genius.com - 1 121 Showbiz News and Updates

The Weeknd’s “Scared to Live” is just one of many Top 40 hits from his latest album, After Hours. While it features an interpolation of Elton John’s 1970 hit, “Your Song,” it turns out the inspiration was unintentional.

Kendrick Lamar’s final DAMN. track, “DUCKWORTH.,” is an elaborate piece of hip-hop storytelling built around a trio of diverse samples. In a new interview with NPR, producer 9th Wonder broke down each one and explained how he succeeded at interweaving three very different songs together.

Philadelphia rapper Popp Hunna’s “Single” has gone viral on TikTok and has been used in over 1 million videos on the platform. On today’s episode of Verified, which premiered exclusively on Apple Music, Popp Hunna explains what inspired the feel-good breakup anthem.

On Tuesday, influential country folk singer John Prine died at 73 years old while hospitalized at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He passed away from complications due to coronavirus, his family confirmed to Rolling Stone.

The Weeknd’s debut mixtape, House of Balloons, made a massive impact upon arrival in 2011. As mystery swirled around the R&B star’s identity and his connection to Drake, the music set the stage for not only The Weeknd’s rise but an entire movement in the sound of R&B. He reflected on this influence in a new interview with Variety.

Future and Drake’s latest collaboration, “Life is Good,” sparked a whole new set of rumors that the duo’s long-rumored sequel to 2015’s What A Time to Be Alive could finally be on the way. In a new interview with XXL, he addressed the idea without offering too many specifics.

Future and Drake’s latest collaboration, “Life is Good,” sparked a whole new set of rumors that the duo’s long-rumored sequel to 2015’s What A Time to Be Alive could finally be on the way. In a new interview with XXL, he addressed the idea without offering too many specifics.

Singer Madison Beer’s highly anticipated debut album, Life Support, is due out later this year. The album’s official third single, “Stained Glass,” was released last week. While she is making a name for herself in the pop music world, she listed some diverse influences, citing Kid Cudi, Radiohead, and Tame Impala as sources of inspiration for the song.

Future has been a busy man so far this year, and he’s looking to kick things into high gear with his upcoming eighth album. He revealed in a new XXL interview that the project is titled Life is Good, the same name as his recent Drake collaboration.

Before dropping her debut album, Canadian singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez had already released a platinum single, nabbed a Grammy nomination, and worked with artists like Calvin Harris. Her years of work finally culminated in her official debut, BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US, which arrived on March 27.

Lupe Fiasco famously had a contentious relationship with his former label Atlantic Records before leaving in 2015. In an appearance on Joe Budden’s Instagram Live, the Chicago rapper claimed Atlantic “slowed down” the promotion of his single, “Kick, Push,” so they could buy the rights to the song it samples. Purchasing the rights would give the label a controlling portion of Lupe’s track and an opportunity for higher profit from its success.

On today’s episode of Verified, which premiered exclusively on Apple Music, LA rapper Blueface returns to break down the meaning of “Obama.” The track features DaBaby and is the lead single from his debut album Find the Beat.

Dua Lipa is riding the wave of another global hit with “Don’t Start Now,” the lead single off her sophomore album, Future Nostalgia. While the track turned out to be a smash, she faced a lot of uncertainty before releasing it due to fears that it wouldn’t measure up to her previous high-water mark: “New Rules.”

Drake continued his busy 2020 on Monday night by teasing half-a-dozen unreleased songs, including tracks with Playboi Carti, Popcaan, and Fivio Foreign. He previewed the tracks during an appearance on OVOMark’s Instagram Live.

Megan Thee Stallion built her brand as an unapologetically raunchy MC, and she’s sick of catching flak over it. In a new interview with Marie Claire, Megan sounded off about facing gendered double standards in rap music when she thinks men get away with much worse.

Quibi is set to launch a number of new shows on its app, one of which is hosted by Offset and features him driving around in fancy cars with other celebs. The show debuts today, and we get to see the Migos rapper hanging out with the likes of T-Pain and Chance the Rapper. But the most interesting thing about the show might actually be the name. Titled SKRRT with Offset, the show got its name from one of the most popular ad-libs in rap.

On Friday, producer 9th Wonder decided to remind hip-hop fans of JAY-Z’s status as one of the greatest rappers of all time by breaking down the Brooklyn MC’s prodigious output in the recording booth. In a lengthy Facebook post, the North Caroline native recalled hearing about Jay recording seven songs from The Blueprint in one weekend.

NAV’s unusually quiet vocals on Travis Scott’s 2018 single, “YOSEMITE,” sparked a litany of memes upon its release. While the odd mixing choice was eventually changed on streaming services, no explanation ever materialized—until now.

Although Travis Scott works with a wide array of producers, he maintains a much smaller circle of collaborators whose hands touch nearly every track. Alongside Mike Dean is 32-year-old CA$HPASSION, aka Jimmy Cash. The California native has been Travis' go-to recording engineer since the Owl Pharaoh days, and has seen the Houston rapper grow from an exciting upstart to one of hip-hop’s biggest names.

On today’s episode of Verified, which premiered exclusively on Apple Music, Irish singer-songwriter Dermot Kennedy explains what inspired his hit single, “Outnumbered.” The track is produced by KOZ and appears on his recent debut album Without Fear.

On Sunday night, Drake made a return appearance on Joe Budden’s Instagram Live. After Drake promised to do an interview with the TV show and podcast host for his upcoming album, the Toronto rapper addressed his recent song leaks.

Today is the 32-year anniversary of Tracy Chapman’s self-titled debut album, which spawned songs that still resonate today like “Fast Car” and the unofficial Bernie Sanders anthem “Talkin' ‘bout a Revolution.” Although the album was a huge success, it almost never came out because Chapman had always figured no major label would ever be interested in her socially conscious music.

Paramore’s self-titled 2013 album celebrates its seventh anniversary on April 5. The project’s fourth single, “Ain’t It Fun,” remains the group’s highest-charting Billboard Hot 100 hit and features sarcastic lyrics that resonated with fans learning to deal with adulthood. In multiple interviews, frontwoman Hayley Williams explained that she wrote the song as a motivational letter to herself to step out of her comfort zone.

The music world is still mourning the loss of legendary singer-songwriter Bill Withers, who died earlier this week. While fans revisited his classic songs like “Lean On Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” there are some stories about the soul singer that fans may not know. One memorable tale is how his label, the now-defunct Sussex Records, once bought him a golden toilet seat.

Yesterday, Frank Ocean finally gave his fans new music with a pair of singles, “Cayendo” and “Dear April.” The covers for the streaming versions of the tracks contain silhouettes that weren’t on the artwork of the original vinyl presses.

Cash Money’s rolodex of hits is deep, and includes classic tracks from the likes of Lil Wayne, Birdman, Turk, Juvenile, and more. Today, the storied rap label shared instrumental tracks for some of its biggest hits.

On Wednesday, DaBaby released his latest single, “Find My Way,” featuring production by his frequent collaborator DJ K.i.D. Redditors quickly recognized the beat features a continuous guitar loop that’s also used by Marshmello on “FRIENDS,” the EDM producer’s hit 2018 collaboration with Anne-Marie.

The 1975 has released the sixth promotional single from its fourth studio album, Notes On A Conditional Form. The track, cryptically titled “Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America,” is a heartfelt acoustic ballad addressing LGBTQ issues.

On today’s episode of Verified, which premiered exclusively on Apple Music, Brooklyn drill pioneer 22Gz returns to the series to break down the meaning of “Suburban Pt. 2.” The track was produced by Ghosty and is 22Gz’s first solo hit to pass 100K song page views on Genius.