November 11, 2024
Taylor Swift’s success is no accident; it's built on an unmatched knack for songwriting. According to Toby Koenigsberg, Associate Professor and Chair of Popular Music, Swift’s songs are both...
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In today’s music landscape, live concert broadcasts have grown increasingly predictable, packaged, and polished. But at this year’s Coachella, Frank Ocean shattered the mold with a performance that...
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The Chicago rapper Lil Durk is out with his ninth studio album Deep Thoughts on 22nd November 2024. This album is a follow-up to his album Almost Healed (2023) and will have no shortage of eager...
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Morgan Wallen's country music career has been one of hustle, raw talent, and the sort of sound that has changed the genre. Wallen began his career as a small-town visionary but his music never...
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Pharrell Williams' journey from a McDonald's employee to a global music icon, fashion mogul, and cultural influencer is a testament to talent, resilience, and innovation. His story is not just...
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Travis Scott (born Jacques Bermon Webster II) is one of the most influential artists of his generation and he has transformed the music scene with his cross-genre sound, innovative marketing, and...
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In a world where pop icons often aim for flawless personas, Charli XCX has taken a different route, embracing a new brand of "brattiness" that redefines what it means to be....
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In a move that caught the music world by surprise, Addison Rae’s latest single, Diet Pepsi, has reshaped her image and proved she’s more than just a social media star....
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Coldplay has been a cornerstone of the pop-rock scene for over two decades, with their sound evolving from melancholic, guitar-driven ballads to vibrant, arena-filling anthems that defy genre...
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In the music industry, some of the most famous songs weren’t performed by the artists who wrote them. Think of classics like Dolly Parton’s "I Will Always Love You" or Sia’s "Diamonds."...
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Quincy Jones, the legendary music titan, has left us at 91, but his spirit endures through every note, melody, and rhythm he touched. From his groundbreaking production on Michael Jackson’s Thriller..
Read moreGunna, a mainstream rapper, just released a new album containing a #1 “Billboard Hot 100” hit song called “fukumean” despite the current controversy around his name. Gunna was arrested back in May of 2022 on one count of racketeering, therefore, facing 5 years in prison. He was released later that year after taking the Alford Plea, which allowed him to maintain his innocence while agreeing to the fact that he could still be found guilty during a trial. Leaked footage of Gunna in the courtroom allegedly “snitching” confirming to the judges that the company “YSL”, the label he was signed under at this time, was involved in illegal gang activities. This led the music industry to believe that Gunna is a snitch who had betrayed his own label company and its owner, a fellow rapper, Young Thug. He was instantly labeled as a snitch globally, causing many big rappers and producers to fully cut ties with Gunna.
As a result, Gunna took a break from creating music for a few months, returning to the industry by dropping an album on June 16th, 2023 titled “ A Gift and a Curse”. This was a 15-song project expressing how all his associates turned their back on him and how he did not know who to trust anymore.
With reference to this court case, multiple of Young Thug’s songs such as “Anybody”, “Take it To Trial”, “Ski (feat. Gunna)” and “Slatty” were used against him as evidence. As an example, in his song “Slatty” he states “I killed his man in front of his momma, like f*** lil’ bruh, sister and cousin, I shoot out, kill em’ not leaving a trace”. These lyrics were used to help link Young Thug and YSL to a murder case.
HipHopDX article about the lyrics used against Gunna:
Even though Gunna saw these lyrics being used against YSL, he continues to rap about the gang culture and the type of activities they participate in. Often, rappers use such lyrics to display a certain image to the world, whether they actually represent it or not. These peculiar lyrics attract listeners as they are extremely catchy and easy to sing along to. They also engage the listener into feeling like they are living these lyrics, even though their true lifestyle is far removed from it.
Despite Gunna’s experience, one of Gunna’s songs on the album titled “fukumean” is now the #1 song on the “Billboard Hot 100”. This song was streamed a total of 65 million times on Spotify only one month after its release.