First Class Festival to Go On Despite Artist Cancellations

Che, Black Kray, Skaiwater and Nettspend have all withdrawn, but the organizers were quick to pivot.

Nettspend

Billy Eff is the Content Director for Rolling Stone Canada. An award-winning journalist and columnist, he has previously contributed to outlets including VICE and Urbania. A passionate advocate for underground music and a musician himself, he has conducted several hundred interviews with artists and industry professionals across a wide range of styles and genres over the past 15 years. He is based in Montréal, Québec.

First Class Fest is heading into its biggest weekend with a different lineup than expected, but the show must go on.

The Toronto underground rap festival, which starts tomorrow, Aug. 28, has lost four artists in the days leading up to its debut at The Bowl at Sobeys Stadium. Che, Black Kray, Skaiwater and, most recently, Nettspend have all withdrawn, Stereogum reports.

Che's cancellation was announced last weekend, with organizers calling the change "unforeseen and beyond our control." Xaviersobased has been added to Friday's lineup in his place. Black Kray, meanwhile, has been replaced by TwentyThree, and Diamond* and Jaeychino were added following Skaiwater's departure.

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Nettspend's cancellation came Tuesday. The rapper announced on social media that he would not be making it to Toronto, without giving a reason. First Class Fest later said Nettspend had not provided an explanation and criticized the cancellation, calling the situation ‘disappointing’ both for the festival and its attendees.

Luckily, organizers moved quickly to fill the remaining gap. 1oneam and Apollo Red have been added to Saturday's bill, while Friday headliner OsamaSon will return for a second performance featuring leaks and unreleased material.

Despite the last-minute shakeup, the festival is scheduled to proceed as planned. Starting in 2022, First Class Fest started booking shows designed to bring underground rap acts to Canada. This weekend marks its first outdoor festival, and approximately 9,000 fans are expected to attend each day.

Jay-Z and Rick Rubin in ‘JAŸ-Z in 8.’

Jay-Z discusses his life-long love of writing, rap’s irresistible underdog energy, and more in the new teaser for his upcoming docuseries, JAŸ-Z in 8.

The upcoming HBO series finds Jay digging back into his catalog while in conversation with Rick Rubin about his life, career, and music. While Jay has done this in various forms over the years, the black-and-white clip appropriately opens with Jay reciting one of his most famous lines: “Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is Hov.”

From there, Jay talks about how he caught the writing bug at age nine and pontificates on hip-hop’s enduring appeal, as well as its limitless potential. “The reason why rap is so loved — that feeling of that underdog,” Jay says. “That’s why people were listening, that’s why it hit them somewhere.”

The first two episodes of JAŸ-Z in 8, which Rubin directed, will premiere on Sept. 18, with two additional episodes dropping every Friday through Oct. 9. The discussions in each episode will center around a handful of Jay-Z songs, selected by Rubin. For instance, episode one will feature “Intro” (off 2000’s The Dynasty: Roc La Familia), “Meet the Parents” (off 2002’s The Blueprint 2), “Can’t Knocks the Hustle” (of 1996’s Reasonable Doubt),and “What More Can I Say” (off 2003’s The Black Album).

Future episodes will feature songs like “Brooklyn’s Finest,” “4:44,” “Can I Live,” “Politics as Usual,” “99 Problems,” “Dead Presidents II,” “Public Service Announcement (Interlude),” “The Story of O.J.,” and “No Church in the Wild.”

JAŸ-Z in 8 is part of Jay’s massive, year-long celebration centered around the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt. The festivities have included shows in New York City, and upcoming gigs in Los Angeles, Paris, and London, a series of pop-up events and activations, and even a run of commemorative library cards with the Brooklyn Public Library system.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon performing with the Beatles in 1965

The Beatles have released a rare recording of Paul McCartney and John Lennon working on a very early version of their classic single, “Day Tripper.”

The so-called “Songwriting Work Tape” version of “Day Tripper” was recorded at Lennon’s home in Surrey, England. At this point, Lennon and McCartney had yet to come up with the song’s legendary riff, though it’s easy to see how they came upon it based on the chords they are playing. The best part of the recording, though, is hearing the old friends crack each other up in between tossing off casually brilliant takes of a classic in the making.

This “Day Tripper” demo will appear on the upcoming special edition of Rubber Soul, which arrives Oct. 2. (“Day Tripper” didn’t appear on the original album, but was released as a single with “We Can Work It Out” around the same time in 1965.) The reissue will feature a newly mixed version of the album from producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell, as well as 24 early recordings.

Among those are 20 previously unreleased takes, and three previously unreleased home demos. Prior to dropping “Day Tripper (Songwriting Work Take),” the Beatles share an early take of the Rubber Soul gem, “Michelle.” The track list is also set to include “Little Girl,” a new Lennon demo that nobody even knew existed until it was recently uncovered by the Lennon estate.

Speaking with Rolling Stone recently about Rubber Soul and the upcoming reissue, Martin — son of legendary Beatles producer George Martin — said of the original LP, “It’s an album born out of frustration of not wanting to be little boys anymore,” he said. “It has so much depth to it. This is the first album where they weren’t trying to write a bunch of singles and deciding what should be the single.”

LOS ANGELES - 1978: Country singer Dolly Parton poses for a portrait session in 1978 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry Langdon/Getty Images)

Presidents across party lines celebrated Dolly Parton on Tuesday following her death, speaking to the country icon’s ability to transcend politics through her work that often spoke louder than words.

On Tuesday, former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and George Bush each paid tribute to Parton, while President Donald Trump ordered that flags be flown at half-staff for the next week to honor “one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER.”

In their statements, the former presidents praised both Parton’s music and philanthropic endeavors. In 2020, Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University, which helped fund coronavirus research and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. The legendary singer also famously founded the Imagination Library, established in honor of her father Robert Lee Parton Sr., which distributes books to children in multiple countries.

In a statement posted on social media, Obama highlighted Parton’s humble roots, colossal impact in music and Hollywood, and her philanthropic work. “It’s hard to imagine many people having a bigger impact than Dolly Parton. Born in a one-room cabin, she earned 11 Grammys and an Emmy, built a business empire, helped millions of kids learn to read, and — as if that wasn’t enough — helped accelerate the research that led to the Moderna COVID vaccine,” Obama wrote. “What a life. Michelle and I are thinking of Dolly’s family and her many, many fans.”

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“Dolly Parton was one of a kind—a great songwriter and performer who told the stories of everyday Americans with honesty, humility, and heart,” wrote Clinton in another tribute. “She rose high from her East Tennessee roots and never forgot where she came from. And she always believed in giving back, especially in her efforts to promote literacy. Hillary and I were big fans and first saw her in 1974, and will always be grateful for the music and the memories.”

Bush and former first lady Laura Bush also joined fans in mourning Parton’s death. “We loved her music and her style. She was a great entertainer and even greater person,” wrote the former president. “We respected her work to promote literacy, advance health, and strengthen communities. Dolly was a talented and hardworking American who will be missed.”

Rather than taking a hard line on politics, Parton chose to shine a light on her values through both her work and own endeavors. The icon, a beloved supporter of the LGBTQ community, wrote and sang the Oscar-nominated song “Travelin’ Thru” from Transamerica, a 2005 movie about a transgender woman and her son. In 2017, Parton collaborated with her goddaughter, Miley Cyrus, to record “Rainbowland,” a hopeful tribute imagining a world of complete inclusivity and equality.

When speaking to Rolling Stone about the track the year it released, Parton called the song “one of those things we felt like the world needed a little message right now.” She continued, “If we could just do a little better, try a little harder, try to get along a little better, we could live in Rainbowland. If nothing else, if we tried a little harder at least we’d be a little more colorful than it is right now, a little brighter, a little shinier out there.”

Dolly Parton died on Tuesday at the age of 80.

Dolly Parton‘s cause of death has been revealed. The global icon whose extraordinary life and career inspired generations of musicians died on Tuesday at the age of 80.

Parton’s team confirmed that the star faced a brief battle with cancer and died surrounded by her loved ones in Nashville. “Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones,” read a statement shared with Rolling Stone. According to People, Parton was hospitalized four days before her death.

Parton’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced her death via a video announcement on Facebook. “As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment, but haven’t truly felt it until now,” Seaver said. “It is an honor, an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly.

“Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent,” he added. “By her example, we believed that anything was possible. She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the doors she opened made and changed history.”

An outpouring of tributes across the globe have been shared following Parton’s death. Fans, artists, and leaders across all industries are mourning the star whose relentless optimism, grace, and resilience was a shining light.

Ella Langley celebrated Parton as a trailblazer who helped open the doors for other women in music. “Dolly, thank you for standing up for yourself as an artist, a songwriter, a musician, a producer, an author, a creative, and most importantly a woman in this industry,” wrote Langley. “You paved the way for so many to be brave.”

Shania Twain, who memorably performed Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors” alongside the legend during a 2003 duet on Oprah Winfrey Show, was also among the artists mourning the loss. “My mentor is gone. My songwriting teacher and hero of grace and humility,” wrote Twain in a tribute alongside footage of the performance. “There is a hole in my heart but the joy of just the thought of her smile will continue to fill me with inspiration for as long as I live.”

Busta Rhymes performing in Atlanta in June

Busta Rhymes’ new album full of previously unreleased J Dilla beats also features a posthumous feature from D’Angelo.

Rhymes made Dillagence II out of almost 300 unreleased beats that Dilla gave him before the legendary producer died in 2006. One of those beats came from a session Dilla and D’Angelo did about 20 years ago that never materialized into a proper project. “They started something and it just never got finished,” Busta recently told The New York Times. “I love both of them, so I just want to do my part in delivering in that way — not just for the culture, but for them and for all of us.”

What the pair made together now serves as the gentle chorus on “This Woman,” featuring what appears to be a scratch vocal of D’Angelo interpolating Sister Nancy’s legendary dancehall track “Bam Bam.” “This woman, never troubled no one / But if you trouble this woman, it will be a…” D’Angelo croons in his immaculate falsetto before trailing off into a version of “Bam Bam”’s famous, wordless hook. Of course, even a D’Angelo scratch vocal makes for a pristine chorus, especially over a Dilla groove elegantly textured with prickly guitars and burbling marimbas.

“This Woman” will also get an official music video, directed by Hype Williams. The visual is slated to drop later today at 12 p.m. ET.

Though they were friends for decades, Busta and D’Angelo never released any music together while D’Angelo was alive. After D’Angelo died last October, Busta released a tribute song, “Magic,” in which he rapped about meeting D’Angelo for the first time while in the studio with A Tribe Called Quest, and celebrated the power of D’s music and life.

“I feel like the Earth shifted when D came to do music,” Busta said in an accompanying interview with Okayplayer. “He was the embodiment of some shit that was a complete balance of what our ancestors created, to where he took it. There’s nothing under the sun that hasn’t already been done. But it’s a whole other thing to make it your own and combine what has already been done with what hasn’t been done yet.”

Along with D’Angelo on “This Woman,” Dillagence II boasts an array of features across its 19 tracks, including Lil Wayne, Common, Big Sean, Anderson .Paak, Ludacris, and Jon Batiste.