Music

Chloe Bailey’s Spicy Cover Of Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ Leaves Fans Divided

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Juneteenth honors the day the Emancipation Proclamation reached the state and thus marked all slaves as free. First celebrated in Texas, it’s expanded over the years. Indeed, this week President Joe Biden made it a federal holiday. On Friday night, just a day before the holiday, ABC held a Juneteenth TV special, Together We Triumph, that featured performances by Jimmie Allen, Chloe Bailey, and Leon Bridges. By the end of the night, it was clear that Chloe’s performance caught the most attention.

The singer took to the stage to share her cover of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” during the Juneteenth TV special. Her performance came with a spicy dance routine that left people divided, with some deeming it unfit for the classic soul song. “Idc Chloe Bailey ATE,” one person wrote on Twitter. “Just at the wrong table though—baby it’s Nina Simone [looking eyes emoji].” Others, though, defended what she’d done.

“Y’all MUST do some research on Nina Simone before saying Chloe Bailey didn’t understand the assignment,” they wrote. “Nina Simone was literally a free-spirited woman.” They added, “Go watch the documentary of Nina on Hulu, then tweet lol.”

You can watch a clip of Chloe’s performance above and check out more reactions to it below.

Kamasi Washington’s Hopeful Epic, ‘Sun Kissed Child,’ Is Part Of The ‘Music For The Movement’ Series

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Kamasi Washington has been racking up accolades for his psychedelic jazz-fusion for quite some time now, and his 2018 epic Heaven And Earth was the last formal release fans have gotten from the epic jazz powerhouse. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been releasing one-off tracks and special projects in the meantime, like scoring Michelle Obama’s Becoming documentary, teaming with the likes of Terrace Martin and Denzel Curry to release the protest song, “Pig Feet,” and even forming the new band, Dinner Party, with 9th Wonder, Robert Glasper, and Martini.

Today he’s back with some more music of his own, though, sharing a hopeful new track off the Liberated EP that’s part of The Undefeated’s Music For the Movement series. This is volume 3 of that project, and includes contributions from other artists like Chloe Bailey, Common and Cordae, while artists like Tinashe have contributed to the project before. For Kamasi’s newest track, “Sun Kissed Child,” he had contributions from plenty of fellow artists, including vocalists Dwight Trible and Patrice Quinn, as well as drummer Ronald Bruner Jr., who is the older brother of Thundercat.

Hear the new song above and look out for more new music and hopefully more live performances coming from Kamasi very soon.

Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records Sues Co-Founder Dame Dash Over An Attempted NFT For ‘Reasonable Doubt’

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More than 25 years ago, Jay-Z, Dame Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke came together to form Roc-A-Fella Records. The label would eventually become the home of Jay-Z’s first album, Reasonable Doubt, which was released in 1995. The project is heralded as a hip-hop classic and one of the best efforts in Jay’s discography. Fast-forward to the present and Reasonable Doubt is now at the center of a lawsuit between Roc-A-Fella records and Dash.

According to TMZ and Page Six, Dash was sued by the company after he attempted to auction Reasonable Doubt as an NFT. Roc-A-Fella claims that Dash is unable to mint the album to sell because he does not own the rights. According to court documents filed by high-profile attorney Alex Spiro, Dash planned to sell the Reasonable Doubt NFT at a now-canceled auction and Roc-A-Fella’s current fear is that he will try to sell it again elsewhere.

“The sale of this irreplaceable asset must be stopped before it is too late, and Dash must be held accountable for his theft,” the court documents read. “Dash can’t sell what he doesn’t own. By attempting such a sale, Dash has converted a corporate asset and has breached his fiduciary duties. The court should stop Dash….and hold him accountable for his brazen theft.”

The lawsuit comes shortly after Jay-Z sued photographer Jonathan Mannion, who shot the cover for Reasonable Doubt, for using his name and image without consent.

Azealia Banks’ Historical Response To Candace Owen’s Inane Juneteenth Comment Is A Complete Shutdown

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Love her or hate her, sometimes Azealia Banks is the only woman for the job at hand. Sometimes she’s off on her own planet, trying to discredit Megan Thee Stallion’s shooting claims, or literally boiling her dead cat, but sometimes she’s right on the money. And today’s job at hand? Speaking truth to Candace Owens, the insistently right-wing, Conservative pundit — who also happens to be a Black woman — who tends to make claims like using “they/them” pronouns is “poor grammar,” or declaring the recognition of Juneteenth as a national holiday an extension of “segregation.”

Juneteenth was, rather famously, the day that African-Americans in Texas were liberated after they were purposely kept ignorant of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and remained in slavery for more than two years after the practice was outlawed. But Owens is, for some reason, against making it clear that Black Americans weren’t really free on the 4th of July back in 1776 and recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday, like the Senate just unanimously agreed to do. So, Banks broke down for her just what a day in the life for a Black woman in America would’ve been like back then.

“According to this logic, on July 4, 1776, you would still be enslaved,” Banks wrote as the caption on a screenshot post of Owens’ tweet. “Most likely on the verge of starvation due to all of America’s food supply having been prioritized for the war, while you hand sew American flags and struggle to wet nurse some depressed 24-year-old white widow’s sickly child until your nipples are chapped and dry. Whereafter, you will be whipped by her 80-year-old uncle for your own malnourishment and inability to produce milk, then sent to toil over a wood-burning stove — blistering your hands while [being] forced to make a peasantly meal of biscuits and gravy.

You will be watched closely by her irate, sunburned and whisky soaked 80 year old uncle to be sure you do not sneak a single biscuit or fingerful of roux to yourself. after you’ve watched everyone eat, you will be sent to do the cleaning up. Your last task will be brushing the stressed and balding white widows hair to prepare for her sleeping bonnet, a deep rest in her comfortable canopy bed. Next your final descent down the stairs and out the back door where you proudly sleep on a bed bug infested pile of hay in a 6×4 cabin you share with 4 other slaves. Happy Independence Day @realcandaceowens.”

What else is there to say?

John Legend Addresses The Apparently Fabricated DMs Of Chrissy Teigen’s Supposed Bullying

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A lot of attention is focused on Chrissy Teigen these days in light of her recent apology for old tweets and inappropriate direct messages. Now it appears another supposed victim of Teigen’s bullying has been outed as a faker.

Designer Michael Costello recently shared supposed screenshots of a 2014 conversation in which Teigen treated him aggressively, but Business Insider notes that there are multiple inconsistencies in the images as it relates to Twitter’s visual formatting. So, it would seem that Costello’s screenshots were fabricated.

This got a response from John Legend, who wrote in a series of tweets today, “Chrissy apologized for her public tweets, but after her apology, Mr Costello fabricated a DM exchange between them. This exchange was made up, completely fake, never happened. […] Honestly I don’t know why anyone would fake DMs to insert themselves in this narrative, but that’s what happened. I encourage everyone who breathlessly spread this lie to keep that same energy when they correct the record.”

This comes after Legend showed support for Teigen by sharing a line from her apology letter: “We are all more than our worst moments.” That quote kicks off the conclusion of Teigen’s message, which goes on to read, “I won’t ask for your forgiveness, only your patience and tolerance. I ask that you allow me, as I promise to allow you, to own past mistakes and be given the opportunity to seek self improvement and change. Phew. A lot, I know. Thanks for listening.”

Find Legend’s tweets below.

@johnlegend/Twitter

Trevor Noah Dove Deep Into How Spotify Treats Non-Major Artists On ‘The Daily Show’

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For years now, streaming services like Spotify have faced criticism about how much they pay the artists whose music they depend on. It’s a nuanced situation, so on The Daily Show last night, Trevor Noah broke it down and spoke about how hard it is on make money on Spotify as a non-major artist.

After sharing a compilation of news clips that charted the music industry’s shift from CDs to digital downloads to streaming, Noah got into it, starting by calling streaming “the best thing to happen to the music industry since the government created LSD.” He then noted, though, that while streaming services have “arguably saved music,” they’re “not exactly sharing the wealth.”

Noah shared more video clips, ones illustrating how little artists get paid when their songs get streamed. Then, Noah got into Spotify specifically, giving them credit for providing smaller artists with valuable exposure. He went on to point out, though, that regardless of who subscribers listen to, a hefty portion of their money still goes to major artists. As Noah put it, “Even if you are way too cool to listen to the top ten artists on Spotify, they still get most of your money. And the bands that you do listen to get almost none of it.”

Noah concluded by noting, “For now, maybe the most important things for artists to do is get the word out to their fans.” Then, he introduced Aloe Blacc, who has been vocal about issues with streaming music since he earned just $4,000 from streaming for Avicii’s international hit “Wake Me Up,” which he co-wrote. For The Daily Show, Blacc wrote and performed a new version of his “I Need A Dollar,” with lyrics modified to directly address Spotify and streaming problems.

Watch the whole segment above or find just Blacc’s performance below.

Kim Kardashian Attributes Her Kanye West Divorce To Multiple Factors

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After months of rumors, Kim Kardashian has been openly discussing the dissolution of her marriage to Kanye West lately. She talked about it during the recent series finale of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and the spoke about it more on last night’s Keeping Up reunion special.

Andy Cohen hosted the program, and he asked Kardashian why the marriage didn’t work. She responded, “I honestly don’t think I would even say it here on TV, but it was not one specific thing that happened on either part. I think it was just a general difference of opinions on a few things that led to this decision.”

The host then asked about the status of their relationship now and Kardashian answered, “We have an amazing co-parenting relationship and I respect him so much and I think we’ll have… you know, that was my friend first. First and foremost, for a long time.”

In the Keeping Up finale, Kardashian also spoke about a general disconnect between her and West, saying, “I want someone where we have the same shows in common. I want someone that wants to work out with me. Like, every single day, Khloé [Kardashian] and Tristan [Thompson] and I would workout at 6 a.m., the three of us, and I was third-wheeling it for a good eight months in quarantine, and I was so envious of that. I was like, ‘Wow, it’s, like, the little things I don’t have.’ I have all the big things. I have the extravagant everything you can possibly imagine and no one will ever do it like that — I know that, and I’m grateful for those experiences — but I think I’m ready for the smaller experiences that I think will mean a lot.”

Cordae And Common’s ‘What’s Life’ Seeks Answers To Society’s Current Qualms

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While the two rappers might be a couple of rap generations removed from each other, a collaboration between Cordae and Common makes a lot of sense. Both are patient lyricists who present strong storytelling abilities while also laying off impressive bars with ease. Both rappers make a cross-generational connection for their new song, “What’s Life.” The effort watches the duo sift for answers to society’s current qualms while contemplating what their everyday lives might look like without aspects they deem as important.

Cordae and Common’s collaboration can be found on the newly-released Liberated / Music For The Movement Vol. 3 EP which arrives with five songs and other contributions from Lucky Daye, Chloe Bailey, Yara Shahidi, and saxophonist Kamasi Washington. On the individual side of things, Cordae recently shared his Just Until EP before gracing faces with videos for “Wassup,” “Dream In Color,” and “More Life.” Common, on the other hand, is hard at work producing a documentary — named God’s Long Summer after a book written by Charles Marsh — about Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.

You can listen to “What’s Life” in the video above.

Liberated / Music For The Movement Vol. 3 is out now via Hollywood Records. Get it here.

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

Leon Bridges Questions The Growing Distance Between Him And A Partner On ‘Why Don’t You Touch Me’

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More than three years removed from his last album, Good Thing, Texas singer Leon Bridges is readying the release of his third effort, Gold-Diggers Sound. The project is one that’s been supported by strong singles like “Sweeter” and “Motorbike,” and now, he adds the third preview for the upcoming project with “Why Don’t You Touch Me.” His latest drop questions the growing distance between him and his partner as they watch their once-passionate love fade away. The new track is also accompanied by a heart-wrenching video that captures the broken love Leon sings about.

Prior to sharing “Motorbike,” Leon gave some insight about Gold-Diggers Sound. “I created this world with @rickyreed and @natemercereau at Gold Diggers Studio in East Hollywood over the course of two very long years,” Bridges wrote in an Instagram post. “With immense joy, greater purpose, and sometimes doubt, I labored over these eleven songs, but the record truly came together when I immersed myself in everything @golddiggersla making it my home, my escape, and the center of my creative world.”

The singer added, “The record features some remarkably talented friends, longtime collaborators and I believe it’s my most personal album yet.” Gold-Diggers Sound is highlighted by guest appearances from Terrace Martin, Ink, and Robert Glasper.

Press play on the video for “Why Don’t You Touch Me” above.

Gold-Diggers Sound is out 7/23 via Columbia Records. Pre-order it here.

DaBaby’s ‘Ball If I Want To’ Is A Defiant Declaration Of Excellence

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DaBaby is certainly one of the most outwardly confident rappers in today’s hip-hop game. The North Carolina native has shown it on a number of occasions since the release of his debut album, 2019’s Baby On Baby. While some might question it, he certainly has the accolades and achievements to back it up. With that being said, it comes as no surprise that the rapper is holding on to that confidence on his brand new single, “Ball If I Want To.” The effort defiantly declares his self-proclaimed top-notch status while refusing to listen to anyone who tries to pull him away from it.

Another example of DaBaby’s boastful spirits came just a couple of weeks ago when he delivered a strong claim to his Instagram Story. “Best mf rapper & I’m on ALLLAT shit these n****s LIE about,” he said. “I’m him frfr. If a n**** ain’t tryna work with the real thang he SCARED. The best supposed to compete w/ the best These n****s just TALK like they like dat SHUUUUT UP.”

In addition to releasing his new single, DaBaby is set to perform at the 2021 BET Awards. He also recently joined Polo G in a video for their “Party Lyfe” collaboration and teamed up with Yo Gotti for “Drop.”

Go ahead and press play on “Ball If I Want To” in the video above.