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Is YG’s new video for ‘Stop Snitchin’ too BRAZY? Nah, sh*t is HOT

After debuting the diss track by performing it at Coachella with Tekashi 6ix9ine backdropped on a jumbotron a couple of days ago, rapper YG has released the official video for “Stop Snitchin,” — and it’s out of control.

I’m guessing we were the only ones who forgot about Tekashi and his brief back and forth with YG last year. But it’s apparent, YG didn’t.

Leading with the advisory “F*** SLAVERY” in blood red, the video for “Stop Snitchin” takes us to a plantation and tells the story of a foiled escape attempt.

With powerful — almost unnecessary —  imagery, YG shows depictions of whipping, lynching, and other violence in the video. He even ended the video with him hanging from a noose.

YG’s “Stop Snitchin”

The diss refers to 6ix9ine’s reported plea deal and cooperation with federal prosecutors following his Nov. 2018 arrest. The Brooklyn rapper was taken into custody for nine federal criminal counts that include racketeering and firearm charges.

Tensions escalated between the two when Tekashi took aim at YG on Instagram last year in response to West Coast rapper’s song “Su Whoop,” calling out fake bloods. Many felt like the line “I ain’t with the pink-haired Blood s*it” is directed at 6ix9ine, which YG didn’t deny.

The “FEFE” rapper then responded by posting a rant mocking YG for the success of his single “Big Bank.”

“YG, suck my f**kin’ di*k, stupid. Your last single before your album came out had four major artists on there. You had 2 Chainz, you had Nicki Minaj and you had Big Sean. How’s my record doing better than your sh*t? You a whole bum out here,” he said. “Stop going on radio stations tryna promote your album mentioning my name.”

YG’s only response: “I can’t wait to meet you”

Fortunately for Tekashi they never did. Still, it was a big enough brush up that YG still remembers and wants smoke. Although 69 has no semblance of a career or will.

The video is extremely well done and hard to look away from, which might have been YG’s objective. It just feels a bit heavy for a beef with someone who can’t respond.

Either way, YG is a grown man and no one — especially not me — is going to tell him what to do or how to live his life. He got it.

The follow-up to the Compton rapper’s 2018 LP Stay Dangerous, 4REAL 4REAL, is out May 3. Make sure you check that out.

Oliver Tree leaves a musical mark in Philly on his ‘Ugly is Beautiful’ Tour

Oliver Tree is most known for his JNCO Jeans, bowl cuts and skills on the razor scooter. The internet sensation hit the stage last Sunday night on March 3 in Philadelphia at The Foundry as part of his, “Ugly is Beautiful” Tour.

Abhi The Nomad performed first to kick off the night with an amazing set to make the mood right. Abhi played a killer 30 minutes and definitely got everyone hyped for Oliver Tree’s performance.

The sold-out crowd was all dressed in vintage jackets and bright colors, inspired by Oliver Tree. When the doors opened, the crowd poured in and everyone was trying to get the perfect spot in the small standing room.

If you have no idea who Oliver Tree is, chances are you would question everything about him. From his bowl cuts, JNCO jeans, and obsession with scootering, you would think he is stuck in the 90s.

The energy was amazing the whole night. Midway through the show, Oliver took a minute to introduce the back story to his newest song, Hurt, which has a deeper, comical explanation behind it.

“I was in a semi-pro scooter freestyle contest. I come in off this 20 ft. roll in, full speed, out of no where, there’s this little pebble, I hit it, go flying forward, break my left wrist and my right wrist.”

Tree explained in a Genius interview. When the first note of the song played, everyone went crazy. The energy from this band is not what you would expect. The crowd was invested the entire night and there were even mosh pits.

 

Oliver Tree is no stranger to putting on a show. Oliver started the show by marching out on stage playing his hit song “Alien Boy.” He played music off of his newest EP Alien Boy along with some music from the first project he put out in 2013 called Splitting Branches.

Backed by a keyboardist, guitar player and drummer, Oliver’s electric dance moves made the crowd cheer and dance along in excitement. The whole crowd had smiles from ear to ear the entire night singing every word to every song.

Oliver’s hour-long set felt short and with the amount of energy he was generating, it could’ve lasted the whole night. Although Oliver Tree has a childish nature, the message behind his “Ugly is Beautiful” Tour is meaningful.

“No matter how weird you look, no matter how strange you think you look, you’re fucking beautiful…”

Peep the drip from the concert below.

“Ugly is Beautiful” Tour @ The Foundry | Photo Cred: Avi Warren
“Ugly is Beautiful” Tour @ The Foundry | Photo Cred: Avi Warren
“Ugly is Beautiful” Tour @ The Foundry | Photo Cred: Avi Warren
“Ugly is Beautiful” Tour @ The Foundry | Photo Cred: Avi Warren
“Ugly is Beautiful” Tour @ The Foundry | Photo Cred: Avi Warren
“Ugly is Beautiful” Tour @ The Foundry | Photo Cred: Avi Warren

There’s Something in the Water, Pharrell to host music festival in VA Beach

If there’s anyone who can get you hype about a music festival when it’s brick outside it’d probably be the composer of the mega-hit “Happy,” wouldn’t it?

Well, that’s what 12-time Grammy winner Pharell Williams did Sunday after announcing the first annual ‘Something in the Water’ lineup — Virginia’s first-ever music festival.

https://twitter.com/Pharrell/status/1102393753308868608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1102393753308868608&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthegrapevine.theroot.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-1102393753308868608%26autosize%3D1

The lineups were announced with a dope video that reveals the performers’ names on the shore of what one could guess is Virginia Beach. After the artist is revealed, a new tide rushes in to give a new set of names.

It was both the most calming and exciting way to receive news ever.

In a press release, the festival’s mission is explained as a way to “unite the community and celebrate the diversity and magic of Virginia Beach” while the weekend celebrates “the opportunity and the chance to empower everyone from the youth to the small business owners.”

Pharrell also spoke to Billboard and confirmed that the set will include 30 plus acts of “Pharrell & Friends,” including Travis Scott, Migos, Virgil Abloh, Pusha T and more.

“Allen Iverson. Missy Elliott. Dave Matthews Band. Ella Fitzgerald. Virginia has been home to some of the most gifted artists, athletes, and scientists to ever live. And it makes sense—the people of Virginia are one-of-a-kind: uniquely gritty, bold, and brilliant,” Williams said to the publication.

He continued, “For the first time, we are harnessing that energy, bringing the great minds of our time and the biggest brands in the world to this great place, and letting the inspiration flow and well-deserved opportunities unfold. Virginia needs this right now and the world will see what we Virginians have known all along: there really is Something in the Water.”

It’s hard to believe that Virginia has yet to have an annual music festival given the musical giants — like Missy Elliott, Clipse, Chris Brown, Pharrell and more — that have come out of the state but if there’s anyone to rectify it, it’ll have to be the Neptunes frontman.

The three-day event is set to display the best Virginia Beach has to offer, including a beach-side concert and performances on the Oceanfront stages and at the Virginia Beach convention center.

Live shows are slated to take place on Friday, April 26, from 4 to 11 p.m. and Saturday, April 27, from noon to 11 p.m., according to Brian Solis, Assistant to the City Manager of Virginia Beach.

General admission prices begin at $150 USD for a 3-day pass and $450 USD for the 3-day VIP package. Tickets go on sale starting Friday, March 8 at 12 p.m. EST and can be found on ‘Something in the Water’s official website.

Press Play: NY singer Yaya Bey drops her musical diary, ‘This Too’

Every day we walk amongst champions who will never be heard. Most won’t have the confidence to speak up or the motivation to express themselves, thus halting them from becoming the creative butterfly they were truly destined to become.

They keep their creativity under wraps because it might represent a state of turmoil that they don’t want the world to see, hear, or speak about. It takes a lot of courage to throw yourself out there into the digital abyss because you never know who is listening to you or searching for you.

We have to applaud the artists who allow us to peek into the most delicate moments of their lives. We didn’t realize how much of an honor it was until we spoke to New York singer-songwriter YaYa Bey about her latest EP This Too. 

https://soundcloud.com/nublackmg/sets/this-too

You probably first caught wind of YaYa Bey back in 2016 when she dropped The Many Alter-Egos of Trill’eta Brown. The extended play was a celebration of the fullness of Black women according to Essence and devoted to the liberation of Black queens everywhere.

If you missed that drop of poetic goodness two years later you might’ve heard Bey’s single “Circle and Squares” which debuted on Pitchfork exclusively. The track served as a deep investigation into “the sacrifices that men expect women to make in relationships.”

Why the two-year gap between the release of The Many Alter-Egos of Trill’eta Brown and This Too? Bey had to take time to curate the perfect sound that would identify what she was really going through – an engagement, a marriage, and a divorce.

The trifecta of events definitely had a stressful effect on her creative process and each moment marked an end to a version of a follow-up tape, resulting in the 20-minute stripped down EP This Too.

“This project was way more traumatic to make than the last project,” said Bey.

Like the three chapters of Bey’s relationship with her ex-husband This Too also went through three drafts. Each scratched version was in line with her engagement, marriage, and divorce.

While listening to the intro track “Lullaby” it’s easy to pick up that it’s the beginning of a battle with Bey’s discernment and trusting love. A tantalizing sample plays at the start of the track, sucking you into Bey’s situation and the EP as a whole.

“Go on tell me what love is…What this feeling is?”

Truth be told, there’s no grand message for This Too but the project is surely something that you’ll walk away from feeling like you’ve embarked on an emotional journey.

“This is what I want you to walk away from…, said Bey.”

From “Lullaby” Bey’s love for her “mans” begins to deteriorate and the song “Fairy Tale” proves that. A smoothly sang ‘fuck you’ pierces the eardrum at the top of the track as Bey continues to dive deeper musically alongside a relaxing guitar riff.

Delving deeper into the second song off of the album, lyrics like “You don’t get to waste my fairytale,” leave you with this growing anger that can’t find the right place to manifest. Still, you know it’s there and you just don’t know where to direct it, yet.

Can you imagine the pain that Bey was going through knowing that her ex was not the person she thought he was? She found out the hard way that he’s a liar, a user, and a cheater.

Over the course of her relationship with this “man” Bey trusted, the singer depleted her funds, was bamboozled into carrying two rents, had to put her dream on hold, got jumped in her own house, and found out that her ex-husband was cheating the entire time.

What’s the craziest part? She had to still work with him in order to finish the album. Think of every single guitar riff as a strum of pain.

https://soundcloud.com/nublackmg/fairy-tale?in=nublackmg/sets/this-too

This Too’s  interlude “Shine” featuring a snippet from Grandaddy IU is a quick reminder of what it looks like when someone really loves you before hopping into “Long Way,” “Mine,” “Bullet,” and “Best Thang.”

You can hear a rhythmic pulse of hurt in Bey’s voice on “The Long Way” as it was submitted after moving past early bruises in her marriage and on “MINE” the remnants from an earlier version of the EP.

“I like to think one heart, one mind, one soul…I like to think that your mine, mine mine, mine. Remember who you belong to…,” sings BEY

Riddled with Jamaican reggae samples and sound effects, “Bullet,” you can imagine, is an anthem for those who are in a relationship who also need to make sure whatever parasite is sucking them dry finally pays up.

“Best Thang” is a moment of self-realization for Bey as she sings “I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to you… I got the juice. You got the juice by association. You fucking with my patience.”

“We’re getting divorced…I’m done,”said Bey

https://soundcloud.com/nublackmg/best-thang?in=nublackmg/sets/this-too

Rounding out This Too is “All God’s Children” and “3AM @ Toni’s.” Symbolizing the end of the project, but also the marriage, both songs were recorded during the waning moments of Bey’s relationship, with their divorce being finalized in the same month the album was.

Both songs are an entrance into recovery and shed light onto the ghostly silhouette of  Bey’s ex-husband. She embraces loneliness at the end and to me at least is ready to make the first step to recovery – embracing the pain.

We hope that you all will take a listen to This Too because it’s more than an EP, it’s a musical search for self.

How UnitedMasters’ partnership with the NBA is changing the game for artists

“Damn, I swear sports and music are so synonymous // Cause we want to be them, and they want to be us.”

Drake’s words could not ring truer: there truly a special relationship between athletes and musicians — which is why the NBA’s new deal with music startup, UnitedMasters is not only a huge deal but one that simply makes too much sense.

 

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When the @NBA features songs from UnitedMasters in their content, artists get the proper credit. unitedmasters.com 💪🏾

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UnitedMasters is a startup headed by former president of Interscope Records Steve Stoute, with the aim to help artists have a more direct relationship with their customers and fans and, more importantly, retain more control over their actual recordings.

Founded in 2017, the company has already been able to raise $70 million with help from Google’s corporate umbrella Alphabet, prestigious venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, Silicon Valley investors Floodgate, and entertainment giant 20th Century Fox.

 

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A toast to the artists. UnitedMasters office today. Oh, and Kanye stopped by. unitedmasters.com 🔥

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With this new partnership, UnitedMasters artists will be able to have their music played across all of their properties around the world, including digital properties like NBA.com and its apps. In an interview with Tech Crunch, Stoute said,

“We’ve seen that there are a lot of synergies between the music industry, sports leagues, and individual personalities across athletes and musicians. The overlap between UnitedMasters artists, their fans and the NBA’s following provides a mutually beneficial opportunity to tap into an artist pool that is also a target consumer for the NBA.”

You don’t have to be a huge NBA fan to see how much the two cultures of hip-hop and hoops compliment each other.

Currently, there are two NBA players, in Damian Lillard and Iman Shumpert, that have legitimate rap careers, the NBA has rappers as owners, in Nelly, and even as team spokespersons (i.e. Drake in Toronto) so, involving artists more is beneficial. Stoute continued,

“The real value is the artist and who they are – they’re NBA fans, they’re fans of the product they’re soundtracking. You can go from watching the game to soundtracking its highlights. This is truly democratizing and removes any barrier from getting your music heard. You can watch something through the NBA, be inspired, create music and then upload it to UnitedMasters for the chance to be heard by 1.5 billion people.”

What makes UnitedMasters different from other record labels is that it does not take your masters, but, rather, makes money on royalties and distribution. This ensures that the artist still owns their music outright while still being able to reach audiences they wouldn’t normally have been able to.

So what does this look like in the NBA?

Just like music artists who want free-range to engage with their fan-base with as little licensing and endorsement interference as possible, The NBA, too, wants to engage with artists who have that freedom, for the sake of their fans, and players. SVP New Media at the NBA, Jeff Marsilio, explained to Tech Crunch,

“The breakthrough in this structure is that it’s a unique example of a brand or league providing a global distribution platform for artists — something UnitedMasters and the NBA are singularly positioned to do. The artists will have the opportunity to have their music heard on a global digital stage, while our fans will now have a new way to discover music while they enjoy NBA highlights on our social and digital media. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.”

As artists smarten up, and as more examples of successful independent acts are shown, don’t be surprised if more and more artists continue to utilize the UnitedMasters platform.

 

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‪Kanye pulled up. UnitedMasters is live. GOOD day. ✨‬

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Furthermore, don’t be surprised at more partnerships between companies and artists with this kind of freedom become more common, too.

Meet the 5 female songwriters low key running the music game

Music is transient, never static. And the music industry is always changing because of this fact.

Even when you have made it as an artist and are leading the game, you always need to keep your sound fresh; repurposing, reinventing, sampling and mixing sounds and beats, to produce new content that keeps listeners wanting more and more.

Here are the names of the ghostwriters behind the lyrics to your favorite artists’ tracks but who now have started to make a name for themselves.

Nija Charles

 

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I’m good luv.

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At the age of 20, Nija Charles has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the music industry right now. I mean, two of her songs, “LoveHappy” and “Heard About Us,” feature on The Carters’ new album, Everything is Love. It took Charles to reach the age of only 13 to realize she wanted to pursue songwriting and producing seriously.

Growing up in a New Jersey household surrounded by music may have shaped Charles’s to see music as a career prospect, as she recounted in an interview with Fader, that her mother made it compulsory for her and her sister to learn a musical instrument.

Nonetheless, Charles remains constantly inspired by the music she listens to. Words, beats, and melodies simply exude out of her. In trying to get her stuff out there, Charles used SoundCloud as a distribution platform.

While she initially intended just to release the beats she had produced, she quickly learned that listeners wanted to hear songs, and as a result, she started toplining on her own beats. Though enrolled at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, Charles decided to take a leave of absence, and delve deeper into the music scene in NYC.

Her decision has certainly paid off as the songwriter has crafted songs that have been recorded by Jason Derulo, Flo Rida, and Chris Brown. But Charles really began to gain traction, through the release of “I Do” and “Ring” on Cardi B’s album Invasion of Privacy. 

Charles is currently under the record label, Universal Music Publishing Group.


Gizzle

The songwriter/rapper’s interest in poetry during her younger years would become the starting point of translating feelings and ideas to pen and paper.

An artistic practice that evolved into Gizzle formulating a unique lyricism that has seen her work in the music industry for 10 years now and is well respected amongst her creative collaborators for her daringness and versatility as a writer.

At the same time, Gizzle has made sure not be swept away by the fame and accolades, since many artists careers have served as cautionary tales that come with the success as an artist.

Gizzle has dedicated her time to deciphering the ins and outs of the industry as a way to avoid being absorbed into a deal with a label that for fear of losing one’s artistic integrity. After all, record labels are businesses but the tension between art and profit has long been a characteristic of all artistic industries.

Nonetheless, when listening to her flow you would be surprised by her West Coast origins since her sound is so embedded in the East Coast rap scene.

Gizzle has collaborated with the likes of Ty Dolla $ign, Trey Song and Travis Scott. But she has worked closely with Diddy, who has become a formative mentor for Gizzle, giving her the opportunity to appear on the track, “You Could Be My Lover.”


Emily Warren

Warren has been writing and collaborating with artists for 12 years now, but she has just dropped her own music this week, this time with her name at the forefront, for the release of her debut album, Quiet Your Mind.

Warren has worked with pop artists, Shawn Mendes, Dua Lipa, Little Mix, and The Chainsmokers. In addition, she has written for David Guetta and wrote Daya’s Grammy award-winning song, “Don’t Let me Down.”

Hailing from New York City, Warren was another songwriter to come out of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and was also part of a group called Emily Warren & The Betters.

Speaking to AM New York, Warren shared that her new writing project has come with new artistic challenges as she has sought to formulate a writing process that isn’t significantly driven by a marketing agenda to create catchy pop hits.

Plus, since pop songs have not always been a musical genre that is particularly favorable to women, with lyrics that are often hypersexual and demeaning, Warren wants her music to vehemently break away from this tradition, stating in an interview with TIME,

“There are songs I hear on the radio that I’m shocked by. I try to make an effort to be on the right side of history.”

Indeed, her lyrical and melodic content draws from subject matter that is often painful and uncomfortable. In the same interview with TIME, she maintains how such topics  ultimately allow artists to create resonant work for listeners to engage with,

“Those are the songs that really hit you when you need it; those are the songs I want to be a part of.”


Bibi Bourelly

 

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Everything and everyone can change. Notes.

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Originally from Berlin, Germany, Bibi made the move to the United States and at the age of 22 already has the names Rihanna, Kanye West and Usher listed on her songwriting CV.

Known for being the mind behind the bad-ass hit song, “Bitch Better Have My Money,” and her impact on Rihanna’s sixth album, Anti is evident with the inclusion of her the tracks, “Yeah, I Said It,” “Higher,” and “Pose.”

Yet, the artist has conflicted feelings when it comes to being a songwriter when it comes to the process of handing over your work, or in her own words “a piece of yourself” to another person, even if it is someone like Rihanna.

Nonetheless, she maintained that sometimes the personal sacrifice is necessary for one’s career. But Bibi has now gone solo.

Her songs “Ballin’,” “Ego,” gained traction on the Spotify charts and her intimate studio session released last year that includes one-word titled tracks, “Sunshine,” “Poet,” “Flowers,” and “Untitled,” are definitely worth a peep.

What is clear is that Bibi is a true artist. Deeply passionate and oozes with an emotional intensity that makes listeners curious as to what she will create next.


Ali Tamposi

 

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🕴🕴🕴

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Tamposi’s career took off after Kelly Clarkson fell in love with the songwriter’s break-up anthem, “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).” After spending some time in Los Angeles,  Tamposi later landed the opportunity to collaborate with other fellow songwriters to craft the lyrics for DJ Snake’s & Justin Bieber’s hit, “Let Me Love You.”

Tamposi later went on to write Camila Cabello & Young Thug’s song “Havana,” and has recently worked with Selena Gomez and Kygo, proving herself to be a force in the pop music scene.

In an op-ed for online magazine Song Writing Magazine, Tamposi shared the challenges that come with writing for an artist and treading the line between catering specifically to an artist and making it not sound forced or fitting too neatly with that artists’ body of work. She says,

“If you try to make it specific to an artist it never really works out. I think authenticity is key and an artist can really feel when it sounds sincere, or when a song sounds forced.”

Tamposi is currently signed under the record label Reservoir and is a part of an effective songwriting trio, composed of the writers Andrew Watt and Brian Lee.

Who is Yung Bans? The 19-year-old artist paving his own lane in Atlanta rap

Yung Bans, the 19-year-old up-and-coming artist coming out of Atlanta Georgia, has been rapping every since the 6th grade and finally began his music career throughout his high school years.

He was able to quickly grow to fame with his hit single, “4Tspoon” featuring Playboi Carti, at just 14-years-old. This single reached over 1,000,000 views on Youtube and over 5,000,000 views overall.

With “4Tspoon” getting his name out, his career had just begun.

His next feature in XXXTentacion’s new song “ILOVEITWHENTHEYRUN” helped make him known with over 30 million plays.

Working with big-time artists such as Playboi Carti, XXXTentacion, and Ski Mask The Slump God helped guide him and develop his own style.

Yung Bans’ brilliant idea of collaborating with other rappers, both famous and up-and-coming like himself, allowed people all over the country to hear his voice.

Collaborating with voices such as Carti, Lil Water, Smokepurpp, Lil Yachty, and Yung Lean, gave him guidance, fame, and perspective throughout his growing music career.

His love for rap and his style of music developed from major artists as well such as Lil Wayne and Chief Keef. He looked up to their music and built his own style: mixing rap with more harmonic music.

Not only did his style of music develop, but his lifestyle did as well. He grew up being different, a loner, and embraced his uniqueness, whether it be his clothing, music type, or interests.

Despite his love for the industry, he came into contact with some trouble in his life when he was faced with murder and burglary charges at the young age of 15.

After being placed in a detention center for four months and then put under house arrest for the majority of 2017, he had no way of going on tour and developing his rap empire.

While growing up alone in Atlanta, Georgia, running into trouble with the law was not a big surprise for him. Through this consistent hardship throughout his life, he is able to portray this struggle and share his experiences through his music like in his track “Lonely” featuring Lil Skies:

I got all kinds of drugs for when I get lonely,
lonely When I get lonely, lonely (I got all kinds of drugs)
When I get lonely, lonely

His only way of gaining popularity was recording at home and getting his name across the internet. The songs “It’s Snowing” and “YEA!” allowed him to gain fame by the time he was let off from house arrest.

Through his way of collaborating with other artists to get himself known, Yung Bans grew very close to the recently murdered XXXTentacion.

As a way to remember X, Bans came out with his new single “So Long My Friend” to commemorate his lost homie. This song as a tribute for X still shows Bans’ style of combining rap with a unique melody.

He starts off by saying “So long my friend. One life, you can’t get it back” and then continues to how both, he and X, had rough childhoods trying to reach stardom:

“We got one life, tryna make it out And them young niggas in the drought… Keep my head above the water, I don’t want to drown.”

With 1.7 million views on Worldstar and 3.1 K views on his YouTube account, Yung Bans has once again released a hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH7svYG2C4E

In just a few short years, Yung Bans went from unknown rapper to one of the hottest up-and-coming artists in the game.

Trust that this is only the beginning for him too.

Who is YBN Cordae? The rapper bridging ‘old heads’ with the new generation

YBN Cordae is a rapper who’s been making a name for himself and is of course part of the YBN music group which features YBN Nahmir and YBN Almighty Jay.

He recently came onto to the scene in 2018 and really started getting attention when he dropped “Old N*ggas,” a remixed response J. Cole’s “1985” track calling out the new generation of rappers.

Now with videos dropping on Worldstar regularly, he’s racking up millions of views light and proving that he’s much more than just a side member of YBN. He does it differently too — speaking the truth and showing respect to the old heads all while still being a part of this new generation of hip-hop.

Hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina but moved to Maryland when he was 10. Despite being from Raliegh, he claims the whole DMV area as a place that helped shape him and help him grow into the person and artist he is today.

Learn from the greats, become a great 🤝 #betawards2018

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His father was a big fan of Big L Nas, Biggie and it shows in his rapping style which completely contradicts new artists today and pays homage to rap in the 90s.

He met YBN Nahmir through the internet on XBox and the group stayed in touch over the years and kept on rapping. After a couple years YBN Nahmir released a song called “Rubbin Off Paint” that literally blew up overnight which led him to get signed.

The DMV rapper noticed this and congratulated his friend and kept it at that he even said in an interview with Adam 22 from No Jumper,

“I was happy for him and I wasn’t going to hit him up for favors because when you  blow up that’s what happens so I kept my distance but he hit me up one day and told me I should come to LA.”

Originally working at Fridays trying to support himself while in college, Cordae hated his job and told Adam22 of No Jumper, “I knew I was meant to do something bigger.”

The rapper has always set high goals for himself that he plans to achieve and he knew that the time would come when he would need to pursue his dreams. That hope came when his remix of Eminem’s “My Name Is” blew up overnight.

Keeping his lyrics clear and concise he tells the audience through his bars that he is different from other rappers calling them average.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07tFOl-9Av4

His flow is a mix of old and new and YBN Cordae has definitely showcased that he can actually spit bars in his songs as well as killing freestyles when he steps into radio stations for interviews.

YBN Cordae doesn’t just mix the old school with the new — he serves as a bridge to connect OGs with young rappers of this generation.

And unlike many of the rappers today, he doesn’t like to wear big expensive chains. He said in the interview No Jumper interview,

“I’m gonna be saving so much money by not buying designer clothes and jewelry. Once your wear those Gucci sneakers you’re going to have to keep going because once you start it is never enough for people”.

All that Glitters ✨ @einerbankz 🎻

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Cordae is trying stack up as much bread as possible through his rap career and he is not going to let other people opinions pressure him into buying shit he doesn’t need. He already stands out above the crowd of rappers by making this choice.

Hopefully, he will influence a new generation to stray away from the era of rappers flexing their cash, by buying chains, expensive clothes, cars and create a new wave of artists that see things differently.

T-Shyne drops ‘The Immaculate’, talks working with Young Thug

Musically, this summer has been untouchable.

We’ve enjoyed projects from the industry’s best, as well as some of the brightest up-and-coming artists who can be seen as the future of the game.

T-Shyne is one of them and he’s poppin’ out with his debut solo project today, titled The Immaculate, which will blow your mind. I recently had a chance to chop it up with the man himself to talk about the project and his career ahead of the release.

For those of you who don’t know, T-Shyne is a New York-native coming out of East Hampton. And while the Hamptons is mostly known as a place where big money goes to enjoy their NY summer, T-Shyne is changing that.

Watching the AC kill the blunt as I post this 😔

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For the locals, things are a bit different as T-Shyne told Kulture Hub during our interview,

“From the outside yeah, the Hamptons, people think its just beaches, big houses, money being thrown around, and rich white people, but for the locals man real s*** happens too, you know. Real s*** happens everyday just like everywhere else, it just looks different from the outside”

T-Shyne has been grinding for a minute now as a part of Young Thug’s YSL crew and has worked with artists like Juicy J and Slim Jxmmi to provide heaters.

Even with strong nods from some of the industries highly coveted artists, T-Shyne is able to put out solo heat like his song “Word of Mouth.”

Although T-Shyne is still independent, he has been on the Hi-Horsed tour and Hi-Tunes tour with Young Thug, performed at the High Times Cannabis Cup, and was featured on Juicy J’s Highly Intoxicated mixtape.

We spoke briefly about the influence artists like Thug have had on his process and how he uses his studio time.

“Just being around Thug will help anyone grow, you know. Like he’s in the studio doing it all himself, of course, we all around, but he’s in the studio for every part of the process. He is his own engineer, I mean that meme of him is a pic of him actually engineering, and its things like that changed my process and my attention to my work.”

The Immaculate is available on pre-release currently, with the tracks “Word of Mouth” and “Side Steppin’” (feat. Young Thug) available to be streamed immediately.

When asked about the other nine tracks and the overall vibe of the album, T-Shyne said,

“Man ‘9 Live’s’ is fire, probably my favorite, and I recorded it with S’natra so its hot, but you know I got the album starting off with Max B. I’ve always been a big fan, and being from NY I had to do it for the city one time, but it goes through a lot. The album talks about the real s*** I went through during the process of making it man, not just flexin, but turning negatives to positives.”

Shout out to T-Shyne, he is an artist that we will be hearing more heat from as he continues to build his career. He is hungry, but humble, and is gunning for success with every move. He left us with this about what drives him to succeed.

me x @thuggerthugger1 coming soon. Comment a 🌪&🐍 if you ready #YSL4Life

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“It’s all for the family, everything I do is for them. I know that as long as my dad and everybody is straight that I’m straight you know. So yeah everything is for the family when I win we all win.”

The Immaculate is available for streaming on Apple Music, Tidal, Spotify, and SoundCloud.

You can catch T-Shyne performing on the upcoming KOD tour with J.Cole and Young Thug, which begins August 9th in Miami.

Stream T-Shyne’s latest project The Immaculate here:

Who is YK Osiris? The Florida singer breaking in the new era of R&B

When you think of artists coming out of Florida, most people normally think of hip-hop. YK Osiris is an R&B singer from Jacksonville who’s slowly changing that and making a name for himself in the process. Not to mention, he’s only 18-years-old.

He is completely turning the music game on its head with his unique R&B vibes, mixing up old school with the new, at a time where rap is the most popular genre.

His name Osiris originates from a Greek god meaning powerful, smart, intelligent, strength and knowledge. With one brother and six sisters, you already know he wants to put on for his family.

The Jacksonville rapper always had a deep love for music when he young and started taking it seriously when he realized he had a special talent.

His inspirations growing up include Michael Jackson, Bruno Mars and The Temptations, which you can all hear a little bit of every time he steps into the studio.

His melodic singing over R&B tracks has been getting him a lot of attention from record labels and artists alike.

A lot of hot artists have been coming out of Florida lately, like XXXTentatcion and Kodak Black, but YK Osiris sets himself apart with his true singing talent talking heartbreak and love, completely setting himself apart from the new rappers in Florida.

YK wants to be as versatile as possible and doesn’t want to be classified as a rapper or a singer just yet as he wants to keep his options open.

Coming from the city of Jacksonville, YK admits that it isn’t always easy to get the love and support from his own hometown people. The R&B artist states that,

“I don’t feel safe in Jacksonville, I am target but I am going to be moving to LA soon though”.

Despite being an easy target due to his newfound fame and success, he’s stayed focused on his music grind and it’s been paying off.

His hit song “Valentine,” which has gotten over one million views on YouTube, is about him falling in love very quickly and unfortunately, he got his heart broken by the girl he was seeing at the time.

After the split, he was in the studio at the time and a producer that he was working with sent him a beat and he was feeling it so he just wrote the song right then and there and put it out.

He spoke to Genius about the real-life situation and how he flipped it immediately into a hit track.

Not long after, labels were itching to sign him and the Jacksonville artist ended up signing to Def Jam. Lil Uzi even hit him up for the remix.

YK Osiris is now completely focused on music and working on his album but he is taking his time because he’s a true artist who really cares about his craft. This man stays in the studio and his hard work is paying off!

It’s safe to say that he has his work cut out for him but he knows where he wants to go and we can’t wait to see what he does next.