Pet Shop Boys speak out on Drake’s unauthorised sample

Manchester business leaders have said that 'prestige and hype created around Co-op Live being the largest indoor venue in the UK has no doubt added pressure on the venue owners to get things rolling'.

NME, dubbing the situation “just a joke at this point”.Yesterday (May 1) thousands of people made their way, again, to Manchester’s new Co-Op Live, the recently-built “largest in-door arena” in the UK. With a grand opening that’s been marred by pushbacks, reschedules, controversial comments about grassroots venues being “poorly run”, and the executive director resigning: the new gig space has been beleaguered by a series of chaotic issues.Aside from a test event featuring Rick Astley for which some tickets were cancelled, reducing the audience to 11,000, the venue has yet to run a show successfully on the day it was originally scheduled.It was supposed to open with performances from Peter Kay on April 23 and 24, but the shows were moved to April 29 and 30 due to the venue’s power testing falling “a few days” behind schedule.

Kendrick Lamar has included a sample of a reversed Richard Pryor line from ‘The Wiz’ on his new Drake diss track ‘Euphoria‘.The six-minute-long diss track sees Lamar call the ‘Hotline Bling’ a “scam artist”, “master manipulator” and question his abilities as a father. It has been revealed that the jumbled audio in the intro of the song samples dialogue from the 1978 film The Wiz.Following its release yesterday (April 30), fans clipped the short sample and played the line backwards to find the first line: “eurt si em tuoba yas yeht gnihtyrevE” happens to be a line from the iconic film in which Richard Pryor – who portrayed The Wiz – says: “Everything they say about me is true.”the reversed audio at the beginning of euphoria played backwards pic.twitter.com/9aNxxTxs57— Dissect Podcast (@dissectpodcast) April 30, 2024Pryor’s line in the film is taken from a scene in which his character is exposed as Herman Smith, a washed-up politician from Atlantic City.

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Drake has replied to Kendrick Lamar‘s brutal ‘Euphoria’ diss track on his Instagram stories.Last night, Lamar released the six-minute diss track against the rapper, calling him a “master manipulator” and questioning his abilities as a father amongst other accusations. It is the latest response in a feud ignited by Lamar, who hit out against Drake and J.

Kendrick Lamar has hit back at Drake with a six-minute-long diss track, Euphoria’, in which he calls him a “master manipulator” and also questions his abilities as a father.Lamar re-ignited his feud with Drake last month on a song with Future and Metro Boomin‘s new track ‘Like That’, on which he also hit out at J. Cole.

Pet Shop Boys have revealed that their track ‘Feel’ was originally offered to The Killers‘ frontman Brandon Flowers.While speaking to Record Collector in an interview, duo Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant shared that the second track from their latest release ‘Nonetheless‘ was offered to Flowers while he was working on his solo album.“We sent it to him when he was making his solo album with Stuart Price, but we don’t know if it reached him – and then, during lockdown, I read a book about the spy, George Blake, escaping from prison,” he said. “For some reason, it inspired me to return to this, so now it’s about visiting a loved one in prison.”The Killers frontman teamed up with Price back in 2010 for his debut solo LP ‘Flamingo’.

Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant has said that the duo’s performance at Glastonbury in 2022 was the “worst moment” of his life.The electronic duo’s performance on The Other Stage on the Sunday of the festival was marred by technical difficulties which saw Tennant have to perform solo for six songs.Although they also delighted fans by bringing out Olly Alexander to perform ‘It’s A Sin’, Tennant has now reflected on how difficult that moment was in a new interview.“In our show there’s a screen and the screen goes up briefly, Chris and I appear and walk forward,” he told BBC Breakfast. “Glastonbury of course is live on television, we were headlining the Other Stage on the Sunday night, there’s 70,000 people there.“And the screen rose by about 10 inches and stopped and we just looked at each other and we couldn’t talk because you have the music in your headphones then.“So we both made a dash for it and ran around the front, Chris couldn’t get to his front keyboard in time so he went to a second keyboard positioned at the back and suddenly I run around and I think “I’m here by myself on live on television”.’He continued: “I didn’t know what had gone wrong, no one tells you and I had to do the first six songs by myself with an empty keyboard next to me.”“There’s was a real adrenaline rush off that.

Emmy-winning actress Drea de Matteo told Donald Trump Jr. in a podcast interview that many prominent celebrities like herself are against Biden’s agenda but are afraid to speak out.De Matteo, who rose to fame in HBO’s “The Sopranos,” spoke with former President Trump’s son on a recent episode of his “Triggered” podcast.De Matteo has a history of slamming cancel culture, even starting a streetwear brand called “Ultrafree” that helps “promote free speech.”De Matteo spoke about how she has changed her opinions on certain issues such as illegal immigration, and that while she previously voted for Biden based on sympathy for illegal immigrants, the chaos at the border has changed her mind.After showing off a cap from her friends’ company, Sloppy Tease, that read “Close the border you moron,” they discussed the mass illegal immigration of able-bodied, fighting-age men.

Suge Knight has commented on Drake using A.I. to get Tupac and Snoop Dogg to feature on his ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ diss track.Last weekend, Drake uploaded ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ online, marking the second time the Canadian has thrown jabs at Kendrick Lamar.

Pet Shop Boys‘ Neil Tennant has admitted that he finds Taylor Swift‘s music “disappointing” following the release of her new album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’. Despite Swift’s massive success in recent years, with her new double album becoming the fastest-selling of 2024, Tennant said in a Guardian Live event An Evening with Pet Shop Boys that he thought the quality of her music didn’t hold up to her popularity.“What is Taylor Swift’s ‘Billie Jean’?” he asked.

Pet Shop Boys have spoken out about their namecheck in Eminem’s diss track ‘Can-I-Bitch’, joking about the good “humour” of the rapper.Released on ‘Straight from the Lab’ bootleg album, Eminem’s ‘Can-I-Bitch’ – a diss track aimed at fellow rapper Canibus – included Eminem mimicking the sound of a car hitting someone and the lyric, “What was that? Pet Shop Boys”, implying he and producer/mentor Dr Dre had mowed down the 2017 NME Godlike Genius award recipients.‘Can-I-Bitch’ is thought partly to be an answer-song to Pet Shop Boys’ ‘The Night I Fell in Love’, the penultimate song on their 2002 album ‘Release’ – detailing the story of a teenage boy who has a one-night-stand with his rap idol after a gig.Despite Eminem never being explicitly mentioned by name, it includes lyrical references that appear to point to Marshall Mathers as inspiration – including ‘Over breakfast made jokes about Dre and his homies’, and ‘Then he joked: ‘Hey man, your name isn’t Stan, is it?’ (as a nod to Eminem’s 2000 chart-topping single). Reacting to ‘The Night I Fell In Love’ in 2002, Dr Dre hinted at Eminem’s forthcoming response-track when he commented: “We needed another song anyway.

slammed Taylor Swift on the heels of her “The Tortured Poets Department” album release.“She fascinates me as a sort of phenomenon because she is so popular,” Tennant, 68, said while speaking at the Guardian Live event “An Evening with Pet Shop Boys” in London on Monday, per The Independent.“I sort of like the whole thing but then think, ‘Where are the famous songs? What is Taylor Swift’s Billie Jean?'”He went on: “‘Shake it Off’? Is it though? I listened to that the other day and it is not ‘Billie Jean.’”Swift, 34, dropped her 11th studio album on April 19, which included a whopping 31 new songs seemingly about multiple ex-boyfriends, including Joe Alwyn, Matty Healy and John Mayer.Swift’s fans often theorize who she’s writing about with her lyrics and Easter eggs. She and Healy, 35, briefly dated last summer after her six-year relationship with Alwyn, 33, ended.

Pet Shop Boys have responded to the recent comparisons of their classic single ‘It’s A Sin’ to Olly Alexander’s Eurovision entry ‘Dizzy’.Alexander released the track last month ahead of the Years & Years singer representing the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden next month.‘Dizzy’ was co-written by Alexander and electronic producer Danny L Harle (Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Caroline Polachek). Upon the track’s release, the former explained that it was “inspired by a lot of music we love from the ’80s like Erasure, Adamski and of course Pet Shop Boys”.Some listeners have pointed out similarities to Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe’s 1987 hit specifically.

Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys has taken a pop at Taylor Swift, saying her tunes don't match up to classic hits from superstar Michael Jackson.

Kanye West has gotten involved in the ongoing rap beef between Drake, J. Cole, Future and Kendrick Lamar.The controversial rapper – who now goes by Ye – continued his longtime drama with Drake over the weekend (April 20), when he made an appearance on Justin Laboy’s radio show The Download, and premiered his remix of ‘Like That’.Originally, the song was shared by Future and Metro Boomin with help from Kendrick Lamar, and was seen as a response to Drake and J.

Unsurprisingly, the release of Taylor Swift’s 11th album has seen fans rushing to marry the star’s provocative lyrics with the correct ex-boyfriend.

Drake has taunted Kendrick Lamar once again on the new track ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’, making use of AI versions of 2Pac and Snoop Dogg.The song was posted on the rapper’s X account today (April 20), the latest in a string of shots back and forth between the two artists.The first verse on the track has been manipulated to sound like 2Pac, with lines including: “Kendrick, we need ya, the West Coast savior / Engraving your name in some hip-hop history / Fuck this Canadian light-skin, Dot / We need a no-debated West Coast victory, man”.Taylor Made Freestyle pic.twitter.com/OrcdsIb8Wf— Drizzy (@Drake) April 20, 2024That is swiftly followed by the AI Snoop, who also goads Kendrick into defending the West Coast legacy: “I know you never been to jail, or wore jumpsuits and shower shoes / Never shot nobody, never stabbed nobody / Never did nothing violent to no one, it’s the homies that empower you / But, still, you gotta show this fucking owl who’s boss on the West / Now’s a time to really make a power move”.On the final verse, Drake’s true voice comes through: “I guess you need another week to figure out how to improve / What the fuck is taking so long, we waitin’ on you / The rest of y’all are definitely involved, y’all gettin’ it too / Soon as you get the courage to drop, I’m out on the loose“.Drizzy also uses the dominance of Taylor Swift’s new album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ to mock Kendrick: “But now we gotta wait a fucking week ’cause Taylor Swift is your new top / And if you ’bout to drop, she gotta approve”.Drake was continuing to taunt Kendrick yesterday, telling fans that K-Dot “had nothing to drop” in response to Drizzy’s ‘Push Ups’ diss track.The issue began on the 2023 single ‘First Person Shooter’, when

George The Poet has waded into the Kendrick Lamar-Drake beef, saying that Kendrick is just “cosplaying as a revolutionary”.The London artist has dismissed the rapper as “catty” in a new interview, adding that he is not an artist that represents radical values and has not spoken enough out on social issues.Speaking to The Guardian, George said: “Kendrick Lamar is a non-revolutionary cosplaying as a revolutionary. [He is someone] who’s been silent about very important things at very important times.”“And now that he has a little catty moment, we’re acting like hip-hop’s back? I don’t want to be part of that.”“We all had record deals at some point.

Drake has been taunting Kendrick Lamar online, telling fans that the rapper “has nothing to drop” in response to his ‘Push Ups’ diss track.On the 2023 single ‘First Person Shooter’, Drake compared himself to Michael Jackson as the two are now tied for the most Number One singles on the Billboard charts. Last month, Lamar took jabs at Drake on ‘Like That’ from Metro Boomin and Future’s first joint project, ‘We Don’t Trust You’ by likening himself to Prince – Jackson’s longtime rival. “Prince outlived Mike Jack’ N****, bum, ‘fore all your dogs gettin’ buried That’s a K with all these nines, he gon’ see Pet Sematary,” he rapped.Last weekend (April 13), Drake seemingly replied on the diss track, ‘Push Ups (Drop And Give Me 50)’. “This the bark with the bite, nigga, what’s up? / How the fuck you been steppin’ with a size seven mens on?” he rapped, alluding to Lamar’s fifth studio album ‘Mr Morale & The Big Steppers’.