2014 MTV Woodie Award Nominees Announced
The MTV Woodies, the cable channel's reaction to indie music, announced the nominees for this year's award show, chosen by voters online yesterday. The nominees included a who's who of artists and acts that dominated the up and coming charts in 2013. In the hunt for the coveted "Woodie of the Year" are familiar names in Kanye West, Drake and Pharrell, as well as some more eclectic choices in Disclosure, Imagine Dragons, Lorde and Zedd. Chance The Rapper and director Austin Vesely are nominated for the "Best Video Woodie" for the "Everybody's Something" video. They will be up against some stiff competition from Disclosure ("Grab Her"), Passion Pit ("Carried Away"), Iggy Azalea ("Bounce") and Arcade Fire ("Afterlife"). Chance pops up again for his collaboration on "Life Round Here" with James Blake and Jhene Aiko and Mack Wilds round out a fairly solid list for "Breaking Woodie". Honestly, it's odd to find names like Beyonce and Jay Z on this list of nominees, which seem more tailored to Macklemore than the Grammys did a few weeks ago. Bob Dylan is nominated for a "Did It My Way Woodie". What's more 'My Way' than releasing an album (The Heist, Acid Rap) independently only to see it beat out the big guys? The line between independent and mainstream is being increasingly scrubbed away, and the 2014 edition of the Woodie Awards may be the best implication of that.
The MTV Woodies take place March 13 in Austin, TX, and will air March 16 on MTVU. Check out the full list of nominees below.
2014 mtvU Woodie Awards Nominees
Woodie of the Year:
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
Pharrell
Drake
Zedd
Disclosure
Breaking Woodie:
Bastille
Martin Garrix
The 1975
Jhene Aiko
Sam Smith
Mack Wilds
Best Video Woodie:
Disclosure, "Grab Her"
Passion Pit, "Carried Away"
Chance the Rapper, "Everybody's Something"
Iggy Azalea, "Bounce"
Arcade Fire, "Afterlife"
Did It My Way Woodie:
Beyoncé — Released her new, self-titled album without any prior promotion.
Kanye West — Created an interactive music video experience for Yeezus
Arcade Fire — Creatively utilized social media, street art and pop-up performances to launch the Reflektor album.
Childish Gambino — Hosted impromptu album listening sessions in public parks for Because the Internet.
Bob Dylan — Created a 16 channel interactive music video for "Like a Rolling Stone."
Performing Woodie:
Tyler the Creator
Ed Sheeran
Jay Z
Arcade Fire
The National
The XX
Best Collaboration Woodie:
A$AP Rocky and Skrillex — "Wild For the Night"
Avicii and Aloe Blacc — "Wake Me Up"
Just Blaze and Baauer featuring Jay Z — "Higher"
Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons — "Radioactive (remix)"
Daft Punk and Pharrell — "Get Lucky"
James Blake and Chance the Rapper — "Life Round Here"
College Radio Woodie (Best College Radio Station):
Ball State University (WCRD)
Boston University (WTBU)
East Stroudsburg University (WESS)
Eastern Illinois University (WEIU)
Indiana University (WIUX)
Texas State University - San Marcos (KTSW)
University of California - Berkeley (KALX)
University of Illinois - Champaign Urbana (WPGU)
University of South Carolina (WUSC)
William Paterson University (WPSC)
![[Video] Skrillex Unveils Chance The Rapper Collaboration](https://rubyhornet.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/skrillex-chance-the-rapper-collaboration.jpg)
[Video] Skrillex Unveils Chance The Rapper Collaboration
Chance The Rapper took over the hip-hop world last year on the strength of his Acid Raps, and since the new year turned last month, it appears Chano isn't satisfied with handling just the rap side of things. After teaming up with Justin Bieber for "Confident", the Chicago MC has been rumored to be working with Skrillex in the studio quite a bit as of late, with the gossip being spread on the Internet with regular updates. Last night, in New York City at The Brooklyn Bowl, Skrillex decided to unveil his collaboration with Chance amidst a string of BK shows that have many calling his time out East a 'Skrillex takeover'. The track isn't like the EDM superstar's past connections with rappers, most notably 2012's "Wild For The Night" which was essentially a Srillex song with A$AP Rocky rapping over it. Here, we have something with distinctly juke elements that feature Chance sing-song rapping his way through the track. With Pop and Hip-hop seemingly on lock, Chance very well may be getting his EDM playlist in check, with a recently-announced set at Ultra Miami on deck. Check out the latest from Chance and Skrillex in this less-than-stellar video below.
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BTS Photos of Chance The Rapper's Social Experiment Tour
If you haven't heard by now, Chance The Rapper had a pretty good year last year. The Chicago kid dropped Acid Rap in May and went on to essentially take the music scene by storm. After getting practice opening for Childish Gambino and Mac Miller on their tours, Chance decided to end 2013 right, by piling as many fellow artists and friends as he could fit into a pair of buses and traveling the country for two and a half months, selling out nearly every show along the way. One of those on the bus was talented photographer Allen Daniels whose Polaroid shots were used as a background for Chance's Riviera shows. He was a fly on the wall for the extent of the Social Experiment Tour and yesterday the tour documented through his lens hit the Internet on Chanceraps.com. Check out the shots of Pat The Manager, Peter CottonTale, Donnie Trumpet, Greg Landfair, Nate Fox and the gang in the gallery below.
[Photos via Allen Daniels]
[Video] Justin Bieber: "Confident" (Feat. Chance The Rapper)
Welp, it's here. Chance and the Biebs got together on "Confident" at the beginning of December and it was just a matter of time before the collaboration got a visual component. Shot in Los Angeles while Chance The Rapper was in the midst of a move, Justin Bieber does his best impression of Michael Jackson in the somewhat-theatrical music video that tails Bieber as he lusts after a girl buying Takis. "Takis? I'd like to Takis to you on the phone." Smooth Justin. He then dances after her and she jumps on a motorcycle, but then gets out of a car. I don't know. Anyway, great timing for Chance to link his name with Bieber, now that the Canadian heartthrob has found himself on the front of every website and news outlet for his egg-tossing and speeding that has led him to hideout in Panama with Usher. Crazy. Anyway, check out the video below.
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Chance The Rapper: "Interlude (That's Love)" Live
Back in November, Chance The Rapper took a few days off of his headlining "Social Experiment" tour to play a pair of sold out shows at The Riviera in his hometown of Chicago. The dates, sandwiched around Thanksgiving were a milestone in the young artist's career, a full year almost to the day since he had first played his first sold out show at The Metro in support of his upcoming Acid Rap tape that eventually launched him into rarified air. The performances at The Riv were a quintessentially hometown experience that oozed Chicago from the get-go with Stunt Taylor opening things up with a run through of his street banger "Fe Fe on the Block" before turning the show over to Chance and his band, made up of Donnie Trumpet, Nate Fox, Greg Landfair and the tour's Music Director Peter CottonTale who re-arranged the tracks from Acid Rap to fit subtly into a live atmosphere. 2013 was the craziest year to date of young Chancelor Bennett's life, and he wrapped it up appropriately, as you can see in the video below, shot by Bryan Lamb (FragDFilms) and myself at the first show. It's a little late, but these days who can get enough Chance?
[Video] Chance The Rapper & Jeremih Debut New Song
Photo by FragDFilms
Last night in Chicago, Chance The Rapper held a secret show for students of DePaul University at Lincoln Hall in the city. A sort of off-the-cuff decision to do the show, Chance and crew were on a whole other level, taking things to a sort of unplugged feel as Chance was joined onstage by "The Social Experiment," the name for his backing band of Peter CottonTale, Nate Fox, Nico Segal and Greg Landfair, as well as Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart, who performed songs from Acid Rap and 10 Day with ease. Chance, whose manager is a graduate of DePaul, brought Jeremih out not once, but twice, to unveil songs that have yet to properly hit the 'net. In the video below, the pair perform the upcoming single. Live, Jeremih sounded so clear you would have thought he was being mixed and mastered on the spot. Jeremih and Chance also teamed up for the yet-unreleased track, unveiled at The Riviera in November as well. Check out the latest song from two Chicago natives, below.
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[Songs Of The Day] 1/23/14 (Feat. Migos, Jennifer Lopez, Rick Ross, Chance The Rapper and more)
We here at Ruby Hornet want to keep you up to date with the latest releases on a regular basis and in doing so, are switching to a new format to gather our favorite song releases of the day, everyday. Check back to the site daily for a one stop shop for staying up to date on everything that hits the Internet.
With that out of the way, we have a solid playlist to start things off. The past two days have brought us a healthy dose of remixes: Atlanta duo Migos teamed up with crooner Rico Love for a remix of his radio hit "They Don't Know", Rick Ross continued adding his vocals to other artist's hits to drum up support for his forthcoming album, this time remixing Lorde's smash hit "Royals" and Chicago native Peter CottonTale offered up his take on Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa's single "Suitcase".
DJ Mustard teamed up with Jennifer Lopez of all people for a heavy-handed new single in "Girls" and we get an interesting single from a new face in Gems' single "Don't Cry." Scroll down to listen to all the new heat and check back to RH daily for updates.
Migos & Rico Love – They Don’t Know (Remix)
Jennifer Lopez "Girls" (DJ Mustard Remix)
Gems "Dont Cry"
Lorde "Royals" (Rick Ross Remix)
Chance The Rapper & Vic Mensa "Suitcase" (Peter CottonTale Remix)
Peter CottonTale: "Suitcase Remix" (Feat. Vic Mensa & Chance The Rapper)
Yesterday, Chicago's SaveMoney squad dropped their much-delayed video for "Still Alive" and today, the clique gets another listing as Acid Rap and Innanetape producer Peter CottonTale gives Vic Mensa & Chance The Rapper's recent collaboration, "Suitcase" his own unique spin. Perhaps no one else could have given the track the kind of fitting twist than CottonTale, who has worked closely with both Mensa and Chance over the past year or so, helping to craft two immensely eclectically-unique sounds that can intertwine, as they do here, or venture off into wildly different paths.
While he has established himself while being a part of several successful ventures, there have been few, if any, solo releases from the producer responsible for Chance's "Brain Cells," making today's offering a special one. Different for CottonTale on this release is his use of samples, which are almost completely left off of his own production, opting instead for a instrumental aesthetic that has had many across the country pointing to the 22-year-old producer as bringing soul and jazz back to hip-hop. The "Suitcase" remix is a fully Chicago affair, with close friend OJ Hays providing the artwork. Check out the latest from CottonTale and co., streaming here below.