This year is no different from the last, seeing a star-studded selection of rappers from both sides of the Atlantic. Phase one of Wireless’ line up was announced today via the festival’s official Instagram. 2024’s event poster gives considerable weight to female rappers, both new and old. After exploding in popularity in 2022 after her single ‘Munch’, Bronx rapper, Ice Spice will be playing on the festival’s opening night alongside Trinidadian mega-star Nicki Minaj.

Known for her risqué lyrics, Up-and-coming Missourian rapper Sexyy Red will also be performing at Wireless. Finding her audience after Cardi B’s and Megan Thee Stallion’s WAP created an industry niche for tongue-in-cheek, sexually charged, female-led, rap music, Sexxy Red capitalised on this sub-genre, finding success with her 2023 single ‘Pound Town’.

Saturday the 14th of July will see LA rapper and singer Doja Cat headline the night. After her breakout YouTube single ‘Mooo!’, which currently has 129m views, Doja Cat has continued to make a name for herself through a steady stream of popular releases and her outlandish costume designs. Off the back of her fourth studio album, Scarlet, released in November of last year, Doja Cat has secured herself a top spot at London’s biggest music festival.

Wireless’ Saturday will be host to British-born Atlanta rapper 21 Savage. 21 Savage became widely known after his 2016 feature on XXL Magazine’s freshman cypher alongside, then upcoming rappers, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, Kodak Black, and Denzel Curry. Since his 2016 breakout, 21 Savage has gone on to release three studio albums, as well as three collaborative albums with Offset, Metro Boomin, and Drake. Fellow Atlanta rapper, Future will also be performing on the event’s Friday show. Known for his pioneering contributions to the American trap scene, Future remains one of the biggest names in the genre.

Although the setlist features only a couple of UK artists so far, with Digga D and J Hus joining the line up, Festival Republic is yet to announce the full line up, the second phase of which will be released next week. Early bird tickets for the festival will go live on January 31st at 10am. For those with either a Three Mobile or Barclay Card rewards scheme, a special pre-sale is currently available until an hour before the general ticket sale date.

That’s a wrap on 2022, magical weekend #GopuffxWireless pic.twitter.com/wvYHH4PctL

— Wireless Festival (@WirelessFest) July 11, 2022

While I’m definitely not an event organiser, I imagine that – while you may try your best to account for everything – sometimes… things are out of your control. The weather for example, and thus how punters end up reacting to it. The UK are currently dead centre of a pretty significant heatwave, 30+C degree temperatures and give or take 50,000 people in the same place will always bring problems. On Sunday afternoon, the police were called to control crowds after many were reported to jump the park’s fences in order to avoid being trampled. It’s unknown as to whether those that jumped the fence had tickets… but it just makes sense. The Met issued a statement consoling fans by saying ‘As a result of this, security staff put in place a brief hold on people being admitted to the event to ensure the safe flow of people into the site. This caused a large crowd to form in the area around the site.’.

This wasn’t the only bad news, many artists like Burna Boy, Lil Durk, JI and Ruger all announced on very short notice that they wouldn’t be arriving. This, in conjunction with the 40-minute late start of headliner Nicki Minaj left a bit of a bad taste in many fans’ mouths after what was a particularly successful festival in the first 2 days.

Now, that’s all the bad news out of the way. The rest of the girlpower-centric festival was primarily considered to be a massive success. Day 1 headliner Cardi B highlighted the power couple dynamic by bringing out Offset for a brief Migos interlude: “Bad and Boujee”, “Coult”, and “Ric Flair Drip” all made an appearance – then it just seems right for Megan Thee Stallion to also arrive for the bombshell of a track that is ‘WAP’. Visibly Pregnant Summer Walker owned her time in the spotlight and even brought out Bree Runway for “Hot Hot”, and SZA proved she had what it takes to headline a festival with a seamless slot.

All in all, festivals will always come with their negatives. This one is very much proof that the circuit is back into full swing after a few years of doubt.

The new track’s music video also pays homage to P.Diddy’s 2001 hit and appears to be a reimagined version of the original video. P.Diddy is cast as Nelson’s disgruntled neighbour who proceeds to scold the 30-year-old singer. Nelson is depicted within the video as causing chaos within a traditional fictional suburban neighbourhood. The singer co-directed the video with Harry James and is shot much like a feature film ending with credits and bloopers.

Along with the backing of musical heavyweight P.Diddy, the track also sees Nelson collaborate with Nicki Minaj. The American rapper is also featured in the new music video, Minaj can be seen performing within a glamorous looking garage. Nelson has also worked with production artists Loose Change on her new track. The singer has worked with the duo before on the Little Mix 2018 track “Touch”.

Leading up to the track’s release the singer promoted the single and teased information via social media. During the run up, Nelson stated how her new material may divide her fans. The singer took to her Instagram to announce the single’s release.

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Speaking within a press release, Nelson stated that the lyrical themes were inspired by a bad break up which forced the singer to self-reflect. The singer began to ponder on her dating life, “‘Why do I like bad boys, what is wrong with me? Why am I attracted to anyone that looks naughty?‘” The singer proceeds to recount her conversation with Loose Change concerning her musical process and inspiration, “You’ll think I’m a nutter but I really want to write a song about why most women like bad boys and I want to use the Diddy song, And they were like, ‘Let’s do it’.”

Nelson announced her departure from her former group last year and cited her reasons due to mental health issues. However, the hit-making girl group are still evident within Nelson’s solo release. The “Shout Out To My Ex” singers are name-dropped by P.Diddy’s within the artist’s dialogue.

The singer has recently spoken to Glamour within their October digital issue concerning her ex-bandmates. Nelson admitted that their relationship has changed but remains optimistic. “I haven’t spoken to the girls. It is weird because for so many years we were as close as sisters, together every hour of the day for weeks, sharing beds, laughing, crying just 24/7 the four of us together and then… Nothing.”

Within the interview, Nelson remained hopeful that they would rekindle their relationship and continued to discuss their bond and confirms hopes for their friendship, “Hopefully at some point in the future we can all come back together. I love them. They are my sisters in so many ways, but for the time being we just don’t talk.”

Click here to download/stream “Boyz“.

Lovesick is a song inspired by women experiencing disrespect within their relationships. Over an R&B sound and a hip-hop beat, Ray BLK features as a powerful force for revenge in this brand new Labi directed music video. The combination of the British singer’s soul vocals and skilled rap verses gives Lovesick a modern London sound that has made her so popular this year.

The African-born singer debuted her first EP in 2015 called Havisham, named after the character Miss. Havisham in Charles Dickens’ epic, Great Expectations. This best of times/worst of times musical-literary take on the heartbroken nature of women in this Dickens’ novel was inspired by Ray BLK’s graduating degree in English literature at Brunel University.

In 2016 she debuted her first micro-album Dirt which catapulted her to popularity with a feature from the famous artist Stormzy and went on to help her win the BBC’s Sound of 2017 contest. Ray BLK was the first unsigned artist to do so in history. While Ray BLK was hesitant to sign with a label for fear of losing the rights to her music, she did eventually sign with Universal Island Records UK in 2018.

The success she found throughout 2016-2017 and her new label connections gave Ray BLK her biggest career opportunity to date by landing an opening-act for Nicki Minaj’s Nicki Wrld Tour in the United Kingdom for 2019. This experience helped Ray BLK gain a dense following and therefore her first full length album is highly anticipated for the coming year.

Ray BLK has received critical praise for her previously released EP’s and singles and many well-known musicians in the community have expressed their respect for the artist. Collaborations with Stormzy and Nicki Minaj have given her the platform to be recognized by Janet Jackson and recently Cardi B. has praised Ray BLK on all social media platforms.

After a a few successful EP releases without the help of a label, collaborations with well-known artists and the anticipation of her first full-length album, Ray BLK is officially on the upward climb in the R&B genre and community. Ray BLK has no upcoming events or tour dates for 2020 or 2021, making her popularity boost a virtual one. Lovesick is available on all streaming platforms and her new music video is now available through YouTube’s official VEVO channel.

Rap Queen Nicki Minaj announces 2019 European tour that promises fans a “fully immersive ‘Queen’ experience”. 

After releasing her fourth album ‘Queen’ in 2018, with features from Lil Wayne, Ariana Grande, The Weekend, Future, and the legendary Eminem, a European tour, with 4 dates sets for the UK, looks set to be hugely popular.

The Nicki WRLD Tour starts in February in Germany, and will finish in Switzerland on March the 28th.

Minaj will play in London at the O2 on March 11th, the Birmingham Arena on the 14th, the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on the 17th, finishing her UK stretch at the Manchester Arena on Monday the 18th.

In a recent statement, Minaj said: “ I’m so excited to bring the full Nicki Minaj experience to my fans in Europe”, she guaranteed a “new creative that will give her fans a fully immersive Queen experience”. She stated; “I have been carefully crafting the most exhilarating, unique, memorable piece of art to share with my incredible fans”.

Juice Wrld, AKA American rapper, singer and songwriter Jarad Higgins has been announced to replace Future on the European stretch of the Nicki WRLD Tour. Higgins debut studio album Goodbye & Good Riddance was released in May 2018, and has since gone platinum. His single Lucid Dreams, narrowly missed out on Billboard 100s top spot, peaking at No. 2.

 Future fans may be disappointed that Nicki switched artists, after having to cancel and postpone her North American tour, citing production problems. Future was sadly not able to commit to the tour dates, because of clashes in his schedule. Nicki’s team announced “Following her unforgettable VMA performance, Nicki Minaj has decided to reevaluate elements of her production on the NickiHndrxx Tour… (and) to contribute more time to rehearsal ahead of the tour’s launch to make certain her fans get the absolute best quality show that they deserve”.

The North American trek now has a rescheduled date of May 2019. Minaj gushed about Juice WRLD stating; “I’m in love with Juice Wrld’s music and feel so stoked to have him join me. This will be one for the books”.

The Anaconda singer will continue promoting her new album Queen, which recently went platinum

You can see the full tour dates below

February 

21 – Munich, Germany, Olympiahalle

22 – Bratislava, Slovakia, Ondrej Nepela Arena

24 – Lodz, Poland, Atlas Arena

25 – Budapest, Hungary, Budapest Sportarena

March

1 – Copenhagen, Denmark, Royal Arena

3 – Oslo, Norway, Spektrum

4 – Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson Globe

6 – Brussels, Belgium, Palais 12

7 – Paris, France, AccorHotels Arena

9 – Bordeaux, France, Metropole Arena

11 – London, UK, The 02

14 – Birmingham, UK, Birmingham Arena

15 – Dublin, Ireland, 3Arena

17 – Glasgow, UK, SSE Hydro

18 – Manchester, UK, Manchester Arena

20 – Esch – sur -Alzette, Luxembourg, Rockhal

22- Frankfurt, Germany, Festhalle

23 – Cologne, Germany, Laxness Arena

25 – Amsterdam, Holland, Ziggo Dome

27 – Zurich, Switzerland, Hallenstadion

28 – Geneva, Switzerland, Arena Geneva

To purchase tickets please click here 

In the lead up to this album, Post released the single ‘Rockstar’ featuring 21 Savage, with reached number 1 in the UK singles chart, and went 2x platinum, selling over 1,000,000 copies.

beerbongs and bentleys has already gone platinum in Post’s native USA, selling over 1,000,000 copies in the space of just three days, which is a huge testament to how huge he has become in 3 years. It boasts huge features from artists like Nicki Minaj, G-Eazy and Swae Lee as well.

His new album has also broken streaming records as well, as the 18 songs on the album were streamed just under 79,000,000 times worldwide in just the first day of its release according to Spotify.

The record was initially set by J Cole’s new album KOD just a week before, but Post Malone received over 10,000,000 more first day streams than the North Carolina rapper.

Love him or hate him, you cannot deny that Post Malone is now a worldwide superstar, and he has an enormous fan base that are incredibly dedicated and passionate about his music.