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On Friday (February 14) Drake and PartyNextDoor finally released the joint album they’d been teasing for much of 2024. Some Sexy Songs 4 U turned out to be a collection of 21 tracks that tapped into Drake’s more melodic instincts to try and regain the footing he’d lost due to his war of words with Kendrick Lamar. However, as it happens, there was one “sexy song” missing — but Drake couldn’t resist sharing it with the world, despite the sample clearance issues that kept it off the album.

Drake posted the track to his burner account on Instagram, writing, “no $$$AMPLE CLEARANCE for my goat” in the caption. And although he didn’t reveal just who his “GOAT” is, HipHopDX has identified the guest vocalist as New Orleans bounce artist Heaven. The song appears to be built on a sample of the 1991 hit “Breakin’ My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)” from New Jack Swing pioneers Mint Condition, as well as elemental bounce foundation “Triggerman.” That song had peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and resurfaced recently on TikTok via a trend in which the younger user base shows off videos of their parents, who insisted they were heartbreakers back in the day.

Meanwhile, although some of the official tracks from Some Sexy Songs, such as “Celibacy” and “Gimme A Hug,” rack up streams, some fans insist that the lower streaming numbers on Spotify compared to Apple Music lend weight to the Toronto artist’s complaints against the former (those fans, of course, are ignoring a plethora of factors, including but not limited to completely different distribution chains for the joint album and Drake’s solo efforts, huge discrepancies between user bases for the two competing platforms, and the fact that Drake’s name, like it or not, is more or less mud for a lot of people right now, and probably will be the foreseeable future).

Perhaps the best thing Drake could do after sharing this track is take a long vacation, giving fans a chance to miss him before returning with a more positive outlook and a focus on quality over quantity.

You can check out Drake’s post for the uncleared song here.

With his new album WHAM (Who Hard As Me), Atlanta rapper Lil Baby returned to form after the creative stumbles of his 2022 album It’s Only Me. Now, with a new album, Dominique, on the way, Lil Baby has announced the dates for his WHAM World Tour, with dates in North America, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand. He’ll be joined by Houston rapper BigXthaPlug on all dates but one, while NLE Choppa and Loe Shimmy will act as openers in the US.

Tickets for North America go on sale Friday, February 21 at 10am local time at whamtour.com. Europe and Oceania will have a Mastercard presale beginning Wednesday, February 19. You can find more info at priceless.com/music. See below for the full tour dates.

Lil Baby WHAM World Tour Dates

06/03 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
06/05 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
06/07 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
06/08 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
06/10 – Miami, FL – Kaseya Center**
06/12 – Jacksonville, FL – VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena
06/15 – Raleigh, NC – Lenovo Center
06/17 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena
06/18 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
06/19 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
06/21 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena
06/22 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
06/24 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum
06/25 – Chicago, IL – United Center
07/01 – Los Angeles, CA – Intuit Dome*

09/12 – Berlin, Germany – Max Schmeling Halle
09/14 – Copenhagen, Denmark – KB Hallen
09/16 – Dusseldorf, Germany – Mitsubishi Electric Halle
09/17 – Brussels, Belgium – Forest National
09/19 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live
09/23 – Zurich, Switzerland – The Hall
09/24 – Paris, France – Adidas Arena
09/26 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
09/27 – London, UK – The O2

10/08 – Perth, Australia – RAC Arena
10/10 – Sydney, Australia – Qudos Bank Arena
10/11 – Brisbane, Australia – Brisbane Entertainment Centre
10/14 – Melbourne, Australia – Rod Laver Arena
10/16 – Auckland, New Zealand – Spark Arena

*Without BigXthaPlug
**Without NLE Choppa

Tyla isn’t necessarily the most provocative figure, but she has faced some controversy after referring to herself as “a colored South African,” as opposed to saying she’s a Black person, in a 2020 video that resurfaced in 2023. Here’s an explainer of the situation, but in short, Tyla’s use of the word has to do with the term’s different historical contexts in the US and in her native South Africa.

Now, she has taken a moment to clear the air and share her thoughts.

In a new British Vogue interview, Tyla said of the backlash, “Honestly, I felt like I had no… no control. People took it and… It just went so far that I didn’t know what to do. The way people painted me… And I understand that word is a sensitive word to people, so I don’t blame people for being touched about it. I just would have wanted an opportunity for people to actually truly listen and learn.”

She also said of her identity:

“You know that even if you give the best explanation, people will still choose not to understand. But I’m at a point where I know who I am. I know I’m a Black woman and I know I’m a colored woman as well and you can be both. And the people that care to learn, they understand now. And that’s enough for me.”

The issue was again brought up in a 2024 Breakfast Club interview, during which Tyla’s publicist shut down the line of questioning. Of that, Tyla said:

“Me choosing not to say anything, I’m happy that I didn’t. I didn’t want to explain my culture and something that is really important to me on a platform that is just going to be purposefully misconstrued. I’ve explained it a lot of times before, but people took that and put words in my mouth. They said a whole bunch of things that I never said and ran with it. If people really searched, they’ll see that in South Africa we had a lot of segregation. It was bad for a lot of us. They just classified us. And that just so happens to be the name that the white people called us. They chose to call people that were mixed ‘colored.’ And I’m not gonna lie, it was hard because all my life, obviously I knew ‘I’m Black’ but also knew that ‘I’m colored’. So when I went to America and people were like, ‘You can’t say that!’ I was in a position where I was like, ‘Oh, so what do I do? What am I then?’”

Read the full feature here.

One multi-time SNL musical guest who didn’t participate in the 50th anniversary celebration was Harry Styles. Maybe he was still reeling from the show’s impression of him.

“My Harry Styles is really bad,” cast member (and the show’s go-to Jennifer Coolidge impersonator) Chloe Fineman told Chicken Shop Date host Amelia Dimoldenberg on the red carpet for the SNL 50th anniversary special on Sunday. “I did it and he was at the table and was so devastated by how bad it was.” She then demonstrated a bit of her impression, saying, “Anyway, I’m Harry Styles, anyway” in a non-convincing British accent.

Styles hosted SNL in 2019, but according to the New York Post, the former One Direction member and Fineman “didn’t share any scenes together during that episode.” She did, however, do an impression of another famous Brit, Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, in a The Tonight Show sketch where Jimmy Fallon impersonated Styles as he learned the choreography for the “Treat People With Kindness” music video. You can watch that clip here.

On the music side of things, Styles hasn’t announced whether he’s releasing his follow-up to 2022’s Album Of The Year-winning Harry’s House this year, but we’re really hoping he does.

Kendrick Lamar wowed with his recent Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, of course. One of the most surprising elements of it was the unexpected appearance of Serena Williams, who danced on stage as Lamar performed. Given her supposed history with Drake and the general anti-Drake sentiments of Lamar’s performance, many have assumed Williams’ presence was meant as some sort of diss towards Drake.

However, she’s insisting that’s not the case.

Williams’ husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, tweeted on February 10, “Some of y’all have no idea how criticized Serena was for this same dance at Wimbledon 13 years ago and it shows…. This is bigger than the music.” Yesterday, Williams responded:

“That there my baby daddy and husband. Always got my back. I Love you. Gosh I’m so late to the game (I’ve been sick) & busy investing in billion dollar companies and running @WYNbeauty… def not dancing to be petty lol. I think I proved 23 times over (not counting 4 gold medals) that I simply don’t have time for petty. All love and respect always nothing negative here.”

Meanwhile, Drake had a pretty clear response to “Not Like Us” on “Celibacy,” from his new PartyNextDoor collab album: “We’rе not like them, baby, and they’re not like us, either one.”

Adele has amassed an impressive base of super fans around the world. But if you were to ask the “Chasing Pavement” singer who she stans the list may or may not surprise you.

Over the weekend, a viral video of Adele revealed her deep admiration for another musical act. In the clip (viewable here courtesy of HipHopDX), Adele can be seen absolutely losing it as she watched Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean reunite on stage during SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert.

The Fugees were set to embark on a world tour but unfortunately other matters disrupted those plans. So, seeing two of the group’s members (Hill and Jean) rocking out to their classic cover “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”

Due to Adele’s pure joy watching the mini-Fugees reunion, the video is now making its rounds across X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. “Wow, SNL, just wow,” she captioned the clip. “Incredible! I can’t believe what I’m watching.”

Adele has publicly expressed her love for fellow musicians like Beyoncé, Celine Dion. Following Adele’s awe-struck response to Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean’s performance at SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert it is safe to say they are also on Adele’s “entertainers I stan” list.

The SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert is exclusively available on Peacock. Find more information here.

Ozzy Osbourne is set to hit the stage soon. But, it is only in a limited capacity. After months of teasing, Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath are reuniting for their final show, Back To The Beginning.

However, ahead of the July 5th concert, Osbourne wants fans to know that despite his restrictions he will give it his all. During a recent episode of Ozzy’s Boneyard on SiriusXM, Ozzy Osbourne revealed that he will not play a full set with the band.

“I’m not planning on doing a set with Black Sabbath,” he said. “But I am doing little bits and pieces with them. I am doing what I can, where I feel comfortable.”

He continued: “I am trying to get back on my feet. When you get up in the morning, you just jump out of bed. I have to balance myself, but I’m not dead. I’m still actively doing things.”

Ozzy’s wife, manager, and media host Sharon Osbourne spoke about his joy to be reuniting with Black Sabbath in a chat with BBC. “He’s so excited about this, about being with the guys again and all his friends,” she said. “Ozzy didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to his friends, to his fans, and he feels there’s no been no full stop. This is his full stop.”

Black Sabbath’s final show, Back To The Beginning, is set for July 5 in Birmingham, England. Find more information here.

SNL50: Homecoming Concert was filled with viral moments. However, Ana Gasteyer and Will Ferrell comedic cover of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” was probably the most discussed performance. But according to Ana Gasteyer, the set was closed to being scrapped.

During an interview with People, Gasteyer revealed that they felt conflicted about singing the controversial chart-topping diss track against Drake.

“We went back and forth,” she said. “We were like… it’s song of the year, obviously. The thing about the Culps is they’re just trying to stay current and they want to reach their students where they are. So, song of the year.”

She continued: “And we always kind of start with the premise, which is Valentine’s Day and love, and then naturally, because of the feuding, it was sort of like, you have to have the contrast. So, it was just fun to write and ridiculous.”

Although Drake probably isn’t a fan of the set users online certainly were.

“I didn’t know how much I wanted to see this until it came true before my eyes,” wrote one user.

“I think Drake would have indeed turned the tv off at this point,” joked another.

The SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert is exclusively available on Peacock. Find more information here.

Over the weekend, Travis Scott gathered his famous friend for his third annual Cactus Jack HBCU Celebrity Softball Classic game. Unfortunately, for the “4X4” rapper that wasn’t the only thing his name would be tied to.

According to TMZ, Travis Scott has been named in a new lawsuit. Today (February 17), the outlet claimed that a fan, Omar Muhanna, accused Travis Scott’s security guard of “violently assaulting him” in legal documents.

In the paperwork, Muhanna said on August 17, 2024, he was near a New York City venue Scott was scheduled to perform at. During that time, he had a run-in with one member of Scott’s protection detail. Although the name of this location was not revealed within the filing, Scott did attend Fanatics Fest NYC 2024 at the Javits Center around that time.

Muhanna accused Scott’s team of having “violent physical contact” with him without cause. As a result of the security guard’s alleged assault, Muhanna was left with “serious and permanent injuries.”

In a statement to TMZ, Travis Scott’s representative referred to the lawsuit as “bogus” and “frivolous.” The rep also claimed that Scott could not have been present for any alleged assault as he was dining at a local restaurant during the supposed incident.

The spokesperson closed by saying Scott should not be held responsible for the alleged claims as he didn’t do “anything wrong here other than hiring a security company.” According to the insider, the security guard was not Scott’s personal protection rather an employee of the firm.

Omar Muhanna is reportedly suing Travis Scott in civil court on behalf of his security guard for assault and battery.

Kali Uchis’ latest album, Orquídeas was a major success last year (it was named one of the year’s top 50 albums on the 2024 Uproxx Music Critics Poll). So, good news: Its follow-up is not only on the way, but it’s finished.

On Instagram today (February 17), Uchis shared a gallery of photos and videos and wrote, “just turned in my album so let me get these pics off to celebrate the end of orquídeas.”

In a February 2024 interview with Cosmopolitan, Uchis revealed she had already started work on her new album, which was described as her most “sad girl” project. She said of it, “There’s gonna be no collaborations. I want to do a whole album that’s just really, really vulnerable. It’s the most existential I’ve ever been.” She also hinted at a joint project with Toliver and said, “My intention is just to keep creating from the heart and making whatever I want to make. What I always aspire to do with my music is to be unpredictable. That’s what makes what I do fun. I want to keep people guessing.”

2024 was a pretty stellar year for Uchis outside of Orquídeas: In January, she announced she was pregnant with her and Don Toliver’s first baby together.