It's easy to get lost in the milieu that is the Twitter news cycle. With all of their fans at the touch of a button, artists are able to drop the craziest and most exciting of news 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And no matter how skilled you are at not going down the Facebook news rabbit hole—I myself have fallen prey to the hell that is the Buzzfeed quiz vacuum—it can be hard to pick out the juiciest, most exciting tidbits of entertainment new that actually matter. But fear not, my friends, Street's got your back.
1. Post Malone and 21 Savage announce spring tour.
After the success of their collaboration on “rockstar,” Post Malone and 21 Savage have announced a North American tour kicking off on April 26. The announcement comes at a critical time for Malone after delaying the release of his long–anticipated song “beerbongs and bentleys.” Rap quartet SOB x RBE—who were recently featured on Black Panther: The Album after being hand selected by the soundtrack’s curator Kendrick Lamar—have also been tapped to perform on the tour. The hype comes at a critical time for Post Malone after delaying the drops of his past few projects and with a new mixtape in the works. And for everyone not ditching campus the millisecond after your last midterm, get excited: the tour will be coming to Philadelphia on May 23rd at Penn's Landing.
2. Young Thug has changed his name... to SEX?
Who ever thought that the moniker “Young Thug” could be considered conservative? The Super Slimey artist tweeted the name change on Tuesday, writing “I’m changing my name to SEX... For now on call me SEX!!” This isn’t the first time there has been some confusion over the artist’s name... in 2016, it was up in the air if the artist formerly known as Thug had changed his name to JEFFERY (or, rather, No, My Name is JEFFERY), but it turned out to just be the name of his next mixtape.
3. SNL announces 40th anniversary March lineup.
The classic late night sketch comedy show just released their hosts and performers for March. Trap trio Migos, comprised of rappers Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff, is slated to perform on March 3 alongside repeat–host and basketball legend Charles Barkley. This will be Migos’ first solo performance on the show (they performed with Katy Perry last year). SNL newcomer, English singer–songwriter Michael Bay, will perform the following week. Arcade Fire is set to return to the show two weeks later on the 17th in order to promote their latest album Everything Now.
4. Kendrick and SZA are being sued over Black Panther video.
British–Liberian artist Lina Iris Viktor is taking Kendrick and SZA “All the Stars” duo to court for using her artwork in the music video for their latest collab, "All the Stars." Viktor is arguing that images featured around the 3 minute mark look strikingly similar to works in her series “Constellations,” composed of golden acrylic prints on a black canvas. Viktor is also alleging that the duo used her artwork, without permission, in promotions for both the song and the Black Panther soundtrack, which Lamar curated. Viktor has said that she has previously declined offers from Marvel in 2016 and 2017 about using her artwork in the Black Panther film.
(shameless plug for the music video cause it is masterful, here it is)
5. Towkio completes literal album drop from space.
The Chicago born–and–bred rapper is truly upping the ante for his first studio album release. Towkio announced via Twitter that he will be going up 100,000 feet into the stratosphere inside of a helium balloon, where he will blast the record on a speaker and then parachute down back to the ground. Then, HE DID IT. In a recent interview with DJBooth, the rapper brushed off safety concerns with trademark nonchalance, saying “If I die... God forbid, I’m not gonna die. I know he’s protecting me. I see 11:11 every single day. It’s under my spell and under my power that this all will happen. Worst comes to worst, I’ll die the only way I would want to die. I’m not gonna die, though.” One thing's for sure though, a literal album drop is sick. But why, we may never know.
