Skepta and Joyner Lucas have been going back and forth on social media after the U.K. rapper said that he wanted to “clash an American rapper” to “get this UK/US rap debate sorted” on X July 3.

Over the weekend, the U.K. legend had a message for Lucas that he posted on his Instagram Story as he was getting off a flight. “Hey Jonah, I wasn’t even gonna reply back but I’m a rapper’s rapper,” he said in response to Lucas saying this was the moment he’s been waiting for on his X account. “I’m gonna respect the fact that you stood up and said something. The first man, you get me? But this is just another example of the ignorance. Jonah, if you was from the UK, fam? Quiet, bro, understand?”

However, while being slightly offended that he was the first American rapper to speak up, Skepta said that he may give him some acknowledgement in a diss track that he has planned for A$AP Rocky. “You may cut the numbers out there and I respect it,” he said of Lucas’ listenership. “So, when I make my diss track for Rocky, I’m gonna give you two bars and then make one of the young Gs just rub you out… I didn’t do the work that I did for Jonah Lucas just to be saying my name anyhow. I got diss track on YouTube with 30 million views, no ad-libs. It’s levels, bro.”

Joyner then replied on X with a clip of comedian Aries Spears making fun of British rappers to which Skepta responded by writing, “I was wondering who’s perspective you were gonna diss me from, never would have guessed Aaron Spears.”

In the midst of all this back and forth, fans were confused by the mention of a Rocky diss track, being that he and the Harlem rapper seemingly have a close relationship and frequently collaborate together. Skepta cleared things up, though, by posting that it’s all in fun.

“It’s not beef, Rocky is my family,” he said. “Rap is a sport, same way we have dissing matches on the block we can do it on record.” And when one fan on X said that he and Rocky basically already clashed on their single “Praise the Lord,” Big Smoke said that he thinks a clash with his friend would be great. “I think me vs Rocky would be a [fire] clash,” he wrote on X. “No violence, just bars, punchlines and counteractions.”

During his spree of messages on X last week, Skepta even started suggesting matchups of what a U.S. vs. U.K. rap battle would look like. He matched up Chip with Kendrick Lamar, Dave with Lil Wayne, Central Cee with Jack Harlow, Queenie with Megan Thee Stallion, his brother JME with Tyler, the Creator, Eminem with Ghetts, Lancey with Travis Scott, Youngs Teflon with Meek Mill, and Blade Brown with Pusha T.

Billie Eilish, Shakira and more stars are speaking out amid the deadly floods in Texas.

Starting on the Fourth of July, natural disaster swept through much of central Texas as torrential rains caused catastrophic damage across multiple counties. At press time, CNN reports that at least 89 people — including 27 young girls and counselors belonging to the Camp Mystic summer camp along the Guadalupe River — have died as a result, while others are missing.

In response, Eilish shared a video capturing some of the flood damage and wrote Sunday (July 6) on her Instagram Story, “this is so sad.”

“sending love to Texas,” she added, following it up with a reshared video of a meteorologist warning how budget cuts to the National Weather Service under Donald Trump’s administration would inhibit its ability to properly warn people of disastrous weather crises such as the floods.

Shakira encouraged fans to join her in donating to Texans in need, sharing a link to a local crisis response charity and revealing that a portion of the proceeds from her July 5 concert in San Antonio would go toward the cause. “Our hearts and prayers are with those affected by the flood in Central Texas,” she wrote on X. “Your help is important and appreciated.”

Miranda Lambert also sprung into action, sharing posts on Instagram about how her pet charity, Mutt Nation, would be assisting displaced animals in her home state. “I can’t even come up with the words for the loss everyone is suffering,” the country star says of the floods in a video posted on her Instagram, after which she shared resources about fostering pets, dropping off supplies and donating on her Story.

Other Texas natives who posted about the disaster were Maren Morris and Hilary Duff. Sharing old photos of herself performing in the Lone Star State, the former wrote on Instagram that she was “thinking of my home state right now.”

“the floods are devastating and people are still missing,” she added in her post. “there are several places to donate but i’ll be donating to an incredibly impactful fund called the Texas Hill Country Community Foundation.”

The Lizzy McGuire actress shared a statement decorated with bluebonnets — the state flower of Texas — on Instagram. “Heartbroken doesn’t begin to cover it,” she wrote. “Praying for even a shred of a miracle — to find a child alive in the wake of this boundless disaster … I’m just so deeply, absolutely sorry. Your loss is felt across the world.”

Lana Del Rey mourned the loss of lives in both the Texas floods and the ongoing conflict in Gaza, sharing in a statement on Instagram, “We’ve been thinking of you every day since the floods … May all the angels be with you as you search for even more lost loved ones.”

“And yes of course we pray for Palestine every day,” Del Rey added in a comment on the post. “There is never a good way of wording things that will make all people happy but that is my personal truth. Politically I do keep up and have been very much hoping for cease fire.”

The musicians’ posts come as responders are still searching for survivors on rescue missions across the impacted areas in Texas. Even days after the disaster began, active flood warnings are currently still in place across the state.

State representatives are also now grappling with how they could have better protected citizens amid the crisis. Sen. Ted Cruz told reporters Monday (July 7) that “if we could go back and do it again, we would evacuate,” while Mayor Joe Herring Jr. of the heavily affected Kerrville, Texas, revealed in an interview with CNN that he hadn’t even received an alert before the floods hit seemingly out of nowhere.

“It all happened upriver at the worst possible place,” he told the news network. “And I think everyone in Kerrville, everyone in Kerr County, wishes to God we had some way to warn them. To warn those people … Everyone here, if we could’ve warned them we would have done so. And we didn’t even have a warning. We did not know.”

When I was 10 years old, I stood up in front of the whole class and warbled my way through Oasis’ 1995 track “She’s Electric.” This was for the school’s talent competition, an opportunity for cocky children to show off their talents or, in my case, lack thereof. I did not progress to the next round.

Even then, I was drawn to Oasis, even though their mid-‘90s heyday was almost a decade in the past. (What’s The Story) Morning Glory was the CD that got the most air-time in my dad’s car, and he’d snappily alter the volume every time in “Hello” Liam sneered the line about “wiping the s–t from your shoe.” It was thrilling, emboldening stuff, and gave me (misplaced) confidence to stand there and sing one of its tracks for my peers. Can I be electric too, I wondered?

Everyone in Cardiff, Wales over the weekend (July 4, 5) no doubt had a similar story about their connection to Oasis, and can pinpoint the moment their world was altered by Liam and Noel Gallagher’s music, their attitude and outlook on life. The city’s 74,000-capacity Principality Stadium was chosen for the opening stand on the 41-show Live ‘25 tour, which hits North America, Asia and South America in the coming months. A mural of one of Liam’s tweets, painted onto the side of the city’s smaller Utilita Arena gave the answer of why Welsh capital was the perfect place to kick things off: “Because Cardiff is the b—-cks.”

In recent years, Cardiff has been chosen by a host of artists to kick off the U.K. legs of massive tours. Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour in 2023 plumped for the same venue, and Lana Del Rey did the same a fortnight ago. Its location on the Bristol Channel makes it well-placed for tours shipping in big productions into the U.K..

Cardiff is a proud city, but not a massive one. Its population of 372,000 makes it just the 11th most-populous in the U.K., and is home to over a tenth of Wales’ entire population (3.1 million). It has ancient roots and has been inhabited since 6000 BC, thousands of years before Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids in Giza were raised. Now it is the beating heart of the Welsh economy and culture, its ideas travelling well beyond the country’s border. A statue of Aneurin “Nye” Bevan, architect of Britain’s National Health Service, stands proudly in the centre of town overlooking the castle.

Like most cities in the U.K., it is full of local character and quirks. A street dedicated to takeaway food (princely fish and chips) can generate fierce debate: most locals call it “Chippy Lane,” but some refer to it as “Chippy Alley.” Which moniker you choose says something about your outlook on life and politics, the locals say.

Perhaps, then, it feels obvious that a band like Oasis who generate such a passionate response would find a perfect home in the city. Fans queued for pictures outside of a mural made of Liam and Noel made of bucket hats, or for the mega pop-up shop inside the St. David’s shopping centre in the heart of the town. They came out clutching armfuls of vinyl and merchandise, with some made specially for the opening dates. 

Cardiff had the feel of a Super Bowl weekend, or a World Cup tournament rolling into town, where the entire city gets swept up in the moment and day. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour exerted similar dominance over happenings in each city she visited, sparking sidequests and local angles on a global phenomenon. There’s a fair chance Oasis will do something similar as they bring the rock’n’roll roadshow to the world.

In the vicinity close to the stadium, the atmosphere grew rowdier but good-natured. A marching band plodded down the high street performing a brassy version of “Roll With It,” and the BBC scuttled around the city for a livestream broadcast of festivities leading up to the commencement of the show. It later showed ticketless fans standing outside the stadium, listening to whatever sound leaks out.

Since Oasis emerged in 1994, fans have felt an ownership over their music and adopted their ethos. Songs like “Don’t Back in Anger,” “Wonderwall” and “Live Forever” have entered the fabric of U.K. society (particularly England) and are yet to budge. The first of those three, in particular, became a rallying cry to overcome adversity for their hometown following the horrific terrorist attack at Ariana Grande’s show at the Manchester Arena in 2017, which claimed the lives of 22 concert-goers. These songs now say little about its authors, but much about its listeners.

The streets were appropriately filled with DIY merchandise, with punters using the brothers’ iconography and claiming it for their own purpose. At a pre-party at beloved haunt Clwb Ifor Bach, a group of lads unfurl a personalized flag that features the band’s logo, their image, and the three shows they’ll be heading to on the Live ‘25 run: Cardiff, London, Dublin. A convenience store prints off a life-size cut-out of Liam, but they’ve plumped for a less-than iconic shot of the frontman. He looks like he’s putting his bins out for collection, rather than posing as the irresistibly cool ringleader of the world’s best band.

Inside the stadium a high percentage of attendees proudly wore their new merchandise. Whether it be homemade or the stylish new line with Adidas, which has created bespoke football shirts for the occasion — one of which comes in sky blue, a nod to their beloved Manchester City F.C.

With the retractable roof closed, eyes around the darkened stadium were pointed towards the stage, which includes a ginormous screen for visuals and a classic Oasis logo atop. The crowd were slightly subdued for the Britpop band Cast who appeared, in truth, somewhat out of their depth in a venue of this size. The same cannot be said for Richard Ashcroft who raced through a number of Verve classics including “Bittersweet Symphony” and “Sonnet.” One fan close by sincerely screamed that Ashcroft “should be headlining” the whole event.

The crowd for Oasis is one of the loudest this writer has ever heard at a concert. Virtually every word in each song – even for 1994 B-Side “Fade Away” – earns a big singalong. For “Cigarettes & Alcohol” Liam asked the crowd to link arms, turn away from the stage and perform the “poznan,” a jumping celebration invented by fans of Polish club Lech Poznan and adopted by Manchester City. It made for a breathtaking and slightly bizarre sight as fans crane their neck to ensure they don’t miss a moment they’d paid a fortune for. Liam quipped at one point, “Was it worth the £40,000 you paid to get in?” The crowd roared back their approval. “Yeah, I thought so…”

Nostalgia has undoubtedly been a key factor in the fevered response, but the reunion has offered an opportunity for a new generation of fans to witness the band live for the first time in their lives. Teenagers and 20-somethings made up a healthy proportion of the crowd and brought the same style, attitude and energy that attracted their parents’ generation in the first place. Some come together for this special moment; others held their head in their hands, still in disbelief in what they’ve witnessed. When Noel introduced the “The Masterplan” towards the show’s close, he dedicated it to the youngsters seeing the band live for the first time, setting the tone for a tour that has no time for gate-keepers.

As the show ends, the pair share a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it embrace. Liam zooms off in a black 4×4 parked up on the pitch, while Noel and the rest of the band soaked up the atmosphere. Fans spilled onto the street into pubs and wobble down to Chippy Lane for some grub. One group of lads took turns trying to launch their Oasis’ branded bucket hats onto the top of Nye Bevin’s statue. Cardiff has set the bar for what is set to be the summer’s biggest party all across the globe. Is your city going to be as mad fer it?

Conversations on songwriting featuring top names like Luciano Luna and Salvador Aponte, as well as panels on artist strategy, investment, social media and artistic development will be the backbone of a new music conference — Unión Musical — taking place July 9 and 10 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The confab, launched as a private, by invitation only event focused on regional Mexican music two years ago, opens its doors to the public for the first time at Expo Guadalajara, with programming that includes broader topics. Although the focus is still heavily on música mexicana, the applications of the conversations and panels apply to the industry at large.

Unión Musical is the brainchild of Ivan Sergey, CEO of monitoring system Scanner Sound and singer/ songwriters Andrea Merodio and Rodrigo Ruiz.

The fact that Ruiz and Merodio are both songwriters incentivized them to create the event.

“We wanted to integrate in a single place valuable conversations that provide teachings on everything having to do with the music industry, integrating several genres with industry leaders willing to connect, listen and share knowledge and experience,” says Merodio, who oversees PR and social media strategy, among others.

This year’s programming, which takes place across two days, beginning at 3 p.m. Guadalajara time, includes panels on AI, artist strategy and social media investment. Speakers include regional Mexican leaders like respected manager and producer Fernando Camacho (Banda MS), Roberto Ruiz (Kartel Records) and Isael Gutiérrez (VIP Entertainment).

The event will also include an award ceremony honoring a “Legendary producer” as well as Lifetime achievement artist winners.

Tickets to Unión Musical can be purchased here.