In addition to the 11-song soundtrack released to DSPs by Interscope today, the 2022 iteration of Madden NFL also includes another 40 songs which can be found both in the game and on the official Madden NFL 22 Soundtrack playlist on Spotify. While the original soundtrack boasts appearances from 42 Dugg, Jack Harlow, JID, Swae Lee, and Tierra Whack, the playlist version on Spotify adds dozens of previously released tracks.
However, it looks like the curators missed out on the theme-appropriate “The Game” from Denzel Curry, which the Miami rapper shared with a retro-aesthetic video inspired by the original 1995 version of Madden. A thumping, borderline menacing beat backs Denzel’s ruminations on “The Game” — the rap one — as a game plays out in the video with updated graphics reflecting a team named for Denzel’s most recent album, Zuu, and with himself included as the star running back.
Meanwhile, Curry himself has been relatively busy for an artist who hasn’t dropped a new project in two years (even allowing for the pandemic). He’s guested on tracks with fellow rabble-rousers Jasiah and Rico Nasty (“Art Of War“), collaborated with DC Comics on a companion to the Death Metal miniseries (“Bad Luck“), and teamed up with Snot (“Sangria“) and JID (“Bruuuh” Remix) in past months, all while preparing a new album that has fans pretty excited.
At the beginning of 2021, all signs pointed to the new year being an exciting one for Ohio native Jasiah. The prospering act has grown thanks to pushing his limits in a number of genres and seemingly staying focused on remaining true to himself and refusing to conform at any extent. Jasiah’s latest song, “Art Of War,” finds him side by side with a pair of energetic and sharp-cutting rappers: Denzel Curry and Rico Nasty. The trio combines their high-octane energies for an absolute head-banging track, one that should be perfect for the mosh pits that are set to return at festivals later this year.
The track arrives after Jasian dropped War back in April. The 7-track effort came equipped with features from Rico Nasty, Nascar Aloe, and Pouya. However, it’s not only Jasiah that’s been busy lately. Curry reunited with Kenny Beats to drop Unlocked 1.5 earlier this year, a collaborative edition of their Unlocked project, which this time came with contributions from Arlo Parks, Benny The Butcher, Charlie Heat, Kenny Mason, Jay Versace, Sango, and more.
Rico Nasty, on the other hand, is preparing a project to release this summer, or so it seems. She recently shared an image of two prescription bottles with the caption “Rx . This summer .” Perhaps this means the DMV rapper will grace us with new tunes in the coming months.
You can rock out to the trio’s new song in the video above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The comics world and hip-hop have crossed over numerous times in recent years, from Marvel Comics’ classic rap album-inspired cover series to books penned by or featuring rappers like Jean Grae, Rae Sremmurd, and more. This month, DC Comics will deepen the connection with the release of the Dark Nights: Death Metal Soundtrack album, conceived as a companion to the popular comic book crossover storyline “Death Metal.” Today, DC released the latest single by Florida thrash-rap pioneer Denzel Curry.
While the track may feel like a bit of a departure from some of the more traditional releases from Denzel, it’s in keeping with his well-noted appreciation for punk, thrash, and metal. Employing a characteristic low-register guitar riff and headbanging tempo, Denzel smashes metal and rap together for a hardcore experiment in kicking through the lines between genres. “I have this motto that I use in the studio, though, of ‘shoot first, ask questions later,’ so after a few convos we called up my homie Spencer from Trash Talk and made it happen,” he explained in a statement. “Some of you might love it and some might even hate it. For us, it was an experiment.”
Listen to “Bad Luck” above.
Dark Nights: Death Metal Soundtrack is out digitally on 6/18 on Loma Vista Recordings, with physical LPs out 7/16. You can pre-order them here.
If you were ever wondering how to make an album, Atlanta rising star JID recently shared his version of an instruction manual, posting a photo dump of behind-the-scenes glimpses of the recording sessions for his upcoming album, The Forever Story. “This is how u make an album,” he wrote in the slideshow’s caption. The slideshow itself captures plenty of in-studio shots and shenanigans with collaborators like fellow Spillage Village member 6lack, Compton rapper Buddy, Florida rebel Denzel Curry, DMV area genre-bender Rico Nasty, and St. Louis space poet Smino.
Meanwhile, in his efforts to tide fans over until the new album is completed, JID has been releasing freestyles like “Cludder Freestyle” and “JIDtranada Freestyle“; remixes like the Denzel Curry collaboration “Bruuuh,” the updated Spillage Village track “Baptized” with Deante’ Hitchcock, IDK, and Flatbush Zombies, and the explosive Conway The Machine track “Scatter Brain” with Ludacris; and his own standalone single, “Skegee,” which sheds light on a dark corner of American history.
The Forever Story, whose title references JID’s debut album The Never Story, will be the dynamic rapper’s first full-length solo release since 2018’s DiCaprio 2. In the meantime, however, he could be found giving standout performances on group efforts like 2019’s Dreamville compilation Revenge Of The Dreamers III and 2020’s Spillage Village excursion, Spilligion.
Check out JID’s behind-the-scenes slideshow above.
Last year, Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats teamed up for their Unlocked project, which they released with little to no announcement for fans. The 8-track effort was an entirely solo release from the pairing, but it will soon receive a sweet update with the help of a strong cast of collaborators. However, before that arrives, the duo unleashes a brand new remix of “Cosmic. m4a” featuring Joey Badass and The Alchemist. Thanks to new production from the latter, the updated version comes with a more raucous beat and brash verse from Joey.
The reconstructed “Cosmic.m4a” track arrives a week after Denzel and Kenny called on Smino and Robert Glasper to remix “So.Incredible.Pkg” Both songs will appear on Unlocked 1.5, a re-release of the duo’s Unlocked that they announced last week. The news was shared through a trailer with appearances from Glasper, Alchemist, and Georgia Anne Muldrow, who all jumped on a call to discuss the new project. According to the video, fans can expect features from Arlo Parks, Benny The Butcher, Charlie Heat, Kenny Mason, Jay Versace, Sango, and more on Unlocked 1.5.
The new version of “Cosmic.m4a” comes after Denzel recently collaborated with Snot and JID on “Sangria” and “Bruuuh (Remix)” respectively. Kenny Beats has also been active this year as he produced Flo Milli’s latest single, “Roaring 20s.”
Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.
This week saw a Taylor Swift/Haim reunion and Ariana Grande expanding her latest beloved album. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
Haim — “Gasoline” Feat. Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift and Haim have a healthy professional relationship, which they extended last week with a Swift-featuring version of “Gasoline.” The collaboration was enough for Swift to proclaim herself the fourth Haim sister, so she has apparently snatched the title from Bernie Sanders.
Ariana Grande — Positions (Deluxe)
Deluxe editions of albums took on a new level of prominence in 2020 and Grande is keeping that going in 2021 with an expanded release of her own. Grande’s new deluxe version of Positions adds five new tracks, including her star-studded remix of “34+35” that features Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion.
Wild Pink — A Billion Little Lights
The band’s John Ross recently spoke with Uproxx about his new album, saying of the just-released effort, “I wanted to have something very lush and just bigger than anything that I’d done before. And I got to play with amazing players, that was my favorite part.”
The Hold Steady — Open Door Policy
The veteran indie rockers recently sat down with Uproxx to review all of their albums, and Craig Finn told us of his band’s latest, “I’m super excited about it, but I’ve struggled to tell people what’s different about it. I think there’s been a continuation of figuring out this six-piece line-up and where everything goes and I think that that’s a huge part of the story. It’s allowed us to be more expansive musically than maybe we have in the past. There’s maybe a little bit more of headphone moments. There’s this weird scraping of guitars, some weird little noises that brought something we haven’t done before.”
Another Michael — New Music And Big Pop
Another Michael’s Nick Sebastiano recently told Uproxx of the band’s free-wheeling new album, “I look back upon it as one work that’s like a big pizza: One song was like the cheese, another song was like the bread. And then we only saw it as that for a while.”
Kaytranada — “Caution”
Kaytranada and TikTok linked up to celebrate Black History Month with the groovy new single “Caution.” Elsewhere this month, TikTok is also set to drop a cover of 1971 gospel song “Like A Ship” by Leon Bridges, as well as a live concert featuring Saweetie, Snoop Dogg, and Tyga.
Curry and Beats highlighted 2020 with their collaborative project Unlocked, and now they’re getting ready to expand upon that effort for 2021. This year will bring a reworked version of the album titled Unlocked 1.5, which they previewed with a new version of “So.Incredible” with Smino and Robert Glasper.
CJ — Loyalty Over Royalty
Staten Island rapper CJ got a major taste of music industry success recently when his single “Whoopty” managed to crack the top ten of the Hot 100 chart. Now he’s dropped his debut project and he builds on his momentum by going at it totally feature-free save for a guest spot from French Montana.
Conan Gray — “Overdrive”
After a breakout 2020, Conan Gray has re-emerged in 2021 with “Overdrive.” Uproxx’s Caitlin White described the track well, calling it “classic, blockbuster pop with huge guitar riffs, soaring vocals, and the kind of chorus that makes you want to roll the windows down and scream it out into the night.”
https://t.co/sHBG4MYYJ7
.” Perhaps this means the DMV rapper will grace us with new tunes in the coming months.
