Less than one year after his unforgettable Super Bowl performance, Kendrick Lamar is spending his Sunday at the 2026 Grammys and the " Luther " rapper has a lot to celebrate. He started the night with four wins, making him the most decorated rapper in the show's history. "Hip-hop is gonna always be right here. We're gonna be in these suits, we're gonna be looking good, we're gonna be having our folks with us, we're gonna be having our culture with us," Lamar stated as he accepted his fourth Grammy of the night for Best Rap Album. "So I appreciate y'all."
2026 continues to get off to an exciting start musically, and this week gave us the first Arctic Monkeys song in four years plus album announcements from Courtney Barnett, James Blake, Snail Mail, and a handful of others. We talked about all that and more on today's episode of BV Weekly, on which we also talked about last week's A$AP Rocky album, Pitchfork's new user reviews, and more.
Three of hip-hop's most unique voices come together on "Fake Jeezy," Maxo Kream and JPEGMAFIA's new banger featuring Denzel Curry. Stream it below. Get Denzel Curry Tickets Here True to its title, the song features early 2000s trap production from JPEGMAFIA, as Maxo and Curry try to outdo each other's lyrics. Maxo raps about keeping "three Ks" like "Kim, Kourtney, Khloe," and "corporate thuggin' like Young Jeezy," while Denzel drops a Kardashian reference of his own.
His frequent allegro cadence accents how deftly he changes direction within verses. "Silent Film," set to mellow chords and a shuffling breakbeat, is casually breathless: "I roll the dough and cook it/Was juggin' cause in a world so cold, you just throw on a hoodie/I see the limit and push it, sneaking over the edge/Made a million off of my grief, none of my people rose from the dead," Mavi raps, subtly pausing-and stretching and compressing words-to keep the meter.
The first song I fell in love with I grew up in New York City, so the emergence of hip-hop really connected with me when I was a kid. Rapper's Delight by the Sugarhill Gang started me down the road where I am today. The first single I bought Let No Man Put Asunder by First Choice, on 12-inch vinyl from Rock and Soul in New York City, with money I'd saved from working part-time at the grocery store.
21 Savage has announced a new album. The rapper posted a video to his Instagram earlier today, December 8, with the title What Happened to the Streets? and a release date of this Friday, December 12. Check out the cover art below. 21 Savage released his last studio album, American Dream, in 2024. This year, he's been featured on Summer Walker's Finally Over It and Travis Scott's mixtape.
This is a comeback story: a former "junkie, alcoholic" who lost control, now recovered and reborn, embracing the bliss and identity-making potential of music like never before. It's a classic hip-hop underdog narrative, and this is very much a rap album, just adorned with a Splice pack's worth of pixie-lated dust. Rave music is often associated with druggy abandon, but for Brown it seems more about the heady rush of joy conjured by whizzing tempos and neon synths.
Despite the joy Zimri brings Savoy, the fact that Zimri will never meet his grandfather compounds his grief, as does Zimri arriving into this world with serious health complications. So Savoy decided to capture this moment in time in a short documentary, also titled Big Bryce Son. Savoy hosts the documentary's Oakland premiere on Friday, Nov. 14, at Rhythm Section Art Lounge for two screenings at 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
The Grammy nominations are here, and with it the realization we have no great pop juggernauts like we did last year. No Charli, no Beyoncé, and no Taylor. Still, there's a lot of Lady Gaga and Sabrina Carpenter and even a good showing for Justin Bieber - but the big narrative of this year's noms is the enthusiasm for this past year in rap: Kendrick, Bad Bunny, Clipse, and yes ... even Drake.
Growing up, every weekend we'd visit a different Sri Lankan family's house in London. One kid had Thriller by Michael Jackson, and I fell in love with Billie Jean. I then ripped my brother's Michael Jackson Bad poster in a retaliation move, for which I now formally apologise.
Long Beach is located about half an hour down the coast from Los Angeles proper, though it often gets mixed up in the greater L.A. or Orange County areas. However, hip-hop lovers will recognize the LBC as the stomping grounds of legends like Snoop Dogg and Warren G, but the city's significance extends far beyond what you might hear on the radio.
Coreen Simpson-photographer, writer, jeweler-has done it all. Working for publications such as Essence, Unique New York, and The Village Voice, from the late 1970s onward, Simpson covered New York's art and fashion scenes, producing portraits of a wide range of Black artists, literary figures, and celebrities. Her iconic jewelry, the Black Cameo, has been worn by everyone from the model Iman to civil-rights leader Rosa Parks.
Yet for as many 99-cent songs as were purchased in the 2000s, anyone who spent time on that era's file-sharing networks can verify that the LP was still the most important unit for music obsessives. And it has remained so-albums are the venue for the most niche and audacious creative projects; they remain the organizing principle for press cycles and stadium tours; no one has gold mp3s hanging on their studio walls.
Music fans got a surprise last night as Coachella, the biggest music festival in the country, shared its lineup months earlier than past precedent, with previous releases taking place in November 2024 and January 2023. This year's lineup features a bill of bands that leans heavily on pop superstars. Top billing goes to Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G, a trio of pop acts that run the gamut from latest and greatest (Carpenter), to established industry titan (Bieber) to international superstar (Colombia's Karol G).
The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony returns to Los Angeles on Nov. 8 with honorees that include hard rockers Bad Company, pop-rock singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper, and hip-hop duo Outkast among the artists who will join the hall this year. The 40th annual induction ceremony at the Peacock Theater will also honor The Twist popularizer Chubby Checker, British blues-rock singer Joe Cocker, Seattle grunge band Soundgarden, and the indie rock duo The White Stripes in the performer category this year.
Armand Hammer and the Alchemist are getting back together for a new album. After connecting on 2021's , they'll drop on November 7 via billy woods' Backwoodz Studioz. The project will feature guest contributions from Earl Sweatshirt, Quelle Chris, Cleo Reed, Pink Siifu, Kapwani, and Silka. See the tracklist and the album artwork, by M. Musgrove, below. Ahead of the album's release, on Thursday, October 23, Armand Hammer and the Alchemist will play a show together at Los Angeles' Lodge Room.
