The 2017 Grammy Noms Are Here & So Are The Twitter Reactions

The nominations for the 59th Grammy Awards were announced today (December 6) to much fanfare with Beyoncé leading the pack with nine nods, followed by Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West with eight chances to win awards. Chance The Rapper already made headlines for helping change the rules that allow for streaming-only projects — a.k.a. mixtapes — to be acknowledged by the Academy, and makes news again by getting seven nominations.

Of course, some of the artists nominated shared their joy at having some respek put on their name, including Chano.

While Drake was quiet on his recognition, Norm‘s here to represent for Canada.

Congratulations To Chance The Rapper!

Twitter erupted for Chance The Rapper breaking barriers as an independent artist. The memes, praise and positivity were rolling in.

Not Everyone Was Happy … Snub Season?

Questlove wasn’t feeling the nominations and maybe has lost faith in the system, saying he didn’t even turn in his ballot. This echoes the sentiments of many others, including Kanye West and Rapsody who have publicly questioned the Grammys’ ability to understand Hip Hop.

Frank Ocean wasn’t nominated for any awards since his team didn’t submit his Blonde album for consideration. Twitter had mixed feelings as many believed his project was worthy, but supported his decision.

Kanye had threatened to boycott the Grammys if they didn’t break the rules and nominate Ocean anyways. Taxstone had a joke about that. And the Rap Album category, which features Drake’s VIEWS,  Chance The Rapper’s Coloring Book, De La Soul’s And The Anonymous Nobody, DJ Khaled’s Major Key, ScHoolboy Q’s Blank Face LP and Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo.

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Chris Rock To Embark On Total Blackout Tour In 2017

Actor/comedian Chris Rock will soon hit the road for his first tour in nine years.

In a Facebook Live video uploaded this week from Los Angeles’ Comedy Store, Rock announced the Total Blackout Tour.

“I, Christopher Julius Rock, have an important announcement to make tonight,” Chris Rock said in the video. “Tonight I am announcing that I, Chris Rock, am going on tour. That’s right. The Total Blackout Tour is coming to your town in 2017. That’s right. 2017, Total Blackout Tour. World tour. First time in nine years. Haven’t done it in a while. Been a little busy. Writing Pootie Tang 3 and everything. But hey, it’s time.”

The funnyman went on to inform those watching that the Total Blackout Tour will boast “all new material.”

News of Rock’s new stand-up tour comes weeks after it was revealed that he signed off on a deal with Netflix for $40 million for two brand new comedy specials.

It has yet to be revealed if either of Rock’s Netflix specials will include material from his Total Blackout Tour.

Check out the dates for Chris Rock’s Total Blackout Tour below.

February 14 – Durham, NC @ DPAC
February 16 – Cincinnati, OH @ Aronoff Center for the Arts
February 18 – Columbus, OH @ Palace Theatre
February 21-23 – Niagara Falls, ON @ Fallsview Casino Resort
February 24 – Reno, NV @ Reno Events Center
February 25 – Phoenix, AZ @ Comerica Theatre
March 3 – Denver, CO @ Bellco Theatre
March 5 – Richmond, VA @ Altrea Theatre
March 10 – Minneapolis, MN @ Orpheum Theatre
March 24 – Birmingham, AL @ BJCC Concert Hall
March 25 – New Orleans, LA @ Saenger Theatre
March 29 – Hollywood, FL @ Hard Rock Live
April 6 – Tulsa, OK @ River Spirit Casino Resort
April 7 – Thackerville, OK @ Global Event Center at WinStar World Casino
April 8 – St. Louis, MO @ Peabody Opera House
April 14 – Tampa, FL @ David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts
April 19 – Cleveland, OH @ State Theatre
April 22 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun
April 28 – Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
May 3 – Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre
May 13 – Sugar Land, TX @ Smart Financial Center
May 14 – Austin, TX @ Bass Concert Hall
May 17 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Benedum Center
May 25 – Cherokee, NC @ Harrah’s Cherokee Resort Event Center
May 26 – Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theatre
June 3 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata Event Center

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A$AP Rocky Fires Back At Former Landlord With counter Lawsuit

 A$AP Rocky has turned the tables on a former landlord who is seeking $175,000 from the Harlem rapper.

TMZ reports that A$AP has filed a countersuit against his former landlord, Scott Crowe.

Despite Crowe’s previous claims of unapproved alterations and extensive damage in the condo Rocky rented, the A$AP Mob rapper claims that his landlord was the negligent one. The countersuit states that Crowe didn’t properly maintain the building, adding that the condo flooded twice, forcing him to find temporary residence elsewhere during one of the incidents.

A$AP Rocky is reportedly seeking his $40,000 security deposit as well as damages in his suit.

In September of this year, it was reported that Rocky’s former landlord hit the Harlem musician with a $175,000 lawsuit. According to Crowe’s lawsuit, Rocky left the condo “in a generally filthy state with dirt, huge piles of debris and garbage throughout.”

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J. Cole's "4 Your Eyez Only" Album Tracklist

J. Cole’s label, Dreamville, has shared the back cover revealing the tracklist for the North Carolina MC’s upcoming album, 4 Your Eyez Only.

The project, which is due out Friday (December 9), is made up of 10 songs and lists no features. Cole’s last effort, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, went double platinum with no features and was the first LP in 25 years to sell more than one million copies without a guest appearance.

The two tracks that were shared in J. Cole’s Eyez documentary, “Everybody Dies” and “False Prophets,” do not appear on the tracklist. “Everybody Dies” seemingly took aim at the new generation of rappers including Lil Yachty while “False Prophets” fired subliminal shots at what fans presumed was Kanye West, Drake or Wale.

Wale addressed the possible diss in a song called “Groundhog Day,” but the same day shared a clip of himself and Cole chillin’ courtsideat a basketball game to clear the air.

So check out what tracks did make the 4 Your Eyez Only tracklist below and hang tight for the December 9 release date.

1. For Whom the Bell Tolls
2. Immortal
3. Deja Vu
4. Ville Mentality
5. She’s Mine Pt. 1
6. Change
7. Neighbors
8. Foldin Clothes
9. She’s Mine Pt. 2
10. 4 Your Eyez Only

(This article was first published December 1, 2016 and is as follows.)

Good news for J. Cole fans today, as it seems they’ll have a new album from the Dreamville boss to devour by December 9.

iTunes posted a pre-order for a new project, titled 4 Your Eyez Only, in its store. Details are scant, although the write-up describes the project as: “The rapper’s highly anticipated fourth studio album.” It appears to have 10 songs on it and the release date is listed as December 9, which would mark to the day the two-year anniversary of the release of J. Cole’s last studio album, “2014 Forest Hills Drive.”

Cole, an artist on Jay Z’s Roc Nation, has bordered on reclusive in 2016, even telling the audience at The Meadows Music & Arts Festival in October that he was talking a long hiatus from playing shows.

With the project on the calendar now, it’s inevitable that we’ll start seeing some singles and videos soon.

Will the album go platinum? WILL IT HAVE NO FEATURES? Only time will tell.

Pre-order the album here.

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Yasiin Bey Announces Two New Albums To Go With His Other New Album

Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def, is making up for lost time after being finally allowed to leave South Africa last month.

The rapper and actor was at Art Basel in Miami over the weekend and announced that he has two new albums in the pipeline, and he plans to perform some songs from the records before December is out.

While Bey is expected to release a self-titled album as Dec 99th next week in a collaboration with Ferrari Sheppard, he confirmed to WNL Radio that he has plans for two further albums: Negus In Natural Person and the other, a collaboration with producer Mannie Fresh, will be called As Promised.

While there is no release date set for either of the projects, Bey also said that he would be “premiering” the albums in a performance at New York’s Apollo Theater on December 20 and 21. In the announcement, Bey also thanked everybody for putting up with his “shenanigans.”

Bey also performed his song “Turnt” live on the airwaves, a snippet of which can be listened to below:

After his legal issues in South Africa, Bey had announced his intention to retire from music. These two albums, along with a third forthcoming album titled Dec 99th will see the legend close out the chapter on his music career.

Bey had been stuck in South Africa for almost a year after he was found to be violating immigration laws by using a World Passport, which is not recognized by the government of South Africa. He was released after offering an unconditional apology.

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Drake Celebrates 'Views' Quadruple Platinum Certification

While 2016 has been a bummer for many, Drake is having a phenomenal year. 

On Monday (Dec. 5), the RIAA announced that the hip-hop superstar's fourth studio album, Views, has been officially been certified quadruple platinum. The honor marks 4 million units sold with 100 streams counting as one certifiable unit. 

Views is Drake's second album to hit the quadruple platinum milestone, following his 2011 sophomore release Take Care. The album was released April 29 and was certified double platinum June 9 and triple platinum on Aug. 3. 

In September, Apple Music announced Views was the streaming service's first ever album to hit 1 billion streams. Last month, the album hit 3 billion streams on Spotify and last week topped its year-end lists as the most streamed artist in the United States and internationally. 

Drake celebrated the news on Instagram: 

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French Montana & Drake Wrote a New Bro Code For One Night Stands

French Montana and Drake have a new set of rules to live by, for one night stands at least. 

Over the weekend, Montana shared a framed list called the "10 Snipe Commandments" that's currently hanging in his house. According to his Instagram post, the rules were written by Drake with his oversight. 

Among the bro code's "commandments" are no pillow talk or business conversations, always be honest with a brother about a fling, no dating scene is off limits unless its been explicitly stated and there's no paying for sex except when "hunting in exotic locations." 

Of course there's a caveat to it all for those pure of heart: "Disregard these rules if you're fully committed," Montana noted. 

Check them out here:

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Ab-Soul finally has a Release Date for 'DWTW' & Drops New Track 'Threatening Nature'

TDE will be rolling out their fifth project of the year with Ab-Soul's DWTW this week. In addition to sharing the project's Dec. 9 release date Monday (Dec. 5), Soulo unleashed a dark new track called "Threatening Nature," produced by PakkMusicGroup.

The song finds the rapper spewing venomous bars for three minutes: "This HiiiPower sh-- is limitless/ You tryna f--- a model/ And I'm trying to deflower Queen Elizabeth/ Just to be precise, who knew that Genesis really meant/ The genealogy of ISIS, this sh-- ridiculous/ The chicken came before the egg is my hypothesis and/ This ain't a album, this an algorithm."

Last month, TDE CEO Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith scolded Soul and the label's engineer Derek "Mixed By Ali" Ali on Twitter for holding up the album. Ab-Soul's previous releases include "Huey Knew" and "Braille," featuring Dreamville's Bas.

Check out "Threatening Nature" as well as Soulo's new album cover below.

View image on Twitter

 Follow

TOP DAWG TDE 

✔@dangerookipawaa

#DWTW 12.09.16

6:24 PM - 5 Dec 2016 · Atlanta, GA

 
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•  12,18712,187 likes

View image on Twitter

 Follow

Ab-Soul 

✔@abdashsoul

Threatening Nature. https://soundcloud.com/topdawgent/ab-soul-threatening-nature-prod-by-pakkmusicgroup …#DWTW 12.09.16

6:26 PM - 5 Dec 2016

 
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Remy Ma Gives an Update on Fat Joe Joint Album 'Platas o Plomo' & Shares Favorite Holiday Tunes

In addition to soundtracking the summer with her Fat Joe collaboration "All the Way Up" (which landed a remix from Jay Z), Remy Ma has been working on a joint album with her Terror Squad mate called Platas o Plomo. After releasing follow-ups like "Cookin'" featuring French Montana and Joe's son, rapper Ry So Valid, and "Money Showers" co-starring Ty Dolla $ign, Remy assures that the project will turn up in the new year.

"The Platas o Plomo album is coming out at the top of the year in January," Remy told Billboard on the red carpet for the VH1 Divas Holiday: Unsilent Night special at the King’s Theatre in Brooklyn on Friday. "I believe it's supposed to go out on [January] 9th. We're about to shoot the video for our newest single 'Money Showers' with Ty Dolla $ign."

She adds, "When my brother [Fat Joe] and I get in the studio, something magical happens. I think the people are going to be really, really happy with this album. It's a solid, real rap [project]. We didn't take it to something that's outside of either one of us. We meshed it all together very nicely."

In between juggling motherhood to her son Jace and cooking up heat for the album, Remy has also been maintaining her ride-or-die relationship with her husband, rapper Papoose. When asked if the two would ever take their union to wax for a joint project, Remy offers, "Well, for now, he just allows me to get on his records. He released this song called "Black Love" this year, and I hopped on the remix. On the original, he was saying all of these nice things about how much he loves me and the type of woman he wants, and I just asked him if I could get on it. He told me to just do a remix so people could see how much I love my husband. As far as a collab project, we haven't thought about that yet, but if that happens, I'm sure it will be a fun experience."

Remy also got into the holiday spirit for the VH1 Divas special, where she performed Run-DMC's 1988 classic "Christmas in Hollis." When it comes to her Christmas playlist, Remy gushed, "I love Christmas carols. I love the ones that are sung over by famous people like Mary J. Blige. R. Kelly just put out a Christmas album and it was so good. I like to listen to Christmas songs where people that you know put their own style on it."

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The Weeknd Charts Entire 'Starboy' Album on Hot 100

As his new album Starboy shoots in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated Dec. 17), The Weeknd charts all 18 songs on the set on the Billboard Hot 100. With 18 tracks on the Hot 100 at once, The Weeknd boasts the second-most simultaneous entries, after Drake charted 20 at the same time on the Hot 100 dated May 21, the same week that his album Views debuted atop the Billboard 200. (Drake also charted 18 titles on the June 4 Hot 100.)

Notably, The Weeknd ties Drake for the most simultaneously charted Hot 100 titles from a single album, as the week that Drake charted 20, 18 were from Views.

As previously reported, the Starboy title cut, featuring Daft Punk, rebounds from No. 3 for a sixth week at its No. 2 peak on the Hot 100. "Party Monster" ranks second-highest among the album's tracks, surging 39-16, followed by "I Feel It Coming" (also featuring Daft Punk; 48-22), the set's second radio single, which additionally debuts on the Pop Songs airplay chart at No. 33.

Here is a look at all 18 Starboy songs that The Weeknd places on the latest Hot 100:

No. 2, "Starboy," feat. Daft Punk (up from No. 3)
No. 16, "Party Monster" (up from No. 39)
No. 22, "I Feel It Coming," feat. Daft Punk (up from No. 48)
No. 27, "Sidewalks," feat. Kendrick Lamar (new)
No. 31, "Reminder" (new)
No. 34, "Six Feet Under" (new)
No. 43, "Die for You" (new)
No. 44, "Rockin' " (new)
No. 46, "All I Know," feat. Future (new)
No. 47, "Secrets" (new)
No. 48, "True Colors" (new)
No. 55, "False Alarm" (re-entry)
No. 61, "Stargirl Interlude," feat. Lana Del Rey (new)
No. 67, "Attention" (new)
No. 68, "Nothing Without You" (new)
No. 69, "A Lonely Night" (new)
No. 71, "Love to Lay" (new)
No. 72, "Ordinary Life" (new)

Streaming is the main driver for the bulk of Starboy's Hot 100-charted songs (the title track lead single also boasts hefty airplay and sales; 125 million in audience and 53,000 sold, respectively, according to Nielsen Music). Six of the set's cuts each drew more than 10 million U.S. streams in the tracking week (ending Dec. 1): "Starboy" (33.4 million), "Party Monster" (16 million), "I Feel It Coming" (11.2 million), "Reminder" (10.6 million), "Sidewalks" (10.3 million) and "Six Feet Under" (10.1 million).

As previously noted, Starboy's arrival received a jolt from streaming equivalent album units, as a whopping 117,000 of its total unit sum were driven by streaming units (equaling 175.2 million streams of Starboy's songs in the week). That's the second-largest debut streaming week ever, following that of Drake's Views, which clocked 163,000 streaming units in its opening frame (equating to 245.1 million streams of songs from the album that week).

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