Month: July 2022

Sampa The Great Spreads South African Music With The Bass-Heavy ‘Bona’

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Last month, Zambian-Australian rapper Sampa The Great announced her upcoming sophomore album, As Above, So Below after releasing two singles, “Lane” and “Never Forget” featuring Denzel Curry. Today, she has released the album’s third single, the bass-heavy “Bona.” According to its press release, it’s influenced by the music Sampa heard as a child in Botswana, borrowing the genres that originated in neighboring South Africa such as kwaito and amapiano.

In a statement, Sampa described the meaning of “Bona,” saying, “I haven’t yet shown the influence Botswana has had on me musically; this is the style, language, and swag of Botswana youth. ‘Bona’ is a chance for me to shine light on other elements of music that I was influenced by when growing up, outside of Zambian music. I want to bring a Southern African anthem to the mix and DJ desks, and show that there’s an array of music coming out of Africa, on top of Afrobeats.”

In a roundabout way, the track represents Sampa joining a growing trend of artists reclaiming dance music, especially through genres originated by Black artists, such as house and techno. In her case, though, she’s an African artist introducing African genres to wider audiences, showing that the continent has more to offer outside of Nigerian Afrobeats.

Listen to “Bona” by Sampa The Great above.

As Above, So Below is due on 9/9 on Vista Loma. Pre-order it here.

Beyonce Fans Are Appalled By An ‘MGK Punk Pop’ Cover Of ‘Break My Soul’

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beyonce break my soul
Getty Image

When Beyonce’s house-influenced new single “Break My Soul” first dropped, there were naturally a few fans put off by the pop-R&B queen’s shift into dance music styles. It didn’t take long for folks to jump aboard though, leading to a renaissance (sorry) of interest in Black-led dance music. Even Robin S. started to receive some belated and much-deserved accolades for her role in pioneering house music in the ’90s.

However, while Beyonce’s genre experimentation is part of a larger movement to reclaim traditionally Black music, that doesn’t mean that fans can appreciate further attempts to transform her work. Enter Ali Spagnola, a social media personality who has made kind of a name for herself with attention-grabbing stunts. Along with her band, she has reinterpreted the song as a pop-punk track in a video titled, “What if Beyonce’s ‘Break My Soul’ was by MGK?”

Obviously, it didn’t take long for the video to get negative attention from Beyonce fans for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that it’s kind of … not good. It’s also problematic thanks to some of the reasons stated above, which makes it a bad look in the eyes of many fans who are left to wonder if Spagnola just didn’t get the cultural subtext or got it and just didn’t care (both options sap the intended humor of the situation, given the historical context here). But attention seems to have been the goal all along, and Spagnola hasn’t had any problem with retweeting the criticism as well as the sporadic praise. She even doubled down, posting a video about “How we turned Beyonce’s ‘Break My Soul’ to MGK punk pop.”

And now, if you’ll excuse me, my soul is definitely broken, because I am not Beyonce, so I’m gonna go lie down until I stop feeling so queasy.

Future Surpasses An Insane Drake Milestone

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Men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t. And judging from the latest round of RIAA, it appears that the music industry needs to put a lot more respect on Future’s name.

According to HipHopDX, the Atlanta native and trap connoisseur recently became the recipient of a mind-blowing 55 new certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). While that accomplishment is incredibly impressive in its own right, Future’s new haul of gold and platinum plaques also helped him shatter one of Drake’s unbelievable music industry records.

 Future and Drake attend The Future: A Gentlemans Club at a private location on November 17, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia
Prince Williams/Wireimage/Getty Images

Prior to the RIAA’s Wednesday (July 27) announcement that Future’s sixth studio album and his collab album alongside Juice WRLD — titled HNDRXX and WRLD On Drugs, respectively — had officially crossed the platinum certification threshold, Drake had seven platinum-certified studio albums under his belt, making him the most commercially successful rapper to emerge during the 2010s. However, thanks to Pluto’s brand new hardware haul, the Atlanta hitmaker now holds that record with eight platinum-certified studio albums.

Interestingly enough, Future will likely up the score on his own record in the coming months because his latest album, I NEVER LIKED YOU, is steadily doing numbers, with a reported 893,000 album-equivalent units already under its belt since its release in April. Still, expect this accolade to bounce back between Future and his close OVO collaborator because a nice amount of Drake’s recent releases — including Dark Lane Demo Tapes, Certified Lover Boy, and Honestly, Nevermind — are also on pace to receive platinum plaques in the near future too.

Surprisingly, this is actually the second time that Future and Drake have achieved similar commercial feats in 2022, as both the artists were able to simultaneously debut atop the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard 200 with “WAIT FOR U” and I NEVER LIKED YOU and “Jimmy Cooks” and Honestly, Nevermind, respectively. Future and Drake remain the only rap acts in history to do so.

Take a look at some of Future’s new RIAA certifications below.

Keep it locked to HNHH for more RIAA-related news.

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R. Kelly’s Sisters Say He’s The Victim While Former Manager Pleads Guilty To Stalking

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R. Kelly

Sisters of disgraced singer R. Kelly have spoken out in defense of their brother, claiming that racism was the fault for his conviction. Meanwhile, his former manager pleaded guilty to stalking with intent to intimidate a victim. How Could You Sit Here And Say That? Just as the disgraced singer R. Kelly has started to […]

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