Roots drummer Questlove, who is a lifelong Prince fan, is curating a 27-piece orchestra tribute to the music of Prince. Titled "4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince," Questlove is working on the project with arranger Brent Fischer, who worked with his late father Claire Fischer on previous arrangements for Prince. The tribute, which is authorized by the Prince estate, has a 36-city tour planned; curiously, the tour does not include a stop in Prince's hometown of Minneapolis. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Pete Yorn plays Pixies

Pete Yorn has released a new cover of the Pixies' "Here Comes Your Man." Joining Yorn on the track is Liz Phair, whom you can hear providing backing vocals during the chorus and the instrumental bridge. (Paste)

Good as Elle

Elle King released new music on Friday. The "Ex's and Oh's" singer dropped a new single and video for "Shame," the lead track from her forthcoming album, the name and release date of which are yet to be announced, but will be coming from RCA Records. (Rolling Stone)

A couple cool collaborations

A major collaboration announced Friday involves a trifecta of amazing singer-songwriters: Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus. Their band is called Boygenius, and all that exists so far is a press photo from Matador, the label that will presumably release music from this collaborative project. (Stereogum)

Meanwhile, Lakeith Stanfield of Moors and Merril Garbus of Tune-Yards have collaborated on a new song, "Mango." It's not the first time Stanfield and Garbus have worked together; Tune-Yards scored the film Sorry to Bother You, in which Stanfield starred. (Pitchfork)

Busman's holidays for pop stars

Can't pop stars ever get a vacation? Maybe they don't want to. Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez each performed pop-up shows this week while they were ostensibly on vacation. Aguilera, spending time in Dublin recently, performed a surprise gig at Dublin's 3Arena, at one point even bringing her kids on stage (following another recent trend). (The Irish Sun)

Lopez, meanwhile, performed in a much less formal environment. While on vacation with her boyfriend, retired baseball player and now broadcaster Alex Rodriguez, on the isle of Capri in Italy, Lopez jumped on a table and performed an impromptu "Let's Get Loud" as patrons danced and sang around her. (E! online)

If the van is hidden, let's go biddin'

The hosts of the TV show American Pickers have unearthed Aerosmith's former tour van from a Massachusetts wood. Show hosts Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe discovered the 1964 American Harvester Metro van deteriorating in the back 40 of a farm near Chesterfield, Mass., some 100 miles west of Aerosmith's hometown of Boston. It remains unknown how Aerosmith's van ended up on a random farm in rural Massachusetts, but American Pickers paid the farmer who owns the property $25,000 for the rock-and-roll artifact. (Consequence of Sound)

Free speech squelched

Nigerian rapper Falz's "This is Nigeria" — a remake of Childish Gambino's "This is America" but addressing political and social ills in the African nation — has been labeled "vulgar" by Nigeria's National Broadcasting Commission. CNN notes that Nigerian musicians are often reluctant to include political commentary in their music due to fear of persecution. Falz bucked that trend, however, and maintains that the lyrics to his song, which has garnered more than 12 million views on YouTube, are not vulgar. "There is a lot going on that needs to be talked about, even though a lot of people may not want to hear the truth," Falz said in a statement. (CNN)

Songs used in today's episode:
Jahzzar - Comédie (CC BY SA 4.0)
BoxCat Games - Against the Wall (CC BY 3.0)
Pete Yorn and Liz Phair - Here Comes Your Man (Pixies cover)
Moors - Mango (feat. Tune-Yards)
Jennifer Lopez - Let's Get Loud
Falz - This is Nigeria