Jadakiss and Fat Joe are teaming up to enter the podcast space with their new show Joe & Jada, where they’ll discuss music, sports, culture and more.

A press release on Monday (May 5) confirmed the show will be produced by The Volume and Roc Nation and will air twice a week – starting this week.

“My brother Jadakiss and I will be delivering a podcast experience like none other,” Joe said. “We’re both passionate and opinionated about music, sports, entertainment and culture, so you can definitely expect to get unfiltered analysis, versatile interviews and untold stories. We’re coming to shake up the podcast game and set a new blueprint.”

Jada added: “I’m looking forward to teaming up with Joe on this podcast and showing another side of my personality. We’ve been friends for a long time, so we have the right chemistry and foundation to make this a really special show. Everyone is finally going to get to hear what we debate and discuss all the time behind the scenes.”

Both legendary New York artists have entered the talk space in recent years. Joe found success with his Instagram Live convos, which eventually spawned his Starz show, Fat Joe Talks. Meanwhile, Jada’s long-running podcast with The LOX and ItsTheReal, 2 Jews & 2 Black Dudes Review The Movies, recently picked up steam and has been dropping new episodes weekly.

One topic likely to come up is Joe and Jada’s thoughts on today’s Hip Hop, as they’ve both spoken out about it in recent months.

In January, Joe confessed that some of the rap music released by younger generations leaves him feeling “confused.”

“I encourage the youth and I love the youth, [but] I’ve sat in traffic and [heard the music] — I felt like they were playing devil music right next to me,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Yo, what the fuck? That’s Hip Hop?!’ They got some weird shit going on.

“I fuck with them, I’m always gonna salute them. I don’t know how they spiraled into this particular sound. Hip Hop’s so diverse — we got Lauryn Hill, we got Biz Markie, you got Eric B. and Rakim, you got Nas… You’re not gonna open this shit and hear the same shit.”

And in February, Kiss emphasized the importance of originality in what he says has become a diluted game – using Kendrick Lamar‘s recent run as an example.

“It’s all about balance. Some dudes can rap and sing. Some dudes should just rap,” he said. “Some dudes should do some other shit. But rap is for rapping. Start doing a bunch of everything else, it’s getting away from the elements and it’s diminishing the culture. We don’t need to hear 53 more ‘Not Like Us’es.

“Just because that got him five Grammys and Super Bowl, this and that – when you go to create, don’t try to make that. We do have a lot of people that once one thing hits, everybody’s calling the producer [to get a similar beat]. And [it] never works.”

Harry Styles paid tribute to the late David Hockney and reflected on his time in One Direction last night (June 12), as he kicked off his record-breaking residency at Wembley Stadium.

Hockney – whose painting of Styles was displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in 2023 – died on June 11, aged 88, and the musician honoured him during his set by sharing a quote from the painter on the big screens.

“What an artist is trying to do for people is bring them closer to something, because of course art is about sharing,” the quote read. “You wouldn’t be an artist unless you wanted to share an experience, a thought.”

Styles’ gig last night marked the first of 12 gigs at Wembley, which will see the star break the record for the most shows at the venue in a single tour. Coldplay previously held the record, delivering 10 gigs at the stadium last year as part of their Music Of The Spheres tour.

Harry Styles
Harry Styles’ David Hockney tribute. Credit: Rhian Daly

The London residency follows the Together, Together tour beginning in Amsterdam in May, and will be followed by stops in São Paulo, Mexico City, New York, Melbourne and Sydney. He will be supported by a different artist in each city, joined by Shania Twain in London, who delivered a set of hits and new tracks from her upcoming album, ‘Little Miss Twain’.

As the sounds of Simon And Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ played over the stadium PA, Styles made his way to the stage, kicking off his set with ‘Are You Listening Yet?’, from his latest album, ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally’. Between renditions of ‘Golden’ and ‘Adore You’, he addressed the crowd for the first time, saying: “Our job tonight is to entertain you. Your job is to have as much fun as you possibly can.

“If you want to sing, if you want to dance, please feel free. Please feel free to be whoever it is you’ve always wanted to be tonight. We’ve got each other’s backs.”

Throughout the night, Styles subtly reworked some of the songs on the setlist. He dedicated ‘Taste Back’ “to all the ravers in the house”, as a snippet of Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’ was interpolated into the song, while a brief burst of Talking Heads’ ‘This Must Be The Place’ was introduced to ‘Treat People With Kindness’. During ‘Dance No More’, the pop star’s band played part of the groove from Happy Mondays’ ‘Step On’, while Styles sang a snatch of Gorillaz’s ‘Clint Eastwood’.

There were also nods to Styles’ days in One Direction early in the set. As the musician left the stage after ‘Fine Line’, the string section on stage played a medley featuring clips of the group’s hits ‘Night Changes’ and ‘History’, plus Styles’ own track ‘Falling’. After ‘Keep Driving’, he took the time to reflect on Wembley’s connections to his and the boyband’s journeys.

“Just outside of this building, just next door, is Wembley Arena, and 16 years ago, my sister brought me to London for the very first time for my X Factor audition,” he said. “So driving here today, and any time I come through Wembley, means so much to me, ‘cause right in that building next door, I was put into a band. We were called One Direction.

“Driving here today, I drove the same way I used to come when I went to that building and she brought me here. My sister is here tonight – I want to say thank you to Gemma. We went to the Natural History Museum, we went to Big Ben, we saw everything! So it means a lot for me to be in here tonight. Thank you so much for allowing me to do these shows. It means so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

 

The Together, Together setlist features a different surprise song each night at the start of the encore. Last night, Styles treated the Wembley audience to ‘Little Freak’, taken from ‘Harry’s House’, for the first time since 2023. After the song, he spoke to the audience for the final time, saying: “I don’t know if you’ve been listening to me for a week, or a month, or a year, or five years, or 10 years, or 16 years, or whatever it is, but you have changed my life over and over again. Thank you so much for being here and allowing us to do these shows. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

“Finally, 16 years ago, my mother signed me up for the X Factor without my knowledge. I wouldn’t be here today if she hadn’t done that. She’s here today – thank you so much. You’ve changed my life, all of you.” Referencing a lyric in ‘Dance No More’, he added: “Remember – respect your mother.”

Harry Styles Wembley Stadium night one setlist was:

‘Are You Listening Yet?’
‘Golden’
‘Adore You’
‘Watermelon Sugar’
‘Music From A Sushi Restaurant’
‘Taste Back’
‘Coming Up Roses’
‘Fine Line’
‘Italian Girls’
‘American Girls’
‘Keep Driving’
‘Ready, Steady, Go!’
‘Dance No More’
‘Treat People With Kindness’
‘Pop’
‘Season 2 Weight Loss’
‘Carla’s Song’
‘Aperture’
‘Little Freak’
‘Sign Of The Times’
‘As It Was’

Harry Styles
Harry Styles credit: Anthony Pham

The Together, Together, London residency continues at Wembley Stadium tonight, with further dates on June 17, 19, 20, 23, 26, 27, 29 and July 1, 3, and 4. Visit here for any remaining UK tickets and check out doors and stage times here.

The gigs will see Styles donate £1 from every ticket sold to LIVE’s levy to help protect UK grassroots music venues and support emerging talent, and before Styles’ headline performance, the big screens at the venue encouraged fans to support Music Venues Trust.

The tour is in support of the star’s latest album, ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally’, which was released in March. In a four-star review, NME described it as “an album that you’ll really want to spend a lot of time with, letting all its layers envelope you”. It added: “It’s the most exploratory album of his career so far, trying out new things and steering his ship in new directions.”

Meanwhile, Styles has also curated this year’s Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre. The line-up chosen by the star includes Stephen Fretwell, Nilüfer Yanya, Orlando Weeks, Bar Italia, Dev Hynes, Jon Hopkins, Getdown Services, LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Soulwax and more, as well as an intimate gig from Styles himself.

The festival kicked off earlier this week (June 11) with a performance from Los Angeles’ Warpaint, whose show was their first in nearly two years. During the gig, they shared fan favourites like ‘Love Is To Die, ‘Billie Holiday’ and ‘Disco//Very’, plus a cover of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’.

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