Not only did Janelle Monáe make her musical comeback this week with her new single, “Float,” but she made her debut in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game last night (February 17).

Monáe was part of Dwyane Wade’s Celebrity All-Star team this year, among the likes of Simu Lu and Alex Toussaint. While Monáe is equally as much of a force in music as much as she is in film, it appears basketball isn’t one of her strong suits.

During the game, Monáe played defense on her counterpart despite her team having possession of the ball on offense. At one point, Wade was heard explaining to Monáe “When we down here, I need you to be ready to score,” according to Rolling Stone.

But all-in-all, it appears Monáe was in good spirits after the game, and even had a good laugh about the whole ordeal.

“I got cut from my team as a kid (it was traumatic!) and now I’m laughing,” said Monáe in a tweet after the game.

Before the game, a clip was shared of Monáe dancing to “Float” as a pre-game warm-up.

Janelle Monáe is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

source https://uproxx.com/music/janelle-monae-all-star-celebrity-game/

source https://trapbeats2023.blogspot.com/2023/02/janelle-monae-had-good-laugh-after-nba.html

We are just days away from Don Toliver‘s third studio album, Love Sick. Over the past few months, he’s dropped quite a few singles and some fire collaborations, and next week, we’ll finally get to experience Love Sick in full.

In addition to the much-anticipated album, Toliver will release a short film on Prime Video, set to the music of the album. It seems like there will be no shortage of surprises from Toliver, so we’ve put together a guide to his upcoming album.

Release date

Love Sick is out 2/24 via Atlantic Records. You can pre-save it here.

Track list

The Houston-native hitmaker has yet to share the album’s tracklist, however, according to Apple Music, it looks like the album will have 16 songs.

Features

Ahead of the album, Toliver has dropped collaborations with Lil Durk, GloRilla, and Kali Uchis.

Artwork

You can see the artwork for Love Sick below.

Singles

Toliver first performed “Do It Right” at the Savage X Fenty fashion show back in December. Over the course of the past week, he dropped the Kali Uchis-assisted “4 Me,” as well as “Leave The Club,” his collaboration with GloRilla and Lil Durk.

Trailer

You can see the trailer for Love Sick: The Short Film below.

Don Toliver is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

source https://uproxx.com/music/don-toliver-love-sick-album-release-info/

source https://trapbeats2023.blogspot.com/2023/02/don-tolivers-love-sick-everything-to.html

I will die on the “Chance The Rapper’s debut album The Big Day was good” hill, but while I might be up there alone, almost no one disputes the opinion that the Chicagoan’s second mixtape, Acid Rap, was a stone-cold classic.

With the tape’s 10th anniversary coming up soon — time is, after all, a flat circle and expeditious as hell, besides — Chance told his fans on Twitter that he’s thinking about holding a virtual concert to celebrate. This is good marketing because if there was one artist who excelled at the virtual concert format throughout the pandemic, it’s Chance. “What songs do I absolutely need to do?” he asked the digital audience.

Naturally, the results began pouring in almost immediately, with fans requesting (demanding, really) such favorite tracks as “Juice,” “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” and “Everybody’s Something” (okay, fine, two of those are my personal favorites and I’ll let you, dear reader, figure out which ones). One user Chance retweeted just straight up said “all of them” — and that might not be a terrible idea, even though Chance did say only “5 or 6 songs” from the tape.

Acid Rap was originally released on April 30, 2013, so Chance has a little over two months to figure it out — and once he’s locked down a date/venue for the concert, we’ll be sure to let you know.

source https://uproxx.com/music/chance-the-rapper-acid-rap-virtual-concert-setlist/

source https://trapbeats2023.blogspot.com/2023/02/chance-rapper-wants-help-choosing.html

Whether he was hanging out with the Muppets, cameoing on New Girl, or serving pancakes following a game of basketball, Prince was as unpredictable as he was brilliant. He also knew how to plan a memorable date.

On Friday’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, Pushing Daisies actress Kristin Chenoweth revealed that she was once wooed by The Purple One.

Chenoweth didn’t believe it was Prince at first, understandably so, but she agreed to a date at Paisley Park once she confirmed that it wasn’t an elaborate prank. “I’m sweating bullets, I’m so nervous,” she recalled. “And here comes, ‘click, click, click, click.’ Prince’s heels, right? Comes in. He was like, ‘Hi.’ I was like, ‘I’d like to party like it’s 1999 and wear my raspberry beret.’” Prince was not amused (at least go with deep cuts, jeez), but things improved after dinner when they had a “great talk about life, love, faith.”

They made their way to his basement, where he showed her his display of 200 guitars. “He goes, ‘Pick one up. Play one.’ So I picked up this long, white-necked one. I turned it over and it was all scratched. I was like, ‘What happened?’ He goes, ‘Elvis’ belt.’”

Prince then brought Chenoweth to his theater, where “he played a video of Chenoweth performing that he said ‘inspired’ him,” according to Decider (I hope it was this). Prince told her, “What you do is what I like to do. And please never stop.” Chenoweth doesn’t divulge what happened the rest of the night — she doesn’t (sorry Prince) kiss and tell.

You can watch the clip below.

(Via Decider)

source https://uproxx.com/tv/kristin-chenoweth-prince-date-night/

source https://trapbeats2023.blogspot.com/2023/02/kristin-chenoweth-went-on-memorable-and.html

The Cardi B and Offset McDonald’s meal is upon us and you know what that means: exclusive, co-branded merch. This time around, it looks like the Golden Arches has decided to keep things simple with easy-to-manufacture apparel like T-shirts, hoodies, hats, and shorts. It appears that lessons were learned from the supply chain debacle with J Balvin’s more out-there options, but you do kind of wish Cardi and Set got the chance to go as crazy as Travis Scott did — if only to see what they’d come up with.

As it is, the options continue the lovey-dovey vibe of the overall concept; the T-shirts say goofy things like “nice buns,” the hoodies bear profiles of Cardi and Set saluting each other with sandwiches and McD’s “I’m lovin’ it” catchphrase, and the shorts are suitably cheek-baring for lounging around the house, as the couple can often be seen doing on social media. All in all, a 7/10 for the collection. It’s solid but you really do miss oddball add-ons like throw rugs, ashtrays, and chicken McNugget body pillows (bring them back, Mickey Ds!)

By all reports, the Cardi B And Offset Meal is selling well, and Cardi’s spent the past few days reposting fans’ pics of the meal — although she did take a break to show off some of her own photos from the couple’s Valentine’s vacation.

You can check out Cardi and Set’s McDonald’s merch here.

source https://uproxx.com/music/cardi-offset-mcdonalds-merch/

source https://trapbeats2023.blogspot.com/2023/02/cardi-b-and-offsets-cheeky-mcdonalds.html

Skrillex is making his big comeback this year. His new album Quest For Fire is finally out, and it’s his first in nine years. He already released loads of compelling singles with exciting collaborators; “Real Spring” had Bladee, “Way Back” had PinkPantheress and Trippie Redd, “Xena” had Nai Barghouti, and there’s even more on the record.

Quest For Fire is a dynamic adventure through and through, especially with the track “Ratata,” which features Missy Elliott and Mr. Oizo. From the kickoff, the track is sensory-overload; the beat vibrates and buzzes and the flows are quick and full of quips.

Skrillex is going to be taking over Madison Square Garden in New York City alongside Fred Again.. and Four Tet. It’s taking place tomorrow, February 18. In January, Skrillex and Fred Again.. released their collaborative song “Rumble,” which also featured Flowdan.

About his comeback, Skrillex clarified on Twitter, “People ask why ‘I’ve been gone’ or ‘fell off,’ rightfully so,” he wrote. “Like I said, 22 was sort of my tipping point, I had to put everything on ice, especially my projects/career.”

He continued: “For the first time in 4-5 years I’ve found a new sense of peace. It took so much work and sacrifice to get here.”

Listen to “Ratata” above.

source https://uproxx.com/pop/skrillex-ratata-missy-elliott-mr-oizo/

source https://trapbeats2023.blogspot.com/2023/02/skrillex-recruited-missy-elliott-and-mr.html

Rihanna is of course fresh off performing the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Just a few years ago, though, it was Katy Perry’s turn in the NFL spotlight, when she put on a memorable Super Bowl performance of her own (never forget Left Shark) in 2015. Rihanna and Perry are friends, but despite having a former Super Bowl halftime performer at her disposal, Rihanna opted not to seek advice about the big show from Perry (which Perry totally gets, by the way).

Perry and Lionel Richie were on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night (February 16) to promote American Idol. During the interview, Kimmel asked Perry if Rihanna called her before the Super Bowl looking for some halftime show insight, and Perry said, “She don’t need no pointers: she’s Rihanna!”

The host then wondered if Perry knew about Rihanna’s pregnancy beforehand. She noted that she was filming American Idol in Hawaii on the day of the Super Bowl, and that she had to go to set right when Rihanna was about to start her performance. She continued, “So we were trying to drag our feet, because we all want to see Rihanna play the Super Bowl. We actually had to film and then it happened and we came back, and we found a cut of it, and no, we all saw it then for the first time then, and it was amazing! It was so beautiful.”

Watch Perry and Richie’s Kimmel interview above.

source https://uproxx.com/pop/katy-perry-rihanna-super-bowl-halftime-show-advice/

source https://trapbeats2023.blogspot.com/2023/02/rihanna-didnt-call-katy-perry-friend.html

For the past several weeks, the anticipation for Chlöe‘s long-awaited debut solo album In Pieces has been approaching a fever pitch. However, the “Pray It Away” singer’s announcement for the album’s “second piece,” a single titled “How Does It Feel,” put a damper on the fervor after fans found out it features an unwanted special guest.

Posting the title and what appears to be a screenshot from an accompanying music video, Chlöe revealed that “How Does It Feel” features controversial R&B singer Chris Brown. Brown, of course, has a notorious reputation for being… well… a bit of a jackass, to put it nicely. Since the big turning point, his 2009 assault of Rihanna, he’s been accused of harassment, battery, sexual assault, and more.

The singer has his defenders — most notably an extremely vocal contingent of online stans rivaling the stringency of the Barbz, Beyhive, and Navy — including Kelly Rowland, but fans still reacted poorly to Chlöe’s announcement.

To be fair, she’s far from the only young singer to employ Brown’s services as a guest singer. In recent years, Danileigh, H.E.R. Sevyn Streeter, and Tinashe have all dueted with him — a testament to his stardom and appeal in the 2000s (formative years for most of the young women who grew up loving his music). Chlöe Bailey was all of 12 when Brown first fell from grace and likely has her own positive personal experiences with him since.

Still, he’s not the most beloved character in the music world, as the reactions to his feature show. More than likely, this will just end up being a hiccup in what will turn out to be a successful rollout. Still, you have to wonder who thought this would be such a good idea.

In Pieces is due this March through Parkwood/Columbia.

source https://uproxx.com/music/chloe-how-does-it-feel-feature-chris-brown-fans-sad/

source https://trapbeats2023.blogspot.com/2023/02/chloes-second-in-pieces-single-features.html

Beyoncé won Best Dance/Electronic Music Album with Renaissance at the 2023 Grammys on February 5. It marked 32nd career Grammy, making her the winningest artist of all time. That felt inevitable.

The surprise came at the end of the night when Harry Styles won Album Of The Year, and many were left flabbergasted that Renaissance became the latest album of Beyoncé’s four albums to be snubbed by the Recording Academy for Album Of The Year.

Jay-Z downplayed the snub, but leave it to Spike Lee to lay it all out there.

“I’m not the male president of the Beyhive, but I love and support Beyoncé,” Lee said in a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian. “Her album is amazing. I know she’s won multiple Grammys, but four times nominated for Album Of The Year, and she’s lost every time? No disrespect to those artists like Adele or Harry Styles who won. It’s not their fault, but that’s some straight-up bullsh*t.”

The transcendent filmmaker continued, “There’s a history of great Black artists who come up for these awards and don’t win. We all know their work is great because art speaks for itself. But then, it always comes down to this tricky territory of validation. Do Black artists say: ‘F*ck it,’ or seek white validation and chase awards? I just want to give a shoutout to my sister Beyoncé. We know what the deal is. It’s straight-up shenanigans, skulduggery, subterfuge. Or as the British say: It’s some poppycock!”

The Grammys are in Beyoncé’s rearview. She’s preparing to start her Renaissance World Tour this May in Sweden. The intensely sought-after tour will hit North America this summer, beginning in Toronto on July 8 and finishing in New Orleans on September 27.

source https://uproxx.com/music/beyonce-spike-lee-grammy-snub/

source https://trapbeats2023.blogspot.com/2023/02/spike-lee-isnt-mad-at-harry-styles-but.html

Fresh off of the Grammys’ 50th-anniversary celebration of hip-hop and her Doritos Super Bowl ad with Jack Harlow, Missy Elliott wants more of her fellow female rap pioneers to be honored by the culture at large. In a new interview with Forbes, Missy implores the current wave of female rappers taking over hip-hop to research the acts who paved the way for them.

“Women have played a big part in what we call hip-hop — in this culture,” she says. “These women are my friends, and we don’t just come together when it’s time to perform; we speak on the phone and hang around each other, but I’m never in such a relaxed, comfortable space because I always think about how these are the same women that I looked up to and still do. They have kicked down the doors for all the women you see today in 2023. Even if the women that are out now may not be familiar with all of their records, they have to know that these women are the reason they’re able to be on many of these platforms.”

For example, she credits Salt-N-Pepa with inspiring her to rhyme. “It felt like they were the whole package,” she says. “They had the records, but they also made us want to dress like them. They were just smooth. They also danced and were the reason that I got into rapping.” Hopefully, she can pass that torch; she’s currently nominated for the 2023 class of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, so her blueprint is certainly worth following.

Missy Elliott is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

source https://uproxx.com/music/missy-elliott-women-in-hip-hop/

source https://trapbeats2023.blogspot.com/2023/02/missy-elliott-wants-you-to-know-that.html