Hip Hop News

Lil Nas X Delivered A Steamy Rendition Of ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ At The 2021 BET Awards

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Lil Nas X has already had quite the eventful year. He dropped two new singles, had a wardrobe malfunction on his SNL debut, and was sued by Nike for selling “Satan shoes.” Now, Lil Nas X may not hold a nomination at the 2021 BET Awards show this year, but he still gave a showstopping performance of “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” at the ceremony.

Lil Nas X went all-out during his 2021 BET Awards set. He waltzed out wearing in an all-gold, Egyptian pharaoh-inspired outfit, paying homage to Michael Jackson’s iconic “Remember The Times” video. That wasn’t the only pop culture moment Lil Nas X paid tribute to. At the end of his set, the musician made out with a few of his fellow backup dancers, drawing inspiration from the iconic kiss shared by Britney Spears, Madonna, and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 VMAs.

Ahead of his BET Awards performance, Lil Nas X revealed that he knew his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” track would eventually land on Fox News, even during the planning stages. The musician laid out his vision as a recent guest on the Desus & Mero show, saying he had some idea of its controversial nature before it dropped. “Even when I was planning the video, I was like, ‘Oh, this is definitely going to hit Fox News,’” he said. “I definitely didn’t expect the outrage as much as it was at all, especially, like, governors tweeting me. Like, you’re a governor. You don’t have anything better to do?”

Watch a clip of Lil Nas X perform “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” at the 2021 BET Awards above.

City Girls Demonstrated How To Best Enjoy Their Hit ‘Twerkulator’ On The 2021 BET Awards

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The 2021 BET Awards were already a spectacle but at 10:20 pm ET / 7:20 PT, it was time for the “Twerkulator.” Miami duo City Girls — that’s JT and Yung Miami — hit the stage with a fleet of dancers in the shortest of short shorts to explain just what exactly their newest hit is about, with all the visual aids anyone could want.

Although the Miami duo’s musical output this year has been lower than it was at the same point when they were first breaking out, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been in the news quite as much. They’ve created their share of disturbance on social media, particularly with regard to JT’s relationship with fellow rapper Lil Uzi Vert, as well as Yung Miami’s similar possible situation with rap vet Puff Daddy — aka Diddy — aka “Love.”

However, the City Girls did share their new single “Twerkulator,” which had samples of Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” and Cajmere’s “Percolator,” and tried to make sure that they had an entry for “song of the summer.” So far the track has peaked at No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100, which is a pretty strong start — although with Black TikTok on a strike, there won’t be a splashy dance number to push it along. Hopefully for them, tonight’s performance will do enough to get them to where they want to be.

Watch City Girls’s 2021 BET Awards performance of “TK” above.

There’s Some Understandable Confusion That Jack Harlow Is Nominated At The BET Awards

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Twitter has thoughts about a white rapper. Are you surprised? As has happened many times before, when the very white Eminem received multiple nominations at the BET Awards — an award show designed to highlight Black excellence in entertainment – fans are consternated that Jack Harlow is up for a few trophies tonight. Look, it’s not like these are small awards either, Harlow is nominated for Best New Artist, Best Male Hip-Hop Artist, and his “What’s Poppin” remix (which featured DaBaby, Tory Lanez and Lil Wayne).

Surely he is one of the rising stars in the genre, but in a space that’s reserved to focus on Black performers, who will consistently face barriers that Harlow never has and never will, it’s always a strange reality. That’s the main point for most people who are reacting to his nominations, though most aren’t really questioning his talent or disparaging his music. Still, whenever Twitter does what it does, seizing upon a subject and going to town with reactions, memes and jokes, it’s always worth checking out. Again, Jack, no hard feelings, just know those footsteps you’re walking in right now were laid down by Marshall Mathers many times over.

For his part, the main thing Jack is focusing on is his red carpet look:

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

HER’s 2021 Lights On Festival Is Led By Erykah Badu, Bryson Tiller, And Ari Lennox

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In addition to winning Grammy and Oscar awards, HER also has her very own music festival. She first premiered the Lights On Festival back in 2019 with help from Summer Walker, Jhene Aiko, and Daniel Caesar. While there might’ve been plans to have the festival again in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic forced the singer to delay the show for the forseeable future. Now that things are reopening for the most part, HER used the 2021 BET Award stage to announce that the Lights On Festival would return this fall. Moments later, the official lineup for the show was revealed.

This year’s Lights On Festival will return the Concord Pavilion on the weekend of September 18-19. The show is led by Erkyah Badu, Bryson Tiller, and Ari Lennox as well HER who will appear with “friends” that have yet to be mentioned. Other performers for the Lights On Festival include Ty Dolla Sign, Keyshia Cole, Masego, Lucky Daye, Kiana Lede, Foushee, Blxst, VanJess, Arin Ray, Tone Stith, Tiana Major9, Maeta, Brianna Castilo, Samaria, Maxx Moore, Lorea, and more names to be announced.

In addition to announcing the festival at the BET Awards, HER also performed “We Made It” and won the Best Female R&B/Pop Artist award.

You can view the full lineup above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Jazmine Sullivan Dazzled By Performing ‘On It’ With Ari Lennox And ‘Tragic’ At The BET Awards

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Jazmine Sullivan’s stellar 2021 year has brought her back to the BET Awards. For this year’s edition of the ceremony, the singer received two nominations, Album Of The Year for Heaux Tales, which she released back in January, and Best Female R&B/Pop Artist. In addition to that, she also took the stage to perform “On It” with Ari Lennox and her newest single, “Tragic.” As expected, Sullivan and Lennox absolutely impressed onstage as her soaring vocals filled the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California.

Her performance at this year’s BET Awards extends a string of excellent sets the Philly singer has delivered this year. It began when she brought her talents to NPR’s Tiny Desk in January to perform “Bodies (Intro),” “The Other Side,” “Lost One,” “Let It Burn,” and “Girl Like Me,” which she performed alongside HER who contributes a guest verse to the track. She then delivered a duet of the national anthem with Eric Church at Super Bowl LV. Elsewhere, she performed “Girl Like Me” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and “Girl Like Me” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

“Tragic” is the singer’s first official release since dropping Heaux Tales at the beginning of the year. The track fits perfectly with the project from a conceptual and sonic standpoint which hopefully means that a deluxe reissue could be on the way.

You can watch her performance in the video above.

Roddy Ricch’s 2021 BET Awards Performance Of ‘Late At Night’ Was Classy And Cool

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Roddy Ricch‘s performance of his new single “Late At Night” for the 2021 BET Awards could best be summed up by two words: Cool and classy. Modeled after a burlesque show, the performance saw Roddy and his band styled as an old-school jazz band in front of a city skyline background and surrounded by showgirls in glittering, skimpy ensembles as he performed on the glistening stage.

Although the Compton rapper has been laying low for most of the year, he has popped up on occasion to perform at awards shows and feature on other rappers’ tracks. Earlier this year, he performed his No. 1 hit single “The Box” at the Grammys and appeared alongside DaBaby to perform their No. 1 collaboration of “Rockstar.”

Meanwhile, though Roddy didn’t release much new music himself, he popped up on 42 Dugg’s “4 Da Gang” and DJ Khaled’s “Body In Motion” with Bryson Tiller and Lil Baby. However, fans who’d been waiting for a new single from the West Coast rapper were by no means disappointed this year; June 4 saw him release his first brand-new single, “Late At Night,” after teasing it for nearly a year, and they can look forward to his next album sometime this year.

Watch Roddy Ricch’s 2021 BET Awards performance of “TK” above.

Moneybagg Yo Doubles Up At BET Awards W/ 2 Live Anthems

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Memphis rapper Moneybagg Yo made sure to pull through in epic fashion. The hip-hop heavyweight put on a performance his ride or die Ari Fletcher would be proud of. Instead of just holding things down with one set, he showed off his star power with two certified bangers. Things started off with Yo turning up […]

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DaBaby Does First-Ever ‘Ball If I Want To’ Live Set At BET Awards

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North Carolina rapper DaBaby did much more than perform an anthem at the 2021 BET Awards. The hip-hop star finally came through with his first-ever live set of the newly released “Ball If I Want To” smash. DaBaby Does First-Ever ‘Ball If I Want To’ Set The Southern rap heavyweight blessed the packed crowd and […]

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H.E.R Finally Loses Her Glasses + Rocks Out At BET Awards

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Grammy-winning singer H.E.R helped make the 2021 BET Awards an unforgettable experience. The popular crooner came through with a heartfelt and emotional rendition of her “We Made It” anthem to the masses. Things started off with H.E.R. coming from the ceiling like a spaceship while she performed with drums and a microphone. People surrounded the […]

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Romeo Squashes Beef With Bow Wow & Compares Him To Michael Jordan

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Romeo praised both Soulja Boy and Bow Wow, following the two rapper’s Verzuz showdown, Saturday night, squashing a longstanding beef between Romeo and Bow Wow. The iconic rapper even compared all three of them to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James.

“You inspired all of us up here,” Romeo said to Bow Wow.

He continued: “I have been waiting to tell you this for 20 years, my first song ‘My Baby,’ I put you on my song. The world put us against each other, but you the Michael Jordan, right? Every era has a Michael Jordan, a Kobe, and LeBron. You the Michael Jordan, you inspired all of us n**** up here. You need to your roses while you can smell ‘em. Me, I was Kobe where I didn’t have to be the most talented but I’ma work my ass off. I know my purpose.”

Bow Wow, Romeo
Vivien Killilea / Gett Images

From there, he turned to Soulja: “And Soulja, you was the LeBron of our era where you came and you was just the innovator you switched shit up. You had n***s wearing they name on their glasses. You deserve your roses too, man. So, this is what it’s about. At the end of the day we’re stronger together.”

Check out the clip of Romeo below.

[Via]