Kanye on 'SNL'

Kanye West has had a busy weekend. On Thursday (5/16), he played a private show at Roseland for Adult Swim where he performed a few new songs. He also, as is his wont, let loose one of his stream-of-conscious rants, this time mostly about celebrity culture. You can watch video of that below.

One of the songs Kanye performed at Roseland was new track "New Slaves." A video for that song made its debut on Friday night (5/17), projected at, according to maps on Kanye's website, 66 locations around the world. Nine of them were in NYC, including two in Williamsburg: one being outside the Bedford Ave L stop, and the second on the Wythe Hotel, and there's video of the former below.

The song, which features a sample of 1969 single "Gyöngyhajú lány" by Hungarian rock band Omega and vocals from Frank Ocean, will feature on Kanye's follow-up to 2010's My Dark Twisted Fantasy which is, according to Pitchfork, titled Yeezus and has appearances from Daft Punk, Skrillex and more.

This activity was all centered around Kanye's appearance on Saturday Night Live's season finale hosted by Ben Afleck. (The teaser videos are below.) He performed "New Slaves" and debuted another new song, "Black Skinhead," and video of those, along with the other clips mentioned in this post, are below.

Continue reading "Kanye West played new songs from 'Yeezus' on 'SNL,' projected new video on buildings Friday"

Zebra Katz @ BV-SXSW 2013 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Zebra fucking Katz, about to spend some serious time in Europe, dropped a mixtape yesterday and you should stream that bitch. With dates below...

Continue reading "Zebra Katz touring Europe, releases mixtape (listen!)"

In addition to the previously discussed lineup of Pusha T, Redman and Dizzy Wright, Brooklyn Hip Hop Fest expands with the addition of EPMD, Soul Understated and a tribute to the late great MCA (Adam Yauch):

On the Final Day of the Festival, July 13th, The Festival will stop for a moment of silence for Yauch and then launch into a tribute curated by [BHF Executive Director Wes] Jackson and Bodega DJ, RawBeatz. Brooklyn Bodega will also release an exclusive mix of Beastie songs of remixes from the "Cookie Puss" days all the way to "Hot Sauce Committee".

As discussed, Pusha T's new LP My Name is My Name is due in July and features "Numbers on the Boards" which recently surfaced in video form. Check out that video, as well as a tour doc about Pusha T, below.

Continue reading "Adam Yauch Tribute, EPMD and more added to Brooklyn Hip Hop Fest"

Is Tim Dog still among us? Video news story and more info below...

Continue reading "Is Tim Dog alive? (watch the WREG report)"

Canadian R&B singer The Weeknd, who picked up two Juno Awards this year (including R&B Album of the Year for Trilogy), is getting read to release a new album, Kiss Land. There isn't a release date (though 8/27 is rumored) or any other details yet, but you can stream the record's title track, all seven minutes of it, below.

Continue reading "stream the title track from The Weeknd's new LP, 'Kiss Land'"

photos by Samantha Marble

Juicy J / A$AP Ferg @ Iriving Plaza, 5/14/2013

Memphis hip hop favorite and Thee 6 Mafia member Juicy J played his second show in two days at Irving Plaza on Tuesday (5/14), part of the "Stay Trippy" tour with A$AP Ferg. Pictures from the show are in this post.

As mentioned, Juicy J performed a show the day prior, an RSVP-only affair as part of a FADER issue launch party that saw him perform three songs before calling it a night (pictures). No word as to how many trippy sticks, xanny bars or purple drank was consumed during his tenure in the city.

Juicy J is part of this year's Rock the Bells tour, though no word on whether he'll be part of the rotating line-up when it hits NYC.

In other news, A$AP Ferg released a video for the "Work" remix featuring A$AP Rocky, French Montana, Trinidad James & Schoolboy Q. Check that out, along with more pics from Irving Plaza, below.

Continue reading "Juicy J and A$AP Ferg played Irving Plaza (pics); A$AP Ferg released video for "Work" remix"

Pictureplane will still open for Anamanaguchi at Irving Plaza on Friday, but his show with San Jose rapper Antwon scheduled for tonight, Thursday, 5/16 at Santos Party House has been cancelled.

Pictureplane will hook up with Antwon later in the month though for a series of dates in California. They're all listed below.

Antwon, who was actually just in NY for Downtown Music Fest instead (where "he seemed a little too angry"), also has a show scheduled at Hotel Vegas in Austin as part of Chaos in Tejas, and is playing FYF Fest in LA which, as mentioned, goes on sale at noon California time today.

Dates listed along with a stream of Pictureplane's track from the video game soundtrack Injustice: Gods Among Us - The Album, below...

Continue reading "Pictureplane playing shows w/ Antwon, but NYC cancelled; FYF Fest on sale today"

When, Diddy announced via Twitter yesterday that he was a "series regular" on Downton Abbey and PBS denied it, we wondered if it might be for a Funny or Die video? Turned out that's indeed what it was. Sean Combs let us know that despite producers announcing they'd just cast their first black character on the popular PBS/BBC melodrama, he had in fact already been on the show as Lord Wolcott, "the new owner of Down Town Abbey," despite being ignored by the rest of the cast. See how it all plays out in Downton Diddy, below...

Continue reading "watch Sean Combs on 'Downton Diddy'"

Kanye West @ Roseland Ballroom - 5/15/2013 (virgilabloh)

Kanye West @ Roseland Ballroom - 5/15/2013 (lacreated)

As mentioned, Kanye West played a private show for Adult Swim Wednesday night at Roseland Ballroom in NYC, ahead of his SNL appearance. New songs were played, in a Daft Punk-less tent pyramid thing. Watch a few videos below...

Continue reading "VIDEO: Kanye West played new songs @ Roseland Ballroom in NYC (in a pyramid)"

UPDATE: Check out some videos from the Roseland show

Kanye West's style advisor Virgil Abloh just Intagrammed the above picture with this message: "So it begins. Pop-up show NYC. Somewhere at 10:30 pm. Tonight."

He may or may not be referring to the private "Upfront" show Kanye is playing for Adult Swim at Roseland. If it is the same show, then it is unclear why he used the term "Pop-Up". We'll find out soon!\

UPDATE: Looks like the "pop-up" and Roseland show are the same show, and new songs were played (maybe from the record coming out on June 18).

Kanye also plays SNL on Saturday and Governors Ball this summer.