Meditate love into your life

There are few contemporary working artists who maintain a more idiosyncratic release schedule than D’Angelo . He’s famous for tinkering and revising his music, eating up years and hundreds of reels of analog tape on his way to an eventual album. It took him 14 years to follow up 2000’s smash hit Voodoo with his most recent album, Black Messiah . In that time, three U.S. presidents occupied the White House, Facebook was invented, and D’Angelo released precisely zero songs. So it was a surprise when a new D’Angelo track titled “ May I? Stand Unshaken” quietly appeared on YouTube recently. Even more startling: In many of the bootleg clips D’Angelo’s new song soundtracks footage from the wildly popular video game Red Dead Redemption 2 . That’s because the only way listeners can legitimately get their hands on “May I? Stand Unshaken,” which has not been officially released yet, is by buying a copy of the game. “Even RCA [D’Angelo’s label] had no idea we were … [Read more...] about D’Angelo F-cking Loves Playing ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’

Like so many people of mixed heritages, Tierra Umi Wilson exists between worlds. The 23-year-old artist — who performs under her middle name, UMI, which means “ocean” in Japanese — was born in Seattle to a Black father and a Japanese mother, and has spent her life negotiating the cultural exchange she embodies. Her 2020 EP Introspection put that interrogation into music as she worked her way through questions of heritage and sexual identity. But while that record was explicitly inward-looking, UMI’s debut album — Forest in the City , out May 27 on RCA — seeks to turn her search outward. The themes are more universal and the sounds more expansive, bouncing from sun-soaked electro R&B on “whatever u like” to moody slow jams like “moonlit room.” It’s as if being at a fulcrum between communities has given UMI the confidence to be something completely different: herself. “Growing up, I didn’t feel Japanese enough, I didn’t feel Black enough, and I didn’t feel me enough, … [Read more...] about UMI’s Peaceful Soul: ‘I Can Be Whatever I Want to Be’

‘D ear heavenly Father,” someone is saying to the silent room, “please give us the ability to touch this crowd.” All thirty-six members of D’Angelo ‘s touring band and crew are stuffed into his dressing room, hands linked, heads bowed in a large prayer circle. “And when our ability fails, Lord. Please. Take over.” The room answers with a loud “ mm-hmm. “ Prayer ends, and the entire group collapses into a giant moving hug, all yelling at once in a joyous din – “ Soultronic force! My re-deeeeem-er !” It seems they’re gearing up for some high-energy smash-mouth football. Or a musical mission. As the scrum disperses, D’Angelo turns to you and slaps you five. And nearly breaks your hand. D, as they call him, gives pounds with injurious intent – stiff-handed smacks that make a firecracker pop and then meld into a tight clamp, a finger snap, two fist bumps and another clamp, or some such combination. The more he likes you, the more he uses the strength in his bulky shoulders and … [Read more...] about D’Angelo Is Holding Your Hand

D ‘Angelo is a morning person, of sorts. When he’s working in the studio, as was often the case in the 14-year interregnum between 2000’s Voodoo and 2014’s Black Messiah, he quits his all-night recording sessions just in time to greet each day’s sunrise. “I’m definitely on the night shift,” he says, drawing deep on one of a series of Newport cigarettes, not long after midnight in the midtown Manhattan studio where he recorded much of Black Messiah. He’s wearing a denim shirt unbuttoned over a white undershirt, dark jeans and leather boots. Dog tags bearing the names of his three children hang from a chain around his neck. He looks weary, though he woke up not long ago. It’s his first interview since he released one of the most universally acclaimed albums in years, an album that seemed as if it might never come out at all. D’Angelo could well be the most singular, visionary star to emerge from R&B since Prince. His music, stuffed with live instrumentation and harmonic … [Read more...] about The Second Coming of D’Angelo

The Notorious B.I.G.’s verses from “I Love the Dough” has been flipped into a new song, “G.O.A.T.,” which arrives one day before what would’ve been the late rapper’s 50th birthday, May 21. The original “I Love the Dough” is, of course, vintage Biggie, the Life After Death track featuring a bouncing beat from Easy Mo Bee, verses from Jay-Z, and a hook from Angela Winbush. “G.O.A.T.”, meanwhile, boasts a contemporary Afrobeats vibe, and finds Biggie trading verses this time with Ty Dolla $ign , while Nigerian R&B star Bella Alubo sings the hook. The track was co-produced by Nigerian producer, Kayomusiq. “Being on a song with Biggie has been a dream of mine since I was a kid,” Ty Dolla $ign said in a statement. “The song title is fitting of him…the G.O.A.T. Happy Birthday, Big. We miss you.” Voletta Wallace, the late rapper’s mother, added, “It’s wonderful to witness my son’s music reimagined for his fans and today’s generation of young men and women to embrace his … [Read more...] about A Notorious B.I.G. Classic Gets Flipped Into a New Song Featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Bella Alubo

EXCLUSIVE : Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo ( Harriet ) will lead cast alongside Being The Ricardos and Arrested Development star Alia Shawkat in Anthony Chen’s ( Ilo Ilo ) English-language debut Drift . The film reunites Call Me By Your Name producers Emilie Georges and Peter Spears and exec producer Naima Abed. Spears won the Best Picture Oscar last year for Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland . Drift follows a young Liberian refugee named Jacqueline (Erivo) who has barely escaped her war-torn country to a Greek island. She offers massages to tourists in exchange for one or two euros to battle her hunger, while her daily struggle for survival keeps the memories that haunt her at bay. She meets an unmoored tour guide (Shawkat) and the two become close as they each find hope in the other. Ibrahima Ba, who has a supporting role in Cannes 2022 title Father & Soldier , is also among cast. Filming is currently underway in Greece on the under-the-radar … [Read more...] about Cynthia Erivo & Alia Shawkat Lead Anthony Chen’s ‘Drift’ For ‘Call Me By Your Name’ & ‘Nomadland’ Producers — Cannes

Ice Cream for Crow , Captain Beefheart ’s twelfth album, will surely attain the sacred status enjoyed by the rest of this beloved eccentric’s musical canon, and it will do so without so much as a critical blink. So it should be: in the arid expanses of rock & roll, Beefheart’s fecund gift for words and music stands out like a flower rising from parched earth. Personally, I have nothing but gratitude for almost every note he’s ever played, but a few observations about his new record may be in order. First, in addition to the whooping crane and the manatee, Captain Beefheart’s voice should be added to the list of endangered species. These days, he’s not so much singing as delivering raspy recitations, and his touted seven-and-a-half octave range — a sad casualty of cigarettes and age? — is nowhere in evidence. Second, he doesn’t seem entirely at ease before the microphone, and on several compositions—notably, “Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat”— he sounds disconcertingly … [Read more...] about Ice Cream For Crow

Soulja Boy ‘s voice is breaking up. He apologizes, the culprit is his house — it’s in the hills and possesses less than optimal reception — rapper problems. He’s already let his 5 million-plus followers on Twitter know that we’re going to talk: “Whoa I got rolling stone and Forbes requesting a interview oh shit.” A couple of hours later he’ll let the same followers know he finished said interview with Rolling Stone ; he didn’t tweet about his Forbes interview, so I don’t think I’ll get scooped on this story. It’s the kind of hyper-documentation DeAndre Cortez Way has been practicing for over a decade, in part because he pioneered it. Soulja wants more. His latest plan to get more is called SouljaGames, and it’s arrived in time for the holidays. On his website , the 28-year-old entrepreneur is selling a plethora of electronics including the SouljaWatch, SouljaPods, SouljaPhone and SouljaHeadphones. None of that is too out of the ordinary; off-brand electronics are available … [Read more...] about Soulja Boy Wants to Take Over the Gaming Industry One Console at a Time

TMZ.com The life, legacy and death of rap star XXXTENTACION is the subject of an upcoming documentary, and his loved ones say it will unpeel another layer of his mystique. We chopped it up with X's mother Cleopatra Bernard and manager Solomon Sobande in NYC outside a screening for "Look At Me: XXXTENTACION" ... and his mom admits the film isn't designed for image control. Cleopatra tells us the film's goal is more to show people, like her son, do make mistakes and are only human. She also admits she wished they had included documents alleging X's girlfriend was not pregnant at the time of the domestic abuse incident he copped to ... clearly one of those mistakes to which his mother's referring. The doc is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Sabaah Folayan and hits Hulu on May 26. Cleo screened the film for a select few rappers -- Fivio Foreign , 21 Savage , Tory Lanez and 50 Cent . -- and she says they all gave it a '10.' She adds … [Read more...] about XXXTENTACION’s Mom Says ‘Look At Me’ Doc Humanizes Her Son, Rappers Cosign