, a celebration of this benchmark series, an example of the undeniable synergy and symmetry of anime and hip-hop and, incidentally, an awe-inspiring piece of music. Time to re-watch Samurai Champloo for the twelfth time.
Dark Man X inspired a legion of Hip-Hop fans and rappers. Among the aforementioned is Lil Wayne, who took time from his performance at Trillerfest on Saturday, May 1 to pay tribute to the late rap star.
Weezy took time to reflect on touring with Cash Money, whose roster was so deep it meant they could only really go on the road with another record label, which happened to be Ruff Ryders Records.
“When I was a younger kid, we used to be on tour a lot, right. Like six months a year,” said Wayne from the stage. “We used to go tour with another record label. We used to have so many artists we didn’t need to have no opening acts ’cause we just needed another record label, and it was just us and them. So back then we went on this tour called ‘The Cash Money/Ruff Ryders Tour’.”
The crowd applauded and then Tunechi continued, “See, being from New Orleans it’s so far away from New York and Cali and shit like that. We didn’t know if it was real when we seen it on TV, the New York guys, the LA people. So when we saw DMX we all fell in love. But when I got on tour with him, and now you’re in the hotel lobby, you’re backstage, you run into a n***a and he actually says something to you, and when you see this n*gga talk like how he rap, and you see this n***a is what he is, and you see this n*gga has a zillion dogs with him, then a zillion dogs with him it’s impossible not to be obsessed, infatuated, motherf*cking impressed, whatever. Ladies and gentlemen please make some noise for the late, great, DMX.”
Lil Wayne then shouted out Swizz Beatz, noting that X’s passing particularly hurt the producer since they were close friends. The comment was a springboard into a performance of the Swizz Beatz produced “Uproar.”
Last night, Trillerfest took place in Miami (of course) and Lil Wayne headlined. Also on the bill were names like Tekashi 6ix9ine, Tyga, 2 Chainz and more.
During his set, Wayne stopped to pay tribute to DMX who passed away a few weeks ago. He spoke about being on the Cash Money/Ruff Ryders Tour with X was back in 2000 and understanding that New York was real when he saw him, also commenting on how the late rapper really was who he made out to be. He commented on how Swizz Beatz has been taking the news hard before he went into their collaboration from Tha Carter V, ‘Uproar’.
Texas native Cam Wallace releases an impactful new single titled “We Made It” filled with celebratory lyrics and upbeat sounds.
Before this single, Cam Wallace dropped his EP 6RINGS, which undeniably shows the talent this artist has, especially when it comes to the lyrical intensity and the catchy beats. The same applies to his new track “We Made It.” Opening up the track with a powerful line, “I was just thinking to myself how can I tell my story in a real way,” Wallace makes it crystal clear that his storytelling abilities will be top notch, which makes every word uniquely intertwined with the other and the lyricism brilliant.
A track with clever wordplay and catchy rhymes that celebrate finally achieving success, the bounce and snaps that the beat possesses creates a perfect track to celebrate and make a toast to. The smooth delivery accompanied by his strong projection instills motivation. Press play if you want to get the drive to keep going through the struggle in order to make it to the other side.
After remaining quiet all 2021, TDE has announced that it will make its long-awaited return next week. On Wednesday, the label’s CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith shared a trailer that shows a loading bar that gets to the end before “5/7/21” flashes on screen.
“THE WAIT IS OVAH!!!!” he tweeted.
The official TDE account also reposted the May 7 date.
It’s unclear which of the label’s artists will be dropping, but fans are hoping for new music from Kendrick Lamar, whose last album DAMN. was released in 2017.
In September, the pgLang founder was spotted shooting a music video in downtown Los Angeles. The following month, TDE President Terrence “Punch” Henderson shared that the follow-up to 2017’s DAMN. would arrive “pretty soon.”
The May 7 drop could also include new music from other members of TDE such as Ab-Soul, Isaiah Rashad, and ScHoolboy Q, who hasn’t released an album since 2019’s CrasH Talk. Meanwhile, SZA’s long-delayed album is expected to drop sometime this year.
Twitter exploded as fans weighed in on who could be dropping.
Ty Dolla $ign salutes the single ladies in the star-studded video for “By Yourself.”
The video, which Ty co-directed with Alex Bittan, stars Tiffany Haddish, who opens the clip by complaining about her man (“You’re never around”). She reflects on the ups and downs of their relationship before realizing that she’s better off on her own, and even busts out some dance moves. Bryson makes a cameo alongside Ty at a junkyard, while Jhené reps the independent ladies.
“By Yourself,” produced by Mustard, can be found on Ty’s latest album Featuring Ty Dolla $ign, which also features Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Kid Cudi. In March, he dropped the remix with Bryson.
This is the latest visual off Ty’s album following “Spicy” with Post Malone.
An important copyright case is brewing up behind the scenes in the music industry involving Eminem songs.
In 2019, Eminem’s publisher filed a lawsuit against Spotify alleging that the streaming service had infringed the copyrights in almost 250 of his songs including one of his biggest, ‘Lose Yourself’. The independent publisher, Eight Mile Style had then filed an additional complaint alleging that royalty collection organization Harry Fox Agency conspired with Spotify to conceal the infringement by backdating Notices of Intention to obtain compulsory mechanical licenses and also falsifying royalty documents.
HFA, which issues mechanical licenses so that the song owners can get paid proper royalties, is being accused of favoring Spotify to the detriment of publishers and a result, they are not properly paid what’s due to them. HFA had tried to argue that no valid case against them stands in the eyes of law but a federal judge has ruled last week that Spotify USA Inc.’s agent the Harry Fox Agency LLC must face allegations by Eminem’s music publisher that it contributed to infringement of copyrights linked to “billions of unlicensed streams of the rapper’s songs.”
“The most egregious example of Spotify’s willful infringement is with respect to the iconic musical composition ‘Lose Yourself,’” wrote attorney Richard Busch in the complaint, noting that the song topped Billboard charts for months and won an Oscar for best original song and multiple Grammys. “Despite ‘Lose Yourself’ being one of the most famous and popular songs in the world, HFA informed Eight Mile in February, 2019, that Spotify, and its agent HFA, had placed ‘Lose Yourself’ in what they call ‘Copyright Control,’ an internal HFA designation reserved for songs that HFA does not license because HFA supposedly does not know who is the copyright owner or how to contact the copyright owner of the song. Putting one of the most well-known songs in the world in this category is objective evidence that Spotify, through HFA’s contributions, engaged in willful copyright infringement.”
Eight Mile Style argues that Spotify did not have any mechanical licenses, “direct, affiliate, implied, or compulsory, to reproduce or distribute” to the nearly 250 songs Eminem songs which includes the chart topping and Oscar winning ‘Lose Yourself’.
“HFA protests that all it is accused of doing is sending letters based on information it received from Spotify,” writes U.S. District Court Judge Aleta Trauger in Nashville. “At this stage, however, the court is required to take the plaintiffs’ allegations as true, and those allegations include the plaintiffs’ claims about how and why industry practice and HFA’s own reputation allowed HFA’s actions to conceal Spotify’s lack of a valid mechanical license for the Eight Mile Compositions. The purpose and effect of that concealment, moreover, was not simply to prevent past infringement from being discovered, but to allow infringement to continue. Even if HFA was innocent in Spotify’s first alleged instances of infringement, the plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that its actions contributed to Spotify’s ability to continue infringing over time.”
Trauger later adds, “It may turn out that HFA is right and that its actions were truly blameless (or at least non-actionable). The plaintiffs’ allegations depend, in significant part, on their own contentions regarding how certain documents would have been construed in the context of the conventions and ordinary practices of the music business. Of course, HFA itself is a veteran of the same business, and it disagrees with those assertions. At this stage, however, all the court can do is take the plaintiffs at their word, as it is required to in connection with a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, and wait to reevaluate the plaintiffs’ claims when a record has actually been made.”
Over the weekend, the “Thotiana” rapper posted a video where multiple women appear to be living at his house and sleeping in bunk beds. He goes from room to room waking them up and announcing that they must “get tattoos or go home.” After the clip went viral, Blueface came under fire as social media criticized the bizarre scene, with some even comparing it to a cult akin to R. Kelly.
But as Blueface explained, it’s all part of his reality show that’s been going on for weeks. Season 2 just wrapped and auditions for a third season are about to begin. For $40/month, fans can watch the show exclusively on his OnlyFans page.
Amid the backlash, Blueface addressed his critics. “Wtf is a cult ?” he tweeted on Monday.
He went on to reveal that the female “contestants” are put up at his house for three weeks. They film for his show and in exchange, he takes care of their financial needs and promotes their brands. He says that he does not live with the women and stays in his second house.
For those who are curious my show is a 3 week series I move women in from all over the US fly them out to cali put them under one roof I own 2 homes I don’t stay there I take care of all there financial needs while they are here i promote there brands etc we film all day tune in
Blueface denied any implications of sexual misconduct. “We don’t tolerate any sexual conduct between men and women so the women do tend to grow interest in each other because of this but they are adults at the end of the day it’s only so much I can control so what they do with each other is apart of the show,” he said.
He also clapped back at those who took issue with the women’s living conditions, adding, “Americas next top model was on bunk beds but y’all mad at me.”
we don’t tolerate any sexual conduct between men and women so the women do tend to grow interest in each other because of this but they are adults at the end of the day it’s only so much I can control so what they do with each other is apart of the show subscribe rn to see more
TDE President Punch announced the aroomfullofmirrors collective back in January. We didn’t know much about it, but it seemed to be a music group consisting of himself, Daylyt, Ichiban Don (Willie B), Lyric Michelle, Nick Grant, Earlee Riser, Jrias Law and producer Hari. On forming the group, Punch recently told Genius “it feels like the beginning of when we were starting TDE, the focus was completely on the art and developing. We’re really just building the whole art phase, it’s no limit to where it will go.”
The group recently put out their single ‘RAWAR’ along with an accompanying visual and you can check it out below. Punch described the sound as raw but refreshing and that’s hard to argue. The video is directed by Daylyt.
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