Source: photo: WENN As the culture continues to evolve it is a given some veterans will disagree with the current trajectory. Will.i.am made it clear he is not here for today’s Soundcloud wave. As spotted by Complex The Black Eyed Peas front man recently did an interview with Rolling Stone . As he focuses his talents to build out an artificially intelligent personal assistant via his technology company I.am+, the music periodical picked his brain on the future of entertainment. When talking Rap Will spoke to the elephant in the room. “What’s the number-one sport on the planet? Soccer, because anyone can play it. The problem with hip-hop is everybody could do it. It doesn’t take much f***ing skill right now to make hip-hop. It’s become the lowest-hanging fruit.” He went on to further explain his stance. “It’s no longer about Rakim-level, Nas-level, not the deep, metaphorical simile sh*t. Out of respect for the Nases of the world, let’s not call it hip-hop. Let’s say that’s rap. But instrumental music is going to be the next biggest sh*t.” When asked to clarify his speculation about music in the next 20 years he pointed to talent and skill. “The John Coltranes, the Stan Getzes, the Jimi Hendrixes, the musicianship. That’s the only way to prove intelligence or taste: demonstrating your artistry. Right now we’re competing human on human, and eventually we’ll be competing human on machine – the moment there’s a fucking AI mumble rapper [ laughs ] . . . it’s inevitable, bro! Like, the reason why Star Wars is Star Wars is because the Jedis kept the machines in check” he said. You can read the rest of the interview here where he discusses how AI will eventually surpass HI (human intelligence) and more. Photo: WENN.com
Just weeks after ending her engagement to Pete Davidson, Ariana Grande dropped a new single , “Thank U, Next.” The powerful anthem, a tribute to her exes, is smashing music records. Its lyrics have also inspired November’s hottest meme. Billboard Woman of the Year Ariana Grande keeps setting new records only to surpass them. In recent days, she’s been doing it with the same song, as she shared on Instagram. “Thank u, next has surpassed 100 MILLION streams on spotify in only 11 days,” reads a graphic shared on social media. The graphic puts that in perspective: “it is the fastest song in HISTORY to reach this milestone.” Ariana shared the image with a very grateful black heart emoji in the captions. Keep in mind that that’s only her Spotify success. It doesn’t include people listening on YouTube — or pirating it. Her record-smashing feat doesn’t include people using other streaming services. It also doesn’t include those of us who eschew streaming music and instead immediately purchased it from iTunes or Amazon. Part of the appeal is that it’s a beautiful song. The song’s real meaning also contributed to its success. “Thank U, Next” is an anthem to Ariana’s exes — to three, in particular. Ariana had an 8-month relationship with Big Sean from 2014 to 2015. “Thought I’d end up with Sean / But he wasn’t a match,” Ariana sings. Starting in the summer of 2015, Ariana dated backup dancer Ricky Alvarez for about a year. “Wrote some songs about Ricky / Now I listen and laugh,” Ariana sings. Famously, Ariana got engaged to Saturday Night Live comedian Pete Davidson, and broke things off in October. “Even almost got married / And for Pete, I’m so thankful,” Ariana’s lyrics affirm. On a sadder note, she dated Mac Miller for two years starting in 2016. He died just a few months ago. “Wish I could say, ‘Thank you’ to Malcolm / ‘Cause he was an angel,” Ariana sings bittersweetly. “Thank U, Next” appeals to people as a song and as an athem. Some can relate in their own lives — they really appreciate their past loves and past relationships. Others are just Ariana Grande fans and love to hear how at peace she is with her romantic past. But it’s more than just a song, folks. It’s a meme. For ages now, social media has been filled with “one taught me love, one taught me patience, one taught me pain” posts. These posts, quoting lyrics from Ariana’s song, can do everything from critique three films or three characters or three condiments. Of course, Ariana’s release of this song such a short time after ending her relationship with Pete Davidson has fueled conspiracy theorists. There are people in the world who believes that all celebrity activities, from relationships to their art to overdoses and deaths, are a scripted facade. These are the same people who use words like “illuminati” and “Deep State” with total sincerity. So they think that for some unknowable reason, Ariana and Pete were “ordered” by, like, Beyonce or George Soros to get engaged, then split. According to this admittedly hilarious theory, Ariana had this song prepared and mixed for whenever they were ordered to break up. Why? Maybe, like, mind-control embedded in the song. It did release right before election day! Ariana being a talented and passionate musician with the resources to pull together a song quickly is apparently too simple of an explanation. There is a glaring omission from Ariana’s song — her ex Graham Phillips. They performed together on Broadway along with current Dynasty star Elizabeth Gillies. You might know Graham from The Good Wife or from his more recent appearance on Riverdale as a seriously awful dude. Our guess is that the fact that they dated in 2011, when Ariana was mostly just known as a Nickelodeon star, is a factor. Also, she probably just views Graham as a friend whom she once dated. There’s a difference between that and an “ex.” In case you were wondering if there was bad blood, we looked into it and found no evidence of hard feelings. In fact, they staged a mini-reunion this past summer with another former castmate. Ariana was probably right to narrow her scope of exes to a handful. View Slideshow: Ariana Grande vs. Pete Davidson: Whose Side Should You Take In This Ugly Breakup?
Quincy Jones ’ influence and legacy in the music industry is nothing shy of profound with a seven-decade-long career producing hits for legendary artists such as Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion and Aretha Franklin. Mr. Jones has received countless accolades and now will be awarded with the “Legendary Genius Honor” at Spotify’s Secret Genius Awards on November 16 at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, hosted by Grammy-Award winner NE-YO. The second annual Secret Genius Awards will celebrate the masterminds – songwriters, producers, engineers and mixers – behind the music that fans are streaming the most on Spotify this year. Spotify founded the Secret Genius program in 2017 as part of its mission to remain dedicated in supporting creators in the music industry. As a special tribute to Jones, 2X Grammy Award Winning artist, and Jones-protégé, Jacob Collier will perform with world-renowned trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf. “Big-time love and props to Spotify for taking an important step in the industry by spotlighting the many geniuses behind the scenes. It has been absolutely incredible to have collaborated with so many different artists throughout the last seven decades and it is an absolute honor to have been chosen as a recipient of the Legendary Genius Honor. Thank-Q Spotify, and I hope my work will serve as an inspiration to the next generation of creators.” – Quincy Jones Jones gained prominence in the 1960s composing film scores and working with some of the era’s top artists. He then went on to produce three of Michael Jackson’s hit albums: Off the Wall, Thriller, which is the best-selling record of all time globally, and Bad . These albums spawned many top songs including “Rock With You,” “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” “Man in the Mirror” and more. Jones has a record 79 Grammy nominations, was honored with the Grammy Legend Award in 1991, John F. Kennedy Center Honors in 2001 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. In addition to his contributions to the music industry, Jones is a social activist dedicated to supporting the arts, education and underprivileged youth. The Secret Genius Awards are made up of 14 categories and include Songwriter of the Year, Producer of the Year, Breakthrough of the Year, Social Message and more. A complete list of Secret Genius Awards nominees can be found here . Additional presenters and performers will be announced at a later date.
Source: HotNewHipHop.com / HotNewHipHop.com An expected effect of XXXTentacion ‘s shooting death on Monday (June 18) was certain to be that fans and the curious would turn to his music. As a result, the 20-year-old rapper shattered Taylor Swift ‘s single-day streaming record on Spotify with 10.4 million streams Tuesday (June 19) for the “SAD!” track. Billboard writes : On Tuesday, the day after XXXTentacion was fatally shot at the age of 20, the singer-songwriter’s “SAD!” broke the single-day record for Spotify streams that had been held by Taylor Swift, a source tells Billboard. “SAD!” amassed 10.4 million streams on Spotify June 19, according to Spotifycharts.com; Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” racked up 10.1 million streams on the service the day it was released, August 25, 2017. Helping XXXTentacion’s single break Swift’s record were about 15 million new paying subscribers: Spotify counts more than 75 million subscribers now, up from about 60 million at the end of July 2017. Spotify’s free user base has ballooned as well. Spotify, which initially removed “SAD!” and other tracks from its curated playlists, including Rap Caviar, restored the track and even published a tribe playlist to the rapper. — Photo: HotNewHipHop.com
Source: Burak Cingi / Getty On Friday, Nas fans were hype with the announcement of his new album Nasir . Folks could get a preview of the much anticipated album via a live streaming of the listening party in New York. Once the party was over, surely fans were ready to hop right on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal to further enjoy the Queensbridge spitter’s work. However, as soon as 12 a.m. hit…crickets. Then you think…okay, it’s only 12:01…I’ll give Nas like 30 mins…. …30 mins later… Then you think, okay I’ll just go to bed and Nasir will be fresh on my Spotify landing page in the morning! Morning hits… Then right before you go into panic mode…you remember the old days of listening to stuff on YouTube…and THANK GOODNESS someone had the decency to upload Nasir illegally. Not to mention, you can still enjoy the tracks via the live streaming link . But then you end up thinking, my playlist would be lit with this one Nas track and I’m too lazy to put in the extra work of looking for downloadable files. …It would all be so simple with streaming. As of 11:50 a.m. Nasir was still nowhere to be found on streaming. But, no worries…surely we’ll get it by the time the day is over (hopefully). Meanwhile, folks on social media were definitely waiting on Nas like the first and the fifteenth, and some weren’t too happy about it. Swipe through for some hilarious commentary on the Nasir waiting game.
‘Purpose’ Available Everywhere Now! iTunes: http://smarturl.it/PurposeDlx?IQid=VEVO1113 Stream & Add To Your Spotify Playlist: http://smarturl.it/sPurpose?IQid=VEVO1113 Google Play: http://sm… http://www.youtube.com/v/PfGaX8G0f2E?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata Follow this link: Justin Bieber – I’ll Show You
‘Purpose’ Available Everywhere Now! iTunes: http://smarturl.it/PurposeDlx?IQid=VEVO1113 Stream & Add To Your Spotify Playlist: http://smarturl.it/sPurpose?IQid=VEVO1113 Google Play: http://sm… http://www.youtube.com/v/fRh_vgS2dFE?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata Here is the original post: Justin Bieber – Sorry (PURPOSE : The Movement)
‘Purpose’ Available Everywhere Now! iTunes: http://smarturl.it/PurposeDlx?IQid=VEVO1113 Stream & Add To Your Spotify Playlist: http://smarturl.it/sPurpose?IQid=VEVO1113 Google Play: http://sm… http://www.youtube.com/v/DK_0jXPuIr0?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata See the original post here: Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean?
