After months of delays, years of viral videos, and a lifetime’s worth of entertaining content, Riff Raff finally has an official release date for his Mad Decent debut album: June 24.

Neon Icon, which will be released through Diplo’s label, will hit stores this summer with production from Diplo himself, as well as Harry Fraud and DJ Mustard, among others. Guests include Mac Miller, Childish Gambino, Mike Posner, Slim Thug and Paul Wall.

The cover art, which Riff also released on Tuesday (May 20), is a sight to behold. It differs from an image he released late last year, that was reportedly the album’s cover, but captures much of the rapper’s essence: it’s fun, quirky, odd and loud. With a baby in one arm and a dog in the other, the Houston native flashes a smile at the camera as his head is surrounded, fittingly, by neon lighting.

Check out the full tracklist below, as well as the video for the project’s first single, “How To Be The Man” — which kind of serves as a behind-the-scenes look a the album cover shoot.

1. “iNTRODUCiNG THE iCON”
2. “KOKAYNE”
3. “WETTER THAN TSUNAMi”
4. “JODY 3 MOONS (SKIT)”
5. “VERSACE PYTHON”
6. “LAVA GLACiERS” (feat. CHiLDiSH GAMBiNO)
7. “TiP TOE WiNG iN MY JAWWWDiNZ”
8. “MAYBE YOU LOVE ME” (feat. MiKE POSNER)
9. “AQUABERRY DOLPHIN” (feat. MAC MiLLER)
10. “THE BLOOMiNGDALES AT WiNDSHiRE PALACE” (SKIT)
11. “TiME”
12. “HOW TO BE THE MAN”
13. “COOL iT DOWN” (feat. AMBER COFFMAN)
14.”ViP PASS TO MY HEART”
15. ...

The rumors are true: Ciara did give birth to her and Future’s child on Monday.

And your hopes and wishes have come true, too: They named him Future. Future Zahir Wilburn, to be exact, according to CiCi’s Instargram.

Celebrity baby names are often a bit out of left field, and because of that get scrutinized. But can you think of a more perfect name for their baby? I can’t.

Congrats to the new parents.

Adam Fleischer

Usually pouring water on my head. Catch me @adamfleischer

BANKS knows what’s up. Her new single, “Drowning,” darkly captures what a toxic relationship can do to a person — read: leave your heart cold and gasping for air.

“Take it from the girl you claim to love/ You’re gonna get some bad karma,” BANKS croons over a shuttering, dramatic beat, opining,
“From the girl who made you soup and tied your shoes when you were hurting/ You were not deserving, you were not deserving.”

Make this the anthem for the impending anti-cuffing season.

BANKS’ debut album GODDESS is September 9.

Brenna Ehrlich

Brenna Ehrlich is a reporter for MTV News as well as the senior writer/editor for the O Music Awards. In the past, she served as associate editor at Mashable, penned a netiquette column for CNN and co-authored the blog and book "Stuff Hipsters Hate." She likes trying not to die in moshpits and listening to songs on repeat. Follow her on Twitter @BrennaEhrlich for news on cats and punk bands.

It looks like Twitter could be taking another crack at breaking into the music world, if reports that the micro-blogging service is in talks to acquire SoundCloud are to be believed.

Music tech journalist Peter Kafka reports that Twitter is currently in talks to purchase the music-sharing service, which has become the de facto place for musicians to post new tunes and remixes since its 2007 inception.

Soundcloud has a reported 250 million listeners, while Twitter has 255 million monthly active users.

This isn’t Twitter’s first foray into music. The social media service launched Twitter Music — which was shuttered in March 2014 — last year. That service allowed users to see what tunes were trending on Twitter, as well as get musical suggestions based on their tastes.

If this deal were to go through, it would be a big buy for Twitter, as SoundCloud is currently valued at $700 million.

The sale wouldn’t be as pricey a deal as Apple’s alleged $3.2 billion plan to buy Beats Electronics, but it could be relatively impactful, adding a deeper social layer to SoundCloud and making Twitter more dynamic.

SoundCloud has made efforts to make its homepage more social in the past, with its “The Next Soundcloud” redesign (complete with profile pages), but the site never really seemed to become a destination for casual music fans; the name of the game has always been sharing.

Twitter users share more SoundCloud links than any other ...

After the rousing end of the trial of Tyrion Lannister, the latest episode of “Game of Thrones” was one of ‘dem in between episodes. A bridge, if you will, between the big events coming towards the end of the season.

But that doesn’t mean nothing big happened. Let’s throw a few things through the Moon Door and see what stuck on “Mockingbird:”

A Tyrion Carol
Tyrion is visted in his jail cell by three ghosts compatriots, all of whom the littlest Lannister tries to recruit to fight Cersei’s champion: The Mountain.

The same Mountain, we should mention, who’s reintroduced chopping human beings in half for fun.

The first spirit visitor is Jaime, who is angry his brother threw his life away to prove a point the people of King’s Landing, “will be talking about for days,” he says sarcastically. Tyrion wants Jaime to fight for him, since the last time there was trial by combat — back at the Aerie in season one — Jaime wasn’t around. This time, Jaime has only one hand, and laments he can’t help.

The second is Bronn, who has been bought off by Cersei with a title, a new wife and more riches than he can imagine. He offers the chance for Tyrion to buy him back, but Tyrion has nothing to offer. In a brief bit of tenderness that wasn’t shown in the book, Bronn holds Tyrion’s hand for a moment longer than necessary. It’s a bittersweet moment as we realize the sell-sword won’t be around to protect the ...

Hangout Fest 2014 is almost over, guys (tears!), and what with all the sun and fun and whatnot you may be waning.

Well, Andrew W.K. is here with a message to get you pumped for the rest of the night. Hey ya, guys — the night ain’t over yet.

Watch the below Vine until you believe it way down in the darkest corners of your heart-soul:

Brenna Ehrlich

Brenna Ehrlich is a reporter for MTV News as well as the senior writer/editor for the O Music Awards. In the past, she served as associate editor at Mashable, penned a netiquette column for CNN and co-authored the blog and book "Stuff Hipsters Hate." She likes trying not to die in moshpits and listening to songs on repeat. Follow her on Twitter @BrennaEhrlich for news on cats and punk bands.

Ayo, Justin Bieber. Listen. We’re all for the “confidence” that comes with unique facial hair, but we draw a hard and fast line at the dirtstache. If you’re going to be a a shower, you better also be a grower, because ain’t nobody got time for a mid-level dusty cruststache.

Hopefully the fancy free-stuff gift bags they gave away at the Vanity Fair Armani party you went to on Sat., May 17 in Cannes — where your plus one was the caterpillar currently parked on your upper lip — came with free fancy razors. If so, please get involved.

Photo credit: Getty Images; Instagram

Alicia Lutes

This one is a cockle-warmer if ever I’ve seen one. Jaime Maldonado was just minding his own business, heading to the grocery store, when he became witnessed to a truly impressive impromptu jam session that he managed to record on his phone. Three total strangers happened upon one another and put their musical chops on display, crafting a song that’s full of soul, even in a totally unscripted moment. Go on, it’s OK to admit you want to watch something delightfully heartwarming and real every once and awhile.

Somebody get these men a recording studio session — STAT!

H/T: The San Francisco Globe

Alicia Lutes

We might not want to live in a world created by Miley Cyrus and the Flaming Lips, but we would 100 percent want to visit there. For like a week. OK, maybe just a long weekend. Through their highly unusual fwendship, something bizarre and seemingly nonsensical becomes an eye-opening “oh, yes, of course this makes sense!” affair. Like their cover of The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

That’s right: putting Miley and the Lips and the Beatles into a psychedelic funkblender has managed to produce something pretty tripptastic in a “hitch a ride on a rainbow-pooping-unicorn and hold on” sorta way. And you can hear a preview of the track right here, right now. It is equal parts weird and wonderful.

If you had told us that Hannah Montana would later go on to cover one of the most iconic songs of all time with some of the biggest stone-cold weirdos in music (that’s a compliment, guys), we would have laughed at you. It would’ve been real embarrassing for us in hindsight.

But Cyrus’ vocals and emotive abilities have been bolstered by her work with the Lips — they of playful but accomplished musical dexterity — as evidenced by their work on “A Day in The Life.” And though it’s hard to put our finger on it, as each musician’s signature playful absurdness kicks into gear, we can’t help but want to at least explore their be-glittered, batsh– world.

Read More →

What’s a music festival without dancing? Nothing, that’s what.

What’s a music festival without copious amounts of air-guitaring, air-drumming, and air-slappin’ da bass? Less than nothing. A hollow shell.

Luckily, Hangout Fest is replete with dudes who can air-shred, air-slap, and phantom drum with the best of them.

Bask in the glory of Hangout Fest’s air champs and invisible guitar heroes below:

Hangout Music Fest 2014: Highlights
	Get The Latest On This Year's Fest Line-up
	Watch How Hangout Performers Prep For The Beach
	See Who's Playing The Festival
	2013 Hangout Fest Highlights

Credit: GIFs, Gavin Alaoen

Brenna Ehrlich

Brenna Ehrlich is a reporter for MTV News as well as the senior writer/editor for the O Music Awards. In the past, she served as associate editor at Mashable, penned a netiquette column for CNN and co-authored the blog and book "Stuff Hipsters Hate." She likes trying not to die in moshpits and listening to songs on repeat. Follow her on Twitter @BrennaEhrlich for news on cats and punk bands.