Justin Bieber’s single “What Do You Mean?” is a global smash, starting out at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and galvanizing his massive fan base. After performing it at the VMAs anddebuting the video last month, Bieber has given his fans an extra treat.
In honor of breaking the Spotify streaming record (21 million streams in five days), the Biebs posted a video of himself singing an acoustic version of the song. In the simple black-and-white clip, he croons the love song over guitar strums, while we see footage of him skateboarding through Times Square and surfing.
While the original is more of an uptempo jam, this version helps reveal the vulnerable emotions at the song’s core.
Lil Durk & Jeremih's "Like Me" gets a big remix with Lil Wayne and Fetty Wap.
"Like Me" was the biggest hit off Lil Durk's debut album, Remember My Name, and the track has earned itself a massive remix. Durk recently teased a snippet of the remix on Instagram and now we've got the full version. In addition to Jeremih, who crushed the hook on the original, the new remix features a verse from one of the all-time greats, Lil Wayne, and another from one of the game's brightest stars, Fetty Wap.
Drake remixes The Weeknd's Kanye-produced "Tell Your Friends."
We've got new Drake, and of course, it came via OVO Sound Radio on Beats 1. OVO co-founder Oliver El-Khatib took the decks and dropped a Drizzy remix ofThe Weeknd's Kanye West-produced hit "Tell Your Friends," off Beauty Behind the Madness.
Vado drops a We The Best Music Group posse join in "Money and Power."
DJ Khaled has proved himself to be an unstoppable force, and this time he teams up with We The Best Music Group Ace Hood, & Mavado along with Uncle Murda for a new joint called "Money and Power."
NYC veteran N.O.R.E. grabs an all-star stable of collaborators for his latest single. Over a DJ Mustard beat, he trades bars with Rick Ross, City Boy Dee, and Ty Dolla $ign, who provides the hook. It’s initially surprising to hear the East Coast favorite spitting over such distinctively West Coast-flavored production, but he makes it work by acknowledging his bicoastal interests.
“East Coast ni**a rep that NY / West Coast ni**as done taught me how to drive by”—L.A.’s car culture certainly has its advantages.
Rick Ross, meanwhile, contributes a verse just hours ahead of the release of his Black Dollaralbum.
T.I. and Tiny’s daughter Zonnique is all grown up, and she’s stepping out on her own with a brand new video. You may remember her from her days as Star in the OMG Girlz—now, she’s on her own and she’s collaborated with Young Thug on the decidedly PG-13-rated video for her single “Nun for Free.” The 19-year-old diva swears, twerks, and blows stacks of cash in an abandoned warehouse alongside a scarf-wearing Thugger.
“No we don’t do sh*t for free, they pay us to come and shut sh*t down,” she sings.
Now that she’s moving in this new direction, expect a solo project from her soon.
New York’s DJ Cassidy isn’t done promoting his breezy warm-weather jam “Future Is Mine” featuring electro-popsters Chromeo. Now he enlists Wale for a brand new remix.
The MMG rapper adapts his flow for the dance-able production without breaking a sweat, unleashing a verse that makes clever wordplay out of racial dynamics.
“Real talk, pull up with white chicks, hold up with black girls / That’s high off the white chick,” he raps, adding, “FaceTime, FaceTime I say no service / I need it like ‘In Living Color’ like it’s J.Lo twerkin’.”
Cassidy has also collaborated with R. Kelly, Robin Thicke, Usher, and CeeLo Green on his upcoming album Paradise Royale, due later this year.
Curren$y puts on for his city by grabbing two fellow New Orleans natives, August Alsina and Lil Wayne, for “Bottom of the Bottle.” The fellas serenade the sexy ladies on the strip club-ready jam—August praises his lady’s curvaceous body (“Booty so colossal”), while Weezy and Spitta provide some sensual seduction of their own.
The song serves as the first single off Curren$y’s upcoming album Canal Street Confidential, due Nov. 6.
Earlier today, August dropped his new single “Why I Do It” featuring Lil Wayne.
Following the remix to “Kissin’ on My Tattoos,” August Alsina reunites with fellow New Orleans native Lil Wayne for his latest single “Why I Do It.” It’s got a butter-soft, horn-driven instrumental that matches Alsina’s smooth R&B vocals. As for Wayne’s verse, he may have just come up with the new “fanute” when he tells us to stop “boogling” on him. Try getting that one out of your head.
This hasn’t been the easiest year for Alsina—he collapsed while performing and was briefly in a coma, and then required surgery to prevent his left eye from becoming blind, but he’s back in the studio readying his sophomore album.
Mario is the latest artist to join the deluge of early ’00s stars announcing comebacks this year. After parting ways with RCA Records and going independent, the “Let Me Love You” singer has been in the studio with Scott Storch and is gearing up to release Never 2 Late, his first album in six years, on Nov. 27.
Now we get to hear the first single “Forever,” and it comes with a Rick Ross feature. The gruff rapper and the golden-voiced singer collide over timeless R&B production, with strings and rattling percussion.
“I want this forever, I want you forever,” croons Mario on the chorus, adding, “Stay here with me, baby / I just want to love you till you scream.”
It’s another excellent addition to Mario’s canon of middle school slow dance songs.
Fetty Wap is riding high with four singles in the top 10 on the Hot Rap Songs chart. Now U.K. sensation Rita Ora recruits the man of the moment for the remix to her new single “Body on Me” featuring Chris Brown (via HHNM). Over a reworked beat, Fetty turns on the charm and caters to his special lady.
“I know you like the feel of my body, let me take you for a ride in my ‘Rari,” sings the Remy Boy, while Breezy reprises his verse.
Just a day after dropping his mixtape Fuk Wat They Talkin Bout, Tyga gives us another peek into his lavish lifestyle in the video for “Glitta.”
In the flashy clip, which follows “Bu$$in Out Da Bag” and “Ma$ter Suite,” T-Raww wakes up in a room full of Marilyn Monroe photos before riding down Sunset Blvd. and Rodeo in his Bugatti. He swings through his Last Kings store on Melrose and grabs a bite to eat at Philippe Chow before returning to his plush pad in the Hollywood Hills.
French Montana gets biblical on his latest banger “Moses” featuring Chris Brown and Migos. Over a hard-hitting beat, produced by Southside, TM88, and DJ Spinz, Breezy brings the bad bitches to the club and parts the sea like Moses, while French and Migos get on their holy flow.
“I’m feeling like Moses, I’m all in the ocean, I part it, divide it,” sings Breezy.
Lace up. Machine Gun Kelly comes through with a video for “Almost,” a cut off his July mixtape Fuck It. The Cleveland rapper has been going through the tape for music video inspiration recently—just last week he shared a visual for the song “Blue Skies.”
“Almost” starts off with a view of MGK through a TV screen, going about his frustrating daily life. He just wants to play video games and smoke weed with the skeleton on his couch, but unfortunately he has to go stack milk bottles at his dead-end job. He then takes it from TV to the real world and goes outside to hang out with his homies on a big red truck. It’s MGK’s world, we’re just living in it.
Next up, look for his sophomore album General Admission, the follow-up to his 2012 debut.
While he readies his new album Still Krazy, YG takes a break to connect with fellow West Coast rappers Blanco and DB Tha General for an EP called California Livin, and a new track has just emerged. Titled “G Thang,” it’s produced by Spanish duo Cookin’ Soul, who will produce the entire EP. They provide a lazy, blunted beat, perfect for afternoon smoke sessions and BBQs.
YG describes a female admirer: “She got a thing for rappers, she got a thing for trappers,” while noting that he “has a thing for bad bitches, marijuana, big money.” It’s a match made in heaven.
T-Pain shows his sense of humor in the comical video for his strip club slapper “Make That Sh*t Work.” The Tallahassee native hits the streets with Juicy J and throws a party in the parking lot. Ladies twerk on top of picnic tables, while others get crafty, painting their heels red like Louboutins. Some enterprising individual even paints the Beats logo on his headphones, and dancers get IOUs instead of dollar bills (Hey, whatever works).
T-Pain’s fifth album, Stoicville: The Phoenix, is due this fall. He can also be seen as a judge on MTV’s dance competition “America’s Best Dance Crew.”
DeJ Loaf has liberated two new brand new songs—”You Don’t Know Me” and “I Got Problems.” Both are produced by her long-time collaborator DDS, who helmed her effervescent breakout hit “Try Me.” Here, he’s giving her the same kind of sounds to work with, and she runs with it.
“Being broke wasn’t funny, I ain’t never find humor in it,” she spits on “You Don’t Know Me.” DeJ always keeps it real–she’s unafraid to compare her current successes—”20 for a show,” “on tour with Nicki” to her past struggles.
On “I Got Problems,” DeJ bosses up and says R.I.P. to the competition. “I’ma do me and be all I can be,” she declares.
While he readies his next album Black Dollar, Rick Ross keeps churning out videos from 2014’s Hood Billionaire. His latest for “Heavyweight” featuring MMG’s Whole Slab compiles footage of Rozay taken over the last few months. He performs at clubs, drives a variety of luxury vehicles, and sprays champagne.
The Bawse also lounges around the house, which seems rather incongruous with the rest of the ostentatious video until we catch a conspicuous glimpse of his ankle monitor (His travel restrictions were lifted last week). Sitting around an unassuming kitchen table drinking is just another chapter in Rozay’s hectic life
A year after releasing his album Stronger, Tank returns with a brand new single called “You Don’t Know.” The R&B stalwart unleashes his powerful falsetto over slow-burn production, which features a verse from his Atlantic labelmate Wale.
For his part, the MMG rapper describes a complicated romantic situation. “Honestly, I can’t take it / Baby, I’m the sole reason you been winnin,'” he raps, adding, “Lemme paint the story / I don’t play with toys / She told me build me up / I told her leggo.”
The emotional offering is set to appear on Tank’s forthcoming Sex, Love & Pain 2, the sequel to his 2007 album Sex, Love & Pain.
Houston legend Scarface is on the verge of releasing his new album Deeply Rooted on Sept. 4. His first project in seven years features appearances from Nas, CeeLo Green, Avant, and John Legend, who guests on “God.”
Scarface is in a contemplative state of mind, describing kids raised in a violent environment as “ticking time bombs” liable to “pull out guns in the lunch room.”
He goes so far as to position himself as God (“If I had to play God for a day”) and talks about how he’d “answer every prayer” and make sure his “whole entire ‘hood was at peace,” while Mr. Legend sings the stirring hook.
Westside connection. Following his collaboration
with Kendrick Lamar, Glasses Malone connects with another L.A. native,
The Game, on his West Coast banger “Too Hood.” Glasses charms the
ladies with his thuggish ways, while Game declares himself the West
Coast Nas, and Kirko sets it all off with an Auto-Tuned hook. Glasses is preparing to drop his album GlassHouse 2: Life Ain’t Nuthin But…
on Sept. 18. In addition to the aforementioned, the project includes
appearances from Ty Dolla $ign, B.o.B., Dom Kennedy, and Tyga. Hear them rep the west.
O.T. Genasis is not only in love with the coco, he’s also got a thing
for yoga. The Long Beach rapper plays a yoga teacher in the video for
his latest single “Do It.” He gets hands on with his curvy clients
while they work out on the lawn of his luxury pad. Between sips from
his Styrofoam cup, his co-star Weezy enjoys the company of some
bikini-clad chicks. Watch them bust it open.
Rita Ora and Chris Brown team up and set off sparks in the steamy
video for “Body on Me,” the first single off her upcoming U.S. debut.
In the Colin Tilley-directed clip, the blonde bombshell and R&B
heartthrob play neighbors who meet up in the elevator of their apartment
building before fantasizing about taking their relationship to the next
level. We see them making out on the couch and up against the wall in
the intimate scenes before hitting the rooftop for some dirty dancing. A
topless Rita drapes herself in the Union Jack, while Breezy shows off
his tatted torso. “This song is definitely kind of like the most intimate that I’ve
ever done, so I tried to balance the video out in a classy way,” Rita
told Nessa on Hot 97. Expect personal revelations on her upcoming album, which is due at
the end of the year. “It’s all about pussy power,” she said. “It’s
really about how we get judged for the things that we do and how men
don’t.” Rita is rumored
to be dating Wiz Khalifa in real life. The two were spotted together
at a club in L.A. after attending the Teen Choice Awards over the
weekend. To promote the single, she will embark on a U.S. tour, starting Aug.
25 in San Francisco. The nine-date trek will make stops in L.A., Las
Vegas, Atlanta, Boston, New York, and D.C., wrapping Sept. 17 in
Chicago.
Mariah Carey had a busy week. In addition to receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Grammy-winning singer was in the studio with French Montana and T.I. recording a remix to “Infinity,” a single off her greatest hits album #1 to Infinity. Justin Bieber showed up during their session and added his vocals, and now TMZ has revealed the results, entitled “Why You Mad?” Over a reworked beat by Eric Hudson, French references Fetty Wap (“Sleeping one eye open”), followed by Bieber, who lays down a melodic verse, while Tip finishes it off. And of course, Mariah belts out some of her multi-octave vocals. The pop diva will guest star on the next season of Fox’s hit drama “Empire,” and return to Las Vegas for her residency in February 2016.
The West Coast is back. Not only did Dr. Dre drop a new album, the Regulator himself, Warren G, also released his new EP Regulate…G Funk Era Part II
this week. The G-Funk pioneer reps the west as only he knows best in
the video for his Nate Dogg-assisted banger “My House.” He cruises
through the streets of Venice Beach, Hollywood, and the LBC in the
feel-good clip. In addition to the late Nate Dogg, Warren G’s five-track EP features appearances from E-40, Too $hort, Jeezy, and Bun B. To celebrate the release, Warren will perform a concert at New York’s
Highline Ballroom on Sunday and another in L.A. on Aug. 13. Watch the hip-hop OG put on for his city.
The ’90s are back. Not only did Dr. Dre drop
his first album in 16 years, ’90s mainstays SWV have reunited for a new
album. The R&B trio—Coko, Lelee, and Taj—show they’ve still got it
on their sultry ballad “Ain’t No Man,” which showcases their powerful
pipes. “You asked, we delivered!” said Lelee of the group’s first new music since 2012’s I Missed Us. As they gear up for a new album on Oct. 30, the ladies can also be seen on their WEtv reality series “SWV Reunited.”
As part of her “New Music Friday” campaign, Jordin Sparks liberates yet another track off her upcoming album Right Here Right Now. Following “They Don’t Give”
last week, the R&B songstress teams with B.o.B on “Work From Home.”
On the bouncy Salaam Remi production, Jordin puts in overtime as she
caters to her man, while Bobby Ray takes it to the bedroom on his
banging verse. “‘Work From Home’ is about when you are excited about a
relationship,” said Jordin, who is dating rapper Sage the Gemini. “And
how when that particular person comes home, you wanna do whatever you
can to make that person happy and comfortable because that makes you
happy.” Her third album Right Here Right Now drops Aug. 21. In addition to B.o.B, the 14-track set includes appearances from 2 Chainz, Shaggy, and Elijah Blake.
A lot has changed in the two years since Mac Miller’s last album Watching Movies with the Sound Off. The Pittsburgh rapper left his independent label Rostrum Records and signed a reported $10 million deal with Warner Bros., where he will release his major-label debut GO:OD AM. The 17-track set is now available for pre-order
on iTunes and includes the single “100 Grandkids,” for which he has
released a video. In the imaginative clip, Mac stars as the moon in a
children’s play, while rapping about promises he made to his mother and
living out his dreams. Halfway through, it switches up as he performs
in front of a lowrider and reflects on his first 100 grand.
The wait is over. Sixteen years since his last album The Chronic 2001, Dr. Dre returns with Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre.
The 16-track project, which he calls his “grand finale,” features
Eminem, Ice Cube, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, The Game, Jill Scott,
Marsha Ambrosius, and more. After scrapping Detox, he decided to record an album inspired by the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton,
in theaters Aug. 14. “I was leaving the set, coming to the studio, and
I felt myself just so inspired by the movie that I started recording an
album,” said Dre during his “Pharmacy” radio show on Beats 1. “I
started recording a soundtrack. I kept it under wraps, and now the album
is finished.”
Dre will donate his royalties from Compton to help fund a new performing arts and entertainment facility for kids in his hometown. Stream the album in its entirety via Apple Music before it hits iTunes tomorrow.
Wiz Khalifa keeps the new vibes coming with a new song called “Say So.” In the accompanying video, which was filmed during his “Boys of Zummer” tour with Fall Out Boy, Wiz whips up some fresh rhymes on his tour bus and in the venue as his crew prepares for the show. “I’d rather be getting high / Ridin’ with my ni**as getting right / It ain’t over till I say so,” he raps while smoking a joint. Just last week, he dropped a new freestyle and is working on his next project, Rolling Papers 2: The Weed Album. Blaze up his latest joint below.
FKA Twigs has had a very busy weekend. The singer, who recently wrapped up a tour, hit two different festivals over the past weekend. She performed a set at both Lollapalooza and Osheaga. Then, today, she followed that up by performing some new music on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show. The record, "Figure 8," is darker and harder than most of what we heard on her LP1 album this past year, and it even has touches of heavy metal. Nonetheless it's still that slithering, alternate-universe r'n'b she's become known for. The song is reportedly off an upcoming EP from the UK artist.
Twigs prefaces the premiere with a few words-- check it out.
Pusha T may have released his debut solo album in 2013, but it's not like he didn't already have a couple of projects out under his name already. His 2011 effort, Fear Of God II, was one of the strongest statements, and featured one particularly cool moment in uniting Kanye and Jeezy once again on "Amen". Frequent Pusha and ye collaborator Hudson Mohawke has decided to reach back to the record for a remix, possibly inspired by the 10th anniversary of Jeezy's Thug Motivation ("Support king push. Happy anniversary to Jeezy" he writes on SoundCloud). He replaces the gritty synth brass with a skipping drum beat, making for a feel reminiscent of Kanye's "God Level," which we also hope to hear the full version of soon.
Two weeks before its Aug. 18 release date, Chief Keef feeds the streets with the surprise release of Bang 3, the third installment in his mixtape trilogy. The 14-track set, which follows his 2013 tape, features appearances from Mac Miller, Jenn Em, and A$AP Rocky, who guests on the Young Chop-produced “Superheroes.” Over the sound of screams, the Chicago rapper terrorizes the track, while Flacko declares himself the “pussy villain.”
After dropping the “Family Ties” visuals last month, Rick Ross goes global in his latest video for “Dog Food,” a Lex Luger-produced track he released in April.
The Maybach Music mogul shares footage from his trip overseas in the Ryan Snyder-directed clip, which was shot while on the road. In between shows, he hits the streets of Antigua with the locals and takes a dip in the pool. He then jets to Cannes for some R&R—we see him making it rain and popping champagne with the Black Bottle Girls.
Ain’t this what they’ve been waiting for? After a pair of diss tracks from Drake (“Charged Up” and “Back to Back”), Meek Mill finally retaliates with a record of his own called “Wanna Know.” In between touring with Nicki Minaj, the Philly MC heads back in the studio and comes back breathing fire. He doesn’t hold back, taking shot after shot at Drake, who he accused of hiring a ghostwriter named Quentin Miller to write his rhymes. Over the Jahlil Beats & Swizz Beatz production, Meek starts off by citing Drake’s beef with Chris Brown (“When that shit went down with Chris, you wrote a check”) and loops in Quentin Miller’s alleged reference track for “Know Yourself.” He calls him “buttercup,” Milli Vanilli, and a “fraud” (“Spittin’ other ni**as’ shit, but you claim you king though?”) and questions who he stole his flow from (“Was it Quentin Miller, was it Hush, or was it Detail where you really got your flow?”). And he shows he’s been reading the blogs, referencing Drake’s breakup with Rihanna (“You ain’t get your chick back yet”), his brawl with Diddy at a nightclub last year (“Puffy almost caught a domestic when he smacked that bitch”), and the rumor that Drake got peed on by T.I.’s friend at the Takers premiere. “Real ni**as back in style / This shit is lit / This that Ja Rule shit and 50 Cent,” declares Meek. Who had the better diss? Listen and weigh in below.
Drake reacted to Meek’s diss by posting an Instagram photo of himself laughing.
