The hip-hop community is mourning the terrible loss of rapper Prodigy, one-half of the Queens, N.Y. rap duo Mobb Deep. The rap vet reportedly has passed away today (June 20).
News first broke after Nas posted a photo of Prodigy on his Instagram page with the caption, “QB RIP King P. Prodigy 4 Ever.” According to XXL, the 42-year-old was hospitalized in Las Vegas several days ago due to “complications caused by a sickle cell anemia crisis.” Prodigy, whose real name is Albert Johnson, has battled the disease since birth. “It is with extreme sadness and disbelief that we confirm the death of our dear friend Albert Johnson, better known to millions of fans as Prodigy of legendary NY rap duo Mobb Deep. Prodigy was hospitalized a few days ago in Vegas after a Mobb Deep performance for complications caused by a sickle cell anemia crisis,” a rep said in a statement. “As most of his fans know, Prodigy battled the disease since birth. The exact causes of death have yet to be determined. We would like to thank everyone for respecting the family’s privacy at this time.” Prodigy, along with Havoc, formed Mobb Deep in 1992 and brought a new and raw energy during the golden era of New York rap with their classic 1995 album, The Infamous. The collection featured several gritty street anthems including “Shook Ones, Part II,” “Eye for Eye” (featuring Nas) and “Survival of the Fittest.” Overall, Mobb Deep recorded eight studio albums together during their illustrious career. Their last effort was 2014’s The Infamous Mobb Deep, a double CD project in celebration of the 20th anniversary of The Infamous. One half featured songs from The Infamous LP, the other half contained brand new tracks from the rap tandem. From 1995 to 1997, Mobb Deep also found themselves embroiled in the East Coast Vs. West Coast rap rivalry after Tha Dogg Pound released the “New York, New York” video where they kicked down the Twin Towers. The rap duo took this as an affront to their beloved city and appeared on the response song, “L.A., L.A.,” along with Capone-N-Noreaga and Tragedy Khadafi. 2Pac would later attacked Mobb Deep on his legendary diss track, “Hit Em Up.” In 2000, Prodigy embarked on a successful solo career with his H.N.I.C. LP trilogy and his collaborative projects with the Alchemist, including the 2013 effort, Albert Einstein. During his solo career, Prodigy also had several run-ins with the law. In November 2003, Prodigy was arrested in New York and charged with third degree criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of marijuana. Three years later, Prodigy was busted again with criminal possession of weapon after police found a .22 caliber handgun during a traffic stop. In October 2007, Prodigy was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for illegal possession of a firearm after accepting a plea deal with prosecutors. In March 2011, Prodigy was released from prison on good behavior and stayed on parole until 2014. Mobb Deep’s last New York-era performance together was at Hot 97’s Summer Jam concert earlier this month where they performed with Joey Bada$$ during his set. This is such a terrible loss to hip-hop. Prodigy will be sorely missed. We want to send our prayers and condolences to Prodigy’s family and friends. May he rest in peace.
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During a June 17 interview with The Guardian, Lorde talked about her friendship with Taylor Swift. And on the topic of Swift’s ultra-fame, Lorde tried to compare the phenomenon to being with a friend who’s unwell.
“It’s like having a friend with very specific allergies,” she said. “There are certain places you can’t go together. Certain things you can’t do. There are these different sets of considerations within the friendship. It’s like having a friend with an autoimmune disease.” This didn’t sit well with fans who saw Lorde’s comparison as massively insensitive. “What an incredibly ignorant analogy to make @Lorde,” one wrote alongside an image depicting the horrors of autoimmune disorders like lupus and arthritis. And when Lorde realized the hurt she may have caused, she leapt in to make things right. “didn’t mention taylor, but regardless, i f—– up & that was really insensitive. i’m sorry,” she noted in a reply tweet. 2 Chainz just released the video for his song “Blue Cheese,” featuring Migos, off his just released Pretty Girls Like Trap Music album. According to Chainz, he would step up his lyrics whenever he was on a song with rappers who were considered lyrical but wouldn’t do the same when he collaborated with others. But he no longer does that. “Before I used to play according to competition, like I did in sports, which was probably my downfall in sports,” he explained. “I only liked showing up when good people showed up. I applied that to music, because if I did a song with Drake or Lil Wayne or Kanye, I could stand out. I could go hard and still be someone you feel on the track. If I did a song with somebody pop or somebody that doesn’t have as many bars, I would still show up but I wouldn’t embarrass the person.” You can watch the new “Blue Cheese” video above.
It was a bad night for the ever-positive DJ Khaled. While performing Sunday (June 18th) night at EDC Festival, he had a few technical difficulties. During his 15 minute set, the sound went out a few times and there many other technical issues. This resulted in him being booed by a few hecklers in the crowd.
Kahled took to Instagram to vent: "They Tried to sabotage my sound so many times THEY could not get the sound right on my set and i still stood on stage wit no sound and when they got the sound to work they want cut my set short but I still rep for my people anyone else would walk off stage .. i knew my California and Vegas fans was in the building .. THEY DONT WANT US TO WIN SO WE WIN MORE FOR THERE HEAD TOP!!! It’s all luv thoe .. love is the ?.. I forgive them … love is always the answer !"
Jay Z will release his latest album, 4:44, next week through Tidal.
Announced at midnight last night, the news came from Sprint’s Twitter. If you’re wondering why Sprint is promoting Jay’s latest recording effort, the telecommunications company previously invested in a 33% stake in Tidal. All Sprint users can qualify for a six-month membership in Tidal HiFi, which will allow them to stream 4:44 free from their mobile devices.
Of course, Tidal members will also get in on the exclusive action, as long as they have a subscription.
As to what to expect from 4:44, there are very few details out there at the moment. What we do know is that like Beyonce’s Lemonade, 4:44 will be a cinematic journey for the Roc-a-Fella founder. A teaser trailer for the track “Adnis” was released yesterday, which contains a snippet of the song as well as Mahershala Ali and Danny Glover.
I a few more days we find out just what Jay Z has planned with 4:44, and those of us without Sprint services or Tidal subscriptions need only wait until Hov hits the summer concert series. Jay Z will definitely be headlining at Made in America this year, as well as hitting up Meadows and Austin City Limits. No word on a more formal tour, but with the twins arriving on Father’s Day, and a new album to drop, Jay Z might be in line for one of the best years of his career in 2017.
The group’s BTS Festa event began at the beginning of the month and ended on Wednesday, the day after the boy band’s June 13 anniversary. Over the two weeks, the seven members held several special events directed at fans and released videos and songs, including Rap Monster and V's collaborative track "4 O'Clock." Meanwhile, Jungkook and Jimin released a cover of Charlie Puth’s “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” and Suga worked with Jin and Jungkook to revamp his previously released Agust D mixtape track, “So Far Away.”
The three songs were uploaded to the group's SoundCloud and YouTube pages, much like other non-album tracks and mixtapes that the boy band has released throughout their career. “4 O’Clock" is a guitar-driven melancholic soft rock ballad dominated by V’s deep, breathy tone. Rap Monster joins in with both a paunchy rap and a mellow singing verse that diverges from his usual role as a rapper. The track was co-produced by the two BTS members. The two other tracks were previously released by the group’s members on different occasions. Jungkook covered “We Don’t Talk Anymore” in February on his own -- and gained Puth’s nod of approval on Twitter -- while Suga’s “So Far Away” appeared on his mixtape last year and originally featured the indie vocalist Suran. In a note on BTS’ blog, Suga wrote that the new version featuring Jin and Jungkook has a fresh set of lyrics and is “closer” to the original sound he had planned for the song than the Agust D version. Along with the songs, BTS also gifted fans with a variety of performance videos and held a live stream on Tuesday to mark the anniversary. Over the four years of their career, BTS has become a major player in the K-pop industry and built up a powerful fanbase and social-media presence, the latter of which helped propel the act to take home the top social artist award at May's BBMAs.
Despite less than favorable reviews from critics and harsh criticisms from Jada Pinkett Smith and 50 Cent, the Tupac Shakur biopic, All Eyez on Me, had a great opening weekend at the box office. According to comScore (via PR Newswire), which tabulates worldwide box office receipts, AEOM earned an estimated $27.1 million in the U.S. for what is a $30.1 million worldwide bow. That’s not bad considering it was competing against tentpole movies like the animated flick Cars 3 (which debut at No. 1 with $53.5 million domestically) and the superhero flick Wonder Woman and the Tom Cruise-actioner The Mummy. The $40 million-budgeted movie, directed by Benny Boom, is expected to make a $50 million domestic total after playing a few weeks in the theaters. While that might be a low number, it’s still a big achievement for the film. Of course, it won’t come close to the enormously successful Straight Outta Compton biopic, which earned $161 million at the box office. Box Office Totals (U.S.): 1. Cars 3 – Disney – $53.5M 2. Wonder Woman – Warner Bros. – $40.8M 3. All Eyez On Me – Lionsgate – $27.1M 4. Mummy, The – Universal – $13.9M 5. 47 Meters Down – Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures – $11.5M
Fans think they spot a secret Taylor Swift cameo in Selena Gomez's buzzy new video for "Bad Liar," released Wednesday, and they might just be onto something.
In the brand-new video for the Talking Heads-sampling track, the singer/actress takes on the roles of four interacting characters as they navigate high school, home life and conflicting desires. But the Swift rumors surround one particular scene in the video, in which Gomez plays a teenager having a solo dance moment in her bedroom. In the background, some viewers spotted two posters sporting women who eerily resemble Swift -- a known member of Gomez's inner-circle. Leave it to the Selenators and the Swifties of the Twittersphere to figure this one out.
For the last six years, Kirstin Maldonado has been a member of Pentatonix, serving as the lone female voice in the a cappella quintet. But just after Pentatonix wrapped a recent major international tour, and before they embark on another North American trek later this summer, Maldonado is using her time to forge a new path, as a solo artist. The 25-year-old premiered her debut solo single, “Break a Little,” in May (not long after Pentatonix bandmate Avi Kaplan announced his departure from the group), which was Maldonado's first opportunity to show who she is as an artist when not harmonizing with four other voices. And today (June 16), she unveils a second track, “All Night,” along with a video for the song, which continues the story that began with “Break a Little." “All Night” is a track about insomnia and obsessive love, with a psychedelic, sci-fi-esque video that feels straight out of Stranger Things -- think levitation, thunderstorms, hallucinatory visions and even a white wolf. It's a continuation of the same stormy night we encountered in the "Break a Little" video, where Maldonado's character is left stranded in the rain after a fight with her male companion. Along with the new song, Maldonado announced that her EP L O V E will be available June 14, which is also now available for pre-order. Ahead of the song and video release, Billboard caught up with Maldonado to get the story behind “All Night” and hear a little more about her solo project. Ryan Seacrest is rumored to be signing a deal to host the new version of "American Idol," but it's not nearly as rich as the one Katy Perry signed.
The deal is expected to be signed this weekend. The network offered $10 mil, Seacrest wanted $15 mil and they compromised somewhere in between ... but closer to $10M than $15M. ABC and Fremantle which produces the show -- have not picked the other 2 judges yet |
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