Hip Hop News

Art criticism is a fascinating — and occasionally controversial — topic of discussion. There are many whose livelihood centers around reviewing mediums like music, film, television, and video games, each one created by artists and creatives. With YouTube in the picture, music critics have multiplied tenfold over the past few years, with many racing to unpack the latest albums while they’re still in trending territory. 

The rush to create content has led to an influx of first-day reviews, and while it’s not always the case, such reviews tend to be based on a single listen. Given that many albums are created as labors of love, sometimes taking years to put together, such rushed judgment risks painting an incomplete picture. After all, how many albums can be described as “growers,” with deeper cuts unveiling their true potential only after several repeat listens. 

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Wiz Khalifa recently took a moment to offer a suggestion to album critics, having likely been a first-hand witness to several reviews both positive and negative. “Normalize listening to albums more than once before you critique them,” he suggests, though it’s uncertain as to how many listens are sufficient before a critic can declare themselves an authority. 

Though it’s no guarantee that Wiz’s advice will have an impact on the average critic, perhaps it will encourage aspiring reviewers to spend a little more time with an album before firing off their initial reactions. Check out his tweet below, and sound off if you think Wiz Khalifa’s request is one that more people should abide by. 

Olivia Rodrigo has become a pop sensation this year with her debut album continuing to dominate the charts, and some fans have found her career trajectory similar to one particular rap star, comparing her to Fetty Wap.

“Who had the more dominant debut year?” asked a music fan on Twitter, sharing photos of Olivia Rodrigo and Fetty Wap. The post ended up getting a lot of attention, being retweeted nearly ten thousand times with other music lovers weighing in. Especially following Fetty’s performance at Rolling Loud this weekend, where the crowd was singing along to every word of his songs, it’s clear that the rapper had a significant impact on our lives. But did he have a stronger debut than the Disney queen? According to the replies to this post, yes, he did.

“If you choose Olivia imma just assume u 12,” wrote a commenter in their own viral response. “Fetty Wap had 10 year olds shouting ‘1738’ without any reason,” added another person, hitting the original tweet with a strong ratio. “Fetty Wap, Steph Curry and ISIS literally ran the world in 2015,” joked somebody else.

Clearly, people are still rooting for Fetty Wap to return with his trademark sound. On Monday night, the rapper reacted to all of the love, telling his fans that he’ll be back in no time with a new project.

So, who do you think had the better debut year? Fetty Wap or Olivia Rodrigo?

Doja Cat is responding to the backlash suffered at the hands of fans following the rollout of her Planet Her merchandise, originally designed to accompany her most recent studio album.

Doja took to Twitter to address the comments as fans complained of the poor design quality and high costs attached to the new line. When one fan asked her who designed the merch, the 25-year-old rapper responded, “I don’t know.”

The merch in question includes fairly straightforward branding of her Planet Her album on t-shirts and crop tops along with her name in NASA-themed motifs across other designs.

“the [sic] merch is bad,” she added in a tweet. “i’m [sic] aware. don’t worry.”

Beyond that, Doja didn’t offer much of a plan on any potential revamp of the merch line for fans in return. What has followed, however, has been a nonsensical stream of tweets from the young hyphenate that include a strong defense of the fictional Jason Bourne and the denouncing of Twitter altogether.

“fuck[sic] this app,” she penned in one tweet before continuing in another. “i’m [sic] part of such a shitty lame app. why do i [sic] keep posting shit here.”

Her recent remarks arrive following a sit down with Nick Cannon in which she touched on cancel culture, stating that “people want to see everyone lose.”

“The chaos is entertaining. Is it not?” she added. “It happens, but people have good reason to be upset sometimes and people have no reason to be upset sometimes.”

It’s not entirely surprising that it’s reached this point, given the frequency with which Logic has been releasing new music. Now, we have official confirmation that the trilogy is set to continue with the imminent release of Bobby Tarantino III — emphasis on imminent.

In fact, Logic fully intends on releasing his new tape this coming Friday, July 30th. For those keeping score, this will be Logic’s first release since 2020’s No Pressure, an album marketed and designed to be a swan song of sorts. It’s entirely likely that Bobby fully intended to step away from hip-hop, like many who previously teased retirement. Alas, the call of the studio proved too alluring to resist, and before long, Logic was back in album mode.  

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Today, Logic unveiled the elaborate album artwork, as created by NYC artist Sam Spratt. Though he didn’t share a tracklist, it stands to reason that some of his recent singles — “Vaccine, “Call Me,” and “Get Up” come to mind — will be included on the project. It will certainly be interesting to see how Logic follows up No Pressure, easily one of his most acclaimed projects in recent memory.

We can only hope that Logic takes his own advice, and doesn’t put too much pressure on himself moving forward with this return. Based on what we’ve heard so far, Logic appears to be in a carefree state, focusing on the music he wants to make and tuning out the noise and chatter. Look for Bobby Tarantino III to arrive this Friday, July 30th. 

Simone Biles is one of the greatest athletes of all time. One of the most decorated Olympians ever, the gymnastics star has been tearing it up at the Tokyo Games this summer, and despite the fact that she’s not performing at her highest capability, she’s still outperformed her competition by completing moves that have never been attempted before. Unfortunately, we may have seen the last of Biles at this year’s Olympics because, according to multiple official sources, she has pulled out of the team finals with a medical issue.

Following a disappointing vault at the start of the women’s team event, the American performer was attended to by a trainer and ruled out for the remainder of the event. Her foot was strapped heavily after the vault, signaling that she may have suffered an injury upon her landing.

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In her place, teammate Jordan Chiles competed in the uneven bars. Biles will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future events. 

Biles was hoping to stack her resume with six more gold medals to add to her collection, which would have made her the most decorated woman in Olympics history. With Biles pulling out, the USA won a silver medal in the event, with the team from Russia taking home the gold.

Hopefully, Simone Biles has a speedy recovery. Wish her well in the comments!