Shaquille O’Neal is currently gearing up to drop his third studio album, You Can’t Stop The Reign, on DSPs. The highly anticipated moment is scheduled for this Friday (June 28), nearly two decades after the LP’s original 1996 release. Fans are certainly eager to get to listen to it on their respective favorite platforms, and fortunately, the former NBA star will also be providing them with some exciting unreleased material.
Reportedly, the album will feature the original version of his track “No Love Lost,” which features both Nas and Jay-Z. Moreover, this was the duo’s first-ever collab, making it a truly historical track. For obvious reasons, fans can’t wait and are sounding off in Fake Shore Drive‘s Andrew Barber’s comments section.
Shaq Prepares To Drop You Can’t Stop The Reign On DSPs
Shaq’s third album ‘You Can’t Stop The Reign’ FINALLY comes to DSPs this Friday, June 28th…
And for the first time ever, the previously unreleased original version of “No Love Lost” featuring both Nas & Jay-Z will be included (their first-ever collab) pic.twitter.com/hPncEqP7uR
“THIS IS HISTORY,” one Twitter/X user writes. Another simply says, “This is actually wild.” Others are chiming in to argue that the release is long overdue, which most commenters can agree with. Of course, the track was recorded just before Jay-Z and Nas began a feud that would last for several years, making the recording all the more interesting. Their beef has been a hot topic of debate as of late, particularly amid the fallout of Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s lyrical battle. After things were resolved, they teamed up for a track on Nas’ Hip Hop Is Dead, which made it clear that the war was officially over.
Regardless, “No Love Lost” certainly marks an interesting point in time, which listeners will get an opportunity to look back on come this Friday. Are you looking forward to Shaq’s album, You Can’t Stop The Reign, hitting DSPs? What do you think of him including the original version of “No Love Lost” featuring both Jay-Z and Nas? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below, and keep an eye on HNHH for more updates.
Nicki Minaj is about one week away from dropping her eagerly-awaited album, Pink Friday 2. Fans are clamoring for it and, hopefully, there will not be another delay in the release. The Queen of Rap has been teasing the follow-up for months upon months. Even though there have been changes made by the New York-raised rapper, things seem to be going according to plan for her. But, maybe, for the first time, she has encountered a little bit of a bump in the road. Just a little over a month ago, Nicki put out a track titled “Bahm Bahm.”
Many were hoping it would land on the album, but she just wanted to get something out. However, she never intended to put it on streaming platforms. So, she kept it on her official website only. The Barbz were also pleading for it to be put out on readily available services, but it is not going to happen. Unless someone gets out illegally. Unfortunately, for Nicki, that is exactly what happened. According to AllHipHop, she found out about through her extremely supportive fanbase.
In a since-deleted tweet, Nicki slammed the streaming services and demanded it be taken down immediately. “Oh hello no! I want all my money back from this thievery! That would’ve been at least an extra 6 to 7 dollars & like 48 cents added to my real account b!ch.” The song was just not released, it actually performed well. In fact, it got as high as number 14 on Apple Music’s top Hip-Hop and Rap Songs chart.
What are your initial thoughts on Nicki Minaj’s reaction to her song “Bahm “Bahm” being placed on streaming services? Do you think Nicki will ever release it to DSPs? Do you think this is an artist’s biggest pet peeve when their music is pirated? We would like to hear what you have to say about all of this. With that in mind, be sure to leave all of your hottest takes in the comments section below. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest breaking news around Nicki Minaj, as well as everything else going on around the music world.
As far as hip-hop duos go, Atmosphere is one of the longest-standing that we’ve seen still making music. Apart from feeding fans with So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously earlier this year, they’ve also got a treat for their older listeners in the form of Sad Clown Bad Dub 2. The 12-track effort finally hit DSPs this past New Music Friday, over two decades after Slug and Ant originally put it together to help generate more sales while on tour.
Per Broadway World, the series first began as a string of limited cassette tapes and CD-Rs. They’ve continued to share new installments, with over a dozen arriving since the first in 1999. Four-track demos, live recordings, behind-the-scenes footage, a mixtape, and vinyl singles are just a few of the forms we’ve heard the Sad Clown sounds come in. Of the many releases, the second iteration continues to be a fan favourite, likely explaining why the Midwest-based duo wanted it to be more readily available for their listeners.
“It is a deeply introspective project that explores a range of complex thoughts and emotions, counter-balanced by occasional moments of darkly humorous sarcasm and wit,” the outlet praises Slug’s writing. The longtime lyricist is perhaps best known for taking the darkest moments of his own life and turning them into bars that thousands of others can relate to and seek comfort in. As for Ant, his production has always perfectly complimented his partner’s work, and listening back on their 2000s work now only proves how far they’ve come since first kicking off their careers.
Get a sample of Sad Clown Bad Dub 2 with “Body Pillow” above, or find the full project on Spotify/Apple Music. Are you a fan of Atmosphere’s earliest work? Let us know in the comments, and find more of the latest HNHH release recommendations on our Fire Emoji update at the link below.
30 years after the release of Dr. Dre’s debut album, fans can enjoy it in its entirety, once again.
Dr. Dre’s The Chronic became an enigmatic piece of work throughout the streaming era. At one point, fans could only find the album on Apple Music. In 2020, it finally hit all streaming services in time for 4/20. However, it vanished from streamers later on.
CHICAGO – JANUARY 1993: Rapper and producer Dr. Dre poses for photos backstage at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois in January 1993. (Photo By Rxqdddaymond Boyd/Getty Images)
Today, Dre and Interscope, the album’s original distributor, teamed up to re-release the project on DSPs on Feb. 1st to commemorate the 30th anniversary. Additionally, Interscope and Dre dropped a new merch collection to celebrate the milestone.
“I am thrilled to bring the Chronic home to its original distribution partner, Interscope Records. Working alongside my longtime colleagues, Steve Berman and John Janick, to re-release the album and make it available to fans all over the world is a full circle moment for me,” said the iconic producer.
The album initially disappeared from streaming services following Snoop Dogg’s acquisition of Death Row Records. He claimed that the album was officially under Death Row, which Dre’s lawyer later clarified wasn’t exactly true.
Nonetheless, The Chronic became an integral part of hip-hop’s history since its release. It marked Dre’s official beginning as a solo artist following the success of N.W.A. Additionally, it also helped catapult Snoop Dogg’s career.
Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre during 1993 MTV Movie Awards at Sony Studios in Culver City, California, United States. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)
“Dr. Dre is without a doubt one of the most iconic and groundbreaking artists in the modern era,” said Steve Berman, Vice Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M. “Dre’s solo career all started with the The Chronic, one of the most celebrated recordings of all time. To have this album at Interscope once again where we work with Dre and his amazing team at Aftermath day in and day out is incredibly gratifying for me personally and all of us at Interscope.”
While never before heard music is always exciting, there’s nothing quite like being able to revisit an old favourite with the touch of a button. Thankfully, De La Soul is moving their full catalogue onto streaming platforms later this year. To get us excited for the impending arrival, they’ve also begun sharing singles.
Firstly, the trio made their 1989 hit “The Magic Number” available across DSPs earlier this weekend. It previously made its debut on their 3 Feet High And Rising project over three decades ago. As NME notes, it rose in popularity after landing on the Spider-Man: No Way Home film last year.
Kelvin Mercer, David Jude Jolicoeur, Vincent Mason, De La Soul, Paradiso, Amsterdam, Holland, 04/04/1989. (Photo by Gie Knaeps/Getty Images)
Presently, De La Soul’s three most recent albums are the only ones on streamers. The oldest of those is 2004’s The Grind Date, which was followed in 2012 by First Serve. In 2016 the trio was back with more, delivering And The Anonymous Nobody… to their fans.
Projects that will land on DSPs on March 3 include 1991’s De La Soul Is Dead as well as 1993’s Buhloone Mindstate. Additionally, the group will share Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000), and Art Official Intelligence: Bionix (2001).
The reason for many of these efforts’ absence from streamers is the group’s dispute with Warner Records. The label allegedly said that samples across the tracks had clearance for physical media distribution only.
Stream De La Soul’s “The Magic Number” on Spotify or Apple Music below. Afterward, tell us which of the group’s songs you’re most excited to have on DSPs later this year in the comments.
Quotable Lyrics:
Parents let go, ’cause there’s magic in the air Criticizing rap shows you’re out of order Stop, look and listen to the phrase Fred Astaires And don’t get offended while Mase do-si-do’s your daughter
Earlier this month, Big Sean rewarded his longtime supporters by making his Detroit mixtape available on all streaming services. The 2012 release has long been touted by fan as the best project in Big Sean’s discography. It housed timeless collaborations with artists such as J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, Wale, Jhené Aiko, Royce da 5’9”, and more. Yet until its 10-year anniversary on September 5, the fan-favorite mixtape was widely inaccessible for listeners who predominantly consume their music from DSPs like Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. Streaming blew up in the years following the release of Detroit, but — like so many other classic mixtapes that were released for free during the late 2000s and early 2010s, from Nicki Minaj’s seminal Beam Me Up Scotty to A$AP Rocky’s breakout mixtape Live.Love.A$AP — it took an incredibly long time for Sean’s mixtape opus to hit DSPs.
Over the last handful of years, artists have made meaningful strides in bringing their mixtape catalogs over to streaming platforms. Although many of fans’ favorite tapes have been slightly reworked due to sample clearance issues, at least acclaimed projects like Mac Miller’s Faces, Drake’s So Far Gone, Lil Wayne’s Sorry For The Wait, Wiz Khalifa’s Kush & Orange Juice, Meek Mill’s Dream Chasers 2, and Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap are available right now on all DSPs.
However, there are far too many classic mixtapes that have seemingly been lost to the Blog Era. Fans are left waiting for every milestone anniversary in hopes that one of the free mixtapes that they downloaded over a decade ago will finally reappear on streaming services. To illustrate just how many gems are still unavailable to stream on most platforms, here are 10 classic mixtapes that need to hit DSPs as soon as possible.
Young Thug (L) and Rich Homie Quan perform onstage during the BET Hip Hop Awards 2014 at Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center on September 20, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Brad Barket/BET/Getty Images for BET)
When they united for The Tour, Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug became one of the best Atlanta rap duos since OutKast. Although their team-up was unfortunately short-lived, their joint mixtape remains a certified classic eight years after its release. Surprisingly, The Tour isn’t officially featured on most DSPs under Quan, Thug, or Rich Gang’s profiles, but you can still listen to the full project on Spinrilla.
2. Fabolous — The S.O.U.L. Tape Series (2011-2013)
Fabolous performs onstage at Power 105.1’s Powerhouse 2013, presented by Play GIG-IT, at Barclays Center on November 2, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Clear Channel)
Regardless of which installment is your favorite, it’s safe to say that Fab’s S.O.U.L. Tape run is one of the most memorable mixtape series from the early 2010s. Back in 2020, the Brooklyn native did fans a solid by uploading the original S.O.U.L. Tape to SoundCloud, but over two years later, the classic project and its two sequels have yet to make it onto any of the big three DSPs.
Drake speaks at the Spring Awakening and Degrassi panel discussion with Rosie O’Donnell at the Eugene O’Neill Theater on April 30, 2007 in New York City. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Nickelodeon)
So Far Gone often gets the credit for laying the foundation of Drake’s sound and introducing him to the masses, but it would be criminal to overlook the influential project’s predecessor, Comeback Season. From the Lil Wayne-assisted “Man of the Year” to the Trey Songz-assisted “Replacement Girl,” Drake’s 2007 mixtape houses some serious throwbacks. It’s a shame that it’s so hard to come across online. Considering that Comeback Season just turned 15 years old earlier this month, it’s unlikely that fans will see a DSP release of this early Drake tape anytime soon, but for now, they can at least still listen to it on DatPiff.
Travis Scott performs at the GQ Fashion Week Party At The Wythe Hotel on September 9, 2014 in Brooklyn, New York.. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for GQ)
As fans eagerly await Travis Scott’s highly anticipated fourth studio album Utopia, there’s a general consensus that the Houston-bred artist already has quite the impressive discography. But, longtime fans of La Flame know that his hot streak began prior to the release of his debut studio album, Rodeo, in 2015. In 2014, Travis Scott unleashed Days Before Rodeo, his second official mixtape and the project that would significantly alter the trajectory of his career from that point forward. Laced with iconic tracks such as the Big Sean-assisted “Don’t Play,” the Rich Homie Quan- and Young Thug-featured “Mamacita,” and the classic Metro Boomin-produced “Skyfall,” Days Before Rodeo kept the Blog Era trend of album-quality mixtapes alive. To this day, the project remains one of Travis’ best and most distinct works. With its 10-year anniversary approaching in 2024, Days Before Rodeo is overdue for an official commercial re-release. For now, you can still stream it on SoundCloud.
Wiz Khalifa performs at The Masquerade on November 6, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Prince Williams/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
Wiz Khalifa is mixtape royalty. The Taylor Gang boss has far too many free releases to count. Despite the expansive nature of his mixtape catalog, it actually boasts a considerable number of classic and iconic projects, from 2009’s Flight School and 2010’s Kush & Orange Juice to 2011’s Cabin Fever and 2012’s Taylor Allderdice. In recent years, Wiz Khalifa has been one of the few Hip-Hop artists that have been consistently adding nearly all of his past mixtapes to streaming services, but still, there are a few that remain unavailable on DSPs, chiefly his 2008 tape Star Power. Fortunately, you can listen to the full project on DatPiff.
50 Cent attends the fight between Miguel Cotto and Sergio Martinez on June 7, 2014 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Cotto won by a TKO in the ninth round. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
50 Cent may be the most powerful Hip-Hop mogul in the television and film industry, but if his Emmy-winning performance during the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show earlier this year proved anything, it’s that fan appreciation for his music career has not dwindled in the slightest. That’s why his last official release, 2015’s The Kanan Tape, should be readily available on streaming services. With his infamously unreleased Street King Immortal album officially shelved last year, that’s even more reason for 50’s popular seven-track mixtape to make its way to DSPs.
J. Cole visits Fuse’s “Hip Hop Shop” on July 15, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)
Whereas many of his contemporaries have at least made the effort to make the most important mixtape of their early careers available on streaming services, J. Cole has not done so whatsoever. To this day, none of the Dreamville founder’s three breakout mixtapes can be streamed on any of the major DSPs. While it would be amazing for 2010’s Friday Night Lights — which can be streamed in full at DatPiff — to become available everywhere, we’ll honestly take 2007’s The Come Up or 2009’s The Warm Up, as well.
Childish Gambino performs onstage at the 2014 mtvU Woodie Awards and Festival on March 13, 2014 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for MTV)
A year after the release of his Grammy-nominated sophomore studio album Because The Internet, Childish Gambino delivered his seventh and, as of now, final free mixtape, 2014’s STN MTN. A day after it dropped, Gambino doubled back with an equally incredible — and commercially released — EP titled Kauai. Yet nearly eight full years later, only the latter remains available on streaming services. Since the Hip-Hop community has had so much love for Tyler, The Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost and Dreamville’s D-Day mixtape, it’s only right that Donald Glover’s Gangsta Grillz mixtape makes its way to DSPS too. Until that day comes, you can still listen to STN MTN on DatPiff.
Rick Ross performs at Power 106FM Presents CaliChristmas at Gibson Amphitheatre on December 14, 2012 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/WireImage/Getty Images)
At the turn of the 2010s, there were select mixtapes that were able to break the internet before “breaking the internet” even became a saying. Mixtape downloads were always a surefire way of telling whether a project was worth checking out, and Rick Ross’ 2012 epic, Rich Forever, remains one of the most downloaded mixtapes from the Blog Era. On HNHH alone, the tape was downloaded over 580,000 times, and on DatPiff — where you can still listen to it — Rich Forever was downloaded over 2.2 million times. Nonetheless, several months after its 10-year anniversary, Rick Ross’ blockbuster mixtape is still unavailable on nearly all streaming platforms, but our fingers are still crossed that this classic makes its way to DSPs very soon.
R&B crooner Frank Ocean’s debut Los Angeles show at the El Rey Theatre on Nov. 15, 2011 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
For an artist whose discography is already extremely limited, it’s wild to think that two of Frank’s only four official projects aren’t available on all streaming platforms. While contractual obligations are likely what is keeping Endless an exclusive to Apple Music, it’s much harder to stomach that Nostalgia, Ultra isn’t available on any of the major DSPs, especially since its breakout singles “Novacaine” and “Swim Good” weren’t repurposed for any official full-length project. This classic alternative R&B mixtape is one of the more challenging projects to find in full — with “American Wedding” included and without the cut-off version of “Nature Feels” — on the internet. Hopefully, Frank Ocean blesses his fans by bringing Nostalgia, Ultra to streaming services one day.
These are just 10 beloved mixtapes that still haven’t found a permanent home on contemporary streaming platforms, so let us know in the comments which classic mixtapes you want to get uploaded to DSPS in the near future.
Last month, things began to take a futuristic turn for Death ROw Records, with former label signee Snoop Dogg taking ownership of the label and soon after said that the “world’s most dangerous recordlabel” would be made into an NFT. To further solidify that, the Dogg has now removed all of Death Row’s previous recordings from all streaming platforms.
Even though the report stems from a Wikipedia page, upon close examination of Death Row recordings on all DSPs including those from Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound, all of access to these songs and albums on public streaming platforms have been removed. Death Row labeled classic albums like Doggystyle, Dogg Food, the Above The Rim soundtrack, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and more are no longer available.
Snoop discussed the idea of bringing the Death Row label into the metaverse in a Clubhouse conversation, saying, “Death Row will be an NFT label,” he said.“We will be putting out artists through the metaverse. Just like we broke the industry when we was the first independent to be major, I want to be the first major in the metaverse.”
Even though Snoop hasn’t publicly addressed the disappearance of the Death Row projects, but fans have certainly expressed their displeasure in the absence of some of Hip Hop’s most revered classics.
One Clubhouse participant said, “So, thanks to Snoop Dogg promoting NFT shit and making Death Row Records an NFT record label, all the releases except 2Pac’s, will be removed from Spotify and so on. This is actually bullshit, that means no more Dre’s Chronic on Spotify. NFTs need to die, fucking stupid movement.”
First thing Snoop Dogg does as owner of Death Row Records is drop an amazing album. Second thing he does is take all past Death Row albums off of streaming services. Bad business move. NFTs suck. pic.twitter.com/S5HD9x0xHy
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(@BlakeHolmer1)