What The Hell Just Happened in Music This Week?

Today is the annual Hot 97 Summer Jam festival. Last year, Peter Rosenberg made some comments about Nicki Minaj's "Starships" essentially insinuating that the song isn't real hip-hop which Nicki found disrespectful and pulled her performance from the night's event. Earlier this week, the two finally made amends live on Hot 97 just in time for this year's festival.

It kicked off the week, which was filled with interesting photos of Gucci Mane, some very strange Twitter beef between Rihanna and Amanda Bynes, and a new single from J. Cole. June 18 is quickly approaching and everyone is talking about Kanye West, Mac Miller, and J. Cole—all of whom will release albums on that date.

We've got all of your updates and more on this week's What The Hell Just Happened in Music?

RELATED: What The Hell Just Happened in Music During The First Quarter of 2013?

Date: May 28

Peter Rosenberg played "Starships" at his wedding. How do we know? He told Nicki Minaj to her face on Hot 97 earlier this week when Nicki stopped by for an interview.

It's been a year since 2012 Summer Jam (this year's festival pops off later today), and it's been a year since the notorious beef between Rosenberg and Nicki Minaj began.

“It’s cool. It’s water under the bridge,” Nicki told Rosenberg. ” It was so long ago, I really can’t care."

Nicki later went on to explain how she disappointed and punished her fans with something they couldn't control when she refused to perform at last year's show. "In hindsight I should have just done the show. I wish I would have come out. I apologize [to the fans] for not doing the show."

This is a big step for both of them, until she buried him in the calmest voice ever—but she does admit she wasn't familiar with Rosenberg or his personality when he made comments about "Starships" last year on stage at Summer Jam.

"I just don't know your resume. I never found you funny I never found you entertaining, I never found you smart, I just found you annoying," she said. "I grew up in New York. I've grown up on Hot 97 and I know Angie, and I know Flex, and Mister Cee, and all these people..."

Ouch.

"And with you it was like, 'Who are you?'" said Nicki. "To me, you don't have enough of a resume to make those comments but you did and it is what it is."

Either way, the two had a very mature, calm conversation about the entire fiasco last year. Nicki went on to talk about her diehard #Barbz, getting back to rap on her next album, and how she's not your typical rapper. You can watch all of the interview above, if you haven't seen it yet. —Lauren Nostro

RELATED: Nicki Minaj and Peter Rosenberg Make Up a Year After Summer Jam

Date: May 28

The Internet has revolutionized the way we live in the last 20 years. The capability for people around the world to connect instantly is a blessing for many. That said, the unfortunate byproduct of instant and public communication is a cesspool of negativity. We can now witness train wrecks and live tweet our commentary and slander. Everyone loves to laugh at a public spectacle, no matter how tragic.

Rihanna is known for her ability to ether haters using social media. Amanda Bynes is a former child-star whose recent Charlie Sheen level breakdown has been Twitter’s favorite conversation starter for over a month now. When the two women butted heads online this week, the result was a public spectacle unlike any other.

On Sunday, Bynes suddenly went at Rihanna with a number of tweets, including one that said, “Chris brown beat you because you’re not pretty enough.” Within minutes, Rihanna had responded with a biting rhetorical question. “Ya see what happens when they cancel intervention?” Checkmate.

Amanda has since turned 180, saying that Rihanna is in fact “such a beauty.” Rihanna has pretty much ignored the actress, choosing only to RT Amanda’s claim that she is not crazy.

The question remains: What prompted this outburst in the first place? Is Bynes really jealous that Rihanna has escaped scrutiny for her supposed drug use? Or is it the fact that the singer has been romantically linked with Bynes’ “boo” Drake that has her so upset? Who knows. Like the square root of 69, we're still trying to work it out. —Dharmic X

RELATED: Rihanna and Amanda Bynes Trade Insults on Twitter

Date: May 28

If you had been listening closely to the music, you might have seen this one coming. Yes, Chief Keef, among all of his other talents, is clairvoyant: “I’m rolling in that Beamer, Big Guwop in his charger/And we racing down your block,” said Keef on his recent collaboration with Gucci Mane, "Darker." In this case, “your block” meant Northfield, Illinois and “racing” (sans Gucci) meant driving exactly 110 mph in a 55.

The police were able to catch up to him that rainy night, then successfully extract the stoic Sosa from said Beamer. When they asked him about how fast he was going, Keef replied: “It’s a fast car, that’s why I bought it.” Following that poetic lesson in causality, he also made them aware that he had eight racks on his person (which would more than cover the forthcoming bond of two racks).

Finally, instead of giving the officer insurance for the BMW he was driving, he handed them insurance for his most mentioned make of vehicle, an Audi (skrrrrt). You, on the other hand, pulled up in that Honda. —Alexander Gleckman

RELATED: Here's The Footage of Chief Keef Getting Chased By The Police

Date: May 28

Good thing French Montana isn't worried about album sales. Because his debut full-length offering, Excuse My French, didn't exactly fly off the shelves it's first week out. 56,000 was the final tally. Good enough to top Billboard's Hip-hop/R&B Chart, but far popping like that on the pop tip. —Dave Bry

Date: May 29

Like most people, you probably have a Twitter you never update, a Facebook you only use to lurk your exes, and you only stay on Instagram to do photoshoots at the gym because there’s mirrors and good lighting.

Yet, the only thing worse than being on social media is following people on social media. All your friends are losers who live terribly boring lives. Either that or that pizza faced loser you knew in high school is now balling out of control and smoking weed with your favorite rappers (Hi haters!) and you’d rather kill yourself then be reminded of their success. The only people worse than your friends on social media are rappers. All they do is promote their albums and show off their new Bugatti. Shit is weak sauce.

That’s why Vine is our hope. Twitter is for snaps, Instagram is for showing off, but Vine was made for you to be funny. And it’s a chance for rappers to be funny. And from the new class of rappers, few are as naturally funny as Action Bronson, Mac Miller, and ScHoolboy Q (though none of them are as entertaining as Riff Raff, of course).

The tree smoking trio showed just how funny they could be on Vine this week by getting into an all out Vine war. It started after ScHoolboy started clowning Mac (who in turn was clowning his boy, DJ Clockwork for getting no pussy). They went back and forth but it really took off once Action Bronson got involved and pretended to be ScHoolboy Q chanting to himself in the mirror saying, “Gotta be better than Kendrick.” You don’t need to get on Vine (it’s not all trendy just yet) but you do need to follow these guys. —Insanul Ahmed

RELATED: Mac Miller, ScHoolBoy Q and Action Bronson's Vine War

Date: May 29

How are we still having this debate? Earlier this week a writer for the Australian Examiner went out of his way to call rap “the biggest con in the history of music” and go on about how music was so much better in the ‘60s because we all know every band in the ‘60s was as good as The Beatles. We’re not even going to bring up how Australia totally has legalized racism (that’s next level racism bruh), we’re just gonna say this: Rap is art.

Rap is beautiful, it’s ugly, it’s heartbreaking, it’s breathtaking, it’s laced joints and vodka shots followed by vegan entrees. It’s not The Beach Boys and it’s not The Rolling Stones, but it is the the vehicle to the voice of a generation. Sure there’s good rap and there’s bad rap, but who are you to tell us our art doesn't mean something to us? The ‘60s is over mate, and like Bob Dylan said, the times are a changin’. —Insanul Ahmed

RELATED: Kangaroo Jack to Rap-hating Countryman: "I'll Box Your Ears, Mate!"

Date: May 30

As we draw closer to the release of J.Cole's second album, Born Sinner, the 28-year-old rapper continues to let new music and information seep out gradually. Towards the tail end of this week, he released "Niggaz Know," an analysis of newfound fame over a soulful beat. While Cole's subject matter previously chronicled his struggle to break into the rap game while dealing with the trials and tribulations of the average twentysomething, this latest release finds him reflecting on his personal evolution in the wake of fame.

Lyrically, J.Cole starts off slow here, but he gets rolling and finds a rhythm similar to a ballplayer shooting his way out of a slump. (Isn't it uncanny how well basketball analogies relate to his career?) Cole's chants of "I ain't the same" reference how the things he's experienced over the past couple of years have changed him, which fits the Born Sinner theme perfectly.

He also announced his "Dollar & A Dream" tour, which will hit 10 cities this month. There's a catch: there are no tickets; admission is literally $1. Locations are secret for the moment, but once they're revealed, expect lines. —Julian Kimble

RELATED: Listen: J. Cole "Niggaz Know"

Date: May 30

You’ve changed, Terius. Love King was one of the best albums of 2010. It was filled with jams, but arguably the best song out of the bunch was “Yamaha.” It isn't just because the production recalls an in-his-prime-Prince or because the author of this blurb had the song on repeat throughout that whole summer. At its core, “Yamaha” managed to be unashamedly romantic without sounding the least bit corny. It made you believe in love again, man. “I wanna be your man/You should be my girl?” “This one is for you, wherever you’re at/Still got your name tattooed on my back?” That shit was meant to last.

Now listening to IV Play it’s like, “What happened?” It’s not that it’s a bad album; it’s actually pretty decent considering there wasn't all that much hype surrounding it. But where did the love go, sir? We know about the divorce, but some of us still need those “Yamaha”-type tracks. “IV Play” is dope, but hearing that sort of raunchiness instead of sensuality is kind of off putting.

IV Play also has “Pussy.” We weren’t expecting any lyrics about a relationship that transcends time or anything like that, but that video was something else. It was essentially a WorldStarCandy video which means it was too NSFW to even put on YouTube. Softcore porn doesn't usually fly there. Plus Big Sean’s “She need this dick like it’s antidote” line playing over one of the scenes just makes the whole experience weird.

So instead of “February Love,” we get the love of the twerk? Sighs. —Brian Josephs

RELATED: The-Dream Is Streaming IV Play on Vevo

Date: May 31

Gucci Mane's no dummy. He knows why we love him. The weirdness, the glorious, genius bizarro-world eccentricity. So on Friday, when tweeting his plans to release his next album, Mr. Guwop, in the fall, he included an appropriate, extra-special gift, just for his fans: A picture of himself, draped in a lux white fur coat, turning into waterfall crashing down into a lake where a couple of outdoorsy types were kayaking. It's like Gustav Klimt meets Ansel Adams, and just so, so wonderfully Gucci. —Dave Bry

RELATED: Gucci Mane and the Gates of Argonath

Date: May 31

Maybe that JC Chasez sketch in the beginning got us feeling all nostalgic, but we're suckers for white girls making pop music in Timbs and snapbacks but whatever (although in this case it's a little overboard). This is LIZ, Mad Decent's new "pop princess." Those airy vocals paired with her lyrics of no substance is catchy as fuck. It's a pop song. LIZ's lyrics are nothing groundbreaking but can't we like something we know we'll be singing in our cars this summer?

Yes, yes we can. And damn, Spring Breakers, has really made an impact on our culture with those stupid ski masks that are, well, stupid but also look pretty badass (except for the fact that if she's rocking shorts, that person's head is definitely dripping sweat). Plus, she's got the Mad Decent co-sign so they're up to something good over there. —Lauren Nostro