Hip Hop News

The “WAP” craze has dissipated in recent months, but Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s megahit continues to be a social media sensation. The pair of artists came together during quarantine to deliver an explicit and controversial single that even had political pundits talking, and whether or not audiences approved of the lyrical content, “WAP” kept racking up numbers. Cardi recently admitted that Megan had been on her radar for some time but she was too nervous to reach out to the Houston Hottie.

“Megan came out and for like a whole year, I never interacted with her because I was like, I don’t know,” Cardi said while on iHeartRadio Presents SeeHer Hear Her: Celebrating Women in Music. “I’m too shy and everything. I feel like other artists are shy, too. Should I be cool with her? I don’t know if she likes me.”

“It’s always about breaking the ice and always having a conversation and catching somebody at the right time. We linked up and she’s just such a good vibe,” Cardi continued. She added that this weekend, she’ll be rooting for Meg at the Grammys as the Houston rapper is up for four nomination in categories including Best New Artist and Best Rap Song.

“I always want to see her win and I think she feels the same way about me, too,” Cardi added. “And every single time I see her doing good, I just get so happy.” As Megan Thee Stallion awaits her fate regarding her nominations, Cardi is preparing to perform at the award ceremony along with Lil Baby, Doja Cat, DaBaby, and many others.

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There was a time when T-Pain was consistently ridiculed for his use of auto-tune. The artist’s music has transcended genres as he’s drifted through Rap, Hip Hop, Pop, and more, and while many of his singles topped the charts and are considered classics today, T-Pain faced an onslaught of backlash over his sound. Now, you can’t listen to a Rap playlist without being confronted with track after track where an artist is utilizing auto-tune to its fullest degree, and T-Pain believes he’s influenced the culture.

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T-Pain caught up with Black Girl Nerds and said that he’s not bothered by the “jokes and comments” about his use of auto-tune because it’s been replicated in today’s music. “The way that it’s spread and the way that everybody’s using it now, that lets me know I’ve been doing the right thing from the beginning, ’cause if I wasn’t doing the right thing, nobody else would have done it. Why would you copy something that’s bad? I know I’ve been doing the right thing from the jump.”

He was asked if he believes that he was an influence for people to use auto-tune and T-Pain answered, “Absolutely.” He added, “It hasn’t gone anywhere. It hasn’t been any different. And the fact that people are—even newer artists are still using it and people are coming into it and still using it. I knew I was doing the right thing. I needed everybody else to catch on.”

The music icon also spoke about his Verzuz with Lil Jon and said that after it was over, his phone wouldn’t stop ringing off the hook. Check out T-Pain’s full interview with Black Girl Nerds below and revisit his classic hit “Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” featuring Yung Joc.

Also, make sure to check out our feature: Auto-Tune In Hip-Hop: A Brief History From T-Pain To Future.

The Pretty B*tch Music hype has arrived, and it’s looking as if Saweetie is preparing a release that will include a large amount of music. The Bay Area artist is slated to drop her debut studio album this year, and she sat down with Issa Rae for Apple Music’s Issa Raedio Show where they talked about the forthcoming album and the women in Rap that Saweetie grew up listening to. She dropped a few names but also shared that Lil Kim’s “Not Tonight” bars were some of her favorite.

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“My mom listened to a lot of Lil Kim and Foxy [Brown]. I’ve always liked their demeanor. Like, their demeanor is just—I know that when they step into the room, like you can just feel that boss-ness. They always just felt so powerful to me,” said the rapper. “I love me some Missy. I always tell people, ‘If I’m gon’ get nasty, I’ma get nasty like Missy ’cause she’s always creative and she’ll make you think.’ That’s what I drew from her.”

Saweetie added that she also loves “Trina’s attitude” and “how comfortable she was in her own body.” She also gave praise to Nicki Minaj by saying, “In high school, Nicki dropped like, two or three mixtapes that I just super loved and it opened my eyes to what a modern-day female rapper felt like ’cause everybody else, my aunties or my mom was listening to them, but I discovered Nicki on LimeWire.”

She called Lil Kim’s “Not Tonight” lyrics “the best bar in female history.” Saweetie said, “I like when she says, ‘Tryin’ to impress me with your five G stones / I’ll give you ten Gs, n*gga, if you leave me alone.’ When I heard that, I was like, I felt it. I knew what she meant and that’s just the most boss thing someone could ever say. I love that line.”

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Saweetie also gave some insight as to what fans can expect from Pretty B*tch Music. “It’s looking like more than 17 songs,” Saweetie revealed. “It’s hella long! I’m really excited. I really am… I used to struggle with my sound. I didn’t know how to properly deliver. I didn’t know what inflection was. I couldn’t find producers who made sense with my brand and my voice because all those things work congruently to make a good song.”

“Like, I definitely feel like Icy and High Maintenance were highly produced, great sound quality bodies of work, but I still feel like people didn’t understand me,” she added. “And while in quarantine people have learned about me through my content. I think this is a time for people to get to know me through my music, which is so important to me.”

Watch Saweetie’s interview with Issa Rae below.

We’re creeping up to another Grammy Award ceremony and The Recording Academy has once again been under fire over this year’s artists. Following the announcement of nominees, people were stunned by The Weeknd being snubbed across the board, but while chatter about the validity of the Grammys was discussed in various circles, those nominated were celebrating their efforts. Royce Da 5’9″ has had long-standing ire for the Grammys and has been quite vocal about his disdain for the ceremony, but this year his acclaimed project The Allegory is up for Best Rap Album.

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Royce recently revealed that he wasn’t aware that he was nominated until he received a call from Joyner Lucas. “I didn’t know that they submitted it. I didn’t know that they submitted the album. I didn’t,” the rapper told HipHopDX for their #Hack3d series. “You know who called me and told me? Joyner Lucas. Joyner Lucas called me and told me.” Royce explained that on the day the nominations were read, his phone kept going off and he didn’t know why because he wasn’t aware he was mentioned.

“It was people just, ‘Congratulations, congratulations.’ I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ So, first time it ring I answer, ‘Hello? What’s up?'” It just so happened to be Lucas on the other end. “‘Yo, congratulations motherf*cka!’ I’m like, ‘Yo what are you congratulating me for? What’s going on?’ I was startled. I honestly thought he was congratulating me for something with [Eminem’s] album. Because my album’s independent, so I wasn’t even thinking about the Grammy’s.”

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“He was like, ‘No it’s not for [Eminem’s] album, it’s for your album. So be happy motherf*cka.’ I was like, ‘Word.’ After we got off the phone I’m thinking to myself like, ‘Be happy? Did Joyner Lucas think I’m not happy?’” Who are you hoping takes home Best Rap Album?

Make sure to check out our interview with Royce where he spoke with us about his nomination: Royce Da 5’9″ Reflects On Grammy Nom, Lil Wayne’s Legacy, & If The Current Era Creates “Timeless” Music.

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He was once upset about how his former label reportedly treated him, but YG now reflects on it all as karma. The Los Angeles rapper recently sat down with No Jumper where he introduced his 4Hunnid artists to the world: Day Sulan, Mitch, and D3. The group spoke about how they all met one another and the artists discussed their career paths, and during the conversation, YG shared a bit about recently being free from his previous record deal that he claims didn’t make him any money.

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“When my sh*t start movin’ like, my record deal was f*cked up for ten years straight,” said the rapper. “I just got out of that sh*t some months ago. So like, hell yeah, my sh*t was all bad. I never owned none of my music I put out from f*ckin’ my last album back. I ain’t own nothin’ so I just got out of that. But like, the fact that I was in some f*cked up deal, you know what I’m saying, that made me start thinking about other sh*t.”

“I’m like, ‘I ain’t making no money with none of my music, I gotta do other sh*t.’ So, it turned me into whatever you want to call me, business n*gga that got a brand.” Adam22 wanted to know if YG ever felt defeated or found it difficult to be self-motivated to create new music while under his deal.

“It was hard. I was f*cked up. But I did a lot of stealing and robbin’ and sh*t when I was young so, I look at it like, that was my karma,” said YG. ‘Them motherf*ckin’ White people in offices stole from me and it was my karma ’cause I used to rob sh*t like, a lot… ‘YG, know how it feel to get stole from, n*gga. Don’t do no more stealing.’ Alright, thank you, God, I got you.”

Watch YG and his 4Hunnid crew chat with No Jumper below.