Lil Wayne received a full presidential pardon and Kodak Black received a commutation from Donald Trump in the president’s final hours in office, CNN and Reuters report. The two rappers’ reprieve comes amid a flurry of pardons as some of the outgoing president’s final acts. Other names on the presidential pardon and commutation list include
Music
Tonight (January 19), celebrations began for the inauguration of President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, who will be officially sworn into office tomorrow. Japanese Breakfast was among the musicians to perform this evening. She played “Everybody Wants to Love You!” from her 2016 record Psychopomp. Watch Michelle Zauner play with a full band
Small Black—the Brooklyn-based chillwave group of Josh Kolenik, Juan Pieczanski, Ryan Heyner, and Jeff Curtin—have announced their first new album since 2015. The record, titled Cheap Dreams, comes out on April 9 via 100% Electronica. The second single from the album is “Duplex,” which comes with a music video directed by Ryan Draybuck. Watch below.
Smino has shared a new song titled “MLK Dr” in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In the animated video, the St. Louis rapper assists an extraterrestrial version of Dr. King with a flat tire and the pair share a joint before driving down Martin Luther King Blvd. Watch the visual, which is
If someone told you that there is a legitimate procedure, in which a person had brain surgery performed on them, while playing an instrument, would you believe them? Well, you should, and that someone is quite possibly, the New York based act, Emodulari. On their new single, “Craniotomy,” they tell the story of a guitarist,
Seventeen artists including Alicia Keys, Summer Walker, Quavo, Offset, and more have filmed a campaign video calling for the launch of a U.S. Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation within the first 100 days of the Biden/Harris administration. The video, “17 More Ways You Could Be Killed If You Are Black in America,” calls
What is a goal you have for yourself in 2021 for your music? For 2021 I’m all set to record and release my 2nd album BEFORE I turn 30 in Sept. It’s going to feature a fresh context and a sassier texture in my bluesy piano grooves. Working with a modern fusion of soul, indie rock
Thank you for chatting with us today! 2021 is finally here – what do you hope this year has in store for you? I am setting the intentions that this year brings much fortune to my boldness, happiness to my tenacity, grace to my work ethic, fulfillment and love to my creativity, ease to my
Nigeria’s Joeboy has announced his debut album, Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic, with a video for new song “Lonely.” The video was shot in Lagos by Nigerian director Adetula “KingTula” Adebowale. The LP is due out February 4 via Banku/emPawa Africa. Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic follows his 2019 EP Love and Light. A product
BBE Music recently announced a 20th anniversary reissue of J Dilla’s landmark 2001 record Welcome 2 Detroit. Today, the label has shared Japanese DJ/producer Muro’s remix of “Think Twice,” which is included in the reissue package. Hear it below. The deluxe remastered edition of Welcome 2 Detroit arrives February 5, presented as a 12-disc 7″
New Radicals broke up in 1999—just months after the release of their 1998 single “You Get What You Give.” On Wednesday, January 20, the band will reunite for the first time in 22 years to perform their hit single as part of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ virtual “Parade Across America” inauguration event, Rolling Stone
Phil Spector, the “wall of sound” producer famous for his work in 1960s pop and rock music, has died, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has confirmed. In a post on their website, the CDCR wrote that Spector “was pronounced deceased of natural causes” yesterday (January 16), at an outside hospital. His official cause
Dream pop/electronica band Sweet Trip have returned with a pair of new tracks. Listen to “Walkers Beware! We Drive Into the Sun” and “Stab-Slow” below. The former track will appear on Roberto Burgos and Valerie Cooper’s forthcoming album A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals, their first LP in 12 years. It’s set to
Sen Morimoto has covered Mitski’s Be The Cowboy track “Washing Machine Heart” in a new video for KEXP. The Chicago artist’s rendition also includes an interpolation of Daft Punk’s “Something About Us,” from the 2001 album Discovery. The rest of the set features Morimoto’s songs “Woof,” “Deep Down” (featuring KAINA), the NNAMDÏ collab “Wrecked,” and
The War on Drugs beamed into the Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform “Arms Like Boulders,” the opening track to their 2008 debut Wagonwheel Blues. The remote performance sees the band in an atypical configuration, with each member playing guitar or mandolin. Check out their latest late-night TV appearance below. In November 2020, the
Sheer Mag has shared a new song called “Crushed Velvet.” The song appears on the soundtrack for Hulu’s forthcoming original film The Ultimate Playlist of Noise, which is out tomorrow (January 15). Check out “Crushed Velvet” below. Sheer Mag’s last LP was 2019’s A Distant Call. Later that year Vermont Senator—and then presidential candidate—Bernie Sanders
On January 4, Dr. Dre was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after suffering a brain aneurysm. Dre, who updated fans on his well-being shortly after news of his hospitalization surfaced, was kept at Cedars-Sinai’s intensive care unit for 11 number of days. Now, Dre has been released from the hospital to return
Run the Jewels have released a new remix of their RTJ4 song “ooh la la” by Mexican Institute of Sound, the project of producer/DJ Camilo Lara. The new track also features rising Mexican rapper Santa Fe Klan; listen to that below. RTJ previously shared a remix of “The Ground Below” featuring UK rock duo Royal