So far, guests for Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s Grand National Tour have been Playboi Carti, Baby Keem, Kaytranada, and Lizzo. They expanded the list last night (May 23) at the second Inglewood, CA show when SZA brought out Justin Bieber for their SOS remix collab “Snooze,” and cradled his face in her hand, at SoFi Stadium.
It’s New Music Friday. Don’t forget to search YouTube for “song.”
Back in February, for reasons still unclear, Bob Dylan posted an old video of Machine Gun Kelly rapping in a record store on his Instagram. When he’s not posting on social media, he’s been spending the past few days on Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Festival Tour, and last night in Spokane he brought out tourmate Billy Strings to do “All Along The Watchtower” with him. But more surprisingly: We have enough evidence to conclude that Bob Dylan and Machine Gun Kelly have almost certainly met in person.
The Belfast rap group Kneecap have always been politically outspoken, and lately that outspokenness has involved some major career tumult. During Coachella’s first weekend, the group’s messages condemning Israel’s genocidal ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza were censored on the festival’s official livestream, so for the fest’s second weekend they got Twitch streamer Hasan Piker come onstage with them to broadcast their show on his own feed.
“I’m from the UK, you know.” This phrase, repeated incessantly and accented with the words “UK daddy,” becomes the core of Love Remain’s infectious new techno/house track. The mysterious producer has given us “U.K” at the dawn of the summer, and it feels like something that could send the season’s dance parties spinning out of control. Take it for a spin yourself below.
Following his historic MSG residency, 76-year-old Billy Joel has still kept himself busy with quite a few stadium shows in the past few months. He was supposed to embark on another US/UK tour this year, but now all of those dates have been canceled due to Joel’s recent normal pressure hydrocephalus diagnosis. Also called NPH, it’s when cerebrospinal fluid builds up in your skull and presses on your brain.
In 2021, Afrika Bambaataa was sued for child sex trafficking. The hip-hop pioneer has lost the civil case after failing to show up in court. The plaintiff’s motion for a default judgment was “granted without opposition” in New York State’s Supreme Court by Judge Alexander M. Tisch.
Since the release of their 2023 album Heavy Heavy, Young Fathers were nominated for a Mercury Prize and contributed to the Ceasefire benefit EP to help Gaza. Today, the hip-hop group announced they’re scoring the forthcoming post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Years Later.
This morning, a plane crashed in a San Diego neighborhood, tragically killing all six of its passengers. One of the lives taken was former the Devil Wears Prada drummer Daniel Williams, and three were talent agents for Sound Talent Group.
Brooklyn Mirage was supposed to reopen May 1, but things aren’t going as planned. In December the East Williamsburg music venue announced major renovations, hoping to fix their not-great reputation, especially after two men left separate shows there and were later found dead in the nearby creek in 2023. But the reopening weekend was canceled, and then so was the weekend after that, and the one after that. Now, the CEO of its parent company Avant Gardner is no longer with the company, according to an email sent to employees.