Author: Rap Hooks

Fans are getting to see one more conversation with Oliver Tree following his untimely death, with the singer/songwriter recording a guest appearance on Bobbi Althoff’s Really Good Podcast prior to the helicopter collision that killed him earlier this month.

In the episode posted Monday (June 29), Tree — dressed, as he often did, in a comedic costume, this time donning an Elmo suit and red face paint — discussed a wide range of topics, including his “high risk” lifestyle. Tree often turned interviews into extended bits with outlandish takes, but did make a prescient comment in one of his final interviews, when he explained why he preferred to live as adventurously as possible.

“My parents, they’re like, ‘Oliver, it’s a lot to travel all the time,’” he said. “I’m like, ‘Guys, look. We don’t know if I’ll be alive next year, or if you’ll be alive.’”

“There’s no day promised,” he added. “You know how high risk I live my life, for real? The last two years I was living in poo huts in Africa, I stayed in mud houses in Iraq.”

Tree died at age 32 on June 14 along with the two pilots and three other passengers who were onboard the pair of helicopters that crashed into each other in Rio de Janeiro. The musician had been abroad while on his global tour in support of the April ablum Love You Madly Hate You Badly, playing what would become his final show on June 6 in São Paulo.

Shortly after Tree’s death, it was announced that his fortune will go toward launching Dr. Oliver Tree’s Extremely Epic Grant for Baby Geniuses, a grant supporting the creation of art that he’d publicly discussed setting up prior to his death. “I take no credit for anything I’ve ever done,” Tree said on the Zach Sang Show this past April. “I don’t believe that any of the wealth or things that get made from it is mine. My will is set up so that when I pass, my family, nobody is going to get a penny. All the money is going to go back to artists.”

Althoff said in a disclaimer at the beginning of her video interview with Tree that all profits from their conversation will go toward his grant. “I’m grateful to have had this conversation with Oliver,” it reads. “I’m sharing it with love and respect for his life, his art, and the unforgettable world he created.”

Watch her full interview with Tree below.

Memphis Bleek was “happy” to see his mentor Jay-Z address his haters during his Roots Picnic freestyle.

The Brooklyn rapper turned podcaster recently sat down with Boardroom and gave some insight on how Jay operates

“Jay just be having verses. I know,” he said after admitting that he didn’t really get to hear the freestyle until it hit social media due to how chaotic it was backstage. “I be trying to get him to spit, but he got too many verses that he just tucks. When you’re a writer, you’re a rapper, you’re an artist, you’re gonna continue to write. Whether you release it or not.”

Bleek then explained why the people Jigga dissed had it coming because it’s easy to lie in today’s digital climate. “Everybody get hit. He put the fully on,” he began. “These kids got the switch, they don’t know about the fully. They know Shawn Carter, they know Jay-Z, they don’t know Jigga. That’s Jigga. Welcome, man.”

He added: “I’m happy he did ’cause a lot of people they just talk and talk and talk and its no one to rebuke it, to go against it, speak the truth, so lies get spewed all over the Internet and turned into truth. Because, you know, these guys are gonna believe what they want, but it’s not the other side fighting against it, only the lie seems like the truth. So, I’m glad he put belt to ass on certain people. They deserved that spanking.”

He then continued by saying that if you’ve paid attention, Jay-Z almost always talks about what he’s going through in his music. “Jay always responds through music,” the Memph Man explained. “Anything he’s feeling or going through, it’s always been in the music. That’s how we’ve always been. All of us. We really don’t get on here like, ‘Yo, I hate this rapper. When I see you, I’ma catch you.’ It’s on the record. If we’re going to entertain, I’ma make money off it. I’m not gonna just go on here and just be on everybody platform. Your algorithms go up and I’m just angry.”

You can watch the full conversation below.

For the past 45 years, A Capitol Fourth has celebrated the nation’s birthday on July 4 live from the U.S. Capitol, bringing some of America’s most beloved performers together for an Independence Day concert and fireworks that is televised on PBS.

This year, as the country heralds its Semiquincentennial, A Capitol Fourth: 250^th Weekend Celebration is starting early, moving its annual festivities to July 3 to get the jump on a crowded slate. “Not only are there tons of things going on in Washington, there’s tons of things going on all over the country,” says Michael Colbert, executive producer of A Capitol Fourth. “We’ve heard already from so many public television stations how excited they are that we’re kicking off this year a day early. Next year, we’ll go back to the Fourth, as we’ve always been.”

Joining host Alfonso Ribeiro will be a packed roster of artists across the musical spectrum including Chicago, Trace Adkins, Patti Labelle, Kool & The Gang, Carly Pearce, Alan Jackson, Loren Allred, Angel Blue, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Broadway cast of Just in Time, as well as actors Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna.

“We really try to have something for everybody,” Colbert says. “You start out with a blank sheet of paper, and you end up with just an unbelievable group of artists from so many wonderful genres.”

Given the nature of the holiday, the focus is on American performers, but in past years “we have been blessed here and there to have friends from other parts of the world to come and celebrate with us,” he says.  

In these divisive political times, A Capitol Fourth (and its sister, the National Memorial Day concert) remains devoutly nonpartisan. “Since day one, these have been completely nonpartisan, and they’re always going to be,” Colbert says. “There’s no other way to do it. Left, right or center, everybody is for celebrating our birthday.”

Also special this year to commemorate the 250^th birthday, the concluding fireworks will shoot off from George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Virginia, home, instead of the usual location on the National Mall in D.C., as actress/singer Allred sings “God Bless America.” “What a perfect connection to 250 years ago,” Colbert says. “We wouldn’t be a country if it weren’t for George Washington.”

The concert airs commercial-free starting at 8 p.m. ET on PBS stations across the country, and then many markets immediately repeat it, so the special takes up PBS’s entire three-hour primetime block that night. The program, presented by Boeing, also streams on YouTube and airs on the American Forces Network.

Because of the special 250^th anniversary, more festivities than usual are planned. The unusually crowded field includes the Macy’s two-hour 4^th of July Fireworks on NBC. Also happening is Disney Celebrates America, a 24-hour cross-platform broadcast and primetime special anchored by David Muir that starts July 3 and carries over through July 4, and President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair/Freedom 250 celebration that began June 25 on the National Mall and concludes July 10.  

The Capitol Fourth is literally a family affair for Colbert, whose late father started the event 46 years ago when Colbert was 12. “I was there, holding his script and a Diet Coke for him,” Colbert recalls. He and his wife, Jill Jackson, now serve as the executive producers of the festivities.

And many of the performers feel like family, having played the events several times. Riberio returns as host for a fourth year. “We all know he does live television every week [as host of Dancing with the Stars], but he is a joy to work with,” Colbert says. “He’s such a talent, but he’s also one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and when you’re live and you got that clock dangling above your head to get off on time, he is just such a pro.”

Several of the artists have special performances planned. Adkins will perform the television debut of his new song, “American Made,” as well as “Still a Soldier” in a tribute to 250 years of military service and sacrifice, flanked by service members dressed in period uniforms through 1776 to current day.

LaBelle will sing Frank Sinatra’s “The House I Live In,” while operatic soprano Blue will perform “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Pearce will sing “The National Anthem” and a country-tinged version of “This Land Is Your Land.”

Additionally, the Artemis II crew and members of the Winter Olympics and Paralympics will take part.

While the bulk of the performances are live (the only exception over the decades has been during the Covid-19 shutdown), this year will have one taped appearance from Jackson performing “American the Beautiful,” which the country superstar taped at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium over Memorial Day. (Jackson, who suffers from degenerative neurological disorder Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, filmed a farewell concert at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium June 27.)

For Colbert, each year’s participation brings a greater appreciation for the event and the country. “I just feel very humble and happy and grateful to be able to do this,” he says. “Not just continuing my dad’s legacy, but to be able to do something that it ultimately about love of country and love of one another. Let’s celebrate and dance all the way through it.”