Pop

Drake And The Weeknd Are The Subjects Of A New Class At A Toronto College

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Over the past decade-plus, Drake and The Weeknd have become two of the most prominent musical figures in pop culture, so much so that at least one professor thinks they’re worth spending an entire semester studying. Writer and teacher Dalton Higgins will teach a course titled “RTA 950: Selected Topics In Media — Deconstructing Drake And The Weeknd” at Toronto’s Ryerson University.

In an Instagram post about the course, Higgins explained his motivation behind creating the class, writing:

“There are great courses out there being taught about numerous rock, folk and pop stars like Miley Cyrus, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, so why not The Weeknd and Dizzy. Also, I’ve been kicking around the Hip Hop Ed scene for years and have seen some great courses being taught in the USA about Jay Z (Georgetown University), Outkast (Armstrong State University), Beyonce (there are MANY Bey courses; Arizona State, University of Texas; Rutgers University). Plus the University of Arizona offers a minor in Hip Hop Studies, and Mcnally Smith College in Minnesota offers a hip hop diploma. […] Nevertheless, it’s time to get our Canadian rap & R&B icons recognized & canonized academically or otherwise. And it is CRITICAL for scholars, historians, to examine the Toronto music scene that birthed Drake/Weeknd and helped create the conditions for them to become mega successful.”

As Daily Hive notes, Higgins published an unofficial Drake biography in 2012 and has been teaching hip-hop-related courses at Toronto universities for the past decade.

The Kid Laroi’s North American Tour Completely Sold Out In Just Four Minutes

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After releasing three albums over the course of a year, Australian breakout rapper The Kid Laroi has now collaborated with today’s top stars like Miley Cyrus, Machine Gun Kelly, and even Ed Sheeran. Most recently, his “Stay” track with Justin Bieber has been dominating the Hot 100 chart, hovering at No. 1 for five weeks totals. Due to his recent success, its no surprise that fans hopped on the opportunity to snag tickets to his recently announced North American tour.

Just four minutes after tickets went live, his End Of The World tour was completely sold out, according to HotNewHipHop. The rapper’s North American leg of his tour kicks off in January 2022 in Arizona and comes to a close in Atlanta in March. Some of the dates had pre-sale tickets go live last week, but they officially went on sale Friday and were all gone in a matter of minutes.

Laroi’s official tour announcement arrived just after he opened the 2021 VMAs with Bieber. Reflecting on the ceremony, Laroi thanked his fans for their continued support. “Just opened the VMA’s,” he wrote on Twitter. “What the f*ck is life. I love you family. Thank you for everything. NONE of this sh*t would be possible without you. I’m forever in debt to you all. I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to do what I love and support the people I love most around me. There’s no way I will ever be able to repay you.”

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

Kali Uchis Teased A New Remix Of Her 2020 Single ‘Fue Mejor’ Featuring SZA

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Kali Uchis has been breaking out in a big way over the last few years, and her 2020 album Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) ∞ continues to rack up streams and attention this year. Uchis was recently tapped as one of the artists to open for Tyler, The Creator on his 2022 tour, and the two rather infamously collaborated together before on “After The Storm” off her 2018 album Isolation. Now, she seems to have another big collaboration in the works, teasing a remix of one of her Sin Miedo tracks with a guest verse from none other than TDE’s First Lady, SZA.

Since her 2017 critically-acclaimed breakout album Ctrl, fans have been eagerly awaiting an update from SZA, and anticipation for her new album combined with the fact that she doesn’t often do collaborations is stoking anticipation for this feature. In a newly shared video to her Instagram feed Uchis teased the new version of “Fue Mejor,” which already features PartyNextDoor, and it sounds like SZA is singing in Spanish for her appearance as well. Since she’s teasing the new version clearly the song is done and ready to be released, so listen above and look for it coming out very soon, maybe even this week? And if we could get that new album, anytime, SZA….

Machine Gun Kelly Explains The Real Reason Slipknot Has Beef With Him

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Machine Gun Kelly (Colson Baker) isn’t afraid to pick a fight, as his past beef with Eminem has made abundantly clear. But he’s also never shied away from setting the record straight when necessary. At this weekend’s Riot Fest, the pop-punk/rap star was roasting Slipknot during his set, taking aim at Corey Taylor and co. after the metal band’s frontman took shots at him on a recent podcast.

The full rundown: Taylor says on Cutter’s Rockast that he hates MGK: “I’m the worst old fogey dude shaking his cane ever. I hate everything. I hate all new rock for the most part. I [hate] the artists who failed in one genre and decided to go rock — and I think he knows who he is. But that’s another story.

At Riot Fest, MGK mocks Slipknot: “Hey, you wanna know what I’m really happy that I’m not doing? Being 50 years old and wearing a f*cking weird mask on a f*cking stage.”

But after numerous media outlets picked up his stage trash talk today, Baker wanted to let the public know what was really going on. So now MGK has finally spilled the tea, the real reason Corey was even mouthing off about him in the first place. “corey did a verse for a song on tickets to my downfall album, it was f*cking terrible, so i didn’t use it,” he wrote on Twitter. “he got mad about it, and talked shit to a magazine about the same album he was almost on. yalls stories are all off.
just admit he’s bitter.”

The plot thickens… and I highly doubt this will be the end of it. Stay tuned.

The Kid Laroi And Justin Bieber’s ‘Stay’ Reclaims Its No. 1 Spot On The Hot 100

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Last week was absolutely massive for Drake, as nine of the top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart were from his new album, Certified Lover Boy. Now, interest in the album has naturally cooled off some, enough for him to lose the No. 1 spot: On the chart dated September 25, The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” returns to the top of the chart for its fifth total week.

That said, Drake is still doing quite well on the Hot 100, as he currently has three songs in the top 10 spots: “Way 2 Sexy” featuring Future and Young Thug (at No. 2), “Knife Talk” featuring 21 Savage and Project Pat (No. 4), and “Girls Want Girls” featuring Lil Baby (No. 10).

Meanwhile, Bieber spends his 30th week with a No. 1 song on the Hot 100, which moves him up the all-time list in that regard, into a 15th-place tie with Paul McCartney. He still has a ways to go to catch up with the leaders of that rank, though: Ahead of him are Mariah Carey (84 weeks), Rihanna (60), The Beatles (59), Drake (52), and a handful of others.

As far as other noteworthy chart entries, there’s Walker Hayes’ “Fancy Like,” which has risen to N0. 5 and become the year’s highest-charting country song following a remix featuring Kesha (although Kesha is not credited on the song as it appears on the Hot 100).

Awkwafina Struggled To Answer A Question About Her Using A ‘Blaccent’ In Films

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Awkwafina has one of the most unlikely success stories in Hollywood, and her representation in both music and the film world has been an important step forward. But that doesn’t necessarily mean she hasn’t made missteps of her own within the comedic and accent work she’s employed in the past. In particular, the rapper and actress has faced criticism in the past for using a “blaccent,” or the current cultural shorthand for when non-Black people adopted a Black voice.

In both of her biggest films, Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean’s 8, Awkwafina has, at times, used what could qualify as a “blaccent,” and alongside that, accusations of cultural appropriation have risen as well. Though Awkwafina hasn’t spoken on the subject in the past, In the press cycle for her new movie, Shang-Chi, she was asked point blank about the topic. In her answer, she seemed to struggle to actually address the question, or whether she considered her past work appropriation. “Um, you know, I’m open to the conversation,” she began. “I think it, you know, it’s really something that is a little bit multi-faceted and layered, and so yeah.”

While that isn’t really a conversation itself, being open to it is potentially a start. To learn more about issues like the use of a blaccent and cultural appropriation, read Lauren Michele Jackson’s 2018 piece “Who Really Owns the Blaccent” for Vulture right here.

Lizzo Showed Love For BTS With A Short But Sweet Freestyle About V And Jimin’s Friendship

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With the release of her brand new “Rumors” single featuring none other than Cardi B, Lizzo is back in a big way. Which means the always-vocal artist is back to advocating for herself even when bullies try to fat-shame her, and making silly internet videos and freestyles for fans and other artists to enjoy. Luckily, today she’s focusing on the latter, taking a carefree approach to her still overlooked rap skills by employing them to praise BTS.

First, the pop star let fans know she’s in the studio and working, and asked what they’d like to hear her write about:

Then a fan suggested something about a true friendship, like the one between V and Jimin from BTS:

And that was all it took to get Lizzo cooking. Flipping an old snippet from Barney’s classic “I Love You” song, in under twenty seconds she had an homage to the relationship between V and Jimin, which has long been a beloved focus of their fans.

Hey, this might not quite be good enough to make the new album, but it’s still impressive that she can turn a freestyle around so quickly. Now let’s hope she keeps doing what Remy Ma suggested and ignoring the trolls with all her might.

G-Eazy Reflects On Fame And Shame In His Searing ‘Breakdown’ Video Featuring Demi Lovato

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G-Eazy is gearing up to release his fourth studio album, These Things Happen Too, which will be out next Friday, September 24. Ahead of the album’s release he’s shared several tracks, including “A Little More” with Kiana Lede and “Down” with Latto.

Today, he dropped a brand new single and video featuring another collaborator, Demi Lovato, an artist who has faced similar scrutiny as the Oakland rapper. As his debut album from 2014 was called These Things Happen, this new installment serves as a follow-up to his breakout, and if this new single “Breakdown” is an indication, the rapper is going to get brutally honest about what he’s been through. Most notably, the rapper’s break up with Halsey was well-documented as the pair had the hit single “Him & I” together prior to the relationship’s end, and were supposedly working on music right up until the end of their time together. He also faced further scrutiny for a 2018 drug possession incident in Sweden.

Headlines about their relationship flit by in the video, which frequently features a split screen of Demi and G-Eazy, both trying to handle what they’re going through. Demi’s struggles with addiction and recovery have also been well-documented, and they even released a tell-all documentary getting into the details of what happened. Directed by Daniel CZ, the video offers a searing reflection on fame, shame, and celebrity culture. Check it out above.

Sam Smith And Summer Walker Provide Hope For The World’s Lost Souls On ‘You Will Be Found’

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Summer Walker has lent her talents to a number of artists in the past. Her collaborations include work with Khalid, 21 Savage, Young Rog, Lil Tjay, and others. For her latest track, she and Sam Smith combine their talents for their new single, “You Will Be Found.” The track is one of the many contributions to the soundtrack for the upcoming film, Dear Evan Hansen. The movie follows a high school senior who suffers from social anxiety through a journey of self-discovery and acceptance following the tragic suicide of a classmate.

The duo’s “You Will Be Found” is an uplifting track that aims to provide hope to the lost souls of the world. Their collaboration comes last than a year after Smith released their third album, Love Goes. The 16-track project arrives with 18 songs and features from Labrinth, Normani, Demi Lovato, Calvin Harris, and Burna Boy. As for Summer Walker, the LVRN singer is placing the finishing touches on her upcoming sophomore album, one that will hopefully match the huge success that she had with her 2019 debut Over It. While a title or release date have yet to be revealed for the album, the singer confirmed that Lil Durk, Ari Lennox, and SZA are some of the features fans will hear on the upcoming project.

You can press play on the track above.

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

Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, And Other Music Icons Lead The ‘Time’ List Of The 100 Most Influential People

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Making an appearance on Time‘s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world is a significant honor, and the publication just unveiled this year’s list. On the 2021 roster is a handful of folks from the music world, who had brief tributes written about them by their pop culture peers: Megan Thee Stallion wrote about Billie Eilish, Kid Cudi wrote about Lil Nas X, J Balvin wrote about Bad Bunny, Miley Cyrus wrote about Dolly Parton, Darius Rucker wrote about Kane Brown, Paris Hilton wrote about Britney Spears, Alicia Keys wrote about Angélique Kidjo, and Brandy wrote about Verzuz creators Swizz Beatz and Timbaland.

Of Eilish, Megan wrote, “Billie Eilish is a unique soul, with a voice, style and attitude all unapologetically her own. I first met Billie at the Grammys this year. She had already achieved worldwide stardom, which might make some people have airs about them, but not Billie. She was so real and laid-back, even though her personality is so big. She is a rare spirit who speaks from her heart with no pretenses. I knew I had found a kindred spirit that night. One who is strong, but still learning and still growing. A woman who stands up for herself and advocates for women everywhere.”

Cudi also said of Lil Nas X, “Lil Nas X is a new twist on some of the themes I was riding on when I first started out: being true to yourself and not giving a f*ck what anyone says. What he’s doing is what we need right now. To have a gay man in hip-hop doing his thing, crushing records — that is huge for us and for Black excellence. The way he’s unafraid to make people uncomfortable is so rock ‘n’ roll. He’s a true rock star. […] I’m going to do whatever I have to do to let him know–you have my support. When we do our song together, however trippy the video is, let’s get sexy with it.

Check out the full list here.

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