Hypothesis: partying with Beck, Justice and The Libertines is the most ideal way to kick a new festival off the ground. By all calculations, it turns out that reality lives up to the theory.
Sydney City Limits is Australia’s answer to the renowned Texas event that has become a cornerstone of America’s festival circuit. Like Austin City Limits, SCL is set to make its mark on the industry here at home. The event came out swinging in its inaugural year with a glittering lineup that echoed festivals past (Big Day Out, Soundwave), beckoning some big acts who haven’t been this side of the shoreline in a while (what we like to see).
Brit punk icons The Libertines, the infinitely talented Grace Jones, mastermind Beck, and French electro/indie powerhouses Justice and Phoenix all joined a rich and diverse bill of local and internationals acts. Aussie wares like Gang of Youths, Stella Donnelly, Winston Surfshirt, Alex Lahey and The Avalanches sat alongside comfortably showcasing staggering talent.
The kick-off was a one-day affair set to four stages and was peppered with boutique food, beverage and retail stalls, including The Grove VIP section, for anyone malcontent with the sweaty mosh life. While around 14,000 turned up to muzz, the Centennial Park space was easy to navigate between stages and the lines for food and drinks were spread out and moved quickly, thanks to the abundance of vendors. It was a jam-packed schedule which meant that we weren’t bored for a second. We’ll definitely be back next year.
Photos by Dani Hansen.
Thundercat
Gang of Youths
Oh Wonder
The Avalanches
Future
Ocean Alley
Grace Jones
Justice
Phoenix
Photos: Dani Hansen/Howl & Echoes
When Kendrick Lamar pulled Future up onstage at Coachella to perform Mask Off in the middle of his set, it was unexpected and a little confusing. Just days after premiering DAMN,. why would he get Future, the antithesis of Kendrick’s entire conscious ethos, on stage for a song that he doesn’t even feature on?
It turns out that the live rendition, which featured little more than a few adlibs from Kendrick, was a precursor to a fresh new remix featuring a verse from Kendrick himself. And he’s dropped a tiny reference to Australia in the process.
“Kung Fu Kenny with the Midas touch” he proudly proclaims, with DAMN. dwarfing sales from his entire earlier career. “Ain’t no penny that I don’t touch.”
He then shouts out Australia with the line, “Half of y’all might need help / I might fall in Rodeo / I might ball in Australia / I might call her for real.”
Hilariously, the genius.com annotation explains Kendrick’s reference as follows: “Australia is a hot desert island at the ends of the earth in which little hip-hop culture exists. Kendrick boasts about his ambition and skill so much so that he will conquer even that godforsaken land.”
While I didn’t predict Kung Fu Kenny ladling out a verse for the year’s drowsiest sedative anthem, this verse, clearly written in real and recent time, absolutely slays, and it makes Future’s own performance feel ever slower. He makes the most of the dichotomous situation, pointedly asking, “How y’all let a conscious n**ga go commercial while only makin’ conscious albums?”
Kendrick toured Australia in March 2016. He’d previously come in 2014 with Eminem, J Cole and others on the Rapture Tour. Read our live review here, and check out our complete photo gallery of Kendrick Lamar in Sydney.
Future has made history this week, becoming the first artist in the history of the Billboard charts to achieve two back-to-back debuts at the top spot of the album charts, two weeks in a row. The albums, the eponymous Future and its glitzy follow-up HNDRXX, both immediately hit the top spot, altogether earning him is fourth and fifth no. 1 album to date.
This is an incredible feat – but it must be remembered that not many artists drop two albums in two weeks in general, so the chances of this happening aren’t exactly common. Still, it’s an amazing achievement for the 33-year-old rapper.
Currently, the two albums stand as no. 1 and 2 on the Billboard 200. According to Billboard, the last artist to achieve this was Prince, whose best-of The Very Best of Prince and the Purple Rain soundtrack hit the top spots last year in the week following his death. Prior to Prince, Nelly had been the last to earn this with Suit and Sweat in 2004.
Image: Billboard
Last week, Atlanta’s Future dropped Hndrxx, his sixth studio album and the follow-up to his self-titled album that was released only a week prior. With his third release in three weeks rumoured to be coming this Friday, and with his last two albums getting extremely mixed reviews, it raises the question: quality or quantity?
There’s certainly a sweet spot when it comes to the consistency of releases. While releasing too much music devalues the final product, can not releasing enough be just as damaging? Think back to the hype that Frank Ocean’s Blonde generated solely through vague announcements over four years. Sure it became painful at times but Blonde’s eventual release was met with critical acclaim, not because of it’s long lead up, but it’s undoubtable quality.
Can this be said for any of Future’s solo projects?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT1KCigshPs
There’s definitely a point where this ‘sweet spot’ can run it’s course and cause problems. Take Jay Electronica’s elusive Act II: Patents Of Nobility (The Turn) for example. Fans have been waiting almost ten years for this release, and it’s almost getting to the point where its relevance has passed, yet you can’t say that that’s something which has devalued Jay as an emcee. His sparsely distributed guest verses are continuously praised and are what keep him relevant and a point of discussion despite his solo silence.
There is a strong argument against constantly releasing music, the work ethic of say Gucci Mane for example. Gucci has now released a whopping 67 mixtapes, 3 of which were released last year alongside two more full-length studio albums and three EPs. Was this in any way wise? If he was to have picked the most relevant and heavy hitting of the singles and compiled them into one release, would it have been more widely praised and have enjoyed longer relevance? Sure these albums did score sales, but with his eleventh studio album Drop Top Wop already announced, are any of these past releases even going to maintain any relevance once the next Gucci project drops?
On the other hand, this quality approach is something that has worked for countless artists even on the small, independent scale. The now Grammy award winning Chance The Rapper had his first claim to fame with his debut mixtape 10 Days, similarly Joey Badass’ 1999, ASAP Rocky’s Live. Love. A$AP or even J.Cole’s first ever tape The Come Up; these were projects which were given at least a year of space and helped embellish the status of these artists as cutting edge emcees.
That being said, there’s a definite argument for the quantity approach too. Yet another Southern emcee, the infamous Young Thug, released three mixtapes last year, all of which managed to garner positive praise. This was especially true with the last of the trio Jeffery, which was named among the best releases of the year by several publications. And it’s not just Thugger either, 2016’s man of the year Anderson .Paak released two studio albums (one solo and one as half of NxWorries), and appeared on eleven guest features in 2016 alone. Despite what could be seen as flooding the market, he was celebrated as one of the year’s most influential artists across multiple genres.
German composer Hans Zimmer put it interestingly, saying, “we have a McDonald’s generation of music consumers,” in the sense that listeners want something quick, simple, and easily digestible. This is what the quantity approach preys on; why have a six-month marketing campaign teasing a handful of singles, when you can release two full-length albums and have a constant turnover of music.
The problem with this discussion is that ‘quality’ is subjective and is entirely a matter of opinion. You might love Future’s new albums, and love the fact that your favourite artist has released two hours of music in two weeks alone. Therefore perhaps ‘quantity’ as a synonym for substandard quality isn’t quite true; after all, through quantity comes quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9L3j-lVLwk
Image: Billboard
Chance The Rapper hasn’t let his three Grammys weigh him down or stop him from doing what he does best and recording new music. This week Chance took to Instagram to tease a new collaboration with one of the other hardest-working-MC’s-in-the-game, Future.
Chance shared two short videos captioned “My Peak.” The first clip features the unmistakable voice of Future singing the hook, “I ain’t barely reach my peak.”
The second video Chance jumps in with a snippet of his verse “My baby mama finna get her masters/I just hit the office, that’s the FAFSA/I don’t want to hear about no masters/I just hit my pastor, it’s faster.” Check them both out below.
A post shared by Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) on Feb 20, 2017 at 3:54pm PST
Future and Chance are no strangers to working together, last year they teamed up for Smoke Break, which was featured on Chance’s Grammy-Award winning project Coloring Book.
The Instagram post also tagged DJ Esco, prompting some to speculate the obvious that he is somehow involved. So far, however, it’s unclear who else might be attached, when the song will drop, or if it is apart of Chance’s first full-length album which he announced he has started working on or perhaps even Future’s rumoured second new album for 2017 that has been reported as dropping as early as tomorrow (!). All we know from the short clips is the track is going to be fire.
Image: Instagram
It’s been less than a week since hip-hop superstar Future released his fifth and latest album, the out-of-nowhere self-titled effort that racked up sales and streams quicker than a hiccup. Behind the decks was a veritable armada of production all-stars, including DJ Khaled, Metro Boomin, Zaytoven and others, but not one of the 17 tracks featured any trace of a guest vocalist, cementing for all time Future’s place as a generational talent in his own right.
It was reminiscent of Kendrick Lamar’s untitled unmastered that landed with next to zero fanfare behind it early last year, but where Kendrick chose not to follow up that record in the same year, it appears as though Future isn’t even close to being over and out for 2017 yet. Various media outlets are reporting the Atlanta rapper is ready to release another new album as early as this week (!) in news that will send his fans into hyperventilation.
Hits Daily Double broke the rumour late yesterday, describing the album as “more rhythmic-leaning and radio-friendly” than his self-titled. They attribute no sources to this claim but there’s no fun to be had in not speculating with all the intensity of a chemtrails conspiracy theorist and the story has spread like wildfire since. For instance, could this next album be full of the collaborations that were conspicuously absent from last week’s release? Specifically, the kind of collaborations that artists like Chance The Rapper have recently alluded to on Instagram? Maybe Drake might be back to capture more of the magic the pair bottled on joint record What A Time To Be Alive or Gucci Mane might have some left in the tank that didn’t make Zone, their collaborative effort from earlier this year.
Our dream list? Chance, Frank Ocean, Kanye, Skepta (the Drizzy connection is definitely there for an introduction) Kendrick or Andre 3000 (did you hear those two bump on Benz Friendz??? Why haven’t we heard more???). None of them might be featured but it’s worth a hope right? Just please, for the love of God no more Maroon 5 anywhere.
Whatever this new album might hold, or whether it even exists and this isn’t just somebody’s fever dream that found itself snowballed into a news story, Future’s place on the upper tier of hip-hop artists is unquestionable and the world will be talking regardless of what happens.
Image: Billboard
Surprise! Atlanta kings Gucci Mane and Future have reignited their fruitful collaborative relationship, dropping the heavily anticipated sequel to their 2011 joint tape Free Bricks completely unannounced. Titled Free Bricks 2K16: Zone 6 Edition, this features six new tracks, recorded in one single day. It doesn’t get much fresher than that.
Free Bricks 2K16 is Gucci and Future’s first collaboration since 2013’s Confused, and features the pair’s signature styles gloriously paired with only the freshest producers, Metro Boomin‘, Southside, and Zaytoven.
Speaking to Miss Info, Gucci explained how the pair linked up once again, and just how new this tape really is.
“Last night, me and Future met up in Atlanta. We ditched our entourages, we didn’t book my usual studio, or his usual studio… it’s like we knew we wanted to fly under the radar. There was like this positive competition in the room. I’d hear him go in on a verse, and I knew I had to step up.”
“He would say, the same back, and we knocked out 6 songs so crazy that I knew we couldn’t just sit on it. We talked about recording some more, adding more songs. But I didn’t want to over think it or over plan things. Even Future didn’t think we were dropping this tonight. This is the freshest it can get. These joints ain’t even 24 hours old. That’s like bringing you in the studio with us.”
There’s no doubt this really is Guwop’s time. After being released from prison five months early back in May, he’s already released 3 projects and just received first ever number 1 single with a feature on Rae Sremmurd’s Black Beatles. Thought he was done for the year? Think again, Gucci Mane is already gearing up to release his solo album The Return Of East Atlanta Santa due December 17, a project which he said might feature 21 Savage, Young M.A., Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, and “anything that’s hot”.
https://soundcloud.com/gucci-mane-official-1/sets/free-bricks_zone-6-edition_fbg1017
Image: Soundcloud – Gucci Mane
Future and MTV have just dropped a mini-documentary called Future’s Reign. The doco is focused around Future’s recent Purple Reign tour, and shows fans a candid snapshot of what happened behind the scenes.
The doco starts out with a few testimonials from fans out the front of the concert venues Future is set to perform in. From there the ten minute documentary features Future further feeding his ego as he narrates clips of himself backstage, onstage, in strip clubs and on photo shoots, telling the viewers why is he so amazing.
This is obviously not out of character for any rapper let alone one who may have a stake in claiming he is the best. He is on the cover of GQ Style magazine with none other than Giorgio Armani.
“He’s the top designer in the world. I’m the top rapper in the world,” Future said in his GQ interview. “Some hits are going to come from this experience for sure.”
“I know how much he suffers to be where he is,” Armani said. “He’s suffered just like I’ve suffered. So…we’re friends in a way.”
Armani was right, there seems to be a deeper meaning behind a lot of what Future is saying in Future’s Reign. One of the more emotional moments comes in the rapper revealing how he missed his Aunty’s funeral because he couldn’t back out of a concert, because they threatened to sue him.
“It’s a dream, to come from where I come from and say you have a house in Beverly Hills,” he said. “But I’m not happy. This is not who I am.
“Being around my friends that love me, they see things that I can’t see, because when you up, they can still see the bottom,” he added. “And I just had a talk with myself, like, I’m not happy doing this. I’m not happy in this expensive car, riding around, lonely. Having nobody to really talk to. I need to go back home. If it was a time like this, and I was riding around lonely, I could just pull up to my grandma’s house and have her fix me something to eat.”
We might start to see a different Future come out in his songs. Maybe even get see a Future and Armani collab. You can watch Future’s Reign below.
https://www.facebook.com/MTV/videos/10153948387186701/
Image: GQ
With Chance The Rapper quickly becoming the poster boy for Chicago hip-hop, it’s no surprise that at Chi-towns largest festival, Lollapalooza, the hometown hero made a few out-of-the-blue appearances. Riding the wave with his is extremely successful third mixtape The Coloring Book, Chance managed to shock fans with an appearance with trap lords Flosstradamus, but there was no chance way he was stopping there.
Taking the stage with his pal Future, it was a surprise that the Windy City crowd went crazy for. Watching the fan-filmed video, there’s no questioning the energy that Chance brings, performing his hit single No Problem. Despite collaborating with Future on the track Smoke Break, the pair sadly didn’t perform this tune but it looked to be an incredible moment regardless.
Closing the performance with nothing but praise, Future ended by saying, “Make some noise for Chance, Chicago legend standing right here before me!” Fingers crossed, if Chance’s Bonnaroo set crashing history is anything to go by, this hopefully won’t be his last surprise performance over the course of the weekend and we can have some more good vibes to party out to.
In other Chance The Rapper-related news, it was recently announced that he will indeed be heading over here for Perth’s New Years festival, Origin NYE. Whether more tour dates will be unravelled in the coming weeks, we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime check out the performance below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiE0vZpl50M
Image: Hip Hop DX
Last week, Future unleashed DJ Esco’s latest mixtape, Esco Terrestrial. One of the most interesting tracks on the tape was the Future and Young Thug collaboration, Who.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gct2TTsQLZg
‘Who’ is just one of the questions surrounding this rather unexpected collab, the others being what, where, when, why and how did they squash this enormous beef they supposedly had going? Not only did they come together for Esco’s mixtape but Wheezy overnight Tweeted and Snapchatted a studio session featuring Young Thug, Future and DJ Esco.
https://twitter.com/wheezy5th/status/747679863738335232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/Thundathundaa/status/747758259927453696
It certainly appears as though whatever beef they had is history. If the two rappers have been back in the studio together on more than one occasion, could we infer that this is the dawn of a wave of collaborative songs between the pair? It also begs the questions of what this feud was even about and whether there even was one in the first place? Did it all start because producer Metro Boomin, who has worked extensively with Future and Thug, only credited Future by name for popularising the mixtape trend? Or was it just a publicity construct like so many other beefs?
When we break down the cause and timeline of the beef, it really goes to show they were fighting over nothing and that they could have been producing quality tracks like Who this entire time.
Last year Metro Tweeted a picture of Future with this caption:
https://twitter.com/MetroBoomin/status/663794583663439872
He then went on to clarify, ending the discussion with:
Moral of the story is, putting out 5 tapes in a year won't make you heat up like Future. That was just his path. It's not for everyone
— Metro Boomin (@MetroBoomin) November 9, 2015
Later that day Young Thug injected himself into the conversation:
Hey @MetroBoomin who u referring to ????
— Young Thug ひ (@youngthug) November 10, 2015
A nigga music couldn't ever sound nowhere near mines…. ((IM MICHEAL)) he's ((TITO))
— Young Thug ひ (@youngthug) November 10, 2015
It's ok to ride a nigga dick, but don't agitate another one lil nigga
— Young Thug ひ (@youngthug) November 10, 2015
Future’s response came in the form of a couple of cryptic tweets, stating “I pray the real live forever and all the fake get exposed!” and “Don’t judge me by my past, I don’t live there no more,” which could be in reference to almost anything – but was taken as a shot at Young Thug, who responded with, “I have nun in the world against Future I listen to his music… His music makes me happy and I hope he continues to bless me and others with it.”
As far as all of this reads, some very subtle seeds may have been planted but this was hardly a full blown conflict. Young Thug genuinely seems to like Future and it was difficult to conceive how anyone would assume there was any aggression from the former towards the latter, who never once claimed he was singlehandedly responsible for popularising mixtapes. If anyone had issues here it’s Thug and Metro, whose bold statements first ignited the exchange.
Then a few months later came this exchange:
Midnight eastern
— FUTURE/FREEBANDZ (@1future) February 3, 2016
https://twitter.com/youngthug/status/694995765685526528
Yo bitch wish u was me…in real life
— FUTURE/FREEBANDZ (@1future) February 3, 2016
Yo family/team wish u was me lil nigga….
— Young Thug ひ (@youngthug) February 3, 2016
New Deal Alert @AppleMusic
— FUTURE/FREEBANDZ (@1future) February 3, 2016
I hope Apple save u lil niggas…. Or church !!!!
— Young Thug ひ (@youngthug) February 3, 2016
That was it? A spot of shit-talking over Twitter? Not even a single diss track from either camp to solidify this as real beef? The whole narrative looking back seems ridiculous. People from all walks of life talk smack on social media at their friends and even hip-hop superstars aren’t afraid to rib each other and have a laugh. We’ve truly reached a low point if two artists can’t throw good-natured shade in a public forum without everybody jumping to the conclusion that they despise each other. Real friends run each other down far worse than this.
Whatever the story of the past year, and not being well-acquainted with either Future or Young Thug means we’ll never know the entire truth of it, it is great to see and hear good music coming from two rappers at the top of their game.
Image: Ben Watts / GQ