Tay-K Makes His XXL Freshman List Case, Metallica Defends Poseurs To St. Vincent, K104’s Hollywood Bay Bay Sparks A New Rap Trend — And So Much More!

As rumors start to swirl about who may or may not be a part of XXL’s 2018 Freshman Class, Arlington rapper Tay K penned a heartfelt letter to XXL lobbying for his inclusion in this year’s class — despite, y’know, his current incarceration.

In the letter, Tay-K reminds the publication that he’s currently being held on “allegations” and that he’s innocent until proven guilty. Then he highlights the impressive amount of accolades he’s racked up since the release of his smash hit, “The Race.”

See the full letter, posted to Instagram by the young rapper’s also-young management, below:

Of course, when XXL released its “Vote for the 10th Spot” campaign a few weeks ago, Dallas’ Bobby Sessions was also featured alongside Tay-

K for consideration to be included on the list, although we haven’t seen any indication the Def Jam artist is lobbying for a spot. Instead, Sessions just went ahead with business as usual and released his debut single as a major label artist last week. It’s titled “Like Me” (hear it here) and the debut the release of the song’s music video is expected to come out this Friday — so be on the lookout for that one.

As if Dallas isn’t already making enough of an impact on hip-hop at the moment, K104 radio personality Hollywood Bay Bay ignited a hip-hop trend when he recently invited Chicago’s G Herbo to freestyle over Three 6 Mafia’s “Who Run It” beat. From the jump, Herbo delivered an energetic, head nod-inducing run of bars that ignited Twitter and Instagram as soon as the Chicago rapper shared the video of him in the K104 studio. Since then, G Herbo turned the track into an official release, and rappers as diverse as A$AP Rocky, Trippie Redd and Lil Yachty have given the 19-year-old beat a run of their own, as Noisey noted last week. It’s worth noting that this is just another example of a classic Three 6 Mafia beat getting re-purposed, as has been the trend for over a year.

If remixing old Three 6 Mafia beats is the latest trend for rappers, then the latest trend for rap fans is wearing retro band tees –and St. Vincent is all over that one. Last week, Annie Clark took to Twitter to bemoan the trend:

Funny enough, Metallica popped up in the wake of that tweet and told St. Vincent to go easy on the kids.

Maybe more important than that funny Twitter exchange between two music titans is St. Vincent’s inclusion on a new six-song EP called Universal Love that is made up of covers of well-known pop hits with a same-sex twist. The project was released last Friday and also features Bob Dylan, Kesha, Kele Okereke, Valerie June and Ben Gibbard.

If any other Dallas knows all about universal love, it has to be Erykah Badu, who showered Cardi B with some praise for her debut studio album Invasion of Privacy on Instagram this weekend. In return, the Bronx rapper proclaimed that she can now die happy.

Badu, meanwhile, has news of her own (of course): It was announced this week that she will be the Friday night headliner of this year’s Essence Festival in New Orleans.

Speaking of festivals, North Texas has a new one on the way. KAABOO Texas is the result of a partnership between Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the fast-growing California music festival KAABOO. The inaugural event will take place May 3 to 5 in 2019 at the 100,000-person capacity AT&T Stadium in Arlington and promises “a lineup with a rock-centered focus, complete with chart-topping hit makers, bucket-list artists, and the familiar nod to local culture” as well as an “upscale experience,” as reported by Consequence of Sound. If, for some reason, that sounds too good to be true, the 2018 KAABOO lineup in Del Mar, California, features Foo Fighters, Katy Perry, Imagine Dragons, Robert Plant, N.E.R.D., Incubus, Alice In Chains, Stone Temples Pilots and North Texas’ own Post Malone, plus more.

Still, given this news, it’s OK if you are a little suspicious: Another new festival slated to kick off this weekend in Arlington and with the support of the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park called the CFW Festival has already been canceled due to “low advance ticket sales,” Guidelive reports. The festival was set to include sets from Young The Giant and Josh Abbott Band, among others.

Maybe the lesson here is to simply appreciate what we’ve got while we’ve got it. Case in point: Favorite North Texas rock trio Oil Boom announced this week that it’s calling it a career. The longtime local stalwarts are ending things amicably and on a high note, what with the release of the band’s second LP Terribility late last year. Better yet, there’s still time to see the band on its final run of shows, which includes a Dallas date at Three Links on Thursday, April 26.

Before we close things out this week by highlighting the latest releases from North Texas artists this week, there’s a new all-local radio program joining the ranks of KXT 91.7 FM’s “The Local Show” with Amy Miller, Denton signal KUZU 92.9-FM‘s many local offerings and 96.7-FM’s “The Local Ticket” with DJ Mark. The long-gestating AlreadyRADIO, from former Central Track contributor Rodney Blu, promises a weekly dosage of the Dallas underground with its weekly “DTXSelects” offering that it’ll be sharing each Monday, starting with yesterday’s debut episode. Give it a listen below.

Continuing her current hot streak, Maren Morris is portraying herself as a bounty hunter hot on the trail in the music video for her new Steve Miller-sampling tune, “Rich.” After you get done watching that below, check out Rolling Stone’s new feature on Morris as she talks her pop crossover.

Recent Quality Control signee Lil Cobaine, meanwhile, lets his works gentle falsetto carry the load on his new “FORZA Speed” track.

Then there’s Symbolyc One, who’s teaming up with his fellow local producer Lonestarrmuzik, who he recently his own star-studded production roster, with a new track on Lil Xan’s much-anticipated LP, Total Xanarchy. Listen to LIl Xan’s “Saved By The Bell” below.

Luna Luna, on the other hand, premiered a new tune today called “Fro (feat. Pretty Boy Aaron).”

And The Outfit, TX are all about that action on “Rope A Dope,” the group’s latest work with videographer Dance Dailey.

Next, and in anticipation of his new album dropping April 16, Reb Creezy channels his inner Louis Armstrong for “Nobody Knows.”

And, lastly this week, there’s Denton’s Daniel Markham, who has a new album on the way that won’t be dropping until May 25. Until then, the songwriter’s released “Velvet Elvis” to hold you over.

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