Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
A fundraiser has been created in a bid to help support former Pendulum member Ben Verse, following a cancer diagnosis.
The drum n’ bass MC, whose real name is Benjamin Mount, was diagnosed with acute monoblastic leukaemia four months ago and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. He has also faced a series of other health issues.
In light of the news, his brother Jeremy has launched a new page on GoFundMe to raise £20,000 that will go towards the financial costs facing Benjamin. This includes various medical bills, everyday finances, childcare, mobility support and nursing care.
On the GoFundMe page, Jeremy explains how his brother and family members learned about the diagnosis, as well as the hardships that the MC has faced since. In the page description, he shares that Benjamin was first hospitalised last August and suspected to have tuberculosis. This was later discovered to be a “rapidly-growing, antibiotic evasive/resistant” superbug which created an abscess in his lung.
He was admitted to hospital again and placed in an induced coma for six weeks, Jeremy added, and it was doubtful at times whether or not he would survive. “We were told on a couple of occasions that it was doubtful he would survive. Each day brought a new calamity/issue: sepsis, bleeding, haematoma, a heart attack, another procedure, another tube,” his brother wrote.
The fundraiser page also shared that Benjamin was diagnosed with acute leukaemia just three weeks after he left the ICU unit, which meant he had an “immediate need for chemotherapy in various forms”.
“Finally, after over four months in hospital, it looks like Ben will soon be able to return home. However, he has lost half his body weight… still has the abscess with the use of only one lung, can’t yet walk and is currently on his second round of chemotherapy,” Jeremy shared in the description.
“The road to rehabilitation will be a long one and Ben will need a lot of care and support to bring him back to the person we all know and love,” he concluded, mentioning how the artist has two daughters, aged two years and 10 months.
“We have set up this fund to help Ben’s family with the costs of a range of everyday and extraordinary financial costs. Please consider giving what you can… Ben doesn’t want it to be a charity, but right now we need to reach out to everyone that knows him and wants to help at this extremely difficult and stressful time.”
You can find out more about the fundraiser and donate to Benjamin’s page here. At the time of writing, the GoFundMe page has already surpassed the initial £20,000 target, and is sitting at £58,900.
In the initial post, Jeremy also shared that his brother has been working on some new material since coming out of the coma. This is still in its early stages, according to the update, but Benjamin is looking to release it at a later date.
The artist’s brother also went on to share another update on the page, thanking people for their generosity and donations. “The response from you all has been incredible, thanks so much to everyone across the world that has reached out. It means so much all of us,” he shared, also attaching a new video from Benjamin. You can check that out above.
Last year, Pendulum’s set was named one of NME’s Most Magical Moments of Reading & Leeds 2024. Shortly before their appearance at the iconic dual-festival, frontman Rob Swire spoke to NME about their recent comeback single ‘Napalm’, which featured Joey Valance and Brae.
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SZA has teased the possibility of releasing two albums of “peaceful children’s music” to complete her current contractual requirements.
The singer and rapper released ‘Lana’ last month after almost a year of speculating about its release. Rather than a standalone album, it exists as a deluxe version of her 2022 LP ‘SOS’, her second studio record.
Now, just weeks after it became available, SZA has suggested that she is ready to move on from its slick R&B aesthetic and onto a very different vibe, even hinting that she is tempted to seek a quieter life after fulfilling her current obligations.
Writing on X on Saturday (January 4), SZA wrote: “To fulfill my last 2 album requirements I think I just wanna make peaceful children’s music n get outta here. Then go be a farmer n donate the produce to underserved communities.”
Both ‘SOS’ and its 2017 predecessor ‘Ctrl’ were released as part of SZA’s deal with Top Dawg Entertainment and RCA Records. It is not clear how many more albums she is signed up for as part of the deal, but her comments would suggest that there are two remaining full-lengths expected as part of the contract.
‘Lana’ added an extra 15 tracks to ‘SOS’ existing 23 songs, bringing the overall number of tracks associated with the project to 38. However, last week, SZA told fans that “all updated mixes” and “new songs” are due to be added on Monday (January 6), “when the label comes back from holiday”.
When it was eventually shared on December 20, ‘Lana’ included a Kendrick Lamar feature on ‘30 For 30’, as well as production from Lil Yachty and Benny Blanco on one track each.
Lamar’s feature comes after SZA appeared on his surprise album ‘GNX’, and the pair and labelmates have announced a joint North American tour for this year.
The singer also revealed on Christmas Day that she had parted ways with Terrence “Punch” Henderson, who she has worked with since 2011. Henderson, the co-president of Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), had been heavily involved in the making of ‘Lana’.
When ‘SOS‘ was first released, it received acclaim from critics, as well as nine Grammy nominations. It hit Number One on the Billboard 200 and Number Two on the UK Single Chart, also being certified 3x Platinum in the US.
In a five-star review of ‘SOS’, NME described it as “a comeback album well worth the wait,” adding: “’I’m making the best album of my life for this next album,’” SZA told Flaunt in 2020 and ‘SOS’ is just that – a phenomenal record that barely puts a foot wrong and raises the bar even higher than she set it before. That quote, though, came with a caveat: ‘Because it’s going to be my last album.’ Here’s hoping SZA reneges on that declaration but, if this is the last we hear from here, at least she’s going out on the highest of highs.”
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