Friday Music News

James Blake has teamed up with Atlanta rapper SwaVay for the track “Billy.” According to SwaVay, it’s one of an unspecified number of collaborative tracks between the two. Blake unveiled “Billy” during his BBC Radio 1 Residency last night. The song follows a number of singles that Blake has released lately, including “If the Car Beside You Moves Ahead,” “Don’t Miss It,” his collab with Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, and Future called “King’s Dead,” and a remake of Moses Sumney’s “Make Out In My Car.” [ Stereogum ]

Compton rapper YG has shared a new A$AP Rocky-featuring song called “Handgun” off his forthcoming album, Stay Dangerous. The song comes with a boot camp-inspired video. Stay Dangerous is out August 3 and follows 2016’s Still Brazy. Earlier this week, ASAP Rocky shared a new track with Tyler, the Creator called “Potato Salad.” [ Pitchfork ]

Yesterday, Paul McCartney made a historical return to the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where The Beatles would play their first shows. It’s believed that they played the venue almost 300 times in the 60s at the beginning of their career. Tickets were announced just hours ahead of the 2pm local time gig and were limited to about 200 on a first-come, first-serve basis. According to the official set list, McCartney and his band began with a jam then launched into “20 Flight Rock,” the Eddie Cochran song he played when he auditioned for John Lennon to join his then-group The Quarrymen at St. Peter's Church Hall in Liverpool on July 6, 1957. The Cavern set also included “In Spite of All the Danger,” a song originally sung by Lennon that The Quarrymen recorded in 1958. McCartney played four tunes from his yet-unreleased Egypt Station album: “Come On to Me,” “Confidante,” “Who Cares” and “Fuh You.” Egypt Station drops September 7. [ Billboard ]

Today, Chicago rapper Vic Mensa has shared a new song called “Metaphysical.” Produced by Stefan Ponce and Papi Beatz, the song is African music-inspired. “This is a song about desire. Admiration. Respect. Uncertainty. Surrender,” Mensa said of the single in a statement. “Musically it’s African, tribal. My father is Ghanian so I’ve wanted to take it there for a long time. I got Stefan Ponce who did ‘Down On My Luck’ for me & Papi Beatz and just spoke my truth into song.” The artwork for “Metaphysical” also draws from the album cover of Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti’s 1975 album Expensive Shit. The track follows “10K Problems,” released earlier this month. [ Rolling Stone ]

Maggie Rogers, best known for making Pharrell lose his mind during her rendition of her NYU class project “Alaska,” has revealed the second single for her upcoming full-length, “Give A Little.” The pop-oriented track follows lead single “Fallingwater,” released a few months back. Rogers says of the song: “I wrote ‘Give A Little’ on the day of the national school walkout for gun control. For all the months I’ve spent feeling helpless and frustrated with the world around me, on that day I was so inspired by the change those students were fighting and continue to fight for. As my friend Taylor put it, “a world where we treat problems as human issues, not political ones.” A world where we are visionary, not reactionary.” Rogers’ forthcoming LP is currently untitled, with no release date announced. [ Consequence of Sound ]