OVO Sound boss Drake’s former girlfriend and current baby mother is serious about the art world. Sophie Brussaux has shared a glimpse into her love for artwork. Drake’s Ex Sophie Brussaux Shows Her Artwork SB went to her Instagram page with a slideshow of must-see pics. The shots feature her flexing pure beauty while surrounded […]
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A lot of time has passed since Lil Yachty told an interviewer that he would not be open to working with Nicki Minaj moving forward. The comment was made during Nicki’s heated feud against Cardi B. Considering Yachty’s ties to Offset, who is married to Cardi, it wasn’t too shocking that he was backing the “Bodak Yellow” superstar. However, his words ended up getting him blocked on Twitter by the Queen herself.
Over the weekend, the Atlanta-based rapper revealed that after a few years, he’s still blocked from viewing Nicki’s page. He posted a screenshot of the blocking, apologizing to the Barbs and essentially begging for forgiveness. “Hey barbs, it’s boat… I just wanted to apologize,” he wrote in a tweet. “I love Cardi and nicki, big fan guys. I hope u guys can forgive me.”
Almost instantly, fans replied to him with his comments from years prior, reminding the rapper that he clearly chose his side by repping Cardi over Nicki. He responded by retweeting many of the instances he’s shown love to Minaj, sharing posts from all the way back in 2011. “Yall toxic as hell, im scared of y’all,” he concluded.
Thus far, Nicki has not responded to Lil Yachty or his request for forgiveness. Do you think he can regain favor with the Barbs?
The concert and festival landscape has been bleak over the past year-plus for obvious reasons. Now, though, things seem to be slowly returning to normal (or something like what normal used to be, anyway). Artists are announcing tour dates for this summer and fall, and music festival organizers are also preparing to host events later this year. Now, one of the country’s most esteemed events is slated to make its return in 2021: Pitchfork Music Festival has announced its 2021 dates and lineup.
The fest is set to hit Chicago on the weekend of September 10 to 12. The headliners for Friday are Phoebe Bridgers, Big Thief, and Animal Collective. Saturday will be led by St. Vincent, Angel Olsen, and Kim Gorden. Capping things off on Sunday will be Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus, and Thundercat.
The wait is over. @pitchforkfest is back. GA and PLUS tickets on sale right now: https://t.co/LJyH3oaNh8 pic.twitter.com/MAdcC6t4wQ
— Pitchfork (@pitchfork) May 17, 2021
Elsewhere, performers will include Yaeji, Black Midi, Hop Along, Kelly Lee Owens, Dogleg, Armand Hammer, Ty Segall & Freedom Band, Waxahatchee, Jay Electronica, Jamila Woods, Faye Webster, Bartees Strange, Danny Brown, Cat Power, Andy Shauf, Caroline Polachek, and Yves Tumor.
Tickets are on sale now, so learn more about this year’s festival here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Before his death last month, DMX gave his final interview for the TV One special Uncensored: DMX, the first part of which aired last night. Within the episode, he covered stories we know, such as how he was tricked into smoking crack at just 14 years old, and ones that he hasn’t shared as often, like the time he says he met an angel when he was hit by a car as a child. He also discussed his love for dogs, comparing them to God, and how he used perspective shifting to handle some of his deepest woes.
DMX’s angel encounter, which happened when he was four years old, was the result of typical childhood inattention. While visiting a friend of his mother’s, young DMX was told to watch his sister outside but was distracted when he found a dime and went to buy candy. “As soon as I stepped off the curb coming down from the store, a car hit me (and) knocked me way over on the other side of the street up under another car,” he remembers. When he tried to get up, he says a white woman with a clipboard told him to lie back down.
“You’d think that she would’ve stuck around because she saw the whole thing,” he reasons. “I don’t know, I felt like it was an angel. She got no business being in the ‘hood with a f*cking clipboard.” The woman disappeared once his mom and emergency services arrived.
Elsewhere in the episode, DMX calls his dog Boomer one of his closest friends, saying, “Two things capable of unconditional love: a dog [and] God. Same word spelled backward. I really feel like dogs are close to God.”
The second and final part of Uncensored: DMX airs tonight at 7 pm PT/10 pm ET on TV One.
In his first-ever professional basketball game, J. Cole looked like he belonged on the court, even though his stats were nothing to write home about. If anything, his debut ball game called to mind memories of his debut project: As long as he stuck to what he was good at and didn’t try too hard, he acquitted himself the way you’d expect from a self-proclaimed future superstar. That quality has held true over the course of the decade since, even up to his latest release, The Off-Season.
If a metaphor comparing the North Carolina native’s rap career to his sports one seems almost too easy, it’s only because Cole himself invited such comparisons with the new album’s title and rollout. Even the cover prominently features a flaming basketball hoop, reinforcing the symbolism of the “off-season” motif. Cole spoke at length in both interviews and his personal documentary about the mentality of drilling and training himself on his already virtuoso raps with the goal of improving to his satisfaction — much like a pro athlete would add new facets to his game between seasons.
Even with the coincidence of his first-ever game, which his longtime friend and manager Ibrahim Hamad even called something of an accident of timing due to the pandemic pushing back both the album’s release and the start of the newly created Basketball Africa League, the parallels practically write themselves. In his limited first-half minutes, Cole was able to score a bucket at the rim on a putback and was even given the honor of shooting the team’s technical free throw — a distinction that is usually only bestowed upon the team’s best shooter on the floor at the time of the foul.
In the second half, though, the team decided to reward Cole’s performance with more indulgences. He was allowed more touches, even bringing the ball up on a few possessions. This increased time brought increased exposure to the flaws in his game: whether because of first-game nerves or simply due to his trying too hard, he was responsible for three turnovers and an airball (as well as a couple of assists), and it was revealed that he either can’t or won’t go left in isolation.
Let’s compare this to his rap work. We know he can rhyme his ass off and he knows it too; this is the strongest facet of his music-making ability and he produces his best, most engaging material when this is what he focuses on. It’s when he overindulges or tries to do too much that his weaknesses as a songwriter get exposed. There’s a tendency to drone on at length about how good he is at rapping; the awkwardly framed, “relatable” songs about things like losing his virginity and folding clothes have drawn as much criticism as praise over the years. Being relatable is one thing; oversharing is another entirely.
On The Off-Season, Cole wisely mitigates most of his most glaring flaws. By keeping the runtime short, he keeps himself on topic and remains efficient in conceptualizing and executing the album’s 12 songs, without the tail-end drag he sometimes delivers on his longer projects. He also varies the production a lot more; rather than producing on every single track, he employs input from hitmakers like Boi 1da, DJ Dahi, Jake One, and T-Minus to set up the plays for him, letting him stick to the aforementioned rhyming without having to split his focus. This is especially useful on tracks like “Pride Is The Devil,” where the production — which samples Aminé’s “Can’t Decide” from the 2020 album Limbo — opens the floor for Cole and Lil Baby’s impressive two-man game on the lyrical end.
He also gets into more personal storytelling, such as on “Let Go My Hand,” where he finally confirms the long-rumored scuffle between himself and Sean Combs. Although the track is scant on details, it’s a far-sight more interesting than the stilted regular-guy raps he used to attempt. We want to hear about his life, not ours, and this is among one of the most up-to-date references he’s offered, even if the incident in question happened nearly five years before. By contrast, the other “relatable” songs he’s offered up over his career were either nostalgic recollections of his childhood in Fayetteville or the painfully earnest “Let Nas Down.”
Mercifully, Cole also cuts down on the attempted social commentary. After admitting that he’s no extensive reader during his 2020 dust-up with an unnamed Twitter user that many thought to be Noname, it seems he’s learned to stick to being more of a role player than aiming to be a do-it-all All-Star. That’s a smart move on his part; it gives critics less to pick at in his lyrical game and makes him look more like the fan-favorite he is. There’s nothing wrong with being a mid-level specialty player — they often get to star in their own right, eventually.
That just leaves the bars themselves as the primary point of contention and those are subjective. Cole’s fans will likely get as much of a kick out of double entendres like “I put an M on your head, you Luigi brother now” as his detractors will side-eye such missives as corny. Likewise, the subject matter — J. Cole’s technically proficient rhyming and wordplay — will get varying mileage depending on the listener’s preference. From the perspective of this writer, there have been many better bars and many worse ones. What Cole does well, he does really well, and it’s easy to appreciate the level of work that went into it without him reminding you once a verse.
That latter aspect tends to detract from just being able to appreciate his talent as it is; it’s a little like those players who have a bad game and conspicuously spend hours in the gym afterward getting up shots. We already know that Cole has had a hit-or-miss career buttressed mostly by the strident insistence of his most outspoken fans. Telling us about how much work he puts in isn’t going to sway listeners who don’t prefer his music. For what it’s worth, many of hip-hop’s most appreciated artists throughout its history have been those who make it look easy and effortless, whose practice stayed behind closed doors and revealed itself under the bright lights in their high-level songwriting, catchy hooks, or intimate storytelling.
Cole’s dedication to the craft, to getting better at it every day, is commendable. Whether that commitment leads to a more entertaining product is debatable. Given The Off-Season’s status as an ostensible set-up for whatever “The Fall-Off” portion of J. Cole’s career will be, it’s possible that he’s just giving us a rare glimpse into the amount of forethought and skill polishing that goes into setting up a 20+year career. That’s pretty cool, but some of us will be looking forward to watching the actual game footage, not just the practice highlights.
The Off-Season is out now via Dreamville. Get it here.
Last week belonged to two of Hip-Hop’s favorite emcees: J. Cole and Nicki Minaj. The release of The Off-Season and the surprise re-release of Beam Me Up Scotty both commanded everyone’s attention, but considering that Nicki Minaj essentially just added a free mixtape to DSPs, the hype for the Queen rapper was insane.
Even artists like Yung Miami and Coi Leray have been blown away by Nicki’s long-awaited comeback. Yung Miami has praised Nicki’s post-pregnancy body and requested to be unblocked on her Instagram, while Coi Leray recently revealed that she’s motivated by Nicki’s eccentric Richard Mille.
Apparently, Coi Leray isn’t just impressed with Nicki’s rare pink Richard Mille. Following the re-release of Beam Me Up Scotty, Coi Leray has started to vocalize her desire to work with the Young Money femcee, particularly on a remix of her breakout record “No More Parties.”
Whether or not Coi Leray has actually reached out to Nicki Minaj to get the “Seeing Green” rapper on an official “No More Parties” remix is unknown, but her recent tweet definitely shows that she has been thinking a lot about it.
“If @nickiminaj remixed No More Parties,” Coi Leray says, “just imagine bruh.”
Fans will have to wait and see if the Queen rapper feels compelled to respond to Coi Leray’s tweet, but would you be interested in hearing Nicki Minaj on a “No More Parties” remix?
Last night, Sunday May 16th, the first part of DMX’s final recorded interview aired on TV One series Uncensored. The interview was filmed three weeks prior to his tragic passing on April 9th and will be aired in two separate installments — the second of which is set to air later tonight at 10 p.m. ET.
The late legend reflects frequently on his youth, speaking on how he found solace in God amidst recurring hardship. In one emotional moment, the highly spiritual emcee recalls an early childhood memory from four years old, claiming to have met an angel following a car accident.
He sets the stage by explaining that he, his mother, and his little sister were visiting a family friend in Yonkers. While he and his sister were waiting outside, X found a dime on the ground and decided to head to the store to buy a lollipop and a ball. As he was crossing the street, he was struck by a car. “As soon as I stepped off the curb coming down from the store, a car hit me, knocked me way over on the other side of the street up under another car,” recalls X.
He explains that a white woman carrying a clipboard told him to lie down until his mother was able to reach the scene. After emergency vehicles arrived, X explains that she simply disappeared. “You’d think that she would’ve stuck around because she saw the whole thing,” he muses. “I don’t know, I felt like it was an angel. She got no business being in the hood with a clipboard.”
For much more from DMX, be sure to check out some footage from the Uncensored interview right here, bittersweet though it may be. In addition, X’s first posthumous album Exodus, recorded and finished prior to his passing, is set to arrive on May 28th; guest appearances include JAY-Z, Nas, The LOX, Snoop Dogg, Griselda, Lil Wayne, Infrared & Cross, Alicia Keys, Mr. Porter and more.
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The YSL Records family is unstoppable. Every year, it seems as though there’s a new star being molded from within the Atlanta-based crew, which is headed by Young Thug. Gunna has grown to become a superstar in his own right. Lil Keed has achieved massive amounts of success on his own. And with the recent release of Slime Language 2, upcoming stars like Unfoonk, YTB Trench, Karlae, and Yung Kayo are coming to the forefront. The entire team was present during Thugger’s latest appearance on the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast with Gillie Da Kid and Wallo267.
Young Thug’s most recent appearance on the podcast came with several talking points– including the controversial comments the rapper made about JAY-Z. During the sitdown conversation, Thug’s words were misconstrued and many believed he was being disrespectful toward the legendary emcee. At the time, he insinuated that he has more arena-worthy songs than Hov, which angered thousands of rap fans. “I was talking to [sic] fast but y’all know what I meant,” he later clarified. On the new episode, which was published on Monday, Thug further elaborated on what he meant.
“You were basically saying you got a lot of f*cking records,” said Gillie about the comments from last year. “Basically that’s all I was saying, I just used his name because he the biggest n***a in the world to me,” confirmed Thug. “I just used his name, to let the world know, like, ‘Yo, I got just as many hits as the biggest n***a in the world.’ I’m doing two hours on stage, for real. I don’t remember my last hour show… and I don’t do too much talking.”
The rapper also revealed his current picks for his top five rappers. He gave the first position to his YSL group before listing off Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, and Drake. Unsure of who to name for his final pick, Thug chose both Future and 21 Savage. He went on to explain that his list wasn’t all-encompassing though, elaborating that if the list was based on lyricism, he’d have added Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and Bas from Dreamville Records.
“It’s about everything. Everybody who I named got everything,” added Thug.
Watch the full interview below and let us know what you think of it.
Last December, popular New York rapper Casanova turned himself in after being hit with racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking, and other charges during the takedown of the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation gang. Prior to surrendering, he posted a video that maintained his innocence and ensured that he’d fight the case and be back out soon.
Fast forward to May 2021, and Casanova is still behind bars. In February, the Behind These Scars rapper has been vocal about the diminished support that he has received since being in jail, and unfortunately, his most recent update shows that not much has changed.
Weeks after sharing a sweet video of his wife performing a heartfelt freestyle that advocates for his release, Casanova has returned to Twitter to give his fans an update. According to the “So Brooklyn” rapper, however, things haven’t been looking too good in regard to support from his allies.
“SOME PEOPLE THAT I THOUGHT LOVED ME, ONLY NEEDED ME,” Casanova writes, touching on his epiphany that some of his closest friends only aligned themselves with the New York rapper for their own benefit. He then continues by revealing that he has taken note, saying, “I GET IT NOW. I WON”T LET THAT GO OVER MY HEAD.”
Stay tuned for more updates regarding Casanova’s legal battle.
Rise & Grind is a new editorial series, meant to introduce and dissect new, buzzing, or underground artists.
Kenny Mason is one of the most eye-catching artists currently coming out of Atlanta, and his genre-bending sound has immediately set him apart from his contemporaries across the city. In the final months of 2019, the talented upstart gained widespread attention by notching millions of views onto his music video for “Hit,” and by the release of Angelic Hoodrat on April 15, 2020, it became evident that Kenny Mason was a musical tour de force.
As an artist who doesn’t shy away from experimenting across genres, Kenny Mason made a profound statement on his debut project last year, and ever since, the rising artist has been featured on Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, DJBooth, and countless other music publications as one of the most daring Hip-Hop artists out. Drawing upon his alternative rock influences, Angelic Hoodrat was a dark 14-track effort that embodied an up-and-coming artist’s hunger and expertly showcased Mason’s ability to hop from an awe-inspiring lyrical performance to a full-blown rock ballad at a moment’s notice.
One year later, Kenny Mason has doubled down on his critically acclaimed project and extended his Angelic Hoodrat era by treating fans with Angelic Hoodrat: Supercut. Days prior to releasing the impressive 12-track follow-up, Kenny Mason linked up with HNHH to discuss who he is an artist, his newly released project, and his desire to achieve longevity in the music industry.
Check out our conversation with the talented Atlanta artist below and stay tuned for a new installment of Rise & Grind every Monday.
I’m from Atlanta, specifically. The Westside/Southwest side. I grew up for probably half of my life there. I moved to [Zone 3] when I was a teenager. But as a kid, I was raised in Zone 4, which is like, complete Westside, all the way West. And those two areas were kind of like textbook inner city, black neighborhoods. So it was a lot. It was real community based. It could get violent, you know, but I learned a lot about being a man in those areas. I experienced a lot of stuff that forced me to be a man in a good way.
From Zone 4, I believe Polow Da Don. He’s a producer, but he was one of the big names as far as like repping that area. I think Earth Gang. I feel like they from over there if I’m not mistaken. But as far as Zone 3, everybody know Young Thug like the big dog that come from that area. Oh and Lil Baby. Most of the Atlanta rappers that’s not from Zone 6 cuz you know, everybody know Atlanta for Zone 6. They’re most likely from Zone 4 or Zone 3.
I’m a Sagittarius. I was born in December.
I feel like a good part of me relate to it as far as some of the stereotypes — like a Sagittarius not knowing when to quit something, like being I guess real stubborn. So I can be like that when it comes to stuff I want to do. I like to travel. That’s what I heard about it. I don’t know like too much about it. My homegirls told me that she got like a full chart. It’s a bunch of signs. And I got a bunch of different like– I can’t remember off the top my head. But like, we got a bunch of different signs in it. I guess I got a lot of Sagittarius traits, but I also got a whole bunch of other stuff, apparently.
This is super hard and this is not going to be permanent, but I think today, I feel I gotta say… Well Jay Z is somebody that’s always gonna be [there] — his music hits me in a very spiritual way. His mindset. I feel like I got a real similar mindset to him as far as how he attacks writing. I’m saying stylistically, I’mma always say Jay Z. I think he is Sagittarius too, so shout out to him. Bankroll Fresh is somebody that I’m always inspired by because he was just so Atlanta. Rest in peace to him, he was so Atlanta. He bled it, like he wore it all the time. He really, to me, was one of the fyest rappers to come from the city. I’ma say, I feel like Earl Sweatshirt would be in my top five.
I 100% put Kendrick. Then I’ma split. I know it’s wack to do this, but I’ma split Three Stacks and J Cole, I’ma split them.
I think for me it’s people DMing me every day or talking to me every day, saying how my music is changing their life. I think that’s like the fire that– I don’t care too much about ever getting awards, looks or publicity, lights and stuff like that. It’s neither here nor there for me. People like telling me how my music’s changing their life. That’s like my main goal. So to know that I’m actually doing that is extremely rewarding.
[I’ve] got to have independence. I like to have it when I’m working with [Julian] Cruz, one of my main producers. I just like to be able to play the game. I have spurts where it’s like I’m writing and then he’ll be doing his technical producer stuff. It’s just a block of time where it’s like, he’s really like, zoned in and focusing on that. And I got to sit and wait on him so I like to be able to play the game when I’m not doing that. But it’s not so much of that when I’m at home and I’m recording myself.
I like to have almonds as far as like a studio snack I guess. Probably my phone. I gotta have my phone because when I’m writing, I’ll fact check stuff and look up samples, all that. No social media when I’m recording, but I like to have my phone just to Google and fact check stuff.
It started off as– I was really just supposed to do four or five more songs for a deluxe version of “Angelic [Hoodrat].” It honestly started off in that. We locked in. I went to Tennessee and made a bunch of songs. I just had been making a bunch of songs throughout the year. And we was all like, we need to put a lot of these out, not just four or five. It turned into like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna put out a super long thing.’ Then we all realized like, Damn, that’s kind of tacky to do or whatever. So this would just be like a separate project. It’s still a deluxe, but it’s separate from the original. But, I wouldn’t consider it like a new album, album two, or nothing like that. I would just consider it an extension or like, or a removed deluxe.
It’s 12 tracks. Some of them are just songs that I released throughout the year, but, you know, people have been begging [me] to put on streaming services. Because it was just be on YouTube or SoundCloud. And motherf*ckers would be bullying me everyday like, “Put it on Spotify, put it on Apple!” So it’s for them too.
I think these songs showed a lot of growth in a year. They really wrapped up my full ideas that I had originally going into “Angelic Hoodrat.” The original version was real experimental, you know? And I feel like I got to a point on this one where it’s like, these are just songs for people to enjoy and not think too hard about a narrative or a concept. This is just the sound that I want to have. I just want to have a solid list of songs for folks to enjoy.
I think I was like, probably eight or nine years old. And my older brother, he rapped and I found his rap book and he was the coolest person in the world to me. So I probably just tried to write some shit on a piece of paper, you know what that’s like. That was just something. But I think when I actually started trying to rap, I was probably like, maybe 12 or 13. I don’t know it was probably some shit about some guns. I don’t know. Probably just me trying to be like Lil Wayne, bro.
The first time I ever performed like anything in front of a crowd of people was eighth grade, and I did a performance to this T-Pain song. I forget what song it was, but like, I was dancing and shit it was so whack. It was so whack. I had a rap verse in it too.
Probably just video games. Like probably just Grand Theft Auto. I play that shit a lot. Yeah, it’s pretty much like a guilty pleasure. I [also] watch movies, stuff like that. I like superhero movies. Except for like, I’m not watching the Justice League sh*t. That shit is too long, and I didn’t really see the first one. I really like mysteries, too. Just anything with really good acting performances. I like just real fire acting performances. If the acting is not fire, it’s gonna just take me out of the story.
I’m not gonna stop after this. I’m gonna be releasing more songs after “Supercut” like singles and stuff like that. And I’m definitely doing another “Ruffs” where like I drop my rough singles on YouTube and SoundCloud and stuff like that, like free sites. I’m not stopping at all.
HNHH: In past interviews, you’ve said that Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, and alternative music, in general, are sources of inspiration for you. What other sonic pockets are you really into that you haven’t experimented with in your own music yet?
Kenny Mason: I really like chill wave type sh*t. Yeah, like Toro Y Moi and heading into Vaporwave and all that type stuff. I’m really interested in that and making it translate with my swag as well. That’s something I’d be working on, and it’s a long process. I’m trying to figure out that, but I like that type of stuff. I love older, like 70s soul and late blues, and even the beginnings of rock and roll because a lot of people don’t give credit to a lot of those Black artists that started rock and roll. I get inspiration from them too.
Fans have heard you get on songs from Denzel Carey, IDK, and Deante’ Hitchcock. Moving forward, are you going to have more collabs on the projects that you release?
Nobody’s on Angelic, but I got a few features or Supercut. In the future, I definitely wanna have more focus on my stuff. I think it’s just the pandemic, it limited a lot of features that I could get done because it would have been way more in 2020. A lot of people reached out and [there were] a lot of people that I intend on reaching out to, too.
Everybody was locked in the house, but I think I’ll be able to collab with more folks like how I want to soon. I like challenging myself, like having songs with really, really, really, really fire people and seeing if I can bring my A-game.
On “Angels Calling” from the original Angelic Hoodrat, you mentioned getting shot. Have any similar major life events happened to you since the release of Angelic?
Yeah, not similar as in something happening to me, but loved ones, definitely. It has been tough, just in general for the pandemic for a lot of people in my family. But also I have lost family members, and I had to deal with it. I had to take time and deal with that personally, and, you know, cope with that stuff. I’m still like coping with it. But I like to think that everything happens for a reason. And when someone passes, I don’t think it’s the end of them. I think it’s just a transfer of energy, you know, they become something else. So I’m not like, extremely sad about it other than just me missing them being here, but they still here. I’m getting through and I always got music to be my therapy, you know?
After making such a grandiose album and receiving so much praise, where do you go from here?
Somebody gave me some really great advice. My homeboy, he was just like, “You know it’s all about being in the present moment and being right now. Trying to look around too much and look at the scoreboard too much, it takes away from how well you play the game.” I want to play the game the best as I can while I’m here. I’m not paying too much attention to people thinking the album is great, or even people who don’t like the album. I’m not thinking about any of that. I’m just trying to be the best I can, and I think that the best music, the best content, the best art is gonna come from me being present for every moment, and not worrying about all the other stuff. I do want to keep going, bro. I want this sh*t forever.
