What The Hell Just Happened In Music This Week?

The LAPD had a busy week.

January 19, 2014

Image via Complex Original

Kanye West and Justin Bieber kept Southern California's law enforcement officials busy this week. It started with an incident between the Biebz and his neighbors, who claim the pop singer and his friends egged their home. The LAPD were issued a search warrant to raid Bieber's home. But instead of finding evidence of the prank, the cops found... cocaine! It belonged to Bieber's friend Lil Za, who you may or may not remember (probably not) as the young Texas rapper who did the track "Rain Dropz."

Somewhere else in L.A., Kanye West, allegedly, physically assaulted an 18-year-old who'd verbally assaulted Kim Kardashian. But the Westdashians also had things to smile about this week: Yeezus achieved platinum status from the RIAA, and Bruce Springsteen told NPR's Ann Powers that he thinks the rapper is "incredible."

All that and more in What The Hell Just Happened In Music This Week?

Beyoncé Gender Equality Essay

Upgrade U 2.0: Beyoncé published an essay on equal pay for women.

Date: January 13

"In the new issue of journalist Maria Shriver's The Shriver Report, Beyoncé has written an essay that focuses on equal pay for women. It is titled "Gender Equality is a Myth!" She writes:

'We need to stop buying into the myth about gender equality. It isn't a reality yet. Today, women make up half of the U.S. workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77 percent of what the average working man makes. But unless women and men both say this is unacceptable, things will not change. Men have to demand that their wives, daughters, mothers, and sisters earn more-commensurate with their qualifications and not their gender. Equality will be achieved when men and women are granted equal pay and equal respect.'

You can read a longer excerpt of the essay and also download a free copy of the issue."—Jordan Sargent

Juicy J Scholarship Winner

Juicy J trolled self-proclaimed "bad bitches" everywhere by awarding his $50,000 twerk-scholarship to a young, hard-working, single mother.

Date: January 13

"Last August, Juicy J tweeted he would give a $50,000 scholarship to "the best chick that can twerk" and subsequently launched a real contest. Using his song "Scholarship" as a reference point, the Memphis rapper said, 'I want to see a video [of] you telling me or showing me why you deserve this money.'

Nearly six months later, Juicy J has announced that the contest winner is a 19-year-old student and single mother from Florida named Zaire Holmes. She is working toward a biology degree and plans on using the scholarship to pay for her lab expenses... Juicy says he picked Holmes as the winner not only because she's a motivated individual, but also because she actually read the rules for the contest. That's right: You didn't have to twerk your ass off to earn a Juicy J scholarship. Score one for society."—Edwin Ortiz

Kanye West Assault Charge

Kanye West allegedly laid the smack down on an 18-year-old who hurled racial slurs at his fiancée Kim Kardashian.

Date: January 14

"According to TMZ, earlier today, Kanye West assaulted an 18-year-old who called his fiancée Kim Kardashian a 'n***er lover.' The incident started outside of chiropractor's office in Beverly Hills, where the young man tried to open the office building door for Kardashian to help her get away from a group of paparazzi. TMZ was told the guy allegedly said to Kim, 'Fuck these fa**ot-ass n****rs'—referring to the paparazzi. Kim then told him it was not appropriate to use the N-word. [TMZ was] told he then screamed at her, 'F**k you bitch. Just trying to help you. Shut up n****r lover, stupid slut.'

[S]ources say the man was insulting Kim Kardashian in a stairwell. One source says Kim arrived at the building later than Kanye, which is why they weren't initially together. When Kanye called Kim to find out where she was, he overheard the man yelling at Kim, who was 'crying hysterically.' Kanye reportedly rushed to the stairwell, where the man continued to verbally insult both of them. 'He was in Kanye's face and wouldn't stop,' another source said... TMZ later reported that Kim met with her lawyer and [filed] a police report, with the goal of prosecuting the man for making criminal threats. He allegedly yelled 'I will kill you, slut' at Kim." —Claire Lobenfeld

Justin Bieber Search Warrant

The LAPD were given a search warrant to raid Justin Bieber's home for evidence that he egged his neighbors' house. But the only farm-to-table product the cops found was cocaine.

Date: January 14

"Last Thursday [January 9], Bieber allegedly egged his neighbor's house, which seems like typical hijinks for a 19-year-old, let alone one who grew up as a coddled celebrity without a real adolescence.

According to the report, the LAPD served Bieber a felony search warrant to dig for evidence relating to... the throwing of eggs. They will be looking at security camera footage and, again, they brought a BATTERING RAM... just in case Bieber has a padlock over his refrigerator or something?

Lil Za, a friend of Bieber's, was arrested during the "raid" for possession of cocaine, which cops said was in "plain view." Bieber was not apprehended for that or anything else. To the Weed Carrier Hall of Fame goes Lil Za."—Jordan Sargent

"Yeezus" Goes Platinum

Yeezus was certified Platinum, making it Kanye West's seventh album to do so. Still say it was a horrible album or nah?

Date: January 15

"The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has officially certified Kanye West's Yeezus as a platinum album. This certifications means that Kanye's latest solo album, which came out June 18, has shipped over one million copies. While Yeezus hasn't technically sold one million, it still means all seven of his solo albums have been certified platinum to date."—Dharmic X

OutKast Confirms Show Dates

OutKast joined Twitter and Instagram to announce a 40 upcoming concert dates, giving America's booming Music Festival Industrial Complex more clout than ever.

Date: January 15

"OutKast are currently in the process of revealing over 40 festival dates that they will be performing in 2014... Just a few days ago, [the duo] officially joined Twitter and announced they'd be performing at over 40 festivals."—Edwin Ortiz

04/11/14 Indio, CA @ Coachella Festival
04/18/14 Indio, CA @ Coachella Festival
04/25-27/14 Kingston Downs, GA @ CounterPoint Festival (Date TBD)
05/02-04/14 Tampa, FL @ Big Guava Festival (Date TBD)
05/16-18/14 Gulf Shores, AL @ Hangout Festival (Date TBD)
06/06-08/14 New York, NY @ Governor's Ball (Date TBD)
06/19-22/14 Dover, DE @ Firefly Festival (Date TBD)

Bruce Springsteen Loves Kanye

Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen said he thinks Kanye West is "incredible."

Date: January 16

"Bruce has aged pretty gracefully—not only does he look a decade younger than he actually is (64), he also does hip stuff like give a keynote talk at South By Southwest and listen to hip-hop.

In an interview with NPR's Ann Powers, he spoke on the subject a little bit, specifically mentioning his admiration of Kanye West. Powers asked about several songs on his albums that have credits that read 'loops by Bruce Springsteen,' implying some familiarity with the type of sampling techniques used in hip-hop. Bruce's answer was revealing: He's a fan of Yeezus... 'I listen to Kanye West,' he said. 'Kanye West is incredible, you know... I mean some of these, there's like, just the production. And I saw him on television, he did the song called 'Blood on the Leaves' on the Later...With Jools Holland—it was fantastic, you know. He's a very, I still find him very interesting.'"—Kyle Kramer