Paramore usually pick a superfan to join them on stage to perform their signature 2007 hit “Misery Business” during their shows. But on Wednesday night (May 31) they had a very special guest, and true uberfan, on hand to do […]
The Rose That Grew From Concrete is finally receiving his own sidewalk honor: a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On June 7, legendary rapper, poet and actor Tupac Shakur will receive his star in the recording category during a public ceremony at 6212 Hollywood Blvd.
“Tupac Shakur was a rapper, actor, activist, poet, and revolutionary,” says Ana Martinez, producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “This iconic artist has continued to be part of the zeitgeist for decades after his passing and will continue to be an important cultural figure for many years to come. Surely, as one of L.A.’s own, Tupac’s star will be added to the list of most visited stars.”
Born in New York City but spending his formative years in California, Shakur is revered as a West Coast legend and a cited inspiration to artists across the globe, including Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, J. Cole, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber and countless others.
At the Baltimore School for the Arts, Shakur studied acting, poetry, jazz and ballet. In his early career, Shakur was known as MC New York before taking on the moniker 2Pac during his time with rap group Digital Underground.
As a solo artist, Shakur released his debut album 2Pacalypse Now in 1991 via Interscope Records. He went on to share three more albums before his fatal shooting at age 25 — all of which charted on the Billboard 200, with All Eyez on Me and Me Against the World topping the chart. Following his death, six posthumous studio albums were released through Amaru Entertainment, started by Shakur’s mother, and Interscope Records.
Both All Eyez on Me and Shakur’s greatest-hits collection are RIAA-certified diamond, surpassing the 10-million mark. In 2017, the rap icon was the first solo hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. As an actor, Shakur starred in films including Juice, Poetic Justice, Above The Rim, Gridlock’d and Gang Related.
The Walk of Fame star unveiling will be hosted by L.A. radio host Big Boy and guest speakers will include director Allen Hughes (Hulu documentary series Dear Mama), writer Jamal Joseph and Tupac’s sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, who will accept the star.
The ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. PT and will stream live here.
It’s the last day of May, which means summer is around the corner. As the hottest season of the year approaches, we’ve got you covered with the very best of emerging R&B/hip-hop talent. This week sees the return of rap standouts J Hus and Kenny Mason, while blossoming acts like grouptherapy. and Khamari are making their way to the R&B centerstage.
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Check out all of this month’s picks with our Spotify playlist, linked below.
Freshest Find: Khamari, “Cherry Picking”
Boston-made artist Khamari has made a splashy album debut with A Brief Nirvana. The 11-track project is the multi-instrumentalist’s gripping introduction to the world, with cuts like “Cherry Picking” embracing the quiet and vulnerable. Centering songwriting and the texture of his brain-tickling voice, Khamari is captivating, eliciting emotion and forgotten memories with each track.
J Hus, “It’s Crazy”
J Hus returns with a vengeance on his new drill-adjacent track “It’s Crazy.” Released with a frenetic video, the U.K. rapper peers directly into the camera, questioning, “Why you wanna see the evil in me when I wanna live my life peacefully?” The new song marks a new era of music for J Hus — and is hopefully the precursor to a new album.
grouptherapy., “Nasty”
L.A.-based best friend trio grouptherapy. are reveling in their youth. On “Nasty,” the collective is embracing their resilience and self-acceptance: “We all felt a need to let our id speak and embrace our nastier side; whether that be sexy and seductive or slick like an oil spill,” they share in a press release. “This is grouptherapy. on our pimp shit.”
Cochise, “Hydroplane”
“Hydroplane” is the climactic intro to Cochise’s new EP No One’s Nice to Me. He enunciates more than usual on the opener track, rapping, “I’m counting out this money, while I’m counting up my blessings,” over cinematic strings and glimmering keys.
Kenny Mason, “Dracula”
Kenny Mason’s new Coupe-produced track “Dracula” further proves that he is one to watch. The Atlanta artist likens himself to the infamous vampire, but with platinum teeth and thirsting for bags of money. Mason went full rapper mode for “Dracula” though his knack for effortlessly fusing rap and grunge is what makes him a standout amongst the next class of artists.
audrey mika, “satuRday”
Thank god for Saturdays: the day of the week that lacks the scaries of Sundays and the anticipation of Fridays. Audrey Mika agrees, the cheery singer embracing the beauty of the weekend feeling being spread throughout less exciting days of our lives. The cut is uplifting and perfect for those lazy summer afternoons, equipped with a bouncy percussion line and Mika’s soft rasp.
$NOT, “Easter Pink”
An ode to Cam’Ron and Y2K style, $NOT delivers “Easter Pink”: a perfectly summer single, made to be blasted with all the windows down. The MBWAV instrumental is perfectly nostalgic as $NOT coolly raps, “Wanna be my friend again? Ride around up in the Benz/ Drivin’ up into night ’til we hit the mornin’.”
Tyson Ritter is used to making audiences go wild as the frontman of All-American Rejects. But during a chat with radio host Stryker on his Tuna on Toast podcast, the singer-turned-occasional-actor shared an intense run-in he had with Machine Gun Kelly on the set of the recently released low-budget crime drama Johnny & Clyde that sounds pretty wild.
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In fact, Ritter said the confrontation was so fiery he used it as acting inspiration for his role in the upcoming film Prisoner’s Daughter with Kate Beckinsdale and Succession‘s Brian Cox. Ritter said among the plot points in the Johnny film — which he sighed is “kind of an okay… bad movie” — is Fox’s character, Alana Hart, teasing his henchman character Vince about putting a finger in her mouth.
Ritter thought it might be interesting to call back to that moment and put his fingers in Fox’s mouth during her death scene later in the film. “So I go over [to her trailer] and there’s her man in there with her. This Colson guy, who you know as Machine Gun Kelly,” he said of Fox’s rapper/rocker/actor fiancé. “I call him Pistol Pete. So I go over there and I was like, ‘Hey, Megan. I wanted to talk to you about this moment where, when you die, because you’ve been teasing putting my fingers in your mouth, that when you’re dead, I put my fingers in your mouth. And it’s like this sort of resolution to my character getting his revenge.”
According to Ritter, that’s when MGK allegedly lost it and gave him “the greatest gift” for his Daughter role. “Colson just goes from… zero to like awesome rage and awesome super angry… He was super-bummed about me asking if I could put my fingers in Megan Fox’s mouth. He just went ballistic. It kinda went maniac mode,” Ritter said, noting that he kept his cool as MGK was allegedly losing it. “I think the whole experience for me was, ‘What the actual f–k is happening?,’” Ritter recalled. ” He had this baby’s arm of a joint dangling out of his mouth. And he was fully unhinged.”
At press time spokespeople for Fox and MGK had not returned a request for comment.
Though it was off-putting, Ritter said the run-in helped him get into character for the other movie he was shooting at the same time, Prisoner’s Daughter, in which he plays a violent, hostile character. “I was like, this is what I’ve been looking for with my character on Prisoner’s Daughter,” Ritter said he thought while MGK was allegedly shouting at him. “Because the next day I had to shoot this scene in Vegas where this character goes in and confronts Kate Beckinsale, who’s his ex-wife, and he goes from zero to apes–t. And I didn’t, I was really struggling [with] how to flip that switch.”
While Ritter said he originally planned to use his relationship with his father to reach down deep for his character’s motivation, the alleged MGK incident helped him dial it in further. “I remember when Pistol Pete just started going ape on me, I was like, this is really confrontational, but also thank you, dude,” Ritter said. “A lot of my role, in that one moment especially, it’s not only my dad being his drunkest, wildest self, but there’s a little bit of Pistol Pete in my role for Prisoner’s Daughter.”
Johnny & Clyde dropped earlier this month and Prisoner’s Daughter is due out on June 30. All-American Rejects are slated to launch their first major tour since 2017 on June 16 at Phase Fest in Kansas City.
Watch the Johnny & Clyde trailer and the Stryker interview below.
After taking a detour into rock, Machine Gun Kelly is back on his rap game on the new four-minute career retrospective track “Pressure.” Over a laid-back “la-la-la” background, MGK raps, “The diamonds are symbolic of all the pressure they put […]
A third man has been charged in the 2002 shooting death of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay, prosecutors said Tuesday (May 30), marking the latest movement in a case that languished for years.
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York filed a superseding indictment on Tuesday, charging Jay Bryant, 49, in the death of Jason “Jay” Mizell, known professionally as Jam Master Jay.
Two other men, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr., had previously been indicted in August 2020 for the death of Jay. The hip-hop trailblazer was shot in the head in his studio on Oct. 30, 2002.
Bryant’s attorney, César de Castro, said in an email that they had just learned of the charges.
“Securing an indictment in a secret grand jury, applying an extremely low burden of proof, is one thing. Proving it at trial is another matter,” he said.
Bryant, from Queens, was in custody already on unrelated federal drug charges.
At the time the other two men were indicted, authorities said Jay’s death involved a drug deal gone bad. In a letter filed with the court on Tuesday, prosecutors said Bryant and the two other men entered the building that evening, and then fled after the shooting. They said Bryant was seen going into the building, and his DNA was recovered at the scene.
Jay was in Run-DMC with Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniel in the early 1980s. The group helped bring hip-hop music into the mainstream. Run DMC’s hits include “King of Rock,” “It’s Tricky” and a remake of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.”
For years, Jay’s death lingered as a cold case, with witnesses reluctant to speak up despite reward money being offered.
After rolling out the first set of features from the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Soundtrack last week, on Tuesday (May 30), Metro Boomin revealed the remaining cast for the starry project. Headlined by A$AP Rocky, Lil Uzi Vert and 21 Savage, Metro also enlisted A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Offset, Nav, Wizkid, Coi Leray, J.I.D., Swae Lee and more.
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Last week, Metro announced the first three features, including Future, Don Toliver and James Blake. Known for his creative punch, Metro cleverly unveiled the lineup by posting illustrations of each artist in Spider-Man costumes. The first reveal was Don Toliver, who is in a purple custom Spidey suit. “Don Toliver is confirmed for the @spiderversemovie soundtrack available everywhere June 2!!,” wrote Metro. After disclosing Future and James Blake’s appearances in their respective illustrated costumes, the following posts shared similar captions.
The A$AP Mob commander’s appearance will be his first since his assist on Tyler, The Creator’s “Wharf Talk” last month and his loosie “Same Problems,” which dropped in January. “Same Problems” was a tribute that spoke to recent losses in hip-hop and learning how to break the generational trauma affecting today’s stars. “How many problems get solved?/ Am I a product of things that I saw/ How many problems get solved?/ Am I a product of things in my songs,” Rocky recited on the song’s chorus. There isn’t a timetable for the Harlem star’s forthcoming fourth album.
Check out all the illustrations below. The Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack drops Friday (June 2).
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