Hip Hop News

TwoTiime Holds It Down On “Did A Lot”

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Ottawa rapper TwoTiime is gearing up for his moment to shine. From the release of his first single, “Hood Cry” and “Keep It Real,” which has since reached the 1M milestone on YouTube, he’s branched out with a slew of equally promising records that have fans on the edge of their seats for his debut project. On Friday, he came through with a brand new single titled, “Did A Lot.” The rapper takes it back to his stomping grounds of Ritchie Street and the realities he encountered daily growing up in that area.

“This record allowed me to reach back and reconnect with where I came from and where I’m going,” TwoTiime said. “‘Did A Lot’ is a salute to my hood and a reflection of the fact that I am simply just a product of my environment and my voice is just an instrument of the streets. There are things I can speak on, but I’d rather tell the story through my music.” 

Quotable Lyrics
Got n***as in the cage, got n***as in the grave
They took my brother Metro, and the shit ain’t been the same
Took the anger into lyrics, and I fill it with my pain
I swear I’m ’bout to blow, I can feel it in my veins

G-Eazy & Kossisko Team Up On “Running Wild (Tumblr Girls 2)”

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Coming off of the release of 2020’s Everything’s Strange Here, G-Eazy came into 2021 on a high note with a slew of bangers. He teamed up with Chris Brown and Mark Morrison on “Provide” and worked alongside Louisville’s rising star EST Gee for “At Will.” His new album is currently underway and it appears that it’ll be an accurate depiction of the growth in his career. Today, he shared a sequel to These Things Happen highlight, “Tumblr Girls.” Titled “Running Wild (Tumblr Girls 2),” he enlists Kossisko to handle hook duties on the track.

“making songs that actually feel like sequels to songs on the first TTH was so essential to me in the process of this album,” he tweeted on Tuesday. “Finding a way to directly reference songs or distinct themes / elements from the first album, in a way that still showed evolution and growth in a forward way…”

Peep the single below. 

Quotable Lyrics
Penthouse at the Modrion, all her model friends came
She likes runnin’ wild and free, she’s the one you can’t tame 
On Monday, she’s in love with me, can’t imagine no other
Tuesday, we get in a fight, on Wednesday, blocking my number

The Isley Brothers Tiny Desk Is A Music History Master Class

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After a successful Verzuz battle with legendary disco and funk icons Earth, Wind and Fire, The Isley Brothers recently performed their most sampled hits for NPR’s newest iteration of their Tiny Desk series, Tiny Desk (Home) Concert.

The 13-minute performance consisted of storytelling and reminiscing prior to introducing four classics: “Between the Sheets”, “Footsteps in the Dark”, “For the Love of You” and “That Lady.” A testament to their cultural impact, Hip-hop artists from the Notorious B.I.G to Tupac, Ice Cube, and Kendrick Lamar have all sampled these tracks, re-introducing the group’s signature sound to a new generation. “We went on to meet a young fellow by the name of Kendrick Lamar who sampled the record, and we got a Grammy Award for it,” said Ron. As NPR pointed out, the four songs on the setlist for the Isleys’ Tiny Desk have been covered or sampled by over 300 artists.    

With a career that spans seven decades, the soul-funk legends, along with the background vocal support from their wives (formerly of R&B group JS), put on a stellar performance. Lead singer Ron Isely’s unique sultry vocals hit every high note, while his brother Ernie dominated his pink floral guitar. On Twitter, fans reacted with joy and gratitude:

2021 has been really good to The Isley Brothers and they are not letting up any time soon. Since their Verzuz performance, their album sales skyrocketed 420 percent. At the respectful ages of 69 and 80-years old, the duo is also still quite fashionable. Fans have nine opportunities to catch them in concert for the remainder of the year. 

Watch the performance below:

GoldLink Trends As Fans Debate Whether Or Not He Counts As ‘Canceled’

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“Cancel culture” continues to be a hot-button issue on public forums like Twitter, as proponents of accountability maintain that no one is ever really “canceled” en masse, while others wring their hands at the prospect of political correctness run amok. Into this debate, one user injected an intriguing example that has prompted some serious (and hilariously unserious) consideration from hip-hop fans.

“Cancel culture isn’t real unless your name is Daniel Caesar or Goldlink lmaooo,” wrote @mali3035, referencing the rapper and singer whose respective popularity levels have seemingly flagged since both scored career-defining hits in 2017 (“Best Part” with H.E.R. and “Crew” with Brent Faiyaz and Shy Glizzy, respectively). “They got them negros outta here,” @mali3035 joked.

To recap, GoldLink was the subject of backlash when he noted similarities between his 2015 project And After That, We Didn’t Talk and the late Mac Miller’s 2016 album The Divine Feminine in a lengthy post on Instagram. As Miller had recently passed, the post was read as “disrespectful” by many fans and peers, including Anderson . Paak, who penned a long response of his own. Since then, GoldLink has released another pair of projects, but has yet to reach the same heights as he did on “Crew.” He also claims that he wasn’t trying to accuse Mac of plagiarism, but intent and reception don’t always agree.

Seeing the original tweet claiming GoldLink is canceled, other fans quickly chimed in, sending the DMV-bred artist’s name to Twitter’s trending topics as they debated whether or not he really was canceled and why. While some simply maintained that “Crew” was just the result of the song being bigger than its principal artist (thanks in no small part to the efforts of its guests), others noted that GoldLink seems to be doing fine, despite reduced streaming numbers in comparison to that smash. Others simply defended GoldLink, saying that they refused to go along with what they saw as a vindictive agenda.

For what it’s worth, GoldLink’s story isn’t all that uncommon in hip-hop — Vh1 used to run specials about the biggest one-hit wonders in pop music all the time and rappers usually constituted significant chunks of those lists (the “how” and “why” is a subject for a longer, better-researched piece). GoldLink and Daniel Caesar are likely far from “canceled” (seriously, very few public figures don’t recover from bouts of bad press — even R. Kelly has his defenders), and while neither has matched their biggest hits so far (although Caesar is featured on Justin Bieber’s “Peaches,” a monster jam in its own right), that doesn’t mean they don’t both have long careers ahead of them, if they want them.

Kanye West Officially Announces His Third ‘Donda’ Listening Event Will Be In Chicago

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Over the past couple days, there have been rumors of a third listening event for Kanye West’s upcoming album Donda, as somebody who claimed to work security for Chicago’s Soldier Field claimed the venue had a “major concert event” scheduled for August 26. It turns out those rumors were actually true: Today, West himself confirmed on Instagram that a Donda event will indeed by happening at the Chicago stadium on the 26th. The show is set to being at 9 p.m. CT, with tickets going on sale on August 20 at noon CT.

This news comes less than 24 hours after West shared an image on Instagram, of what appears to be a dove seen through a teal-tinted window. It’s not clear if the image was meant to tease anything related to Donda.

The idea behind these listening events was that Donda would be made available on streaming services shortly after them, but based on the fact that we’re coming up on the third Donda event, this has yet to be the case. Apple Music currently lists the expected release date for Donda as August 27, the day after the event. At this point, though, given that West has missed so many announced or expected release dates for Donda, any information of that sort should be taken with a grain of salt.

dvsn & Ty Dolla $ign Team Up For Electrifying New Single “Memories”

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The summer will be capping off on a high note, thanks to Ty Dolla $ign and dvsn. The two artists have formally announced their new project Cheers To The Best Memories with the release of “I Believed It” ft. Mac Miller and now, they’ve followed it up with an electrifying new single titled, “Memories.” Boasting production from Nineteen85 and 40, “Memories” sets the tone as the project’s opening track.

After releasing the project’s second single, they also revealed the tracklist for the project which includes features from Mac Miller, Rauw Alejandro, and YG.

Peep the tracklist below.

1. Memories
2. Don’t Say a Word
3. Can You Take It (Interlude)
4. Outside
5. Can’t Tell ft. YG
6. Somebody That You Don’t Know ft. Rauw Alejandro
7. Fight Club
8. Rude (Ty Dolla $ign Interlude)
9. Better Yet (Dvsn Interlude)
10. Wedding Cake
11. I Believed It ft. Mac Miller

Quotable Lyrics
Go tell your friends why you be missin’
Said I’m always puttin’ you in these positions
And I wanna do some real things
With a real woman 

Spotify’s RapCaviar Starts Debate About The Greatest Producers Of The 2010s

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Spotify’s RapCaviar playlist is back at it again with another spirited GOAT debate. At the start of the summer, RapCaviar got the entire Hip-Hop community talking when it shared a photoshopped version of Mt. Rushmore with Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole’s faces plastered atop the iconic American monument.

Tasking fans to decide who deserves the fourth spot on the greatest artists of the 2010s, chaos ensued, with everyone from LeBron James and TDE’s Punch to Nicki Minaj and Migos. Eventually, Nicki Minaj went on to receive the most votes and earn her spot on the 2010s Mt. Rushmore.

Now, three months later, RapCaviar has another 2010s Hip-Hop debate for fans, but this time it involves the producers behind the scenes. With a new graphic that shows four retired jerseys hanging from the rafters of a stadium, three of them have the names on them while the fourth remains blank. Of Spotify’s three solidified entries into the 2010s GOAT producer debate, Mike Will Made-It, Mustard, and Metro Boomin’ are featured prominently in the graphic, leaving fans to debate on who deserves the fourth spot.

“Mike WiLL Made-It, Mustard, Metro Boomin and _________ really ran the 2010s behind the boards,” RapCaviar tweeted. “What producer is filling that 4th spot?”

Similar to the last 2010s rap debate, fans have been sounding off about whose name should be laced on that last jersey, with many social media users giving props to OVO 40, Hit-Boy, Lex Luger, Zaytoven, Southside, and Murda Beatz. According to HipHopDX, Sonny Digital has already vouched for his own résumé, arguing that he “opened the 2010 door for sure.” However, with all of the names coming up in the debate, Spotify’s RapCaviar has screened the replies and deemed Pi’erre Bourne, Wheezy, Hit-Boy, and Boi-1da as the final candidates for the fourth spot.

Which 2010s producer do you think deserves the final spot in the rafters? And do you think that RapCaviar got the other three producers right? Let us know your thoughts on the debate below.

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Pharrell’s Cousin’s Cause Of Death Ruled A Homicide

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The death of Pharrell Williams’ 25-year-old cousin Donovon Lynch has been ruled a homicide, New York Post reports. Lynch was shot and killed by Virginia Beach police in April. The official ruling in Lynch’s autopsy report has now opened the door for a state grand jury investigation into his death. The documents in court said that Lynch died by two gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead on the scene. However, no criminal charges have been pressed against the officers involved.

The homicide ruling is a small victory for Lynch’s family who’ve made public calls for justice. Pharrell previously called for a federal probe into the death of Donovon, saying there were “too many unanswered city and state questions.”

Wayne Lynch, Donovon’s father, filed a $50M wrongful death lawsuit accusing Virginia Beach Solomon Simmons III of “unlawfully and without warning” shoot his son in response to a separate shooting that happened a block away. Police claimed that Lynch brandished a firearm but Darrion Marsh, a friend of Donovon who witnessed the fatal shooting, said he “did not see Lynch pull out a gun before he was shot and that Simmons opened fire without warning as Marsh and Lynch retreated to their car following two earlier shootings that left one dead and eight injured.”

Marsh added that he and Donovon were not involved in the shooting that occurred a block away.

[Via]

YK Osiris’ Felony Aggravated Assault Charge Dropped: Report

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In strange consecutive events, the Fulton County D.A.’s office in Atlanta has dropped criminal charges for yet another rapper this week. On Tuesday, it was reported that Trippie Redd will no longer be prosecuted for his aggravated assault charge, despite the charge stemming from an alleged altercation in which a woman told Atlanta police that the rapper had pistol-whipped her back in 2018. Now, shortly after, it appears that another prominent Hip-Hop artist has dodged a bullet in Atlanta.

According to TMZ, YK Osiris — who was arrested in November 2019 for allegedly beating up and strangling his girlfriend at his birthday party two months prior — will also benefit from the District Attorney’s leniency.

 

YK Osiris attends the 2019 Soul Train Awards presented by BET at the Orleans Arena on November 17, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Paras Griffin/Getty Images

As previously reported, YK Osiris was charged with felony aggravated assault for allegedly biting and choking out his girlfriend at the time. After the alleged altercation took place at the singer’s birthday party, the woman filed a police report against YK Osiris that detailed the reportedly violent situation. According to her, she confronted Osiris after discovering a scantily clad woman on his phone, he verbally threatened her by saying, “I am going to slap the shit out of you” before proceeding to assault her.

Following his arrest, YK Osiris vehemently denied the accusations brought against him and claimed to have witnesses that could attest to his innocence in the matter. However, it doesn’t appear that his legal situation will come to that following the Fulton County D.A.’s office to drop his felony charge.

What are your thoughts on the Fulton County D.A.’s latest moves? Are you happy to see that YK Osiris’ legal troubles in Atlanta have been resolved?

[via]