Grammy-nominated soul icon Marsha Ambrosius has announced the release date of her highly anticipated new album, CASABLANCO, set for June 28. Fans can pre-order the album now via Aftermath/Interscope Records. The album, executive produced by hip-hop legend Dr. Dre, marks Ambrosius’ first studio release since 2018 and includes recent hit singles “One Night Stand” and “The Greatest.”
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“Check out the credits, Dr. Dre,” Ambrosius said of the album. “That CASABLANCO on the way, a brand new classic about to hit.”
The collaboration began when Dr. Dre invited Ambrosius to contribute her iconic vocals to some tracks he was working on. Their chemistry in the studio quickly led to creating an entire album together. By the time of the 2023 Soul Train Awards, the British songstress had teased fans with updates on the exciting project.
With Dr. Dre’s production prowess and Ambrosius’ soulful vocals, CASABLANCO promises to be a standout addition to both artists’ impressive catalogs. The anticipation surrounding the album is high, as fans eagerly await the blend of R&B and hip-hop elements that both Ambrosius and Dre are known for.
There’s a new elevated crime drama coming soon from a familiar pedigree. MGM+’s new crime drama, Hotel Cocaine, takes audiences into Miami’s tumultuous cocaine era of the 1970s and ’80s.
From the creator of Narcos and Godfather of Harlem, the series is set in the luxurious Coconut Grove area of South Beach. The Mutiny Hotel—cool name—was a notorious hub for drug traffickers and FBI agents alike, who would momentarily put aside their differences to celebrate together. I learned something new today. The feds and cocaine cowboys used to turn up together.
Get this: the series follows Roman Compte, the Mutiny’s general manager and a Cuban exile, portrayed by Danny Pino. Compte tries to navigate American life while distancing himself from his cocaine kingpin brother, Nestor Cabal, played by Yul Vazquez. Pino explains, “One of the many themes of this show is to maintain this sort of hedonistic adult playground party where anything is possible, and it’s all pleasure. But we see to support the people who can actually afford the cocaine that there is an awful lot of other people who are paying the price for that.”
Roman’s boss, Burton Greenberg, is played by Mark Feuerstein, while Michael Chiklis portrays Agent Zulio, who seeks to bring down Compte’s brother. Despite being a symbol of justice, Chiklis’s character is also susceptible to corruption: “He will be tested, and things will change,” he says.
Created by Chris Brancato and Guillermo Navarro, “Hotel Cocaine” strives for authenticity and detail. Brancato, known for Narcos and Godfather of Harlem, emphasizes casting actors of the same nationality as their characters to ensure validity and honesty. He chose to film in Santo Domingo due to its resemblance to Miami during that era and noted, “I think it creates a validity to all the different characterizations. It’s honest to the historical background of the fictional characters we’ve created.”
The show also highlights diversity behind the camera, with Mexican director Sara Seligman making her episodic directorial debut with episodes 105 and 106. The series replicates the Mutiny’s extravagant rooms and captures the era’s music, featuring disco and ’70s soul. Rapper Swizz Beatz appears as DJ Kool Herc and comments on the duality of the era: “Every place has its underworld, and it’s amazing to see the underworld being celebrated so high, but it can get dark at the same time.” Brancato also discusses the stark contrast between the seemingly light-hearted cocaine use and its deadly consequences: “For every bit of cocaine on a table at the Mutiny, there would be three dead people left back in Colombia.” He adds, “We get a window into the dark, secretive world and the heightened stakes of drama. We learn the reality, and throughout the season, the characters do too.”
Hotel Cocaine is set to premiere on MGM+ soon, like June 16. Yes!
“Not Like Us” has become the anthem of the year. Kendrick Lamar’s number one single has taken over the airways and the parties, much to the chagrin of its target: Drake. Nowhere is K. Dot’s victory more apparent than the West Coast. Dozens of Los Angeles rappers have played the song at their shows, to the point where it’s become a trend. Buddy recent appeared at an L.A. festival, and the talented emcee decided to bring the house down by dancing to the diss record onstage.
Buddy’s music has a laid back, contemplative feel. This is what made his decision to switch it up such a surprise. The rapper decided to throw on “Not Like Us” in the middle of his show, and the crowd lost its collective mind. Everybody in the audience sang along to the diss, and Buddy loved every moment if it. He can be seen egging the crowd on. At one point, he abandoned rapping and starting dancing on the stage. The only time he used the mic was to join the crowd in chanting the “A minor” punchline that Lamar levels at Drake. The rapper had an absolute blast.
Buddy has been a longtime admirer of Kendrick Lamar. He secured a feature from Lamar on his 2014 mixtape, Idle Time, and has repeatedly credited him as an inspiration. “I’m a big Kendrick fan and that sh*t happened so damn early in my career,” he told The Fader. “Even in Kendrick’s career. He wasn’t the Kendrick he is today when I got the feature. But I was still fully aware of the talent so I was super gung-ho. I figured out my first Backwood and I got a Kendrick feature. It was like a combo.” The rapper has remained close with the other members of Top Dawg Entertainment, as well.
Buddy met Lamar through Pharrell Williams, the artist he signed to back in 2009. Despite maintaining reverence for Pharrell, Buddy has made it clear that Lamar and the entire TDE roster has had a bigger impact on his musical style. During a 2022 interview with Billboard, the rapper revealed that he borrowed a line from Ab-Soul to make his song “Ain’t Fair.” “He said that in a rap back in the day so that was like a little homage to Ab-Soul,” he noted. “Shoutout Ab-Soul.”
It’s about time. Ski Mask the Slump God was part of the Soundcloud generation that broke out in the 2010s. He worked closely with other Florida rappers like XXXTentacion and Denzel Curry, while at the same time carving out his own eccentric lane. His debut album, Stokeley, was a testament to this. The thing is, Stokeley came out in 2018. Fans have waited six years to hear new Ski Mask music. Thankfully, the wait is over. The sophomore album, 11th Dimension, is almost here.
Ski Mask the Slump God dropped an album teaser on June 1. The teaser opens on complete darkness, while an elderly voice asks the rapper where he’s been. Then there’s a hard cut to his face in close up, which is shrouded in darkness. The elderly voice continues to question Ski Mask’s absence. “They are asking where you are,” the voice states. “Asking where you have been.” The rapper then turns his head up, showing that half of his face is scarred. “Said I’m fighting my demons,” he says, before giving us a glimpse of a verse from the album.
The most unexpected part of the teaser, however, comes at the tail end. The camera zooms out to show Ski Mask the Slump God sitting on the floor of an empty white room. He can be seen wearing white angel wings, and his arms are tied. Hard cut to the release date, which is June 7. This is a thrilling development for an album that was first announced in 2021. Ski Mask revealed the album title, 11th Dimension, a year later, and there have been two singles released thus far. “Shibuya” dropped in March, and “Headrush” in May.
Ski Mask the Slump God has kept his inspiration behind a secret, but he did tease a dream list of collabs for 11th Dimension back in 2021. “I want to try and have Tyler, the Creator on it,” he told XXL. “I want to try and have Don Toliver, try and have Dominic Fike. He’s somebody I’ve always wanted to work with… I want to try and work with Post [Malone] at least.” There hasn’t been an official tracklist released, so it’s unclear whether Ski Mask was able to secure any of these features for the finished product.
Drake really made fans question what was up on June 3. The rapper, still reeling from the Kendrick Lamar beef, decided to post a Toronto-slanged version of “Hey There Delilah.” The title? “Wah Gwan Delilah,” of course. We already covered how bizarre Drake’s decision was, and how social media reacted (not well at all), but the rapper’s social media has us questioning whether it was all a troll. Drizzy knows how to utilize narratives to his advantage, and the way he promoted the song on Instagram made it seem like he knew how bad it was…
Drake posted a screenshot of the song on his Instagram Story with the caption: “Wake up the city.” The city being Toronto, of course, which is where the other artist on the song, Snowd4y, also hails from. The rapper then added a laughing emoji and the emoji blowing smoke. The first a seeming acknowledgment of how bad “Wah Gwan Delilah” is, and the second a troll of how little heat it’s going to generate among fans. The song wasn’t added to streaming platforms, and is only available on YouTube or Soundcloud. It could very well be a troll on the rapper’s part, like his last Soundcloud release, “Taylor Made Freestyle.” The latter, however, had clear intentions.
By using AI to recreate the voices of Tupac and Snoop Dogg, Drake was using Kendrick Lamar’s heroes to tear him down (or at least, that was the idea). “Wah Gwan Delilah” has actually sparked a similar level of confusion among fans, with some initially thinking it was AI-generated. Drake could very well be on a next level troll here, but the intention of this cover is extremely unclear. It’s hard to envision how a truly, truly bad cover would bolster the rapper’s reputation at this particular moment in time.
Drake has been in troll mode since the atom bomb that was “Not Like Us” dropped. He hopped on the Sexyy Red single “U My Everything” and even rapped over the “BBL Drizzy” beat as a means of taking the sting out of the Metro Boomin challenge. It didn’t really go over, though. Fans pointed out that Drake was falling into the same pattern that Lamar predicted on his disses. The rapper has a few features lined up for the upcoming Camila Cabello album. Regardless of how they fare, though, Drake needs a hit. The trolling (if it is trolling) is cool, but fans desperately want to see him return to form. “Wah Gwan Delilah” will hopefully represent a speed bump for the 6 God, and not the beginning of the end.
Pete Rock and CL Smooth were among the defining hip-hop duos of the 1990s, producing some of the era’s smoothest tracks alongside other legends like Gang Starr and A Tribe Called Quest. However, their long-term collaboration has been punctuated by frequent splits and reunions. Despite their attempts to rekindle their musical partnership in the 2000s and 2010s, the duo has struggled to maintain a stable working relationship. The reasons behind these splits have often remained shrouded in mystery—until now.
In a recent episode of Drink Champs, Pete Rock shed light on the pattern of their breakups, speaking candidly about his former partner. “He’s the best talent I ever came across in my whole life,” the acclaimed producer praised. “I’ve never heard a guy rap like this, I’ve never heard a voice like this. We shared great times together. Don’t get it all f*cked up now, we’ve had our good times.”
According to Rock, the issues that led to their repeated separations were not rooted in personal clashes but were rather a natural result of spending extended periods around the same person. “Just like life,” he remarked. “People have ups and downs.”
These ups and downs eventually hindered Pete Rock and CL Smooth’s ability to grow as a cohesive unit. Rock explained that their personal growth trajectories began to diverge, creating an imbalance in their partnership. “Sometimes, when we’re in the negative zone, we go like this,” he said, illustrating with a splitting motion. “What we would wish for each other is growth, but when one is growing and one isn’t, then it’s still uneven.”
Rock also stated that he believed the duo should still be together today, although he chose not to get into the specific reasons for their continued separation. “We should still be together,” he asserted. “But some things, you know, that I can’t tell the whole public. Certain things happen in a partnership that just can’t be… and people won’t understand. I don’t want to be the only one speaking on someone who’s not here, but I wish him the best in life.”
