Music

Megan Thee Stallion Teases Her Comeback Single ‘Thot Sh*t’

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Megan Thee Stallion‘s been on a break but it looks like she’s coming back just in time for the return of Hot Girl Summer. After posting a tweet proclaiming her alter ego “Tina Snow is back” yesterday, the Houston Hottie followed up today with the pre-save link to her first post-Good News single, “Thot Sh*t,” which arrives this Friday, June 11.

Meg spent the last two months on a social media hiatus, calling it a “period of regeneration” in a tweet announcing the break. “Due to the demands of the Hot Girl lifestyle has now entered a period of regeneration to prepare for what’s next,” the announcement read. “In her absence; mgmt will manage all social posting on behalf of Thee Hot Girl Coach. Meg herself followed up, adding, “I’ll be back when it’s time.”

It seems that she used the time off to recalibrate. Although she’s become a chart-topping superstar since the release of her Tina Snow mixtape in 2018, some fans have grumbled that EPs like Fever and her debut album Good News, although spawning a number of hits, haven’t had the same energy as her breakout tape. Hopefully, by returning to the alter ego that first endeared her to fans, she can get back on the right track.

Meanwhile, despite her time spent “away,” there’s still been plenty of Stallion news, as she appeared in DJ Khaled’s “I Did It” video, led the 2021 BET Awards nominations, and landed a number of festival roster spots, including Governor’s Ball in New York, Bottlerock in California’s Napa Valley, and Barcelona’s Primavera Sound.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Prince Had One Demand Of Alicia Keys Before Letting Her Perform At Paisley Park

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Over the weekend was the 20-year anniversary of Songs In A Minor, the breakout debut album from Alicia Keys. She marked the occasion over by joining Ebro Darden on Apple Music Hits to discuss the album. Since the release contains a cover of Prince’s “How Come You Don’t Call Me,” they talked about The Purple One (who would have celebrated his 63rd birthday today, June 7), including the specific demand Prince had of a young Keys before letting her perform at Paisley Park.

Keys told the story:

“He takes me to Paisley Park, and this place is like a dream. And he’s walking me through Paisley Park, [I’m] 18 years old. He has like 900 pianos. ‘This is the piano from Purple Rain. This is the piano when I wrote ‘When Doves Cry.’ This is the room that we sit on the floor with the purple things, and we write songs.’ I could not believe it. Then he says, ‘This is the stage. We want you to perform a little set for my closest people.’ He would invite them to Paisley Park every whatever he did. He had his own universe going. And he was like, ‘One thing: You can’t curse.’ And I was like, ‘Well, he must not know me, because I curse.’”

Keys was there to request Prince’s approval of her cover, which she eventually got. During a Tonight Show appearance from 2017, Keys spoke more about her first phone call with Prince, the first step in getting his blessing for the cover:

Watch the full Apple Music Hits interview here. Also revisit Keys’ cover of “How Come You Don’t Call Me” below.

Mariah Carey Quotes Jay-Z To Shut Down Rumors That She Split With Roc Nation

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Over the weekend, a report from British tabloid The Sun sparked rumors that Mariah Carey had split with Jay-Z‘s Roc Nation management after an “explosive meeting which did not go well at all.” The Sun reported that a source said that Carey is working on a new album and was seeking other management. However, Mariah herself shut down the rumor on Twitter this morning, quoting her longtime business partner Jay-Z and sharing a clip from their 1999 collaboration “Heartbreaker” to remind followers just how deep the roots of their partnership run.

“The only ‘explosive’ situation I’d ever ‘get into’ with Hov is a creative tangent, such as our #1 song ‘Heartbreaker!!’” she wrote. “To the people who make up these lies I say ‘Poof! —Vamoose, sonofa*****”!’” The final quote of her missive comes, of course, from Jay-Z’s 2001 Blueprint single “Izzo (H.O.V.A.),” on which Jay addressed naysayers and detractors: “He who does not feel me / Is not real to me, therefore he doesn’t exist / So poof – vamoose, son of a b*tch!”

Clearly, Mariah Carey has similar feelings toward The Sun and its unnamed source. It wasn’t the first time the longstanding pop-R&B icon used her social platforms to clear up misunderstandings. In May, she jokingly teased a Baltimore rapper who sampled her 2005 hit “Shake It Off,” but eventually revealed she had allowed the use of the sample after Questlove got in touch. Meanwhile, Jay-Z is said to be expanding Roc Nation’s already extensive list of services to include television and film production sometime in near future.

Snoop Dogg Takes A Role At Def Jam As Executive Creative Consultant

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After 30 years as one of the foremost elder statesmen of the rap game, West Coast godfather Snoop Dogg has joined forces with another storied, foundational entity within hip-hop culture. Today, he announced he is joining Def Jam as executive creative and strategic consultant, according to Variety. In conjunction with Variety‘s report, Snoop also released a short announcement video explaining the move, which again has come nearly thirty years deep into a legendary career.

As Snoop himself puts it, “As a young rapper, Def Jam Records was the Holy Grail of hip-hop… they did all types of sh*t that I wanted to be a part of. Then Death Row Records happened, so I didn’t get a chance to be on Def Jam. But I always had a dream to be on Def Jam and to be in the place where hip-hop was originated.”

According to Variety, Snoop’s new role will see him continuing to be based out of Los Angeles and focusing on A&R and creative development. For those in the know, this is actually great news, as Snoop’s always had an ear for rising talent, lending early co-signs to any number of rising stars from the Golden State, including (but certainly not limited to) The Game, Kendrick Lamar, and Nipsey Hussle. “When I got the opportunity, my main focus on Def Jam was to help the artists and give them love and wisdom and guidance and understanding, teach them some tricks that I learned in the game — to diversify their portfolios to be superstars,” he says in his announcement.

One thing is for sure: Snoop’s presence as a playable character in Def Jam: Fight For NY finally makes sense now. Watch his announcement/explainer above.

One Of T-Pain’s Biggest Hits Actually Started Out As A Joke

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In the mid-2000s, T-Pain was an absolute hit machine, with one of his biggest and most memorable being “I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper).” During a recent appearance on Mike Tyson’s Hotboxin’ podcast, he spoke about how that song actually began its life as a joke among friends.

He told Tyson of the single, “My homeboy was tryna save strippers in the club. The song was a joke. I was literally making fun of him. We was just in the studio f*cking around and Big Boi [was] saying it was dope and I said, ‘Yep.’”

T-Pain has actually told this origin story before. In a 2015 interview with USA Today, for example, he went into greater detail:

“We got one girl to dance on him and he was just automatically trying to take her out of the club, pay for her tuition and do everything. The next couple days in the studio, everybody was still laughing about it. I started playing with GarageBand on my Mac and singing, ‘I’m in love with a stripper,’ and everybody was like, ‘Yo, lay that down and we’ll give it to (him) as a joke.’ Then the label came in and we were going through some songs I had recorded. They heard the ‘joke’ and were like, ‘This is the furthest thing from a joke. We’re putting this out next week.’ [The fact that it became a hit] threw me off. I was literally trying to make a bad song but it didn’t work.”

Watch the full Hotboxin’ episode below.

Kehlani Shares How Her Daughter’s Father Reacted To Her Coming Out As Lesbian

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Kehlani has been known to date both men and women, but at the end of April she came out as strictly lesbian. “Wanna know what’s new about me?” she said during an Instagram Live. “I finally know I’m a lesbian.” A couple of weeks later, she doubled down in a TikTok video, saying, “I am gay gay gay gay gay.” Recently, Kehlani, who has a two-year-old daughter, shared how her child’s father, Javaughn Young-White, reacted to her coming out as lesbian.

“I have a two-year-old daughter…She’s the best,” Kehlani said during Facebook Watch’s Pride On! Kehlani & Larray’s Excellent Pride Ride. “Me and her dad are like really, really close friends, and the decision to start a family was really easy for us because we both believed in each other’s ability to be good parents.” She added, “We just focus on being a team, honestly, and when I was able to tell him, like, I’ve come to newer terms with my sexuality and he’s super super super supportive.”

Kehlani also detailed how she and Young-White normalize different parental relationships with their daughter, saying, “Like usually where people would bring up ‘mom and dad,’ we also say ‘mom and mom’ and ‘dad and dad.’”

You can watch the full Pride On! Kehlani & Larray’s Excellent Pride Ride episode here.

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

Quavo Absolutely Loved The Atlanta Hawks’ Success In Their Game Against The Philadelphia 76ers

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A lot of NBA teams have their very own high profile fans, sitting courtside, passionately supporting their team. The New York Knicks have Spike Lee. The Dallas Mavericks have Mark Cuban. (He, of course, is also the team’s owner, but his in-game support is uniquely fervent.) And the Atlanta Hawks have Quavo, who showed off his zealotry during their Sunday playoff game with the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Migos rapper attended the game, which took place in Philadelphia, not in his hometown of Atlanta. The final score was 128-124 in favor of the Hawks, but there was one point in the game where the Hawks led by a whopping 22 points. In-game clips show Quavo absolutely loving his team’s success, breaking out raise-the-roof gestures and a pair of three-point celebrations. Fans of the rapper watching the game at home took note of his antics on Twitter.

“Quavo in philly cheering for the hawks with this 26 point lead!!!” one person wrote, accompanied by a Spongebob meme. Another asked, “Is Quavo our Spike Lee?”

Quavo’s courtside celebrations come less than a week before he and his Migos counterparts are set to release their fourth album, Culture III.

You can check out more reactions to Quavo below.

Mac Miller’s Alleged Drug Dealers Received A New Trial Date

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Nearly three years after Mac Miller’s tragic death, the individuals accused of selling him the drugs that led to his fatal overdose have received a new trial date. AllHipHop reports Cameron Pettit, Stephen Walter, and Ryan Reavis are all due in court on November 16 to face conspiracy and distribution of drugs resulting in death charges. The trio was arrested a year after Miller’s death following an investigation that revealed they were responsible for giving the rapper cocaine, oxycodone, and Xanax. Officers also noted that the pills Mac received were counterfeit and also contained fentanyl.

According to the charges, the rapper bought the pills from Petit after they were run to him by Reavis and supplied by Walter. US Attorney Nick Hanna’s case says the trio continued selling drugs following Miller’s death despite being aware of the fatal risk their supply posed against people. Petit was the first to be arrested and later on, Reavis’ Lake Havasu, Arizona home was raided by the DEA where they found prescription pills, guns, and ammunition. Walter was taken into custody in Los Angeles on the same day of the raid.

In addition to the aforementioned charges, Reavis also faces charges for fraudulent schemes and artifices, possession of marijuana, possession of prescription drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, weapons misconduct by a prohibited possessor, and manufacture of a prohibited weapon. He requested to have his trial be separate from his co-defendants because he was only an “alleged runner and minor participant, who is only alleged to be involved in one transaction,” according to his lawyer Correen Ferrentino. This request, however, was denied by a judge.

Mac Miller is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Megan Thee Stallion Announces Her Return As Tina Snow In A Cryptic Tweet

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Back in April, Megan Thee Stallion announced a hiatus — which appeared to be more of a social media break than a retreat from the public eye — in a post to Twitter. A digital readout that was posted to her social media pages read, “Megan Thee Stallion is recharging! Due to the demands of the Hot Girl lifestyle has now entered a period of regeneration to prepare for what’s next.” It added, “In her absence; mgmt will manage all social posting on behalf of Thee Hot Girl Coach. [[Thee Hotties]] lead a brave //RESISTANCE in anticipation for the return of their Fearless Captain!”

Well, after two months, it seems like the Houston rapper is ready to make her return.

In another cryptic post to social media, Megan shared a video with the caption, “TINA SNOW IS BACK [snowflake emoij].” Tina Snow is one of the rapper’s alter egos, a persona that sparked the Houston native’s mainstream breakout back in 2018 with her Tina Snow EP that housed highlight records like “Big Ol Freak” and “Freak Nasty.” The video itself shows Megan in a healing chamber of sorts with a display screen that shows attributes which include “body,” “mental health,” “bars,” “knees,” and “Tina Show” all at a level of 100%.

It’s good to see that Megan is ready to make her return, but we’ll have to wait and see what the Houston native will deliver first to fans. You can check out the Tina Snow post above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lil Durk’s Brother DThang Was Reportedly Shot And Killed Outside A Illinois Club

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Lil Durk has dealt with the loss of close friends at several instances in his career and unfortunately, the rapper will now have to deal with the death of another one. According to Chicago’s WGCI, Durk’s brother, DThang, was reportedly shot and killed on Saturday night. The reports say that DThang, born Dontay Banks Jr., was shot in the head outside of Club O, a strip club in Harvey, Illinois, a city south of his hometown of Chicago. HipHopDX adds that witnesses at the scene said DThang suffered a gunshot wound to the head which killed him instantly upon impact.

The passing of DThang comes eight months after King Von, who Durk affectionately referred to as “twin,” was shot and killed outside a nightclub in Atlanta. Von’s death shocked the hip-hop world as the fellow Chicago rapper was quickly rising to become one of the game’s brightest young stars. Durk would honor the late rapper in a number of ways. One example came on the album cover for his late 2020 album The Voice which featured a picture of him and Von together.

DThang’s death occurred during what was supposed to be a celebratory weekend for Durk. The rapper and Lil Baby are just days removed from sharing their highly-anticipated joint album, Voice Of The Heroes, which presented features from Travis Scott, Young Thug, Meek Mill, and Rod Wave.

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