2022 Billboard Music Awards Finalists Announced: The Weeknd, Doja Cat, Kanye, and More
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Rick Ross’ Classic Verse On ‘Devil In A New Dress’ Came After Constructive Criticism From Kanye West
If you ask fans of Rick Ross to list their favorite verses from the Maybach Music Group leader, most of them will mention his guest appearance on Kanye West’s “Devil In A New Dress.” The track, which appears on West’s 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was a standout on the album and it’s one that arrived months after Ross dropped one of his best albums, Teflon Don. During a recent appearance on LeBron James and Uninterrupted’s The Shop, which also featured Gunna, Las Vegas Aces player A’ja Wilson, and United Master CEO Steve Stoute, Ross was asked about that verse and how it came together, and his answer is one you might not expect.
“Soon as I heard to beat, I wrote a verse right there,” Ross said. “The verse you heard ain’t what it was [in the end]. I wrote two to three verses right then just to let Kanye hear the vibe and I was like ‘This my verse right here. This the verse I want.’ He listened to it, walked off, came back an hour later like, ‘Rozay I know you…’”
Ross continued, “This the first time somebody ever said Rozay, ‘I know you, you could go harder.’ Woah… Rozay ain’t used to that. This feeling like confusion.” Ross added that it was a shock to essentially hear that his verse wasn’t good enough for the song. “He comes back like, ‘Rozay, you know I know you. This verse right here you could –‘ and I looked at him [like] what? I could what?” The comment seemed to light a fire under Ross. “Don’t even finish that,” he says he told Kanye. “Just chill, come back and holla at me. He closed the room, I said this n**** crazy, and I went back in immediately.”
Ross says the moment is proof that Kanye is a great producer. “Without a doubt, he’s most definitely gonna challenge you,” he said. “To me, to be great and make sure that everybody that’s in the room with you [is] great, you have to make sure that you challenge and not just accept.”
You can watch the full episode of The Shop in the video above.
Gunna is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Rihanna, Jay-Z, And Kanye West Are Among The Richest Musicians On ‘Forbes’ Billionaires List
That Rihanna reign just won’t let up. The Bajan singer has made her debut on Forbes‘ 36th Annual World’s Billionaires List. Joining her peers and frequent collaborators Jay-Z and Kanye West, the Fenty Beauty founder comes in at No. 1,729 on the list. In addition to this accolade, Rihanna is also the world’s richest female musician, with a $1.7 billion net worth.
Her “Umbrella” collaborator Jay-Z comes in a No. 2,076. With his Roc Nation conglomerate, along with the sales of TIDAL to Square and Armand de Brignac champagne to LVMH last year, Jay is worth $1.4 billion.
Kanye West, who has produced and collaborated with both Jay and Rihanna, places at No. 1,513 on the list, with a hefty net worth of $2 billion. Ye has climbed up over 200 spots on the coveted list since last year, thanks to his partnerships with Adidas and Gap.
Ye recently dropped out of performing at Coachella, but given his rising net worth, he may not even need to take the stage. Perhaps the same is true for Rihanna and putting out new music, though fans have been starving for a follow-up to her 2016 album, Anti.
Jay-Z is often known to boast about his wealth in his songs, most recently on his Pusha T collab “Neck And Wrist,” on which he proclaims, “I put your mansion on my wall / Are you sh*ttin’ me?”
Rihanna Makes Her Debut on ‘Forbes’ Annual Billionaires List
The Weeknd Hints at Name Change: “Maybe Pull a YE”
The Weeknd hit Twitter to talk to his fans, revealing that he may switch his name up.
“You guys are hilarious. I feel like i should change my stage name to ABEL at this point lol,” The Weeknd wrote.
What sparked the thought process? The artist formerly known as Kanye West.
“Maybe pull a YE and just legally change my name to ABEL. no last name. Like Madonna or Cher or Prince. I don’t know it seems like a lot,” he added.
Would you be down with a name change for The Weeknd?
The post The Weeknd Hints at Name Change: “Maybe Pull a YE” appeared first on The Source.
Tyler, the Creator Wins Best Rap Album, Kanye Wins Best Melodic Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at 2022 Grammys
Joyner Lucas Goes Out Of His Way To Prove ‘Ye’s Not Crazy’ With His New Video Devoted To Kanye West
In the midst of his anti-Pete Davidson campaign last month, Kanye West took great pains to bat back criticisms that minimized his issues to him being “crazy.” In fact, he’s taken issue with that particular label ever since revealing his bipolar disorder in 2018. Now, he’s got a new defender in the form of Joyner Lucas. Hate him or love him, Lucas goes out of his way to try to find creative angles for many of his releases, from the “both sides” argument of “I’m Not Racist” to the chameleon-like special effects on “Will.”
Joyner keeps that tradition going with his new single, “Ye’s Not Crazy,” which he shared with a video in which he again takes on the likeness of one of his heroes to reproduce some of Kanye’s more iconic moments of the past couple of years, including his Donda listening events. A Kanye lookalike — insomuch as you can look like someone who’s been wearing masks for the past year and a half — dances in the background as Joyner compares himself to Kanye and explains his interpretation of Kanye’s outspoken philosophy.
Of course, Joyner’s been known to leap to the defense of some pretty terrible people in the past, and defending Kanye only excuses his offputting and childish behavior, so the song itself has received a mixed reception. At least it gets folks’ minds off of Joyner’s own recent meltdown, during which he berated Lollapalooza Festival for booking the objectively more popular Machine Gun Kelly as a headliner, and which he later blamed on Russian hackers.
Watch Joyner Lucas’s “Ye’s Not Crazy” video above.
Dame Dash Wants To ‘Make Our Own Grammys’ After Kanye West Was Reportedly Banned From This Year’s Show
Outspoken rap impresario Dame Dash has a solution for the Grammy Awards’ controversial ban on Kanye West performing at this year’s show: “We make our own Grammys,” he said when he encountered some TMZ photographers recently. Dash didn’t hold back, saying, “I’m not trying to fit into somebody else’s system. So we just create our own so we ain’t gotta worry about nobody else’s rules. … It’s not for them to judge who’s hot. It’s for us. They really shouldn’t be giving us the awards. We should be giving them the awards. They gotta respect our culture.”
For what it’s worth, it isn’t so much the culture of hip-hop that the Recording Academy seems worried about. West was only banned from performing at the ceremony after he spent the first two months of the year railing against his ex-wife, her new boyfriend, and anyone who dared suggest that maybe he was doing too much. At this point, it seems the Academy simply wants to avoid a possible meltdown onstage, although Kanye is apparently still welcome to attend and is nominated Album Of The Year for Donda. Meanwhile, another hip-hop figure, Houston’s J Prince, wants to organize a separate, hip-hop-focused show opposite the Grammys with artists who have felt slighted by the Recording Academy, such as The Weeknd.
As far as “creating our own” goes, well, BET has multiple awards shows including the BET Awards, the BET Hip-Hop Awards, The Soul Train Awards, and the NAACP Image Awards — all of which artists on Kanye’s level feel like they’re too big to attend or even acknowledge. Maybe “we” should be supporting our own, and that also includes holding our own accountable for behaving like jilted middle school boys in public.