Key Glock has released the music video for his recent single “Q-Dogz.” Over a haunting beat, Glock delivers sharp lyrics, including a nod to the historically Black fraternity Omega Psi Phi. In his verses, he confidently dismisses his competition, rapping, “Cappin ’bout bodies they ain’t got none / These b*tches actin’ like they ain’t got no flops / Get back gang you know the outcome.” He stays focused on his ambitions, admitting, “Get money and my daughter only thing that make me cool off.”
The video, embodying the “Q-Dogz” mentality, features Glock with his crew and a pack of pitbulls, symbolizing their readiness to confront any challenges. The visuals emphasize the song’s themes of loyalty and dominance.
“Q-Dogz” is Glock’s third single this month, following “F*ck Around & Find Out” and “The Greatest.” These releases follow the success of “Let’s Go (Remix)” with Young Dolph, which peaked at #59 on the Billboard Hot 100. This remix has garnered hundreds of millions of streams and extensive radio play. The cinematic video for “Let’s Go,” directed by Chris Villa, has amassed over 10 million views, showcasing Glock’s dedication to his craft with fight choreography and stunts.
Today, Glasshaus Presents unveils Grammy-winning artist Bilal’s “All For Love,” the latest single from forthcoming albumLive at Glasshaus, a mid-career retrospective featuring a supergroup of Questlove, Common, RobertGlasper, and Burniss Travis. The live record presents Bilal within an ensemble of luminaries to reimagine standouts from his classic repertoire. Live at Glasshaus, out June 14 during Black Music Month, sees Bilal at the peak of his powers, pushing the boundaries of a genre-defying catalog including 1st Born Second, Love For Sale, Airtight’s Revenge, and Common’s seminal Like Water for Chocolate.
“All for Love” was a standout track from Bilal’s shelved 2006 masterpiece Love for Sale, a project that has achieved legendary status among fans and critics alike. Despite its artistic brilliance, the album was never officially released due to a premature leak and subsequent disputes with his former label, Interscope Records. This resulted in the album becoming a cult classic and a significant part of Bilal’s musical legacy.
Chicago’s multi-platinum rapper Polo G has finally premiered the music video for his highly anticipated single, “Angels In The Sky.” The track, teased to fans over three years ago, has generated significant excitement. After receiving over 100,000 comments on Instagram within 24 hours, demanding its release, Polo G has now gifted his fans both the song and the music video.
Reuniting with “GANG GANG” music video director Troy Roscoe, the “Angels In The Sky” video enhances the song’s emotive narrative with striking visuals. Polo G’s upcoming album, HOOD POET, will feature the track.
Action Bronson has announced a new album Johann Sebastian Bachlava The Doctor, his first album since 2022’s Cocodrillo Turbo. The news arrives with the firstsong + video from the album “Nourish a Thug”. Produced by frequent collaborator Daringer, “Nourish a Thug” showcases Action Bronson’s trademark humor and expertly crafted wordplay as he nonchalantly serves an onslaught of laidback metaphors and innuendos. The music video, directed by Sean Kelly, shows Action camping by the lake in parts unknown before embarking on an escape from the state troopers. Stay tuned for full album details soon.
This release follows Action Bronson’s recent announcement of his Baklava X New Balance 1906R “Rosewater”shoe collaboration.
Common’s Be has hit its 20th anniversary. Hitting Instagram, the Chicago legend recalled the success of the classic project. “I was reminded that yesterday was the 19th anniversary for Be,” Common wrote. “How grateful I am to Ye and J Dilla and all the artists and musicians who created on that album.”
After much speculation, Common and Pete Rock have finally released their new single, “Wise Up.” The track blends the essence of the Golden Age of Hip Hop with a contemporary feel, creating a sound that resonates across all eras of hip-hop.
This collaboration brings together one of hip-hop’s most evocative emcees, Common, with one of its most celebrated producers, Pete Rock, setting a tone for what could be their most impactful work in decades.
To launch “Wise Up,” Common and Pete Rock partnered with director Marleaux Desiré to create an inspiring and creative visual presentation. The video captures street-level community stories, visually representing the themes explored in the song. It includes visual ideations from ILLIMITÉWORLD and still photography by creative director Alonzo Hellerbach.
“Wise Up” marks a significant moment in hip-hop, showcasing the perfect pairing of Common’s lyrical depth and Pete Rock’s legendary production skills. The single pays homage to their roots in the Golden Age and demonstrates their ability to evolve with the times, offering a universal appeal that transcends generations.
This release is highly anticipated by fans and critics alike, as it signals the potential for more potent collaborations between these two iconic artists. With “Wise Up,” Common and Pete Rock reaffirm their status as influential figures in hip-hop, continuing to shape the genre with their innovative and thought-provoking work.
After much speculation, Common and Pete Rock have finally released their new single, “Wise Up.” The track blends the essence of the Golden Age of Hip Hop with a contemporary feel, creating a sound that resonates across all eras of hip-hop.
This collaboration brings together one of hip-hop’s most evocative emcees, Common, with one of its most celebrated producers, Pete Rock, setting a tone for what could be their most impactful work in decades.
To launch “Wise Up,” Common and Pete Rock partnered with director Marleaux Desiré to create an inspiring and creative visual presentation. The video captures street-level community stories, visually representing the themes explored in the song. It includes visual ideations from ILLIMITÉWORLD and still photography by creative director Alonzo Hellerbach.
“Wise Up” marks a significant moment in hip-hop, showcasing the perfect pairing of Common’s lyrical depth and Pete Rock’s legendary production skills. The single pays homage to their roots in the Golden Age and demonstrates their ability to evolve with the times, offering a universal appeal that transcends generations.
This release is highly anticipated by fans and critics alike, as it signals the potential for more potent collaborations between these two iconic artists. With “Wise Up,” Common and Pete Rock reaffirm their status as influential figures in hip-hop, continuing to shape the genre with their innovative and thought-provoking work.
Chief Keef has just unveiled the music video for “Runner,” a standout track from his latest album, Almighty So 2. The song expertly samples Nancy Wilson’s 1974 single “Streetrunner,” adding Keef’s signature kinetic drums and percolating pianos.
In “Runner,” Keef engages in witty and aggressive dialogue with the sampled vocals, reflecting on his upbringing in Chicago and his experiences on the streets. The video features Keef rhyming from a confession booth, with his longtime manager Peeda Pan playing the priest, before taking viewers in his Rolls Royce.
The soul-sampling track captures Keef’s state of mind, offering a glimpse into his early years and his challenges. With “Runner,” Keef continues to showcase his unique blend of storytelling and musical innovation.
The music video for “Runner” adds visual depth to the song’s narrative, providing fans with a cinematic experience that complements Keef’s raw lyricism and production style.
Vince Staples today announced the release of his eighth studio album, Dark Times, out May 24 via Blacksmith Records / Def Jam Recordings. A new era in the prolific artist’s canon, the album is a muscular and revelatory work refining elements that have been present in his catalog for the last decade: dense lyricism over lush, layered beats; wry, melancholic observations about life; finding pockets of light in an endless dark.
In conjunction with the album announcement, Staples released the first single from the project and accompanying visual for, “Shame on the Devil,” which features him rapping over a warm, spectral beat, ruminating on how anointed his life is now, in spite of bouts of loneliness and fallouts with friends.
Recorded over the course of seven months in North Hollywood, the album title came intuitively to Staples after he listened to the record in full, noticing heavy motifs that kept reappearing. The album cover, featuring a faintly seen noose, was similarly intuitive. Calling the project “a personal achievement,” Staples said, “it’s me mastering some things I’ve tried before that I wasn’t great at in the beginning. It’s a testament to musical growth, song structure—all the good stuff.”
Dark Times follows Staples’ 2022 critically acclaimed album Ramona Park Broke My Heart, which was hailed as one of the best albums of the year by Clash, Complex, The Fader, Rolling Stone, and Vulture among others. The Los Angeles Times praised Staples as “a nimble rapper, deftly maneuvering through verses depicting the street politics of his native Long Beach,” while Pitchfork called the album “a richly detailed, deadpan elegy for his stolen youth.” Complex highlighted it as “a modern West Coast rap album embracing three decades of hip-hop history,” while NME called it “a beautifully personal reflection from start to finish,” with WIRED commending the album as “a remarkable feat in an aesthetic project concerned with locating meaning in the inevitable realities that trap us.”
Demonstrating that his talent cannot be confined to one medium, Staples also wrote, produced, and stars in the critically acclaimed Netflix series The Vince Staples Show, which debuted earlier this year. Inspired by life in his hometown of Long Beach, California, the show was praised as “dark, hilarious, intriguingly frank… laugh-out-loud funny” by Entertainment Weekly, while The New York Times described it as “mordantly funny and visually arresting.” The Guardian hailed it as “a wonderfully surreal exercise in Black creativity,” adding that “[Staples] is an endlessly compelling presence,” with COLLIDER lauding it as “one of the most confident new series of 2024…never a dull moment on screen.”
Cardi B said she isn’t dropping an album this year. Atlantic Records said, “ha ha, that’s cute. Yes you are.”
In case you missed it, while interacting with fans online, Cardi revealed she agreed with a fan who stated she should pull back from social media platforms due to feeling “unappreciated” for online interactions.
Then she dropped the reveal: “Anyway NO album this year I don’t care I’m relaxing this year .. Dropping these features I already committed to and traveling and enjoying my summer.”
After a new Rolling Stone cover story hit online, Atlantic Records shared their own message: “Cardi B’s upcoming album is one of the most anticipated this year. We can’t wait put it out, even if we have to sneak into her studio and take it! ”
Cardi B’s upcoming album is one of the most anticipated this year. We can’t wait put it out, even if we have to sneak into her studio and take it! https://t.co/VQXTut0OWM
— Atlantic Records (@AtlanticRecords) May 16, 2024
Cardi’s last single, “Enough (Miami),” cracked into the top 10 at No. 9. The record, which fans have been anticipating to hear new music from the Bronx emcee, marked Cardi’s 12th entry into the Top 10. The single scored nearly 15 million streams and 8.8 million radio audience impressions.
A master of his craft, Lupe Fiasco wields his pen with the discipline of a swordsman, striking with deliberate strokes meant to knock off-balance as often as they draw blood. Today, Lupe Fiasco sharpens his focus in anticipation of the release of Samurai, his ninth studio album. The upcoming album is produced in full by Soundtrakk, making it their second full album collaboration following 2022’s DRILL MUSIC IN ZION, and the first album that Lupe and Soundtrakk worked on with their longtime manager, and 1st & 15th co-CEO Charley “Chill” Patton, since 2007’s The Cool.
“I sometimes get tagged by my fans as not doing personal records” Lupe says,“but I always tell people there’s me in there if you listen closely enough. This album is one of my more personal records to date. It’s not a full biography, but my personal experiences are tied up in all of my music. A lot of the records are me. Some are from the POV of a character. and some are me. The album weaves things from my life as an artist, touching on things other artists go through.”
On the upcoming album, the veteran rapper retreats inward, to give fans one of the most personal albums in his discography. Samurai follows a loose narrative, tracking the career progression a rapper through the battle rap circuit, focusing on the small moments that make up the rapper’s career and drawing parallels between the battlers of today and the warriors of old. Musically, the new album finds Lupe delighting in the simple pleasures of assembling assonant syllables into playful and poignant narratives. The 8-track album is smooth, yet cerebral, brimming with ideas, but always radiating Lupes pure love for the art of emceeing and committing himself as a servant of the rap game. Now available to pre-save and pre-order on vinyl, Samurai arrives in both physical and digital formats on June 28th via 1st & 15th.
“The word ‘samurai’ means to serve,” says Lupe. “My relationship to that word has always meant that you need to be at the service of other people, either in the overall community, or in this instance, the rap community at large that I’ve been a part of for years.”
Along with the announcement of the album, Lupe shares the album’s title track, “Samurai”. A loose and soulful record, “Samurai” gently lopes along with a prominent drumbeat and a lilting soprano sax lick, as Lupe dons his battle rap persona, attempting to draw a crowd with his poetic devices. While the chorus imitates a busker or carnival barker’s call for attention, the verses dig deeper. The first verse analyzes the awkward relationship between hip-hop culture and high culture with deft internal rhyme: “Big eyes lookin like skies in binoculars/Two nights live, singin’ by the opera house, but not in it/Just by it, somewhat alongside it/A long silence,” he opens. The second verse tells the story of a struggling artist, contrasting her glamorous dreams with her gritty reality, but brimming with her unbroken spirit. The warm and inviting “Samurai” is the perfect introduction to the upcoming album, setting the mood for a smooth, yet thought-provoking journey. The video, directed by Chris & Blaq, spotlights Lupe as he performs the song in the hometown of Chicago, with the city’s skyline in the distance.
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