Music

Eminem Becomes The Most Certified Artist (For Singles) In RIAA History

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Did you know that artists who perform the Super Bowl halftime show do so basically for free? While the NFL covers the production costs for the performance, it does not pay the artists directly for agreeing to perform on the most-watched event of the year. However, that doesn’t mean artists don’t get anything out of the arrangement. The visibility that the performers receive often results in increased catalog sales in the … ahem … aftermath of the show, with a ton of future opportunities waiting as brands scramble to work with them and take advantage of the publicity.

Case in point, after performing this year’s halftime show, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s “Still D.R.E.” video became their first to reach a billion views on YouTube, while all of Dre’s co-stars — Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and Snoop — all saw an increase in streams overall. However, it turns out the biggest beneficiary — at least in terms of accolades — might well be Eminem, who saw his catalog spawn 73.5 million new units, making him The Recording Industry Association of America’s most-certified singles artist in history. The RIAA tweeted about the achievement today, congratulating Eminem on the awards, which include “Lose Yourself” (naturally), “Love The Way You Lie” featuring Rihanna, “Not Afraid,” and nearly 50 other Platinum records, as well over 30 Gold ones.

Even before performing at the Super Bowl, Eminem reached streaming distinctions that almost no other artist can boast. In December, every Eminem album crossed the one billion streams threshold on Spotify,
lending weight to his comment earlier this year that “no one ever really gets canceled.” Eminem is living proof after spending his whole career setting people off — even doing so by kneeling during the halftime show (at least this time it was the right people getting rankled) — and if nothing else, you can say it paid off big for him.

Drake Is Selling Three Of His Houses In California For A $20 Million Total

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Drake is unloading some of his property and looks to make a tidy sum, according to a new report from TMZ. He recently listed his Hidden Hills mansion — which he affectionately calls the “YOLO Estate” — for $14.8 million. For that amount, the buyer will be getting full-sized basketball and tennis courts, a swimming pool (complete with a spa grotto and water slide), a theater that seats 25, a horse stable, and 12,500 square feet of space. He’s also selling two adjacent properties for a grand total of $22.2 million.

Complex notes that the impetus for Drake’s home sale is likely his recent purchase of a new home in Los Angeles’ Beverly Crest neighborhood, which was reported in Architectural Digest. Apparently, Drake is buying English singer Robbie Williams’ home, which despite going unlisted is estimated at $50 million. It’s a good 7,000 square feet larger than the YOLO Estate, although according to Complex, it’s still much smaller than his mansion in Toronto, which is a whopping 50,000 square feet.

Although it wasn’t reported as an official reason for his move, it’ll likely also be nice to possibly throw off Drake’s stalker, who showed up at the Hidden Hills house multiple times looking for him, even going so far as to sneak in and steal some of his drinks. He’s since filed a restraining order — after she tried to have one filed against him first — but perhaps moving house will provide an added layer of security along with all that extra space.

Leon Bridges Made A Surprise Appearance At Justin Bieber’s LA Show

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During the LA stop at his Justice World Tour last night, Justin Bieber brought out Leon Bridges for a surprise performance. The Fort Worth, Texas-native then proceeded to perform “River” from his 2015 debut album, Coming Home.

Bridges released his most recent album, Gold-Diggers Sound, last July, which featured prominent production by Ricky Reed. Last month, he teamed up with fellow Texas musical trio Khruangbin for a collaborative EP called Texas Moon.

“Being under ‘the machine,’ you kind of have to adhere to whatever the label’s ideas are or whatever producer you’re working with,“ Bridges said of the EP in our cover story last month. “And whenever I’m doing that it’s more polished, but it’s still a vibe. Although I think my collaboration with Khruangbin is really where my heart is. I love how raw our sound is.”

Last night’s LA show was the first of two shows Bieber has planned at Crypto.com Arena on his Justice World Tour, which will take the Grammy-nominated “Peaches” singer across North America through June. Bridges is set to kick off a tour next month in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before making apperances at Hangout Festival and Glastonbury this summer.

Bieber announced last month that he would partner with Propeller and Live Free to local and national social justice organizations, including the REFORM Alliance, National Resources Defense Council, Fund For Guaranteed Income, and Last Prisoner Project.

Fans Can’t Believe Saweetie’s Mom Isn’t Actually Her Sister In Stunning New Photos

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This past weekend, Saweetie was honored with the Game Changer Award at Billboard‘s 14th annual Women In Music event in Inglewood. While the Bay Area rapper behind “My Type” and “Best Friend” also performed the new track “Closer”with HER at the event, it was her date for the evening who had everyone talking.

Saweetie’s mom, Trinidad Valentin, actually presented the Game Changer Award to her daughter. Before the show, Saweetie posted a series of selfies on her Instagram and her Twitter accounts of her and Valentin’s look for the evening. It didn’t take long for social media to be ablaze and in disbelief that her Mom looked very much like she could’ve been her sister.

“Momma ate her up. Also if you told me that saweetie’s mom was a secret older sister of Jhene Aiko I would definitely believe you,” one user said, while another replied on Twitter, “Your mom!? If you said your sister I so would have believed you.” “Yall look like sisters. Not mom and daughter,” said one Instagram commenter. Another simply cited how they both looked stunning with, “She literally get it from her mama, beautiful!”

The caption on Saweetie’s post says “mahal kita mamaaa,” which in Tagalog means “I love you mom.” It’s a nod to Saweetie’s Filipino heritage from her mother’s side. Check out the photos on Saweeties’s Instagram below.

Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Charli XCX Explains Why She Actually Loves The Unfortunate Nickname Cardi B Gave Her

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Charli XCX is gearing up for a massive album release, with her fifth record, Crash, just around the corner. The project drops on March 18 and has been preceded by a whole slew of excellent singles, including “Good Ones,” a collaboration with Caroline Polachek and Christine and the Queens called “New Shapes,” her more recent collab with Rina Sawayama, “Beg For You,” and the latest single “Baby.”

She performed those last two on SNL this weekend, and has been on a bit of a press blitz in these last few days leading up to the album’s release. One stop on the endless press tours to promote new music is always The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and on her most recent appearance Charli and Jimmy discussed a funny story involving another of Atlantic Records’ biggest stars — Cardi B herself. Apparently, Charli had already told Jimmy the tale of when she, Bebe Rexha and Rita Ora collaborated with Cardi — all virtually — for the group song “Girls,” and how starstruck Charli was to be involved with Cardi, who she loves.

The only problem? When it came time for Cardi to promote the song and video, she shared the wrong name Charli… she called her “Charli STD” instead. But because it’s Cardi, Charli actually had no issues with the unsavory nickname. Sharing a bit of the interview in a clip on Instagram, Charli tagged Cardi and let her know she thinks the title rather iconic. “Charli std reporting for duty thank you @fallontonight & @jimmyfallon for having me and thank u @iamcardib for creating this iconic piece of Twitter history – i love you,” she wrote.

Check out the interview above and keep an ear out for that new Charli album!

Machine Gun Kelly Made A Beat Out Of Ellen DeGeneres’ Famous ‘Finding Nemo’ Whale Noises On ‘Ellen’

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Alongside hosting her own long-running talk show, perhaps the defining job of Ellen DeGeneres’ career is voicing Dory in the Finding Nemo movies. On today’s Ellen episode, Machine Gun Kelly was a guest and he brought those two DeGeneres worlds together by remixing one of DeGeneres’ most iconic Finding Nemo moments.

To wrap up the “Burning Questions” segment, the final prompt was “Do your best Finding Dory impression.” That was a set-up for something MGK had planned, which started with him pulling out a piece of music production hardware. He started by showing DeGeneres an audio sample he pre-loaded onto the machine, a clip of her Dory character making “whale noises.” From there, he reversed the sound and used it as the foundation for an instrumental beat, which left DeGeneres impressed.

Elsewhere during the segment, DeGeneres asked what boyband Kelly would want to perform at his wedding. He responded, “Which boyband am I going to know the most songs of? For sure, NSYNC. Which band do I surprisingly know all these facts about? BTS. […] I remember one time, I met them at the Billboard awards. They were, like, stoked to meet me. I think I have a better chance of getting BTS to come.”

Check out the segment above. Kelly also talked about his and Travis Barker’s tattoos, so check that out below.

Starbucks Workers Get Clever With ‘Kanye West Or Pete Davidson’ Tip Jars

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As Kanye West’s campaign to continuously rail on Pete Davidson — who has been dating his ex-wife Kim Kardashian — presses on, some clever Starbucks baristas are using the ongoing spat as a way to generate more tips.

In a TikTok video captured by user @dejapoo00, she visits a Starbucks drive-thru that has two separate tip jars on the counter; one is labeled “Kanye West” and the other says “Pete Davidson.” She drops a dollar in the Davidson jar, which was visibly receiving more love. The Kanye jar, in fact, seemed to be filled with mostly chump change.

@dejapoo00

starbuck workers getting clever 😂 #fyp #kanyewest #kimkardashian #petedavidson

♬ 5Star x Laybankz – THE TWIN

In recent months, Davidson has frequently been the subject of the rapper’s ire. The ongoing feud between the two sees no signs of stopping, granted most or all of the pettiness has been initiated and perpetuated by Ye. Most recently, the stop-motion video for Kanye and The Game’s track “Eazy,” (the lyrics of which have Ye saying that he wants to “beat Pete Davidson’s ass”) depicts a claymation Davidson getting killed, buried, and turned into a plant. Meanwhile, good sport Davidson took it in stride, saying it was “hysterical” and that he is “flattered by it all because it is so ridiculous to him.”

As Kanye keeps throwing jabs and Davidson keeps letting them roll off his shoulder, it’s easy to see why most of the Starbucks tip money is ending up in Pete Davidson’s jar and why the top TikTok post comments are also largely backing Davidson over Ye. And while West’s antics are coming across as increasingly childish, if it helps already underpaid Starbucks baristas make some extra cash, then that’s a win for the little guys.

Kanye West’s New Album ‘Donda 2’ Is Not Eligible For ‘Billboard’ Charts

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Kanye West’s past nine solo studio albums (all of them except The College Dropout) have topped the Billboard 200 chart. He released his latest LP, Donda 2, last month, and unless something changes, it will break Ye’s No. 1 streak. Not only that, but it’s currently not allowed to appear on the chart at all.

Billboard notes that as of right now, Donda 2 is not eligible to appear on any of their charts. They explain:

“[T]he album is being sold with a device that can be used for other means besides the playing of the album. As such, the Stem [Player]/Donda package would fall within Billboard’s latest merch bundle policy, where albums sold with merchandise are not chart-eligible.

Since the Stem Player is a fairly new concept, however, people familiar with the matter from both Billboard and MRC say they plan to continue to monitor its evolution as it relates to chart eligibility.”

Currently, Donda 2 is only officially available via the Stem Player and has not yet appeared on a streaming platform or for sale in any other way. While the first Donda album was released on the Stem Player, it was also made available on streaming services, making it eligible for Billboard chart inclusion.

Snoop Dogg Joins FaZe Clan And Will Launch A Community Outreach Program

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Snoop Dogg is officially joining FaZe Clan. He will be a member of their board of directors, and also talent. This means that we may get to see Snoop Dogg do some really fun collaborations with other members of FaZe Clan as well as be a part of the rising esports brand. FaZe is one of the most popular names out there and Snoop joining them only makes sense when you consider that he’s always had at least some involvement in the world of video games.

Snoop has his own Twitch channel, has appeared in multiple games over the years, and is someone that is always trying to be on the cutting edge of what’s cool and new.

“It only makes sense to partner with FaZe Clan as both a team member and on the Board of Directors,” Snoop Dogg said in a release. “The youth identifies with their brand and that’s something my son Cordell knew, which is why he brought us together.”

“As I’ve been watching what FaZe Clan has been building in the gaming space, I knew there was a natural connection with what my dad has been doing,” Cordell Broadus said. “When I look at the two brands, I was inspired by the synergy they could create so I brought them together in this partnership. I can’t wait for the world to see what we are about to do.”

This is a partnership that is going to not only allow Snoop Dogg and FaZe Clan to do some really cool things in the world of video games but use their combined platforms to help out their communities. Beyond becoming a talent
member of FaZe Clan, Snoop Dogg will also launch a community outreach program centered around charitable activities that support youth. An example of the two working together actually occurred during Super Bowl weekend when FaZe members played in a co-branded FaZe Clan x NFL flag football game and for each team’s participation, and $25,000 per team was donated to youth sports. FaZe Clan’s donation went to Snoop Dogg’s Youth Football League.

Corey Taylor Of Slipknot Thinks Kanye West Is A ‘F*cking Moron’ For His ‘Donda 2’ Stem Player Release

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Kanye West is one of the more outspoken artists in music today, but he’s far from the only one. One of his peers who has developed a bit of a reputation for picking fights with other musicians is Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, who has never been known to hold his tongue. He’s never been a fan of some of Kanye’s more outrageous stunts, either, vehemently refusing Kanye’s claim of being the world’s “greatest living rock star” in 2015. More recently, it seems Kanye has once again got Taylor’s goat, prompting him to thrash the recently-divorced rapper in an interview with Metro UK.

This time, he’s taking issue with Kanye’s Donda 2 release tactic of selling the album exclusively through his $200 stem player, which Taylor characterized as “pompous and ridiculous,” going so far as calling Kanye a “f*cking moron” over it. The stem player, which separates the music into four separate tracks or “stems,” allows fans to transform the music as it plays, controlling the volume on each track and allowing some degree of speed and sound reversing. To Taylor, this is akin to “releasing all the parts for a car and sending them to people’s houses and going there, you got a free car, now you’ve got to figure out how to build the goddamn thing.”

Contrary to Taylor’s comments, the album is pre-downloaded in full and the touch controls merely allow fans to play around with how each song plays — i.e., lowering drums or vocals (my personal favorite use for it so far). Although his words suggest a slight misunderstanding of how the stem player works, Taylor’s got another point as well. “You’re assuming that the audience has the access and same technology that you have but you’re a f**king moron for doing that. Are you serious? It doesn’t work that way. The thinking that that’s a smart thing to do just shows you how convoluted and off the f**king property Kanye West really is.”

“When you’ve got that much money and that much people around you telling you exactly what you want to hear, your concept of reality just goes right out the f*cking window,” he continued. “People can’t afford their f*cking apartments for f*ck’s sake. It’s not right. It’s just so pompous and ridiculous.” He’s kind of got a point there; as fans have already programmed emulators to get around having to buy the players. Even Nipsey Hussle still kept his $100 mixtape, Crenshaw, free to stream while also running his “proud to pay” campaign, and he offered value besides periodic patches of an unfinished project. And while Kanye claims that the stem player returns profits and control back to artists, he has yet to demonstrate how the $200 devices really benefit anyone other than himself.