On Saturday, July 25, Drake dropped three new tracks via the Beats 1 Radio Show (Apple Music – OVO Sound Radio).
‘Charged Up’ | This diss track is in response to Meek Mill accusing Drake of using an alleged ‘ghostwriter.’ Drake hasn’t publicly spoken before this regarding the accusation. He even brought Nicki into the track! All I’m going to say is Meek can keep Tweeting and Drake can keep dropping bars 🙂 “Wow, I’m honored that you think this is staged. I’m flattered man, in fact, I’m amazed.”
‘Hotline Bling’ | Rapping over a sample of D.R.A.M.’s hit ‘Cha Cha,’ Drake debuted the song at his barber’s wedding. He shows his softer side (not to be unexpected) as he sings to a special lady about late night calls on his cell phone. “You used to call me on my cell phone. Late night when you need my love.”
‘Right Hand’ | Over a West Coast beat produced by Vinylz, Drizzy raps about a go-to girl and ensures her she won’t find anyone better. “You’re my right hand, you’re my go to. Told me everything about you. That’s a bold move.”
I know it’s super late for you East Coasters, but you can still enjoy this for your morning commute or late night during the week. Majid Jordan, a Canadian record producing and performing duo – Majid Al Maskati and Jordan Ullman – are signed to the OVO Sound record label. You may best know the duo from Drake’s ‘Hold On We’re Going Home.’
Well, they recently put out a 20-minute mix, titled ‘[|]’ that right now is all I’m listening to. Well, I’ve been listening to other songs, but this every night for sure. It has a chill and relaxing vibe with soulful beats and a soothing sound. Enough typing – listen below! What do you think? You do not need to be a fan of rap at all to like this. And if that isn’t your speed, I encourage you to check out their other tracks, which can be found here. Love!
While yes, these online fights are quite ridiculous, especially when it’s between two grown men, I find them fascinating. I was literally watching Meek Mill Tweet live calling out Drake and the same with Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift. Now that is reality TV.
The first Twitter feud of the week was between Nicki Minaj and my favorite (jokes) Taylor Swift. The feud started when music video nominations were announced for the MTV Video Music Awards and Nicki wasn’t nominated for anything. She began ranting on the social media platform but never directed a Tweet toward anyone in particular. Cut to Taylor Swift. Catching wind of Nicki’s Tweets, Taylor responded. More confusion took place. Well, we can all sleep now because Taylor issued an apology of misunderstanding to Nicki via Twitter.
Nicki thanked Taylor and shared her appreciation. All is right in the Twitterspehere.
False.
Nicki’s beau Meek Mill decided to take shots at my boy Drake. You know I got defensive about this. He called out Drake for not writing his own raps. I chuckled at this.
And today we received confirmation from Drake’s supposed “ghostwriter” Quentin Miller saying that he is not and never will be a ghostwriter for Drake. The two have definitely collaborated but Q said he would never take credit for anything other than that. Drake’s producer, Noah Shebib, known as 40, also took to Twitter to defend the rapper. Drake stayed silent on the platform.
Do I think he has a ghostwriter? No. And I’m not just saying that because I have a healthy obsession with him. Someone who raps and sings with such emotion and passion can’t do that through someone else’s words. Yes, I believe he has probably had help or inspiration from others, as most artists do, but that’s part of the creativity and creation process. At the end of the day, Drake will continue making music the people love, and I will continue figuring out ways of how I can meet him.
THE WEEKND DEBUTS NEW SONG
Earlier this week the Toronto native teased a brand new song during a performance on a private island near London. Like most Weeknd songs, it was a melodic and moody cut.
His sophomore LP, Beauty Behind the Madness, drops on August 28, and I cannot freakin’ wait.
Listen to the untitled track below.
J.COLE ON REMIX TO JANET JACKSON’S ‘NO SLEEEP’
A few weeks ago Janet Jackson made a musical comeback with her song ‘No Sleeep.’ And no I’m not spelling ‘sleep’ wrong. The song’s title uses three e’s. I love the addition of having Cole on the remix – his voice contributes to the cool vibe of the song in a chill way. While this seems like a random pairing of artists to collaborate on a track, they clearly support each other. Janet was seen at J.Cole’s LA show on Sunday, July 19 at Staples Center. Love it! The visuals for the song are out too.
Watch and enjoy below!
Oh, and happy birthday to the girl, J. Lo! I mean… she’s a smoke show at 46!
Happy National Tequila Day – have a great weekend, yinz. Hopefully my next post will be about the release of Frank Ocean’s new album…
While it’s only 15 seconds, this snippet of what is probably called ‘Nothing’s Promised’ and a possible single off her next album, R8, is bound to be another banger. Produced by the talented Mike Will Made-It, the Ear Drummer Records producer posted this snippet on his Instagram. The audio below is from his Twitter page.
While these two selections aren’t songs, they are two events coming up this week/weekend that I’d love to attend.
1. Kanye West’s ‘All Day’ video gets Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) premiere. Starting this Saturday, July 25 at a gallery in LACMA, the Steve McQueen directed video will be playing for four days during museum hours.
Kanye first streamed the visuals during Paris Fashion Week at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in March. Yeezy and McQueen have been friends for years, but this is their first collaboration.
“[He’s] an artist I’m proud to call my friend and someone I have great respect for,” said West. “I’ve always admired Steve’s work.”
While I wish I could say that Kanye will be present for one of the viewings, I haven’t been able to find anything about that yet. I do know he will be in Toronto on the 26th headlining the closing ceremony of the Pan American Games.
Anth, maybe we can go see it when you’re here next week! 🙂
2. Future to put on four free shows to thank his fans for support of his recent album Dirty Sprite 2. He took to Instagram to annouce his ‘Salute the Fans’ series, which kicked off tonight in Atlanta at The Masquerade. Each morning of the show the Freebandz rapper will Tweet the time and venue in that specific city. I will definitely be setting the Twitter alert for his Tweets.
Apologies for completely blowing it lately with regards to posting! It’s easier said than done to maintain a blog while also holding a full-time job. But that’s no excuse! Anyways.
Many of you may have already seen what went down on Wednesday, July 15 from my social media posts. But if you haven’t, I was fortunate enough to attend the ESPY Awards! Never thought I’d be attending an award show dedicated to sports. Many thanks to my roommate Kylie for taking me as her plus one and an even bigger thank you to her friend who hooked us up with not only tickets to the show but also to walk down the red carpet and to the official after party! So many things crossed off my bucket list. Let me break it down by tickets:
Picture 1 below: Of course the whirlwind that is Tell Nation was present. We only meet up at award shows. #duh
Picture 2: The beautiful Caitlyn Jenner accepting the Arhur Ashe Courage Award.
Picture 3: The glitter explosion at the conclusion of the event! cc: Telly
And my personal favorite of the evening…
I think the video says it all. You must watch it all the way through – the last seven seconds are by far the best. I was truly completely 100% in my element. I think it’s safe to say Kylie and I had one of the best nights!
Who knows, maybe my next award show will be the CMAs! False. The chances of that happening are slim to none. And the featured image for this post, the ESPYS spelled out in donuts, yes, those are donuts. Mom, it looks like they were inspired by your 6/6/15 party.
Thanks for reading, yinz! Have a wonderful weekend.
It is about dang time! We officially have a release date for The Weeknd’s sophomore LP…
Friday, August 28!
Details were revealed when the album went for pre-order internationally on iTunes before being taken down. I was able to grab a screen shot for ya though 🙂 Pretty vague, but it’s official!
Beauty Behind the Madness will include 14 tracks, featuring already hit songs ‘Often,’ ‘The Hills,’ and ‘Can’t Feel My Face.’
He also took to Twitter to confirm that the album will be available for pre-order soon. The album marks the follow up to Kiss Land which debuted at No. 2 and was released in 2013. This is one album I am TRULY excited to listen to this year! I’m hoping there’s another Drake collab.
I’m torn! Miguel was very recently interviewed by the U.K.’s Sunday Times where he stated he believes he makes better music than Frank Ocean, who he actually ran into at a hotel bar in London during the interview (Kylie, he’s alive!).
Miguel is quoted saying, ‘To be completely honest—and no disrespect to anyone—I genuinely believe that I make better music, all the way around.”
I keep going back and forth in my head as to who I think makes better music. Miguel incorporates funk, hip hop, and edgy styles into his jams, while Ocean’s music features unconventional melodies that hover between speech and song.
Both are considered to be in the new wave of R&B and tend to sing about the same topics – love and nostalgia to name a few. And when they both hit that falsetto! I just can’t decide, you guys.
Oh, and happy birthday to the girl, J. Lo! I mean… she’s a smoke show at 46!
Californyinz 