Smooth Jazz

On Friday morning, Chance The Rapper’s young and cherubic face loomed over my Spotify, without any new music attached.

Earlier this week, he announced that his cult classic mixtapes, 2012’s 10 Day and 2013’s Acid Rap, were joining the rest of his discography on all major streaming services after years of confined to Datpiff, LiveMixtapes, and SoundCloud. Along with 2016’s more official Coloring Book, they’re hailed as foundational to Chance’s career, but in keeping with his reputation as an independent artist, he had refused to make them widely available (or monetized) until today.

“I think it was dope that we all got to live through a time that we can remember when Acid Rap wasn’t everywhere and when 10 Day wasn’t everywhere,” Chance told Nadeska during an Apple Music interview. “I think it’s just time for more people to hear it and for people that grew up with it to have a little time to reminisce before the album drops.”

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I think you can call them jazz, but look up The Bad Plus. You all will thank me later.

We’re here!

Lightlife and Rolling Stone take over Lollapalooza. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods

Welcome to the Lightlife Lounge

The Lightlife Lounge was nestled between trees in the South Artist Village, making for the perfect shady break spot. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods

Hot off the Grill

Juicy Lightlife Plant-Based Burgers on the grill. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods

Swinging By

Singer Harry Hudson stops by the Lightlife Lounge for a quick bite. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods

Serving it Up

Guests enjoyed custom Lightlife Plant-Based Burgers built with Chicago flavors. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods

More is More

Trying out allllll the plant-based burgers. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods

Peace and Love

The Lightlife Lounge was the perfect pit-stop between sets. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods

Quick Bite

Stopping by for a mouth-watering plant-based burger. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods

For the Win

Guests hung out, played life-size games, and more. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods

Strike a Pose

Hanging around for the perfect picture. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods

Quick Read

Checking out the new issue of Rolling Stone at the Lightlife Lounge. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods

Burgers & Beats

Lightlife and Rolling Stone took over the Artist Village to share plant-based burgers with attendees all weekend long. Paid partnership with Lightlife Foods.

Ben Rodig for Rolling Stone/Lightlife Foods


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The National will release a new concert film and EP of their performance at New York’s Beacon Theatre this past April. The National: I Am Easy To Find, Live From New York’s Beacon Theatre will air August 23rd via Amazon Prime Video.
The show took place April 22nd as part of the National’s 5-date stand, “A Special Evening With the National,” where they performed their latest album I Am Easy to Find and screened a short film of the same name directed by Mike Mills. The show also featured guest performances by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, This is the Kit, Mina Tindle and Julien Baker.

“Playing a song live for the first time is like pushing it out of a nest, and a lot of them just hit the ground,” guitarist Aaron Dessner says in the trailer for the concert film, before the band launches into their passionate track “Rylan.” “We all got really emotionally attached to the whole thing — the record and the tour and these shows. Here in New York, we knew this was probably the one chance we were going to have to actually play all the songs from I Am Easy to Find.”

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The music business will experience collective déjà vu next week when Led Zeppelin goes back to court facing claims that it ripped off its signature “Stairway to Heaven” from Spirit’s “Taurus.” But this time, the stakes are much higher.

After being tossed through years of flip-flopping decisions, the “Stairway to Heaven” case — in which Michael Skidmore, a trustee representing the estate of Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe, is accusing Led Zeppelin of stealing its 1971 song’s opening guitar riff from Spirit’s 1968 instrumental track — will come before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco for en banc (full court) arguments on Monday, September 23rd. While jurors in the original case had decided in 2016 that “Stairway” did not infringe on “Taurus,” a Ninth Circuit panel ordered a new trial in 2018 due to errors in the jury instruction process.

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The unconventional rap beef truly blossomed in 2019. Over the last few months, hip-hop fans witnessed two rap stars wage an inter-podcast battle and a former and current NBA player rap at each other over Instagram and SoundCloud. Now, as autumn descends, we receive Shakesperian levels of familial drama from the Graham household. During an interview with Nick Cannon on Power 106 Los Angeles, Drake’s dad, Dennis Graham, objected to the way he has been portrayed in his son’s music.

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Kanye West never stopped talking about God.



While his ninth album, Jesus Is King, is his first to be classified as religious music, it’s also the latest entry in a public diary West has been writing for 15 years, in which his relationship with Christianity is constantly shifting.

“I don’t attest to any religion that tells me that other people gotta go to hell,” West said in 2008. “I don’t believe in a religion that has something against gay people. That has something against Muslims. That has something against Buddhists. You know? And I don’t really believe in any of that. I really believe in absolute truth.” His thoughts, obviously, have evolved in the decade since.

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Jeff Goldblum and Sharon Van Etten performed their classy jazz collaboration, “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The duo’s take on the 1936 Irving Berlin song appears on I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This, Goldblum’s recently issued second album with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.

“There may be trouble ahead,” Van Etten croons in a wide vibrato over Goldblum’s unobtrusive piano. “But while there’s music and moonlight and love and romance/Let’s face the music and dance.” The arrangement swells from there into organ and tenor sax solos.

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Rihanna attended the British Fashion Awards on Monday (Dec. 2) night, where she was presented with the Urban Luxe Award by Janet Jackson, who she's credited as one of her childhood idols and inspirations to get her start in music.

Tyler, The Creator was also in attendance, as he posted a hilarious photo hanging with RiRi backstage. The candid flick finds Tyler with his arm around Rihanna while he secretly flips her off and the pair share a laugh possibly about their onstage exchange.

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Justin Bieber and his wife Hailey Baldwin's love story goes way back, and the crooner has often shared sweet throwbacks of moments between the duo.

The most recent post came today (Jan. 14), featuring a video from Jan. 2, 2016, when the model joined Bieber and his family on a holiday Caribbean vacation.

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