It's not okay for your parents to share baby photos of you on social media without permission, but when it comes to Beyonce, I think we can all admit that there is at least one exception. Queen B is 37 years old today, and her mom Tina Knowles Lawson took to Instagram to wish her a happy B-Day, and express her love for her daughter. "It’s already your birthday where you are. So Happy Birthday to the nicest, owner of the most beautiful, generous, loving hearts ever!!!! Brilliant too! Always thinking, planning, analyzing, strategizing, how you can make everything you touch...
We've spent much of the weekend listening to Eminem's new diss-laden album. My three word review for Kamikaze would be "it's pretty dope". But it's definitely not a simple listen. To appreciate the full breadth of anger and the sheer number of subjects targeted on the album itself, multiple listens are needed. But if you just don't have the time, @HipHopNumbers has come to the rescue. Posted on Reddit's r/dataisbeautiful, the hip-hop statistician created an infographic showing just how many insults Eminem squeezed into the 13 track album. The total? 153. The percentage of lyrics that constitute disses? 15.5%. The number...
Eminem dropped his latest surprise album at midnight and it has sent the internet into a frenzy. Titled Kamikaze, the 13 track album is very much a long, angry rant about various social and political issues, particularly in the rap industry. It also directly calls out a significant number of popular rappers, including Drake. “…if you ain’t Joyner/If you ain’t Kendrick or Cole/Or Sean then you’re a goner”, says the rapper in the first track on the album, "The Ringer". Eminem announced Kamikaze’s release on his Twitter account, saying, “Tried not 2 overthink this 1... enjoy.” Tried not 2 overthink this 1... enjoy....
Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, has died. The singer-songwriter fell ill earlier this week, and died on 16 August as a result of pancreatic cancer. She was 76. Born in 1942 in Memphis, USA, Aretha Franklin's career spanned seven decades, and included hits like "Respect", "Natural Woman" and "I Say A Little Prayer". Selling some 75-million records, there's no doubt that she had a massive impact on the music industry. Celebrities took to Twitter on Thursday night to mourn her death, celebrate her life, and thank her for her contribution to society. Former US President Barack Obama led the sentiment. "Aretha helped define the American...
Sweetener is Ariana Grande's fourth and latest album, hitting streaming services early this morning in South Africa. It's her first album since 2016's Dangerous Woman. It's also the first since 2017's Manchester Arena bombing which claimed the lives of 23 people and injured scores more. Understandably, people are eager to hear just what is mentioned within its 15 tracks. As for initial impressions, positive would be an understatement. "Ari just gifted us R&B bops, party anthems & beautiful ballads about forgiveness, anxiety, toxic relationships, feminism, mourning the death of her fans, dating broken men, loving again, & being a baddie. whoever says...
In an extremely brave and risky financial play, Spotify may soon allow free tier users to skip audio and video advertisements whenever they want. At present, free users are not allowed to skip ads at all, but that could soon change according to a report by AdAge. The Scandinavian streaming service is currently testing the tweak to its free tier in Australia. Users Down Under are allowed to skip ads whenever they like, getting back to their voracious music consumption sooner. Spotify is also making note of which ads users of skipping, building up a playlist of relevant ads, if you...
On this day in 2012, the internet was blessed with "Gangnam Style". The song itself birthed that iconic horseriding jig, and a slew of other memes and parodies leeching off its popularity. But the video, and track by Korean artist Psy, may have also helped to catapult K-Pop into everyone's collective consciousness. Beyond that, it helped YouTube serve an additional 3.1-billion views to its users. No doubt the company's pretty happy about that. But "Gangnam Style" is ionic for a number of reasons: It became the most-liked YouTube video of all time in September 2012, but faded to fourth place It became the...
This is not a drill: the Carters are heading to South Africa in December. Beyonce and Jay-Z will both perform at the Mandela 100 Global Citizen Festival taking place in South Africa, it was announced Monday at a press conference at the Sandton Convention Centre. They'll be joined by Ed Sheeran, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Pharrell Williams, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Usher and Wizkid. Naomi Campbell and Oprah will also reportedly be in attendance. Oh, and Cassper Nyovest will also be there. Sharing a stage with Beyoncé and Jay Z in December. #GlobalCitizenFestivalSA pic.twitter.com/s4mwWgEK9S — R.M Phoolo (@CassperNyovest) July 9, 2018 The concert, organised...
Chances are, if you're a little kid and you ask your parents incessantly for a chocolate chip cookie, they'll give it to you. Now, imagine in this scenario that Weezer is the adult, Twitter the kid, and Toto's "Africa" the chocolate chip cookie. After one of the bands' fans on the social network urged it to remake the earworm and now cultural stalwart for kicks and giggles, the band obliged. And has arguably made the song even better. Sorry Toto. And thank you @weezerafrica. Although we did have to wait a while. @RiversCuomo it's about time you bless the rains down...
Google's taking a big gamble with its new YouTube Music streaming project. The company's lumping Google Play Music with YouTube's wealth of music in a new product aimed at Spotify and Apple Music. But many aren't happy with the news. (As a Google Play Music user, I certainly am not.) The company's wholly aware of this sentiment though, and on Tuesday published a list of features that will hopefully win over doubters. For one, it suggests that the library -- thanks to YouTube's wealth of music videos -- will be enormous. Users will have access to "official albums, singles, remixes, live performances, covers...
If something's not broken and doesn't need fixing, trust Google to provide a solution. The firm did this with its messaging services -- now boasting more than five actual messaging apps -- and now, Google Play Music is seemingly suffering the same fate. The company on Thursday announced a new music service, the free-but-ad-supported YouTube Music that lumps in music streaming and YouTube's host of videos and bespoke audio tracks. There's also a paid tier, which costs US$9.99, and gives users access to ad-free YouTube Music. For US$2 more, you can add ad-free "YouTube Premium" on top of that too, for...
Keen to catch up on Cardi B's weekend antics over on Instagram? You're in for a disappointing surprise. The female rapper of "Bodak Yellow" fame has deleted her Instagram account @iamcardib after her quarrel with fellow rapper Azealia Banks heated up again on Friday. Banks appeared on a US radio show Friday, reportedly labelling the rapper as an "untalented rat" and a "caricature of a black woman". She also pointed to Cardi B's success as a low point of female artistry, marking Beyonce's Lemonade as a peak. Cardi responded: "I’m from the hood I speak how I speak I am how I am.I...
YouTube this week announced its new music charts portal, which allows users -- and generally interested folk -- to gauge which tracks, videos and artists are most popular on the platform on a given week in 44 countries. It's awesome, and you should give it a gander at some point in the day. But if you don't have the time, and are looking for something hot to listen to right now, YouTube also has a few charts just for South Africa and the playlists to go along with them. These are the hottest tracks in South Africa this week: Trending in South...
YouTube might be a video streaming service first and foremost, but it's also the world's most popular music distribution tool. So with that in mind, the company today announced new YouTube charts specifically to showcase popular music. "At YouTube, we understand the importance of showcasing and celebrating the hottest artists, songs and music videos from around the world," the company wrote in a release. "The new charts are based purely on the number of views and are a reflection of the success achieved by artists on the world's most expansive music platform." The company claims that the charts will be the "new...
Spotify is now a public company, and will now release financial results every quarter. For number lovers, rejoice, but for those who'd like a music analogy instead, they made it rain. Okay, not really. On Wednesday the Swedish streaming music company published its first set of results. And the numbers weren't a stellar as investors had hoped. For one, the company announced that it ended the quarter with 170-million monthly active users. Although that number's up by 30% year-over-year, the company has quite a bridge to cross to reach its forecast 208-million subscribers by the end of 2018. Premium subscribers were up by...
South Africa fumes online after girl was raped in Dros restaurant toilet
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SA government asks Twitter users to stop sharing videos of Dros rape
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