What The Hell Just Happened in Music This Week?

Image via Complex Original

Date: September 22

As Uncle Snoop once noted, "Da game is to be sold, not to be told." But with his CRWN series Uncle Elliott Wilson has found a way to doth both. All the $20 tickets were gone by the time Drizzy and YN took the stage at NYU's Skirball Center to do the hip-hop version of The Actor's Studio. (Sidebar: James Lipton was once a pimp. Can't knock the hustle.) If you follow Elliott on Twitter (and who doesn't?) you already know how bueno this interview session was. You also might be wondering when Elliott has time to prepare for these interviews. The secret seems to be to laugh (a lot) and keep magnums of rose champage handy to get everybody's mind right. (What Drake did not drink himself he distributed to somebody's mom in the front row.)

The best part of the interview had to be Drizzy's carefully worded back-handed compliments toward Kendrick Lamar. He managed to walk the tightrope of acknowledging the brilliance of K-Dot's "Control" verse ("Complex and RapRadar will give it, like, verse of the millennium and all that shit or whatever") and praising him for the fact that the verse had "no malice behind it," while still criticizing Kendrick for not having more malice behind him at the same damn time. Pass the rosé! —Rob Kenner

RELATED: Fans Ask, Drizzy Answers: Watch Pt. 3 of Drake's "CRWN" Interview With Elliott Wilson

Date: September 23

At the top of this week, Kanye had done exactly three interviews from the lead-up to Yeezus's release until now: The New York Times, W Magazine, and the now cancelled Kris. Each of them were surprising in different ways, but none of them—and maybe no interview with Kanye, period—has caused a kerfuffle like the extensive, on-camera, four-part interview Kanye granted BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe. It was quintessentially Kanye, distilled down to his most bombastic, loud, and extreme essence, with the dial turned to 11: Kanye talking about wanting to move beyond rap to...inventing water bottles. Designing uniforms for high school basketball teams. And then, cities. And then being in charge of the three-billion-dollar enterprise-to-be that is Brand Yeezy. It was Kanye putting Hollywood superagent Ari Emmanuel on blast. It was Kanye, asking "what the fuck" Lady Gaga knows about cameras. And complaining about how Nike didn't call him the day after the Air Yeezys dropped. And philosophizing about classicism as the new racism, and the "Truman Show wall" society had placed in front of him, and how self-hate is taught by an oppressive system that ultimately prevents him from getting credit for bringing leather jogging pants to the world, or credit that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas unrightfully deserve, among other things. Like why he named "Niggas in Paris" the way he did ("Because niggas was in Paris!") or how he responded to people who asked him, in the wake of Yeezus track "I Am a God" who, exactly, he thought he was ("I thought I just told you who I was: A GOD!")

The interview was endlessly quoted and analyzed and Tweeted about. As the BBC leaked one video installment of it after another, it started to reach outside the realm of rap news wires, into pop culture. And it didn't take long until the first parody was made, by Jimmy Kimmel, who simply dressed up two kids and had them quote the interview verbatim. The skit got laughs, and that was that. Or so we thought. On Thursday night, Kanye took to Twitter to note his interview with Lowe as above any petty mockery ("JIMMY KIMMEL IS OUT OF LINE TO TRY AND SPOOF IN ANY WAY THE FIRST HONEST PIECE OF MEDIA IN YEARS") and then take a few shots at Jimmy Kimmel, both tall ("I LIKE YOU, YOU KNOW ME, I WENT TO YOUR FAMILY'S WEDDING") and hilarious ("WHO YOU MADE IT CLEAR TO ME WASN'T YOUR FAMILY WHEN I WAS ON THEN PHONE WITH YOU 5 MINUTES AGO, YOU MANIPULATIVE MEDIA MUTHERFUCKER") and low ("SARAH SILVERMAN IS A THOUSAND TIMES FUNNIER THAN YOU AND THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS IT!!!") and even, somehow, brought Ben Aflleck into it ("#NODISRESPECTTOBENAFFLECK #ALLDISRESPECTTOJIMMYKIMMEL!!!!"). And also, Spongebob SquarePants. And then made a meme that read "NO GOOD PUSSY." You couldn't make any of this up if you tried. Do we even need to tell you, or remind you, what came next? Kimmel responded by reading the Tweets on his show. Kanye countered by quoting his friend, fashion and brand consultant Jibril Durimel about how correct Kanye is on all of this. Ultimately, there's one takeaway here, and that's: Kanye West does do press, but that doesn't mean he still isn't getting more press than anyone else. Quite the opposite. It seems Kanye West can't do any press without provoking a very strong reaction. But that reaction will, of course, make Kanye never want to do press again. The circle goes unbroken. —Foster Kamer

RELATED: Listen to Kanye West's Full Interview With Zane Lowe

Date: September 23

Remember how exciting it was when we heard that Justin Timberlake was putting out new music for the first time in seven years? How quaint that feels today! Now, after JT's spent the last year splashed across our TVs, sold like a billion records and been so showered with praise it's hard to remember that there was a time people made fun of artists who used to be in boy bands, it's time to do it again! Part two of The 20/20 Experience is coming out! Recorded during the same 20-day sessions as part one, it has features from Jay Z and Drake! It is dark and edgy! One song is about vampires ("True Blood")! On another ("Cabaret"), referring to sex, JT sings that he's "got you saying Jesus so much it's like we're laying in a manger," and Drake raps that he's been working out so he can try some new positions with the girl he's hooking up with. So much sex!

These aren't just outtakes from the first album. They are truly, as promised, an entirely different experience, which makes you wonder how much music we would have from Justin Timberlake if he had spent more than 20 days recording in the last seven years. Dude's already dropped almost three hours on us from one session, and he's still not worn out. If he goes back to acting next year and does the same thing, every movie we see for the next decade is going be starring Justin Timberlake co-starring Justin Timberlake. If he pulls a similar act with Bud Light Platinum commercials, there'll be so much market saturation we'll be taking showers in the stuff.

Anyway, check out that new JT. It's pretty good. —Kyle Kramer

RELATED: Album Stream: Justin Timberlake "The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2"

Date: September 24

The following questions come to mind while watching the video for Mike Will Made It's "23," featuring Miley Cyrus, Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J:

1) When you hear a guy with a drug history like Juicy J's say that he's got Js on his feet, don't you picture him holding a lit joint between his toes?

2) Where did Miley get that cool Michael Jordan dress?

3) What a is a stupider, lazier rhyme, when Miley Cyrus says she's naughty by nature like she's hip-hop-hooray, or when Wiz Khalifa says he be rockin' Taylors and that he got lots of flavors?

4) Can you imagine how much it would cost if Miley bounced that diamond-encrusted basketball down from that ten-foot-high hoop she's sitting on even once?

5) Did Mike Will Made It wear leather jogging pants in the video just to show Jimmy Kimmel that people do in fact wear leather jogging pants?

6) Is the Miley Cyrus album actually going to be seriously good? Because "We Can't Stop" and "Wrecking Ball" are both really good, and this one is like, umm, totally super-excellent. —Dave Bry

RELATED: Video: Mike WiLL Made It f/ Miley Cyrus, Wiz Khalifa & Juicy J "23""

Date: September 24

"I'm a needle starting at zero going backwards, a double blank." This isn't a bar from some kind of Drake Suburban Basement Rec Room Tapes. That's Neil McCauley, Robert De Niro's character from Michael Mann's Los Angeles crime saga Heat, talking to the woman he's been searching for his entire life. This woman, Eady (Amy Brenneman), whom he meets while talking books at a hip restaurant, she might be his key to a new life. Neil's a professional thief and it's hard to make meaningful attachments when you pull heists for a living. Though many of his partners-in-crime have found love (or something like it), Neil's single. "I'm alone, I am not lonely," he tells Eady on their first night together, sounding wounded beneath his tough veneer.

On Tuesday, Drake released the seven-minute-long video for "Hold On, We're Going Home," the big pop single from his latest album, Nothing Was the Same. The video, set in Miami, 1985, details a business meeting between Drake and his business partners, and the mission to retrieve Drake's character's love interest, who has been kidnapped by a violent rival.

If you aren't obsessed with both Michael Mann and Drake like I am, you might have chalked the video up to Scarface nostalgia and moved on with your day. But I can't do that. There's no doubt that Scarface left its mark on the video—Steven Bauer, who played Tony Montana's best friend Manolo in Brian Depalma's epic tale of cocaine and and jealousy and violence, plays the video's villain. But the video, directed by Hollywood cinematographer Bill Pope, owes much more to American artist Michael Mann, producer NBC's hit 1980's show, Miami Vice, and director of masterpieces like Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider, and, of course, Heat.

Because I can filter most of my day-to-day lived experience through Michael Mann, especially Heat, I watched "Hold On, We're Going Home" and felt vindicated in learning that Drake must like Mann, too. (Or is this just a result of the Internet's relentless quest to draw loose connections between things that don't demand it—you be the judge!)

At the beginning of the video, the camera moves through a club where Drake's character and his crew hold court, much like Neil and his thieves in Heat. (They meet at a restaurant to celebrate a recent score.) While they're toasting to their accomplishments, Drake receives a troubling phone call: His girl has been kidnapped. (This kidnapping and the subsequent heavily armed preparation for the woman's liberation recalls the kidnapping of Jamie Foxx's partner and love interest in Mann's 2006 film adaptation of Miami Vice.) The way the sound of Drake's voice first disappears from the phone conversation seems (and maaaybe this is a stretch) like a nod to the moment in Heat when Al Pacino's character Vincent Hanna gets the call that Neil, who he's been pursuing, is still in town. The sound in the scene vanishes as Vincent rushes down a staircase to get the job done; you don't hear his footsteps. Finally, the gunfight at the mansion where Drake and friends pursue his taken lover is shot on something that aspires to be high-definition video, and it feels like all of the shootouts in Miami Vice. It's just not lit as well.

Of course Drake likes Michael Mann! Mann's work is populated by difficult men who act tough but are, inside, full of gooey love. You think Drake doesn't have feelings for the waterfall scene in The Last of the Mohicans, where Daniel Day-Lewis's character Hawkeye tells his lover, Cora (Madeleine Stowe), "I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you..." No chance! Drake probably leaves his one-night stands little glasses of water wrapped up in white napkins just like Neil does in Heat.

Or maybe this is all just a coincidence and I've only been talking about myself. —Ross Scarano

RELATED: Watch Drake's Video for "Hold On We're Going Home"

Date: September 25

Some highlights from DMX's sitdown with Dr. Phil.

Funny: Dr. Phil says, "You've been arrested—I've added it up—25 times." DMX replies: "That's it? I thought it was like 40 times, at least." Dr. Phil then stands up and walks to a monitor displaying a giant graphic detailing each of X's 25 arrests (since 1994). This is what PowerPoint was made for.

Real: After Dr. Phil runs down DMX's arrest record, the fact that he has 11 kids with six different women (and another on the way), and owes millions of dollars in child support, the rapper declares: "I would not change one aspect of my life because it got me to where I am right now, and I'm in a good place with God." This defiance might be "illogical," as Dr. Phil says later, but it is super real.

Sad: A long time ago—10 years to be exact—I wrote a blurb about DMX's autobiography for Vibe, back when he was a viable rapper (this era) and not a walking punchline. The next time you feel inclined to mock his troubles, I suggest you flip through that book. You wouldn't last a day in that dude's Timbs.—Donnie Kwak 

RELATED: DMX Speaks on His Financial Struggles, Drug Problems & Criminal Past on "The Dr. Phil Show"

Date: September 25

There's a lot of fun stuff in the video for A$AP Rocky's "Fashion Killa," which came out Thursday. Rihanna feeling up a mannequin, for example. Or A$AP Ferg busting an acapella "Murda Somethin'" on the street in an interlude. Or the garden hose worth of pink paint that graffitis the brick facade of a fancy townhouse at the end. But it's wierd to hear A$AP Rocky say his girl is "trippy like Nirvana..." Because Nirvana was never particularly "trippy." As least as far as rock bands go. (Maybe "Something In the Way" was their trippiest moment? "I'm living off of grass and the drippings from my ceiling" and all...) But it makes you think that, for a younger generation of rappers (or a least a small group of them from Harlem) "trippy" has come to be a word associated with, just, like, any rock band. Like rock music in itself is trippy. Like all rock is psychedelic rock.

Or, maybe Rocky wasn't referring to the rock band at all? Maybe he just meant the the state of being? Certainly, the vedantic term "nirvana"—sanskrit for "blown out," like a candle, and refering to the achievement of oneness with everything in the universe, a sort of non-being made possible by the release of one's eternal soul, or "atman," from the prison of temporal existance—that's a pretty trippy notion. Maybe that's what he meant. —Dave Bry

RELATED: Watch A$AP Rocky's New Video for "Fashion Killa"

Date: September 26

2013 was supposed to be a celebration of Rock The Bells' tenth anniversary. Instead, the venerable festival—which, historically, has celebrated an East Coast-tilted view of '90s hip-hop classics—found itself on the verge of insolvency, as scheduled performances in Washington, D.C. and New York were abruptly cancelled.

After a few hours of confusion and speculation, the organizers released a statement saying that poor sales resulted in the festival's abrupt demise. Various entities sputtered in protest. One site blamed artists' Rick Ross fantasies for asking for unrealistic appearance fees. Peter Rosenberg blamed hip-hop.

But the reality is likely much more banal: what started as a celebration of '90s New York golden age had become a two-day festival held, not actually in New York, but in New Jersey, costing considerably more than it had in the past. It also now featured a shotgun approach to booking. Rather than feeding their hip-hop purist base, festival organizers tried to expand, but relied on a scattershot selection of rappers that appealed to wildly different demographics. Wale, Chief Keef AND Wu-Tang Clan? And few of the names were of the top tier one would expect to carry a festival of that size.

Of course, feeding their core fanbase may not have been completely tenable, either. The hip-hop generation who grew up with the early '90s "golden age" around which Rock The Bells is oriented are now in their 30s (or older), with kids and responsibilities. (A generation earlier, they might have even had mortgages.) But early-'90s-New-York wasn't exactly the genre's commercial peak. While that era has become particularly revered by rap fans, many of the people who now revere it, especially the younger ones, are relying on borrowed nostalgia for an era before their time. And those aren't the folks who are about to pay $99 for a single day of hip-hop acts. —David Drake

RELATED: Rock The Bells Cancel Festival Dates in Washington, D.C. & New York