Tory Lanez recently dropped a new summer banger, but many fans speculate a possible sneak diss towards Megan Thee Stallion. Could this be a simple track from Tory or is he low-key being disrespectful? Canadian rapper Tory Lanez made his way to the bottom of the map to record his new summer banger, “City Boy […]
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Ravyn Lenae was welcomed to NPR’s Tiny Desk on Wednesday where the R&B star performed several of her most popular songs off of her latest album, Hypnos. Among the songs played by Lenae include “Venom,” “Skin Tight,” and “Inside Out,” as well as her 2017 song, “Sticky.”
“I think it’s a lifelong journey, learning to love yourself and trust yourself, and believe in the skin you’re in,” Lenae told the small crowd while discussing “Inside Out.” “I wrote this song when I wasn’t so sure… that’s why we sing it together.”
Lenae began her career in 2015 with the release of her debut EP, Moon Shoes. Over the next several years, she released two more EPs in Midnight Moonlight and Crush. During that time she toured with SZA on her Ctrl Tour and Noname on her Telefone Tour.
The Chicago singer’s newest project, Hypnos, serves as her debut studio album. The project was released on May 20 and features collaborations with Monte Booker, Steve Lacy, KAYTRANADA, and more.
“When you listen to the music, I hope you have a better understanding of me and even catch a better understanding of yourself,” Lenae said in a press release after the release of the album, according to Complex. “As artists, we make music as a pathway to help other people understand certain aspects of their lives. I’ve gone through the tunnels and seen the light on the other side. I’m finding my way. I’m clearer on who I am and my power through music and lyricism. I’m pouring more into me, friendships, family, and music. Through all of that, I’m fulfilled.”
Check out Lenae’s appearance on Tiny Desk below.
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Earlier this week, reports circulated claiming that Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets had reached an impasse in contract negotiations. Kyrie has a $36 million option heading into next season, and no one knows if he is going to opt-in. Irving wants to re-sign in Brooklyn and it seems like he wants a massive contract that will last many years.
On the other side of this equation, you have the Nets who understand just how inconsistent Kyrie can be when it comes to showing up for work. He has played 123 games over the last three seasons, and with that being said, it appears as though the Nets only want to give one to two more years, max.
With rumors that Kyrie could be pursued by the Los Angeles Lakers, a new report from the New York Post is suggesting that the Nets and Irving are back to the negotiating table. All parties involved are looking to create a deal that makes sense for everyone and doesn’t have one side feeling like they got fleeced. After all, Kyrie is one of the best point guards in the league, and it is in the best interest of the Nets and Kyrie himself to stay in Brooklyn.
The NBA offseason officially begins on June 30th, so stay tuned to HNHH for all of the latest news and updates from around the basketball world.
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If skills sold, truth be told, I’d probably be lyrically Talib Kweli
Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense
But I did 5 mill’ – I ain’t been rhyming like Common since –
“Moment Of Clarity”, Jay Z
Over the decades since its inception, hip-hop has been composed of subcultures within a subculture. Never defined by any one wave nor any singular overarching direction, it is a genre that is founded on expression and as a result, there is an audience for any sentiment that you’d look to espouse to the wider world. Granted, in some cases, your music’s capacity to penetrate the commercial realm may be diminished depending on your approach to production and delivery, but there’s no musical form that produces a fervent cult following quite like hip-hop.
This means that for every rapper who adheres to all of the conventional tropes that the mainstream expects in terms of presentation, content, and everything in-between, there is another who is actively subverting expectations to do their own thing.
Initially, it was under this banner that hip-hop icon and billionaire mogul Kanye West emerged. Although he liaised with the more street-oriented camp that was mid 00’s Rocafella, Ye diversified his appeal by aligning himself with what was then known as the “backpack rap” community.
Given his first big break when he went on tour alongside conscious rap lynchpin Talib Kweli, Ye’s intention to be the first rapper to merge the benz and the backpack was prevalent in his early work. Most notably, on his now seminal debut album The College Dropout, where Ye comingles frivolous bars about “money, hoes and rims” with societally minded singles such as “All Falls Down,” “Spaceship” and “Jesus Walks.”
As eager to give a feature to Chicago-based spoken word artist J.Ivy as he was to bolster his star by aligning with Jay-Z on “Never Let Me Down,” it seemed that Ye’s desire to repay the backpack community that’d welcomed him in amid all the hustlers of the era was genuine.
But, during his 2021 appearance on Drink Champs, the enigmatic artist engaged in a bit of revisionist history as he proclaimed that he had little to no affinity for the community or its ethos.
“I’m sorry to all the backpack community,” Ye began. “Due to the fact that I was from the streets but I’d never killed anybody, it was just easier for me to pose as a backpacker. I really love street n****s. I listen to Cash Money, Jay-Z, Lil Baby.” He continued, in between laughs, “I was using. I apologize once again to Kweli. I’m sorry, I never f****d with your raps.”
In response, Kweli took to Instagram to elaborate on how he felt about Ye’s ruse.
“Poser (noun) – a person who pretends that he or she is not… an affected or insincere person,” he wrote alongside the interview clip. “Real question- since when did we celebrate posers in hip-hop? I don’t even know whether to laugh or be offended anymore.”
Although Ye’s motivations can often be hard to discern, his revelation about his purported falsified ties to the backpack community so many years on is certainly an intriguing one. Whenever the West seeks to disown something, it would usually infer that its cultural capital has expired.
With this in mind, it raises the question of exactly how the notion of being a “backpack” rapper morphed from accolade to slur and whether this has broader ramifications for the modern MC’s ability to nod towards the informal subgenre in their own output today.
Before delving further in, it’s important to get as close to a definition of what a “backpack” rapper is as we can.
According to a robust entry on Urban Dictionary, a backpack MC is “a person who raps about real life shit that matters and has experienced, rarely about pimping hoes/having millions/selling immense amounts of drugs/murdering random people for no apparent reason or motive. A person who is true to himself while rapping and uses his head and heart to write not only a pen and meaningless words.”
While rappers have been deviating away from escapism or criminal exploits since the days of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Fives’ “The Message” or Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story,” it’d be fair to say that the origins of the species as we know it can be traced back to the Native Tongues movement.
Afrocentric and an alternative to what major labels were seeking from hip-hop artists in the late 80s and early 90s, this collective counted groups such as A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Black Sheep among its ranks while the likes of Monie Love and Queen Latifah delivered liberated rhymes that would go on to inspire a generation of female MCs to come. In addition to its core contingent, other notable figures such as Brand Nubian and The Beatnuts sought to expand the perception of what hip-hop could look like, sound like or seek to propagate. Meanwhile, other boroughs of the big apple such as Queens would soon have its own proto-backpack crews in the form of Organized Konfusion (featuring a young Pharoahe Monch) and the Large Professor-led Main Source.
With Tribe and De La in particular, fans and artists alike would learn that conformity wasn’t crucial for wider success and that there was no reason to dumb down nor lyrically neuter yourself in order to carve out a legacy.
Taking the lead from their East Coast contemporaries, the West Coast saw its own crop of artists who renounced the gun-toting and glorification of street life in favor of developing their own worlds that encompassed everything from celebratory odes to good times to lyrical dexterity and socio-political themes.
In this class, the likes of The Pharcyde, Freestyle Fellowship, Dilated Peoples, Jurassic 5, Souls Of Mischief, and by extension, the entirety of the Hieroglyphics crew, would flourish and garner worldwide followings of their volition.
By the mid-to-late 90s, the backpack era was reaching its apex in terms of standing as an active competitor to gangsta rap.
Among those who were crucial in offering a viable culture to align with that was separate from what was fast becoming the stereotypical perception of hip-hop were labels such as Rawkus and Rhymesayers.
In the case of the former label, the LA-based company seemed to have an uncanny ability to offer up sacred texts for the genre, including but not limited to the legendary Soundbombing II compilation and Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus.
Years after he parted ways with his crew, Company Flow’s EL-P would take the core tenets of Rawkus’ model with him to launch Def Jux which would soon become a haven for hip-hop’s outsiders and boundary breakers including Cannibal Ox, Mr Lif, Murs and the legendary Aesop Rock.
While in the case of Minnesota’s Rhymesayers, they became a beacon for all those who wished to stray from the path as devotees of both idiosyncratic production and astute, often abstract punchlines. Co-founded by Slug and Ant of Atmosphere alongside Sab The Artist, the label’s championing of everyone from Brother Ali to Eydea & Abilities and MF DOOM has made it into a much-loved label for listeners with a taste for the unconventional.
Meanwhile, the casual listener would begin equating “backpackers” with collectives such as The Roots, crate diggers like J. Dilla, or artists such as Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Common.
In Common’s case, the Chicago native’s decision to lament over the genre’s pivot towards gangsta rap on “I Used To Love H.E.R” essentially made him into a poster boy for this ad-hoc movement and even led him into a high-profile beef with Ice Cube & The Westside Connection.
Boasting a cherished discography of classic records such as Like Water for Chocolate and Resurrection, Kanye’s aforementioned backpacker credentials would be accentuated when he helped to revive Common’s career after the experimental misstep of Electric Circus by signing him to G.O.O.D. Music.
Meanwhile, in the case of Talib Kweli and Mos Def– now known as Yasiin Bey– their decision to combine forces under the banner of Black Star in 1997 would be pivotal in cementing the notion of what a “backpacker” was to outside observers.
Released in September of 1998, it could be argued that this project– alongside Mos’ Black On Both Sides – captured the essence of the previously undefined by incorporating eclectic production with lyrics that were not only unapologetically pro-black, but critiqued society on everything from its “european beauty standards” to the proliferation of violence in hip-hop.
Alongside proving pivotal in creating the perception of backpack rap, it also made the supposed sub-genre interchangeable with “conscious” hip-hop.
As such, the term “backpacker” was occasionally deployed as an ill-fitting umbrella that would be assigned to everyone from a cartoon supervillian such as MF DOOM to a political firebrand like Immortal Technique.
Just like everything else in hip-hop, there came a time when the notion of being a “backpacker” or actively seeking to reach audiences of that ilk became passe. And long before Ye was eschewing his ties to the genre, his mentor, Jay-Z, spoke to the inherent limitations of their approach in his 2010 biography, Decoded.
“Kweli is a great emcee – as is Common – and they’ve both carved out impressive careers without big records,” Jay mused. “They’re great technical MCs, but there is a difference between being a great technician and a great songwriter. I deeply respect their craft, but even the most 2010- Tyler The Creator- dazzling lyrical display won’t translate to a wide audience unless it’s matched with a big song.”
While emergent underground stars in hip-hop used to see no harm in being grouped under the “backpacker” bracket, the internet-era’s transgressive MCs saw things differently.
“I hate backpack rap,” declared Tyler, The Creator at the outset of his career. “FUCK IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE.”
Likewise, Childish Gambino made a habit of rallying against the term proclaiming on “My Shine,”: “Fuck nerdcore, fuck backpack. Fuck rap cool, I make cool rap.”
As the decade progressed, the perception of seeking to educate or enlighten in the manner that Black Star once had continued to degrade to such an extent that Talib would be vilified by the same online blogs and tastemakers that would’ve celebrated him in another era.
“I find it a challenge to make music that’s interesting and entertaining and really moves you,” he told VLADTV, “while you’ve got people like Complex.com that did a list that said ‘conscious rap is condescending and corny.’ They had a picture of me and Mos Def (laughs). They wouldn’t have even printed that unless it was a consensus that some people have in hip-hop. That’s why I fight against being put in that box because the people strive to put me in that box, subconsciously or intentionally, are limiting the audience that can hear my music.”
Courtesy of the trap wave and the resurgence of gangsta rap as we know it, the term “backpacker” continues to be an albatross that an MC would like to avoid hanging around their neck. However, that doesn’t mean that its legacy and influence has simply vanished into thin air.
Nowadays, its key themes, sentiments, and even facets of its dissenting approach to production have been re-introduced into a hip-hop space that defies categorization rather than craving it. As a result, remnants of the backpacker mentality span across the mainstream and the underground alike.
In the case of Kendrick Lamar, his excoriating view on the world and affinity for jazz is in keeping with everyone from Mos Def to the Native Tongues. In a similar vein, J. Cole– who dispenses allegorical concepts about the trials and tribulations of life– has been accused of being “preachy” in much the same vein as Talib, while still striking a chord with listeners the world over.
Although he sprung up from the Soundcloud era alongside the Raider Klan, the fingerprints of so-called backpack rappers are identifiable across Denzel Curry’s latest album. while Joey Bada$$’ All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ sought to both comfort and confront in the vein that many before had.
Alongside Chicago’s Ghetto sage crew of Saba, Noname and Smino, other wilful outsiders such as the SLUms collective basically constitute an entire movement and network of collaborators in the vein that backpacker crews of yesteryear did– from MIKE and King Carter to Earl Sweatshirt, Navy Blue, Mavi, Pink Silfu and more.
Once a member of Ratking– who proclaimed themselves to be closely aligned to the “culture of punk”– Wiki’s Half Godexists so resolutely within its own world that it would undoubtedly encounter the label in another era.
And even if alleged “backpacker rap” may never experience a renaissance in its original guise or experience widespread reevaluation, that doesn’t mean it isn’t still clung to by those in the game today.
“Yeah, that’s how I started man,” Drake said in an early interview. “There was a time where I wouldn’t listen to anything unless it was produced by Dilla. I used to listen to Ninth [Wonder] and Little Brother and Slum [Village] and Common. I used to really be just immersed in that brand of hip-hop. Not that anything’s changed, but I just found myself in a different position. That wasn’t necessarily the lane for me as much as I loved it. I tried for a long time, I did those songs but I just sort of saw the way to bridge the two. Lyrics, melody, big hooks and content. I found a bridge between the two things I love. So, I can stand in the middle of that bridge and wave my hands.”
While the validity of Drizzy’s statement about finding a middle ground could certainly be contested and the term may have gone extinct under the weight of negative connotations, that doesn’t mean the spirit of backpack rap doesn’t remain intact. In fact, at a time when the planet is engulfed in more chaos than ever, both its radical uniqueness and ability to explore aspects of the world that the conventional rapper would steer clear of means that it might be just what listeners are craving.
Draymond Green has been one of the most vocal players in the NBA over the past couple of years. He has always been a great trash-talker, but now that he has his very own podcast, as well as a guest spot on NBA on TNT, Green has been able to kick things up a notch, for better or for worse.
There are plenty of people out there who like to get mad at Green for his comments, but in Draymond’s mind, he is just going to keep doing what’s gotten him to this massive level of success. For instance, after winning his fourth NBA title, Green has been going after those who’ve hated on him, and even though the parade just took place, it doesn’t seem like he will be slowing down anytime soon.
For instance, Green took to Twitter during the early hours of the morning looking for smoke. As you can see in the tweet below, he wrote “Anybody talk out of turn today? Just logging on the app to see if there’s someone to destroy.”
Clearly, Green has been having a lot of fun with social media as of late, and as long as someone is slandering him, he will remain alert.
When you win a championship, you certainly earn the right to feel this way. Once you’ve won four, you never have to stop feeling that way, which is truly special.
The queen of pop culture, Beyonce Knowles Carter, released her first single from her new highly anticipated album, Act I, “Renaissance.” The single titled “Break My Soul” is a song to let loose and get you moving. Queen B has social media in a chokehold preparing everyone for the big album drop next month. First […]
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Logic has revealed plans to release a project of songs he recorded back in 2006, saying that he wants to do something, “just for the fans.” The rapper made the announcement on Instagram, on Wednesday, following the release of his latest album, Vinyl Days.
“2006 demo…. I’m not sure when but I’m dropping a free album of my earliest recordings from 2006 just for the fans!” Logic captioned a preview of one of the songs.
Logic’s first mixtape, Young, Broke & Infamous, wasn’t released until 2010, meaning these tracks were recorded a full four years before Logic even began his music career. Being born in 1990, Logic would have only been 16 at the time of recording.
Vinyl Days, Logic’s first studio album since retirement, was released on Friday. The project sees Logic collaborate with Wiz Khalifa, Action Bronson, Russ, The Game, Royce da 5’9, RZA, DJ Premiere, and more.
Explaining how he’s gotten more comfortable asking for features, Logic recently told Apple Music 1 that retirement gave him a new perspective on competition in hip-hop.
“Different people to reach out, I would be scared that they wouldn’t reciprocate that. Once I retired, I was like, well, Logic, this is unimportant. Now I’m just a guy who can just be a fan of somebody. It’s not some competition. Now when I reach out to people, it’s just like, who gives it?” Logic told the outlet.
Check out Logic’s announcement on Instagram below.
Chris Brown’s newest music video features singer and dancer Normani as his muse, and some Rihanna fans aren’t too happy. Chris Brown released the music video to his newest single, “We (Warm Embrace),” from his anticipated Breezy Album. The steamy new video has fans questioning Normani’s loyalty to Rihanna. The video shows Chris and Normani […]
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E-40 is celebrating his wedding anniversary with his wife Tracy Stevens. The couple is celebrating 31 years of marriage and has been together for 37 years.
“It’s our anniversary! Today we celebrate 31 yrs of marriage 37 yrs together Mr. & Mrs. Stevens,” E-40 wrote on Instagram with pictures from his 1991 wedding and present day.
In addition to being a great husband, E-40 is keeping busy. He recently announced the launch of his new ice cream under the “Goon With The Spoon” food brand umbrella, which will be available in select stores and will come in six flavors: Cookie Dough, Bourbon Vanilla, Vanilla Bean, Strawberry, Mint Chocolate, and Salted Caramel.
The famed Bay Area hip-hop musician has been working on the “Goon With The Spoon” ice cream for four years. E-40‘s ice cream was created with solar energy and contains dairy that is free of the artificial growth hormone rBST.
The news comes six months after E-40 introduced his new food brand, “Goon With The Spoon,” and launched it with a range of packed sausages and burritos. He also partnered with Justin Kinder (of Kinders Meats, Deli, and BBQ) to help launch several different sausage flavors for Goon with The Spoon, including Teriyaki Pineapple Chicken Sausage, Philly Cheesesteak Chicken Sausages, Hot Beef Sausages, Mild Beef Sausages, and Choices (Yum) Sausage Bundle, as well as Turf Burritos, as part of his expansion into the culinary industry.
The ice cream is the latest addition to E-40’s burgeoning food and beverage empire. He launched two new wine varieties, Blueberry and Orangesicle, to his powerful “Earl Stevens Selections” wine brands last month, to add to his extensive portfolio of 15+ still and sparkling wines. In 2013, he released the Function Red Blend, which he called after his hit track “Function,” followed by the Sweet Red, Chardonnay, Mangoscato, Moscato and Tropiscato, among other wines.
The post E-40 Celebrates 31 Years of Marriage: “My Soulmate” appeared first on The Source.
In the case of RHODE Vs. Rode, a 9-year minority-owned fashion brand owned by Purna Khatau and Phobe Vickers filed a lawsuit against Hailey Bieber for trademark infringement after the model and wife of Justin debuted a skincare line with the same name, which happens to be her middle name. The fashion line, which has been worn by Beyonce, Rihanna and sold in luxury stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and according to the lawsuit is expected to make $14.5 Million this year alleges that after Bieber launched her Rhode Skincare line earlier this month, Khatau and Vickers immediately began to see confusion in the marketplace which has already hurt their brand. The partners asked the court for a preliminary injunction ordering Hailey to stop using the name “Rhode” to prevent further confusion. “The brand Rhode is everything we have worked hard to achieve, and her using our name is hurting our company, our employees, our customers, and our partners,” they said in the statement. The co-founders said Hailey attempted to buy the rights to the name from them four years ago, but they declined. “the magnitude of Bieber’s following and the virality of her marketing will cause immediate, ongoing, and irreparable harm to the Rhode brand.” Hailey Bieber, married to Justin Bieber, is a celebrity with over 45 million followers on Instagram, another 9.2 million on TikTok, and a circle of A-list friends including fellow beauty entrepreneur Kylie Jenner. She has leveraged social media to promote her brand, with a single post promoting the beauty brand garnering over 1.5 million likes. The founders claim that some consumers on Instagram have been tagging the wrong Rhode in photos.
See their full statement on Instagram below, Beibers Rhode brand has not responded.
In a separate statement, the clothing brand’s lawyer, Lisa T. Simpson, said that the situation is “unfortunate.”
“We, of course, understand that Hailey wants to use her middle name for her brand, but the law on this is clear: you can’t create this kind of brand confusion just because you want to use your name,” she said. “What Ms. Bieber is doing is harming a minority co-owned business that two women have painstakingly built into a growing, global brand.”
The post Fashion Company ‘RHODE’ Sues Hailey Bieber For Trademark Infringement Claiming She Stole The Name appeared first on The Source.
