It feels ungrateful to openly ask for new music for Conway The Machine, given how prolific the Griselda lyricist has been of late. Riding a streak that has seen the release of Griselda collaboration album What Would Chinegun Do, the Alchemist-produced Lulu, the Big Ghost LTD-produced No One Mourns The Wicked, his stellar From King To A God, and the second Big Ghost-laced project If It Bleeds It Can be Killed, Conway has delivered enough material to hang up the spurs with a satisfied smile.
And yet — there remains unfinished business from The Machine, who has previously toyed with the notion of retirement. The matter of his upcoming God Don’t Make Mistakes, his first and possibly final release on Shady Records, a project that was delayed to some point in 2021. Alas, the updates since have been relatively scarce — though Conway recently took to Instagram to indicate his return to the studio, sharing footage of himself laying down a few bars for an unidentified track.
Conway The Machine at Sony Hall, November 19. Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images
Based on his caption, the song in question appears to be produced by Cardiak, who boasts production credits for Rick Ross, Eminem, Lloyd Banks, J. Cole, Dr. Dre, and many more. “I used to walk in the kitchen killing roaches, now revenge is the best dish I can serve before my kitchen closes,” spits Machine, focused in the booth. The acapella rendition segues into a recorded preview, during which Conway proceeds to showcase some serious dexterity as he effortlessly whips up new flows.
“It’s almost time,” warns The Machine. “Cooked up something spectacular wit my ni*ga @cardiakflatline just wait and see what’s bouta happen.”
Over the past decades, the criminalization of marijuana has destabilized countless American lives, especially those in the Black community. As the United States has progressed, laws across the country concerning marijuana have become increasingly disparate with some states completely legalizing and decriminalizing weed, others taking aggressive stances against the drug, and the rest of them meeting somewhere in the middle. On the West Coast, buying and smoking weed is harmless, but in the South, that could mean facing a hefty jail sentence.
Today, however, that dynamic has reportedly been slightly shifted. According to Complex, Virginia’s Democratic-controlled Legislature voted to approve Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposed amendments to a bill that legalizes marijuana across the entire state.
As reported by Complex, Virginia’s ground-breaking weed legalization will go into effect on July 1, 2021, and the law will permit adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, each household to grow no more than four marijuana plants, and retail sales of cannabis to start in 2024. Although Virginia’s bill will not allow the public consumption of weed, its legalization bill leads the way in the South’s attitude toward marijuana.
Ahead of the Legislature’s vote, House Majority Leader Charniele Herring said, “The time has come for our state to legalize marijuana. The amendments ensure that while we’re doing the complicated work of standing up a commercial market, we aren’t delaying immediate reforms that will make our Commonwealth more equitable for all Virginians.”
This major legislation arrives nearly a year after the state’s Legislature agreed to “decriminalize” marijuana last summer. Stay tuned to see whether more Southern states follow Virginia’s lead.
The Rage Against The Machine & Run the Jewels “Public Service Announcement” Tour will now start in spring 2022. Your tickets will be honored for the postponed shows. Refunds are available at the original point of purchase for 30 days. See you next year.
— Rage Against The Machine (@RATMofficial) April 8, 2021
The new set of dates begins in Texas in March and features a number of North American stops before wrapping up with a week of Madison Square Garden in August.
Check out the full list of tour dates below and get tickets here.
03/31/2022 — El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center
04/02/2022 — Las Cruces, NM @ Pan American Center
04/04/2022 — Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena
04/06/2022 — Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena
04/26/2022 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
04/28/2022 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
04/30/2022 — Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
05/02/2022 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center
05/05/2022 — Vancouver, BC @ Pacific Coliseum
05/07/2022 — Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place
05/09/2022 — Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome
05/11/2022 — Winnipeg, MB @ Bell MTS Place
05/13/2022 — Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford Premier Center
05/15/2022 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
05/16/2022 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
05/18/2022 — Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center
05/20/2022 — St Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center
05/22/2022 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
05/23/2022 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
07/09/2022 — East Troy, WI @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre
07/11/2022 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
07/12/2022 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
07/15/2022 — Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Bluesfest
07/16/2022 — Quebec City, QC @ Festival D’ete de Quebec *
07/19/2022 — Hamilton, ON @ FirstOntario Centre
07/21/2022 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
07/23/2022 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
07/25/2022 — Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
07/27/2022 — Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
07/29/2022 — Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
07/31/2022 — Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena
08/02/2022 — Washington DC @ Capital One Arena
08/03/2022 — Washington DC @ Capital One Arena
08/08/2022 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
08/09/2022 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
08/11/2022 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
08/12/2022 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
08/14/2022 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
There’s no shortage of confidence on Lil Tjay’s latest full-length album, Destined 2 Win. The 22-year-old Bronx, New York native arrived with the assurance of an upperclassman on his swaggering debut, True 2 Myself, in 2018 and the scuffs and scrapes he’s taken since have done little to dull the sparkle in his eye as he guides the listener through 21 tracks displaying his wide-ranging abilities. However, you know how the saying goes: a Jack of all trades is a master of none, and that aphorism holds true despite the poise with which Tjay bears himself on his shape-shifting sophomore album.
There’s a lot to be said for the sort of confidence Tjay projects here. Some of us go 30 years or more without ever finding the level of intoxicating self-belief that allows him to write song titles like “Born 2 Be Great” without a hint of irony. Of course, self-belief and self-awareness seldom go hand-in-hand; whether that’s a boon to this album or a drawback depends on your point of view. I’m ambivalent; on one hand, I’m impressed by how deftly he dips into each stylistic tureen from which he draws his inspiration. On the other hand, I really wish that his own artistic voice would cut through the noise more distinctly, showing us who he is both as an artist and a person.
For instance, as Tjay metamorphoses, chameleonlike, between hood motivational speaker on propulsive tracks like “Hood Rich” and “Run It Up” and heartbroken, crooning lothario on “Irregular Love” and “Calling My Phone,” it gets increasingly difficult to pin down a unique worldview or dodge the sense that we’ve heard all this before. However, there’s an undeniable polish and panache to the proceedings that lends the sense that Tjay really put a lot of thought and effort into these songs to make them sound as catchy and captivating as possible.
When Tjay wants to party, “Move” and “Oh Well” provide plenty of the body-first, brain-second energy that makes such tracks work at their highest levels, then, when he tells us “Love Hurts,” he makes us believe him, worrying such juicy lyrical bones as “I see you postin’, that just put me on alert.” He’s certainly a product of his generation, pain-watching an ex’s social media and reacting in real-time, even as he admits “I know you feedin’ off of what I started first.”
Wearing his inspirations on his sleeve can bite him at times; his outright Drake impression on “Born 2 Be Great” is a microcosm of how much his flow treads in the footsteps of his forebears — ones who still have firm grasps on the pop culture zeitgeist. It also highlights just how little actual innovation he’s doing here. The singsong delivery he uses for most of the project has more-or-less been done to death and the beats, with their church bell chimes and menacing major chords, provide suitably ominous backdrops for his middling boasts and vague threats.
Through it all, his confidence carries, though. There’s a plainspoken earnestness that comes with that lack of self-critique or self-doubt. Few lines will stand out, but he sticks the landing on every one of them. By not taking huge swings, he rarely misses, offering a satisfying listen that doesn’t overstay its welcome, even if the back half of the album tends to drone. At 21 tracks, things could really drag, but instead, he brings the overall run time in at a crisp hour and five minutes, owing most of the dead weight to bonus tracks, which consist of older releases such as the Justin Bieber-sampling “None Of Your Love,” which was likely tacked-on to improve streaming metrics.
Although Destined 2 Win doesn’t offer many surprises or tremendous strides in character development for the burgeoning star, it does its job as a showcase for his burnished songwriting well enough to justify its existence. Eventually, Tjay’s young fan base will want more from him than empty flexes and generic “made it out the struggle” rhymes, and Destined doesn’t do quite enough to convince that he’ll be able to deliver when that time comes. His swagger is enough to coast on for now, with his charm as an artist and gift for imitation giving him a smooth surface to glide on while he figures himself out. Hopefully, no one scratches that surface before he does.
Destined 2 Win is out now on Columbia Records. Get it here.
This week’s guest on Uproxx Sessions is Smrtdeath, a genre-bending rapper and singer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, singing his defiant anthem, “Too Far Gone.” Mashing up emo and punk influences with hip-hop production sensibilities, Smrtdeath is part of an underground movement that doesn’t follow the conventional rules of popular music. Smrtdeath himself takes things a step further, refusing to abide by the conventions of fashion, as well, as seen on the cover of his November album, Somethjng’s Wrong (that’s not a typo).
On “Too Far Gone,” Smrtdeath addresses any potential criticisms of his lifestyle head-on: “Living on my time, give a fuck about what they say,” he snarls. “All of this advice but it’s coming from no pain.” On that same note, he’s previously spoken about the encouraging messaging behind his music. “You’ve got to remember that things can be better,” he said. “You will come out on the other side.”
UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross,UPROXX Sessionsis a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.
While speaking to KD on his new podcast, Green revealed that he actually told Durant “Can’t nobody fuck with you. Can’t nobody fucking stop you.” This is somewhat what we had in mind when we saw the clip for the first time, and it’s clear that Green’s energy matched the words coming out of his mouth.
Throughout the podcast with Durant, Green and KD were able to clear the air on a number of issues, and it’s obvious that these two are still cool with each other and that there are no hard feelings about what went down in the Bay Area. After all, you can’t be too mad at each other after winning a couple of championships.
And just like that, the latest hip-hop beef has been kicked off as Soulja Boy has taken aim at Tory Lanez and Juelz Santana over their comments about him on Instagram. After claiming that he made BAPE popular, Soulja Boy was met with contrarian responses from Tory and Juelz. Tory’s response was tame, claiming that he was personally more inspired by Lil Wayne after seeing the rapper in the “Hustler Musik” video. Juelz was simply amused, writing, “Lololol” with a face-palm emoji.
He proceeded to respond to a tweet from Tory Lanez that likely wasn’t about him, saying, “Shut up n***a.”
Despite this seeming as though it could blow up into something bigger, Soulja Boy is already taking a more mature route. He said later that he spent some time on the phone with Tory Lanez and misunderstood his comment. “Just got off the phone wit @torylanez y’all chill we good on gang,” he explained. “Misunderstanding.”
Soulja has been experiencing a recent surge in his music sales with the success of his viral hit “She Make It Clap”. The song is currently #1 on TikTok and the competition really isn’t even that close. Check it out below.
Female rap mogul, Trina, recently celebrated the 21-year anniversary of her groundbreaking album, Da Baddest B*tch. The Diamond Princess started her rap career when she was just a teenager, and since then, she’s accumulated an impressive discography of six albums, eleven mixtapes, and four EPs with her signature raunchy lyrics and provocative energy in her music– a style which has influenced some of the biggest female rap stars today. On the latest episode of BagFuel, Trina, discussed this new generation of female rappers, whom she’s clearly influenced, with Hynaken and E$$O.
However right off the bat, Hynaken commented on the longevity of Trina’s career. As far as her success goes, Trina credited “minding her damn business” as the major element to a prosperous career, noting she prioritizes her own physical and mental well-being over anything else.
“Every day we evolve, we gotta grow,” the Miami native said. “You constantly see something that may make you elevate but for me, I just try to stay as focused as I can.”
“For me, I said Kim or Eve. I love both,” Trina replied. “Kim was more provocative and has the same level of music as me. I grew up listening to Kim. I love Kim. I just felt like she has many albums– I mean it’s just the same kind of vibe.”
While Trina showed some love to one of her biggest influences, she also applauded the work all the new women in rap have been doing.
“There has never been this many women,” she said of the hip-hop scene. “Right now whether you’re signed and have a deal, independent, or just on the internet, the fire that women are putting into the game is necessary and it’s needed.”
In this discussion, Hynaken asked if she felt it was important for women to write bars or not, to which Trina does not mince words.
“Who gives a shit?,” she replied. “Some of the best songs that have been created is coming from other people that are helping out. That’s called creating music. I don’t know why people make a big deal about it.”
Amanda Gorman is an African American poet and activist from Los Angeles who has become one of the most important pop culture figures of 2021. In January, the Harvard graduate became the youngest inaugural poet in American history, and her captivating performance at President Joe Biden‘s inauguration quickly catapulted the young woman’s career and celebrity.
This month, she has already made history once again. By gracing the cover of Vogue Magazine in an Afrocentric-style dress designed by Virgil Abloh, Amanda Gorman has become the first poet to ever land the monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine since its inception in 1892. If that wasn’t mind-blowing enough, however, Gorman revealed in her Vogue cover story that she has declined a massive amount of lucrative offers since her profound inauguration performance of her “The Hill We Climb” poem.
According to Complex, Gorman has elected to decline several insanely high offers, ultimately passing on an estimated $17 million. The poet reportedly explained that she aims to remain “conscious” of her personal goals and beliefs when considering offers of any kind.
“I didn’t really look at the details,” Gorman said, “because if you see something and it says a million dollars, you’re going to rationalize why that makes sense.”
Are you surprised that Amanda Gorman has been offered $17 million dollars since her viral inauguration performance? Or are you more shocked that she has turned them down?
Though it was only a few years back, it already feels as if an eon has passed since the SoundCloud era, a time that introduced the world to rappers like XXXTentacion, Ski Mask The Slump God, Wifisfuneral, Lil Pump, and Smokepurpp. Though not everybody was particularly fond of the low-budget production, absent-minded lyricism, and rebellious attitude of the rising genre, it was those very same qualities that made SoundCloud rap so unique.
As one of the chief purveyors of visuals for many of SoundCloud rap’s prominent names, Cole Bennett had a first-hand window into the dynamic scene. It’s no wonder that he looks back on it so fondly, having played such an integral role in shaping its aesthetic. And though he’s moved on to bigger and brighter things, having recently joined forces with Eminem on two blockbuster videos, it’s evident that he’ll always hold a soft spot for the SoundCloud era.
Smokepurpp, an artist who rose to prominence through the SoundCloud era. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
“I miss the SoundCloud days,” he laments, taking to Twitter to wax nostalgic. “No Spotify/Apple playlisting, just genuine finds. “When the SoundCloud scene was at it’s height there were unsigned underground artists doing more numbers than mainstream acts. no label push, just a loyal audience. it was an era.”
“Then the labels caught on and nothing has been the same since,” he continues. “Everything feels so artificial now.” Though SoundCloud themselves slid into his comments pledging that they’re very much still present, Cole’s point certainly resonates. Close to the movement though he may be — it could certainly be argued that the SoundCloud era arguably caused a few negative trends in its own right — it’s hard to deny one key truth. It was the platform of the underdog, and though every dog does indeed have its day, alas — days end.
