Eminem and Shady Records plan to drop the compilation album Shady XV later this month, and as a teaser they delivered an impressive 19-minute video cypher that featured a cappella freestyles from Em, Yelawolf, and each member of Slaughterhouse. Eminem stole the show as he closed out the session with a seven-minute freestyle that displayed his clever wordplay and signature raps that bordered on vulgar. We'd expect nothing less from Marshall.
Plus, Nicki Minaj's lyric video controversy, French Montana's 30th birthday bash, Fredo Santana vs. Migos, and Lorde checks Diplo. Check out all that and more in What the Hell Just Happened in Music This Week?
Fredo Santana sent shots at Migos after the ATL group attacked a fellow GBE member.
French Montana celebrated his 30th birthday with the likes of Kim, Khloe, Puffy, and more.
Eminem and his Shady crew showed off their lyrical prowess in a 19-minute cypher.
Chris Brown and Trey Songz revealed their upcoming tour dates with Tyga.
Rihanna visited the White House and did it with style.
Big Bank Hank of The Sugarhill Gang passed away.
Nicki Minaj apologized for the questionable creative direction of her “Only” lyric video.
Date: November 11
Nicki Minaj's lyric video for her The Pinkprint single “Only” has put the singer, and the video's director Jeff Osborne, in the middle of controversy over the use of Nazi imagery, including the Nuremberg-like rallies, armies, and SS-style Young Money banners which are littered throughout the animated clip. The ADL National Director and Holocaust survivor Abraham H. Foxman, issued a statement condemning the use of Nazi imagery in the animated visuals earlier this week:
“Nicki Minaj's new video disturbingly evokes Third Reich propaganda and constitutes a new low for pop culture’s exploitation of Nazi symbolism. The irony should be lost on no one that this video debuted on the 76th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the “night of broken glass” pogrom that signaled the beginning of the Final Solution and the Holocaust.
It is troubling that no one among Minaj's group of producers, publicists and managers raised a red flag about the use of such imagery before ushering the video into public release.
This video is insensitive to Holocaust survivors and a trivialization of the history of that era. The abuse of Nazi imagery is deeply disturbing and offensive to Jews and all those who can recall the sacrifices Americans and many others had to make as a result of Hitler's Nazi juggernaut."
TMZ caught up with Nicki at LAX, where she laughed off some of the controversy, though she ended up apologizing on Twitter. "I didn't come up w/the concept, but I'm very sorry & take full responsibility if it has offended anyone. I'd never condone Nazism in my art."
The video director, Jeff Osborne, had a different take on the controversy:
"First, I’m not apologizing for my work, nor will I dodge the immediate question. The flags, armbands, and gas mask (and perhaps my use of symmetry?) are all representative of Nazism.
But a majority of the recognizable models/symbols are American: MQ9 Reaper Drone, F22 Raptor, Sidewinder missile, security cameras, M60, SWAT uniform, General’s uniform, the Supreme court, and the Lincoln Memorial. What’s also American is the 1st Amendment, which I’ve unexpectedly succeeded in showing how we willfully squeeze ourselves out of that right every day."
News surfaced of an Usher sex tape.
Lorde called out Diplo for making fun of Taylor Swift's derriere.
