Drake

Illy

Guest Playlist: Illy shares songs from the artists who changed his life

The genre defying and ARIA Award winning artist Illy has returned with his sixth LP, The Space Between.  Released on Friday, the album is the culmination of over three years of persistence, grind, and continent hopping. Illy split the album’s recording sessions between his hometown of Melbourne, and studios around the world, including, Los Angeles,…

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Interview: Icona Pop (SWE) on “Next Mistake”, Sweden’s music scene and coming to Australia

Icona Pop should really be renamed to Iconic Pop considering the instant, “Oh I love those guys!” you hear upon mentioning their name. The Swedish duo reached global pop domination with their 2012 tune ‘I Love It’ and despite years passing since its release, the song continues to be on high-rotation at club nights and…

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Live Review: OVO Sound’s dvsn show Sydney what R&B really is

The recent debate about who is the current “King of R&B” (sparked by a claim from Cash Money artist Jacquees) is not as clear cut as it has been made out to be. This isn’t the first time someone who has claimed to be the king of a genre or style of music. T.I once…

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Live Review: Drake’s ‘Boy Meets World Tour’ comes to an end in Melbourne in the shadow of a dying sun

Hip hop shows are a funny thing when the artist transcends in popularity. It’s an issue I have with many of these big name arena gigs, but it’s also an issue I’m well aware of not changing any time soon. In place of deep, great, cuts of music, comes an emphasis on ensuring the ‘turn…

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Live Review: Drake’s audio-visual live show is something to behold, even for the non-fan

In the midst of restarting his current Boy Meets World tour down in Australasia, Drake took to Sydney for his first Australian show of the tour, fitting his exceptionally designed stage show into the Qudos Bank Arena where he will perform a total of three times over the next week. Foregoing any traditionally big name…

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Drake confirms Australian return with surprise shows announced for November

Talk about tour news to wake up to! One of your favourite Canadians will be back in the country this year, making the tailend of 2017 OVO and XO season in Australia! Ahead of The Weeknd‘s December shows, Drake will be touring select east coast shows in Australia at the end of November. Having been making his way…

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Playlist: Ten times Rihanna nailed the collaboration game

Rihanna is one of modern pop music’s most bankable artists. Since her “Pon De Replay” days, the Bajan vocalist has been an in-demand name both as a solo artist and as a hot guest artist on many a pop and hip hop chart buster. The years have seen Rihanna collaborate with the likes of Maroon…

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The 40 Best Singles of 2016 (Part One): 40 – 21

You may have been keeping up with our recent ‘Best of 2016’ series over the last week and as we get stuck into a year of new music, we take a final look back at the songs that made our year. Throwing voting open to our contributors, we’ve compiled 40 of the best songs that…

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The 50 Best Hip Hop and R&B Songs of 2016

For Hip Hop, 2016 was the year of cosigning anything and everything. So called ‘mumble rap’ became a thing and there was a massive push back against the term ‘real Hip Hop’, championing newcomers like Lil’ Yachty and Lil’ Uzi Vert (who, like it or not, have been attached to the music and the culture)…

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The 50 Best Hip Hop and R&B Songs of 2016 (So Far)

High profile releases from the likes of Kanye, Drake, and Beyoncé, plus show-stealers from Chance the Rapper, Skepta, Anderson .Paak and dvsn have fleshed out what has been a very strong six months for hip hop and R&B. We’ve also seen emerging talents like Gallant and Joyner Lucas, comebacks from Fat Joe and Maxwell, and…

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DJ Khaled and Drake come together on energetic new single “For Free”

The internet’s favourite motivational snapper DJ Khaled is just about ready to unleash his new record Major Key which will no doubt be packed full of airwave-dominating tracks like previous hits “I’m On One” and “No New Friends”. Like those two tracks, Khaled has brought on none other than Drake to ride solo over the…

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Album Review: Drake – Views (2016 LP)

Last year’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late was a bold move for Drake, moving away from the ultra-relatable, slightly neurotic rapper-singer and towards something closer to street-minded hip hop, taking aim at critics over dark, brooding beats that were glued together by an adrenaline-inducing energy. It was mafioso rap for the selfie generation,…

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Drake drops VIEWS via OVO Sound Radio on Apple Music

It’s been too long a wait for Drake fans everywhere but today, finally, the 6 God has granted us with his latest album, VIEWS. Premiered with a special edition of OVO Sound Radio, Drake is going through the album along with an interview and conversation with Beats 1’s Zane Lowe. Tune into it NOW to listen! During his interview with Lowe,…

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The 3rd Annual AU Review SXSW Music Awards!

Another year at SXSW is behind us once more. From March 15th through until March 20th, we’ve seen Australian bands take their international profiles up another notch with impressive showcase performances. We’ve fallen in love with new artists and bands, and old favourites even more. We’ve participated in the classic SXSW traditions of waiting stupidly long in…

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Kanye West starts 2016 with new track “Facts”

Kanye West started 2015 with a new song, the melodic “Only One” with Sir Paul McCartney, and it seems like it’s kicked off a new trend for the superstar rapper-producer. To kick 2016 off for his fans, West has released “Facts”, a welcome trap infused track that wouldn’t sound out of place on Future and…

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The 50 Best Hip-Hop and R&B Tracks of 2015: Part one – 50 to 26

It’s that time of the year again; we’ve already rounded up the full AU crew’s Top 40 Songs of 2015, but here’s something a bit different. The AU’s Chris Singh looks at the best hip-hop and R&B tracks of 2015 after countless hours (probably days; who knows) of picking apart the year’s best releases and…

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Drake’s “Hotline Bling” goes to church with a gospel cover from Anthony Hamilton and The Hamiltones

Anthony Hamilton and The Hamiltones decided to get together backstage this week and film a freestyle gospel version of Drake’s “Hotline Bling”. Offering a decidedly different take on hip hop’s biggest viral hit of 2015, the soulful collective tackle the track acapella, backed by nothing but some hand-clapping, finger-snapping soul and take-em-to-church adlibs. Hamilton was…

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Saturday Night Live’s “Hotline Bling” parody has Donald Trump dancing for forgiveness

Despite more than a few protests, Donald Trump was included on the most recent Saturday Night Live, surprisingly going along – mostly to great effect – with some typical SNL hilarity, in addition to starring in a parody for “Hotline Bling. Both cringeworthy and kind of brilliant, SNL manages to convince trump to portray your…

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Sufjan Stevens performs a live cover of Drake’s “Hotline Bling”

Sufjan Stevens just blessed Jersey City with a brilliant, mostly faithful, cover of Drake’s “Hotline Bling”, and some steady-handed legend in the audience recorded it for the world to see. Teaming up with R&B singer – and one of this year’s stand-out new artists – Gallant, Stevens pulls out some appropriately awkward dance moves while…

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Drake busts a move in the official video for “Hotline Bling”

D.R.A.M’s quirky Super Mario World sampling “Cha Cha” had barely been out for half a year before Drake flipped the beat into what is currently the number two song on the Billboard charts. “Hotline Bling” has, as with pretty much everything Drake does, become one of the most popular tracks of the year so it’s…

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