Month: November 2021

Jazmine Sullivan has had one hell of a year. 

Dropping Heaux Tales at the top of 2021, Sullivan landed yet another #1 on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart, and earned her best Billboard 200 peak when the album debuted at #4.  

Bennett Raglin/Getty Images

In the months since Heaux Tales was released, Sullivan turned in a powerful NPR Tiny Desk performance, appeared in Rihanna’s star-studded Savage x Fenty show back in September, and this past weekend, she hauled in two Soul Train Awards for Album of the Year and Best R&B/Soul Female Artist. (Sullivan was also nominated for three Grammys for Best R&B Album, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for “Pick Up Your Feelings.”)

Today Sullivan followed up her impressive Soul Train Awards performance by announcing the Heaux Tales North American tour.

Paras Griffin/Getty Images

In a press release, it was announced that the 25-stop tour produced by Live Nation is set to run from February 14, 2022 to March 30, 2022, and that tickets will be available at 10 a.m. on Friday, December 3 at LiveNation.com.

Check out the full list of Heaux Tales tour dates below and let us know if you’ll be grabbing tickets when Jazmine Sullivan comes to your city. 

THE HEAUX TALES TOUR DATES:
Mon Feb 14 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
Tue Feb 15 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
Thu Feb 17 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
Sun Feb 20 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
Tue Feb 22 – Oakland, CA – Paramount Theatre-Oakland
Wed Feb 23 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades
Fri Feb 25 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
Sat Feb 26 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
Mon Feb 28 – Denver, CO – Summit
Wed Mar 02 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Fri Mar 04 – Houston, TX – Bayou Music Center
Sun Mar 06 – New Orleans, LA – Fillmore New Orleans
Tue Mar 08 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
Wed Mar 09 – Atlanta, GA – Coca-Cola Roxy
Sat Mar 12 – Raleigh, NC – The Ritz
Sun Mar 13 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore Charlotte
Wed Mar 16 – Boston, MA – House of Blues Boston
Thu Mar 17 – Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre
Sun Mar 20 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
Tue Mar 22 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogart’s
Wed Mar 23 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues Cleveland
Fri Mar 25 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit
Sun Mar 27 – Toronto, ON – The Danforth Music Hall
Tue Mar 29 – Minneapolis, MN – Fillmore Minneapolis
Wed Mar 30 – Chicago, IL –  House of Blues Chicago

It’s been nearly three years since YNW Melly was initially arrested. While he’s been locked up, fans have continued to show their support for him, as he awaits trial for the murder of YNW Sakchaser and YNW Bortlen. On Monday, the rapper filed a motion to court requesting the judge for a speedy trial. In the state of Florida, that means that Melly could make the request at any point and the trial would have to start within 50 days. 

On Tuesday, the defense withdrew their motion for a speedy trial. However, a tentative trial date has been set. Per the Sun Sentinal, Melly’s attorney began working out plans with the prosecutors to start jury selection in March. Broward County Circuit Judge Andrew Siegel set a tentative trial date for March 7th. If Melly was granted a speedy trial, his trial would’ve begun in mid-January.

Melly is currently facing murder charges for allegedly murdering YNW Sakchaser and YNW Bortlen and trying to make it appear as if it were a drive-by shooting. Though Melly wasn’t in the vehicle when it arrived at the hospital with Sakchaser and Bortlen, prosecutors accused the rapper of pulling the trigger.

Rumors floating around are that the prosecutors are currently requesting DNA and measurements to recreate the crime scene during trial. We’ll keep you posted when those rumors are confirmed. 

[Via]

While Benny The Butcher is best known for his aggressive flow and vivid storytelling ability, and classic records like Tana Talk 3 and The Plugs I Met, the Griselda Records rapper has never shied away from venturing into other creative fields. 

Earlier this year, amidst rumors of Tana Talk 4 and Benny’s signing to Def Jam, the “5 to 50” rapper released his own NFT collection, and revealed he was working on yet another movie, starring “some of your favorite actors.” 

Yesterday, in another example of Benny’s willingness to think outside of the box, he lent his talents to the wildly popular Barstool Sports’ podcast Pardon My Take, appearing as a featured artists on the podcast’s new single, “At The Bank.” 

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Following Pardon My Take hosts Big Cat and PFT Commenter, and Barstool employee and battle rapper Rone, Benny slides through with a verse fit better for a Daringer beat, than for a podcast.

“One of my favorite places to go is the bank,” Benny assures. “And I don’t never see y’all there.” 

“At The Bank” is obviously an attempt at comedy, but when Benny the Butcher gets on the mic, it’s serious business, and as he always does, the Buffalo legend kills his verse from top to bottom, and finishes with an ode to his favorite financial establishments. 

“In my city they respect me like they hail Pablo, the IRS gotta chase me outta Wells Fargo,” he raps. “Get it? ‘Cause all we know is trap. So much dough get stacked we like Goldman Sachs.” 

Check out Benny’s feature on “At The Bank” below and let us know what you think in the comments. 

Kehlani has continued to be more comfortable with their true self lately. As they have been releasing albums each year and evolving as an artist, they has also been discovering their sexual orientation and gender identity.

In a cover story for Byrdie Magazine released today (Nov. 30), Kehlani officially confirmed that their pronouns are she/they, and that it pleases her more when people refer to them as they: “I don’t mind when people say ‘she’ at all, but something feels really affirming when people say ‘they.’ It feels like… you really see me.”

They updated their pronouns in their Twitter bio recently to reflect this preference. Kehlani also spoke on their announcement from earlier this year when they told their fans that they were lesbian. They had previously stated on different occasions that they were queer, bisexual and even pansexual, but they felt their lesbian announcement was too much about a label and not about their wants and needs: “I wish it was more of a journey discovering how I love and what I need versus putting the emphasis on having to ‘come out’ with my sexual identity.”

In the rest of their interview with Byrdie, Kehlani discussed multiple topics such as raising their daughter, their plastic surgery, how different they are as an artist compared to the beginning of their career, rumors about them dating other R&B girls and their upcoming album Blue Water Road.

After they were seen partying with SZA after the Met Gala this year, fans speculated they and SZA were an item, which Kehlani dismissed: “They said I’m collecting R&B girls like Infinity Stones and I haven’t fucked with any of them.”

When speaking about their album, which is slated to drop at some point this winter, they said it also touches on their sexuality: “(It) talks about love and coming into gayness.”

It is wonderful to see Kehlani continue to find and embrace themselves.

[Via]

When Kanye West left Soulja Boy off Donda, all hell broke loose. 

The “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” rapper immediately called Ye a “b*tch,” and teased a handful of Kanye diss records. Ye doubled down on his decision to remove Big Draco’s verse from “Remote Control,” and called the verse trash in his now-infamous Drink Champs appearance. The two eventually made up, and Soulja Boy proclaimed himself “the first rapper to get an apology from Kanye West.” 

Two days later, however, Soulja Boy called West’s Yeezus album trash, and said he felt disrespected by Ye’s Drink Champs comments. 

Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Now, Soulja Boy is dealing with the after-effects of Ye’s decision to cut him from the album. In a recent Instagram Live broadcast re-posted by DJ Akademiks, he revealed that both Stunna 4 Vegas and Lil Yachty cut him from songs, too. 

“Kanye West, Lil Yachty and Stunna 4 Vegas: y’all got me f*cked up!,” he yelled. “This is a PSA. This is a public service announcement. None of you rappers call my phone no more, please. I’m begging y’all.” 

Soulja Boy said that being cut from songs is a “slap in the face,” and exasperatedly put all of the blame squarely on Kanye. 

“Kanye, this is your fault. This shit yo fault, Kanye. Before this Donda album shit, nobody wasn’t trying Big Draco like that,” he said. “Now you got Lil Yachty sending me songs, and taking me off the song. You got Stunna 4 Vegas sending me songs, and putting the songs out with Big Yavo and SSG Kobe. What is going on around here?” 

Doubling down his previous sentiment, Soujla told the rap community to lose his number. 

“This a PSA. No rappers call me for no features no more. I’m not doing it,” he finished.

What do you think of Soulja Boy blaming Ye for more rappers leaving him off songs? Let us know down in the comments.