Month: July 2025

Tyler, The Creator has made no secret of his love for Virginia Beach rap duo Clipse. So it’s no surprise that he took it very seriously when they recruited him to appear on their comeback album, Let God Sort Em Out, on the song “P.O.V.”

He took it so seriously, in fact, that he almost called off the collaboration altogether — but not before attempting to perfect his verse nearly 100 times, in his estimation. As he told HOT97’s Ebro In The Morning, “It took me about 79 to 100 times to do it, and I almost texted Pusha, ‘I don’t think this is gonna work.’ It’s been a few times I’ve gotten nervous and trying to nail that verse with two of my Mount Rushmores, produced by Mount Rushmore, was like, ‘I can’t f*ck this up for me.’”

“It took me so long to write that and just trying to perfect it,” he continued. “Was really in that b*tch sweating. That n**** Pusha sent me that before I went on tour, probably in April, and I ain’t get him that sh*t until end of May, early June.”

Clipse later returned the favor, appearing in the video for “Stop Playing With Me,” from Tyler’s own new album, Don’t Tap The Glass, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week.

You can watch Tyler’s interview with HOT97 above.

A new documentary film, Degrassi: Whatever It Takes, is coming to the Toronto Film Festival to detail one of Canadian TV’s true gems. While the young adult primetime soap was pivotal in bringing some truly important storylines and topics to national TV both in Canada and here in the States, many remember it for being the career launching pad for one of the Great White North’s biggest exports: Drake.

According to Billboard and the film’s synopsis for TIFF, the megastar wasn’t too big to humbly reflect on his cable TV beginnings for the documentary, which will “delve deep into all things Degrassi in this engaging history of the Canadian show that changed teen TV.”

Drake hasn’t shied away from referencing his start, staging at “class reunion” in his 2018 video for “I’m Upset,” and sharing the stage with his character Jimmy via hologram (complete with signature wheelchair) at his 2023 Apollo Theater Show. Meanwhile, in 2021, one of the show’s writers revealed that Drake didn’t love one of the storylines for his character, which saw him confined to a wheelchair for much of his run as part of the cast.

Meanwhile, Drake himself has been working on a new solo album, while his lawsuit against Universal Music Group inexplicably continues.

Time flies, even for neo-soul mystics like Erykah Badu. This November, her second studio album Mama’s Gun turns 25 years old, and to celebrate, she’s announced the dates of her 25th anniversary tour. The tour starts at the legendary Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on October 3rd and runs for 15 more dates, ending in her hometown, Dallas, on December 10th.

Mama’s Gun came out on November 21, 2000, following her warmly received debut Baduizm. While it technically fell victim to the dreaded “sophomore slump,” selling less than its predecessor, it’s since become a pillar of the neo-soul genre, with songs like “Bag Lady” and “Didn’t Cha Know?” becoming nostalgic favorites and setlist staples.

Badu is also releasing a new album soon produced by The Alchemist, and will tour together on the Abi & Alan: Luv Iz… Tour prior to the Mama’s Gun dates.

Tickets for Mama’s Gun ’25: The Return of Automatic Slim go on sale Friday, August 1 at 10 AM local time, preceded by a Live Nation pre-sale for select dates tomorrow, July 30 at 10 AM. You can find more info here. See below for dates.

Erykah Badu Mama’s Gun ’25: The Return of Automatic Slim Tour Dates

10/03 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
10/04 — Las Vegas, NV @ Resorts World Theatre
11/16 — Atlantic City, NJ @ Hard Rock at Etess Arena
11/18 — Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
11/20 — Detroit, MI. @ Fox Theater
11/22 — Cincinnati, OH @ Andrew J. Brady Music Center
11/23 — Atlanta, GA @ Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
11/24 — Atlanta, GA. @ Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
11/28 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
11/29 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
12/02 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
12/03 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
12/05 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
12/06 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
12/08 — Nashville, TN @ The Pinnacle
12/10 — Dallas, TX @ Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory

Time flies, even for neo-soul mystics like Erykah Badu. This November, her second studio album Mama’s Gun turns 25 years old, and to celebrate, she’s announced the dates of her 25th anniversary tour. The tour starts at the legendary Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on October 3rd and runs for 15 more dates, ending in her hometown, Dallas, on December 10th.

Mama’s Gun came out on November 21, 2000, following her warmly received debut Baduizm. While it technically fell victim to the dreaded “sophomore slump,” selling less than its predecessor, it’s since become a pillar of the neo-soul genre, with songs like “Bag Lady” and “Didn’t Cha Know?” becoming nostalgic favorites and setlist staples.

Badu is also releasing a new album soon produced by The Alchemist, and will tour together on the Abi & Alan: Luv Iz… Tour prior to the Mama’s Gun dates.

Tickets for Mama’s Gun ’25: The Return of Automatic Slim go on sale Friday, August 1 at 10 AM local time, preceded by a Live Nation pre-sale for select dates tomorrow, July 30 at 10 AM. You can find more info here. See below for dates.

Erykah Badu Mama’s Gun ’25: The Return of Automatic Slim Tour Dates

10/03 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
10/04 — Las Vegas, NV @ Resorts World Theatre
11/16 — Atlantic City, NJ @ Hard Rock at Etess Arena
11/18 — Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
11/20 — Detroit, MI. @ Fox Theater
11/22 — Cincinnati, OH @ Andrew J. Brady Music Center
11/23 — Atlanta, GA @ Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
11/24 — Atlanta, GA. @ Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
11/28 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
11/29 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
12/02 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
12/03 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
12/05 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
12/06 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
12/08 — Nashville, TN @ The Pinnacle
12/10 — Dallas, TX @ Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory

Beyoncé’s tours have a habit of breaking records. Her Renaissance Tour reportedly grossed $579 million, becoming the highest-grossing tour by a woman ever, and making her the only woman, only Black artist, and only American solo act to reach the top-10 milestone.

Now, with her Cowboy Carter Tour likewise wrapping up, the records have already reached the wrecking room, as well. According to Rolling Stone, Cowboy Carter is the highest-grossing country tour ever, grossing $407.6 million from 1.6 million tickets sold. No other country tour has ever achieved this milestone — let alone one by a Black artist or a woman, of which Beyoncé represents both — and Beyoncé is the first American artist to have two separate tours gross over $400 million.

Even more impressively, Cowboy Carter was only 32 dates long; Renaissance garnered its record-breaking totals with a full slate of European dates, while the most recent one only did a week in England and three days in France. However, Beyoncé’s innovative touring strategy this time around — more dates in fewer cities — seems to have paid off big, as the gamble resulted in greater fervor to actually make it to the shows, with some fans even taking in multiple dates.

It just goes to show that if she ever really did want to do a Las Vegas residency, she’d have an eager fanbase ready to cross the globe to make it just as successful as her tours.

Following the release of his new single, “Im Yeat,” Yeat has announced the impending release of his new EP Dangerous Summer. The EP is due on August 1, just in time to live up to its title.

On Instagram, the rising rap star wrote that the project would have “no rollout,” “no deluxe” edition, and a “cover by Harmony Korine,” the filmmaker who most recently collaborated with Travis Scott on the Houston rapper’s Jackboys 2 short film and Aggro Dr1ft.

Yeat’s a little under a year removed from his last album, Lyfestyle, which found him collaborating with Don Toliver, Kodak Black, Lil Durk, and Summrs, while a deluxe edition also featured Quavo. The project debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, earning 89,000 album-equivalent units — an impressive number attributed in part to the album being Yeat’s first to receive a physical release.

Still, those figures are an impressive sign of his growing popularity, after just five years. The Oregon native drew attention with his debut in 2021, and since then, has collaborated with Young Thug, performed at Coachella, and headlined Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash festival this year, showing that even if his style doesn’t appeal to everyone, he’s well on his way to being a star nonetheless.

Dangerous Summer is due on 8/1 via Capitol Records. You can find more info here.

Hayley Williams has employed an unusual release strategy for her new music, but if you want to hear the Paramore singer’s new music, you’ll need a special code. Here’s how to get it:

If fans buy any product from Williams’ hair dye company, Good Dye Young, you’ll be given a 16-digit code that’ll unlock her website, granting access to a full album’s worth of unreleased songs.

According to Consequence, there are 17 songs in total, including “Mirtazapine,” which she recently debuted on public radio in Nashville. She also played the song at the Newport Folk Festival alongside Bleachers.

For those fans who can’t make the purchase, the site advises, “If you don’t have an email with a code, maybe ask a friend for theirs,” prompting some fans to share codes via social media.

If that’s not enough new music for you, Williams is also set to appear on Jay Som’s new album, Belong, in October. She also recently teamed up with Moses Sumney for “I like It I Like It,” the singer’s May single teasing his own new album’s direction. Earlier this year, she also collaborated with Turnstile and her own grandfather, who released his first album at 78 years old.

Check out Hayley’s website for more info on the unreleased music.

TikTok often does this cool thing where its users take older songs and give them entirely new life by pairing them with trending dances or even just random posts, making them go viral enough to make them real-world hits as well.

This often corresponds with songs’ use in movies or TV shows, such as Stranger Things revitalizing Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.” That’s exactly what’s happening now with “Punkrocker,” a 2006 song by Swedish alt band Teddybears that features punk rock pioneer Iggy Pop.

The song owes its resurgence to James Gunn‘s Superman, which is flying high at the box office, and similarly restoring its titular hero to his former glory at the same time. And with its supercharged popularity, it was only a matter of time until “Punkrocker” made its way into Iggy’s setlist proper — which it did at Portland’s Project Pabst festival. Best of all, Gunn himself brought attention to the performance, posting the above YouTube and noting that it’s the first time Iggy Pop has performed the song — ever.

Over the past decade, Gunn’s earned a reputation for his pitch-perfect needle drops. In the case of “Punkrocker,” it appears in the closing credits of Superman, summarizing this version’s pop-punk ethos in a call-back to one of the film’s most resonant emotional beats, which arguably contains the film’s entire thesis. It’s a beautifully shot moment, and it’s very cool to see it already having some real-world impact.

You can watch the performance above.

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour officially wrapped this weekend in Las Vegas, and fans attending the finale show were treated to a reunion with Queen Bey’s old group, Destiny’s Child. Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams stepped onto the stage to a raucous reception, and performed the group’s mainstays, “Bootylicious” and “Lose My Breath,” amid Beyoncé’s usual setlist staples like “Ameriican Requiem” and “Levii’s Jeans.”

In addition to her old bandmates, Beyoncé was joined onstage by Cowboy Carter collaborator Shaboozey, performing their duet “Sweet Honey Buckiin’,” and by her husband Jay-Z, who performed “Crazy in Love” with her before delivering a solo performance of his and Kanye West’s song, “N****s In Paris.”

When all’s said and done, the Cowboy Carter Tour will not only be the most successful tour of Beyoncé’s career, but also of pop music as a whole. Just five shows into the tour, she’d already broken a record for the highest-grossing reported single-venue engagement ever by a woman. The tour featured the return of Blue Ivy to Beyoncé’s dance company, along with her little sister Rumi, and despite a late tour mishap involving a “flying” car, the tour was otherwise well-received by fans — even those initially put off by Beyoncé’s swing into country and a Americana.

You can check out video of Destiny’s Child’s reunion here and here.

With his last two albums, it feels like Tyler, The Creator is trying to play the role of Tyler, The Disruptor. He notably released Chromakopia on a Tuesday, foregoing the now-traditional New Music Friday release in favor of doing it the old way. In exchange, he gave up several chart counting days’ worth of streams, yet still debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. His latest release, Don’t Tap The Glass, was similarly released on an off-day, but achieved the same accomplished as its predecessor, topping the chart in its first week of availability.

Despite discounting Friday, Saturday, and Sunday streams, Don’t Tap The Glass garnered an impressive 197,000 equivalent album units earned since its off-cycle release, with 128,000 of those coming from physical sales. Meanwhile, Don’t Tap The Glass is Tyler’s fourth No. 1 release, following 2019’s Igor, 2021’s Call Me If You Get Lost, and of course, Chromakopia. Uproxx has long advocated for a return to New Music Tuesdays, which could help cut down on some of the Friday-related clutter, and Tyler is certainly helping to make that case , despite his unusual status as cultural touchpoint in a fractured musical landscape. Maybe there’s no going back at this point, but it definitely feels like Tyler is going to keep pushing for it anyway.