As can be seen above, Kendrick Lamar has announced his new album title to be DAMN., and will feature appearances from Rihanna and U2 along with production from DJ Dahi, 9th Wonder, Mike WiLL Made-It, Cardo and more. Check out the tracklisting below and pre-order the album here.
Category: NEWS
It Looks Like Kendrick Lamar’s New Album Won’t Be Dropping Today, After All
Here comes some bad news: after hinting at an album release date on 7th April (as in today), Kendrick Lamar’s iTunes has revealed a pre-order link for his yet-to-be-titled album (or is it called ALBUM?). On that page, it looks as if the new project will be released on the 14th. Ah well.
Giggs Reveals New Track ‘Superheroes’, Announces New Mixtape
Press play on #SN1xBeats1!@officialgiggs dropped a new track & says 'WAMP 2 DEM' mixtape will be out this summer. https://t.co/rAPwDbsSan pic.twitter.com/DSLJDLRYOs
— Beats 1 (@Beats1) March 24, 2017
During the latest episode of his Beats 1 show (‘The SN1 Show’), Giggs liberated a new track titled ‘Superheroes’. In addition, he also announced a new mixtape titled WAMP 2 DEM, which would keep the South London rapper’s momentum going following his appearances on Drake’s More Life project:
I ain’t even got a title. Actually, do you know what, I’m going to call it WAMP 2 DEM. I don’t even know [how to] spell that yet but that’s what its gonna be called.
Maybe I’m just gonna drop it like summer time, because obviously I’m gonna give brothers space to breathe. You know them ones. I don’t want to be bullying up the place when other man have still got stuff to drop. So let me just say summer, WAMP 2 DEM – that’s going be the new mixtape.
Hopefully, we’ll get more information soon.
Laura Mvula Reveals Being Dropped From Sony Via E-Mail
The music industry is a cold and dirty game. Five years after being signed to Sony (under their RCA Victor imprint), singer Laura Mvula revealed that she’s been let go from the label via e-mail.
I didn’t see anyone, I didn’t hear anybody’s voice. I just read words. It felt so cold and cruel… Not even the fact that I was dropped, the way that the whole thing happened. To be treated like that doesn’t feel quite just.
Apparently, Sony also told her manager that they wouldn’t be renewing her contract in January as well.
An unfortunate turn for an artist that still has a bright future ahead of her; Mvula’s two big projects — Sing To The Moon and The Dreaming Room — both earned plenty of critical praise. The former of the two also snagged Mvula Brit, Mercury and Ivor Novello nominations, as well as MOBO and Urban Music awards.
Read more on the story here.
Drake Continues To Get Mickey Mouse Tattoos
Over the course of his career, Toronto megastar Drake has amassed a slew of small, seemingly random (obviously, we don’t know the meaning because someone’s art) tattoos in a way you might compare to Rihanna (as opposed to, say, the tattoo-heavy Lil Wayne). His latest few continue this pattern, which people either love or hate…either way, you can check them out below. Definitely wondering how Sade’s feeling about that face ink…
Brexit Is Happening Next Week
Here we go. After several months of debate and speculation (not to mention a massive change for an entire nation), Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union will begin next Wednesday, 29th March, via Article 50. Sir Tim Barrow (the U.K.’s Ambassador to the E.U.) reportedly informed the European Council earlier this week.
It’s said that the full break-up will take some two years to complete (assuming that everything goes as smoothly as possible).
Unconfirmed Gorillaz Album Tracklist Sees Appearances From Pusha T, Popcaan, Danny Brown & More
UPDATE: Gorillaz has announced that their new album — titled Humanz — drops 28th April.
Phonographic Performance Limited (a licensing database that handles the collection of radio station royalties) has apparently listed nineteen tracks from Gorillaz (including six interludes and an intro)…naturally, many are speculating this discovery to be the band’s new album. In addition, we also see a slew of amazing features — D.R.A.M., Vince Staples, Anthony Hamilton, Grace Jones, Pusha T, Popcaan, Danny Brown, Kilo Kish, Kelela and more look to be providing assistance for the Damon Albarn-led release.
You can check out the (still unconfirmed) tracklist below. Hopefully, we’ll learn more soon.
‘Andromeda’ feat. D.R.A.M.
‘Ascension’ feat. Vince Staples’
‘Busted And Blue’
‘Carnival’ feat. Anthony Hamilton
‘Charger’ feat. Grace Jones
‘Circle Of Friendz’ feat. Brandon Markell Holmes
‘Halfway To The Halfway House’ feat. Peven Everett
‘Hallelujah Money’ feat. Benjamin Clementine
‘Interlude: Elevator Going Up’
‘Interlude: New World’
‘Interlude: Penthouse’
‘Interlude: Talk Radio’
‘Interlude: The Elephant’
‘Interlude: The Non-conformist Oath’
‘Intro: I Switched My Robot Off’
‘Let Me Out’ feat. Mavis Staples & Pusha T
‘Momentz’ feat. De La Soul
‘Out Of Body’ feat. Kilo Kish, Zebra Katz & Imani Voshana
‘Saturnz Barz’ feat. Popcaan
‘Sex Murder Party’ feat. Jamie Principle & Zebra Katz
‘She’s My Collar’ feat. Kali Uchis
‘Strobelite’ feat. Peven Everett
‘Submission’ feat. Danny Brown & Kelela
‘The Apprentice’ feat. Rag’n’bone Man, Zebra Katz & Ray BLK
‘Ticker Tape’ feat. Carly Simon & Kali Uchis
‘We Got The Power’ feat. Jehnny Beth
Goldie Announces New Memoir
In addition to his forthcoming album The Journey Man (released 16th June), Goldie has also announced a new autobiography in the works titled All Things Remembered:
Don’t wish too hard, kid, it might come true…Where am I? I’m on the stage at Ronnie Scott’s, with the band bouncing off the end of my fingertips, the alchemy’s flowing and I’m making the best music of my life and trying to understand where this all went right. All Things Remembered is not just the story of how and why, it’s everything from the children’s homes to the Whispering Wheels roller-disco to rolling with the graffiti kings of New York to writing with David Bowie to reinventing myself as the Dorian Gray of fucking breakbeat. It’s a music book like no other, and I’m very excited to be working with Faber and Ben Thompson to get my dreams down on paper. In no less than five dimensions.
All Things Remembered drops 2nd November via Faber Social.
R.I.P. Chuck Berry
Condolences go out to the family and friends of the legendary Rock & Roll pioneer Chuck Berry, who had died at 90. He was found dead Saturday near St. Louis, Missouri.
Daniel Kaluuya Isn’t Feeling Samuel L. Jackson’s British Actor Comments
We shall make this quick: recently, actor god Samuel L. Jackson sat down with HOT 97 to promote Kong: Skull Island, and the conversation turned to the mega-success film Get Out:
I think it’s great, that movie is doing everything that it’s doing and people are loving it and they’re feeling it…the thing in my mind is, I know the young brother that’s in the movie, and he’s British. So, there are a lot of Black British actors that work in this country, all the time. I tend to wonder, what would that movie have been with an American brother, who really understands that in a way…Daniel grew up in a country where they’ve been interracial dating for a hundred years…what would a brother from America have made of that role? Some things are universal, but everything ain’t
And he keeps going on about how Britain doesn’t understand the American black plight, as well as how America tends to use British actors over American ones because they’re cheaper. Unsurprisingly, this sparked a pretty big debate.
Anyways, the Daniel in question — actor Daniel Kaluuya, who played the lead role in Get Out — responded (as seen in GQ):
Big up Samuel L. Jackson, because here’s a guy who has broken down doors. He has done a lot so that we can do what we can do.
Here’s the thing about that critique, though. I’m dark-skinned, bro. When I’m around black people I’m made to feel “other” because I’m dark-skinned. I’ve had to wrestle with that, with people going “You’re too black.” Then I come to America and they say, “You’re not black enough.” I go to Uganda, I can’t speak the language. In India, I’m black. In the black community, I’m dark-skinned. In America, I’m British. Bro!
[Black people in the UK], the people who are the reason I’m even about to have a career, had to live in a time where they went looking for housing and signs would say, “NO IRISH. NO DOGS. NO BLACKS.” That’s reality. Police would round up all these black people, get them in the back of a van, and wrap them in blankets so their bruises wouldn’t show when they beat them. That’s the history that London has gone through. The Brixton riots, the Tottenham riots, the 2011 riots, because black people were being killed by police. That’s what’s happening in London. But it’s not in the mainstream media. Those stories aren’t out there like that. So people get an idea of what they might think the experience is.
Let me say, I’m not trying to culture-vulture the thing. I empathize. That script spoke to me. I’ve been to Ugandan weddings, and funerals, and seen that cousin bring a white girl. That’s a thing in all communities. I really respect African American people. I just want to tell black stories.
This is the frustrating thing, bro—in order to prove that I can play this role, I have to open up about the trauma that I’ve experienced as a black person. I have to show off my struggle so that people accept that I’m black. No matter that every single room I go to I’m usually the darkest person there. You know what I’m saying? I kind of resent that mentality. I’m just an individual. You probably feel that as a writer, too. Just because you’re black, you get taken and used to represent something. It mirrors what happens in the film.
I resent that I have to prove that I’m black. I don’t know what that is. I’m still processing it.
So: does Samuel have a point? Or is this an example of racism against one another?
Stormzy Blasts NME For Placing Him On Their Cover Without His Permission
Oh dear. NME’s latest issue features a cover story on depression, and uses an image of Stormzy as its lead-off (Stormzy spoke on his own battle in another interview, which they quoted as part of a larger editorial). Problem is, Stormzy didn’t give permission to be on said cover, and he’s pissed.
You can read the full rant, but key tweets are below:
@NME You lot are a bunch of real life fucking pussyholes. Proper dickheads. We've had a good relationship before this, why do you think
— #GSAP (@Stormzy1) March 16, 2017
@NME it is kool to use my me as a poster boy for such a sensitive issue without permission? You lot have been begging me to be on your cover
— #GSAP (@Stormzy1) March 16, 2017
@NME They've used me on their cover without my permission. Depression is a very very sensitive issue and it's something I've spoken about pic.twitter.com/OdAXshdrug
— #GSAP (@Stormzy1) March 16, 2017
You lot know I don't rant or open my mouth up for no reason but serious @NME magazine are the biggest bunch of sly, foul PAIGONS.
— #GSAP (@Stormzy1) March 16, 2017
@NME I should at least have a say in whether my face is used for a campaign. I've no issue with sharing my story but, with my permission!
— #GSAP (@Stormzy1) March 16, 2017
@NME the reason I'm so angry is because NME have been begging me to be on their cover. I have refused. Then they do this.
— #GSAP (@Stormzy1) March 16, 2017
Then NME (and editor Mike Williams) responded, stating that their decision was meant to be a positive one:
@Stormzy1 Hi Stormzy, Editor Mike here. I’m sorry that you didn’t know your image would be our cover. Our intentions were only positive…
— NME (@NME) March 16, 2017
@Stormzy1 We were inspired by your words and wanted to use them as a springboard to talk about depression and how it shouldn’t be taboo…
— NME (@NME) March 16, 2017
@Stormzy1 We spoke to CALM and YoungMinds in order to make sure the advice we were giving people was on message with how they advise…
— NME (@NME) March 16, 2017
@Stormzy1 We used your image as we felt it would resonate most with our readers, and I can only apologise again that you didn’t know…
— NME (@NME) March 16, 2017
@Stormzy1 I'm really sorry this has happened. We're a free magazine and were not trying to shift copies, just talk about something important
— NME (@NME) March 16, 2017
To which Stormzy stood his ground:
DEAD. You're NOT a non-profit organisation. The more copies you dish out the more you charge for advertising. You will make money from this. https://t.co/aPMtU4gy5M
— #GSAP (@Stormzy1) March 16, 2017
So…was NME in the wrong?