Megan Thee Stallion has proven her dedication to both her music and her love for anime with a last-minute twist just days before the release of her third studio album, Megan.

The Houston rapper took to Instagram Live on Jun. 26 to share some behind-the-scenes drama with her fans, the Hotties, about having to re-record the track “Otaku Hot Girl” due to unexpected clearance issues with a major anime studio.

During her Instagram Live session, Megan explained how she initially recorded “Otaku Hot Girl” without securing the proper clearance for an anime sample she used in the song.

The Grammy Award-winning artist didn’t reveal which anime series or studio was involved, but she assured fans that the sample would be instantly recognizable.

“Y’all will never believe what the motherf**k just happened to me!” Megan exclaimed to her followers.

“Y’all know how I told y’all I got an anime sample on my album. I recorded the song before I asked for clearance, so when I sent the people the song, they was like…” Megan paused dramatically, then detailed the studio’s stipulations: she had to change some of the lyrics and was not allowed to cosplay any characters in the music video​.

The demands didn’t stop there.

Megan shared that the studio later requested the removal of all character names from the song, which presented a significant challenge since the names were crucial to the lyrics.

Despite the frustration, Megan re-recorded the track in a makeshift studio just hours before her June 11 Dallas show.

“The music is what’s really important to me, but the names really tied it all together,” she explained.

Megan’s determination paid off, and she expressed her gratitude towards the studio for eventually granting the clearance. “I really hope y’all think this s**t sound fire, ’cause I had to jump through eight million hoops to get this s**t,” she added.

“Otaku Hot Girl” is one of 18 tracks on Megan’s upcoming album, which includes the singles “Cobra,” “Hiss,” and “Boa,” as well as collaborations with artists like Kyle Richh, GloRilla, UGK, and Victoria Monét.

The album follows nearly two years after her sophomore release, Traumazine​.

Megan Thee Stallion’s new album, Megan, dropped on June 28.

Chance the Rapper has just dropped a major update on his upcoming release, Star Line, and it’s the news fans have been waiting for.

In a recent chat with Complex, the Chicago native revealed that his next studio project is about 83 percent complete, bringing us one step closer to hearing what he’s been working on.

Initially, Chance estimated the collection was 85 percent done but quickly adjusted his estimate.

“That’s a little generous. I’ma say 83. 83.5, 82.7, you know what I’m saying? We’re living in the project right now,” he joked, giving fans a peek into his creative process.

Reflecting on the journey from his debut album The Big Day (2019) to Star Line, Chance shared how different this experience has been.

“For my last project, I’d just gotten married, I just had a baby, I was about to separate from my management. Like, I had so many things going on. Now, it’s not like there isn’t a lot going on, but I’m really able to enjoy the creative process and be 100 percent myself.”

Star Line draws inspiration from Marcus Garvey’s historic Black Star Line, a shipping company aimed at connecting the global Black diaspora in the early 1900s.

Chance elaborated on this during a 2022 interview with Sway.

“He started and ran this very important, integral shipping line. He had a fleet of ships, these giant ocean liners which are the size of cruise ships, that he owned and funded with common Black folks’ money.”

Garvey’s vision of global Black connectivity deeply resonates with Chance, who aims to channel that spirit into his music. “When I think about the Black Star Line and all the spaces that it’s been in, the black star [on the line’s flag] is [also] the representation of Ghana, in their flag, in the fabric of how their country was set up,” he said.

“They believe in global Blackness, Black connectivity and a free Africa.”

Although the album was initially slated for a Spring 2024 release, Chance hasn’t confirmed a new date yet.

To keep fans engaged, he dropped “Together,” produced by DJ Premier, in May, and “Buried Alive” in April, a track that touches on his recent divorce and legal battles with his ex-manager.

In Buried Alive, Chance gets real with lines like, “Where’s his money now? Where his wife at?/ Where his manager? Where his hype at?/ Then they threw the dirt on the casket,” showcasing his raw, introspective side.

Earlier this year, Chance posted an IG Reel of “Buried Alive,” asking fans if he should drop a video. The clips he’s shared of his new direction have featured a darker tone, with black backgrounds and white subtitles, addressing the drama he’s faced since The Big Day.

“I’m really able to revel in the creative process and put everything into that and be 100 percent myself and present in the now,” he said.

Say howdy to Noah Kahan and Kelsea Ballerini‘s new duet “Cowboys Cry Too,” which dropped midnight Friday (June 28).

Featuring reflective lyrics, twangy guitar and fiddle, finds the two stars’ voices blending beautifully together with the refrain, “I never knew cowboys cry too.”

“I grew up wishing I could close off the way my dad did,” Kahan sings on his verse, as teased in a clip he posted to Instagram ahead of the song’s release. “‘Cause that man never felt a d–n thing he didn’t wanna feel/ I’ve burned too many miles trying to ride out all the sadness/ But you can’t outdrive pain someday it’s gonna take the wheel.”

The day before the track arrived, Ballerini shared a video on her Story listening to it on her car radio with boyfriend Chase Stokes and their two dogs. “Good morning! ‘Cowboys Cry Too’ is on the radio!” she tells the camera excitedly as the Outer Banks star sings along. “Let’s go!”

Kahan and the “Peter Pan” singer gave fans just two days’ heads-up before “Cowboys Cry Too” dropped, with Ballerini sharing the single’s contemplative cover art on social media. “so proud and excited to release this first song in a new chapter of music,” she wrote Wednesday (June 26).

“Can’t wait for this,” added Kahan, reposting the announcement on his Story.

The emotional duet comes nearly a month and a half after the two musicians teamed up for a joint performance of Ballerini’s “Mountain With a View” and Kahan’s Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Stick Season” at the 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards. In a red-carpet interview with Billboard ahead of the ceremony, Kahan recalled meeting his collaborator for the first time at the Billboard + NMPA Songwriter Awards during Grammy Week in February.

“I kind of felt overwhelmed and out of place,” he said. “[She] made me feel really comfortable, and I think that’s why I was so excited to work with her. Kelsea’s just one of those people that the voice is so special, but the songwriting is so real, and you can see that she lives her songs. I really look up to her and admire her for that.”

Listen to Kahan and Ballerini’s “Cowboys Cry Too” below.

LISA is back with the new single “Rockstar,” and she released a music video to match the song’s bombastic title.

The BLACKPINK rapper, singer and dancer went to her native Thailand to shoot the dance-heavy video, taking over the streets of Bangkok for the shoot. “​​Gold teeth sitting on the dash, she a rockstar/ Make your favorite singer wanna rap, baby, la la/ ‘Lisa, can you teach me Japanese?’ I said, ‘Hai hai’/ That’s my life life, baby I’m a rockstar,” LISA raps on the chorus.

“Rockstar” was released under the new partnership between RCA Records and LISA’s management company, LLOUD Co., which she founded earlier this year.

The song — which LISA co-wrote with Brittany Amaradio, James Essien, Lucy Healey, Ryan Tedder and Sam Homaee and was produced by Tedder and Homaee — was first teased on TikTok earlier this month when LISA joined the social media site and set a Guinness World Record by gaining 1 million followers in just over two hours. She officially announced the “Rockstar” release details last week.

In September 2021, LISA made her solo debut with the two-track single album Lalisa, released via YG Entertainment and Interscope Records, which included the title track and “Money.” She made history when “Lalisa” won best K-pop at both the MTV Video Music Awards and the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2022, making her the first K-pop solo artist to win an award at both shows. Two years earlier, LISA’s group BLACKPINK became the first all-female K-pop group to win a VMA.

Watch the “Rockstar” video below:

The cause of death for Shifty Shellshock, the frontman of rap rock band Crazy Town, has been revealed.

The star, who was born Seth Binzer, died of accidental overdose, according to People. “Seth Binzer, after struggling with addiction and Crazy Town’s rapid success with ‘Butterfly,’ never was able to reach out on a more successful level to deal with his addictions,” Crazy Town’s manager told the publication. “We all tried, but ultimately we all failed, or Shifty would still be here.”

He continued, “The cause of death was a combination of prescription drugs and street purchased drugs. Shifty was a friend and really wanted to get himself fixed — unfortunately no one had the exact tools to do this, myself included.”

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner is still awaiting a toxicology report for more information.

On Monday (June 24), it was revealed that Shellshock died at home at age 49, per the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. 

Shellshock met Crazy Town co-founder Bret Mazer in 1992, and the band went on to add various members, including Adam Goldstein (better known as DJ AM, who died from an accidental overdose in 2009), Rust Epique, Antonio Lorenzo Valli, James Bradley Jr., among others. The band released its debut album The Gift of Game in November 1999. It peaked at No. 9 on the all-genre Billboard 200 on the chart dated March 3, 2001, and remained on the tally for 34 weeks.