Dame Dash Wants To ‘Make Our Own Grammys’ After Kanye West Was Reportedly Banned From This Year’s Show

Outspoken rap impresario Dame Dash has a solution for the Grammy Awards’ controversial ban on Kanye West performing at this year’s show: “We make our own Grammys,” he said when he encountered some TMZ photographers recently. Dash didn’t hold back, saying, “I’m not trying to fit into somebody else’s system. So we just create our own so we ain’t gotta worry about nobody else’s rules. … It’s not for them to judge who’s hot. It’s for us. They really shouldn’t be giving us the awards. We should be giving them the awards. They gotta respect our culture.”

For what it’s worth, it isn’t so much the culture of hip-hop that the Recording Academy seems worried about. West was only banned from performing at the ceremony after he spent the first two months of the year railing against his ex-wife, her new boyfriend, and anyone who dared suggest that maybe he was doing too much. At this point, it seems the Academy simply wants to avoid a possible meltdown onstage, although Kanye is apparently still welcome to attend and is nominated Album Of The Year for Donda. Meanwhile, another hip-hop figure, Houston’s J Prince, wants to organize a separate, hip-hop-focused show opposite the Grammys with artists who have felt slighted by the Recording Academy, such as The Weeknd.

As far as “creating our own” goes, well, BET has multiple awards shows including the BET Awards, the BET Hip-Hop Awards, The Soul Train Awards, and the NAACP Image Awards — all of which artists on Kanye’s level feel like they’re too big to attend or even acknowledge. Maybe “we” should be supporting our own, and that also includes holding our own accountable for behaving like jilted middle school boys in public.

Pusha T’s ‘Spicy Fish Diss’ Was Reportedly Worth Over $8 Million Of Advertising For Arby’s

When Pusha T shared his Arby’s-championing new song “Spicy Fish Diss” earlier this week, needless to say, some fans were thrown for a loop by the admittedly silly corporate partnership. Not only was the coke rap connoisseur rhyming sincere, wordplay-laced bars about a fast-food sandwich but he was also throwing jabs at another fast-food giant, McDonald’s, after claiming responsibility for its inescapable commercial jingle. But it looks like the Virginia rapper is getting the last laugh after all after a new report claims his track was worth more than $8 million in advertising exposure for Arby’s.

Upon catching wind of the impressive statistic, Pusha gave a characteristic boastful response, quoting himself to celebrate the achievement. “Critics he’s out of his mind/Haters he’s outta his prime” he wrote. “…yet, always where the money’s at like lottery signs.”

Part of the reason it seems Pusha has held a grudge against McDonald’s all this time is that he resents not negotiating for songwriting credits on the chain’s “I’m Lovin’ It” ads, telling Rolling Stone, “I did it at a very young age at a very young time in my career where I wasn’t asking for as much money and ownership. It’s something that’s always dug at me later in life like, ‘Dammit, I was a part of this and I should have more stake.’”

Weirdly enough, this isn’t even the first time McDonald’s has been directly dissed by a competitor in the medium of rap. In 2018, Wendy’s released a mixtape titled We Beefin? based on months of Twitter jabs that also took aim at Burger King and Dairy Queen.

From Miley Cyrus Bangers To Bollywood: The Story Behind The ‘Bridgerton’ Season 2 Soundtrack

If you didn’t know by now, Bridgerton is not like the other girls (and by “girls” we mean Regency-era romance dramas). And sure, that comes across fairly early on in how diverse its cast is and how generous its writers are with explicit sex scenes, but the show’s biggest weapon is, actually, its music.

Far from the sometimes-stuffy classical compositions that lull audiences to sleep in the background of the ball scenes and country dances and third-act climaxes used by its predecessors, Bridgerton’s choice in music cleverly bridges the gap between the past and the present. Translating bangers from Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande into stringed-out symphonies that harmonize with the most emotionally-loaded, pivotal plot points, the show gained a reputation after the success of its debut season.

It was a period piece that slapped.

And, as the show readies to launch another installment focused on a new Bridgerton sibling (hello Jonathan Bailey) and a fresh love interest in Simone Ashley’s fiercely independent Kate Sharma, its choice in music is more important than ever. Especially since, this time around, fans are paying attention.

We chatted with Bridgerton’s showrunner Chris Van Dusen and music supervisor Justin Kamps to nail down exactly how they landed on this season’s soundtrack – one filled with Madonna, Nirvana, and Miley Cyrus covers – that Bollywood nod, and approval from Sir Harry Styles.

The string covers were such a hit in season one. Did that influence any choices you made this time around?

Chris Van Dusen: As far as the music, there are more covers this season than last. I think that’s because it worked so well the first time around. The whole intention with these songs is that I want our audience to feel the very same way our characters feel onscreen. So when the Sharmas walk into a ballroom and hear this amazing classical rendition of “Material Girl,” I want the excitement they’re feeling in the moment to translate to the audience, too. I think it’s incredibly immersive and effective, and it’s definitely one of the things I love most about this show.

You’ve both talked about the trial-and-error process of the pop covers in season one. What was the process for season two like?

Justin Kamps: We start early on matching these covers with the type of dance that our choreographer, Jack Murphy, is planning for the ball — which includes tempo, time signature, just general feel, and everything. And then as the show comes together in post, we take another look at these sequences that have sometimes been newly edited together into an actual scene. And [sometimes] we need to look at a different song because maybe it’s been edited in such a way that the song we used for choreography doesn’t fit or there’s a different vibe now that it’s been put together. That’s when we start looking at different covers in the post process and seeing what really fits that moment and that sequence.

So do the lyrics of these pop songs come into play more in post-production then?

JK: Yeah, when it’s into post is where we start having more of the thoughts of like, “Okay, what would make the most sense here? What are the characters feeling? What’s happening in the scene? What’s the subtext? What can we be cheeky with?”

CVD: There are some songs I’ll find in post, but there are also times when I’ll write a scene to a specific song. I wrote one particular scene in the season two finale to a cover of Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.” It captured the exact emotion I wanted that scene to convey so beautifully. Usually, we end up replacing whatever song we use during shooting, but that was an exception. I asked our choreographer to choreograph a dance to that version of the song. Our onscreen musicians actually played to it on the day, too. The result is magical.

JK: Yeah, for me, that really encapsulates Kate and Anthony and their relationship — how they’re meeting each other and how that blew up everything in their lives.

When choosing which songs to cover, which carries more weight, the lyrics vs. the melody?

JK: There is some room to take a song that maybe the lyrics don’t completely fit, but the melody and the way the strings are performed really works for the scene, but I do feel it is a bit 50-50. Even if you’re not literally hearing them, these are songs that most people know and recognize — you’re hearing the lyrics in your head maybe as the song is happening. So we’re still aware that we can’t totally disregard the lyrics.

CVD: The actual song we’re covering has to make sense for us both emotionally and lyrically. “Dancing on my Own,” [by Robyn] for example, manages to be both beautiful and painful at the same time. It’s the kind of song that makes you lean into your screen. The lyrics are relevant too, especially when you think about what’s really happening in the scene it scores. It’s angsty and bittersweet and soul-stirring. It’s a transcendent moment.

Does the popularity of a song or an artist come into play when choosing which tracks to use?

JK: I do think it’s important. In general, the music that I am pitching down to the show that the producers and Chris gravitate towards are songs that are recognizable. There could be a song that I totally love, and it’s like, “Oh, this is a beautiful string cover of this song that no one’s heard,” but then if no one knows the song, it would play in the show as just score potentially. It would just go by and no one would notice. So the whole reason to use covers in the first place is that it is a song that people recognize and when it comes up, it creates this instant connection between the characters, these characters in the past and the audience in the present.

But this season you did experiment a bit more with how old a pop song could be to still have that reaction when fans heard a string cover of it.

JK: Yeah, we did expand back into some older classics — “Material Girl,” we got Nirvana in there as well. I think that’s just a testament to Chris’ taste and his interest in songs from all eras because again, creating a string quartet version of them levels the playing field. Maybe the original song itself is old, but now this cover is being heard. The audience is now experiencing these songs as a new thing even if they were released in the eighties and nineties.

You’ve both said that the Harry Styles track was the hardest license to get this season. How do you convince artists to hand over their music? Do you have to send them a script, show them the scene?

JK: It depends on the artist. Sometimes artists understandably are protective of their songs. Because this is their creative endeavor and their work and they want make sure that it’s being used appropriately. So yeah, sometimes we do have to show the artist and their team the clip. Other times we just give a detailed description of what’s happening and some people are okay with that. It kind of depends but this season, yes, we did have to show a couple of people.

The show has changed the Sharma’s ethnicity and cultural background this season and a lot of fans are excited for the Bollywood track that’s been included. Why was that such a big deal to cover that song?

JK: I’m personally very proud of the Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham cover. That was another one I was really excited about because when we were looking into including a Bollywood song in the show this season, there was lots of trepidation about Bollywood being a tough clear because they’re very protective of… Those films are a very important part of their culture. I’m just really excited for people to hear it.

CVD: The song itself is about family and the bonds that hold them together. When I heard the original song, I fell in love with it — and I thought it was perfect for a scene featuring all of our Sharma ladies — who have just arrived in London from India. So it’s a nod to that family’s heritage. My writers and I wanted to honor the culture of this new family and weave certain elements of their South Asian heritage into the series.

JK: There’s already been lots of fan excitement. And I actually saw an article with one of the composers that I guess his son told him how popular Bridgerton was, and he was very excited about the song being considered and used in the show. So that warms my heart. And I’m just excited for people to hear this song. I think it’s important that we got that one in there.

Speaking of changes from book-to-screen, were there any that were particularly challenging to make?

CVD: I wanted Edwina to be a multi-dimensional character in terms of having her own wants, needs and desires in the show. It’s always the goal to be writing characters who are fully-realized, complicated, and flawed. And then of course I was always interested in further expanding the beautiful, multi-ethnic world that was set up in the first season. Introducing the Sharma family was very much a part of that.

Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ returns on March 25.

Nas And ASAP Rocky Play Many Characters In Their New York-Lauding ‘Wave Gods’ Video

Just before the end of 2021, Nas and Hit-Boy — who have become quite the dynamic duo lately — surprised fans with their latest collaborative project, Magic. The album was a welcome inclusion to the rap partnership’s growing catalog of collaborative projects, which already included King’s Disease and King’s Disease II. One of the benefits for Nas of working with Hit-Boy was the inclusion of younger voices to Nas’ list of collaborations, which helped to reverse the narrative the rap vet was out-of-touch with contemporary hip-hop.

One of the voices included on Magic is that of ASAP Rocky, who appears on the Max B shout-out track “Wave Gods” along with a thrilling turntable performance from DJ Premier. Today, Nas and Rocky released the song’s video, a love letter to the gritty New York streets from which both men hail. Rather than showing off tourist destinations like Times Square, though, they display the New York they know, from housing projects to crowded subway cars, as both Nas and Rocky portray a variety of characters from the dice rolling residents of the high-rises to the homeless vagrants who populate bus stop benches.

Watch Nas and Hit-Boy’s “Wave Gods” video featuring ASAP Rocky and DJ Premier above.

Megan Thee Stallion Pie’d One Of Her Dancers While Performing ‘Sweetest Pie’ At The iHeartRadio Awards

Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa’s new single “Sweetest Pie” is a hit, and now Meg has offered a fresh live performance of it at last night’s 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards. She kept things exciting by taking a moment to pie one of her dancers in the face during the rendition, which followed Meg performing “Megan’s Piano.”

As for the awards themselves, Megan was nominated for a handful — Hip-Hop Artist Of The Year, Best Fan Army, and TikTok Bop Of The Year — but didn’t come away with any of them. She did, however, accept the Trailblazer Award and said during her acceptance speech, “I want to say with my platform, I will keep on continuing to be a voice for the voiceless, I will keep on fighting for all the injustices that me, my Black women, my Black men are facing, and I will keep showing up and showing out even in the face of adversity.”

Others in hip-hop were represented elsewhere, as winners included Lil Nas X (Male Artist Of The Year), Pop Smoke’s “What You Know Bout Love” (Hip-Hop Song Of The Year), and Drake (Hip-Hop Artist Of The Year).

Rock also showed up via Machine Gun Kelly (Alternative Artist Of The Year) and Foo Fighters (Rock Artist Of The Year). Pop had a lot of victors, too, like Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” (Song Of The Year), Olivia Rodrigo (Female Artist Of The Year, Best New Pop Artist, and TikTok Bop Of The Year for “Good 4 U”), Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” (Best Lyrics), Adele’s 30 (Best Comeback Album), and Finneas (Producer Of The Year).

Watch a clip from Megan’s performance above and find a full list of last night’s iHeartRadio Music Awards winners here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

J Prince Wants Drake, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, And More To Hold A Hip-Hop Show On Grammy Night

J Prince is at it again. Months after he somehow orchestrated a reconciliation between Kanye West and Drake, who held their Larry Hoover benefit concert shortly after they patched things up, the Rap-A-Lot Records CEO is back with another idea. J Prince wants a number of hip-hop artists to come together to hold a hip-hop show the same night as the Grammys which would be on April 3. He shared a lengthy audio message on Instagram that explained the inspiration behind his idea.

“I’ve been watching the Grammys control and dictate our culture to their benefit up close and personal for the past 30 years that I’ve been in the music business,” he wrote. “And all the artists, managers, and executives would do is complain but never have the nuts to come together to do anything about it.” He later added, “This is a slave master, punish a n**** mentality and act to remind us that no matter how much money we have, we’re still n****s in their eyes. So they cancel Kanye and discriminated against Drake, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj, and many others over the years. This will only be broken by us uniting our powers to bring about change moving forward.”

He then revealed his proposal to have Drake, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, and more come together to lead the hip-hop show. J Prince went as far as to say the show should take place in Las Vegas where the Grammys are set to take place.

“I recommend that the artists I mentioned above—and more—come together in Las Vegas and perform at the same time as the Grammys on a special network and streaming platform to prove that ratings will change where the Grammys are concerned when the No. 1 selling genre in music — hip-hop — come together,” he said. “Because there’s power in numbers.” He concluded by saying, “The powers that be will be mad at me about this one. But f*ck ’em! I love the culture. The seed has been planted; let’s water it.”

You can listen to J Prince’s full audio message about the proposed hip-hop show and what inspired it above.

Nigo Recruits Tyler The Creator, Pop Smoke, Clipse, ASAP Rocky, And More For ‘I Know Nigo’

For much of 2022, DJ and fashion designer Nigo has been gearing up to release I Know Nigo, his first album in more than 20 years. Nigo is best known as the founder of the clothing line A Bathing Ape, more commonly referred to as BAPE. He’s also a member of the Japanese hip hop group Teriyaki Boyz where he served as their in-house DJ since their 2005 debut. Nigo’s last solo album arrived in 1999 with Ape Sounds, and now, almost 23 years later, he’s just a few days away from dropping his second album.

I Know Nigo has been promoted with four strong singles from some of the industry’s biggest names. They include “Ayra” with ASAP Rocky, “Want It Bad” with Kid Cudi, “Hear Me Clearly” with Pusha T, and “Heavy” with Lil Uzi Vert. Now, just a few days until the March 25 release date for I Know Nigo, Nigo arrives with the project’s official tracklist. Through its 11 tracks, Nigo recruits Tyler The Creator, Pop Smoke, Clipse, Pharrell, Gunna, Teriyaki Boyz, ASAP Ferg, ASAP Rocky, Pusha T, Lil Uzi Vert, and Kid Cudi for I Know Nigo.

You can view the tracklist for I Know Nigo below.

1. “Lost And Found Freestyle 2019” w/ ASAP Rocky & Tyler The Creator
2. “Arya” w/ ASAP Rocky
3. “Punch Bowl” w/ Clipse
4. “Functional Addict” w/ Pharrell & Gunna
5. “Want It Bad” w/ Kid Cudi
6. “More Tonight” w/ Teriyaki Boyz
7. “Paper Plates” w/ Pharrell & ASAP Ferg
8. “Hear Me Clearly” w/ Pusha T
9. “Remember” w/ Pop Smoke
10. “Heavy” w/ Lil Uzi Vert
11. “Come On, Let’s Go” w/ Tyler The Creator

I Know Nigo is out 3/25 via Republic.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lorde Praises Rosalía’s New Album ‘Motomami’: ‘F*ck, It’s So Good’

Since going off the grid following the success of Melodrama, Lorde has preferred to use email newsletters to communicate with fans. Technically, it’s how she announced her latest album, last year’s Solar Power, and she often sends out missives on days when she has news or updates on her music and tour. Today, she launched the video for “Secrets From A Girl (Who’s Seen It All),” and sent out a newsletter to promote that, as well as share what she’s been up to so far this year.

One thing she’s been up to? Fan girl-ing over Rosalía, as so many of us have been. Motomami is, no question, one of the most inventive and exciting albums of the year, and as Cardi B herself said, you don’t really even have to know Spanish to understand the intention behind this music.

For Lorde’s part, she thinks the project is a good reminder of why pop music itself exists. “I’ve listened to the Rosalía album every day since it came out,” she wrote in the newsletter. “F*ck, it’s so good, I gagged when I heard that interpolation of “Archangel,” “Hentai” is genius, “Sakura”… projects like this remind me why I live for pop music — at its best, there’s nothing better.”

Couldn’t agree more! If you haven’t done so, feel free to sign up for Lorde’s newsletter right here.

Finally, Dolly Parton Wants To Give The People What They Want (A Musical Biopic About Her Life), And She Knows Who Should Play Her

A decade-and-a-half ago, John C. Reilly helped kill the musical biopic dead. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story mercilessly mocked movies like Walk the Line and Ray, skewering their tropes so devastatingly that no one dared make them for years and years. But they were bound to one day rise from the dead. And so they have. The last few years have seen movies like Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, about Queen and Elton John, make a ton of money, all while reviving the clichés that once made the genre ripe for satire. So why hasn’t anyone done one yet about Dolly Parton? That’s what Dolly Parton wants to know.

According to CNN, the country music goddess, too occasional movie star, and theme park owner last month appeared on the radio show Mr. Nashville Speaks, where she discussed her first novel, Run, Rose, Run. She also revealed that she’s in talks to do a big screen Dolly movie.

“I do intend someday to be on Broadway, but I’m thinking now that I might do my life story as a feature,” Parton told host Larry Ferguson. “Maybe possibly even a musical feature, so we’re in talks about that.”

Parton said that a Broadway Dolly musical almost happened, but the pandemic delayed that so long that she changed her mind. Now she’s pursuing a Dolly movie.

But who on earth could ever hope to summon even a scintilla of the charisma of one of the great entertainers? Parton had some ideas.

“I love Kristin Chenoweth,” Parton said. “She’s just absolutely fantastic.” But perhaps Chenoweth, if she’s comfortable inhabiting the shoes of the woman who wrote both “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” on the same frickin’ day, would only be one of multiple Dollys. “We’d probably have to have-as long as my career has been-like a little Dolly and a middle Dolly and then the older one.”

So there you have it, Hollywood. Go forth and make a Dolly Parton movie. In the meantime, go watch the too few movies she’s made over the years. Yes, even the one with Stallone.

You can watch Parton’s Mr. Nashville Speaks interview in the video below.

(Via CNN)

Latto Reveals Her ‘777’ Tracklist Featuring 21 Savage, Lil Wayne, Nardo Wick, And A Mystery Guest

This Friday, two years after the release of her debut album, Latto will release its follow-up, 777, which she’s spent the last few months hyping with singles like “Big Energy,” “Soufside,” and “Wheelie” featuring 21 Savage. With just a few days to go, the Atlanta rising star shared the tracklist for 777, which defies industry conventions by clocking in at a relatively trim 13 tracks. Features on the album include Childish Gambino(!), Kodak Black, Lil Durk, Lil Wayne, Nardo Wick, and a mystery feature on the remix of “Big Energy,” Latto’s most commercially successful single to date.

Now that the tracklist is out, though, fans can’t help but speculate which of Latto’s male guests was the one she called out during a recent interview for withholding clearance over a direct message. “It’s a feature on my album… it was difficult to clear,” she told LA radio personality Big Boy. “They tryna drop they nuts on me because I won’t respond to a DM.”

Due to his previous misogynistic behavior and comments, many fans are sure it was Kodak Black who stalled the process, with responses ranging from outrage on her behalf to shading her for featuring him after those comments were made in the first place. For his part, though, Kodak denied the accusations from fans on his own Twitter, leaving just a handful of names to choose from… and perhaps that mystery guest.

In any case, 777 is due 3/25 on RCA.