Drake

J Prince Says He Believes Drake Reconciled With Ye Because He Saw ‘The Bigger Picture’

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Tomorrow night, Ye and Drake will take over the Los Angeles Coliseum for their benefit concert for Larry Hoover, a Chicago gang founder currently serving a 150-200 year sentence for a 1973 murder. The show will be available on Amazon platforms and in IMAX theaters. However, it wouldn’t be happening without the rappers’ decision to set aside their differences, ending the beef they’ve had for the past three years. Rap-A-Lot Records CEO J Prince had a huge hand in helping Ye and Drake patch things up, but in a new interview with Billboard, he sets the record straight on how it went down.

“I painted the bigger picture to Drake,” Prince explained when he was asked why he thinks the two rappers met at Drake’s Toronto mansion late last month. “I let him know that this is a moment and movement that can save lives. I believe by Drake and Kanye being an example, as two of hip-hop’s top artists, that lives would be saved.” He continued, “I believe this is going to be imitated and it’s important to be an example to those that look up to you and that meant something to Drake — just the life-saving event wrapped around putting the spotlight on injustice, prison reform, and my brother Larry Hoover. Everything is icing on the cake after that, because he never envisioned things like that.”

Prince also made sure to note that he did not pressure or “force” Ye into setting aside his differences with Drake for the benefit concert. “It was an interesting conversation, but the furthest thing from the truth regarding any kind of force,” he said. “I heard all kinds of rumors, and that was the furthest thing from the truth To me, that moment was what I called an ‘anointing moment’ — because none of it was planned. It wasn’t planned where we had that meeting in that particular church, but me being a man of God, I couldn’t deny the invitation to actually meet him.”

The concert will kick-off at 11pm EST / 8pm PST on Thursday and stream on Prime Video, the Amazon Music app, and the Amazon Music Twitch channel in addition to IMAX theaters.

You can read J Prince’s full sit-down with Billboard here.

Aerial Footage Shows Kanye West & Drake’s Larry Hoover Show Stage Buildout Is “Massive,” Streaming Live On Amazon & Twitch

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Aerial footage captured by a photojournalist has revealed that a massive stage is under construction for Kanye West and Drake‘s ‘Free Larry Hoover’ benefit show. Kanye West & Drake’s Larry Hoover Show Underway A clip shared by CBS LA‘s John Schreiber shows the huge stage which is being built for the Kanye West & Drake […]

Ye And Drake’s Larry Hoover Benefit Concert Will Livestream On Amazon Platforms

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Late last month, Ye and Drake announced that their Larry Hoover benefit concert would be held live from the Los Angeles Coliseum on December 9. The news came after the rappers got back on good terms, having not seeing eye to eye for the past three years. Ye and Drake reconciled in the name of advocating for the release of Larry Hoover, a Chicago gang founder currently imprisoned for a 1973 murder. With two days until the concert goes down, additional info has been shared about it.

The Larry Hoover concert will be livestreamed on Amazon Music and Prime Video. Viewers will be able to watch the show starting at 11pm EST / 8pm PST on Prime Video, the Amazon Music app, and the Amazon Music Twitch channel. The concert will also be made available in select IMAX theaters across the country, according to Stereogum. The show’s main goal is to raise awareness for prison and sentencing reform while benefiting community advocate groups, like Ex-Cons For Community And Social Change, Hustle 2.0, and Uptown People’s Law Center.

“Kanye and Drake have spent their careers pushing boundaries and defining culture, and we’re excited to give fans around the world a front row seat to this concert,” Tim Hinshaw, Amazon Music’s head of hip-hop and R&B, said in a statement. “We have made Amazon Music and Prime Video destinations where artists can make their most ambitious ideas a reality—this concert is just the latest example.”

Ye And Drake’s ‘Free Larry Hoover’ Concert Will Reportedly Be Shown In IMAX Theaters

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We’re two days away from Ye and Drake benefit concert for Larry Hoover, which is set to take place on December 9 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The show was put together thanks to the two rappers’ mutual interest in fighting for the freedom of the Chicago gang founder, who was sentenced to 150–200 years in 1997 for a 1973 murder. While it was originally assumed that the concert would only be available to those who showed up in-person, that’s changed: It will reportedly also be shown in IMAX theaters.

Some Twitter users noticed that movie tickets for the show were available for purchase at the Regal Stonecrest at Piper Glen IMAX theater in Charlotte, North Carolina. The runtime for the concert was also listed at 145 minutes, which means a lot may be in store than just a couple performances.

The news comes after arial shots of the Los Angeles Coliseum showed a large circular mound that was being built in the middle of the stadium.

Drake recently withdrew his 2022 Grammy nominations. The rapper was nominated in the Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance categories for Certified Lover Boy and “Way 2 Sexy” respectively. It’s unknown what led him to make this decision. As for Ye, he dedicated a past Sunday Service event to Virgil Abloh, who passed away after a two-year battle with cancer.

You can check out pictures that were captured in IMAX theaters above.

Drake Has Withdrawn Both Of His 2022 Grammy Nominations

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Drake’s tepid relationship with the Grammy Awards is well-documented. He was famously among the rap stars who declined an invitation to perform at the 2019 awards show. Later, when “God’s Plan” beat out songs from Cardi B, Kendrick Lamar, and Travis Scott to win the award for Best Rap Song that year, Drake (who many didn’t event expect to be in attendance) spent the bulk of his acceptance speech taking a shot at the Grammy Awards establishment. “It’s like the first time in Grammys history where I actually am who I thought I was for a second,” he said. “We play in an opinion based sport, not a factual based sport… it’s up to a bunch of people who might not understand what a mixed race kid from Canada has to say,” he added, addressing kids and people trying to make it in music.

And while he didn’t submit anything this year from Certified Lover Boy for the big Record and Song Of The Year Awards, he did garner nominations for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance (for “Way 2 Sexy.”) But as of today, Drake has reportedly withdrawn both nominations and don’t be a part of the 2022 Grammy slate at all. Variety indicated that “… the decision was made by Drake and his management, although his motivation was unclear…”

For what it’s worth, The Weeknd has been public about his full-on Grammys boycott and perhaps his stance is inspiring Drake to take a similar stance? He might’ve even foreshadowed something like this as that 2019 awards speech came to a head. As the diatribe comes to a conclusion, he gestures to the awards statue and said: “You’ve already won if you have people who are singing your songs word for word, or if you’re a hero in your hometown. If there’s people who have regular jobs coming out in the rain, in the snow, spending their hard-earned money to buy tickets to come to your shows? You don’t need this right here, you already won.”

Lizzo Name-Dropped Drake And Chris Evans During Her Cover Of Erykah Badu’s ‘Tyrone’

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Lizzo loves to flirt. The singer took the stage at the Art Basel festival in Miami on Saturday where she delivered a cover of Erykah Badu’s “Tyrone.” The track comes from Badu’s 1997 album Live, and for her performance, Lizzo decided to put her own spin on the track. During her cover, she altered some of the lyrics so she could name-drop both Chris Evans and Drake.

During her cover, Lizzo sang, “Maybe I should call Chis Evans / Maybe Captain America could put another bun up in my.” She followed that up by singing, “Or maybe I should call Drake?”

It’s not the first time that Lizzo has mentioned Chris Evans or Drake in public. In her most recent single, “Rumors” with Cardi B, Lizzo sings, “Readin’ sh*t on the internet / My smoothie cleanse and my diet / No, I ain’t f*ck Drake — yet.” She later explained that mentioning Drake in the song was her way of flipping the script.

As for Evans, Lizzo joked earlier this year that she was pregnant with his child. “This is something that I’ve been really trying to keep personal and private between me and the father of my child,” she said in a TikTok video. “But since we’re airing out all the rumors today, I’ve been sucking in. We’re gonna have a little America!” Evans played along with the joke and later DM’ed Lizzo about their “little bundle of joy.”

You can watch a clip of her performance above.

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