English rapper Pa Salieu has been identified as Britain's most exciting musical talent this year by the BBC thanks to "his adventurous, infectious tracks with hard-hitting lyrics about life and death on the 'frontline' in Coventry". Previous winners of the "BBC Sound of" list include Adele, Ellie Goulding and Michael Kiwanuka. He shared a life lesson he learned in COV - "The thing that matters is what you're going to do with it - let it eat you up, or rise above it? Getting shot is the same as getting fired from your job. What are you going to do with it? Rise up, or what? That's life. Everything is a lesson".

Neil Young has sold 50 percent of the worldwide copyright and income interests in his 1,180 song catalogue to the U.K. investment firm Hipgnosis Songs, Variety reports. This deal includes both 50% of the publisher's share and 50% of the writer’s share in Young’s music, spanning his work with Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Crazy Horse, in addition to the singer/songwriter’s full solo catalog. Industry experts Music Business Worldwide consulted suggest that the deal would have cost Hipgnosis in the region of $150m. Hipgnosis's Merck Mercuriadis told Rolling Stone "there will never be a ‘Burger of Gold’", since Young has never licensed his music for commercials.

Rapper and producer Dr. Dre, one of hip-hop's most successful, influential, and richest stars, is being treated in hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm, Billboard reports. Meanwhile, four men were reportedly arrested for trying to burglarize Dre's home after the news broke that he was in the ICU, TMZ reports.

Iranian-Dutch singer and producer Sevdaliza performed four tracks on the latest home edition of NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series from Amsterdam bookstore MENDO. Backed by a quartet of musicians, she kicked the performance off with a rendition of her 2017 track 'Human', and continued with 'Dormant', 'All Rivers at Once', and 'Gole Bi Goldoon', all from last year's acclaimed album 'Shabrang'.

Madlib is joined by Four Tet on the uplifting track 'Hopprock'; a sad story - after Justin Townes Earle died last year, his father Steve Earle recorded an album of his son's songs, and one of his own, 'Last Words', about their last conversation they had the night the younger Americana singer-songwriter died of an accidental overdose; emo-hardcore band Holy Figures released an EP about drugs, with songs named after women, melodic and powerful 'Lucille' stands out among them; Open Mike Eagle recorded a freestyle after hearing about MF Doom's passing, titled simply 'for DOOM'.

Phoebe Bridgers, Fleet Foxes, Billie Eilish, Beastie Boys, Wilco, Brittany Howard, Tenacious D, Mavis Staples, My Morning Jacket, Jon Batiste, and the Decemberists are among artists who created customized Yeti coolers for an auction benefitting the Crew Nation relief fund. The cooler company will make its own donation matching all proceeds up to $100,000, Rolling Stone reports. Handsomely decorated coolers are mostly stuffed with merch. The price range is $250 to $3,333.

Cardi B took to social media to fire back at trolls criticizing her for not letting her two-year-old daughter Kulture listen to 'WAP', which all started when certain Twitter users responded to a viral video of the rapper turning her No. 1 hit off when the toddler entered the room. "So ya daughter cant listen to it but everybody else’s daughter can?" one wrote. Cardi B answered - "I don’t make music for kids I make music for adults. Parents are responsible on what their children listen too or see…I’m a very sexual person but not around my child just like every other parent should be", ET Canada reports.

Hipgnosis Songs has struck a big-money deal to acquire Jimmy Iovine’s worldwide producer royalties across 259 recordings, which includes U2, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, Eminem, Simple Minds... Iovine rose to prominence as an engineer in the 1970s, working with John Lennon ('Walls & Bridges', 'Rock & Roll'), Bruce Springsteen ('Born To Run', 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'), Patti Smith ('Easter' and its single 'Because The Night'), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (3 times platinum 'Damn The Torpedoes'). In the 1980s Iovine produced a run of blockbuster albums for Dire Straits, Stevie Nicks, U2, Simple Minds, and The Pretenders, Variety reports.

Alexi Laiho, the frontman and the guitarist of Finnish metal band Children of Bodom, died last week at home in Finland at the age of 41. Laiho, a guitar virtuoso who also played in Bodom After Midnight, Sinergy, Warmen, Kylähullut, and other groups, had suffered from long-term health issues. Numerous musicians have paid tribute to Laiho, according to Blabbermouth. In its obituary, Guardian writes that "Laiho remains a ray of light in the dank nihilism of death metal. His vigour and charisma were rare gifts, but fully exploited, creating a joyous twist on one of heavy music’s most macabre styles".

The Black Keys share previously unreleased instrumental song 'Black Mud Part II' from the 'Brothers' era; psychedelic screamo/metal band Portrayal of Guilt share '2020 Will Burn In Hell Forever'; 'i-38' is live funk rap by 38 Spesh; Napalm Death's Shane Embury releases an ambient industrial song 'Omisoka' with his band Dark Sky Burial; R.A.P. Ferreira shares a psychedelic new album with 'Sips of Ripple Wine (No Stemware)' included.