Lecrae and Ty Dolla $ign recently released a video for their latest single Blessings.
The track was released earlier this year.
It is the second single released, which will feature on the much-anticipated album, set to drop later this year.
Can’t Stop Me Now (Destination), is the other single, which was released last October.
The upcoming album is still untitled.
The album will be Lecrae’s first project since partnering his Reach Records with Columbia Records.
Speaking to Billboard about the upcoming project, Lecrae said:
“The album is definitely a journey of … me being fully aware and embracing my identity. My last album was me saying ‘hey guys, I need to be free to be me.’ It was like a statement. And this album is actually the manifestation of that. It’s me making music as authentically as I possibly can.”
Blessings is definitely a banger. It’s available on iTunes and other platforms for purchase and streaming.
Pastor John Gray and his family will be joining the ranks of those on reality television.
The new show, which will air on the Oprah Winfrey Network is called The Book of John Gray.
Gray is the Associate Pastor at Lakewood Church in Texas, USA.
Lakewood Church is also known for its Senior Pastor, Joel Osteen who always has a big smile on his face and begins his sermons with the declaration “This is my Bible, I am what it says I am….”
Gray has the incredible ability to preach, he can sing, write screenplays and has an incredible sense of humour.
One could argue that he is one of the leading voices for the church across the world.
He has an ability to speak to an audience without alienating those who don’t share in his belief.
The Oprah Winfrey Network has been kind enough to release the first full episode on their YouTube channel.
This project will definitely make for interesting viewing because one rarely gets to see the ‘behind the scenes’ moments in the lives of those who are leading figures in the church.
Without giving away too much, take a look for yourself and let us know what you think of Pastors with reality shows:
Hip Hop fanatics are on cloud nine after Drake recently dropped his latest project – More Life.
Drake – a.k.a Drizzy – has several collaborations on the album including South Africa’s very own House Music DJ, Black Coffee.
Coffee features on the track “Get it Together”.
The 22 track album also features artists such as Travis Scott, Skepta, Young Thug, and of course Kanye West – who features on the track Glow.
After listening to Glow, one can’t help but get excited about the prospect of Kanye and Drizzy releasing a full album together.
It was also the first time we have heard from Kanye West, musically, since his “melt down” late last year.
It’s good to know Yeezy’s still got it.
In its first week of release, More Life broke some records.
In the first 24 hours, the playlist got up to 89.9 million streams globally on Apple Music – breaking the single day streaming record on the platform.
At the same time, More Life was streamed 61.3 million times on Spotify on the first day of release and was streamed 76.3 million times on the second day. That broke the single day streaming record on Spotify.
Despite his deal with Apple Music, Drake later made the album available on other platforms.
For any Drizzy fans, the album is definitely a must-listen.
It is also worth a try even you aren’t one.
Drake displays his musical ability – as he works through several different genres.
If he can work with Black Coffee and Kanye West in the same album, it pretty much tells you all you need to know.
There is a possibility that Chance The Rapper may sell his next album.
This would be a massive deviation from the artist’s current position that the music should be made available for free for his fans, while making money from touring and merchandise, among other things.
Chance is also opposed to signing with record companies as, according to him, artists usually end up with the short end of the stick.
The Rapper made this revelation during his latest sit down interview with Complex.
He said the motivation to sell the music arose from the fact that he couldn’t chart like other artists, because his product was essentially free.
While he was not really caught up in having to chart, he was certainly mulling over the various options available.
Chance also hinted that his next project might include a “visual element”.
“Whatever my next thing will be, it will be a bit bigger – it may have a visual element to it… it may be a movie or a play”.
During his half hour long discussion, Chance opened up about his recent success, the challenge of fatherhood and how he is embracing the change.
He also talks about his struggle with anxiety saying the concept of “black mental health” had never been really discussed.
Chance elaborates on his faith and describes himself as a Christian.
“I do still attend church”, he said – albeit, not every Sunday.
At the same time, Chance emphasizes how people “get caught up in the organisation and the church itself….” instead of dealing with matters of spirituality.
The Rapper also talks about his relationship with Kanye West.
He praises West for his incredible ability to write some of the most abstract lyrics – yet still bring meaning to them.
He recalls how they often spend time together – and even citing an incident where they organised a play date for their daughters.
While he says he is not working on his next project as yet, Chance is aware that fans are waiting for the music.
For more details, you can check out the interview on Complex.
The second season of the Emmy Award winning show, Master of None is set to air on the 12th of May.
Comedian and co-creator of the show, Aziz Ansari announced the second season via a tweet accompanied by a 15 second trailer.
Ansari plays Dev, the leading character in the Netflix series.
The show centers around Dev’s life in New York City, where he is an actor struggling to break out of doing commercials and into films.
He’s also looking for lasting love and dealing with his parents, who are played by Ansari’s real life mother and father.
Last year the show won an Emmy Award for outstanding writing for a comedy series.
It is indeed brilliantly written and covers key issues faced not only by immigrants living in New York City, but by young adults grappling with matters of life, love career and family.
It is easily one of the most raw and authentic shows written in a while.
At the end of season one, Dev catches a flight to Italy – a lifelong item on his bucket list.
We assume season two will somehow pick up from there.
Chance The Rapper is fast becoming a household name.
He is breaking records while disrupting how the music industry has worked for decades.
He recently became the first musician to win a Grammy award without selling a single record or being signed by any label.
In fact, he says the decision not to sign to any label was inspired by former US President Barack Obama, who advised him to do this his own way and not tie himself down to a company. Chance took that to heart and it appears to be paying off.
Speaking of Barack Obama, Chance’s father worked with Barack Obama, who like Chance hails from Chicago.
Chance has previously mentioned that his dad would have hoped he would one day run for office or work in politics in some capacity.
Could Chance be doing that, working for and serving the people – but going about it in his own way?
Recent activity seems to suggest so.
Perhaps Chance represents a new kind of politics? One that millennials can easily relate to.
Last year, Chance led thousands of young people in procession, in his hometown to early voting stations. It was really impressive to see him march and chant down the streets.
And more recently, he has gone back to his hometown of Chicago where has been involved in matters of education in public schools.
After he won his three Grammys, Chance received a congratulatory tweet from the Governor of Illinois – Bruce Rauner.
Chance quickly responded by requesting a meeting within the week of the tweet.
Chance later tweeted that the meeting was to “address funding education in Chicago…I am eager to hear his ideas”.
After an initial postponement of the meeting, due to a tornado in the south of the state, it eventually took place.
Judging by various reports and Chance himself, that meeting wasn’t satisfactory as he had received what he describes as “a lot of vague answers”.
A few days later, after a twitter exchange with activist Deray Mckesson – who is widely known for his role in the #BlackLivesMatter movement – Chance and Deray were pictured together after a supposed meet-up.
A few days after his meeting, in a press conference, Chance announced his USD 1 million donation to select public schools in Chicago.
While it may not be the conventional way of doing things and while it may not solve all the problems affecting Chicago and its schools, there is no doubt that he is starting something special.
He even got a shout out from former first lady Michelle Obama, for his efforts:
We’ll keep an eye out for future events and developments.
As if being recently announced to join the song writer’s hall of fame, while expecting twins and trying to buy a castle in the UK at the same time, wasn’t enough, rapper Jay-Z has added another notch to his belt.
Jigga recently revealed that he was starting a venture capital fund with the purpose of funding start-ups.
The Venture Capital Fund will be called ARRIVE.
A press release outlines what ARRIVE will focus on:
“ARRIVE was created to leverage our experience and resources in building brands, developing consumer facing businesses, managing artists and representing athletes. We’ve opened that diversified, global range of expertise to a new vertical: entrepreneurs and their early stage businesses” said Neil Sirni, Head of New Ventures at Roc Nation. ARRIVE also anticipates the launch of a traditional venture fund in order to, among other activities, support existing portfolio companies through their subsequent growth stages.”
In recent times, Jay has been mainly famous for his role as a businessman rather than as a rapper.
He is one of few rappers and artists who have successfully transitioned their careers from just being about music or the arts to business in other spheres like sports management.
Jay Z however manages to successfully enjoy the benefit of dipping into both pools whenever it suits him.
On the music front he recently released a single with his wife Beyoncé and produced by DJ Khaled. The single is called Shining.
We wish Jay well in his venture capital. It will be quite interesting to note which start-ups they decide to help and why.
Everything seems to be falling into place for South African Born Daily Show host, Trevor Noah.
Noah is on the cover of the latest issue of TIME magazine.
He is named as one of 10 ‘Next Generation Leaders’. TIME describes Noah as “the master of the eloquent Trump-takedown”.
This is the second time in five months that Noah features in TIME.
The 33-year-old first appeared on TIME’s cover in September last year when he shared the limelight with other late-night show hosts in a feature labelled: The partisan politics of late-night comedy.
Meanwhile Noah also recently released a Netflix comedy special: Afraid of the Dark.
The hour long stand-up show is filmed in his new home, New York.
He opens with a few ‘New York jokes’ based on his experiences living in the big apple.
Given that he has to speak to a broader audience, he has done really well to adapt his act and broaden his range.
Having seen it, I would highly recommend it.
At the same time Noah recently made headlines for his latest acquisition – a USD 10 million luxury apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, New York.
It is apparently a stone’s throw away from his Daily Show studios.
As expected, there were a few people who didn’t share in celebrating his success on social media – but that counts for very little.
At this stage, it all seems to be moving along rather pleasantly for the comedic superstar.
As always the Oscars this year included all the usual pomp and ceremony.
The red carpet, who’s with who, the speeches and of course the winners.
However this year, history was made, with the first ever Muslim to win an Academy Award.
Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Barry Jenkins’ acclaimed drama Moonlight.
Ali beat out the likes of Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals), Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water), Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea) and BAFTA winner Dev Patel (Lion) to take the trophy for one of the most hotly contested categories of the evening.
Ali also plays Remy Danton in one of my favourite shows – House of Cards.
The week before winning, Ali had also just become a father.
After winning his award, Ali – dressed in an all-black suit – gave an emotional speech:
“I had so many wonderful teachers [growing up], and one thing that they consistently told me was it wasn’t about you, it’s not about you. It’s about these characters. You’re in service to these stories and these characters. And I’m so blessed to have had an opportunity [to do that].”
It was also a very special evening for Viola Davis.
Davis won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Rose in Fences.
In a similarly emotional speech, Davis thanked her family and collaborators, calling out directly to director/co-star Denzel Washington with an “Oh captain, my captain.”
Apart from the brilliance that was Ali and Davis, the moment that will never be forgotten of the Oscars 2017 was during the final announcement in the Best Film category.
Instead of calling up the rightful winners – Moonlight – to come up and receive their award, La La Land was announced.
After re-reading the card, it was discovered that the wrong envelope had been opened!
Moonlight was eventually called up to receive their award.
You can watch the full blunder below and view the full list of Ocar Winners below that:
Best film
Moonlight
Best actress
Emma Stone (La La Land)
Best actor
Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea)
Best director
Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Best supporting actress
Viola Davis (Fences)
Best supporting actor
Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Best original screenplay
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea)
Best adapted screenplay
Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight)
Best cinematography
Linus Sandgren (La La Land)
Best original score
Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)
Best original song
Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land)
Best sound editing
Sylvain Bellemare (Arrival)
Best foreign language film
Asghar Farhadi (The Salesman)
Best film editing
John Gilbert (Hacksaw Ridge)
Best visual effects
Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon (The Jungle Book)
Best production design
David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds Wasco (La La Land)
Best sound mixing
Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace (Hacksaw Ridge)
Best documentary Feature
Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow (O.J.: Made in America)
Best animated film
Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer (Zootopia)
Best animated short film
Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer (Piper)
Best documentary short subject
Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara (The White Helmets)
Best live action short film
Kristof Deak and Anna Udvardy (Sing)
Best make-up
Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson (Suicide Squad)
Best costume design
Colleen Atwood (Fantastic Beast and Where To Find Them)
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![[WATCH] Lecrae – Blessings ft. Ty Dolla $ign](https://www.1africa.tv/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lecrae-2-768x768.jpg "[WATCH] Lecrae – Blessings ft. Ty Dolla $ign")
![[WATCH] John Gray joins ‘Reality TV’](https://www.1africa.tv/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/john-gray-1-768x768.jpg "[WATCH] John Gray joins ‘Reality TV’")
