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Today’s Music News: Michelle Obama raps

by Staff

December 10, 2015

In a new CollegeHumor video, Saturday Night Live's Jay Pharoah is joined by First Lady Michelle Obama in a rap number called "Go to College." The song espouses...well, yeah, you get the idea. (Rolling Stone)

Adele won British Artist of the year at the BBC Music Awards. No surprise there, nor in the category of Best International Artist, which went to Taylor Swift. Song of the year went to Hozier, and Irishman, for "Take Me to Church." (Billboard)

After playing a sold-out arena concert in Paris on Wednesday, Madonna took to the streets for an intimate acoustic set to honor the victims of the recent terrorist attacks in that city. She and guitarist Monte Pittman played songs including "Like a Prayer" and John Lennon's "Imagine." (Rolling Stone)

Gospel singer LaBreeska Hemphill has died at age 75. Hemphill got her start early — singing at Ryman Auditorium when she was only nine years old — and climbed the charts with her family band the Hemphills, one of Gospel music's most successful acts from the 1960s through the 1980s. (Billboard)

Nardwuar the Human Serviette, a Canadian celebrity interviewer known for his eccentric style, experienced a stroke Saturday night at a music industry party in Vancouver; the 47-year-old entertainer is now recovering. (Billboard)

Spike Lee has responded to Chance the Rapper's criticism of Lee's new film Chi-Raq. Chance called the film, which dramatizes gang violence in Chicago, "exploitative and problematic." In an MSNBC interview, Lee pointed out that Chance's father works for Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel. (Pitchfork)

The Isle of Wight Festival 2016 will be a celebration of the 40th anniversary of punk — dating punk's "birth" to 1976. Iggy Popthe DamnedBuzzcocks, and Adam Ant are among the performers booked for the festival so far. (NME)

The promotional video for Triple J's annual Hottest 100 contest stars an understandably Australia-heavy lineup of talent including Tame ImpalaCourtney Barnett, Ice CubeTV On The Radio, and Diplo. Watch it on Pitchfork.

On Wednesday night in Los Angeles, Lana Del Rey joined The Weeknd onstage to perform their collaboration "Prisoner." Also, Del Rey told NME that the would have performed the new James Bond theme — but she wasn't asked. (Pitchfork)

Kelly Rowland will host a reality series on BET, in which she'll search for the next superstar female group. The show's title? Chasing Destiny, of course. (Billboard)

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