When most fans think of TikTok dance trends, the songs that spring to mind are usually poppy, upbeat tunes with simple, repetitive lyrics that lend themselves to the format of exuberant teens waving their arms in synchronized, somewhat goofy choreography. Griselda Records wouldn’t seem to fit the bill, with its members’ mostly gloomy beats and intricate, belligerent bars about harrowing street encounters. However, fans got the bright idea to combine the two seemingly opposed ideals, resulting in an atypical TikTok trend that prompted some hilarious reactions from the rappers themselves.
When HipHopDX posted the above clip of a fan working some complex choreo to Benny’s verse of Westside Gunn’s “Gods Don’t Bleed,”, it caught the eyes of both Benny The Butcher and Westside Gunn, who both quote-tweeted it with their impressions in the form of emojis. While Gunn seemed delighted, writing, “I needed this” with a handful of laughing emojis, Benny was a bit more nonplussed, posting a blushing emoji that spoke volumes.
While Conway, Daringer, and Armani Caesar all have yet to react, seeing the Griselda top dog’s approving reaction could very well prompt a new, albeit unusual dance trend on TikTok, bringing a different type of hip-hop to prominence on the app. More versions began popping up in the comments, putting his movements to songs from Danny Brown, Sade, and more. So, if you’re looking for the new trend, that’s probably the one to really take off — editing incongruous songs over footage of ubiquitous dance routines.
Check out the full version of “Gods Don’t Bleed” below.
As new COVID-19 cases begin to trend down in many areas of the US, TDE rapper Isaiah Rashad hit fans with a sobering reminder that the virus hasn’t been completely eradicated yet. While the days of a new diagnosis cropping up seemingly every week appear to be behind us, Isaiah revealed on Twitter that he’s currently recovering from a case of COVID himself after receiving unrelated well-wishes from a fan. Responding to a now-deleted tweet from Isaiah, the fan hoped the rapper was doing well, prompting him to reply, “Gettin over this covid.”
Isaiah is one of a few artists to have contracted the virus, including Chicago singer Jeremih, South Los Angeles rapper 03 Greedo, Westside Gunn, Doja Cat, Ashanti, Scarface, and Fred The Godson, the latter of whom died after his diagnosis. Fortunately, the others have all recovered but not without complications ranging from canceled performances to residual physical effects.
Isaiah Rashad was reportedly working on his album, the follow-up to his 2016 standout The Sun’s Tirade, but said that he wouldn’t drop the album without a verse from Young Dolph. While there hasn’t been much word on that front, he did recently shoot a video with fellow Tennesee native Duke Deuce. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.
Featuring appearances from Q-Tip and Young Thug, Cordae’s new four-song EP Just Until… gives fans a light listen as they await his full-length follow-up to 2019’s The Lost Boy. After teasing the project on social media Tuesday, he delivered as promised at midnight this morning, delivering the tape to the overjoyed reactions of fans on Twitter.
Within minutes, Cordae’s name was among the various trending topics as fans discussed the new project, with most of the attention lavished onto “Wassup,” the project’s collaboration with Young Thug. Over a rumbling beat produced by 18YOMAN, LEN 20, and Take a Daytrip, the two rappers employ a back-and-forth delivery which had fans comparing them to iconic duos like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Meanwhile, Cordae’s relationship with Naomi Osaka also takes center stage at multiple points throughout the project, as he references her tennis star status and even suggests she dropped out of a tournament to meet his grandmother.
On Tuesday, Cordae mentioned that the album — which he’s been working on since 2020, according to his interview with Lil Wayne last year — is nearly finished. Whether it’ll contain more material like these “throwaways” or his Roddy Ricch-featuring single “Gifted” remains to be seen. Listen to Just Until… below.
Cordae is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
It’s obvious that Young Thug is the star of YSL Records’ new compilation Slime Language 2. Throughout the album’s 23 songs, Young Thug — and a squadron of high-profile guest stars — does the majority of the heavy lifting with his charisma and quick twists of wit.
That doesn’t mean that his artists get overshadowed by the star power present. Rather, the star power is Young Thug’s way of casting some halo effect on his expanded roster (four new rappers have joined since the group’s last Slime Language compilation in 2018).
A handful of them do rise to the occasion; YSL veteran Gunna, Lil Keed, and new addition Unfoonk (Thug’s own brother) acquit themselves admirably on the tracks where they’re left to their own devices.
On “Came Out,” Keed does his best to out-Thug Thug, bending and stretching his voice as much as he can, clearly inspired by his label boss’s own vocal contortions. Alongside Thug on “Real,” Unfoonk turns his sandpaper singing voice into a heart-tugging ballad.
And Gunna makes the most of his established chemistry with mega-star Drake on “Solid” and Young Thug on “Ski,” the album’s two most obvious standouts. “Ski” revisits the loopy energy of “Surf” from Thug’s 2019 album So Much Fun, while “Solid” is a murky excursion in the vein of Drake’s own cameo on Future’s 2020 hit “Life Is Good.”
Elsewhere, Slime Language 2 highlights Thug’s transparently generous efforts to put his people on as much as it does his skills as a talent scout. Sorry if that reads kind of negative, but the loyalty is on full display on lackadaisical cuts like “Slatty,” where Yak Gotti and Lil Duke — two of Thug’s longest-tenured signings — turn in forgettable verses to start the project.
The Lil Uzi Vert-featuring “Proud Of You,” another clear standout, also wears out its welcome by the time Young Kayo’s verse comes in, and Kayo does very little to save it. On “I Like” with Coi Leray, Karlae — Thug’s longtime girlfriend — swings between lightweight crooning and upbeat rapping but gets washed out by her guest star and undermined by generic rhymes (at one point, she quotes Muhammad Ali out of context, making me wince at the Citizen Kane of it all).
T-Shyne shows off multiple flows on “Warrior,” as well as some Young Thug-ish ad-libs, impressing by virtue of his flow’s polish, if not his bars (guest rapper Big Sean steals the show). Strick’s laid-back verse alongside Kid Cudi on “Moon Man” is a slow-burner, with a creeping, “grows on you” quality. These are two of the label’s vets, so it makes sense they have the most technical skill and experience, if not very much to say.
HiDoraah and Dolly White, Thug’s sisters, put forth dry efforts on their respective solo tracks, underscoring the gift and the curse of the YSL co-sign. Thug seems to be a great person, creating opportunities for his friends and families by leveraging his status as one of hip-hop’s biggest draws after years of uncertain footing and controversial reception.
It means a lot that he’d put his reputation — something he fought for and earned over the course of a decade of old-head snipes about his clothes, flow, and rumored sexuality — on the line for his folks. But we’ve likely heard the best from the label in projects like Wunna and Trapped On Cleveland 3 — there’s a reason Keed and Gunna have received the most commercial success to date.
By calling in so many famous friends for support, Thug does put his artists in a position to receive a lot of attention, but perhaps they’d have been better off keeping things more self-contained, giving YSL’s roster more space to showcase their standalone work. The contrast the guests unintentionally create between truly creative, self-sufficient artists and the still-developing talents of Thug’s musical mafia casts the latter in a less favorable light than they should want at the moment.
But there are bright spots and there’s always room for improvement, even among the less original members of the collective. And at least they can be assured they’ve got the support of their head honcho, which is a lot more than many, many rappers signed to other rappers can say — a blessing that may pan out as they work to forge their own paths beyond Young Thug’s footprints in the sand.
Slime Language 2 is out now Young Stoner Life Records / 300 Entertainment. Get it here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
CJ’s new video “Hit Up” opens with something we’ve rarely seen in a rap video: A disclaimer pronouncing that all the illegal substances depicted are just props used for atmosphere. I’m not completely sure where I stand on rappers breaking kayfabe like this, but it sure got my attention. From there, CJ delivers the usual trappings of the many, many videos he’s dropped so far: The enormous crew shot, plenty of red bandanas, and a lot of fancy footwork as he raps over a spare but explosive drill beat.
It’ll certainly be familiar to anyone who’s seen CJ’s “Whoopty” video — or his explanation of it for Uproxx’s Behind The Video. It seems he’s fond of using his budget as efficiently as possible, so there are few bells or whistles — even his rider consists mainly of water bottles — but the shoot is dynamic enough to get his point across. For reference, check out the videos for his other Loyalty Over Royalty cuts, “Bop,” “Real One,” and “Set.”
Of course, he’s also shown a willingness to switch things up, as he did in his video for deluxe edition track “Lil Freak” with DreamDoll.
Watch CJ’s “Hit Up” video above.
CJ is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Cardi B often incorporates risqué elements into her music, videos, and performances, which rubs some observers the wrong way. Cardi seems to derive great enjoyment from that, though, like when she recently laughed off the 1,000-plus complaints the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received regarding her and Megan Thee Stallion’s 2021 Grammys performance. The performance also bothered at least one high-profile politician in the House Of Representatives.
While speaking on the House floor this morning, Republican Representative Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin cited Cardi’s performance while criticizing the FCC and partially blaming them for “the moral decline of America.” He said, “I received complaints in my office, and rightfully so, about Cardi B and the Grammys. They wonder why we are paying the FCC if they feel that this should be in living rooms across the nation. I realize that Kamala Harris has used her fame to promote this performer, but I assure the FCC that millions of Americans would view her performance as inconsistent with basic decency. Wake up, FCC, and begin to do your job! The moral decline of America is partly due to your utter complacency.”
Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) is complaining about @iamcardib’s Grammys performance and “the moral decline of America” on the House floor this morning. pic.twitter.com/gvBuAZTcQF
This news is still fresh, so Cardi has yet to respond to it, but based on her past reactions to this sort of criticism, it seems unlikely she will lose any sleep over it.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Few can forget where they were when Beyoncé’s Lemonade dropped on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The double feature — part pseudo-surprise album, part star-studded visual project — found the notoriously private superstar letting fans in on details of her marriage to husband Jay-Z. Throughout the 45-minute, 12-track LP, listeners and viewers were taken on a journey of grief, anger, acceptance and reconciliation across the musical lens of R&B, pop, trap, rock, and country. (During the visual project, these emotions are verbalized by prose from Somali poet Warsan Shire and spoken by Beyoncé.) Through both mediums, we gain insight into Queen Bey’s experience with infidelity, and the overarching experiences of Black women in America, which includes feelings of unworthiness, frustration, and shame. However, Lemonade ultimately highlights Black women’s astounding resilience against all odds.
Given the shocking death of iconic artist Prince just days before its release, many credit Beyoncé for carrying the torch of the multitudinous musical behemoths who came before her, while praising the album as a sonic triumph. While no one could have predicted the pain that came with losing yet another legendary act, the welcome celebration of life, love, and damn good music provided by Bey’s sixth project truly turned our lemons into lemonade.
In the five years since its release, Lemonade spawned countless dissections, podcasts, and even college courses regarding its legacy and alignment with the Black feminist movement. And those infidelity claims Beyoncé makes during Lemonade? Jay-Z confirms them in his Grammy-nominated project, 4:44, released a year later. In 2017, Lemonade was nominated for nine Grammy Awards, controversially winning only two. Nevertheless, its impact continues to reign, and the Grammys eventually caught up to her greatness; in 2021, Beyoncé became the singer with the most Grammy wins in history (regardless of gender).
In honor of the album’s fifth anniversary tomorrow, we’re dropping five facts about the album and visuals that you may not have known prior. Take a look below at some tidbits, and give Lemonade a stream or two in honor of its monumental birthday.
The Well-Used Samples
As mentioned above, Beyoncé showcases her ability to traverse genre throughout Lemonade, and various musical influences can also be found within its samples. The bouncy, emotional ‘Hold Up’ samples pop star Andy Williams’ “Can’t Get Used to Losing You” from 1962. The Jack White-assisted “Don’t Hurt Yourself” borrows from Led Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks.” The shadowy, trap-tinged “6 Inch” is a nod to soul icon Isaac Hayes’ “Walk On By” and interpolates psych band Animal Collective’s “My Girls.” And most notably, Outkast’s “SpottieOttieDopaliscious” is used in “All Night.” This is the second time within Beyoncé’s discography that she’s used this particular sample — the first was 2014’s “Flawless Remix” featuring Nicki Minaj.
”Hold Up, they don’t love you like I love you,” Bey sings in the chorus of “Hold Up.” But did you know that this line in particular reworks a lyric from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ 2004 song “Maps”? (“Wait, they don’t love you like I love you,” Karen O says in the original song.) Even more interesting, the reworked Beyoncé lyric was originally a tweet written by Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig in 2011.
Koenig, who wrote “Hold Up” along with Bey, Diplo, Emile Haynie, Father John Misty, MNEK, and MeLo-X, was paraphrasing the lyric from “Maps” when he wrote the tweet, which randomly popped into his head while recording. “I figured it was going to be a Vampire Weekend song but was easily convinced that it could be better/go to a new place as a Beyoncé song,” Koenig tweeted in 2016 after the release of Lemonade. “Songs become tweets, tweets become songs – it’s the way of the world.”
Getting In Formation In Coachella
Swae Lee of the rap duo Rae Sremmurd is credited as one of the co-writers on Lemonade’s first single “Formation,” which dropped out of thin air in February 2016. According to an interview with the song’s producer Mike Will Made It, Swae Lee came up with the chorus of “Formation” on the way to Coachella in 2014.
“So we’re in the middle of the desert,” Mike Will told The New Yorker in 2016. “And we’re just coming up — we just freestyle, you know? — and Swae Lee said, ‘O.K., ladies, now let’s get in formation.’ And we put it on the VoiceNote. Swae Lee’s got so many voice notes that he doesn’t even record, but I’m like, ‘Dog, we got to do that “get in formation” shit.’ That could be a hard song for the ladies. Some woman-empowerment shit.” The producer sent five or six songs to Beyoncé’s camp, including “Formation,” and during a party months later, she told him she liked that particular song.
“I told her what I was thinking about the woman empowerment, and she was like, ‘Yeah I kinda like that idea.’ And she just left it like that,” he continues. “[She] took this one little idea we came up with on the way to Coachella, put it in a pot, stirred it up, and came with this smash. She takes ideas and puts them with her own ideas, and makes this masterpiece. She’s all about collaborating. That’s what makes her Beyoncé. Being able to know what she wants.”
Generational Recipes
At the end of the Lemonade visual, Beyoncé appropriately shares a recipe for homemade lemonade.
“Take one pint of water, add half pound of sugar, the juice of eight lemons, the zest of half lemon. Pour the water from one jug, then to the other several times. Strain through a clean napkin.”
She adds prose regarding how her “alchemist” grandmother “spun gold out of this hard life” and “found healing where it did not live,” which of course just sounds like beautiful poetry. But this is the real recipe for homemade lemonade from her grandmother, Agnéz Deréon, that’s been shared through her family across generations. In 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the recipe began to go viral on social media. According to Spoon University’s taste test, “The zest gives the lemonade flavor a uniquely tart taste, which is somehow also very sweet at the same time from the half pound of sugar.”
Grammy History, Because…Of Course
After the release of Lemonade, Beyoncé garnered nine Grammy Award nominations in 2017, including Album, Song, and Record Of The Year. According to an interview with The Recording Academy’s Head of Awards Bill Freimuth, Bey made history with these nominations as the first artist to ever be nominated across four distinct genres in one year. “Hold Up” was up for Best Pop Solo Performance, “Don’t Hurt Yourself” was nominated for Best Rock Performance, “Freedom” was recognized in the Best Rap/Sung Performance category, and Lemonade itself won Best Urban Contemporary Album.
“You’ve had other artists in the past, say Michael Jackson maybe, who have been nominated in that many different fields, but not in the same year and on the same album,” Freimuth said. “This is a first timer for us and personally I think it’s appropriate and pretty cool.”
According to the Associated Press, Beyoncé submitted her country track “Daddy Lessons” for consideration in a country music category. However, the song was reportedly rejected by The Academy’s country music committee. In the same interview with Freimuth, he says he was unsure if “Daddy Lessons” was considered for a country music Grammy, “But if it had, evidently the committee said it didn’t belong there.” Nevertheless, country artists like Blake Shelton and Dierks Bentley praised the song against detractors, and an official remix of the song with The Chicks was performed at the 2016 CMAs.
This Saturday will mark two weeks since DMXdied from a reported drug overdose that occurred the week before and triggered a heart attack that left him on life support until he passed. His death sent ripples through all corners of the world as musicians, athletes, and more took a moment to send condolences and remember the hip-hop legend. They’ll receive another opportunity to honor DMX as his family announced the official memorial services to celebrate the late rapper’s life.
The announcement was made in a post to DMX’s Instagram. There will be two memorial services held for him with the first, a “Celebration Of Life Memorial,” coming on Saturday, April 24 at 4 p.m. EST and the second, a “Home-going Celebration,” on Sunday, April 25 at 2:30 p.m. EST. Both services will be livestreamed for his supporters to see with the former airing on YouTube and the latter on BET. In-person attendance for the Celebration Of Life Memorial and the Home-going Celebration will be “restricted to close friends and family solely due to health and safety guidelines.”
DMX’s manager Steve Rifkind previously confirmed that a memorial for the late rapper would be held at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The report at the time said the April 24 service would be held at the arena while the April 25 service would take place at a church in the New York City area.
You can view the Instagram post will all the information above.
Meek Mill clearly has a big heart. The rapper took to Instagram to show him giving his grandmother a new house. A touching video shows the moment she walked through the doors of her new humble abode, smiling ear to ear as she went on a tour, checking out, among other things, the motorized stair lift system that will help her move up and down the two-story home.
“I appreciate you, grandma,” Meek said to his grandmother in the video, who responded, “And I appreciate you for looking out for your grandmother.” The rapper gave himself a solid pat on the back for the gift in the caption. “I did this for my dad and my Grandmom,” he wrote. “I’m Prada myself! Ya definition of real not the same as mines I get it!”
The gift comes after his grandmother’s prior residence in South Philly was vandalized back in December 2018, with racial remarks spray painted onto it. Meek spoke about the incident in a tweet, writing, “the crazy part is this was a all black neighborhood 20 years ago It was gentrified and now this.” He later pressed charges for it, according to his publicist.
Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
If someone had asked me what NFT stood for last year, I’d probably list off thousands of answers before correctly naming them “non-fungible tokens.” NFTs have become the new buzzword in recent months, and with reports of some artists making millions off them, it seems like everyone is trying to break into the cryptocurrency art market.
NFTs were originally designed as a way to allow artists profit off of their shareable digital content. Once an NFT is purchased, artists can continue to make a percentage from any further sale. If you’re looking for a in-depth description on what exactly an NFT is, revisit Uproxx’s explainer here, but Jack Harlow actually gave a fairly succinct definition of NFTs in a recent SNL sketch. In a rap with Pete Davidson, Harlow detailed how NFTs are unique, built on blockchain technology, and can be sold once they’re “minted.”
Since March, NFTs have been all over the news, with everyone from sports teams to toilet paper brands joining the craze. But the music industry in particular has been seeing an explosion of NFTs, and major artists like Grimes and Steve Aoki have made a head-turning sum of money off of them. All this begs the question: How did NFTs go from an obscure acronym to one of the biggest trends in the music industry in just the matter of a few months? Let’s take a look.
Grimes has always been a pioneer in music and culture, which is why it makes sense that she was one of the first big-name musicians to sell artwork as an NFT. The singer had teamed up with her brother, Mac Boucher, to release her first collection of digital artwork as NFTs. Titled WarNymph Collection Vol 1, Grimes’ art sold out in just one day and ended up raking in $6 million.
March 3, 2021 — Disclosure
UK electronic duo Disclosure were also early to the NFT party. After seeing the success fellow EDM artist 3Lau had with NFTs, Disclosure decided to produce a brand-new song live on Twitch and mint it as an NFT. Ever since, the duo have continued to sell various NFTs, including a token for the original “Disclosure face” seen in their press photos and album art.
Despite the public scrutiny Tory Lanez has faced in the past year after allegedly shooting Megan Thee Stallion her in the foot, the rapper has continued to debut new music. Days ahead of the release of his recent album Playboy, Lanez paired two of the LP’s songs with digital art and minted them as NFTs. He also gave fans access to an unreleased song off his upcoming ’80’s-themed album, which has yet to be announced.
Kings Of Leon had a similar approach to Lanez when it comes to NFTs. The veteran group minted their entire LP When You See Yourself, which they referred to as NFT Yourself, as an NFT and sold it alongside a collection of other art. Those who purchased the NFT were able to snag a digital download of the album, as well as limited edition physical vinyl.
Steve Aoki‘s addition to the NFT industry was a 11-piece collection of vibrant digital artwork titled Dream Catcher, and he was extremely successful. A part of the collection ended up being purchased by T-Mobil CEO John Legere, who bought just one piece for a whopping $888,888.88. In total, Aoki was able to earn $4.25 million in the 24 hours that the auction took place.
March 12, 2021 — MF Doom
MF Doom was one of the early adopters of NFTs. In fact, he tragically passed last October just one day after his first NFT auction of augmented reality masks closed. With the help of his wife Jasmine and his estate, more of MF Doom’s augmented reality were once again sold as NFTs in March in partnership with the crypto marketplace Illust Space.
In a statement about the second auction, a representative from Illust Space said: “Due to blockchain’s immutable and decentralized ledger technology, all of MF DOOM’s AR NFT collection will be available for future generations of fans and collectors, creating a new model for royalties and posthumous creative control legacies.”
A few weeks after Grimes made a sizeable sum from selling her artwork as an NFT, Elon Musk decided to follow suit. When he’s not working on the future of space travel or tweeting out esoteric memes, the billionaire makes EDM music in his spare time. As the self-professed “technoking of Tesla,” Musk decided to make a song about NFTs, and sell it as an NFT.
March 17, 2021 — Halsey
“People Disappear Here” An Original NFT Collection available March 17th on @niftygateway. A portion of sales will be donated to @MFPLA, as well as @carbon_180, a NGO dedicated to the mission of creating a world that removes more carbon that it emits. pic.twitter.com/0lPlNc7513
While Halsey is known for her music, she’s also an incredibly talented interdisciplinary artist. That’s why she was relatively early to the NFT game. The singer auctioned off a handful of hand-painted characters she created in the collection People Disappear Here. “The characters are all inspired by figures that occurred in a series of sleep paralysis nightmares I had at home during the quarantine,” Halsey said in a statement. “After seven years of bed surfing hotel rooms around the world, adjusting to my own pitch black cave in California had a little bit of a learning curve. From toddler TV programming evil dentists, a child born with massive claws who scratched her way out of the womb, to a woman who stood at the foot of my bed and demanded I watch her masturbate. They were memorable to say the least.”
March 22, 2021 — Rico Nasty
It’s been nearly half a year since Rico Nasty released her anticipated debut studio album Nightmare Vacation, and she decided to commemorate the release with an NFT. The rapper teamed up with her “OHFR?” video creator Don Allen III to sell artwork from the video as an NFT. The highest bidder not only claims ownership of the NFT, but they also received the physical hammer Rico Nasty used the video, signed by the rapper herself. One of the reasons why she decided to join the NFT fad is that it “needs more women entering the space.”
March 23, 2021 — Diplo
When Diplo decided to break into the NFT industry, he did it a little differently. His series of NFT art, titled Cloud10, was made in collaboration with the artistic duo of Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III and features several cutesy animated characters. But rather than opening up the artwork to a bidding war, Diplo and his collaborators decided to offer their first NFT for only $1 in order for “for young collectors to grow their own wealth through the ownership of art.”
March 26, 2021 — Gorillaz
When Gorillaz announced they would be hopping onto the NFT game, it didn’t go quite as smoothly. While other musicians were welcomed into the world of NFTs, Gorillaz werechastised by their fanbase. The band announced that they would be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album by teaming up with the toy company Superplastic for a series of toys, collectibles, and, of course, NFTs. Fans weren’t to happy with the news though, and were quick to point out the devastating environmental impact that the sale of a single NFT has. A petition was even created to get the Gorillaz to stop producing NFTs, and it already has over 3,000 signatures.
April 3, 2021 — The Weeknd
Excited to announce that my first NFT drop is taking place on Saturday at 2:00 pm EST on @niftygateway. The collection will feature new music and limited edition art. I developed the artwork with Strange Loop Studios pic.twitter.com/627BO4JekK
After The Weeknd was snubbed for a Grammy nomination in all categories this year despite the success of the album After Hours, the singer has begun to call for greater transparency in the music industry. He’s since decided to boycott the Grammys all together and made his displeasure about various aspects of the music industry abundantly clear. Seeing all the potential that NFTs have to offer, The Weeknd decided to hold a cryptocurrency auction where he would sell exclusive artwork, including an unreleased song, as an NFT.
About his decision to join the NFT market, The Weeknd laid out his vision for the future of the music industry: “Blockchain is democratizing an industry that has historically been kept shut by the gatekeepers. I’ve always been looking for ways to innovate for fans and shift this archaic music biz and seeing NFT’s allowing creators to be seen and heard more than ever before on their terms is profoundly exciting.”
M.I.A. is no stranger to taking her music to unconventional platforms. Last year, the musician launched a subscription-based Patreon page as a platform to share her new projects. Taking things one step further M.I.A announced a 24-hour NFT auction where she will be selling some of her original art for the first time in 25 years. “It’s only now that the appropriate gallery for my work finally exists,” she said in a statement.
Mick Jagger and Dave Grohl teamed up for the surprise collaboration “Eazy Sleazy” in April, which was meant to bring “some much-needed optimism” about coming out of COVID-19 lockdown. But a few days following the track’s release, Jagger announced that Berlin-based 3D artist Extraweg had turned the track into a digital animation, which he sold as an NFT during a 24-hour auction. All proceeds from the sale were divided up and donated between music-related charities.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
@WESTSIDEGUNN @BennyBsf @gothamcityrap pic.twitter.com/zQRDafyEwo
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