Summer Walker Launches Ghetto Earth Records

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs this unprecedented year finally reaches its close and we look for the silver linings in nine months of lockdown, we think of time with family, time to recharge, time to think… and for some of us, quality time with another family member: music.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJohn Fletcher, best known as Ecstasy from the pioneering rap group Whodini, has died, the group’s Grand Master Dee has confirmed. The cause of death was unclear at the time of this article’s publication; he was 56.Roots drummer Questlove was the first to break the news on Wednesday (Dec.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorVeteran rockers the Deftones have completed their “Adopt-a-Dot” fundraising campaign and made a donation of $52,500 to the University of California at Davis Children’s Hospital and $52,500 to “Crew Nation,” the global relief fund for live music crews who have been impacted by COVID-19.In a statement the group said, “With pride, today we’re making our Adopt-A-Dot donations to UC Davis Children’s Hospital and Crew Nation. Hopefully these will go to making things a

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorT​he Save Our Stages Act — sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSince the Beatles split in 1970, seemingly every known scrap of their history has been scrutinized and curated for public consumption — every minute of studio tape, every radio broadcast, home and concert recording; every photo and document and snippet of film footage — with one huge exception: the “Let It Be” film.There are several reasons for this, but only one matters: “Let It Be” is a downer.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt’s not confirmed yet, but after months of delays, Congress announced Sunday that it has finally reached a deal to pass the long-overdue $900 billion stimulus bill to send aid to American citizens and businesses leveled by the pandemic — including the Save Our Stages act to provide around $15 billion in relief to independent music venues and movie theaters that have been almost entirely shuttered since March.The House is expected to finalize the deal on Sunday

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFanTracks Digital’s two recent livestreams with the Goo Goo Dolls — the augmented-reality movie musical “It’s Christmas All Over” and the concert performance “Grounded With the Goo Goo Dolls” — are coming to drive-in movie theaters in the U.S. via Encore Live.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFoo Fighters announced today that they will join Dave Matthews, Portugal. The Man, Bob Weir, Ben Folds, Tank & the Bangas, Big Freedia and many more at Georgia Comes Alive, a virtual concert taking place Saturday, Dec.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe self-titled third album from British singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka won Britain’s prestigious Mercury Prize earlier this year and is up for Best Rock Album at the 2021 Grammys. Kiwanuka toured Europe behind the 2019 album but saw the U.S.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt’s not time to pop the champagne, but one of the most divided and dysfunctional Congresses in U.S.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn what is hopefully a trend for the coming months, Dua Lipa finally got to perform the songs from her multiple-Grammy-nominated album “Future Nostalgia” on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend — some eight months after her originally scheduled appearance on the show was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs this trainwreck of a year trainwrecks itself to a close, we present the final Fri5 of 2020 — and as if on cue, it’s one of the more confusing batches of songs we’ve highlighted. We’re not even entirely sure who one of these artists is (see Rook Monroe).

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAmid yet another Grammy Awards season loaded with controversy, the Recording Academy will honor the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association at its 23rd annual Entertainment Law Initiative Event & Scholarship Presentation, which will take place during Grammy Week in a new virtual format. The event is invite-only.At the event, BESLA will be honored with the 2021 Entertainment Law Initiative Service Award.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRare collaborations between Bob Dylan and George Harrison will be included on a deluxe reissue entitled ‘Bob Dylan – 1970’ that is due on February 26, Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, announced Friday.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhile she wasn’t asked about it directly, Fiona Apple, who is up for two Grammy Awards, used her interview with The Guardian to slam the organization for its treatment of ousted president/CEO Deborah Dugan and its nomination of hitmaker Dr.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLast June, BMG announced that it was examining the contracts of the recorded-music catalogs is has acquired in an effort to find evidence of racial disadvantage.The Germany-based company, which was founded in 2008 but has acquired catalogs that date back to the mid 20th century, announced Friday (Dec.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Band’s classic 1970 album is often considered slightly inferior to its two stone-cold-classic predecessors, the group’s debut “Music From Big Pink” and the self-titled follow-up — but what’s not often stated is that “slightly inferior” to those albums still makes it one of the best albums of the year if not the era.While the group had started to fragment a bit at the time of its recording — largely due to substance abuse — it still contains several of their

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEminem has “surprise-dropped” so many albums in the past couple of years that the arrival of a rumor has basically become the official announcement. And sure enough, days after very detailed rumors broke about the impending release of a follow-up to his most recent surprise-dropped album, “Music to Get Murdered by,” it arrived.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGrammy-winning singer Patti Austin has made a bid to get out the vote in Georgia with a new song posted by the political action committee MeidasTouch.The runoff vote, which takes place on Jan.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSince the beginning of the pandemic, online music retailer Bandcamp has graciously waived its fees on the first Friday of every month, allowing nearly 100% of all sales to go to artists and labels — providing a rare opportunity to maximize the amount of that money that goes to artists.