The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now
The Current Music News

Music News: Mike D: Please don't compare the Beastie Boys to 311

Mike D (left) and Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys, attending a New York Knicks game in 2016.
Mike D (left) and Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys, attending a New York Knicks game in 2016.Elsa/Getty Images

by Jay Gabler

March 26, 2018

In a new interview for New York magazine, Mike D remembers Cypress Hill being compared to the Beastie Boys when they were just starting out. "That's kind of the best-case scenario," he said, regarding a group the Beasties might be compared to. What, then, asked the interviewer, is the worst-case scenario?

"Not that it's ever happened," he mused, "but my fear would be that someone would be like, '311. You love those guys, right?' I'm sure they're nice people — isn't my cup of tea." (Stereogum)

Killer Mike in gun control controversy

Killer Mike of Run the Jewels is being widely criticized for appearing in an NRA video critical of gun control measures, released to coincide with this past weekend's March For Our Lives events. In the video, Killer Mike says that people who support gun control are akin to "lackeys of the progressive movement," and that he forbade his kids from participating in school walkouts organized as calls for gun control.

He's since walked the comments back somewhat, apologizing for his "bull in a china store like tendencies" and calling March For Our Lives "a very noble campaign that I actually support." His bandmate El-P released twin statements saying that, on the one hand, he is an "ally" of the young people who are marching for gun control — and that, on the other hand, he stands by Killer Mike as a person who "consistently and ferociously tries to bring some light and love to this world." (Pitchfork)

Chance the Rapper criticizes Heineken for "noticeably racist" ad

Chance the Rapper says that a recent ad for Heineken beer is "terribly racist." In the ad, a bartender slides a beer down a counter past several dark-skinned individuals to a spot where it's picked up by a lighter-skinned woman. "Sometimes," declares the ad for Heineken Light, "lighter is better."

"A lot of these marketing agencies are doing willfully so we overreact and tweet about it, and you write an article and tweet, and we all say their brand name 50 times," tweeted Chance. As of this posting, Heineken has not responded to the criticism. (Rolling Stone)

Who bit Bey?

Who bit Beyoncé? That's what the internet is wondering after actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish told GQ that she once saw an unnamed actress bite the music icon in the face at a party. The hashtag #WhoBitBeyonce sprang up on Twitter, with amateur sleuths trying to suss out what actresses were at the December 2017 party where Haddish took a selfie with Beyoncé. Chrissy Teigen says she knows, but isn't telling. BuzzFeed has narrowed it down to four possible suspects, one of whom is...Queen Latifah?

Couldn't be.

Could it?

An onstage first for "Weird Al"

You'd think there wouldn't be any firsts left for "Weird Al" Yankovic, four decades into his career as a musical satirist. But here's one: at the Apollo Theater in New York on Sunday night, he played guitar onstage before a live audience for the first time ever. He picked up what looked to be a Stratocaster for a cover of Neil Young’s "Cinnamon Girl," saying he'd been practicing "for the last several months" because "I figured, you know, I've been in entertainment, I've been a recording artist and a professional musician for most of my life, and I should know how to play the guitar."

His solo on the axe was...well, it was his first time. (Rolling Stone)