Music

Aaliyah’s ‘One In A Million’ Has Officially Cracked The Billboard Top 10

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Getty Image/Ralph Ordaz

Aaliyah‘s 1996 sophomore album One In A Million was recently released on streaming services like Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music, and has subsequently shot up onto the Billboard 200. Right now, according to The New York Times, the Timbaland-produced project has cracked the Billboard Top 10. (For context, One In A Million peaked at number 18 when it first came out.)

The follow-up to 1994’s Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number, One In A Million officially hit streaming services earlier in August via a partnership between the singer’s original label, Blackground, and EMPIRE, the independent distributor. Within hours, it reached the top spots on nearly every service. Meanwhile, Aaliyah’s estate released a statement condemning the release, calling it an “unscrupulous endeavor to release Aaliyah’s music without any transparency or full accounting to the estate.”

Blackground’s founder Barry Hankerson (who is also the late singer’s uncle), however, released a statement that thanked fans for their support. “As the owner of Aaliyah’s catalog and label Blackground Records, I want to thank you all for allowing One In A Million, to chart #3 in the world,” he wrote in the caption of an Instagram post. “I cannot take the credit for managing Aaliyah as that was never a title I held. That title belonged to Diane Haughton and her husband who managed Aaliyah from the start of her career until her passing. I want to thank Diane, Aaliyah’s manager, for allowing and choosing Blackground Records to become her label.”

Next up, the Romeo Must Die soundtrack is set to hit streaming services this Friday, September 3, and Aaliyah’s self-titled album will follow on September 10. Finally, her posthumous releases I Care 4 U and Ultimate Aaliyah will arrive on October 8.

One In A Million is out now via Blackground 2.0/EMPIRE. Get it here.

Migos Demonstrate ‘How We Coming’ In A Down-To-Earth Video For The ‘Culture III’ Standout

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Migos continue to support Culture III with the video for the album standout “How We Coming.” A bare-bones affair, the video is comprised mainly of behind-the-scenes tour footage and performance shots in a parking lot in front of their foreign cars. It keeps an aesthetic thread going with previous Culture III videos “Roadrunner,” “Why Not,” and “Straightenin,” which have all have a shared “home movie” look to them, perhaps in an effort to show how down-to-earth the Migos are despite their flashy lifestyles.

For what it’s worth, that lifestyle is pretty lavish. Quavo recently bragged that he pays his assistant $5,000 a day and the group plans to take over Las Vegas for a three-day festival promoting the album featuring appearances from Duke Deuce, Gunna, Kash Doll, Lil Yachty, Rubi Rose, and more. With that said, they apparently aren’t above putting on more low-key events; last week, they made their Tiny Desk Concert debut, performing songs from the album including the Jay-Z favorite “Avalanche,” “Happy Birthday,” and lead single “Straightenin.”

Migos members Quavo and Offset have been the most visible, as usual. Offset, who is expecting his second child with Cardi B, recently defended Lizzo from online trolls, while Quavo has handled the bulk of the group’s media tour, tapping out during his Hot Ones interview and needling Kendrick Perkins on ESPN.

Watch Migos’ “How We Coming” video above.

DJ Envy Said He Thinks Kanye’s Team Is Partly To Blame For Enabling His ‘Clown’ Behavior

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With the surprise release of Donda on Sunday, everyone is rushing to share their opinion on Kanye’s latest work. While the wisest among us like Questlove chided fans not to dole out hot takes when the album is barely 24 hours year old — and this might not even be the final product Kanye wanted to put out — others still can’t get over his actions outside of the music itself.

Charlamagne Tha God admitted he thought the record was a bit lackluster, but had thoughts on how to fix it, while his Breakfast Club co-host, DJ Envy, is still caught up on Ye’s past actions. He called Yeezy’s behavior over the last few months and years “clown behavior” and said he thinks the mega rapper’s team is partly to blame for enabling him.

“I called him a clown, and I still stand by that and I still mean that,” Envy began. “So many people called me and asked me why I felt that way, and I explained to them why I felt that way…. they asked me why do you think the people that I named — which was Pusha T, John Monopoly, Free and Boo were like that too — and I said it’s because I feel like you enable him to do it. You don’t stop him from doing the wild out stuff behind-the-scenes that is really disrespectful, and he should be humbled.”

Check out all of this thoughts above — including an admission that despite all that he still likes his Yeezy shoes — and our review of Donda here.

Soulja Boy Shows His Swiftie Side By Commanding Kanye West To Apologize To Taylor Swift

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At the moment, Soulja Boy is not pleased with Kanye West. Soulja apparently recorded a verse for West’s new album Donda, but was ultimately not included on the release. That left him pretty upset, and since then, his Twitter has been a regular feed of anti-West posts. As part of that feed, Soulja has found himself in Swiftie territory.

This afternoon, Soulja insisted that West apologize to Swift, presumably for their infamous microphone-snatching moment at the 2009 VMAs. He tweeted, “U P*ssy. U really wore that trump hat too. You did a-lot of corny sh*t in ur career and got a pass. B*tch ass n**** apologize to Taylor swift @kanyewest.” He quickly followed up by noting that had West tried to take a microphone from him, the outcome of that situation would have been violent: “If u would have ran on stage and snatched a mic from my hand I would have knocked yo ass out live on MTV @kanyewest.”

Meanwhile, it seems West has actually tried to mend fences with Swift, or at least brought up the possibility. Back in September 2020, West tweeted that he wanted to help Swift regain control over her masters, saying, “I’M GOING TO PERSONALLY SEE TO IT THAT TAYLOR SWIFT GETS HER MASTERS BACK. SCOOTER [Braun] IS A CLOSE FAMILY FRIEND.”

SZA, Finneas, And Summer Walker Take On ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Songs For A Soundtrack Album

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Dear Evan Hansen has become one of the most beloved musicals of the last decade, so much so that the 2015 production has a film adaptation coming out next month. Part of that is the soundtrack album, and aside from the cast, the OST features some big-name artists.

Dear Evan Hansen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) includes covers of some of the musical’s songs. Sam Smith and Summer Walker will take on “You Will Be Found,” SZA has “The Anonymous Ones,” Carrie Underwood and Dan + Shay performed “Only Us,” Finneas sang “A Little Closer,” and Tori Kelly covered “Waving Through A Window.” The album is set for release on September 24, the same date the movie hits theaters.

Check out the Dear Evan Hansen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) tracklist below.

1. Ben Platt and Dear Evan Hansen Choir — “Waving Through A Window”
2. Ben Platt — “For Forever”
3. Colton Ryan, Ben Platt, and Nik Dodani — “Sincerely Me”
4. Kaitlyn Dever, Danny Pino, and Amy Adams — “Requiem”
5. Ben Platt and Kaitlyn Dever — “If I Could Tell Her”
6. Amandla Stenberg — “The Anonymous Ones”
7. Ben Platt, Amandla Stenberg, Liz Kate, DeMarius Copes, Isaac Powell, Hadiya Eshe, and Dear Evan Hansen Choir — “You Will Be Found”
8. Kaitlyn Dever and Ben Platt — “Only Us”
9. Ben Platt — “Words Fail”
10. Julianne Moore — “So Big / So Small”
11. Colton Ryan — “A Little Closer”
12. Sam Smith — “You Will Be Found” Feat. Summer Walker
13. SZA — “The Anonymous Ones”
14. Carrie Underwood and Dan + Shay — “Only Us”
15. Finneas — “A Little Closer”
16. Tori Kelly — “Waving Through A Window”

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

Lil Nas X Shares A Fascinating Visual Detail About His ‘Montero’ Album Art That Can’t Be Unseen

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Adding a new layer to the Montero multiverse, Lil Nas X shared some majestic album art for his forthcoming album earlier today. Depicting the rapper fully in the nude, his back arched and skin glistening, the Lisa Frank-looking design for Montero represents “a continuous loop, to represent the circle of life,” according to Nas’ follow-up tweet. Indeed, when the art is duplicated and stacked vertically, the edges of the art line up to make a continuous image.

Then, the “Industry Baby” rapper laid out some more visual inspirations for Montero, posting images of SpongeBob SquarePants and John Stephens’ Genesis II. The tracklist, he said, would arrive tomorrow.

Just a few days out from Montero‘s release, Lil Nas X has definitely been making the most of his promotional cycle, posting his (joking) take on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy emoji art and making nice with Tony Hawk on TikTok.

“Growing up in the Atlanta area, I [saw] a lot of microaggressions towards homosexuality,” Nas recently told Out Magazine in a cover story about growing up in the South and his coming out process. “Little things like going into an IHOP and hearing one of your family members say ‘look at those faggots’ to two people eating or even just a small [statement like] ‘boys don’t cry.’ Little sh*t like living in the hood, not being super into sports, and then having to go outside and pretend that I was. [I remember] pushing that part of myself in more and more, almost convincing myself that it’s not even actually there,” he added.

Meanwhile, he recently wrote of Montero, “creating this album has been therapy for me. i’ve learned to let go of trying to control people’s perception of who i am, what i can do, and where i will be. i’ve realized the only opinion of me that really matters is my own.”

Montero is out 9/17 via Columbia Records. Pre-save it here.

DaBaby Reportedly Met With Nine HIV/AIDS Organizations Following His Homophobic Rant

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During his Rolling Loud festival set, DaBaby hopped on the mic and made some very distasteful and inaccurate comments about people living with HIV/AIDS. The homophobic rant caused the rapper to be dropped from several festival lineups and get called out by several celebrities for his offensive speech. Now, it seems as though DaBaby is taking some steps to educate himself about people living with HIV/AIDS.

According to a recent report from TMZ, the rapper has held meetings with nine HIV/AIDS non-profit organizations. A few of the organizations in attendance included Black AIDS Institute, GLAAD, Positive Women’s Network, and Transinclusive Group. GLAAD had previously issued a statement following DaBaby’s comments, calling them inaccurate, “hurtful, and harmful to the LGBTQ community and the estimated 1.2 million Americans living with HIV.”

During the meetings, DaBaby allegedly had the chance to hear from people whose lives are impacted by the condition and how they are able to live with the virus. Apparently, several of the organizations had reached out to DaBaby directly following his rant, attempting to “call him in instead of calling him out” by having a thoughtful conversation.

Per TMZ’s report, several of the organizations noted DaBaby was “genuinely engaged” during their meetings and open to learning more about HIV/AIDS. He reportedly apologized for his inaccurate and hurtful comments, allegedly acknowledging how it impacted Black and LGBTQ+ communities.

TDE’s Newest Rapper Ray Vaughn Details His Struggles In The Harrowing ‘Tap’ Video

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The complexion of the West Coast rap scene is soon to change as Kendrick Lamar prepares his final album under the Top Dawg Entertainment flag, but rumors of the label’s impending demise are greatly exaggerated. Just as Kendrick announced his departure, TDE launched the career of its next potential star: The Long Beach born-and-raised Ray Vaughn, who introduced himself in impressive fashion with both a three-song EP titled Peer Pressure and an eyebrow-raising debut freestyle for Power 106’s LA Leakers.

Today, he shares the video for “Tap,” one of his three introductory singles from Peer Pressure, a harrowing look at the travails that made him who he is today. As he details his struggles and stories of survival on the streets of East Side Long Beach, the video straight up assaults viewers with images of just what those roadblocks looked like, from drugs and violence to the stresses of having incarcerated friends and zero mental health care.

Like fellow TDE signee Reason, Ray first attracted attention from the label with his “Freestyle Fridays” series of videos on YouTube, building a following on social media that his newly announced connections are sure to supercharge. He was introduced to the crowd at Isaiah Rashad’s The House Is Burning listening in LA, where he proved he’s got the charisma, presence, and performance to justify his inclusion on the storied TDE roster. He’s working on his debut album, with the release date to be determined.

Stay tuned.

Watch Ray Vaughn’s “Tap” video above.

Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ Becomes His Latest Track To Surpass One Billion Spotify Streams

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While Drake’s Certified Lover Boy album announcement has dominated the news, one of his previous releases quietly passed a major milestone. Drake’s 2016 track “Hotline Bling” (the best song of the 2010s, we reckon) has apparently become his latest song to achieve the impressive feat of surpassing one billion streams on Spotify.

The achievement was first reported by the Twitter account Chart Data, though the song’s streaming numbers currently sit at 165,000 over the one billion mark.

“Hotline Bling” is far from Drake’s first song to reach one billion streams on the music platform. Drake’s track “One Dance,” which also appears on his 2016 Views album, was actually the first song on Spotify to reach one billion streams, which it did just a few months after the album’s release. Today, “One Dance” has nearly doubled in streams and now boasts well over two billion listens on Spotify.

Drake’s popularity on Spotify truly comes as no surprise as he’s constantly one of the top artists on the platform. Not only was Drake the most-streamed artist of the last decade, but he was also Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2015, 2016, and 2018. On top of that, Drake became the first Spotify artist to have 50 billion listens on his music this past January, meaning his Certified Lover Boy album is sure to perform well on the streaming service.

Kim Kardashian Tried To Support Kanye West By Listening To ‘Donda’ On Mute

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This week, the music world was eclipsed by a single release: Kanye West finally dropped his much delayed album Donda. But of course, it wouldn’t be a Kanye album rollout without at least a little controversy, which he delivered when he invited accused abuser Marilyn Manson to the stage. That still didn’t stop the rapper’s fans from listening to the album so much that it’s dominating on both Spotify and iTunes. Apparently, Kim Kardashian has also been boosting the album’s streaming count without actually listening to it.

Kim tried to show support for her soon-to-be ex-husband’s new work by promoting it to her over 249 million Instagram followers. She screenshotted a few of his tracks like “Hurricane” and “Lord I Need You” and posted them to her Stories. But one fan pointed out that she had the volume turned all the way down on her phone, meaning she wasn’t really listening to Kanye’s music.

Though Kim might be streaming Donda on mute, there is a lot of evidence that she has actually heard the album at one point or another. She has been spotted at all the Donda listening parties that Kanye hosted, and she recently shared a video for his “Come To Life” track which featured audio from one of the events.

Donda is out now via Def Jam. Get it here.