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Pusha T Promises To Release His New Song ‘Diet Coke’ After A Snippet Surfaces Online

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Today, Pusha T fans woke to a mysterious snippet of what appeared to be a new music video from the rapper featuring Kanye West. The snippet appeared to have been originally uploaded by veteran journalist Elliott Wilson, who tweeted out the clip without fanfare or explanation, leading to two hours of speculation about its origin.

And while no one quite knew what to make of the clip, that didn’t stop it from spreading like wildfire, with Pusha T supporters demanding the song be released as soon as possible.

Well, it was either all part of the plan, or Pusha is just really in tune with fans on Twitter, because it didn’t take long for him to reveal the release date via his own social pages: The track, titled “Diet Coke,” is set for release at midnight tonight — meaning 12 am ET February 8.

Meanwhile, the song’s producer, 88 Keys had apparently gone Live on Instagram to explain that the beat was 18 years old and originally intended as an interlude on one of his own beat tapes.

“Diet Coke” will be Pusha’s first solo single since 2018’s Daytona, which contained the songs “Infrared,” “If You Know You Know,” and “Santeria.” He began teasing his new music in late January with a photo of Lana Del Rey after revealing the new album would be produced by Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.

Fans Were Baffled When Ice Cube Performed During A Nascar Race In LA

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It’s not all that unusual to see Ice Cube at sporting events. After all, the man’s been famous since his early 20s when he was a member of NWA, and he even runs his own increasingly popular basketball league, The Big 3. But apparently, there are still some sporting events at which you wouldn’t expect to catch the internationally recognized rapper, as seen by the reaction to not only appearing at a Nascar race this past Sunday but performing there as well.

Cube was apparently commissioned for the halftime show at the Busch Light Clash at the LA Coliseum on Sunday (truthfully, I didn’t know car races even had halftimes, so I’m already shocked and confused by this story myself), where he performed hits from across his expansive catalog such as “Check Yoself,” “Friday,” and “You Know How We Do It.” Clearly, though, this wasn’t exactly the audience for an Ice Cube performance, as the audience’s reactions were decidedly mixed.

Online, though, there was as much amusement as bemusement (which actually mean wildly different things, go figure), with fans chiming in to either berate the Nascar audience for not appreciating a musical legend in their midst or demean Nascar for so baldly trying to expand its appeal — likely inspired by the upcoming Super Bowl’s halftime slate of Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and Snoop Dogg.

It seems the Nascar audience is as reluctant to embrace hip-hop as the hip-hop audience is to embrace Nascar — or maybe, considering the popularity of the sport down South, they just need to tap some more Southern artists the next time around. Just saying, there’s probably a strong overlap between people who love cars and people who love Ludacris. Check out more responses below.

Tobe Nwigwe’s Reflective ‘Unfollow Me’ Video Has Some Helpful Advice For His Haters

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Each Sunday brings a new Tobe Nwigwe video to look forward to, as the Alief, Texas-based rapper continues his independent campaign to offer a counterpoint to the imagery and messages pervading rap’s mainstream. This week, though, he slows it down as he offers some helpful advice to anyone bothered by his choice of content.

If there was a moment that you could point to as the beginning of Tobe’s breakthrough to a broader level of public awareness, it would likely be the release of his 2020 single, “Try Jesus,” in which he tapped into a gospel vibe for a tongue-in-cheek reminder that he won’t be turning the other cheek. He returns to that well on “Unfollow Me,” which utilizes strains of a pulpit-certified organ as Tobe reminds his haters that they don’t have to stay tuned into his every move.

“If you don’t like what I say or do,” he croons, “Please, for your sake and mine — unfollow me.” As the camera pulls back from the standard closeup his Sunday singles often begin with, he advises his critics that they don’t have to like, comment, or follow if they really don’t want to. The mood is very much in line with his two most recent releases, “Passing Through” and “Undressing Criticism,” in both music and message.

Watch the video for “Unfollow Me” above.

Vince Staples And Mustard Debut A New Song In Naomi Osaka’s Latest Beats By Dre Commercial

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Vince Staples’ musical output is an ever-evolving thing. When he started out, his music was abrasive and almost contrarian, intentionally flying against the prevailing wind of hip-hop’s mainstream sound. However, over time, he’s mellowed out, at times flirting with a more accessible sound, most noticeably on the hyperactive FM! and the depressive sound of his 2020 self-titled album. In recent months, signs have pointed to that flirtation becoming a full-blown love affair on his long-awaited album, Ramona Park Broke My Heart, which could be the moment he goes from critical darling to fan-favorite superstar.

First, he tapped DJ Quik earlier this year to help finish the project, and now, it’s clear he’s been working with another West Coast hitmaker in Mustard. A song Vince created with the latter has appeared in the unlikeliest of places: a new Beats By Dre ad featuring tennis superstar Naomi Osaka. In the ad, Osaka is shown putting in a brand-new pair of Beats headphones on the tennis court and laying on the net like a hammock while the new song, “Magic,” plays. Judging from the party-ready vibe of the single, it sounds like Staples is actually making a play for radio and playlist love for a change and he sounds every bit as cozy on the Mustard-standard beat as Osaka looks in her makeshift hammock. Staples’ Instagram post promises more on the way, and we can’t wait.

Leon Bridges Linked With An LA Taqueria To Create A Benefit Taco Called ‘The Ft. Worth’

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HomeState, the LA-area TexMex joint known for their popular “Band Taco” benefit partnerships with Southern California groups like Chicano Batman and Tijuana Panthers, just launched a new creation with the pride of Fort Worth, Texas, Leon Bridges. It makes sense, considering owner Briana Valdez grew up in Texas and launched her Los Angeles taco, queso, and margarita emporiums to share the flavors of the lone star state with Angeleños.

Known as “The Ft. Worth,” Bridges’ taco is made with spicy achiote chicken, Beeler’s bacon, lettuce, pico de gallo, tomatillo ranch, and pickled jalapeños, on a flour tortilla. $1.25 of each taco sold goes directly to two organizations: CASA LA, which advocates for children and families in LA County’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems, and The Big Good, a North Texas-based organization started by Bridges, that supports educational and professional opportunities for the community.

“I was super excited to create a taco that reminds me of my hometown Fort Worth, and be able to raise funds for The Big Good to boot,” Bridges said in a statement. “I hope people pull up with my taco, queso, and margs and just vibe.”

“The Ft. Worth” is available at all four HomeState locations in the Los Angeles area now until the end of April.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Tells Employees He Doesn’t Believe ‘Silencing’ Joe Rogan Is A Good Idea

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When Spotify employees clock into work on Monday morning, they’re going to have a bold letter to digest from CEO Daniel Ek. In a message sent to the entire “Spotify Team” on Sunday, Ek addressed the mounting controversy surrounding The Joe Rogan Experience. This began when Neil Young decided to pull his music from the platform on January 24th, citing the COVID vaccine misinformation that Rogan regularly purveys on his show. Other artists soon followed suit, including India.Arie, who cited Rogan’s problematic language surrounding race and posted a damning clip on her Instagram Story three days ago, of multiple instances where Rogan used a racial slur on his show.

“I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,” Ek said in his letter, which was obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. “We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope. Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress.”

Ek also tried to illustrate that Spotify is not the publisher of The Joe Rogan Experience, but are merely the exclusive license holders — a license that Spotify acquired for that $100 million figure that keeps popping up. He referred to the notion that people assume that the streaming platform is the publisher of the show as merely the “perception” of it, which gave his lengthy letter an odd public relations feel, as if he’s being open with a divided staff about a damage control situation. “…I’ve been wrestling with how this perception squares with our values,” he said.

To that point, the most impactful portion of the letter was Ek pledging $100 million to elevate creators from historically marginalized groups. “If we believe in having an open platform as a core value of the company, then we must also believe in elevating all types of creators, including those from underrepresented communities and a diversity of backgrounds,” he said. “I am committing to an incremental investment of $100 million for the licensing, development, and marketing of music (artists and songwriters) and audio content from historically marginalized groups.”

Rogan has apologized for using a racial slur and is in a damage control situation of sorts himself. Especially considering Spotify has already pulled 70 of his episodes, presumably for containing inappropriate language. Ek also addressed this and more in his letter, which you can read in full below.

“Spotify Team,

There are no words I can say to adequately convey how deeply sorry I am for the way The Joe Rogan Experience controversy continues to impact each of you. Not only are some of Joe Rogan’s comments incredibly hurtful — I want to make clear that they do not represent the values of this company. I know this situation leaves many of you feeling drained, frustrated and unheard.

I think it’s important you’re aware that we’ve had conversations with Joe and his team about some of the content in his show, including his history of using some racially insensitive language. Following these discussions and his own reflections, he chose to remove a number of episodes from Spotify. He also issued his own apology over the weekend.

While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more. And I want to make one point very clear — I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer. We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope. Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress.

Another criticism that I continue to hear from many of you is that it’s not just about The Joe Rogan Experience on Spotify; it comes down to our direct relationship with him. In last week’s Town Hall, I outlined to you that we are not the publisher of JRE. But perception due to our exclusive license implies otherwise. So I’ve been wrestling with how this perception squares with our values.

If we believe in having an open platform as a core value of the company, then we must also believe in elevating all types of creators, including those from underrepresented communities and a diversity of backgrounds. We’ve been doing a great deal of work in this area already but I think we can do even more. So I am committing to an incremental investment of $100 million for the licensing, development, and marketing of music (artists and songwriters) and audio content from historically marginalized groups. This will dramatically increase our efforts in these areas. While some might want us to pursue a different path, I believe that more speech on more issues can be highly effective in improving the status quo and enhancing the conversation altogether.

I deeply regret that you are carrying so much of this burden. I also want to be transparent in setting the expectation that in order to achieve our goal of becoming the global audio platform, these kinds of disputes will be inevitable. For me, I come back to centering on our mission of unlocking the potential of human creativity and enabling more than a billion people to enjoy the work of what we think will be more than 50 million creators. That mission makes these clashes worth the effort.

I’ve told you several times over the last week, but I think it’s critical we listen carefully to one another and consider how we can and should do better. I’ve spent this time having lots of conversations with people inside and outside of Spotify — some have been supportive while others have been incredibly hard, but all of them have made me think.

One of the things I am thinking about is what additional steps we can take to further balance creator expression with user safety. I’ve asked our teams to expand the number of outside experts we consult with on these efforts and look forward to sharing more details.

Your passion for this company and our mission has made a difference in the lives of so many listeners and creators around the world. I hope you won’t lose sight of that. It’s that ability to focus and improve Spotify even on some of our toughest days that has helped us build the platform we have. We have a clear opportunity to learn and grow together from this challenge and I am ready to meet it head on.

I know it is difficult to have these conversations play out so publicly, and I continue to encourage you to reach out to your leaders, your HR partners or me directly if you need support or resources for yourself or your team.

Daniel.”

Kylie Jenner Announced The Birth Of Her Second Child With Travis Scott

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Stormi Webster is officially a big sister. Earlier this afternoon, Kylie Jenner announced the birth of her second child with Travis Scott by sharing a black and white photo of the new baby’s hand. She shared the birth date, 2/2/22, indicating her second child was born last week, and also included a blue heart emoji, leading many people to believe her new baby is a boy. Since TMZ is also reporting the baby is a boy, it seems like that’s probably the case, but Kylie hasn’t officially confirmed the gender yet on her own.

At least this is some positive news for Travis Scott, who has understandably been lying low since the horrific tragedy at Astroworld last year, a festival that left nine attendees dead. Looks like the fans who were convinced Kylie had her baby back in January were just a little premature. Congratulations to the happy couple, and knowing the way the Kardashian content machine rolls, we’ll be getting photos of this little guy some time in the very near future. Here’s hoping that after witnessing what Kanye and Kim are going through right now with custody of their children, Travis and Kylie are able to keep things cordial as they co-parent.

Billie Eilish Interrupted Her Show To Help A Fan, And Seemed To Shade Travis Scott In The Process

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Billie Eilish just recently kicked off the tour behind her new album, Happier Than Ever — as in, three days ago recently — but she is of course already making headlines. The young pop star has already been known to keep things incredibly real with her fans, and the general public, and seems to be hyper aware of her own role when it comes to checking in on the safety and health of her fans at shows.

At a concert in Atlanta on Sunday night, Eilish interrupted her entire set to make sure a fan got the inhaler she needed, instructing her security to bring one from backstage. TMZ has footage of her (above) seemingly addressing last year’s tragedy at Astroworld, saying “I wait for people to be okay before I keep going.” She calmed the rest of the crowded auditorium while that fan recovered, and got huge cheers for her statement.

The issue at Astroworld was that Travis Scott kept performing, allegedly oblivious, while nine fans were trampled to death. Obviously, that’s a nightmarish situation even if Scott was totally unaware of it happening, but it seems very unlikely anything of that nature could happen at an Eilish concert.

Though Billie followed up her debut album incredibly quickly, releasing her second record only two years later, rumor has it she’s already back in the studio again, working on yet another new album. Now that’s dedication.

Azealia Banks Slams Kanye West’s Treatment Of Kim Kardashian And Says ‘Too Many Excuses’ Are Being Made For Him

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For the past few days, Kanye West has been airing out his issues with Kim Kardashian, and they mostly relate to their children. In one instance, Kanye criticized Kim for letting North West use TikTok against his will. He also claimed Kim tried to “kidnap” their daughter, and days later, he claimed that she would not let him bring their kids to Chicago for a basketball game. While Kanye has received support from far right pundit Candace Owens, Azealia Banks is not coming to his defense at all. In fact, the singer took a moment to share a lengthy message criticizing his behavior and treatment of Kim Kardashian.

“Y’all are making way too many excuses for Kanye,” she said to began her message which she posted on her Instagram Story. “This is the second time he has publicly bullied North West. First with the abortion sh*t, and now putting her on blast on his Instagram page as if she’s some sort of criminal.” She continued, “Kanye had no problem with that magazine cover where North had on a f*cking belly top and purple eyeliner with her little buds showing thru the shirt, he thought it was fashion. You all said nothing.”

Banks went on to accuse Kanye of trying to “wreck the mental health of the only person around to care for children” while criticizing him for his new relationship with Julia Fox. Banks also suggested that Kanye was going through “rapid opioid/heroin comedown/withdrawal type outbursts.”

“Kanye is an abusive psychopath, it’s beyond mental illness,” she said. “Stop trying to help him and start trying to help the poor child that he keeps on trying to embarrass and abuse publicly to garner sympathy for his ashy ass.”

Eminem Is Bringing Two Deaf Rappers To Perform At The Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show

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We’re just a week away from Super Bowl LVI, which means we’re a week from the game’s Halftime Show, which features an eclectic array of performers: Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige. The artists are expected to perform classic songs from their catalogs, with a slim chance of them performing some new and/or unreleased tracks. Another thing viewers will catch during the halftime show is a performance from a pair of deaf rappers.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Eminem has invited Sean Forbes and Warren “WaWa” Snipe to take the stage during the show. Forbes and Warren will perform interpretations of the headliners’ songs in American Sign Language (ASL), which will. mark the first time that the NFL has ever incorporated ASL into their halftime show. It’s described as “an elevated accessibility experience” and the performance will be made available through the NBC Sports website and app.

“The doors to accessibility are busted wide open with something like this,” Forbes told the Detroit Free Press during an interview. While it will be Forbes’ first appearance at a Super Bowl, Snipe previously appeared at last year’s game, where he joined Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church to perform the national anthem.