• Derrick Carter, Legendary House DJ, Speaks On Cultural Smudging In Dance Music

    Over the past week, the hip hop community has been embroiled in controversy and debate over "cultural misappropriation" or cultural smudging," notably directed at Iggy Azalea the new white chick on the block. Everyone from Azealia Banks (of course), to T.I., to Lupe Fiasco to Q-Tip have weighed in on the topic, 140 characters at a time on Twitter. Derrick Carter, one of the original house DJs from Chicago, is looking to start that dialogue in dance music. As reported by The Fader, Carter shared his thoughts on his personal Facebook about how dance music has become noticeably whiter since its days origins as a gay and black genre.

  • Bruce Springsteen Adds 1978 Cleveland Show to Concert Archives

    Bruce Springsteen fans rejoice. The boss is releasing the high quality version of his legendary concert in Cleveland on Aug. 9, 1978 at the Agora Theatre and Ballroom. Playing alongside his E Street Band, The Boss, delivered one of his most replayed live performances ever that was streamed on the radio, but never recorded and released officially.

  • Diplo and Skrillex Talk Jack Ü, MSG on NYE, NYC Club Scene and More

    Skrillex and Diplo are just a week away from the biggest show of their lives. On New Year's Eve, the duo, known as Jack Ü, will be headlining Madison Square Garden with the help of Rudimental, Yellow Claw and A$AP Ferg. The duo spoke with "Time Out" magazine in preparation of the show to speak about Jack Ü, the New York club scene and the aforementioned show at MSG.Even for a massive venue like Madison Square Garden, which can pack close to 20,000 people, Skrillex still holds the belief that it will "feel intimate and personal.""We don't have a real rock-star approach with security all around us. It'll be a party. We'll have lots of special guests come out," he says.Diplo adds, "You'll be hearing some of the Jack Ü songs we've done, live, for the first time. The artists we've cut the records with will be performing with us. Both of us take it very seriously; if you've ever seen us perform live, you'll know the production value is insane."He even invited the entire New York Knicks team to shoot warm-ups during their set. Unfortunately for Diplo, the team will be in Los Angeles for a game against the Los Angeles Clippers, but that is probably for the best since the team probably would miss most of those pre-game shots.Diplo gave an honest opinion on the EDM scene, proclaiming it "dead."

  • J. Cole '2014 Forest Hills Drive' Goes Gold in Second Week

    The holiday buying season has been kind to J. Cole. It has been so kind that he just received a large delivery of gold to his doorstep. That gold comes in the form of an RIAA-certified gold record, which reportedly is for his new, critically acclaimed album "2014 Forest Hills Drive."Last week, his album sold 371,000 copies and earned him the No. 1 spot on the charts, the third consecutive time he has done that. Second-week sales reportedly have dropped to 135,000, which is the fourth highest for the week and earns him his third gold record at more than 500,000 albums sold. The album sales include equivalents from album streams.

  • Questlove: 'Fear Of Getting Blackballed' Preventing Artists From Creating Protest Songs

    As the country erupts once more in protest over the death of Antonio Brown in Berkeley, Missouri, just two miles from Ferguson and potentially the non-indictment of a Houston police officer in the killing of an unarmed black man, Questlove shares his thoughts on why the music community has remained largely silent on the issue. In an interview with Billboard, Questlove suggested that artists are afraid of "being blackballed and not making a living. " He refers to the example of the Dixie Chicks in 2003 when Natalie Maines told an audience that she was ashamed George Bush was from Texas.

  • Avril Lavigne Dismisses Rehab Rumors: 'Hello Kitty' Singer Wishes Fans a Merry Christmas

    Rumors have been swirling recently about the health of Avril Lavigne and the supposed rehab stint she was undertaking. The "Hello Kitty" singer took to Twitter last night, Dec. 23, to let her fans know she was not in rehab and to wish them a Merry Christmas, via "Billboard." Rumors have persisted on social media and fan forums about Avril Lavigne's health problems and she has responded.The rehab RUMORS are hilarious! The only thing I'm addicted to right now is Bing Crosby. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! and to all a goodnight! — Avril Lavigne (@AvrilLavigne) December 24, 2014The speculation stems from an undisclosed illness that Avril Lavigne has been suffering from, which she revealed in a DM to a fan account on Twitter. There had been rumors swirling about a possible pregnancy, leading her to be largely absent from the public eye, but she cleared up — sort of — why she has been distant as of late.

  • Google Adds Lyrics to Its Search

    Google is once again looking to change the way we search. The Silicon Valley giant has just revealed its new lyric searching system that allows users to search for song lyrics, and the words will come up as a native Google result. The result pulls from Google Play's growing library of music. A link to the lyrics can also be found under an official YouTube link.One source told "Billboard" how Google was able to get this done, saying, "They're creating the database themselves. They've done direct licensing deals with the major publishers to enable the service, and they're doing it internally at the moment. The data isn't crowd-sourced; there's a team of people working to create the database."This is a huge blow to sites like AZLyrics and Metrolyrics, which have benefited tremendously from the status quo.

  • Nicki Minaj's 'Rolling Stone' Cover Surfaces, Magazine Calls Her "Mad Genius, Manic Diva" [PHOTO]

    Nicki Minaj has been featured on the cover of numerous magazines this year, and Rolling Stone is apparently next in line. An image of the upcoming cover surfaced today (via RapRadar), which features The Pinkprint femcee in a thin white tank-top with her breasts partially exposed. It is reportedly the cover of the publication's January 2015 issue and is the first time Minaj has graced the cover of the iconic music magazine solo.

  • Harvey Weinstein Is Pushing Hard for 'Today' to Apologize to Amy Adams for Abruptly Canceling Her Interview

    If NBC thought it could abruptly cancel Amy Adam's interview scheduled for "The Today Show" Monday, Dec. 22, and not have issues, it was not thinking clearly. Adams was scheduled to do an interview promoting her latest film, "Big Eyes," but when the actress told staffers she did not feel comfortable discussing the fallout from the Sony hacking scandal, she was told her segment had been shelved. Harvey Weinstein's company has produced "Big Eyes" and Adams is always in good standing with him, so he is out for a bit of blood.According to a source for Page Six, NBC's feeble attempts to smooth things over are not sitting well with Weinstein, who wants a formal apology to Adams at the least."Even though 'Today' host Matt Lauer tried to smooth things over after the drama with a call to Weinstein," the source added, "Weinstein wants a formal apology or at least an independent investigation into what happened by an independent authority like Rudy Giuliani."
View More
Festivals
Popular Now