Music

Dr. Dre Says He Just Finished A New Album With Marsha Ambrosius Featuring Some Of His Best Work

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Dr. Dre has a new album coming with Floetry singer Marsha Ambrosius, according to photos both posted to social media. The two previously collaborated extensively on Dr. Dre’s 2015 album Compton and on “Stronger” from Ambrosius’ 2014 project Friends & Lovers. The release, apparently titled Casablanco, will mark something of a comeback for both; Ambrosius last released a full-length project in 2018 with Nyla, while Dre hasn’t released a headlining album since Compton. Dre has done some production work on his longtime collaborator Eminem’s last album, Music To Be Murdered By, and on the new Grand Theft Auto game, which Snoop Dogg thinks is “great f*cking music.”

Perhaps Dre is taking Snoop’s advice about turning his pain and anger into magic after completing divorce proceedings with his ex-wife Nicole — something he celebrated with balloons and more. Dre’s also returning to music after his early 2021 aneurysm scare, which caught him off-guard. “I’ve always been a person that has always taken care of my health,” he said after his recovery. “But there’s something that happens for some reason with Black men and high blood pressure, and I never saw that coming.”

His return to music after very nearly losing his life also includes the announcement that he will play the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show alongside Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and Snoop Dogg. Stay tuned for more about Casablanco.

The Weeknd’s ‘Save Your Tears’ Tops Vevo’s Most-Viewed Videos Of 2021

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The music video hosting network Vevo has announced the results of their most viewed videos of 2021 (Vevo notably hosts a great majority of the popular videos we watch on YouTube, so you’ll often see the “Vevo” logo on a screen in the bottom left corner.) The year’s big winner — both globally and in the U.S. — was The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” clip set in a macabre masquerade ball and directed by Cliqua. After performing at the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show in February, The Weeknd saw a surge in video interactions and the video clocked 615 million views in 2021 globally, with 102.9 million of them coming from the US.

Globally speaking, the top three videos of the year were rounded out by Karol G and Mariah Angeliq’s “El Makinon” with 556 million worldwide views, and the Black Eyed Peas featuring Shakira’s collaboration, “Girl Like Me,” with 519 million spins. In the US, Lil Baby’s “On Me” came in second with 94 million domestic views and Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name) was third with 91.3 million views.

Lil Baby was the most viewed artist in the US with 770 million total views (The Weekend was second with 559 million,) while Karol G took home the Global crown with a whopping 3.11 billion views, narrowly edging The Weekend’s 3.10 billion global views.

Watch The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” video above and check out the graphics below for a look at the Top 10 most-viewed videos of the year both globally and in the US.

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

Lil Nas X Is The Latest Artist To Pull Out Of The Jingle Ball Tour Due To Positive COVID Tests

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iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball Tour already suffered a huge loss last week with the announcement that Doja Cat had to pull out of the remaining performances due to a positive COVID test, but over the weekend, the tour’s organizers received even more bad news as members of Lil Nas X’s show crew also tested positive, forcing him to also pull out of the rest of the tour. Over the weekend, surviving acts Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber played extended sets, but with Doja, Lil Nas X, and Coldplay all dropping out, the holiday tour is decidedly a lot less jolly.

As yet, Lil Nas X has not commented on the cancellations on his own social media, and we don’t know whether he was among those who returned a positive result on the COVID test that forced him out. Before leaving the tour, though, he appeared to be having the time of his life, even as he laughed off an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction that caused him to fall onstage as he tried to keep himself covered up. Oddly enough, it was his second of the year after splitting his pants on SNL, which prompted him to switch to skirts in an effort to avoid a repeat — an effort that was apparently unsuccessful.

Snoop Dogg Got Ben Affleck’s Name Wrong While Announcing Golden Globe Nominees But Otherwise Nailed It

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Earlier this morning, the nominees for the 79th Annual Golden Globe Awards were announced in Los Angeles and to great surprise, Hollywood Foreign Press President Helen Hoehner gave way to an illustrious Southern Californian to read off the first half of nominations, saying, “And now to help me announce the 79th Annual Golden Globe nominees, please welcome a special guest… Snoop Dogg.”

Out came the lanky six-foot-four-inch rapper with a red “Murder” beanie on his head, an asymmetrical paisley button down shirt, modest-sized gold medallion, and of course, Locs sunglasses. First off, big shouts to Snoop Dogg for getting up in time to appear in front of a screen by 6 a.m. That’s a father of four right there, people.

But for all the jabs Snoop Dogg has received for mispronouncing a couple names (“Ben Uhffleck… Ben Affleck. My fault… sorry about that, Ben.”), he actually totally nails all or most of some pretty difficult names. He pronounced Dune director Denis Villeneuve’s name with very stout French pronunciation of a hard “e” at the end. He then showed his versatility in the love language by pronouncing The French Dispatch composer Alexandre Desplat’s name with a soft “t.”

Of course there were moments of hilarity, like the way he said Pose actress Michaela J. Rodirguez’s last name like it was one of the homies from the block (“Rordriguezz!”) or how he delivered the title of the musical Tick, Tick…Boom! like it was the punctuation to a song lyric.

So don’t listen to anyone who makes the condescending claim that Snoop Dogg was “butchering so many of the nominees’ names that it was hard to tell who actually got nominated.” Because he was absolutely himself and he did a fine job at the mundane task before him.

Watch Snoop Dogg announcing the 79th Annual Golden Globe Nominees above.

Russ Shares His Business Advice For Rap Peers Like Big Sean And Wale

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Over the past few years, more rappers than ever have shared their discontent with the modern label system. Most recently, Big Sean pointed out that Kanye apparently still owes him quite a bit from his GOOD Music days, Meek Mill demanded more transparency in the music industry, and Wale explained why he left Roc Nation early in his career. Through all those revelations, one artist has remained steadfast in his belief in his independent hustle — and outspoken in sharing his advice for industry peers.

Russ, who is currently doing promotion for his newly released mixtape Chomp 2, stopped by The Breakfast Club and explained how he financed the new project by taking out a bank loan rather than signing with a label. Using Wale’s 2019 single “On Chill” as an example, he explained how he would go about opening a line of credit to support the track. “Let’s say it’s $250,000… Guess what you can go do. Go get a line of credit… I don’t wanna play with my own money. Even though an advance, they give you a million dollars and spend money at radio, that still ends up being your money. If I get a line of credit from the bank… it’s about time value of money.”

“So with Chomp 2,” he continued. “I have millions of dollars in the bank, I could fund it myself. Why? … Everything on Chomp 2, I’m using the line of credit. I could pay $1,000 for the rest of my life. If the issue is upfront cash… A bank will give y’all millions of dollars.”

Of course, some folks on Twitter pointed out that not everybody has this particular set of options, but Russ was adamant his point was in pursuing alternative funding and maintaining ownership of publishing rights and his music career. Check out some of the reactions to Russ’ advice and his responses below.

Megan Thee Stallion And Lil Nas X Are TikTok’s Top Artists Of 2021 In Different Ways

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Who was the top musical artist of 2021 on TikTok? Well, it depends how you look at it.

Today, the platform shared a bunch of year-end data, which reveals that Megan Thee Stallion was the top artist in the US by “catalogue creations,” meaning in terms of how many times users included her songs in their videos. This is Meg’s second year in a row securing that title. Following her in the top 10 are, in order, Doja Cat, PoppHunna, Olivia Rodrigo, Cardi B, YungManny, Soulja Boy, Drake, Kevin Gates, and Coi Leray.

When it comes to artists actually using TikTok themselves, though, Lil Nas X had the most-viewed music account in the US. After him on the list are Lizzo, iHeartMemphis, Jason Derulo, Oliver Tree, Leray, Selena Gomez, Charlie Puth, Billie Eilish, and Benny Blanco.

The post also includes a list of the year’s top emerging artists and it includes up-and-comer favorites like Baby Tate, Coi Leray, Magdalena Bay, PinkPantheress, and Shygirl. TikTok also compiled a list of the top “comeback tracks” in the US, meaning “trending songs released between 5 and 25 years ago.” Leading that list is Destiny’s Child’s “Bills, Bills, Bills,” and also included are Kid Cudi’s “Day ‘n’ Nite,” Britney Spears’ “Gimme More,” and Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” featuring Timbaland.

TikTok shared a lot more year-end data than was covered here, so check out their post here.

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

Adele Continues To Command The Hot 100 Chart As ‘Easy On Me’ Is No. 1 For A Seventh Week

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We’re firmly in the midst of the holiday season, but this year, December is doubling as Adele season. It was revealed yesterday that 30 is on top of the Billboard 200 chart for the third straight week, and now the album’s hit single “Easy On Me” remains on top, too, as it’s No. 1 on the new Hot 100 chart dated December 18 for a seventh week.

It’s possible the song won’t stay on top for much longer, though. Over the past few weeks, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is Now” has been making its now-annual climb back up the Hot 100. It was No. 3 on last week’s chart, and now it’s up to No. 2. If the song does make it to No. 1 on the chart dated December 25 (the final Hot 100 of 2021), it would have topped the chart in three consecutive years and become the only song to ever go No. 1 in four separate years.

As far as Christmas music, Carey’s hit isn’t alone in the top 10. Returning to the space from last week are Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” at No. 3, Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” at No. 5, and Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” at No. 6. Andy Williams’ “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” is new to the top 10 this week at No. 10, rounding out the five holiday songs in the region this week.

Historical precedent says it wouldn’t be surprising to see next week’s Hot 100 flooded with Christmas music: On the chart dated December 26, 2020, six of the top 10 songs were holiday tunes. The next week, that number jumped up to nine.

Bobby Shmurda Says ‘Hot N****’ Only Cost $20 And Took One Hour To Record

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Bobby Shmurda‘s come a long way since 2014, but all it took to change his life was one $20/hour recording session. The Brooklyn rapper sent an encouraging tweet to his fans, recalling the single that upended his trajectory and encouraging fans to chase their dreams.

“Too many people got a DREAM that they never chased, then go through life and be angry they never tried,” he wrote. “Let me remind y’all ‘Hot N****’ took 20$ for 1 hour of studio time in the hood to create and that 1 hour of FOCUS changed my life and everyone around me FOREVER.”

That track, which Bobby recorded at some point in 2013, borrowed the Jahlil Beats-produced beat from Lloyd Banks’ 2012 song “Jackpot” and became one of hip-hop’s first modern viral hits, setting the stage for the modern social phenom to legit rap star pipeline that spawned many of today’s biggest artists like Lil Nas X. The track peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made Bobby and his “Shmoney dance” from the music video household names.

While Bobby’s momentum was briefly curtailed by a stint in prison as the result of a racketeering investigation, since his release, he’s remained as popular as ever as fans await the release of his debut album.

Brad Pitt And Damien Quintard Are Reopening A Legendary French Recording Studio, Miraval Studios

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Château Miraval is a large villa in Correns, France that is co-owned by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and it has a rich musical history. French pianist and composer Jacques Loussier used to town the place and while he was there, he built a recording studio, which was known at the time as Studio Miraval. The studio was part of a number of noteworthy releases; Perhaps most notably, Pink Floyd held sessions for The Wall there. Other artists who have made use of the space include AC/DC, The Cure, Sade, and The Cranberries, among others.

Muse’s 2006 album Black Holes And Revelations was one of the last projects recorded in the studio before it was shut down. Now, though, Pitt and French producer Damien Quintard are bringing the facility back as Miraval Studios, which is set to reopen in the summer of 2022. Press materials note, “Pitt and Quintard will reopen the completely redesigned and updated Miraval Studios for the future, honoring the past while pushing forward a new take on recording, amid a breathtaking vista sure to nurture all manner of creative expression.”

The space is also described:

“In addition to the original gear on which so many classic albums were recorded, the studio is built around a desk designed by Pitt and Quintard with hybrid analog/digital capacities, while boasting a fully integrated Dolby Atmos system as well as technology to handle pre-mixing for film and television. With its 25-foot ceilings, Studio One has a 100 square meter control room and 320 square meter live room that conserves what Quintard describes as the ‘heritage of the quirky sound’ of the iconic drum room pioneered by Loussier.

Quintard says, “The combination of Brad’s vision for Miraval and our common passion for taking the time to make simple but beautiful things has resulted in something that is one-of-a-kind. We are so excited for musicians of all types to be a part of what we’ve created.”

Pitt and Jolie signed a long-term lease for Château Miraval in 2008 before buying it in 2012 for an estimated $60 million, as People notes. Pitt and Jolie divorced in 2019, and now, they each own a 50-percent share of the estate (which is now worth a total of about $160 million), per Page Six.

Miraval Studios has launched some social media pages (here’s Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube), so check those out to keep updated on the status of the studio.

Tyler The Creator Adds Nail Polish To His Growing Golf Le Fleur Collection

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Tyler The Creator’s fashion-forward Golf Le Fleur line has recently expanded its offerings, adding a fragrance in addition to the usual assortment of apparel designed or inspired by the multitalented entertainer. That growth continues this week with the inclusion of nail polish, which will come in three colors: Georgia Peach, Geneva Blue, and Glitter. Tyler has been seen throughout the rollout of his new album Call Me If You Get Lost wearing the blue shade, which is being offered along with the others for $20 at the Golf Le Fleur website.

Tyler’s French Waltz fragrance, which was announced just last week, was crafted in collaboration with CPL Aromas. Tyler accompanied the announcement with a short film (in French!), putting his own unique spin on those dramatic fragrance ads, saturating the usually somber tones with bright sunlight and pops of pastel. Tyler showed off his one-of-a-kind vision in another ad — this one for his Converse collaboration — earlier this year, putting NBA legend Bill Walton in a hilarious Chuck Taylor club with the likes of Don Cheadle, Henry Rollins, and Vince Staples.

With the release of the new Golf collection — just in time for the holidays! — Tyler caps a year that saw him live out some of his biggest rap dreams (working with DJ Drama, appearing on BET) and elevate his brand to new heights. We can’t wait to see what he does next.