What The Hell Just Happened in Music This Week?

It was a quiet week...until we heard Chief Keef joined Bricksquad.

Lauren Nostro,

Alexander Russell,

Dharmic X,

May 12, 2013

Not Available Lead — Image via Complex Original

Maybe we're just jaded, but nowadays very few stories are actually shocking enough for us to be shocked. Lauryn Hill, one of our favorite rapper/singers ever went to jail? Blah, she had it coming. A washed-up rap group like Naughty by Nature broke up and one member released a diss song about the other? We've seen this movie before dun. The inner workings of Brick Squad continue to be as entertaining as any day time soap opera? Tell us something we don't know.

That's not to say that we don't learn something new every day. Like that Vine might actually be the best way to see what Kanye West is currently performing. Or that way more Americans hate rap music than we would have assumed. Or that some of Danny Brown's fans can be rude as fuck.

It's true, rap music isn't always that shocking. But hey, at least it's still entertaining. Check out all of those stories and more in this week's edition of What The Hell Just Happened In Music This Week?

Lauryn Hill Releases Terrible Song, Receives Prison Sentence Days Later

Date: May 4

Ms. Lauryn HIll's legal trouble over unpaid taxes seemed like it may have been a blessing in a very ugly disguise. We'd never wish legal drama and IRS disputes on anyone, but the tax issues did lead to a new deal with Sony which required Lauryn to release new music. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, things didn't work out how we had hoped. Instead, we got "Neurotic Society," a song that sounds unfinished, frantic, and devoid of rhythm despite some fiery lyrics.

Lauryn even released a statement confirming that the song was rushed, and days after the release, she received a three-month prison sentence. Lauryn Hill will go down in hip-hop history as one of the best, but this feels like the last straw. No matter what, fans will ride or die for Lauryn Hill (and shell out 85 bucks to catch her On the Way to the Bing Tour this week), but it's starting to feel like we all just lost one.—Jacob Moore

Kanye West Drops New Music During His Met Gala Performance, Only Captured on Model's Vines

Date: May 6

On Monday night, throngs of celebs filled The Met for its annual Gala; this year's theme was Punk. For an hour we watched stars walk the red carpet, pretend to know about a bunch of punk acts they allegedly loved growing up, and show off what they were wearing. Blah, blah, blah—then Kanye West performed. There was no live stream, there were no YouTube videos, but there were a hell of a lot of people on Twitter asking the same question: What is Vine?

They should have just gone ahead and asked Riff Raff. But when A-Trak posted this, the world went insane.

It's just a snippet, but between his vine and those of models like Jaime King and Coco Rocha taking five second videos of his performance, it looks like everyone was right—Kanye's next album sounds very dark. And there are definitely animal noises.

Kanye's performing on Saturday Night Live next weekend; if NBC doesn't become the first network to broadcast in Vines, perhaps we'll see more than snippets of his new music. —Lauren Nostro

Naughty By Nature Splits Up, People Were Unaware They Were Still Together

Date: May 6

Please forgive your old head friends if they had a little case of the sadz this week. Naughty by Nature, one of the most beloved groups of the '90s, split up on Monday. To add insult to the geriatric hip-hop fan's injury, the legendary trio called it quits via that most 21st century of mediums, Twitter. Late Monday, Treach took it to the tweets, "firing" Vin Rock, adding a succinct and non-subliminal "Fuck him & the Ground he Walks!!" (Sidebar: Oh how we wish rap had Twitter in the '90s.)

Later in the week Treach released the oxymoronically titled Vin Rock diss "Tall Midget," and revealed the source of the beef, namely a sucker punch he says Vinnie blessed him with during a recent business meeting. Fisticuffs during a business meeting about your 20th anniversary reunion tour? Sounds like O.P.P.: Older Peoples' Problems. —Jack Erwin

Danny Brown Has A Moment

Date: May 8

This week, Danny Brown had a moment.

The Detroit rapper with no radio song, no hit record, whose last full project dropped two years ago became one of the most talked about rappers in the game all thanks to an oral sex incident that happened a few weeks back.

The story of Danny Brown getting domed out by a fan while performing in Minneapolis seemed to come and go at first. But it gained steam once Kitty Pryde—the Penny Lane to Danny Brown’s Russell Hammond—wrote an article in Noisey about “the thing” (as she calls it).

When Kitty opened for Danny earlier this week at Irving Plaza in New York City, a few fans chanted, “SUCK HIS DICK” at Kitty. The chants became the subject of show reviews in The New York Times and The Village Voice and a writer from The Huffington Post even wrote an open letter to the girl who blew Danny Brown.

If we could put the many gender and political issues (which are important and ought to be addressed in another forum) aside for a second, can we all agree that this is already a legendary moment?

One, consider the physicality of Danny’s act. He didn't just get his dick sucked on stage, he kept rapping and didn't miss a single bar. If you think that's akin to chewing bubble gum and walking, consider that even Kendrick Lamar (rap's best live performer) was impressed by Danny's umm...performance.

Two, regardless of how you feel about this entire ordeal, you feel something about a rapper who has spent the majority of his career being overlooked, underestimated, and ignored. The reason why is because this is some truly exciting shit. It’s something to talk about. It’s on par with eccentric antics like Ozzy Osbourne biting a bat's head off or KRS-One throwing PM Dawn off the stage.

It’s the kind of urban legend that becomes a part of an artist's narrative, often mentioned in the same breath as their seminal work. Only this isn't an urban legend, a story everyone knows but no one can really prove, because there's footage of Danny getting blown on WSHH Uncut.

That’s the thing to remember: The moment was in tune with Danny's narrative and not all that surprising to anyone who follows him closely. It is, however, out of character for rap in general which has become increasingly tame with the rise of the Internet outrage machine fueled by social media and the increasing reliance on corporations for artists to get paid.

But this doesn’t really hurt Danny’s brand because he hasn’t really done anything wrong throughout it. As outlandish as the incident was, it wasn't out of character for a guy who openly talks about his time in jail and smashing crack heads over the head with a bottle in interviews. Plus, we’re talking about a guy whose album is titled XXX (not a porn reference, but still) which is filled with invitations to suck his dick and claims like, “Fuck a bitch mouth until her fucking face cave in.”

We know what you’re going to say, "It should be about the music, man!” But if this incident is the thing that ends up putting more people onto Danny's music, then so be it. As music fans, we shouldn't focus on someone's hair, teeth, or skinny jeans. But we do. Who cares if some people only get into Danny after seeing him on WSHH Uncut? That shouldn’t be their final destination, the uncut dope of XXX and presumably Old will be.

If nothing else, this entire ordeal proved one thing: We hope Danny Brown doesn't die like a rock star. But for now, at least he lives like one. —Insanul Ahmed

Chief Keef Manages to Sign to Brick Squad Despite Being on Interscope

Date: May 8

Having let go of Waka Flocka Flame almost two months ago, and faced with the absence of Young Scooter for a few more months due to incarceration, Gucci Mane needed a big-time replacement to boost his Bricksquad 1017 label. Enter Chicago's teenage sensation Chief Keef, a noted fan of the Atlanta rapper. Not one to issue official press releases for his label, Gucci announced the signing on Twitter, and within a matter of minutes, Keef confirmed the deal and the Internet nearly exploded in excitement.

The following day, the two combined to put out a brand new song, "Darker," off the upcoming Trap House 3. If the song is any indication, the pair have some great chemistry recording together. Early on, it looks as if this is a brilliant move by Gucci.

Any potential problems in this deal would come on paper, literally. As everybody knows, Keef's Glory Boyz Entertainment imprint is under Interscope Records, with the Chicago rapper having landed a ballyhooed contract from Jimmy Iovine a year ago, Beats headphones included. Meanwhile, Bricksquad 1017 is believed to be distributed under Warner Bros. Is it really possible for Keef to be at Interscope and Warner at the same time? And if it is, how will all the money get divvied up moving forward?

Keef doesn't seem to care. After all, he's already a "17-year-old legend." —Dharmic X

Waka Flocka Drops "DuFlocka Rant Halftime Show" at 10:17, But Was Dropped From Bricksquad

Date: May 9

Waka Flocka Flame is apparently a brilliant strategist. At 10:17 p.m., also known as the NIST-official Brick Squad o’clock, Gucci Mane was supposed to release the song “Darker” with newly minted Brick Squaddian Chief Keef. However, at exactly that time, Waka, Texas Ranger galloped through with his new mixtape DuFlocka Rant Halftime Show.

If this is indeed only the halftime show in Flocka’s Kevin Durant-themed series of mixtapes, we’re looking at least another two of them, and hopefully he’ll already have them in the chamber, ready to drop at the most opportune moments for getting inside the heads of his former BFFs.

In any case, a squad-less Flocka is back on the court, but hopefully he can reassemble a post-squad supergroup with Topanga from Boy Meets World and the rooste r from his ‘Rari. —Alexander Gleckman

Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful" Video Is Beautiful, Probably Better Than Entire "Great Gatsby" Movie

Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful" Video Is Beautiful, Probably Better Than Entire Great Gatsby Movie

Date: May 10

We said it last week and we'll say it again—he Great Gatsby soundtrack is not good. And no it's not because there's not "enough hip-hop," it's because it's not cohesive and the big features (Beyonce, Andre 3000, Emeli Sande) were downright disappointing.

All of the opinions on The Great Gatsby are neither here nor there because thankfully, Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful" sums up the entire soundtrack in one track—and then the video dropped this week and it was stunning. One of our commenters (Hello, Zach!) wrote "Why in the world would a Great Gatsby soundtrack have ANY hip hop on it?" He is right. The soundtrack needed thematic, orchestral production backed by hauntingly beautiful vocals and songs about love, youth, and beauty.

Thank God for Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful." It's not a cover, and yet it completely embodies the entire plot line of The Great Gatsby—the pursuit of the American Dream, being young and beautiful, and the recklessness of youth. So while the world waited for that Beyonce/Andre 3000 collab, Del Rey was quietly creating one of the most beautiful and emotionally draining songs of her catalog.

And her video just proves it. —Lauren Nostro

Polling Sciences Reveal What We Always Knew: Most People Hate Rap Music

Polling Science Reveal What We Always Knew: Most People Hate Rap Music

Date: May 10

Typically, polling organizations like Public Policy Polling tend to spend their long hours researching and revealing the deep separations between voters as per the differences in their political ideologies. And yet, for some reason, they decided to go polling American voters about what they think of popular music. And guess what?

Rap received a 19% favorable rating versus 68% unfavorable, which may have to do with the fact that only 17% of voters have ever been to "the club" (yep, their words). Or maybe it's just that they just haven't listened to enough Gucci Mane.

Whatever the case may be, there are some things that do unite all Americans, like the only artist who received a negative reaction from Democrats, Republicans, and Independent voters: Justin Bieber. Maybe there's hope for the electorate yet. —Foster Kamer

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