Music

Diddy Has Praise For Both Kanye West And Drake’s New Albums: ‘You Guys Are True Kings Of Creativity’

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In recent weeks, a lot of conversations have pitted Kanye West and Drake against each other as both released new albums at around the same time. Diddy is taking a more diplomatic approach, though, as he has taken a minute to offer praise for both artists and their new music.

In a video posted on his Instagram Story today, Diddy spoke about Donda and Certified Lover Boy, starting, “I listened to both these albums and first of all, I just wanna say that you guys are true kings of creativity. Both of you guys are so special and so necessary, you know what I’m saying? Just thank y’all for the inspiration. I wanna make sure that what hip-hop knows is: That’s the reach and the power that we have. I really wanna take my hat off to these brothers both sharing their truth.”

He then praised specific elements of both albums before concluding, “I just want to say, love decrees that they both win, that we win. When you’re an artist, you keep pushing it to the limit to be the best. [Not] the best not against another man — there is competition, but the best within yourself, and I think that’s why we’re witnessing two greats and enjoying them. I’m having a ball and the music sounds beautiful. Don’t stop, guys, love y’all.”

Meanwhile, Pusha T brought a different flavor to the conversation by seemingly taking pleasure in a dip in Drake’s streaming numbers.

Pusha T Seemingly Enjoys Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Having A Major Day-Two Streaming Drop-Off

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Pusha T and Drake have one of the most famous hip-hop feuds of recent years. So, it’s not too surprising to see that when Pusha found a comparison that paints Kanye West’s new album Donda in a more positive light than it does Drake’s Certified Lover Boy, he was all over it.

It started with a recent tweet from XXL, which compares the Spotify streaming numbers of Donda and Certified Lover Boy on the albums’ first two days of availability. West’s album was streamed 94.5 million times on its first day before jumping up to 102.1 million streams on its second day. As for CLB, it had 153.4 million streams on its first day before falling drastically to 89.9 million the next day.

It’s worth noting, though, that Donda was released at around 8 a.m. on a Sunday, as opposed to midnight on Friday like most albums are (including CLB). If you do the math, Donda and CLB actually had similar numbers in terms of average streams per hour on their respective first days: about 5.9 million and 6.4 million, respectively. So, looking at streams per hour on the album’s first days versus their second-day performance, they performed somewhat similarly, with Donda experiencing a smaller day-two drop-off but CLB reaching a higher peak. So, all in all, the numbers from that tweet don’t fully represent the situation at hand.

Anyway, somebody shared a screenshot of the XXL tweet and added, “i predicted this. i said drake’s day 1 is gonna be huge off the element of surprise then its just gonna drop. donda everyone heard in full 3 weeks before it dropped, still did these numbers and is only growing in streams. crazy!” Pusha seemingly agreed with the tweet, as he gave it a like.

When West released Donda, Pusha shared a congratulatory post about it, writing on Instagram, “This is about power, money, influence and taste…nothing more, nothing less. Watching you ‘joystick the culture”‘makes us all proud. Continue to do things your way, congrats, and I’m honored to have been a part of the process.”

Pusha T Seemingly Enjoys Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Having A Major Day-Two Streaming Drop-Off

by
Getty Image

Pusha T and Drake have one of the most famous hip-hop feuds of recent years. So, it’s not too surprising to see that when Pusha found a comparison that paints Kanye West’s new album Donda in a more positive light than it does Drake’s Certified Lover Boy, he was all over it.

It started with a recent tweet from XXL, which compares the Spotify streaming numbers of Donda and Certified Lover Boy on the albums’ first two days of availability. West’s album was streamed 94.5 million times on its first day before jumping up to 102.1 million streams on its second day. As for CLB, it had 153.4 million streams on its first day before falling drastically to 89.9 million the next day.

It’s worth noting, though, that Donda was released at around 8 a.m. on a Sunday, as opposed to midnight on Friday like most albums are (including CLB). If you do the math, Donda and CLB actually had similar numbers in terms of average streams per hour on their respective first days: about 5.9 million and 6.4 million, respectively. So, looking at streams per hour on the album’s first days versus their second-day performance, they performed somewhat similarly, with Donda experiencing a smaller day-two drop-off but CLB reaching a higher peak. So, all in all, the numbers from that tweet don’t fully represent the situation at hand.

Anyway, somebody shared a screenshot of the XXL tweet and added, “i predicted this. i said drake’s day 1 is gonna be huge off the element of surprise then its just gonna drop. donda everyone heard in full 3 weeks before it dropped, still did these numbers and is only growing in streams. crazy!” Pusha seemingly agreed with the tweet, as he gave it a like.

When West released Donda, Pusha shared a congratulatory post about it, writing on Instagram, “This is about power, money, influence and taste…nothing more, nothing less. Watching you ‘joystick the culture”‘makes us all proud. Continue to do things your way, congrats, and I’m honored to have been a part of the process.”

Cardi B Gave Birth To Her Second Child Over The Weekend And Shared A Delivery Room Photo

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Cardi B started 2021 by sparking pregnancy rumors that turned out to be inaccurate. Not too long after that, though, she actually got pregnant, which she announced at the BET Awards this summer. Now, that process has reached the next logical step: Over the weekend, Cardi gave birth to her second child.

Today, she shared a photo from the hospital, or her holding the baby in her arms as she and Offset gaze at it. Cardi’s caption is seemingly the child’s date of birth: “9/4/21.”

This post is being updated.

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

Nicki Minaj Explains Her Reason For Turning Down A Doja Cat Collaboration

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Doja Cat’s “Get Into It (Yuh)” has a lot of influence from Nicki Minaj, so much so that Doja even acknowledges it in the song’s closing lines: “Thank you, Nicki, I love you / Got that big rocket launcher!” Minaj was actually meant to feature on the song, but she turned down the opportunity. Now, she has explained why.

Over the weekend, Minaj joined a fan’s Twitter Spaces conversation (as HotNewHipHop notes), and during her visit, a fan speculated that Minaj was too busy to guest on Doja’s album. Minaj set the record straight on that, though, saying:

“It’s not that I’m too busy at all. It’s just that there were, like, middle people involved in that situation, so I had told her, if it was like how me and BIA were direct and we dealt to each other directly [about the ‘Whole Lotta Money’ remix]… but I didn’t love that song [‘Get Into It’] because I didn’t think I could bring anything to it. So I asked them to send me something else. I think that was the second song they sent me, but I asked them to send me something else and they didn’t send me anything else.”

So, ultimately, there seems to be interested in a collaboration from both sides, so it remains to be seen if Doja and Minaj will link up on a song in the future.

Check out a clip from the conversation above.

Lizzo Says She Has Ghosted ‘People You Would Not Believe’

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Radio 1 Breakfast With Greg James has a fun recurring segment called “Unpopular Opinions,” in which the titular host and his celebrity guest hear unpopular opinions from listeners and discuss their thoughts on them. Jake Gyllenhaal’s defense of Sean Paul is perhaps the most famous moment to emerge from the segment over the past few years, and recently on the program, Ed Sheeran got real about his songs being used as wedding music. The latest participant in the segment is Lizzo, and on it, she suggested that she has ghosted some noteworthy people.

The final listener of the segment declared that she believes it’s OK to ghost someone (aka cut off communication suddenly and without warning) after a few dates. After initially agreeing, Lizzo decided to change her mind. She declared, “Here’s the reason why I agreed with you: I’m a ghoster. I’ve ghosted people you would not believe [laughs].” In reference to Lizzo’s series of flirty social media encounters with Chris Evans, the listener joked, “Like Chris Evans.” Lizzo responded, “No, baby, that’s one man I won’t ghost.”

She then continued, “I have [ghosted], but I don’t think it’s OK. I always get really apologetic when they confront me about it. […] I apologize, but I do it, so I’m kind of on the fence about this one.”

Lizzo then asked the listener why they ghost people, and they gave an insightful answer about not bringing up perceived flaws that may not be an issue to somebody else and therefore making the ghostee needlessly self-conscious. That response seemed to have hit Lizzo and left her with a different point of view about ghosting, or at least the listener’s philosophy behind it.

Check out the “Unpopular Opinion” segment above.

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

Beyonce Has A New Song In Venus And Serena Williams’ Upcoming Biopic ‘King Richard’

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It’s been five years since the world received a new album from Beyonce, and while that streak will go on for a bit longer, she will return with music within the next couple of months. The singer will have a new track in the closing credits of King Richard, the upcoming biopic about tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. According to the Los Angeles Times, who is reporting from Telluride Film Festival, where the movie debuted ahead of its November 19 release, the upcoming song is titled “Be Alive” and it’s co-written by Roc Nation signee DIXON.

The news comes after Beyonce shared an exciting update about her future. “I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible,” she said in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar. “I’ve been in the studio for a year and a half. Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare. One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies. Still, there’s nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio.”

She concluded, “After 31 years, it feels just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old. Yes, the music is coming!”

Kanye West Ties Eminem For The Most Consecutive No. 1 Albums With ‘Donda’

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The road to Kanye West’s tenth album Donda was a long and eventful one. After hosting three listening sessions, two that were in Atlanta and one in Chicago, West finally released the album, which offered nearly two hours of music across 27 songs, with guest appearances from Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, DaBaby, Marilyn Manson, Lil Baby, The Weeknd, Young Thug, Roddy Ricch, and many more. While opinions on Donda vary, it easily topped the charts.

West’s tenth album reached the top of the Billboard 200, selling 309,000 units in its first week. This number is comprised of 272,000 streaming equivalent album units thanks to 357.39 million on-demand streams of the songs. It also posted 37,000 pure album sales. It’s the rapper’s tenth consecutive album and eighth straight solo project to do so, a streak that dates back to the 2005 release of his sophomore album, Late Registration.

Kanye’s also joined The Beatles, Jay-Z, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Eminem, and Elvis Presley as the only artists in history with ten or more chart-topping projects. Donda also earned the biggest first-week sales figure across all genres in 2021.

You can revisit our review of Donda here.

Donda is out now via GOOD Music/Def Jam. Get it here.

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

Kendrick Lamar Registered Multiple Unreleased Songs On ASCAP And Made Fans Beyond Excited For New Music

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Now that Drake and Kanye West have released their respective new albums, it can be argued that Kendrick Lamar’s upcoming fifth project is rap’s most anticipated of 2021. Excitement in the upcoming project spiked after he announced last month that the full-length effort would be his last with TDE, a label he’s called home since 2005. Anticipation increased again after he and his team seemed to register multiple songs with ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), an organization that protects artist’s musical copyrights.

The titles for some of the new uploads go as followed: “Before The Hangman’s Noose,” “Director,” “Believe,” “Blow Ya Mind,” Feel For You,” “End of the Line,” “Erika Kane,” “Driving Down The Darkness,” “Lesson Learned,” “Living My Life,” and “Hood Love.” It’s unknown when the tracks were uploaded.

In the statement about his departure from TDE, Kendrick gave us a glimpse into his headspace as he puts the finishing touches on his fifth album. “I spend most of my days with fleeting thoughts,” he wrote. “Writing. Listening. And collecting old Beach cruisers. The morning rides keep me on a hill of silence. I go months without a phone. Love, loss, and grief have disturbed my comfort zone, but the glimmers of God speak through my music and family.”

He added, “While the world around me evolves, I reflect on what matters the most. The life in which my words will land next.”

You can view screenshots of the songs that were uploaded to ASCAP above and read some reactions to them from fans below.

Bobby Shmurda Nearly Fought A Fan After They Allegedly Threw A Water Bottle At Him

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This past weekend was set to be another positive moment for Bobby Shmurda as he slowly yet surely finds his footing again in the music world. The rapper was released from prison in February after serving almost seven years for conspiracy to commit murder and weapons charges. Since gaining his freedom, Bobby has made several public appearances but few of them have come with new music or performances. All of that changed this weekend as he released his “No Time For Sleep” freestyle on Friday ahead of his set at the Made In America festival on Sunday.

Just a day before the rapper took the stage, however, a video shared by TMZ captured him nearly coming to blows with a fan at the festival. According to the publication, attendees at the showcase said someone in the crowd threw a water bottle at the rapper which caused him to try and seek out the individual. Shmurda tried to climb a barricade that separated him from fans, but thankfully, a member of the rapper’s crew was able to restrain him before he could get over it. He was then pulled away by his team and taken elsewhere before the situation got worse.

It should be noted that Shmurda’s release from prison came with strict conditions. It includes not being able to drink alcohol, attend any bars, or associate with gangs, abiding by an 8 p.m. curfew unless allowed otherwise. The rapper also must submit to drug testing, and receive aggression and anger counseling and seek, obtain, and maintain employment. All in all, moments like these are ones that Shmurda can’t afford to deal with.

You can watch a video of the incident on TMZ here.