MUSIC

Fat Joe believes he should have been awarded a Grammy in 2017.The New York rapper has said that he feels he was robbed of what would have been his first Grammy by Chicago’s Chance the Rapper.Fat Joe and Remy Ma’s hot single “All the Way Up” alongside rapper French Montana was nominated for the Best Rap Performance at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards,Unfortunately for Joey Crack and his colleagues, they eventually lost out to Chance’s hit song “No Problem” featuring Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz, from Chance’s ‘Coloring Book’ album.The performance of “No Problem” would go on to win Best Rap Performance for 2017.Fat Joe’s “All the Way Up” also competed with Drake’s super hit “Hotline Bling” for Best Rap Song, and lost out in that category too.In a new interview with men’s fashion magazine, GQ, Fat Joe spoke about his belief that “All the Way Up” should’ve taken home the award over Chance’s “No Problem.”

Lil Durk has said he wants to play a part in ending Chicago’s sequence of violence. In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, the ‘Chi City’ rapper expressed his thoughts on rap music and violence and claimed that he would no longer make reference to the deceased in any of his future rap songs.Durk said that he wanted to stop the ongoing gang violence in his native city’s altogether.“I’m going to start by getting the city together,” Lil Durk said. “To do my part to slow down the violence,” the rapper added.Later in the interview, Durk spoke about his upbringing in the city and revealed that he experienced immense some really bad days before he recently hit his 30th birthday this year. He spoke about how he wanted to play a part in halting violence by not rapping about the topic any more in his music.Instead, Durk shared his ambition of becoming a more business focused man.“Even if you do 99 percent of sh*t right, you still got 1 percent of the demons with you,” Lil Durk stated in the interview. “You get angry fast, and one reply can f**k up a billion dollars,” he shared, “That’s why I’m not saying names no more [in my music].” “I ain’t speaking on the dead no more — none of that,” Durk added.Lil Durk spoke about his hopes for the future.“I’m not chasing death no more,” Durk said.“I’m chasing a billion dollars,” the rapper said, “I want our kids to grow up safe and sound, to be able to have fun, to have a real life.”

2022 is almost over, and this year has been a big year for new releases from some popular artists like Taylor Swift, Sza, and others. We can’t deny that a lot of incredible music was produced this year, both in the form of full-length albums and singles.

New York Rapper Nas is set to perform a one-off show in his home city where he will perform his 'King's Disease,' trilogy of albums in its entirety.The news comes after the rap legend released 'King's Disease III,' produced by Hit-Boy, on Friday.Shortly after its release, the album was placed at number one on the iTunes music charts.Riff magazine rated the Mass Appeal-released album 9/10 in its recent review, arguing that 'Nas maintains his reign with ‘King’s Disease III.’Describing the project, the magazine details that 'Nas spends most of this album reflecting on his youth and rise to superstardom, the naïveté of new artists and the ever-present significance that mortality holds over all of us.'Nas announced that the special performance will take place on the 24th February 2023 at the famous Madison Square Garden venue in New York city.The rapper took to social media to announce the news to his fans, sharing a concert poster on Instagram with the following captions:'King's disease Trilogy - one night only @thegarden 2.24,' the post said.

Bronx rappers Ice Spice and Lil Tjay gave back to their communities ahead of Thanksgiving with a Turkey giveaway on Wednesday.The pair of hip hop stars brought some holiday cheer to the Bronx as they gave back to their hometown with a Turkey Drive. With Thanksgiving approaching next week and prices going up in the USA due to inflation, the hip hop pair arrived on the scene to help to those in the area less fortunate.According to local news outlet, ‘News12 The Bronx,’ Ice Spice and Lil Tjay donated turkeys to around 150 local Bronx families. The queue trailed was reported to line around the block as the local stars participated in the giveaway at Fordham University.Some local residents were said to be waiting in line for up to three hours. One resident told News12 that she was “beyond grateful” to be part of a community where locals are “supporting everybody,” especially during Thanksgiving time when working families are still feeling the ill effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Singer SZA has finally announced a release month for her much anticipated album, ‘S.O.S.’During a new interview with music website and chart authors ‘Billboard,’ the singer revealed that her follow-up to her 2017 album ‘Ctrl,’ will be delivered at some time this December.The artist declined to reveal any set date for the albums release however.Her major label sophomore studio effort, which will released via Top Dawg/RCA, is “the most captivating music [SZA] has ever made,” according to the Billboard interview.“Her beloved lo-fi beats sharing space with surf rock within the same track,” the Billboard article said. “A grunge record and an acoustic guitar-driven ballad coexisting without either sounding out of place, the report details.Since her debut album, the singer has featured on a number of tracks from other major artists and also released her own singles, including ‘I Hate U,’ last year and ‘Good Days’ in 2020.Recently, she dropped her first single from the upcoming album, titled ‘Shirt, which was dropped with an accompanying music video featuring actor Lakieth Stanfield.

Yung Bleu has delivered his latest album ‘TANTRA,’ released via the Moon Boy University and EMPIRE music labels.The new studio album features 17 tracks and with assists provided by rap stars Nicki Minaj, French Montana, Ty Dolla $ign, Fivio Foreign and Lil Wayne.The singers Zayn Malik, Ne-Yo, Kelly Rowland, and Lucky Dave also feature on songs from the new project.The highly anticipated album from the Mobile, Alabama rapper takes listeners through his development as a musician, songwriter, and hop hop producer. The album’s sound will help fans of the artist to understand Bleu’s progress in the music world to see him arrive at the more advanced vibe of this most recent album.Clash magazine’s official review of the album details the album below: “...much of its content looks toward reflection and relationships. Tantra itself encompassing ideals about spirit, consciousness, and sex,” it said.The website, which gave the album a 7/10 review, concluded that “ The artist-producer’s distinctive style has successfully seenhim carve out a lane for himself.”“Featuring 13 new tracks, the LP is abundant in rhythmic hooks,relatable lyricism, and notable production. ‘TANTRA’ an eclectic listen that maintains a theme, while speaking on Yung Bleu’s growth, upwards trajectory, and indisputable songwriting ability,” writer Shanté Collier-McDermott said.

Drake is said to have revealed some of his favorite songs from his huge catalog during a recent lecture he gave to students at Florida International University.The surprise talk was a part of business mogul David Grutman’s college class earlier this month given on the eve of Drake’s collaborative album with 21 Savage, titled ‘Her Loss.’The class has also seen Gutman attract the likes pf Victoria Beckham to give students an insight into success.The hour-long conversation saw the Toronto rapper speak to a class of 400 students on his thoughts on career advice and several other interesting topics.Predictably, the conversation led to Drizzy’s music and his process of song writing.Here Drake enlightened students with some real gems. Drake revealed his 2018 diamond-certified song “God’s Plan” was not intended to be a motivational anthem for the masses to the students’ surprise.“Sometimes you forget, like, the biggest hits or… what seems like the easiest ones really weren’t that easy,” the 6 God explained.“Even ‘God’s Plan’ is another example of a song that I still feel has great integrity,” he said, “It’s not a corny song.”Obviously, a lot of people associate it with the video, like, assume that it’s this positive, uplifting song,” Drake detailed, “But I remember I wrote that song, for like, my dawgs.”“That was, like, for the guys. We were turning up. I felt like I was talking crazy on there and all of a sudden, it became a motivational record,” the rapper stated.“I was like, ‘I don’t know if they read the lyrics.'”

DRAM released his latest album 'What Had Happened Was...' under his new indie label WAVER Records on Friday.The album marks the return of DRAM, also known as Shelley, to the world of music The mammoth 19 track long album sees the artist return to his soulful blend of singing and rapping to some unique melodies. The project's strength is in the honesty and vulnerability released by DRAM on the album, where he talks about struggles with mental health, grief, the down sides of fame and fortune as well as using past traumas to better himself.

The funeral of Migos rapper Takeoff took place on Friday in the recently deceased artist's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.Big crowds of people attended his funeral service at the State Farm Arena to offer their sympathies and pay respect to the hugely successful hip hop star.Takeoff's family did not allow media into the funeral service and all recording devices like smartphones and cameras were confiscated from those who entered the servivce.Some footage of the event, particularly from outside the venue, did make its way online from fans who snapped images outside the State Farm Arena.A huge image of Takeoff was posted outside the venue adorned with the words 'Celebrating The Life of Takeoff.'An image of the funeral program emerged on social media from hip hop influencer 'nuface,' who also posted a call for stop to the violence in the black community.“Praying for the day when we say and agree that enough is enough,' he captioned the post.'This black man reached heights no other could reach and wasn’t able to start a family because of senseless violence,' it said, 'I didn’t have to know him to feel this pain for our people ??️.”

Rapper French Montana recently celebrated his 38th birthday in style with a party at his Hidden Hills mansion in Santa Monica, California.A number of rich and famous guests were in attendance at the celebration, including Soulja Boy, Jamie Foxx, Vin Diesel ,Nelly and Swizz Beats.French was on the receiving end of a several glamorous gifts from his guests but a gift from Swizz Beats perhaps outdid everyone else.Montana, who had a hit song with 'Unforgettable' featuring Swae Lee of Rae Sremmurd in 2017, received the present of a camel from Swizz Beats.The gift may have been a more than appropriate gift for the proudly Moroccan born rapper, who took to social media to announce his pleasure with the gift.“Shout my n* Swizz,' he said in a video shared to his Instagram story, 'He got me a camel for my birthday.''What if it spits?,” he joked.

Rapper Megan Thee Stallion has received support from a number of prominent women and organisations who signed an open letter to the female artist denouncing violence against women.Megan Thee Stallion received an open letter from signees such as Congresswoman Maxine Waters, MeToo founder Tarana burke, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson. Also amongst the signees to the letter written from The Southern black Girls & Women's Consortium were Tamika Mallory and Angela Rye as well as many other influential people.In total, the letter lists 26 signatures of prominent officials and advocacy workers or organisations.The letter was penned to Thee Stallion after a recent controversy surrounding the artist's alleged shooting by Torey Lanez in 2020 referenced in a song in Drake and 21 Savage's new album 'Her Loss.'The song 'Circo Loco' from the project released last Friday references the shooting incident when Drake raps, '“This bi**h lie ‘bout getting shots but she still a stallion.”

Legendary West Coast producer and DJ Dre. Dre is rumored to be selling his mansion in Malibu for $20 million.Dre is reported to have first purchased the property for around $4.8 million and will be due to make a massive profit if he completes the sale for its reported market price.The residence is one of Dre's assets which he retained after his costly divorce from ex wife Nicole Young in the winter of 2021.The Source hip hop magazine reports that the mansion possesses six bedrooms and seven bathrooms.Apparently, it was this house where ex-attorney Nicole Young stayed during her divorce battle with Dre in 2021.

Meek Mill has announced that he will drop a new mixtape titled 'Flamerz 5,' on 21st November.The Philadelphia rapper took to social media to announce the news to his fans, revealing the news on Instagram.“FLAMERZ 5 ‘for promotional use only’ NOV. 21st for free for the streets,” the hip hop star wrote on the social media platform, using several fire emojis.The announcement was accompanied by a short video with Meek performing a segment of one of the mixtape's new songs.

Nas has revealed the track list of his upcoming album, 'King's Disease III,' which is set for a release day of this Friday November 11th.The album, which sees the legendary East Coast rhymer join forces with producer Hit-Boy, will be released on the Mass Appeal record label.The project will mark the fourth studio album that Nas, real name Nasir Jones, and Hit-Boy have teamed up to create.The Grammy nominated duo previously worked together on 'Kings Disease I' in 2020 and 'King's Disease II,' in 2021 as well as the album 'Magic,' also dropped last year.Nas unveiled the track list for the duo's latest release on social media on Wednesday earlier this week. The artist simply tweeted '11.11,' along with an image of the track list.The album will consist of a mammoth 16 songs as well as a bonus track, titled 'Til my Last Breath.'It is unclear whether the track list image, which features a black and white photograph of Nas, will be used as the official cover art on the studio album.Unlike previous offerings from Nas, the album's track list does not list any features on the tape.Similarly, Hit-Boy is the sole producer.