MUSIC

Drake Shares First Photos of His Son, Adonis

And we have Pusha-T to thank for bringing the family together.

By Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock

A short lifetime ago, the most-discussed topic of pop culture was the ongoing beef between Drake and Pusha-T.

Drake—Drizzy, Champagne Papi, Canada's finest export—is no newbie to feuds with his contemporaries. But in spring of 2018, just before Drake released his most recent album Scorpion, Pusha went where no opponent had gone before: confirming the longstanding rumor that the "God's Plan" rapper had a child.

Today, Drake finally seems to be owning up to his fatherhood, having shared a handful of photos of his son, Adonis, on Instagram. "I love and miss my beautiful family and friends and I can't wait for the joyful day when we are all able to reunite," Drake wrote in the caption, marking the first time he's posted photos (or directly acknowledged) his two-year-old child. With piercing blue eyes and a full head of blonde ringlets, they don't look much alike (as we've discussed, celebrity genetics are wild), but this proof of parenthood is as good as any. He also included a full-family shot featuring Adonis' mother, French artist Sophie Brussaux.

Whispers of Drake's potential fatherhood have been circulating for years, but no names had been confirmed until Pusha's diss track aimed at Drake, "The Story of Adidon," first surfaced. "A baby's involved, it's deeper than rap," Pusha says on the song. "You are hiding a child, let that boy come home...Adonis is your son / And he deserves more than an Adidas press run; that's real."

Considering how sneaky Drake had been previously about his child, it seems like we very well might have never known about Adonis if it weren't for the diss track. Who knew? Pusha-T: bringing families together since 2020.

J.I. talks the meaning behind Hood Life Krisis | #HostedByDeascent [EP 6]

In the latest offering of #HostedByDeascent, Deascent finally sits down with J.I., one of the Big Apple's hottest up-and-coming emcees and a budding hip-hop sensation.

Based out of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the 18-year-old creative released his latest work, Hood Life Crisis Vol. 2, back in December to glowing reviews, and from there he's been on an unstoppable tear into 2020. "It was really just the hunger, that drive," J.I. said about his fast-paced creative output. "I was desperate. I was desperate to get out there and put pressure on people."

Check out the full interview below:

youtu.be

Hood Life Krisis Vol. 2

CULTURE

This Haunts Me: Drake and Sufjan Stevens' Tumblr Romance

A love letter to Sufjan Stevens' and Drake's love.

Sufjan Stevens ft. Gallant - Hotline Bling (Drake)

Aubrey Drake Graham and Sufjan Stevens are in love.

Keep ReadingShow less
MUSIC

Charli XCX's "Gone" Should Win the Grammy for Song of the Year

It wasn't nominated, but Charli's duet with Christine and the Queens is my personal SOTY.

Charli XCX & Christine and the Queens - Gone in the Live Lounge

Do you hear that sound? It's the subtle hum of the music hive buzzing, because the Recording Academy just announced their nominees for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.

A brief summary of this year's honorees: Rapper-flautist extraordinaire Lizzo earned the most nominations with eight total, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. Lil Nas X and Billie Eilish weren't too far behind with six nods each, including nominations in the same categories. Indieheads might be pleased to know that Bon Iver, Vampire Weekend, and Lana Del Rey are also up for Album of the Year. The best news of all is that Ed Sheeran received absolutely no nominations.

While it's pretty cool to see so many newcomers welcomed to the Grammy roster—including Lil Nas X, a young queer POC, three demographics historically overlooked by the Recording Academy—I couldn't help but notice a few glaring voids among the nominations. In particular, I'm devastated that "Gone" by Charli XCX featuring Christine and the Queens, my personal song of the year, has been forgotten altogether.

Released in July, "Gone" was the third single preceding Charli's latest album, Charli, her first full-length project since 2017's cult-favorite masterpiece, Pop 2. On first listen, the magic of the song is glaringly evident; the clanging, stuttering PC Music production melds perfectly with Charli and Chris' poppy melodies. As they deliver one of the year's best and most relatable lyrics—"I feel so unstable, f***ing hate these people"—"Gone" perfectly exemplifies the catharsis and healing that can come from a great bop.

But Charli exists in a strange overlap between underground fame and mainstream recognition, a juxtaposition she's aware of and even embraces. But the Grammys aren't friendly to artists in that sphere. Charli hasn't had one of her own songs crack the Hot 100 since 2015's "Break the Rules" (though she did have a hand in penning "Señorita," the No. 1 hit that earned Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello a Best Pop Duo/Group Performance nomination). Charli did see moderate success on the Billboard 200, peaking at #42, but that's evidently not enough momentum in the Academy's eyes.

Few pop songs this year can match the force that is "Gone," and nearly everything that came close—such as Normani's solo debut "Motivation"—were also snubbed for this year's awards. Some of the Best Pop Solo Performance nominees, like Beyonce's "Spirit" and Taylor Swift's "You Need to Calm Down," were letdowns coming from their respective artists, while the Duo/Group category—save for maybe "Old Town Road"—is incredibly underwhelming. Maybe Charli will forever remain a sort of concealed revolutionary in pop. Maybe I'll just have to be OK with that.

CULTURE

5 Celebrities You Didn't Know Were Cancelled

It's Almost Like They're Still Getting Away With Stuff...

Cancel culture has gone absolutely crazy.

You can't say anything these days without "triggering" a bunch of SJWs to get together and collectively cancel you. I mean, that's the contention of half the comedy specials on Netflix, so it must be true. They will dig through past comments and behavior to find any excuse. Even after you're dead, you can still get canceled! The whole situation is getting so out of control that it's getting hard to keep track of who is and isn't canceled, so here's a helpful guide to remind you of some of the celebrities whose cancellations may have escaped your notice.

Mark Wahlberg

Everyone knows Mark Wahlberg as the star of the Ted films, and Mel Gibson's son in Daddy's Home 2, but did you know that in his teen years, he was also the perpetrator of a string of brutal, racially motivated assaults, and that he has never acknowledged the racial component of his violent past? But who hasn't permanently disfigured and partially blinded a man while shouting racial slurs? Still, as a result of this normal, not-at-all upsetting history, Mark Wahlberg was officially cancelled in February. Since then, Wahlberg's once flourishing film career has collapsed to the point that he is only starring in five major motion pictures currently in production.

Jerry Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld with Shoshanna Lonstein

What a normal-looking couple

People

Jerry Seinfeld made himself a target of cancel culture when he called out college kids for not laughing enough at his brilliant "gay French king" joke, but what really sealed the deal was the fact that, at the age of 39, when Seinfeld was the star of America's favorite sitcom, he was also dating a seventeen-year-old high school student named Shoshanna Lonstein. And yes, he absolutely looked like her awkward father in every picture they took together, but what man in his late thirties hasn't spent some time outside a high school looking to pick up chicks? Unfortunately for Jerry, the cancel cops got a hold of this info, and officially blacklisted him in August, resulting in Netflix only paying an estimated $500 million for the streaming rights to Seinfeld.

Whoopi Goldberg

Speaking of men and teenage girls, did you know you can be cancelled just for defending someone? That's what happened to Whoopi Goldberg in response to her 2009 comments on Roman Polanski, in which she said of Polanski's 1977 crimes "I don't think it was rape-rape," despite the victim's testimony that she continuously resisted his advances as Polanski gave the thirteen year old alcohol and drugs, and proceeded to rape her.

As a result, Donald Trump Jr. headed the team that cancelled Whoopi last October, which is why she has since appeared on The View only 5 days a week. Goldberg joins the ranks of Quentin Tarantino and a host of other prominent Hollywood figures whose careers have been absolutely tanked by impassioned Polanski defenses that are not at all indicative of a horrible culture that values talented men too much to punish horrifying crimes. Besides, it was only 8 years after Sharon Tate's murder! You can't be held accountable for anything you do in the decade after a loved one dies, even raping children!

John Lennon

Remember when people used to really idolize John Lennon and The Beatles? Their music used to be really popular, and people would even say mean things about Yoko Ono, blaming her for breaking up the band, not anymore. That all went out the window in July of last year, when a Twitter user reminded the world that John Lennon was a serial abuser, and then cancelled The Beatles. Sure, Lennon abused multiple partners, and at least one of his sons, but ever since Lennon was struck with the same post-mortem cancellation that Michael Jackson received, his solo music and The Beatles' entire catalogue have dropped completely out of cultural relevance, and is now valued at only around a billion dollars. "Imagine" that.

Drake

Footage recently resurfaced of Drake from a 2010 concert in Denver, in which he brings a girl onstage to dance with her, then takes the opportunity to drape his arms across her chest and kiss her neck before asking her age. When she answers that she's 17, Drake reacts as any 23 year old would when coming to terms with the fact that his behavior with an underage girl was suggestive and inappropriate. He says, "Why do you look like that? You thick. Look at all this," and follows that up with, "I like the way your breasts feel against my chest." Cool.

At any rate, that was nearly a decade ago, and Drake was pretty young himself, there's probably no reason to look further into the now 33 year old's tendency to befriend teenage girls who he ends up dating once they're of age. That's what the people who cancelled him in January—resulting in him being only the fifth richest rapper on earth—want you to focus on. They want you to be concerned about his friendship with Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown but let's just talk about his grooming habits instead.

On second thought, maybe the hysteria over "cancel culture" attacking any and every tiny misstep is a little overblown. Sure, Kevin Hart didn't get to host the Oscars, but he definitely still has a career, and James Gunn's brief cancellation was revoked. Maybe it's justified to call people out when they screw up, to push for apologies for minor offenses, and to stop giving money and awards to people who've done truly monstrous things. Maybe cancel culture should actually be going a lot further...

New Releases

Nicki Minaj Plays It Safe with “MEGATRON”

Nicki Minaj is a voracious rapper on any song, but she hasn't been able to put out anything innovative or captivating since 2014's The Pinkprint.

Nicki Minaj is throwing her hat into the ring for the song of the summer— and if her Barbz have anything to say about it, it's a big contender.

On "Megatron," Minaj stays in her element with an airy vibe. The Caribbean-inspired beat highlights the rapper's clever lyricism and bitey flow. Her first single post-Queen, "Megatron" validates that Minaj has already proven her abilities as a singular rapper. However, despite her skills, the "Queen of Rap" is still struggling to maintain relevance and reinvent the wheel.

The seductive, glossy video for "Megatron" is reminiscent of the bootylicious jungle in "Anaconda"—but the song, while great, demonstrates that Minaj hasn't progressed much as an artist since then. "Megatron" could've been released in 2015; if it had been, Minaj would've seemed edgy and ahead of her time. Unfortunately, nowadays, island-inspired, hip-swaying music has been overdone in popular music ever since Rihanna's "Work."

Still, the music video incorporates all of today's popular elements of futuristic, colorful, and inviting visuals. The video successfully adds to the playful, seductive energy of "Megatron." It perfectly captures how Minaj wants to be perceived, regardless of how unchanged and outdated her public image becomes.

Nicki Minaj may be in a realm of her own when it comes to her sound and style, as she's cultivated a voice that's instantly recognizable and sharp. Even though she comes packing with ingenious wordplay, a unique flow, and entertaining production, she hasn't been able to deliver anything as inspiring and cohesive as 2014's The Pinkprint. Yet, there's no doubt people will be bumping to the loose, sexy "Megatron" this summer, and maybe that's just what she needs to launch a second wave of relevance.