Lil Baby, Usher and Victoria Monét have brought home the gold from the 2024 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards, which took place Thursday night in LA.
Lil Babyreceived the Songwriter of the Year Award for his work on It’s Only Me cuts “Forever,” “Freestyle” and “Heyy,” while Victoria’sASCAP Vanguard Award was given to her for “On My Mama” and the “innovative work that is helping to shape all of music,” a press release states.
Usher was awarded the ASCAP Voice of the Culture Award for his contributions to music and culture. He was also praised for his pen on “Glu” and “Good Good.”
Other winners of the night include SZA‘s “Snooze” as R&B/Hip-Hop and Rap Song of the Year, “ICU” by Coco Jones, “Just Wanna Rock” by Lil Uzi Vert, Summer Walker‘s “Karma” and 21 Savage for “Spin Bout U.”
— Commonand Pete Rock have released “All Kind of Ideas” and its accompanying video. The track is the first new studio record Pete Rock has rapped on in five years. The video captures the two working during a studio session, with the process embodying “the nostalgic underground hip-hop scene of the 90s.”
“All Kind of Ideas” is the third cut off Common and Pete’s joint album, The Auditorium, Vol. 1, following “Wise Up” and “Dreamin.'” It’s due out July 12.
— If you’re wondering what label Gunna is on, he told Spotify’s RapCaviar the answer. “I’m still providing. We still pushing. No paperwork has been changed,” said the rapper, who was released from jail after entering an Alford plea in the YSL RICO case. “So it’s like, whatever’s been getting and how we’ve been pushing this s***, it’s still going.”
— Earl Sweatshirt, Yasiin Bey, Daniel Caesar and more are coming together for a special cause. They’re set to perform at the Troxy in London on July 4 for the Artists for Aid concert benefitting the people of Gaza and Sudan. Tickets are now available to purchase.
— XXXTentacion‘s father is the latest to sing Kendrick Lamar‘s praises. While many have praised K. Dot for his lyrical ability, Dwayne Onfroy simply shared a message thanking him for supporting his late son.
“Special big-up, shoutout goes to Kendrick Lamar…I just want to say, first off all, thank you for giving my son a platform when he was an unknown artist. On his first single.You gave him a shoutout when his album released. You stepped up to the plate for him when a lot of people just stood by and stood back,” he said, in part.
Megan Thee Stallion‘s album MEGAN comes out on Friday, but just ahead of its release, she was forced to make a change. Taking to Instagram Live Wednesday, she revealed she had to rerecord a song that referenced an anime series to avoid losing the entire sample. As she explains, the production company instructed her that the new version must not include characters’ names or other references to the series. She was also told she couldn’t cosplay as any of the characters for a music video.
“Y’all will never believe what the motherf*** just happened to me! I’m not talking bad because I’m very grateful. Y’all know how I told y’all I got an anime sample on my album? This has probably been the hardest song to try to have on my album — but like I said I’m not complaining ’cause I’m grateful,” Meg began.
“This is a very big production company so for them to even say yes — and I be cussing and s*** — like I said, I’m grateful. I’m not complaining,” she continued. “I really wanted this sample. I really wanted to do it, so I’m doing everything I got to do to keep it. But change the names? Change the names the day before the album out? That was nuts.”
Meg says fans will understand why the production company “was giving us a hard time” once they hear the track. She hopes they “think this s*** sound fire, ’cause I had to jump through 8 million hoops to get this s***.”
Roddy Ricch calls 911 in his latest single and video, directed by Spike Jordan.
In it, he takes on the role of a man who saves people from danger, including a woman who almost got hit by a train.
“Shake my hand, and I might take you on a trip/ Pretty, smooth skin, nice toes, you just my type/ Usually I don’t take her home first night/ But for you, I just might/ I know you know, these b****** can’t f*** with you/ On your worst day when you come around my way,” Roddy sang.
“911” follows Ricch’s “Survivor’s Remorse” and appears on his upcoming third studio album, The Navy Album.
Kendrick Lamar‘s Pop Out event turned out to be more than a Juneteenth celebration. It was also a win for Kendrick and many of the artists who performed onstage.
Kendrick earned almost 61 million combined official on-demand U.S. streams in the three days after the event (June 20-22), a 31% increase over the three-day period before the show (June 16-18), Billboard reports. His song “Not Like Us,” which he performed a few times at the event, garnered 21 million combined streams in the three-day period following the concert, a 62% jump.
ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul also saw some bumps in their streams in the three days after their onstage reunion with K.Dot, their fellow Black Hippy crew member.
ScHoolboy earned 4.3 million streams, a 31% increase. Jay Rock acquired a little over 1 million streams, up 45%, and Ab-Soul garnered 291,000 streams, up 44%.
Even Dr. Dre, who appeared onstage, saw his song “Still D.R.E.” jump 19% after the event.
Also seeing bumps in streams are Tyler, The Creator, Dom Kennedy and YG, who all took the stage during Mustard‘s part of the show: Tyler for “Wusyaname” and “Earfquake,” which he performed that day; Dom Kennedy for “When I Come Around” and “My Type of Party”; and YG, whose whole catalog saw a 35% increase in streams over the three-day period.
Mustard’s song “Perfect Ten,” featuring the late Nipsey Hussle, also saw a 127% rise in streams over the three-day period, up to 123,000.
Donald Glover has been teasing his upcoming Childish Gambino album with the phrase “Bando is coming,” but a note about one of its songs did not actually come from him.
Taking to Instagram Live Wednesday, he confirmed the news about his final project, titled “Lithonia,” noting it’s a single and the prequel to his forthcoming LP, Bando Storm and the New World.
“That got leaked, it kind of pissed me off,” Glover said. “And I know who did it, Audiomack, f****** no soup for you. You’re not getting the album now. That’s what time I’m on.”
According to Glover, his new album rollout was intended to be “mostly about fun,” but “the problem is we’re not having fun.”
“I’m trying to have fun,” he said. “Because I feel like there’s just people not having enough fun. … When I was a kid there was, like, big things that would unite us and I just feel bad for y’all. I feel bad for some of y’all.”
Glover added that it’s “f***** up” that “the most fun we had was from a fight,” referring to the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud.
“[It] was a song from a fight, from a rap beef, which I enjoyed every minute of,” Glover said. “It was very fun. But, still, kind of negative, in a certain light, I guess.”
