Mala Luna Music Festival Presents: Tory Lanez

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Tory Lanez also known as #SWAVEY hails from Toronto, Canada! He started rapping at the age of 15 and gave himself the nickname, Notorious (which is a reference to the late rapper Notorious B.I.G.), and later adopted the name into his moniker “Tory Lanez.”

Recently, Tory’s single “Luv” cracked the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number one on the mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop chart. Prior to “Luv,” the first single “Say It” off his debut album I Told You was certified Platinum in April.

“I started doing this just with the singing a couple of years ago, a year and a half ago. The whole I Told You, there’s nothing written. That was all out of the feeling. That’s why the album is so incredible to me – it’s all out of the heart, I didn’t take time to pre-calculate it,” said Tory to Rolling Stones in regards to his new album.

Tory is also known for his impressive single series known as “Fargo Fridays,” where he drops some very hot records every Friday. Continuing his “Fargo Fridays” in what maybe a friendly competition with Drake, Tory remixed Drake’s “Controlla,” which was a summer favorite for everyone.

The amazing thing about Tory is even though he’s a rapper, he’s best known as a singer even though he’s never had any formal training. According to Fader, “one of his highest-profile gigs to date was singing the hook on YG’s “Me And My Bitch,” off My Krazy Life.”

Get familiar with Tory Lanez’ music below before you watch him tear down the stage! Get your tickets here!

Mala Luna Music Festival Presents: Jacquees

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R&B singer Jacquees, also known as Rodriquez Broadnax, hails from Atlanta, a city known for breeding talented rappers. In the beginning of his career, Jacquees admitted that he wanted to be a rapper and that “by the time he had turned 12, he was already in the studio and he became the boy everybody knew in his town for singing.”

Jacquees also began to gain more exposure with the release of his first single, titled “Krazy,” which featured rapper T.I that came about as a result of his relationship with Block Entertainment.

Additionally, Jacquees was only 21-years-old when he first signed to Cash Money Records, and Birdman admitted that he “just felt like Jacquees had a lot of swag” during their first encounter. This encounter was made possible due to Rich Homie Quan connecting Jacquees with Birdman leading to a major record contract and management deal.

And back in April of this year, Jacquees released his latest project, Lost at Sea, which was met with positive reviews.

Lost at Sea is different from all my other projects because this is the first I’ll be doing a whole project with another artist. And I’m really versatile on this project,” Jacquees said. “So you know like records like “Like Baby” where I’m swangin’ – You know, I call my rapping ‘swangin’’ cause it’s not real rap.  It’s swangin’, its melodic. So I’m doing a lot of swangin’ on the project.  A lot of R&B records too.  The music’s just dope. It’s a new wave for Rich Gang.”

Jacquees also recently teamed up with Tink on their collaborative single titled “Outta Line” which premiered on The Fader. “The song happened after a long time of trying to connect with one another,” Jacquees told The FADER in an email. “I had a show in Chicago and flew in a day early and Tink happened to have a session so we just linked up that night to record ‘Outta Line.'”

Get your tickets to see Jacquees and the rest of the line up here. Also listen to Quemix 2 by Jacquees below!

Get your tickets to see Jacquees and the rest of the line up here.

Mala Luna Music Festival Presents: Kranium

 

MALA_1080X1080_Kranium (1)It’s hard to deny the power of dancehall music as it’s taken over Summer ’16 with dancehall vibes etched into the top songs on the Billboard Charts from Rihanna’s work, Drake’s Controlla to Tory Lanez’ Luv. With that being said, one can’t discuss dancehall music without mentioning Kranium, who is the only reggae-dancehall artist signed to Atlantic Records with artists such as Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign and Coldplay on their roster.  Kranium was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica and moved to Florida in 2005 but relocated to New York one year later.

Additionally, Kranium is best known for his 2015 summer smash “Nobody Has To Know,” which peaked at number 44 on the Billboard charts. Also, Kranium recently dropped “We Can” with Tory Lanez featured on the track. According to the Jamaica Star, “Kranium has performed in front of audiences in the US, UK, Europe and Africa. This summer, Kranium took part in Drake’s OVO Fest as well as the Redbull Culture Clash as a member of the winning Mixpak Crew, alongside dancehall stars Popcaan, Tony Matterhorn and Spice.”

Check out some of Kranium’s best tracks below, and grab your tickets to see him perform at Mala Luna Music Festival.

https://soundcloud.com/canadiandope/kranium-ft-tory-lanez-we-can

Curren$y – Raps N Lowriders [Documentary]

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Curren$y released a mini-documentary that reflects his love for lowriders. The documentary features Spitta, his lowriders, his girl, and his boys. Snippets from unreleased music are featured throughout the video. You can watch the 17-minute documentary below.

Kid Cudi – Empire Season 3

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Earlier today, via twitter, Kid Cudi announced that he has signed onto the cast of the hit TV show Empire for Season 3. Between completely switching his music genre and this new acting gig, Cudder’s definitely doing the most with no sign of stopping.

Peep the announcement tweets below, and stay tuned for Empire Season 3 featuring Scott Mescudi.

SchoolBoy Q- By Any Means (Video)

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Last night, SchoolBoy Q released the track list for his upcoming album, Blank Face LP, which is due to release on July 8th. Today, the TDE artist dropped his song titled “By Any Means” in joint with a vivid visual, depicting the daily life of Q and his friends while riding around in his L.A neighborhood, specifically on 51st street.

The first five minutes consists of an active yet laid back illustration of Q’s interaction with his homies before the song actually drops, keeping the viewers alert and in deep interest. The title insinuates this is only the beginning, and that more of the video is to come. We hope so, Q. Check out the video below.

ScHoolboy Q – Blank Face LP Teaser

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Earlier this week ScHoolboy Q announced his Oxymoron follow-up, Blank Face LP. Being himself, Q trolled us with two fake album covers, one with the infamous Crying Jordan meme and another with Donald Trump, before revealing the actual cover art above. Top Dawg founder, Anthony Tiffith, has released a snippet from the album, accompanied by what seems to be the music video.

Peep the snippet below. Blank Face LP drops July 8th.

XXL Freshman Issue

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The 9th annual XXL Freshman Issue dropped this week featuring some of the freshest, most poppin’, rising artists in the genre. ScoreMore alum like Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Yachty made the cover among other artists killing the game like Desiigner and Anderson .Paak. Still the cover isn’t a favorite among readers. While some don’t understand how one hit stars like Desiigner or comedy rapper Lil Dick made their way to the cover, the biggest critique is the lack of female faces in the group. This isn’t from a lack of options. Women in hip hop are killing 2016 —  whether it’s NYC natives like DonMonique, Chi town repping Noname or the plethora of dope girls reppin’ the Awful Records crew based out of Atlanta. Still, we’re excited to see the content to come out about these young, talented folk. Learn more about the cover here on XXL. 

Kanye West — Saint Pablo (ft. Sampha)

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Yesterday Kanye West added a song to his album The Life of Pablo, that was released back in February. The song “Saint Pablo” features steady flows about Ye’s personal life and finances as well as a beautiful melody from Sampha. The song was apparently teased at a private party earlier this year, but is no available on Apple and Tidal for listeners. Even though it’s Ye’s birthday season, the ultimate Gemini didn’t stop bestowing gifts on his fans. Yeezy also announced his tour titled the “Saint Pablo Tour” that kicks off in late Austin.  Praise Yeezy and listen to the preview of the new track below.

Major Lazer ft Travis Scott, 2 Chainz, Pusha T, & Mad Cobra – “Night Riders” (video)

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While this cut has been out for a while now, Travis Scott and Major Lazer teamed up to finally give the fans a video for the party cut. Travis chills in a neon-enhanced whip, smoking and “going for broke.” Elsewhere, a working girl literally fighting to survive the gritty night life gives a different take on what it means to be a “night rider.” Follow her battles below.