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Ja Rule agreed with Beverley, who blamed Morant’s family and the Grizzlies star’s choice of music

The Ja Morant situation has had the NBA world buzzing, and plenty of people are sharing their two cents. Patrick Beverley recently caused a bit of a stir by blaming Morant’s parents and affinity for hip-hop culture for the Memphis Grizzlies star’s troubling antics. Interestingly, American rapper Ja Rule agreed with the take.

“I’m sure there is,” Ja Rule answered when asked if he agreed that gangster rap influenced Morant. “Hip hop is very influential. I’ve done things in my youth because of hip-hop. Redman made ‘How to Roll a Blunt,’ so I smell the blood. In fact, Snoop ‘Gin and Juice,’ I started drinking gin and juice. So, hip-hop is very influential. I’m not gonna say it’s not.”

nfluence of music

Beverley rarely holds his tongue when he feels strongly about a specific topic. And given that Morant is one of the potential faces of the league in the future and that he has had his fair share of battles with the young Grizzlies point guard, the Chicago Bulls veteran surely had to join the conversation.

However, Pat’s comments might come across as divisive as it implies that rap music, which many players and fans regularly consume, is to blame for Morant’s reckless behavior. Of course, there is some truth to Beverley’s remarks, as Ja Rule himself affirms based on his experience.

Turning things around

Hopefully, the Grizzlies star can learn from his mistakes. So far, he has expressed his desire to change his ways, claiming to take full responsibility for his recent gun-toting incident.

It remains to be seen if Ja can indeed make a 180-degree turn from what has probably been the darkest chapter of his life. Of course, he must do as much to realize his full potential as a basketball player and help Memphis become a legitimate playoff contender.

Ja Rule offered a piece of unsolicited advice to the 23-year-old.

“The thing with Ja is I just hope he has better people around him and just let him know that ain’t the way,” Ja Rule added. “You go play ball, man. The streets ain’t about nothing. Go grind on them. Keep balling. That’s it. We all make mistakes.”

Fans can see Morant return to the court as early as Monday, as he will have completed his eight-game suspension that day. But the team has not officially announced that its cornerstone will suit up against the Dallas Mavericks.

YouTube Music is always growing with new feature additions, though it isn’t without its fair share of frustrations. Regardless, more than 80 million listeners are on YouTube Music and a good portion of them are paying for the Premium tier. A subscription entitles customers to a handful of benefits including ad-free music, thus giving ample incentive for people to switch over from rival services. We can now add one more perk to the list with a new toggle appearing within the Android app’s settings.

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This toggle, labeled “Recently played songs,” was mentioned in the February 2023 YouTube Music Highlights post and picked up by 9to5Google. Flip the switch and YouTube Music will automatically download up to 200 songs based on your recent history. It operates separately from Smart downloads, meaning “Recently played songs” will be downloaded even if Smart downloads is switched off.

YTM Recently Played Songs
Premium account holders can enable the Recently played songs toggle by navigating to “Downloads & storage” from the YouTube Music app’s settings page. Google says the new toggle began rolling out on January 12, but most users have only started seeing it in the past several days.

Google didn’t mention where these automatic downloads would appear and there’s no visible playlist containing these songs either in the home screen view or within the Library tab, but the company’s phrasing suggests that they’re only intended for offline listening.

If you’re ever stuck somewhere without an internet connection, both “Smart downloads” and downloads from “Recently played songs” sound like decent options to fill your entertainment void.

Even through a video, it’s easy to feel the energy of some 10,000 people cheering for Joy Clark. The New Orleans singer and guitarist had joined Americana artist Allison Russell for a show during Brandi Carlile’s Girls Just Wanna Weekend in Riviera Maya, Mexico, and they worked a cover of “Landslide” onto the set list. Encouraged by Russell and guitarist Mandy Fer, Clark stepped to the mic, and the crowd roared as she started to sing.

“The love I felt come from that audience — if you watch the video, I sing a line and then it was like, whoa,” Clark says. “I had to stop and just smile. It was such a monumental, joyful and emotional experience for me.”

It’s also just as easy to pick up on Clark’s optimism in her music and charisma both on and offstage. Rooted in Americana and folk pop — and not afraid to let it rock — Clark’s songs are warm, heartfelt, intimate and hopeful. It’s not that hard times and heartache aren’t ahead, but that she’s strong enough to weather it.

New Orleanians can catch that energy live on Wednesday nights in March at d.b.a. The weekly residency on Frenchmen Street comes during a busy time for Clark: After her shows with Allison Russell in January, Clark was a featured act at February’s Folk Alliance International Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, and last Friday, played the Folk Alliance Showcase at South by Southwest (SXSW).

She’s also on the lineup for French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest, and she’ll open for George Porter Jr. on April 26 at Wednesday at the Square. To top it off, Clark recently released a live acoustic album, “Live! In Seattle,” available on CD at her shows, and she’ll be featured in Rhiannon Giddens’ new PBS series, “My Music,” which premieres May 1.

A busy 2023 follows a breakout 2022 for Clark. She met Russell in Nashville at an event organized by Black Opry — an organization elevating Black artists in country and folk music — and joined her band early last year. It led to Clark playing the Ryman Auditorium, SXSW, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and the pre-show at the Grammy Awards.

“It felt like whatever I showed up to, it just spread like a wildfire,” Clark says.

But none of it happened out of the blue. “New Orleans has cultivated my art so much,” she says. “I’ve been a player here. I’ve played with different projects, and I’ve learned how to support people and do well at it. It’s that New Orleans training of being able to step in and be a part of something and make it shine even more.”

Clark was born in Harvey and, as the daughter of a minister, grew up with music at church. She became obsessed with the guitar at an early age, and as she grew older found musical influences in Tracy Chapman, Lalah Hathaway and Anita

Clark started writing her own music and performing while at the University of New Orleans and joined her first band, Soulkestra, an all-female group started by pianist Monica Dillon. After graduating, Clark continued to build her career in New Orleans, performing with Big Chief Alfred Doucette, Cyril Neville and pianist Lilli Lewis, and she released her first EP in 2020.

Clark and Lewis, both queer Black women, are among a growing number of Black musicians — particularly women — re-claiming Americana, like Russell, Yola, Joy Oladokun and Lizzie No. Country, folk and the larger umbrella of Americana music are genres rooted in African American music traditions, but the industry has been hostile to Black musicians for much of history. Still, Black musicians have always made music in those genres. Clark would like to see the conversation move past the “newness,” she says.

“Our presence isn’t new. We’ve been kept out. We’ve been here, but haven’t been accepted,” Clark says. “What I would like the conversation to be is, yeah, this is our arena. It’s not new. There are so many of us, and there’s always been so many of us. Let’s just normalize and stop being surprised.”

Hit-Boy says he didn’t plan on taking aim at Hitmaka on “Slipping Into Darkness,” but decided to take the shot after Hitmaka questioned his relevancy.

The Grammy-winning producer revealed the information during a recent episode of Home Grown Radio, saying he added the diss after Hitmaka’s not-so-flattering comments on Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning. Hitmaka suggested he was more successful than Hit-Boy because he received more radio play, despite being in the game for a shorter time.

Hit-Boy fired back just several hours later, when he released the Alchemist-assisted track “Slipping Into Darkness,” in which he name-dropped some other big-time producers, including Mustard, Metro Boomin, Southside, and Hitmaka.

“I fuck with Mustard, he can make that ratchet shit with his eyes closed,” he rapped on the track. “But now I’m starting to wonder, can that n***a chop soul? / I just seen Yung Berg spoke on the wave, I should do him like Trick Trick and snatch Hit out his name.”

He went on to highlight some of his biggest successes.

“I was just letting motherfuckers know how I been rockin … I produced the biggest Griselda release in the history of Griselda, helped Nas win his first Grammy, I got Jay-Z most streamed song, I produced Nipsey’s biggest song. Like, n***as be trying to disrespect.”

Hit-Boy said he knew Hitmaka was always talking trash behind the scenes, but had let it slide. He then told the hosts he doesn’t respect Hitmaka’s work because he doesn’t believe it’s legitimate.

“The conversation is over. He don’t make beats,” he said about Hitmaka. “I’m really hand-crafting new styles, coming with different bounces, new drum patterns … and this man don’t even make the beat and he has the nerve to speak on me.”

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You can check out Hitboy’s full interview above.

The producer also spoke about his upcoming album Surf or Drown, which arrives next Friday. The project will deliver 11 tracks and will include appearances by Nas, Dom Kennedy, Currensy, and Alchemist. Hit-Boy also confirmed he and the latter are looking to release a joint EP.

In a career that began in 1960, the Puerto Rico-born Mr. Vega became, one admirer said, “the architect of Hispanic radio at a global level.”

Polito Vega, an exuberant announcer with a booming bass voice and a finely attuned ear whose Spanish-language shows popularized salsa music in New York in the mid-1960s, died on March 9 in North Bergen, N.J. He was 84.

His death was announced by his family. No cause was given.

After abandoning his dreams of becoming a singer, Mr. Vega began his broadcasting career in 1960, shortly after transplanting himself from Puerto Rico to New York. He quickly distinguished himself on air with his signature voice, his perky epigrams like “Andando, andando, andando” (“Keep going”) and his adventurous playlists. He also distinguished himself in person, at concerts and dances, with his ubiquitous Yankees cap, starched white guayabera shirt, white goatee and fuzzy sideburns.

The disc jockey and recording artist Alex Sensation described Mr. Vega on Instagram as “the architect of Hispanic radio at a global level.”

In an obituary in Billboard magazine, Leila Cobo, the author of “Decoding ‘Despacito’: An Oral History of Latin Music” (2020), wrote: “Vega’s importance to Latin music cannot be overstated. He was the most influential tastemaker in the country’s top market, dating back to when tropical music first became popular in the city in the 1960s and 1970s and stretching all the way to the 21st century.”

He was heard on two New York AM stations, first WEVD and then WBNX, and finally on WSKQ (Mega 97.9 FM) — which began broadcasting as a full-time Spanish-language format in 1989 and has often been rated No. 1 in that market. He also became the station’s program director.

When Mr. Vega began broadcasting, he recalled, he was struck by the disconnect between the comparatively temperate bolero music that dominated Latin broadcasting and the feverish salsa he was encountering in nightclubs. He was among the first radio personalities to recognize the market for salsa, identifying promising talent and mentoring gifted musicians.

“It was two different worlds in those early days,” Mr. Vega said told The New York Times in 2009. “At the dance halls and up in the Catskills you would hear the Tito Puente and Machito orchestras tearing things up, but on the radio the kind of thing you heard was romantic trios, unless you were tuning in to Symphony Sid” — the prominent jazz D.J. who began playing Afro-Cuban music in the 1960s — “late at night.”

The trombonist Willie Colón, who became one of salsa’s biggest stars, recalled that the first time he heard Yomo Toro, the maestro of the 10-string guitar known as the cuatro, with whom he would later collaborate on several recordings, “was on Polito’s show, playing along with listeners who would call in and sing over the telephone.”

In the late 1960s, Mr. Colón got a break when he was invited to appear on “Club de la Juventud,” an “American Bandstand”-inspired TV show that Mr. Vega hosted on the Telemundo network from 1967 to 1970.