While Kehlani recruits a few big names for her new mixtape and is Miley Cyrus giving hip hop another go?
EMINEM BREAKS MCG ATTENDANCE RECORD UPON MELBOURNE RETURN ON SUNDAY
With Eminem’s Rapture 2019 tour well underway, the rapper’s return to Melbourne was a highly anticipated one, off the back of great reviews elsewhere around the country. On Sunday night, supported by Royce da 5’9’, Boogie and Adelaide’s own Hilltop Hoods, Eminem took to the stage in front of a whopping 80,708 fans – breaking the MCG’s crowd attendance record.
Prior to Sunday night’s show, the record had been held by the Sound Relief concert back in 2009, which came in at 80,518 people in attendance. A total of 300,000 tickets have been sold for this Rapture 2019 tour, with the run set to finish up in Perth on Wednesday February 27. The last time Eminem toured under the Rapture banner, he sold out stadiums throughout the country, so it’s little to no surprise that The Real Slim Shady still had some aces up his sleeve when it came to this tour. Ahead of the weekend, Eminem announced a reissue of his 1999 Slim Shady LP, celebrating its 20th anniversary, hitting streaming services for the first time. The album includes ten bonus features not included on the original.
KEHLANI RECRUITS TY DOLLA $IGN, 6LACK AND MORE FOR WHILE WE WAIT MIXTAPE
R&B artist Kehlani has been keeping a low profile for the last year or so when it comes to music. Taking time out of the spotlight to enjoy pregnancy and write new material, the Oakland artist only really showed up in 2018 to collaborate with Cardi B on ‘Ring’ and on KYLE’s ‘Playwitme’ single. Now though, the singer has returned with a brand new collection of her own music, a long-awaited follow up to her acclaimed album SweetSexySavage, in a mixtape entitled While We Wait.
Made over the course of a month with a group of collaborators including Ty Dolla $ign, 6LACK, Dom Kennedy and Musiq Soulchild, the mixtape is a nine-track record that is serving as a solid precursor to Kehlani’s next album, already dedicated to the daughter she’s expecting. While We Wait is the first full project from Kehlani since 2017 and speaking recently with Zane Lowe on Beats One, she’s hinted at what’s to come on the new album: “I’m telling stories I’ve never told, they’re not even, some, from my perspective, they’re from the perspective of two people that I’m about to bring out into the world, into light. Which transfers into how I interpreted their stories….it’s basically a gift to my daughter.”
MILEY CYRUS SET TO GIVE HIP HOP ANOTHER GO?
You might remember Miley Cyrus’ BANGERZ phase, either fondly or not so fondly. The era saw the pop artist work with the likes of Mike Will Made It, Pharrell and Will.i.am on the self-described “Dirty South” hip hop record. It was divisive and certainly drew conversation surrounding cultural appropriation from different sectors of the hip hop and wider pop culture community, but nevertheless, BANGERZ brought Cyrus more notoriety and a Grammy nomination that year.
Fast forward a couple of years, Cyrus is now married, exploring music with Mark Ronson and returning to her pop/country roots. But it would seem that hip hop is still in the back of her head as she approaches a new album. Speaking with Vanity Fair, Cyrus has described her new record to include “more hip hop leaning records” in amongst some psychedelic and pop elements, both musical sounds fans will already expect.
What will it sound like? Who knows. However if she has producers like Ronson in her corner, this new record has the potential to be more stable and less cheese and tack.
