Hip Hop News

J. Cole Takes On Two Decades Of Classic Hip-Hop Beats In His Incendiary LA Leakers Freestyle

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“I haven’t done one of these in so f*cking long,” J. Cole says at the beginning of his recently released LA Leakers freestyle. You might not know it, as he displays an athletic flow to take on multiple generations of classic hip-hop beats. The freestyle begins with Cole spitting a sinewy verse over Souls Of Mischief’s Golden Era staple “93 Til Infinity” before DJs Justin Credible and Sour Milk switch the beat, pushing Cole to keep going over Mike Jones’s 2005 hit “Still Tippin.” He serves up a double-time flow that Twista would certainly approve of, with breath control that would bring a smile to Black Thought’s face.

Cole spoke on his improvement process in his documentary Applying Pressure: The Off-Season, as well as in his recent cover story for Slam magazine, comparing it to training for a basketball season — something he’d know plenty about, as he was apparently offered a training camp tryout by the Detroit Pistons and recently signed a multi-game contract for the new created Basketball Africa League’s Rwanda team. All this is in preparation to release his new album The Off-Season, the long-awaited follow-up to his 2018 album KOD, which releases on Friday, May 14.

Watch J. Cole’s LA Leakers freestyle above.

Machine Gun Kelly Explains How Bernie Sanders Once Helped Him Score Points With Megan Fox

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Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox’s relationship recently made headlines when the musician revealed he walks around sporting a necklace filled with Fox’s blood. Fox had previously categorized the “intensity” of their relationship as “like being in love with a tsunami or a forest fire,” which apparently means it’s going well. Recently, Kelly credited the success of his relationship to an unlikely source — Bernie Sanders.

Kelly sat down for a conversation on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week where he talked about his romance with Fox. He described how Fox jetted off to Bulgaria at the onset of their relationship (hence leaving him with the blood necklace) and the musician desperately wanted to visit her. The problem was that he didn’t have a passport. However, Sanders’ team reportedly came to the rescue, securing Kelly’s passport and ultimately helping the two carry on with their “powerful” romance:

“She was actually going out of town to film a movie, this was really early in our relationship. I didn’t have a passport either, so she was going out to Bulgaria. I was kind of freaking out like, ‘Oh, you’re going to leave and I can’t even come see you.’ Some people give a handkerchief to their partner — she gave me her DNA. […] You know who helped me get a passport? Bernie Sanders. I haven’t even talked to him since this happened. Thank you to the Bernie Sanders team for that. I made it to Bulgaria and the relationship is going strong, so thank you so much.”

Watch Kelly’s conversation on Ellen above.

J. Cole’s LA Leakers Freestyle Bill Cosby Line Elicits Polarized Reactions From Fans

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When J. Cole popped up on the LA Leakers radio show to promote his new album The Off-Season with a fiery freestyle, fans were mostly impressed by his polished flow and clever punchlines. However, one line, in particular, seems to have captured much of the attention, eliciting a wide range of reactions.

After switching the beat from Souls Of Mischief’s mid-’90s standard “93 Til Infinity” to Mike Jones’s 2005 game-changer “Still Tippin,” Cole adopts a breathless, machine-gun cadence and after picking up some steam, barks this line: “No Bill Cosby sh*t, if they’re sleeping then f*ck em.” The double entendre sent fans swarming to Twitter to post their impressions and while some were impressed, others thought the bar was in poor taste. “Bill Cosby” entered Twitter’s top ten trending topics within an hour of the freestyle dropping as fans debated whether the line was an example of dazzling wordplay or deplorable rape culture (or perhaps a little of both).

https://twitter.com/MaskedGorilla/status/1392551947593420800

If nothing else, the freestyle certainly did its job: Generating buzz for Cole’s upcoming album. The rollout for The Off-Season, which is due this Friday, May 14, has included a Slam cover, a documentary, and even the announcement that the North Carolina rapper was set to play pro basketball in Africa. However the album is received by fans, its release week will be one of hip-hop’s most memorable for long, long time.

Watch J. Cole’s LA Leakers freestyle above.

Dolo Tonight Celebrates His ‘Graduation’ With A Buoyant ‘UPROXX Sessions’ Performance

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This week on UPROXX Sessions, New Jersey “Anti-​Pop” rapper Dolo Tonight comes through to deliver a buoyant performance of his celebratory single, “Graduation.”

Dolo Tonight describes himself in one interview as “Bill Nye-meets-Cartoon Network-meets-a rapper, all in one” and that seems like a pretty fair summation. He’s got a bubbly, cheerful bent to his sound — he’s more Chance The Rapper than DMX — bopping along with a melodic flow and a smile on his face as he raps about regular guy situations like breakups and dropping out of school to pursue music (the impetus behind “Graduation”) rather than shootouts and illicit pharmaceutical sales. He might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but he was able to build enough of a following to pique the interest of producer Michael Ashby and secure a contract with Asylum.

Watch Dolo Tonight’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Graduation” above.

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 Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Dolo Tonight is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Conway The Machine Proves That Griselda Isn’t Going Anywhere

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Throughout the past few years, Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine, and Benny The Butcher have been on an absolutely dominant run, bringing elevating the Griselda movement into one of hip-hop’s most impactful in recent memory. Their collective works, which include projects like Supreme Blientele, Tana Talk, Reject 2, Flygod Is An Awesome God, What Would Chinegun Do, From King To A God, The Plugs I Met, La Maquina, and Pray For Paris, will more than likely receive deeper analysis from hip-hop historians long after their reign is over.

On that note, there are many who seem concerned that Griselda’s run is destined to come to a premature end. Citing a perceived distance between the members, all of whom are literally related by blood, it’s become far too frequent to see the Griselda breakup narrative swirling around. So much so that Conway, who took some responsibility in having fanned the flames, had to reiterate the sturdy roots of the Buffalo-bred musical brotherhood. 

Conway The Machine

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In case their status was still misconstrued, Machine took it one step further, taking to Instagram to upload a recent picture of the crew basking in the spoils of their respective labor. “Show us the gratitude you owe us,” he captions, alongside an image of himself, Westside, and Benny catching up. Gunn and The Butcher made sure to add a few comments, with Gunn opting for scorpions and scales while Benny likened them to “the home team.” 

Though it’s unclear as to whether or not we’ll ever see a proper follow-up to WWCD, it’s evident that the Griselda emcees will continue to support one another as newfound opportunities arise. You really do love to see it — show some love to Conway, Westside Gunn, Benny The Butcher, and everything they have built. Here’s hoping for a proper reunion on Conway’s upcoming Shady debut God Don’t Make Mistakes.

J. Cole rips Grammys + spits facts in LA Leakers freestyle

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North Carolina rapper J. Cole is here for all the respect on his name. The rap heavyweight delivers nothing but pure bars in a must-hear and must-watch L.A. Leakers freestyle. After practically a 12-year wait for his freestyle, the Leakers’ Justin Credible and DJ Sourmilk give Cole a couple of classic instrumentals to body. These […]

The post J. Cole rips Grammys + spits facts in LA Leakers freestyle appeared first on SOHH.com.

Vanessa Bryant To Give Speech At Kobe’s Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony

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This Saturday, Kobe Bryant will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame along with Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan. As you might expect, the ceremony will serve as an opportunity to once again honor the legacy of Kobe Bryant, who we lost last year in a tragic helicopter crash. Michael Jordan will serve as the current Hall of Famer inducting Bryant into the Hall, a fitting choice after we learned of their closeness at Bryant’s memorial service and Jordan recently revealing his final text message with Kobe that “he can’t delete.”

Kevork Djansezian/ Getty Images

In addition to Jordan, we’ve learned today that Kobe’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, will also be giving a speech this weekend per Shams Charania of The Athletic, which you know will be very emotional.

The enshrinement ceremony goes down this Saturday May 15th and will be broadcasted live on ESPN from 5:30 to 8 p.m. ET. Be sure to tune in, you won’t want to miss this. RIP Kobe.

Relive Vanessa’s emotional speech at Kobe’s memorial service (below).

Jenevieve Debuts Third Single “Eternal”

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Jenevieve is a name you might not be familiar with yet, but that’ll be changing shortly. The singer was featured in our last editorial on 6 New Artists You Should Hear, and at that time, she really only had two songs under her belt. Our top pick, at the time, was the soulful-inspired “Medallion” record, although it was “Baby Powder” that ultimately gave Jenevieve her first taste of viral fame, after debuting in March 2020 and racking up millions of YouTube stream. Now, she’s back to expand her small-yet-dope r’n’b catalogue with the release of “Eternal”– and hopefully, this also means the LA-based artist has a proper album in the works.

“Eternal” offers a bit of a different vibe than “Medallion,” a bit more relaxed and free-moving, with airy r’n’b production matching the singer’s light vocals, as she really glides across the song. The song was released via music video, with the visuals keeping the theme intact, as we see Jenevieve through a looking glass of sorts, surrounded by flowers, juxtaposed with darker scenes of the singer dancing atop a roof, surrounded by high-rise buildings, in perfectly updated ’90s attire; the song itself pulling some ’90s inspiration too.

Check out Jenevieve, and let us know what you think of the new singer in the comments. If you’re looking for more fresh r’n’b, hit up our R&B SEASON playlist on Spotify here.

Gucci Mane wants to give ‘hardest’ unsigned artist $1 mil

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Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane has money to blow – $1 million to be exact. The hip-hop veteran has come forward to let the world know he’s determined to drop life-changing stacks on the “hardest unsigned” musician before the clock strikes midnight. Gucci Mane wants to give away $1 million Guwop went to his Instagram and […]

The post Gucci Mane wants to give ‘hardest’ unsigned artist $1 mil appeared first on SOHH.com.