Brandy “Murks” Jack Harlow With “First Class” Freestyle

Multi-hyphenate singer-songwriter-actor and now rapper Brandy has responded with bars for Jack Harlow who failed the Hot 97 “culture test” – he didn’t know the icon’s body of work or even her relation to brother, Ray J. Brandy has kept her promise to drop bars on rap newcomer Jack Harlow, who clearly needs a lesson […]

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Brandy Drops Freestyle Over Jack Harlow’s ‘First Class’

B Rocka is back.

Brandy comes through with a freestyle to “First Class,” inspired by an interview Jack Harlow did with Hot 97 in which he admitted that he didn’t know that Brandy and Ray J were siblings.

After seeing the now-viral video, Brandy responded. “I will murk this dude in rap at 43 on his own beats and then sing is ass to sleep,” she tweeted.

Now she’s delivering on her promise. On Wednesday, the 43-year-old R&B icon released her “First Class” freestyle, where she drops bars while reminding listeners of her legendary status.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is world famous, one of the greatest / Living legend, did I mention my résumé is amazing?” raps the former “Moesha” star, who played rapper Xplicit Lyrics on ABC’s since-canceled drama “Queens.”

“Over 20 years and I’m still a topic / A bitch is worth a million and I’m feeling philanthropic,” she continues over the Fergie-sampled beat. “Popular but now I’m poppin’ shit for those out of pocket.”

She also brings up her brother Ray J. “Built tougher than my brother Ray J glasses,” she raps, referencing Ray J’s “unbreakable” eyewear.

And from the sound of it, B Rocka is inspired to rap again. “Back on top of the world, sky’s blue again / Doing something people thought I’d never do again,” she says.

Listen to Brandy’s fiery flow below.

Brandy Follows Through On Her Threat To Jack Harlow, Dropping A Fiery Freestyle To ‘First Class’

When Jack Harlow admitted he didn’t know Brandy and Ray J are related, who could have predicted that it would lead to Brandy offering to hand him the lyrical fade — let alone following through? That’s right, Brandy, the R&B veteran who once starred in her own sitcom and gave the world “I Wanna Be Down,” actually decided to flex her mic skills and take full advantage of the viral moment.

Given that Jack made his embarrassing confession on Hot 97’s Ebro In The Morning show, it’s only right that Ebro was also the one to debut Brandy’s “First Class” freestyle. Hijacking the beat from Harlow’s own No. 1 single, Brandy spits a sinuous flow full of throwback ’90s-esque knowledge drops and references to Ray J’s “indestructible” glasses.

Jack is used to going viral for something or another, but when he appeared on Ebro In The Morning to promote his new album Come Home The Kids Miss You, he probably had no idea that he’d be the topic of discussion for a gap in his ’90s pop culture knowledge. Challenged to name a Brandy song for the show’s “White Ish Wednesday” segment, Harlow needed several hints, one of which was “Ray J’s sister.” When he wondered aloud “Who’s Ray J’s sister?” Twitter turned up on him for not knowing something that many considered obvious (the kid is just 24 years old and Brandy’s been out of the spotlight for pretty much his entire adult life).

When Brandy caught wind, she jokingly declared on Twitter, “I will murk this dude in rap at 43 on his own beats and then sing [h]is ass to sleep.” Jack gamely responded on his Instagram Story, using a clip from Brandy’s chorus on Kanye West’s 2005 song “Bring Me Down.” It looks like the ball is now back in his court after Brandy’s follow-up, although he may have the last laugh anyway; “First Class” is No. 1 for its third week, and if nothing else, this is great free promotion.

Jack Harlow Jokingly Uses Brandy’s Lyrics Against Her After She Said She Would ‘Murk’ Him In Rap

Everything was all good for Jack Harlow a few weeks ago. Granted, things are smooth sailing for the Lousiville rapper, as he’s enjoying the success of “First Class,” which recently returned to No. 1 on the singles chart, as well as Come Home The Kids Miss You, which debuted at No. 3. However, he’s found himself in a bit of intergenerational drama and it comes after he failed to realize that Brandy and Ray J are siblings during a recent interview on HOT 97. Harlow received a lot of criticism from music lovers who felt that it was basic music knowledge that he should’ve known.

The situation recently took a new turn after Brandy caught wind of the HOT 97 interview and issued a light-hearted response on Twitter. “I will murk this dude in rap at 43 on his own beats and then sing [h]is ass to sleep,” she wrote in one tweet. In a second, she added, “See, I can have a little fun too [red heart] hehe…all love.” Harlow wouldn’t let Brandy have the last laugh though. He fired off one last joke through a post to his Instagram Story.

In the post, Harlow shared a picture of Brandy and Ray J together with the former’s “Bring Me Down,” her 2005 collaboration with Kanye West, playing in the background. Harlow specifically selected the part in the song where she sings, “I always knew that one day / They’d try to bring me down / Way down, way down,” which certainly adds to the hilarity of the moment.

You can view Harlow’s post above.

Come Home The Kids Miss You is out now via Atlantic. You can stream it here.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Brandy Responds To Jack Harlow Failing To Identify Her: ‘I Will Murk This Dude In Rap’

Jack Harlow may have been the last person to know that Brandy and Ray J are siblings. This news made headlines last week following Harlow’s appearance on Hot 97, when he was played Brandy’s “Angel In Disguise.”

When played the sound clip, Harlow was instructed to guess the performing artist. Hosts Peter Rosenberg and Ebro Darden offered hints, saying, “Her brother is the reason a lot of people are famous,” and, “Her brother has an amazing sex tape.”

Harlow immediately caught on that the hosts were referring to Ray J, to which he responded, “Who is Ray J’s sister?”

“It’s Brandy,” shouted host Laura Stylez.

“Brandy and Ray J are siblings? Nobody’s ever told me that in my life,” replied Harlow.

Since Harlow’s appearance on Hot 97, neither Ray J or Brandy had responded until early this morning, when Brandy responded to a video clip shared by a fan account on Twitter.

“I will murk this dude in rap at 43 on his own beats and then sing [h]is ass to sleep,” said Brandy in a tweet.

Her response seemed to have been all in good fun, as she followed up clarifying that her response to the “First Class” rapper was “all love.”

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Source Exclusive: Olivia talks new single and album, music and fashion inspiration, and mental health

Olivia

Olivia may be one of the “First Ladies of hip-hop,” but in the span of almost two decades, she’s proven to have one of the most diverse ranges of talent of females in the industry. This week, she debuted her new single, “No Permission,” off her upcoming album, Under Pressure. Olivia sat down with The Source to talk about her upcoming album, film projects, musical and fashion inspirations, and how she manages her mental health.

The Source: What can fans expect different on this album than past albums?

Olivia: They can expect something totally different because the first album that I did was on J Records- and that’s when I first came out, which was when I was like 21 years old. And then on G-Unit, we didn’t do an album. We just did a bunch of singles and features and everything.  They can clearly hear how much my sound has evolved.

I’m a big Brandy fan, so you get a lot of those tones and we have similar tones, but I always listened to her harmonies and stuff. One of my first favorite songs that I recorded,  she was actually in a session with me because she was married to Bert (Robert ‘Big Bert’ Smith) at the time. She walked in and I was stunned because again, I’m like 22 years old and I’m like, ‘oh my God, Brandy is actually in the session.’

She is really one of my inspirations as far as the R&B side, but everybody knows I love hip-hop, so that’s infused in it as well. I have a lot of different blends in there because I don’t like to stick to one genre, but the album totally follows. You can play every track back to back and you get the same vibe.

The Source: You worked with multiple producers on this album. What do you think each of them brought to the album, in addition to your talents?

Olivia: Well of course everybody brings something different, but I have a particular producer named HV, which stands for high volume. His tracks just catch you when you hear them, like the tracks alone, you can tell those are smashes. So you have to automatically write something that matches the smash that he did. I feel like his tracks make me write even better and I try to make sure that I get producers that can come with the same type of energy, the winning type of mentality in the tracks that I want.

The Source: For sure, setting the bar high. So are there any guest artists on your new album?

Olivia: I’m keeping it a secret. I don’t want it to get out yet until we’re ready for the album [release].

The Source: Ok, so your album is called Under Pressure and May is Mental Health Awareness month. How do you deal with pressure, anxiety, stress, all the things that we all go through?

Olivia: One main thing I try to do since I live in Florida now and we’re close to the beach, I try to take long walks. We go for walks at night too in whichever city or state we’re in. Stuff like that kind of calms you down or relaxes you. I love flowers and sometimes I’ll have flowers in the house. They always bring up your energy. Also, simple things, just like sitting by yourself and with everything off, no TV, no music, just try to relax. You know, it really is the simplest things. It sounds like it’s so hard, but the simple things is what will calm you down and bring down your anxiety.

The Source: Well, you already mentioned Brandy, but who are some other musical artists that have inspired you?

Olivia: Joe is also one of my top favorite male, R&B singers. I had the pleasure of meeting him when I first came out. Also, he was down with my production crew, so he used to teach me his runs and I used to watch him and play the guitar. He’s actually why I tried to start learning to play the guitar. That’s probably why I like Lenny Kravitz. Everybody who knows me knows that I’m a big Lenny fan. My genre is all over the place, but there’s always great music. That’s all that matters- as long as it’s a great artist and they make great music.

The Source: If you could collab with any artist (past present, dead, alive, doesn’t matter), who would it be?

Olivia: One would be obviously Lenny Kravitz and the other one would be Luther Vandross. Some of my fans know this story from when I was signed to J Records. Luther was basically my godfather. He took me on my very first shopping spree when I got signed, he would take me to lunch at the Ivy, like every two weeks. I remember going into the studio with him and he has this long trench coat on with one of those big sweaters. We’re in California and it’s like 80 degrees in the studio and his engineer is sweating and I’m like, “Uncle Lou, why is it so hot in here?” He says, “that’s how I keep my vocals so warm.” And then I started doing it too because I realized that it does open up your vocals so much more. Luther and I used to walk down the street and sing so amazing together and harmonies, and I always wanted to do a record with him if I could.

The Source: In addition to being a talented musical artist, as we all know, you’re also something kind of a fashionista. We’ve seen your Instagram, your nails, and you’ve been featured in several fashion magazines. Who are some of your fashion icons or where do you get your fashion inspiration from?

Olivia: That’s a tough one because I like a lot of different things. Sometimes I like to be a really girly girl and then other times I’m very tomboy. I like color, so if I go for the color types, it’ll probably be Missoni, but if I’m going for like the clean lines and for color, it could be Versace also.

I like simple, but still classic. It’s a plethora of things. It depends on the day or on how you feel like dressing.

In addition to her upcoming album, Olivia also stars in the movie “Better than My Last,” an action-suspense film directed by Shawn Baker that is expected to be released nationwide later this year.

“No Permission” is available on most streaming platforms. More information can be found here: https://unitedmasters.com/m/625daffb4269dc24e93a1165.

The post Source Exclusive: Olivia talks new single and album, music and fashion inspiration, and mental health appeared first on The Source.

ABC Show ‘Queens’ Starring Brandy and Eve Canceled After First Season

'Queens' Premiere "Nasty Girl" Video From Upcoming ABC Drama

ABC is cancelling the Queens‘ reign after just one season. The series, starring Brandy, Eve, Naturi Naughton, and Nadine Velazquez, was one of the most anticipated music drama pilots last season,

Queens had an unmatched promotional run. Skits featuring Cam’ron and Brandy went viral. Jadakiss made his acting debut appearing on multiple episodes. All the music executive produced by Swizz Beatz.

READ MORE: [WATCH] ‘Queens’ Premiere “Nasty Girl” Video From Upcoming ABC Drama

But throughout the season, Queens, didn’t hold its rating expectations. Factor in Eve announcing her pregnancy with husband, Maximillion Cooper mid season. Fans were left wondering if the show would return following a shooting that led Eve’s character to fake her own death.

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