NAV to Headline Toronto’s New South Asian Music Festival, 6IX Mela

The inaugural festival will unite some of Canada’s biggest Punjabi and hip-hop names for an 8,000-person celebration at Sobeys Stadium.

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.

Toronto rapper NAV is set to headline the inaugural 6IX Mela festival on Sept. 12 at The Bowl at Sobeys Stadium, bringing together Punjabi music, hip-hop and a distinctly Toronto vibe for a one-night celebration. The festival bills itself as North America’s biggest South Asian music festival, with an expected crowd of roughly 8,000 people.

NAV will share the stage with a lineup that includes Tegi Pannu, Chani Nattan, Inderpal Moga, AR Paisley, BK, Supreme Sidhu, Gav, Simar, Jay Trak and Simmy. The experience is designed around a single stage, putting Punjabi artists and hip-hop performers in the same lineup rather than separating the sounds into different spaces.

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Considering that Punjabi and Desi rap are one of the fastest-growing segments in Canadian music, the initiative couldn't have come at a better time.

It's also NAV's only announced hometown show this year. The Toronto-born rapper, who has built an international audience through hip-hop while maintaining a strong connection to the Punjabi Canadian scene, despite collaborating with some of of hip-hop's biggest names, including Drake and Future. Last year, he appeared at Rolling Loud India and joined Karan Aujla during his set, which was one of the most viral moments of the festival.

6IX MELA comes from the team behind Calgary’s Stampede Mela, which launched in 2023 to give South Asian artists a larger platform during the Calgary Stampede. The expansion to the Toronto market arrives as Punjabi music continues to grow across Canada. Artists including Diljit Dosanjh, Karan Aujla and Chani Nattan have pushed further into the mainstream, while Punjabi releases have increasingly appeared on Canadian charts.

Ye in Chicago

For all the mythology built around Ye (formerly Kanye West) as a singular genius, the most convincing argument for his influence has always been crowded with other people. Look closely at almost any important period of his career and somebody else is standing there: a rapper he produced for, an artist he signed, a voice he pulled unexpectedly onto a record, a peer who challenged him, a protégé who eventually became a superstar or a collaborator with whom the relationship became almost as famous as the music they made together. At Soldier Field this week, Ye managed to put an astonishing amount of that history in one place, making a compelling case that one of his greatest contributions to hip-hop might be the world he built around himself.

That world has hardly been harmonious. Friendships have fractured, G.O.O.D. Music relationships have soured and collaborators have criticised Ye publicly, often receiving plenty in return. Yet, across two nights in Chicago, the distance between those chapters seemed to collapse: Big Sean and 2 Chainz performed “Clique” and “Mercy”; Rick Ross returned for “Devil in a New Dress”; CyHi resurfaced for “So Appalled”; Twista took things back to “Slow Jamz” and “Overnight Celebrity”; Lupe Fiasco performed “Touch the Sky”; Chief Keef brought “Love Sosa” and “I Don’t Like”; and Common, Consequence, GLC, Really Doe, Future, Travis Scott, Young Thug and Don Toliver all moved through the stage before Kid Cudi arrived, bringing one of Ye’s most complicated creative relationships into the homecoming too.

Seeing the names written together almost misses what made it so good, because these artists don't belong to one Ye era, and they certainly don't belong to one version of hip-hop. Twista and Chief Keef alone represent radically different moments in Chicago rap history, while Travis Scott belongs to a generation that came of age after many of the musical risks Ye helped push into the mainstream, whereas Consequence and GLC were there when Kanye West was still fighting to convince the industry that the guy making the beats could also be the guy making the album. What made Soldier Field interesting was precisely that none of this history arrived neatly organised; instead, more than two decades of it seemed to keep walking onto the stage.

Ye in ChicagoCambams Cam

There was something fitting about Ye’s hometown becoming the place where those timelines could meet. Twista performing “Slow Jamz” more than two decades after the song helped establish West as a rapper offered one kind of homecoming, while Lupe returning for “Touch the Sky” offered another. Chief Keef performing “I Don’t Like,” after Ye helped turn the song into a G.O.O.D. Music posse cut in 2012, completed a different circle entirely, connecting Ye with a generation that would transform Chicago rap after his own ascent. The city was not merely the location of these concerts; its evolving rap history was part of what made them matter.

The G.O.O.D. Music appearances carried a different kind of nostalgia. There was a period when a Ye posse cut felt like its own event, when “Mercy,” “Clique” or a G.O.O.D. Friday release could make his extended musical universe seem impossibly exciting. The intervening years made hearing those records again more interesting than a straightforward throwback, however, because the artists involved had become stars themselves, pursued separate careers and, in certain cases, fallen spectacularly out with the person who originally brought them together.

Big Sean provided the weekend’s most obvious example. Ye signed him to G.O.O.D. Music in 2007, but their relationship eventually deteriorated so badly that, during a 2021 appearance on Drink Champs, Ye described signing Sean as “the worst thing” he had ever done. Sean subsequently challenged Ye’s account of their relationship and aired frustrations of his own, which made their reunion at Soldier Field particularly striking. Ye introduced Sean as his “homie from the D” before the pair performed “Clique”; Sean then delivered the wonderfully awkward-in-context “I Don’t Fuck With You,” and 2 Chainz joined them for “Mercy.” By the end of the appearance, Sean had told Ye that he loved and appreciated him, with Ye returning the sentiment. Watching them enjoy the records they had once made together said more than a grand declaration of reconciliation could have.

Kid Cudi’s appearance carried even more emotional history. Their creative partnership has produced some of the most adventurous music in either artist’s catalogue, while their friendship has also broken down publicly more than once. Cudi’s contributions around 808s & Heartbreak, their subsequent collaborations and eventually Kids See Ghosts made him much more than another artist in Ye’s orbit, which is why seeing him embrace Ye before they performed “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1” and “Ghost Town” carried such weight. There was no need to pretend their history had been uncomplicated; the years of friendship, disagreement and reconciliation were precisely what made the moment affecting.

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Those appearances also highlighted something Ye’s reputation for singular genius can obscure: his greatest records have always depended heavily on collaboration, and much of his talent has been in recognising what somebody else can contribute to an idea. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy remains perhaps the grandest example, its maximalism emerging from an enormous cast of musicians, producers and rappers whose contributions could occupy an entire verse or last only a few seconds. Soldier Field effectively allowed an audience to see that creative instinct rather than simply hear it.

Celebrating that musical history, however, cannot mean treating the more disturbing parts of Ye’s recent history as another feud to be folded into a story about complicated relationships. His repeated antisemitic remarks and embrace of Nazi imagery are categorically different from disagreements with former friends or collaborators, and their seriousness is not diminished because some of those relationships have since been repaired. Nor should the presence of so many artists beside him in Chicago be interpreted as collective absolution; who chooses to reconcile with Ye personally is separate from the harm caused by rhetoric directed at an entire community.

At the same time, acknowledging Ye’s musical influence is not the same as excusing his behaviour, and Soldier Field demonstrated why both realities have to exist in any honest assessment of his legacy. The influence of 808s & Heartbreak does not disappear because its creator later made antisemitic statements, just as the music Ye made with Big Sean or Kid Cudi does not cease to matter because those relationships fractured. The harder, and more useful, task is to reckon with the work without allowing admiration for it to soften the seriousness of everything that followed.

That tension is ultimately what made Chicago worth considering beyond the spectacle of who might walk out next. Some of the people onstage had been there near the beginning, others entered Ye’s story much later, and several had long since built influential careers of their own. Over two nights in the city where his own career began, those histories briefly converged again, revealing both the extraordinary reach of Ye’s musical legacy and the complicated reality in which it now exists.

Ye’s independently produced global stadium run is being executed in the U.S. alongside IKON Presents, with the Chicago weekend alone drawing approximately 142,000 fans across two nights, according to organizers.

Lisa for ‘SaWaDiKa’

Lisa is saying “hello” to her new chapter. The rapper-singer has released her new supercharged single “SaWaDiKa,” which is a Thai greeting for “hello.”

The track finds Lisa returning to her rap roots, as she spits bars with the sharp prowess she’s known for. “I’m that bitch on your TV/In my Ferrari, indigo/La Lalisa, la diva,” she raps over sputtering drums. Produced by Thom Bridges, who has worked with Katseye and John Summit among other artists, and songwriting duo Ojivolta, the track is a thumping first look into Lisa’s forthcoming EP, Press Play, which arrives on Oct. 23 via LLOUD Co./RCA Records.

Along with the song, Lisa has also shared a show-stopping music video. In it, she rocks a handful of stunning looks, including a red, cut-out leather bodysuit and boxing shorts with “SaWaDiKa” in rhinestone letters across the waist. The visual was shot in Lisa’s native Bangkok, Thailand, and directed by Bang Jae Yeob, a Korean director known for his work on K-pop videos. Throughout the video, Lisa commands each shot as she walks through a handful of iconic locations in Bangkok.

“SaWaDiKa” is Lisa’s first solo single of 2026. In May, the rapper-singer released “Goals” alongside Anitta and Rema for the Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Album. The song comes after Lisa announced her upcoming documentary Always Lalisa, which premieres worldwide on Oct. 12.

It’s bound to be a busy year for the Blackpink member. In the fall, Lisa will kick off her Viva La Lisa Residency in Las Vegas, where she will perform at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Nov. 13, Nov. 14, Nov. 27, and Nov. 28.

Big Sean joined Kanye West at his Soldier Field homecoming concert to perform "Clique," "Mercy," and "I Don't Fuck With You"

Big Sean made a surprise appearance at Kanye West‘s homecoming concert at Soldier Field in Chicago to perform his hit single “I Don’t Fuck With You,” a sentiment that no longer seems to apply to the relationship between the two rappers who spent the past five years locked in a quiet feud.

West and Sean publicly fell out around 2021, when Sean claimed West owed him $6 million in a since-deleted post on X. That same year, West said signing Sean to his record label G.O.O.D. Music, through which his music was released from 2007 through 2021, was “worst thing I’ve ever done” — though it can’t have been worse than the antisemitic rants and racist remarks that have derailed his career over the past few years.

“Man, I know this man’s momma, bro, you know what I’m saying? I changed this man’s family and both John Legend and Big Sean — when I ran for office — got used quick by the Democrats to come at they boy that actually changed they life,” West said at the time. “And that’s some sellout shit. And I don’t rock with neither of them, and I need my apology. I ain’t saying they ain’t gonna change, but niggas is scared.”

Whether or not West has been holding a grudge against Sean all these years, his fans certainly were. In 2024, a West fan allegedly leaked much of Sean’s then-unreleased album online. “Since he wanna disrespect Ye so much, here’s the album. Fuck him and his whole team,” the fan said after Sean seemingly made a dig at West during an On the Radar freestyle. It’s all water under the bridge now.

Sean and West celebrated their reunion with performances of their collaborations “Clique” and “Mercy,” for which 2 Chainz also made an appearance at Soldier Field. “Chi-Town, I love you forever,” Sean said on stage. “Ye, I love you, bro, and I appreciate you.” West replied, “Love you, fam.” Other special guests at the show included Twista and Future.

Jann Arden arrives on the red carpet at the 2019 Juno Awards at London Convention Centre on March 17, 2019 in London, Canada

As Alberta heads to the polls for a referendum on its separation, Calgary-born singer-songwriter Jann Arden is coming home to headline a free outdoor concert this month to plea for a united Canada.

The Calgary Concert for Unity takes place September 20 at The Confluence Historic Site, formerly known as Fort Calgary. Arden will be joined by fellow Alberta artists including Celeigh Cardinal, Reuben Bullock and John Wort Hannam and Caity Gyorgy. The event is being billed as a family-friendly celebration of Canadian unity, with organizers encouraging Albertans to come together as “loud and proud Canadians.” The free event runs from 2 to 7 p.m.

On October 19, Alberta will hold a referendum that will ask voters, among other questions, whether they want the province to remain part of Canada or proceed toward a second, binding vote on separation. Supporters of independence argue Alberta would be better off outside of the Confederation, while opponents have raised concerns ranging from the economic consequences of separation to Indigenous treaty rights.

The only other Canadian province to have held a similar referendum is Québec, once in 1980 and again in 1995. Both were unsuccesful, though the 'No' won by a very slim minority, with results being 50.58% to 49.42%.

Brady Ebert

Former Turnstile guitarist Brady Ebert must be cleared as competent before beginning trial for a first-degree attempted murder charge for intentionally driving his car into singer Brendan Yates’ father, William Yates, a judge has ordered.

Ebert argued against the competency evaluation requirement, which was first brought up by his own attorney, Mark Sobel, according to the Baltimore Banner. While Ebert maintains that he is “perfectly competent” and “every part of the police report is a lie,” Sobel told Circuit Judge Eric Johnson he has “significant concerns regarding competency.” In court, Ebert told Johnson he plans on firing Sobel over concerns he might be working alongside prosecutors.

If convicted on the first-degree attempted murder charge, Ebert faces life in prison, though he has maintained his innocence. The guitarist previously told a district court commissioner, “This is pure self-defense.” He doubled down in court, saying, “I did not commit a crime.” His status hearing is scheduled for Sep. 22.

Ebert has been held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Boyds, Maryland without bail since April. The 33-year-old allegedly drove his car into William Yates outside his home, causing trauma to his lower body.

Turnstile parted ways with Ebert in 2022 in response to “a consistent pattern of harmful behavior affecting himself, the band, and the community,” Turnstile previously said in a statement. “After exhausting every available resource to support his access to help and recovery, a boundary ultimately had to be set when healthy communication was no longer possible and he began threatening violence.”

The band continued, “In the years since, his baseless tirades have continued in public. We never addressed it. We chose to protect his privacy and the circumstances around his departure, even when he did nothing to be deserving of that protection. Over the past few months, his threats only escalated further.… We have no language left for Brady.”