For years, critics, listeners, and fans have asked the same snide question: “What does DJ Khaled actually do?” No one really wanted to know the answer, because the answer was always beside the point. In reality, DJ Khaled was building a pathway of success that made a certain amount of …
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Memes are acts of beautiful futility. They aren’t jokes, but they’re meant to be funny, and a great meme thrives through a lack of context — try to explain them, and they immediately become ineffective. Most importantly, all memes have a shelf life. The BoyBoy West Coast‘s “U Was At …
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J. Cole has had it. After years of silence, he’s contemplating taking drastic measures to stop his fans from spreading one of the least funny memes in recent memory: “J. Cole went platinum with no features.” The joke/rallying cry’s genesis is simple. Cole’s last three albums — 2014 Forest Hills …
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On the tenth anniversary of So Far Gone, Drake revealed that his seminal and career-launching mixtape will be available on streaming for “the first time ever” on Thursday, February 14. In a lengthy Instagram post, Drake shared an updated graphic of the iconic mixtape cover, its little boy looking down …
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21 Savage was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Atlanta Sunday, with the agency claiming that the rapper is actually from the United Kingdom and overstayed his visa after coming to America as a teenager. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that 21 Savage, real name …
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There is a devastating sadness to 21 Savage and J. Cole‘s “A Lot” video, not because of its musings on poverty, death, racism, abuse and generational trauma. Those are sad as well, but that imagery is so ingrained in the black experience that one learns to exist with that consistent …
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Welcome to ‘Will I Get Fired For This?,’ an occasionally recurring column in which staff writer Charles Holmes — whose duties include but are not limited to watching and writing about music videos — watches a new music video that he fears will get him fired. Read the previous entry …
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Rising pop star/rapper Bryce Vine and British singer Dan Caplen have joined French DJ/producer Feder for the upbeat new song, “Control.” The cut finds Vine and Caplen spitting and singing over a snappy groove laced with synths that grow from a mellow throb to a striking pulse. In an enticing …
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The once-disbanded Diplomats — the Harlem hip-hop group of Cam’Ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana and Freekey Zekey — are returning with a new full-length, their first official album since 2004’sDiplomatic Immunity 2. The album,Diplomatic Ties, is set to be released on November 22nd, on Thanksgiving, and a release show is …
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New music from Lil Peep and XXXTentacion is coming, according to ILoveMakonnen. The rapper broke the news about the posthumous collaboration on Instagram in what appears to be a studio session from XXXTentacion where he’s reflecting on Lil Peep’s death in 2017. “When I heard X’s recording, talking about my …
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