Four-time Grammy Award-nominated, multi-platinum Atlanta rap superstar Gunna returns to the top of multiple charts with his acclaimed fifth studio album One of Wun! It notably bows at #2 on the Billboard 200, becoming his fifth consecutive Top 5 debut on the respective chart. Additionally, it captures #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart. Not to mention, it stands out as the #1 debut of the week and #1 biggest week for a Warner Music Group album in 2024 so far.
On DSPs, it notches a #1 Spotify Global and U.S. debut in addition to vaulting to #1 on Apple Music in 44 countries. Thus far, it has generated 170 million global streams.
Right now, Gunna is canvasing the country with sold out shows on ‘The Bittersweet Tour.’ It kicked off on May 4 in Columbus, OH at Schottenstein Center, with 16 stops across the U.S. in Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston, Miami and more before wrapping up with a hometown performance in Atlanta at State Farm Arena on June 11.
The artwork for One of Wun was created by Calvin Clausell Jr., featuring creative direction by Spike Jordan of The Genius Club, as well as art direction and design by Tal Midyan.
Today (May 22) marks the 57th birthday of Compton-born gangster rapper MC Eiht. Known for his role in the 1993 cult classic film, Menace II Society, MC Eiht created an entire body of work out of his experiences growing up in Compton.
His name was inspired by the numeral element in KRS-One’s moniker, but he chose the number “8” because of its significance in “hood culture,” including 8-balls, Olde English 800, and .38 caliber handguns.
As the de facto leader of West Coast Hip Hop group Compton’s Most Wanted(CMW), he helped introduce the world to fellow Compton-based rappers Boom Bam, Tha Chill, DJ Mike T, DJ Slip, and Ant Capone.
He’s released an astonishing 16 albums, culminating with the yet-to-be-released Which Way Iz West. Often mentioned in the same breath as DJ Quik, the two previously had problems, but have since worked them out.
BODYARMOR Sports Drink will unveil a complete line up of limited-edition collector bottles for several of its athletes, many featuring innovative AR functionality. Among those receiving their own LTO bottles include record-breaking, NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., and Home Run Derby Champ Vlad Guerrero Jr.
Additional athletes include NFL superstars Joe Burrow, Christian McCaffrey, Bryce Young, CeeDee Lamb, NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney, and internet sensationDude Perfect, best known for captivating the attention of their 90M+ fans daily via YouTube, IG, and TikTok while attempting seemingly impossible trick shots.
Each of these limited-edition bottles feature bespoke AR functionality inspired by the athletes. The introduction of augmented reality on its bottles is a first for BODYARMOR, which is leveraging the technology to enhance the consumer experience and connect fans to their favorite athletes.
For example, Ryan Blaney’s bottle allows consumers to participate in a virtual pit stop experience, while Ronald Acuña Jr.’s bottle puts fans in a virtual home run derby, and the NFL bottles have fans participate in a digital combine where they can show off QB passes, route running, strength tests, and more. In addition, in the Dude Perfect game, the player tries to last as long as they can by bouncing a ball off of obstacles and aiming them at subsequent targets.
Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list culminates today with the much-anticipated reveal of the top 10 albums of all time and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill crowned No. 1.
Upon receiving the news, Lauryn Hill told Apple Music, “This is my award, but it’s a rich, deep narrative, and involves so many people, and so much sacrifice, and so much time, and so much collective love.”
To celebrate, Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden sat down with legendary record producer, writer, and performer Nile Rodgers and Grammy-nominated artist and producer Maggie Rogers to reflect on the list during a special roundtable broadcasting globally today on Apple Music. Watch the full roundtable at music.apple.com.
Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums is a modern 21st-century ranking of the greatest records ever made, crafted by Apple Music’s team of experts alongside a select group of artists, songwriters, producers, and industry professionals. The list is an editorial statement, fully independent of any streaming numbers on Apple Music — a love letter to the records that have shaped the world music lovers live and listen in.
Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums – Top 10
10. Lemonade – Beyoncé
9. Nevermind – Nirvana
8. Back to Black – Amy Winehouse
7. good kid, m.A.A.d city (Deluxe Version) – Kendrick Lamar
Sports host and former Roc-A-Fella rapper Cam’ron appeared on CNN yesterday(May 20) for an interview about the disturbing 2016 video of Diddy assaulting Cassie in the InterContinental Hotel in L.A. and to say that the sit down did not go as planned by the news giant is an understatement.
Newsnight host Abby Phillip didn’t take waste time questioning the Dipset founder about Diddy and whether or not Cam noticed the man in the surveillance video to which Cam sharply responded, “I don’t know him like that. What do you mean did I recognize him? I seen him. What do you mean my experiences?” The interview seemed to take the most unexpected turn when Phillip asked Cam about the Bad Boy mogul’s disgraceful apology video, where Diddy said he was sorry for his actions, but he did not apologize directly to Cassie because their settlement doesn’t allow him to say Cassie’s name in public.
Cam, in a frustrated tone, replied to Phillip, “The apology ain’t for me to decide, it’s for Cassie. He ain’t do nothing for me. What I think about it don’t matter.” In the middle of their banter, Cam takes down a shot of PinkHorsePower, a sexual enhancement drink popular in NYC bodegas, with Cam proudly boasting he was going to get “some cheeks” after downing the shot.
Phillip didn’t make things better when she asked if the rap industry protected DIddy from being held accountable for his heinous actions. In the most embarrassing manner for the network, Cam asked, “Who booked me for this joint?”
Today, “the greatest rapper of all time” was born; Brooklyn’s own Christopher Wallace, better known as the Notorious B.I.G. Smalls had the game on lock before an unknown suspect gunned him down on March 9, 1997. His music, however, lives on.
From his debut single, “Juicy,” to charted success through his collaborations with protégé group, Junior Mafia to the infamous East Coast/West Coast beef, and his individual feud with West Coast rapper, Tupac, Smalls’ triumph is legendary and continues to resonate with fans.
The rap slayer had numerous hits in his catalog and even more memorable lines. There were several times, however, Smalls was ruthless and aggressive, although as fans we may have been unaware if there was an underlying issue or a diss record target, but we definitely rapped along with his merciless storytelling lyrics. In honor of the Notorious’ 46th birthday, here are 10 most cutthroat Biggie Smalls lyrics.
Dead Wrong
“Relax and take notes, while I take tokes of the marijuana smoke. Throw you in a choke – gun smoke, gun smoke. Biggie Smalls for mayor, the rap slayer, the hooker layer – motherf*cker say your prayers. Hail Mary full of grace; smack the b*tch in the face, take her Gucci bag and the North Face off her back. Jab her if she act funny with the money, oh you got me mistaken honey.”
Machine Gun Funk
“Sticks and stones break bones, but the gat’ll kill you quick, especially when I’m drunk off the liquor.”
Respect
“Now I’m thirteen, smokin’ blunts, makin’ cream, on the drug scene, f*ck a football team. Riskin’ ruptured spleens by the age of sixteen. Hhearing ‘ the coach scream at my lifetime dream, I mean I wanna blow up, stack my dough up. So school I didn’t show up, it f*cked my flow up.”
Kick In Ya Door
“So, Jesus, get off the Notorious penis, before I squeeze and bust. If the beef between us, we can settle it with the chrome and metal sh*t. I make it hot, like a kettle get, you’re delicate, you better get, who sent ya?”
Party and Bullsh*t
“But all we wanna know is “Where the party at?” And can i bring my gat? If not, I hope I don’t get shot. But I throw my vest on my chest ’cause n*ggas is a mess. It don’t take nothin’ but frontin’ for me to start somethin’.”
10 Crack Commandments
“Number nine, shoulda been number one to me: if you ain’t getting bagged stay the f*ck from the police. If n*ggas think you snitchin they aint tryna listen. They be sitting in your kitchen, waiting to start hitting.”
Suicidal Thoughts
“When I die, f*ck it I wanna go to hell. Cause I’m a piece of sh*t, it ain’t hard to f*ckin’ tell. It don’t make sense, goin’ to heaven wit the goodie-goodies. Dressed in white, I like black timbs and black hoodies. God will probably have me on some real strict shit. No sleepin’ all day, no gettin my d*ck licked.”
Notorious Thugs
“Armed and dangerous, ain’t too many can bang with us. Straight up weed, no angel dust, label us Notorious. Thug ass n*ggas that love to bust, it’s strange to us. Y’all n*ggas be scramblin, gambling. Up in restaurants with mandolins, and violins. We just sittin here tryin to win, tryin not to sin. High off weed and lots of gin. So much smoke need oxygen, steadily counting them Benjamins.”
Who Shot Ya?
“Who shot ya? Separate the weak from the obsolete. Hard to creep them Brooklyn streets. It’s on, n*gga, f*ck all that bickering beef. I can hear sweat trickling down your cheek. Your heartbeat sound like Sasquatch feet. Thundering, shaking the concrete….
I burn, baby, burn like Disco Inferno. Burn slow like blunts with yayo. Peel more skins than Idaho potato. N*ggas know, the lyrical molestin’ is takin’ place. F*ckin’ with B.I.G. it ain’t safe.”
Freestlye at MSG
“I got 7 Mac-11’s. About eight 38s. Nine 9s. 10 Mac Tens. The shit never ends. You can’t touch my riches. Even if you had MC Hammer and them 357 b*tches…..Oh my God I’m dropping shit like a pigeon. I hope your listening. Smacking babies at their christening.”
Michael Orlandus Darrion Brown, the 18-year-old victim of police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, would’ve celebrated his 28th birthday today had his life not been cut short by Officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014.
There was a confrontation between Officer Wilson, a 29-year-old white male, and Brown, a 18-year-old Black male who’d graduated from Normandy High School just eight days before his death, which ended with Brown being shot six times, all in the front of his body. All confirmed reports and video surveillance footage show that Brown was killed with his hands in the air.
To say that the investigation into Brown’s homicide was insubordinate is an understatement, with the St. Louis County Police Department taking over an hour to arrive to the crime scene, but they claim that the gunfire from the surrounding and growing crowd kept them from the scene of the crime. The FBI launched an investigation into Brown’s death just two days after he was killed but in March 2015, cleared Wilson of violating Michael Brown’s civil rights, in the shooting. The investigation concluded there was no evidence upon which prosecutors could rely to disprove Wilson’s asserted belief that he feared for his safety, that witnesses who contradicted Wilson were not credible, that forensic evidence and credible witnesses corroborated Wilson’s account, and that the facts did not support the filing of criminal charges against Wilson.
The grand jury took 25 days, over the span of three months to hear the lengthy testimony from 60 witnesses and then deliberate on whether or not to indict Wilson. Most grand juries complete their work in a matter of days. On the night of November 24, Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch reported in a 20-minute press conference that the grand jury had reached a decision in the case and would not indict Wilson.
There was even a review of his case by St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell in 2020, but after five months of seeing if Wilson could possibly be charged with manslaughter for the death of the teenager, aid he didn’t “have the evidence to ethically bring a charge against Darren Wilson.”
The Ferguson riots became a center of resistance within the United States after the killing of Michael Brown, with the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” slogan becoming just as common as the last words of the late Eric Garner, “I Can’t Breathe”. In December 2014, Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot and killed two NYPD police officers and claimed that it was revenge for the police killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Brinsley committed suicide before he was apprehended. In March 2015, two officers were shot and wounded when a 20-year-old Black male opened fire on the Ferguson Police headquarters.
On August 9, 2015, 18-year-old Tyrone Harris, a friend of Brown, was shot by police in Ferguson and that same day, the Columbia (Missouri) Police Officers’ Association (CPOA) proclaimed August 9 “Darren Wilson Day”, calling Wilson an “innocent, but persecuted, officer” and insisted his ethnicity had nothing to do with their support of him.”
Even though Brown prematurely lost his life and justice was never served, his death served as a catalyst in the struggle for racial equality and civil rights in the Unites States, a human rights battle that has been fought by Black people as long as they’ve been in this country. The same month Brown was shot dead, American rappers The Game, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Diddy, Fabolous, Wale, DJ Khaled, Swizz Beatz, Yo Gotti, Curren$y, Problem, King Pharoah and recording group TGT released the song “Don’t Shoot” as a tribute to Brown
On this date in 1993, N.W.A. co-founder and then-Death Row Records in-house producer Dr .Dre released the second single from his iconic The Chronic album entitled “Dre Day”. Dre Day was, in fact, a diss record featuring Death Row newcomer Snoop Dogg, who together took aim at Dre’s former partner Eazy-E, Miami Hip Hop pioneer Uncle Luke and Bronx rap nemesis TIm Dog.
Originally titled “Fuck wit Dre Day(And Everybody’s Celebratin’)”, Dre sent shots at former N.W.A. members Eazy-E and Ice Cube, accusing Eazy of cheating N.W.A. members out of their money along with Jerry Heller. This was also the diss track aimed at Cube that ws the catalyst for “No Vaseline”.
In “Dre Day,” Dre vows to “to creep to South Central,” which is Ice Cube’s hometown, “on a Street Knowledge mission,” while Cube’s own record label was initially named Street Knowledge Productions. Dre lyrically “steps in the temple,” evidently alluding to Cube’s affiliation with the Nation of Islam, and claims to “spot him” by a “White Sox hat,” which Cube often donned. Earlier that year, Cube had the single “Check Yo Self.” Dre adds, “You tryin to check my homey, you best check yo self.” Not parodied in the “Dre Day” music video, however, Cube instead would cameo, signaling reconciliation with Dre, in the September 1993 music video of the next and last Chronic single, “Let Me Ride.”
“Dre Day” prompted a response from Eazy-E with “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s”, an EP from Tim Dog titled Bitch With a Perm and Luke even shot back with his second solo album’s song “Cowards in Compton,” whose music video parodies both Dre’s inclusion in the 1980s electro-rap group World Class Wreckin’ Cru and casts Dre and Snoop lookalikes ridiculed in a mock of the “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” music video.
On this day in Hip-Hop History, we celebrate the birth of one of the most flamboyant and ostentatious personalities in Hip Hop. Today in 1972, the legend Busta Rhymes was born in Brooklyn, New York.
The 11-Time Grammy nominee and Flipmode Squad frontman have served as an unsung hero for the culture. This is not to say that he has at all gone unnoticed (“11 time Grammy Nominee” speaks for itself), but his influence on Hip Hop since its earliest stages of commercial success and role in the foundation of the New York Hip Hop scene is ever-present if you pay attention.
Busta Bust’s career began with his involvement with Leaders of the New School. Alongside Charlie Brown, Dinco D, and Cut Monitor Milo, but Busta got his break opening up for Public Enemy in the late 80s. It was actually Chuck D himself who gave Busta Rhymes his stage name, after NFL receiver George “Buster” Rhymes. With Leaders of the New School, Rhymes released two albums: A Future Without a Past… and T.I.M.E.
While a part of the group, Busta’s unique style made it possible for him to be featured on major tracks with artists such as: Big Daddy Kane, The Notorious B.I.G., TLC, A Tribe Called Quest, and KRS-One. He also made his first appearances on screen in films such as Higher Learning and Strapped prior to ever releasing any solo music.
In 1995, Busta Rhymes released his debut solo LP The Coming which is hailed as a masterpiece of Hip Hop featuring his smash hit single “Woo Hah!“, his first solo single. The commercial successes of this album allowed Busta Rhymes to finally get the respect he deserved (and for the most part already had in the artist community) as a solo artists. Busta’s follow up albums When Disaster Strikes and Extinction Level Event (Final World Front) were just as if not more successful than the first.
Through the 2000s, Busta continued to be a powerhouse. With the release of his greatest hits album Total Devastation: The Best of Busta Rhymes and new original album Genesis Busta was once again among the top of the charts with this smash hit “Pass the Courvoisier Part II” feat Pharrell and P. Diddy. Throughout the early 2000s Busta’s music could be heard in clubs across the globe and his influence of the culture could be seen, heard, and felt.
His seventh studio album The Big Bang was exactly what the title describes being that it was his first #1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. Selling 209,000 copies in the first week alone, this LP showed that time was not a factor when it came to Busta’s popularity and appeal and that his high energy style could remain on top regardless of how the game changed around it. This album spawned what is probably Busta Rhymes most famous song, “Touch It” who’s remixes sky rocketed Bust to the top of every radio chart as far as airplay was concerned.
In the 2010s however, Busta has yet to reach the same level of success as he did in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s but has been able to remain on tour and is still leaving his mark on the industry. In 2012, he was part of the Grammy-nominated single “Look At Now” which was a summertime hit, again proving that no matter the decade, Busta Rhymes can still turn the party up.
From everyone here at the Source Magazine, happy born day Busta. Thank you so much for what you have done for Hip Hop and may you see many more golden years of success.
Vince Staples today announced the release of his eighth studio album, Dark Times, out May 24 via Blacksmith Records / Def Jam Recordings. A new era in the prolific artist’s canon, the album is a muscular and revelatory work refining elements that have been present in his catalog for the last decade: dense lyricism over lush, layered beats; wry, melancholic observations about life; finding pockets of light in an endless dark.
In conjunction with the album announcement, Staples released the first single from the project and accompanying visual for, “Shame on the Devil,” which features him rapping over a warm, spectral beat, ruminating on how anointed his life is now, in spite of bouts of loneliness and fallouts with friends.
Recorded over the course of seven months in North Hollywood, the album title came intuitively to Staples after he listened to the record in full, noticing heavy motifs that kept reappearing. The album cover, featuring a faintly seen noose, was similarly intuitive. Calling the project “a personal achievement,” Staples said, “it’s me mastering some things I’ve tried before that I wasn’t great at in the beginning. It’s a testament to musical growth, song structure—all the good stuff.”
Dark Times follows Staples’ 2022 critically acclaimed album Ramona Park Broke My Heart, which was hailed as one of the best albums of the year by Clash, Complex, The Fader, Rolling Stone, and Vulture among others. The Los Angeles Times praised Staples as “a nimble rapper, deftly maneuvering through verses depicting the street politics of his native Long Beach,” while Pitchfork called the album “a richly detailed, deadpan elegy for his stolen youth.” Complex highlighted it as “a modern West Coast rap album embracing three decades of hip-hop history,” while NME called it “a beautifully personal reflection from start to finish,” with WIRED commending the album as “a remarkable feat in an aesthetic project concerned with locating meaning in the inevitable realities that trap us.”
Demonstrating that his talent cannot be confined to one medium, Staples also wrote, produced, and stars in the critically acclaimed Netflix series The Vince Staples Show, which debuted earlier this year. Inspired by life in his hometown of Long Beach, California, the show was praised as “dark, hilarious, intriguingly frank… laugh-out-loud funny” by Entertainment Weekly, while The New York Times described it as “mordantly funny and visually arresting.” The Guardian hailed it as “a wonderfully surreal exercise in Black creativity,” adding that “[Staples] is an endlessly compelling presence,” with COLLIDER lauding it as “one of the most confident new series of 2024…never a dull moment on screen.”
