Music
In my opinion, the best hip-hop album of all time is “De La Soul Is Dead”
For me, the best album in hip-hop history stays “De La Soul is dead”, the group’s legendary second album from 1991. As I said in my “Off the Wall” vs. “Thriller” article, a key part of a great album is making a thesis and combining the songs, sound, and feel of that thesis. If it’s cohesive, it means the songs flow together to create a statement. Historically, hip-hop has given us many amazing, consistent albums, from Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Raekwon’s Onlybuilt 4 Cuban Linx, and A Tribe Called “Low Level Theory” by Quest, “The Chronic” by Dr. Dre, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Nas’ Illmatic. This is not a complete list. There are a lot of hip-hop albums that are consistent. For me, the best of them is “De La Soul Is Dead”, because the thesis of this album is even deeper than most albums that have it – “Dead” challenges the definition of what De La Soul is and in that sense the meaning black.
“De La Soul Is Dead” is like a sequel that requires you to observe the first film to actually understand the deeper undertones of the second film. On their 1989 debut album “3 feet high and soaring”, De La — which includes late rapper Trugoy the Dove, rapper Posdnous and DJ/rapper Maseo — introduced themselves as hip-hop hippies. They emerged at a time when hip-hop was still centered around urban MCs talking about life in the hood. De La was from the suburbs of Long Island and they never tried to hide that in their music or vibe. But being open about who they were made people think they were soft. Sometimes when they were on tour, people would try to fight the guys because they thought they couldn’t fight. Their producer, Prince Paul, talked about this when I talked to him on an episode of Being Black the 80s about De La Soul’s “My Brother’s A Basehead.”
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But being perceived as soft had an excellent deeper resonance, no less than in the late Eighties. At that time, it appeared like the hood was the heart of being black, and being a hood meant you were tough. Being a gang, no less than in a hip-hop context, meant you were tough as hell, world-weary, cold-hearted, and prepared for anything. Being seen as easy was a metaphor for being black.
On their second album, De La got down to break the belief that they were fragile – they wanted to vary the way people thought of them. I do not know of many albums in the history of hip-hop that were so focused on the idea of changing the way people perceived the character of the group itself. Sometimes artists openly change their aesthetics, but that is not the point. This is De La saying you do not understand who we actually are after which trying to clarify who they’re.
The album is crammed with De La’s signature fun and eclectic samples, in addition to plenty of great, complex rhymes and skits from the guys, which adds as much as De La arguing, somewhat angrily, that they don’t seem to be hippies and they don’t seem to be gentle – I can not I consider a rap group recorded an album with the caption: . Consequently, they are saying: yes, we usually are not a gang, nevertheless it is still difficult for us and we’re still black.
Other hip-hop albums have touched on the challenges of dealing drugs and coping with the police, but on “Dead,” De La took on a very different set of challenges. In one song they told us a story about sexual abuse in the family. In one other song, they told the story of Brother Posdnous’s very real addiction to crack. (I’m going deeper into this topic on my podcast, “Being Black: The ’80s.”) In one other song, the guys got incredibly disgusted once they went to Burger King. It’s definitely not on the same level as the other songs, but I say this album is often about their problems because, hey, life in the suburbs will be tough.
“Dead” is a conversation with audiences and critics about who we thought they were based on their first album and who they are surely, which comes from the belief that they usually are not fragile. In an excellent series of sketches, or interludes, a gaggle of three boys find the tape we’re listening to and criticize it. One of them hates it, which is hysterical, and the other one likes it. Of course, the one who hates repeatedly attacks the one who likes it. It’s an incredible meta-commentary on the audience surrounding their album, the nature of hip-hop skits (which were ubiquitous at the time), and the importance of being hard or soft in the culture.
Thanks to “Dead”, De La definitely managed to vary people’s opinion about them – they got rid of the hippie/soft label. They killed the old De La Soul image and did it by creating loads of amazing songs that I still like to at the present time. There are many great albums in the history of hip-hop, but none like the De La Soul album about De La Soul, which aimed to vary the way people thought of De La Soul. We didn’t use the word meta back then, but when we did, “Dead” could be the best meta hip-hop album.
Music
Kendrick Lamar tops Apple Music song charts in 2024 and women are making history
NEW YORK (AP) — “Not Like Us” but people sure like him: Kendrick Lamar Smash topped Apple Music’s global song chart in 2024 as a large music streamer published year-end lists Tuesday and provided listeners with data on their most listened to songs.
“Not Like Us” is Lamar’s first-ever song to succeed in primary on the worldwide year-end charts.
In second place is “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone. Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” is third, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is fourth, and Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” is fifth.
“Cruel Summer” is, in fact, a fraction of Swift’s seventh studio album “Lover”, released in 2019. revival in summer 2023
Of the 100 songs on the chart, 39 are songs by female-identifying artists, which is the primary record in the worldwide chart’s seven-year history.
And this may occasionally come as a surprise: Japanese hip-hop band Creepy Nuts’ breakthrough song “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” topped Apple’s most read lyrics in 2024. Other Creepy Nuts songs include “Not Like Us”, “Espresso” and “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish.
“Bling-Bang-Band-Born” also topped the Apple Music song chart, which allows users to see which songs fans sang along to probably the most. It is obvious that Japanese music is becoming more and more popular internationally: in 2023 one other Japanese group, YOASOBI, topped the Sing charts in its inaugural yr, with “Idol”. “Idol” continues to dominate this yr, peaking at #2.
New to the 2024 year-end charts set is the addition of the Shazam Global Radio Spins chart, which uses Shazam to see what songs are being played on radio stations world wide. “Houdini” by Dua Lipa Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” and Tate McRae’s “Greedy” top the list.
Also available Tuesday might be Replay — Apple’s alternative to Spotify’s Wrapped playlist — which allows Apple Music subscribers to experience the most well-liked music on the streaming service this yr. Artists can now also share their year-end data using Apple Music for Artists.
In November, Apple Music named Eilish Female Artist of the Year, following her hugely successful 2024. This yr, Eilish became the youngest person to ever win the award two Academy Awards, and released her critically acclaimed third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, which gained popularity seven 2025 Grammy Awards nominations. At this yr’s awards ceremony, she accepted two latest record player-shaped trophies – despite the fact that she hasn’t released a brand new album – each for “What Was I Made For?” With hit movie “Barbie”.
“It’s always special when a young artist can connect with so many people so quickly,” Rachel Newman, senior director of content and editorial at Apple Music, said in an announcement. “But what has been truly remarkable about watching her evolve over the past yr will not be only that her voice and artistry proceed to resonate so widely. The point is that she blossomed as bravely and truthfully as she did – on her own terms and in her own way.
Music
Kendrick Lamar and SZA embark on their ‘Grand National’ tour across North America, including Toronto. MUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!
We all knew this was coming. Kendrick Lamar dropped his latest album “GNX” on the Friday before Thanksgiving and people were screaming “MUSTAAAAAAAAAARD” over Kendrick’s hilarious shouting of DJ Mustard’s name on the song “tv off.” This appears to be the case for DJ Mustard, who recently wrote that he I shouted as I walked down the road forgetting that he was referring to himself. Good times.
Anyway, because Kendrick is the variety of artist who abandons a project and then continues an enormous tour to support heron Tuesday, December 3, 2024, his press team spammed all of our inboxes with a press release announcing that Kendrick and SZA were embarking on the “Grand National Tour,” a 19-city stadium tour crisscrossing North America. Makes sense. The show covers most major cities within the United States – the New York metropolitan area, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Washington, DC, Vegas, Philadelphia, etc. – and one fun little performance on June 12, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
This guy.
If you’ve got literally been living under a rock or spent 12 months recording “Naked & Afraid” or something, you realize that Kendrick Lamar and one in all Canada’s biggest exports, Drake, were embroiled in a tiff that included criminal charges, legal motion, bops, and an absolute song 2024’s ‘Not Like Us’ where Kendrick Lamar beat Draked Drake in every way possible. Drake is, in fact, from Toronto. Considering that Kendrick and Drake haven’t only repeatedly attacked one another lyrically over the past nine months, but their teams, supporters, and fans have also taken sides, performing together in their respective cities really didn’t seem to be a no brainer. that may occur. At least not now. Drake continues to be Drake, although his luster has been greatly enhanced (some due to Kendrick, others since the claims of the colonizers are beginning to look more accurate than we would love, no matter what “business” dictates), so in fact when he decides to set out tour to support whatever he’s doing, he’ll Los Angeles.
I feel the identical might be said about Kendrick. Should he NOT go to Toronto because he’s arguing with Jimmy within the wheelchair? I assume that is silly. Plus, Kendrick told us he really loves New Ho King, a restaurant in Toronto. Shouldn’t he go for fried rice and dipping sauce? Of course I did, especially after it went away claimed that Drake shut down TDE artist SiR’s performance at a location in Toronto.
I hope everyone has their popcorn ready because that is just diabolical. Like, honey, after you go to the Super Bowl and perform “Not Like Us” (that is gonna be wiiiiiiiild) for hundreds of thousands of individuals, are you going to do the identical thing at Drake Stadium? I do not even know what to say here. If Kendrick ever desired to make an announcement, performing “Not Like Us” in Toronto to a sold-out arena that screamed “A-minoooooooor” in unison and then screamed “MUSSSSTAAAAAAAAAARD” could be the stuff of legend.
I ponder who comes up with these schedules and locations. I assume LiveNation gave Kendrick a listing of places and he replied, “Yes, Toronto.” Now that I give it some thought, I’m really surprised he won’t stop in Toronto on June 16, which is Tupac’s birthday, considering what a distinguished (and weird) role Tupac played in all this. It almost looks as if an oversight on Kendrick’s part – either that or the room was booked that day.
Who knows what’s going to occur? It’s doubtful, but perhaps between now and the beginning of Kendrick’s tour, Kendrick and Drake will sit down with Farrakhan (or anyone this generation holds in high regard) and squash the meat and we’ll never hear “Not Like Us.” have performed again, with Kendrick safely traversing Canadian soil while Drake has been digging within the bag and actually releasing an album that shows some growth – or a minimum of real ambition. Once again, I doubt this can occur, so I’ll just patiently wait until June 12, 2025 is circled on my calendar.
BLACKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Music
It’s almost time for Spotify Wrapped. When can you expect the 2024 summary?
NEW YORK (AP) – It’s almost that time of yr: Spotify is preparing to release an annual, personalized summary of users’ listening habits and the yr in the audio industry.
Spotify has been providing its listeners with data sheets since 2016. Year by yr it becomes an increasingly larger production and Internet sensation. Spotify said his yr 2023 is closed was “the largest ever created” by way of audience reach and sort of data provided.
So what is going to 2024 bring? Here’s what you have to know ahead of this yr’s edition of Spotify Wrapped.
What exactly is Spotify Wraped?
It’s an annual have a look at individual listening trends, in addition to trends around the world on the streaming service. Users discover their top artists, songs, genres, albums and podcasts, multi functional interactive presentation.
The campaign has turn into a social media sensation as people share and compare their Wrapped data with their friends and followers online.
Previous versions gave users all types of charts and facts, including whether or not they were amongst an artist’s hottest listeners, in addition to a personalised playlist of the yr’s 100 hottest songs that they may save, share, and take heed to each time they wanted. nostalgic.
Spotify also creates a series of playlists that reflect national and global listening trends, featuring the hottest artists and songs streamed. In 2023 Taylor Swift was the most streamed artist on Spotifyunseating Bad Bunny, who had held the title for three years in a row.
Every yr holds something latest. In 2019, Wrapped featured a decade-long summary of user trends in streaming. Last yr, Spotify matched listeners to City of Sound based on their artistic interests and the way this overlaps with those of artists from other parts of the world.
When is the expected release date?
So far, the streaming platform has kept the long-awaited release date of Wrapped under… hmm, under wraps.
In previous years, it was published after Thanksgiving, between November 30 and December 6.
Every yr, rumors spread on social media about when Spotify will stop collecting data to organize its summary results. This yr was no exception. Spotify He quickly debunked these assumptionsasserting on social media that “Spotify Wrapped doesn’t stop counting on October 31st.”
A Spotify representative didn’t reply to a request for comment on when the company will stop data tracking for Wrapped.
Where can I find my Spotify Wrapped?
Once Wrapped is released, each user’s Spotify account will prompt them to view an interactive data summary. It can be accessed through the Spotify smartphone app or via by logging in to Spotify. Wrapped is out there to users with and and not using a Premium subscription.
What else can I learn from my Spotify data?
There are several third-party sites you can connect your Spotify account to that can analyze your Wrapped data.
How bad is your Spotify is an AI bot that assesses your music taste. Reception shares the best songs in a shared graphic that appears like a receipt. Instafest gives you your individual personal music festival-style lineup, powered by your best artists. What sort of NPRCore are you rates how similar your music taste is to NPR Music.
What if I haven’t got Spotify?
Other major streaming platforms like Apple Music and YouTube Music have developed their very own versions of Wrapped in recent times.
Apple Music Replay not only gives its subscribers an end-of-year summary of their listening habits, but additionally monthly summaries – a feature that helps differentiate itself from Spotify’s one-time summary. This is issued at the end of the calendar yr.
Meanwhile, YouTube Music offers its listeners similar year-end releases, in addition to periodic seasonal releases throughout the yr. Earlier this month, it published its annual summary for users.
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