Kanye West’s Latest ‘Jeen-Yuhs’ Demand Is Apparently For Drake To Narrate It

The Jeen-Yuhs documentary series on Ye (aka Kanye West) is set to premiere on Netflix on February 16. That’s pretty soon, but Ye, who has plenty of experience of working up until and often beyond deadlines, wants to make a last-minute change.

In a now-deleted Instagram post (archived by The Shade Room), Ye shared a screenshot of a text conversation with somebody represented by a “C” icon… perhaps Clarence Simmons Jr. or Chike Ozah, aka Jeen-Yuhs directors Coodie & Chike? In response to a message that reads, “Would love for you to see all 3 movies,” Ye responded, “I need Drake to do the narration.” Ye also captioned the post, “DRAKE WANNA NARRATE THE DOCUMENTARY.” Furthermore, Drake actually liked the post, suggesting that he’d be interested in taking Ye up on that proposal, or at least that he was amused by the post.

It doesn’t seem like this request will be fulfilled. Ye previously requested final edit approval, but Coodie & Chike shot that down considering the documentary was already complete. Coodie also noted, “Me and Chike have a company called Creative Control, because you don’t want to lose your creative control.” Coodie also said of running into Ye, “I asked him, ‘Did he watch the film?’ And he said, ‘I have a process.’ I said, ‘That’s great that you got your process.’ And we just talked as brothers from that point.”

Billie Eilish, Beyonce, Questlove, And Other Music Stars Picked Up 2022 Oscars Nominations

On March 27, actors and others in the film industry will be honored at the 94th annual Academy Awards. Ahead of then, the full list of Oscar nominees was revealed this morning and some folks from the music world made their mark.

Perhaps the most obvious music-related category is Best Original Song, and competing there are Beyoncé and Darius Scott (for “Be Alive” from King Richard), Billie Eilish and Finneas (for the No Time To Die theme), Lin-Manuel Miranda (for “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto), Van Morrison (for “Down To Joy” from Belfast), and Diane Warren (for “Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days).

As for Best Original Score, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood earned a nomination for his work on The Power Of The Dog. In the category, he’s competing against Don’t Look Up (Nicholas Britell), Dune (Hans Zimmer) Encanto (Germaine Franco), and Parallel Mothers (Alberto Iglesias).

Meanwhile, Questlove’s Summer Of Soul movie is up for Best Documentary Feature. Elsewhere, the Alana Haim-starring Licorice Pizza fared well, as it’s up for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director (for Paul Thomas Anderson). The Lady Gaga-led House Of Gucci got a nomination, too, for Best Makeup & Hairstyling.

Check out the music-related Oscars nominations below and find the full list of all nominees here.

Best Original Song
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Darius Scott — “Be Alive” (King Richard)
Lin-Manuel Miranda — “Dos Oruguitas” (Encanto)
Van Morrison — “Down To Joy” (Belfast)
Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell — “No Time To Die” (No Time To Die)
Diane Warren — “Somehow You Do” (Four Good Days)

Best Original Score
Don’t Look Up (Nicholas Britell)
Dune (Hans Zimmer)
Encanto (Germaine Franco)
Parallel Mothers (Alberto Iglesias)
The Power Of The Dog (Jonny Greenwood)

Best Documentary Feature
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Summer Of Soul
Writing With Fire

The Estates Of Robin Williams And George Carlin Are Both Suing Pandora For Unpaid Streaming Royalties

Robin Williams and George Carlin are two of the most prolific, ubiquitous, and downright hilarious comedians of all time. Sadly, Williams has been dead since 2014 and Carlin since 2008. But that still hasn’t stopped streaming service giants Pandora from profiting off of their stand-up comedy recordings without paying royalties to their respective estates. At least that’s what copyright infringements lawsuits filed by both Williams’ and Carlin’s estates are claiming.

According to filings of these lawsuits obtained by Rolling Stone, Williams’ estate is seeking to get $4.1 million in damages, while Carlin’s camp is suing for $8.4 million. The lawsuits claim that Pandora knew that they were streaming the recordings, even though they didn’t have the proper licensing right to do it. Furthermore, they haven’t paid any money to the estates that preside over the comedians’ posthumous earnings.

The claims state that Pandora “gained listeners, subscribers and market share with full knowledge it did not have licenses.” In 2018, Pandora was sold to SiriusXM for a whopping $3.5 billion and recordings from comedy titans like Williams and Carlin were (and still are) a part of the service’s offerings.

The filing from Carlin’s estate cheekily states, “While Carlin would have been thrilled for his works to live on through valid licenses and payments, he would have seven dirty words to say about Pandora’s actions and willful copyright infringement, no doubt.”

For what it’s worth, Pandora also received complaints from comedians Andrew Dice Clay, Ron White, and Bill Engvall. It sounds like they need to legitimize this portion of their operation in regards to comedy recordings, or the names on that list are going to grow even bigger.

Why Are People Leaving Spotify?

This past January 24th, legendary musician Neil Young wrote an open letter threatening to remove his entire catalog from Spotify if the streaming service did not remove Joe Rogan and his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, from the platform. Young cited how Rogan continuously spreads COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on his show. “Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” he said.“They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.” This was the first domino to tip and quite a bit has happened since.

Why Are People Leaving Spotify? Inside The Controversy

Soon after Young’s statement, Spotify sided with Joe Rogan, their $100 million man who signed a very rich exclusive licensing deal in 2020. Young’s music was removed, but other artists began to follow his lead. Joni Mitchell joined Young in removing her music, then the rest of Young’s Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young bandmates announced that they were pulling their music as well. This led to numerous artists beginning to question their relationship with Spotify — who already pays artists a criminally low amount of money per song play — and then India.Arie took an even deeper stand against Rogan and Spotify. Arie announced that she was removing her catalog and her podcast, Songversation, citing not necessarily Rogan’s vaccine misinformation as the reason, but rather his problematic language around issues of race. “Neil Young opened a door that I MUST Walk Through,” she posted on Instagram. Rogan soon issued an apology for his misinformation and later for his language.

Arie later posted a video showing numerous instances of Rogan using the n-word on his show, called for a full-on Boycott, and Spotify, in turn, removed 70 episodes of the podcast from the streaming service. But why this issue isn’t going away anytime soon, and why people will likely continue to leave Spotify, is because of the platform’s tepid measures taken. A “content advisory” warning has been added to the platform and CEO Daniel Ek wrote a letter to all employees, which felt a bit more like damage control and a potential PR play.

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

Who Are Tyler The Creator’s Tour Openers?

Two years after he released his fifth album Igor, which eventually gave him a Grammy award for Best Rap Album, Tyler The Creator returned with his sixth album Call Me If You Get Lost. The project stands as a 16-track effort with contributions from Ty Dolla Sign, Lil Uzi Vert, Pharrell, Brent Faiyaz, Lil Wayne, and more. Months after releasing that project, Tyler The Creator received another Grammy nomination for the album, one that found him in the Best Rap Album category for the 2022 Grammy show. Later on, Tyler The Creator announced the full dates for a tour in support of Call Me If You Get Lost and it features a strong lineup of opening acts.

Who Are Tyler The Creator’s Tour Openers?

The opening acts for Tyler’s 2022 tour in support of Call Me If You Get Lost are Kali Uchis, Vince Staples, and Teezo Touchdown. Kali and Vince both released projects within the last couple of years. The former shared her sophomore album, Sin Miedo (Del Amor Y Otros Demonios), in 2020 while Vince dropped his self-titled third album last year. Teezo Touchdown, on the other hand, has yet to release a project. In addition to his eccentric and extremely unique appearance, the Texas native has steadily released singles over the past two years that have helped to boost his stock. Altogether, these opening acts are sure to provide a good show with Tyler for his upcoming tour.

You can see the full dates for Tyler’s upcoming tour below and purchase tickets for a show near you here.

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

NLE Choppa Lives A Life Of Leisure In His ‘Lick Me Baby’ Video

For as much attention as NLE Choppa has gotten for some of his social media antics and possible NBA YoungBoy feud of late, the number-one reason to stay tuned to the charismatic Memphian is still his music. Just two weeks ago, he released his new album, Me Vs. Me, rightfully putting the focus back on his musical output after threatening to quit rap to become a herbalist and hawking chlorophyll drinks online.

After dropping a strong run of singles from the album including “Too Hot” with fellow Memphis rapper Moneybagg Yo, “Stompin,” and “Trap Phone,” he followed up today with another new video for the salacious standout, “Lick Me Baby.” On the song, he invites a female companion to to give up her inhibitions and the video follows that theme, with Choppa living a life of leisure surrounded by beautiful women. Scenarios he finds himself include giving CPR to a drowning victim (because he gets to touch her chest), shooting a parody sex tape, and dreaming about twerking women while a woman twerks next to him.

Watch NLE Choppa’s “Lick Me Baby” video above.

Me Vs. Me is out now via NLE Choppa Entertainment and Warner Records.

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

Lil Wayne Enjoys A Spectacular View In His ‘Cameras’ Video With Allan Cubas

Earlier this year, Lil Wayne was able to finally bring his fan-favorite 2011 mixtape Sorry 4 The Wait to streaming along with four new songs. Among those new songs was “Cameras,” featuring new Young Money artist Allan Cubas, an upbeat showcase of Wayne’s lyricism and Cubas’ smooth vocals.

Today, Wayne shared the video for “Cameras,” which finds the two artists taking in a spectacular sunset from the deck of an infinity pool intercut with clips of synchronized swimmers and models taking aggressively close-up photos of Cubas with Polaroid cameras. The treatment is a quirky inversion of a common hip-hop video trope, making the two rappers the objects of admiration.

In terms of new music, Wayne has reportedly been in the studio with 2 Chainz, working on the follow-up to their 2016 joint album, ColleGrove. Wayne also recently popped up work with the likes of Cordae (on “Sinister” from Cordae’s album From A Bird’s Eye View), Alicia Keys, and The Weeknd, as well as the joint album he dropped with Rich The Kid late last summer. Although he hasn’t announced any new projects, he’s far too prolific to let 2022 go by without releasing a body of all-new work at some point.

For now, you can watch Lil Wayne’s “Cameras” video above.

Sorry 4 The Wait is out now via Young Money Records. Get it here.

Julia Fox Addresses Kanye West Break-Up Rumors She Accidentally Started On Instagram

The rumor mill was open this weekend, as some people noticed that Julia Fox unfollowed Kardashian fan accounts and deleted some pictures of her and Ye (aka Kanye West). Naturally, the conclusion that many reached in light of that activity is that Fox and West’s relationship was facing some trouble. However, Fox addressed all this directly and assured all onlookers that there’s a perfectly good explanation for everything.

In a video shared on her Instagram Story, Fox said, “Guys, relax. I unfollowed the fan accounts because I was tired of seeing myself, OK? Suddenly, Instagram was not a fun place anymore. And I took the f*cking photos down because I read the comments and everyone was like, ‘Oh my God, you clearly only posted photos where you looked good in.’”

Her latest Instagram post, a gallery of photos of herself and West, addresses that sort of feedback directly, as she wrote, “And of course special thanks to Ye [heart emoji] pics by @arnold_daniel. YES IM AWARE I ONLY CHOSE PHOTOS THAT I LOOK GOOD IN [nail polish emoji].”

While West’s life story has new chapters to it every day, a majority of the tale will be told in the upcoming Jeen-Yuhs documentary series, which premieres on Netflix on February 16.

A Right-Wing Platform Has Offered Joe Rogan $100 Million To Leave Spotify

The Joe Rogan Spotify saga isn’t going away anytime soon, folks. Today, a right-wing platform just offered Rogan the same $100 million that Spotify paid him for the exclusive rights to broadcast his The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, because of course they did.

The company that has approached Rogan with the offer is Canadian video platform Rumble, which has prominent right-wing pundits like Steve Bannon and Dinesh D’Souza in its stable. As The Hollywood Reporter reported, CEO Chris Pavloski posted an open letter to Rogan on the company’s Twitter account. It has a real deal with the devil vibe.

“Dear Joe, We stand with you, your guests, and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation,” Pavloski began. “So we’d like to offer you 100 million reasons to make the world a better place. How about you bring all your shows to Rumble, both new and old, with no censorship, for $100 million bucks over four years? This is our chance to save the world. And yes, this is totally legit … We stand with you, your guests and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation.”

So what would stop Rogan from spurning Spotify and taking the money from Rumble? For one, Spotify’s platform is huge and Rogan can certainly get more listeners there than just about anywhere else. Additionally, for all the malarkey that he spits on his show, he is a self-proclaimed liberal who has apologized for using the n-word. So, finding a platform that would seemingly not care if he used it or spread vaccine misinformation isn’t likely what motivates him quite so much as what the court of public opinion thinks of him in the long run.

Meanwhile, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote a letter to all staff members on Sunday night indicating that he doesn’t believe that censoring Joe Rogan is the right call. Time will surely tell how this all plays out…

Lil Durk Challenges A Fellow Chicagoan With His ‘7220’ Release Date

Lil Durk has been hyping the release of his next album, 7220, for a while now, sharing the dates for the album’s spring tour in late January and making himself as visible as possible on tracks like 50 Cent’s “Power Powder Respect,” Cordae’s “Chronicles,” Gucci Mane’s “Rumors,” and 2 Chainz’s “Lost Kings.” And although he hasn’t yet released an official single for the album, he did just reveal its release date — and his strategy for getting fans’ attention focused on it to ensure they stream it as much as possible.

“My album drop same day as YE 2/22/22,” he tweeted, revealing both the release date and subtly challenging his fellow Chicagoan. Although plenty of artists would likely loathe releasing their albums on the same projected day as Kanye’s hotly-anticipated Donda 2, it appears that Lil Durk is so confident in his own project, he doesn’t mind risking getting overshadowed. In fact, the tactic more or less takes a page right out of Kanye’s own playbook. In 2007, Kanye bet on his own album Graduation against the sales juggernaut named 50 Cent and 50’s impending release of Massacre.

Kanye and 50 both got into the spirit of the competition, which held seismic implications for the state of hip-hop at the time. When Kanye outsold 50 after their first weeks were tallied, it signaled a shift away from 50’s dominance (and, by extension, the gangsta rap genre in general) toward Kanye’s (and so-called “alternative rap,” which opened the door for successors such as Drake and J. Cole). While Kanye isn’t likely to repeat this tactic twice, especially standing in 50’s position this time around, a big streaming week for Durk could signal a similar end to Kanye’s own charts dominance in favor of a younger generation of rappers.

We’ll see how it all pans out — or whether Kanye even releases his album on the promised date — on 2/22.