EARTHGANG is back to deliver to their longest project of their “EarthGang vs. The Algorithm” run with PERFECT FANTASY. It’s over an hour in length, boasts 18 tracks, and features a diverse guest list. T-Pain, who helped lead things off for this album’s rollout with his contributions to “Love You More,” is here. You also have Pharrell on another love cut “U GOTTA,” as well as Little Dragon, Eric Bellinger, Benji. one of their Spillage Village teammates, and more. On top of some familiar faces, there are also other tracks you may have heard already.
Those include “BLACKLIGHT,” “ROBOPHOBIA,” “BOBBY BOUCHER,” “PUT IN WORK,” “PERFECT FANTASY,” and “OSMOSIS.” These were all either singles or records that appeared on the first tape in this aforementioned series,ROBOPHOBIA. That hit streaming platforms earlier this year. While mid-week releases aren’t too uncommon nowadays despite weekend’s being the time to drop projects, it seems EARTHGANG is echoing Tyler, The Creator’s message of dropping sooner. As the Georgia duo puts it, “We want people to be able to live with the music through the week and not get lost in the weekend.” We appreciate the thought EARTHGANG, and we can’t wait to dive into the newest cuts on PERFECT FANTASY.
It’s been about six years since my colleague Steven Hyden wrote about how putting out new music on Fridays is a functionally bad idea, and it looks like change may finally be on the horizon. Next Monday, October 28, Tyler The Creator is set to release his eighth (or seventh, depending on what you count) album, Chromakopia. The next day, Earthgang looks to release their fifth album, Perfect Fantasy. It may have taken a bit, but it looks like New Music Tuesday might be back.
Here’s where we remind some of our younger readers that, once upon a time, new albums and singles used to come out on Tuesdays. We didn’t really think enough about it at the time to appreciate it, but it was glorious. You could buy the latest releases after school on Tuesday and spend the rest of the week actually listening to it, determining your weekend playlist between classes and on the way to and from school. You actually had time to share and discuss new music with friends and fellow listeners, to absorb and digest the new tunes throughout the week without distractions from other new media like movies and weekend activities that make it hard to just sit and take it all in.
Now, though, music and movies all come out on the same day. This means making choices. You miss out on something, and with so many new albums all coming out on Friday (Thursday night on the West Coast), there are too many projects clamoring for space on your playlist. By the weekend, well, you have plans. You might get to sit and absorb one or two of the latest releases, but then Monday comes, and it feels like a hard reset. Sure, you can still listen to all the new stuff through the week, but by now, you’ve probably forgotten about them all in the rush, save for the one or two highest profile releases from the biggest artists. Mid-level artists and indies get pushed to the side. It’s a bad scene for almost everybody involved.
Audiomack co-founder Brian Zisook (aka DJ Z) has been making the argument on social media for years that releasing earlier in the week drives more engagement. In August, he wrote, “Spoke with execs from four record labels this week, and none believe releasing new music on Fridays makes sense anymore. They’d gladly switch back to Tuesdays—better for artists, fans, and DSP partners alike.” Since Tyler announced Chromakopia would release on Monday, Zisook has beat the drum more steadily, noting, “Releasing music at midnight on Friday is incompatible with consumer behavior… Releasing earlier in the week, preferably during daytime hours, allows for greater engagement and conversation while people are in the same weekday routine!”
While many indie artists have followed this advice (to their benefit), this is the first time in a long time mainstream artists have moved a heavily anticipated release to earlier in the week. This gives us our first chance to test this oddly counterintuitive logic in the real world — especially since streaming became the de facto default consumption method for new music. Having two artists dropping earlier in the week signifies a shift in thinking. Should they see the kind of results Z and Hyden have been promoting for the past few years, you can bet the industry will take note. The next artist makes a trend; after that, the floodgates will hopefully open, allowing for an industry-wide change that will only benefit artists and their partners.
EarthGang’s fifth studio album is on the way. Today (October 11), the first taste of Perfect Fantasy has hit streaming platforms. Although “Love You More,” which features T-Pain, was previously teased online, the full track is far more sensual than expected.
Throughout the record, EarthGang and T-Pain work to prove there is no competition when it comes to who’s the better romantic partner. The track opens with a chorus from T-Pain to set the mood. He sings, “No, I know this ain’t no competition / Tell me ’bout your day, I wanna listen / Hit the jackpot with you / Throw these racks out with you / Shot my shot and now I know, I hit the score / Bae, I cannot love you more and more / I love you more and more.”
Johnny Venus’ verse share the same thread, but he goes about it much explicitly, rapping: “Fat ass / Sweet thighs / I’ma spread ’em, make ’em do the peace sign / Tasty, I hop in that p*ssy waist deep / Then hop in the whip and take us a trip / And you can have anything you see / And excess success and whole lot of sex / Tiffany said no blood diamonds, but I cut these fool necks for you.”
Whether clean or raunchy love is love, and EarthGang as well as T-Pain has plenty of it to go around.
Listen to “Love You More” above.
Perfect Fantasy is out 10/29 via Dreamville/Interscope. Find more information here.
On paper, Atlanta hip-hop duo EARTHGANG and T-Pain may not work out in some people’s eyes. However, if you really think about it, both acts are extremely versatile and can really fit anywhere you drop them in. Also, they have worked together now more than once, if you can believe that. Their first and most recent collaboration landed on Johnny Venus and Doctur Dot’s Mirrorland back in 2019. For those wanting to revisit that before checking out “Love You More,” it’s “Tequila.”
This track is actually leading things off for EARTHGANG, as it’s the first single from their next endeavor, PERFECT FANTASY. Unlike their last couple of releases (EPs), this will be a LP and fans aren’t going to have to wait too much longer for it. The Spillage Village affiliates announced the release date on their social media accounts at the top of October, saying, “PERFECT FANTASY ALBUM COMING 10/29 .” The album also looks to have its features laid out too, with Little Dragon, Snoop Dogg, Cochise, and Eric Bellinger being a few of them. “Love You More” is a pretty straightforward cute and sometimes raunchy pop/trap rap cut. T-Pain, one of the best chorus writers of this generation, does it again here with an earworm of a melody. Then, EARTHGANG tie it all together with some speedy verses about getting down with their special women.
“Love You More” – EARTHGANG, Spillage Village, & T-Pain
Quotable Lyrics:
I know this ain’t no competition (Yeah, yeah) Tell me ’bout your day, I wanna listen (Yeah) Hit the jackpot with you (Woah) Throw these racks out with you (Woah) Shot my shot, now I know I hit the score Bae, I cannot love you more and more and more and more and more, more, more
Two years after the release of their fourth studio album, Ghetto Gods, Earthgang has announced the release date for its follow-up. Perfect Fantasy will be out on October 29 via Dreamville and Interscope, and will be preceded by lead single, “Love You More” featuring T-Pain.
Although the Atlanta duo has put 24-plus months between full-length releases, they’ve remained busy over the past two years, dropping three EPs: EarthGang vs. The Algorithm: RIP Human Art , Robophobia, and Snakegang with EDM duo Snakehips. They also performed at Coachella in 2023, and were billed to open on Kid Cudi’s Insano Tour this summer, but the tour was canceled as a result of Kid Cudi’s broken foot from this year’s Coachella festival.
According to a press release, Perfect Fantasy will be “heavily inspired” by Japanese culture and continues the theme of the duo’s ongoing EarthGang VS. The Algorithm project. The group has been openly critical of the effects of AI on art and culture — especially music — as seen by the titles of their EPs, which are also part of the series. They previously addressed the impact that social media has had on parasocial engagement with celebrities in their 2023 single, “Die Today.”
Perfect Fantasy is due 10/29 via Dreamville/Interscope. You can find more info here.
After previous collaborations and a lead single, SNAKEGANG, the formation of Snakehips and EARTHGANG, are here with their first project. Titled SNAKEGANG EP Volume 1, it features the UK electronic Wonder Twins and the eclectic rap duo from Atlanta, Georgia. Both have a tendency to stray away from the norm, so this pairing coming together for a longer-form release makes perfect sense. Sadly, as you can see from the title, this an extended play record, one that consists of five songs. Additionally, you also know that it features a lead-off track. That would be the now closer “Been A Minute…” which features London, England songwriter, Sinead Harnett.
If you were able to check that one out, you will remember that it has a strong dance/disco and electropop vibe. That is exactly what you are getting out of this 13:39 long EP. Overall, this tape isn’t necessarily reinventing the wheel or anything. But what SNAKEGANG does do is bring a nonstop dance party from beginning to end. It’s here to bring fun and hypnotizing grooves and it succeeds in that goal. EARTHGANG has been moving in this direction ever since the release of the single “BLACKLIGHT” in November of last year. That record laned on their early 2024 EP ROBOPHOBIA. Obviously, with this being a Volume 1 for SNAKEGANG, there is a good chance we may get more projects from them in the future. While we hope for that, check out what they have to offer with the links below.
Apparently, no owls were harmed in the making of Kendrick Lamar’s hilarious video game version of “Not Like Us,” but fans are having a blast bopping the birds in the Whac-A-Mole-esque browser game for the past few days. For what it’s worth, the little “Wop”s that pop out when you make contact is an adorable touch.
Kendrick isn’t the only rapper whose had their music turned into a memorable digital mayhem, though; he’s actually the latest in a long line of rappers with games tied to their songs — a list that includes superstars like Future, Kanye West, and more. Sadly, some of the simple, browser-based games have gone offline after their initial releases, since they were timed to help promote specific projects.
But over the years, there have been big studio-produced games that put fans in the shoes of their favorite MCs to do everything from shooting hoops to brawling in the streets. Here’s a list of 10 more rapper-approved video games to feed your fix for beats, rhyme, and extra lives.
50 Cent: Bulletproof
A third-person action shooter in the vein of genre classics like Max Payne, this PlayStation 2-era revenge story was widely panned for having bad gameplay. While it proved 50’s early interest in expanding his G-Unit empire, it also betrayed a lack of care in how it did so.
Chance The Rapper: SuperMe
The story behind this game’s creation is more endearing than the game itself, thanks to its simple gameplay. However basic it is, though, it’s cool that Chance worked with Chicago’s public school system to encourage kids to learn to code.
Doja Cat Website for Planet Her
Excited to finally reveal that I created all the pixel art with RCA Records to revamp @dojacat ‘s website into a whole top-down pixel adventure. It was a lot of fun and I had lots of freedom in creating the city and the style. (1/3)#dojacat#rcarecords#pixelartpic.twitter.com/aFtxZNjDvJ
While not technically a game, per se, the 16-bit pixel art style for the interactive redesign of Doja’s website circa Planet Her made it very game-like. That you also navigated a tiny avatar of Doja through the titular world makes it all the more a shame it’s not accessible anymore.
Earthgang: Mirrorland
Pixel artist Ali Graham has had a lot of fun turning popular hip-hop moments into cute, 8- and 16-bit animations on Instagram. Atlanta rap duo Earthgang tapped him to make a full-blown side-scrolling adventure platformer for the release of their 2019 album, Mirrorland.
Future: I Won
Probably the grossest game on the list (although its attitude toward women isn’t exactly an outlier in either games design or hip-hop), this basic game is a bit like a ring toss, only the targets are scantily clad digital women, and the rings are chain necklaces. Yeesh.
Kanye West: Lil Ye Adventures
Although technically not officially endorsed by Kanye himself, this one’s almost too good not to include. Another of Graham’s creations, this one is based on Graham’s first cartoon avatar, a child-like version of Kanye from when he was way less problematic.
Aside from the games no longer in circulation, this one may very well be one of the hardest to obtain. A promotional product hyping his 2022 album Heroes & Villains, this dungeon crawler was released in limited quantities as a physical Game Boy game. I can’t exactly speak to its quality — despite having a copy, I haven’t actually owned a Game Boy since like 2003.
Nicki Minaj: The Empire
A lifestyle simulator might have seemed like a home run for Ms. Minaj’s first foray into mobile gaming, but its dated format is a relic of several outdated ideas about women in gaming (and its developers’ lazy assumptions that Nicki’s audience would be primarily women).
Def Jam Vendetta, Fight For NY, and Icon
Like a video game version of a posse cut, these games collect a roster of rapper to beat the hell out of each other in martial competition. The first one was a groundbreaking delight, the second is a damn classic, and the third tossed out a winning formula, effectively killing interest in the format. This is my semi-annual request for someone to figure out a way to do a new one of these with contemporary rappers (in the style of Fight for NY, not Icon).
Rap Jam Volume One
An utterly legendary release, likely thrown together to compete with the popularity of the NBA Jam franchise, Rap Jam has the distinction of being the first game to bring together a collective of real-life rappers — ’90s staples like Coolio, House of Pain, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, and Yo-Yo — for an unhinged basketball game that flouted the rules. It was developed by Motown during another one of the label’s ill-fated attempts at branching out, and while its name might suggest that there were more of these, its unimpressive quality meant that it was also the last of its kind.
If there is one thing that EARTHGANG and Snakehips can relate to; it is the ability to work with any artist. Over the years, we have seen both collectives crossover with relative ease and produce some great tracks. The latter is true on this newest EARTHGANG cut, “Been A Minute…”. For the Atlanta, Georgia hip-hop tandem, this is continuing an already bustling 2024. It follows up on their ROBOPHOBIA EP from late February. Additionally, it comes after their feature on the single “Slide By”, alongside The WRLDFMS Tony Williams and BJ The Chicago Kid. As for the UK electronic producing duo, Snakehips, it supersedes a handful of remixes, as well as a guest placement on the record, “ROOM IS ON FIRE”. Also, in the fold on “Been A Minute…” is London, England songstress, Sinead Harnett.
She is arguably having the biggest year out of all three artists, dropping an album in late April. Boundaries, her fourth album, has received lots of critical praise for being one of Sinead’s most vulnerable records to date. Overall, though, everyone is doing well in 2024, so getting them all together on this song is a welcome treat. We say that too, because this is the lead single for Snakehips and EARTHGANG’s forthcoming EP, SNAKEGANG. According to Hypebeast, it will hit platforms on July 19 and possess five cuts. “Been A Minute…” features a great summertime aesthetic, with its sweet vocals from Sinead, and the carefree rapping from the MCs. “The tune is about moving on from a bad relationship, getting away from the negativity, and moving forward with positivity and no bad feelings. It’s a good vibe and was super fun to cook up”, Snakehips explained. Indeed, it is and we are going to bump it a ton going forward.
Dreamville’s EarthGang, Cozz, and Lute teamed up for an electrifying freestyle session courtesy of Red Bull Spiral. The four-minute-long performance showcases seamless exchanges as they effortlessly pass the mic, filmed in a single take using a rotating 360-degree camera.
To promote the release of his latest album, Insano, Kid Cudi will travel across the US and Europe, putting on live shows for his devoted fans. The 43-date Insano World Tour featuring special guests Pusha T, Jaden, and Earthgang is expected to be the ultimate musical rager to make up for its multiple delays.
The presale for the international run kicked off today (March 12). If you are hoping to grab a ticket for a show near you, continue below for pricing details, the complete tour schedule, and the official tour poster.
How Much Are Tickets For Kid Cudi’s Insano World Tour?
Based on the Insano World Tour‘s stop at Newark, New Jersey’s Prudential Center (slated for July 17), there are four ticketing tiers. For floor seats, a standing-room-only ticket in the pit will run you $160 (before fees). A pit ticket with the early-entry VIP package add-on will cost you $281 (before fees).
The next section nearest the stage (1 through 21) ranges from $89.95 to $181.50 (before fees) based on how close you are to the stage. In the 100s section, tickets run between $59.95 and $82.25 (before fees) based on the same factors.
Lastly, seats in the 200s section are priced between $49.95 and $56.25 (before fees). The password-protected presale kicks off on March 12. The general onsale date starts on Friday, March 15 at 10 a.m. local time. Find more information here.
Kid Cudi 2024 Tour Dates: Insano World Tour
06/28/2024 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center +^
06/30/2024 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center +^
07/03/2024 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena +*
07/05/2024 — Sunrise, FL @ Amerant Bank Arena +*
07/06/2024 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena +*
07/09/2024 — Duluth, GA @ Gas South Arena +*
07/11/2024 — Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena +*
07/13/2024 — Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena +*
07/14/2024 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center +*
07/17/2024 — Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center +^
07/19/2024 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena +^
07/20/2024 — Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre +^
07/23/2024 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden +^
07/24/2024 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden +^
07/27/2024 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena +*
07/28/2024 — Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena +*
07/31/2024 — Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse +*#!
08/02/2024 — Cincinnati, OH @ Heritage Bank Center +*#!
08/04/2024 — Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center +*
08/07/2024 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center +*
08/09/2024 — St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center +*
08/11/2024 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena +*
08/14/2024 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center +*
08/16/2024 — San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena +*
08/17/2024 — Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena +*
08/20/2024 — San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center +*
08/22/2024 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center +*
08/24/2024 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena +*
08/25/2024 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena +*
08/28/2024 — Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center +^
08/30/2024 — Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena +^
02/25/2025 — Oslo, Norway @ Spektrum +
02/27/2025 — Hamburg, Germany @ Barclays Arena +
02/28/2025 — Berlin, Germany @ Uber Arena +
03/02/2025 — Oberhausen, Germany @ Rudolf Weber-ARENA +
03/03/2025 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Ziggo Dome +
03/05/2025 — Milan, Italy @ Forum Milano +
03/08/2025 — Paris, France @ Accor Arena +
03/09/2025 — Brussels, Belgium @ ING Arena +
03/12/2025 — Dublin, Ireland @ 3Arena +
03/14/2025 — Birmingham, UK @ Resorts World Arena +
03/15/2025 — Manchester, UK @ Co-op Live +
03/18/2025 — London, UK @ The O2 +
+ with Pusha T
* with Earthgang
^ with Jaden
# with Chelsea Pastel
! with Siena Bella
Kid Cudi’s Insano World Tour Poster
Kid Cudi
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
.” The album also looks to have its features laid out too, with Little Dragon, 
