Although Playboi Carti didn’t technically release a new album this year, he has still been one of 2021’s biggest artists so far. He dropped his sophomore effort Whole Lotta Red on December 25, 2020, the final Friday of the year, and it went on to become his first No. 1 album. Now he’s keeping the party going here in April with a fresh video for album highlight “Sky.”
The video is presented mostly in green monochrome and in it, Carti and some cohorts cause chaos in a supermarket by eating food, throwing items on the floor, disrupting shoppers, and otherwise behaving in ways that would probably get them permanently banned from the establishment were this reality and not a music video. As for the song, Carti raps mostly about how it feels being under the influence of drugs, a situation he views favorably.
Meanwhile, it looks like Carti might have a new project on the way soon. In a post from March, he wrote on Instagram, “LeTs dr0p thiS new Album . w3 noT done .” He added in the post from the next day, “i waNt to DroP like RN.”
Watch the “Sky” video above and revisit our review of Whole Lotta Redhere.
After pestering the Recording Academy to let them perform at the 2021 Grammys, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak brought their new band Silk Sonic to the Grammys stage and gave the debut live performance of their single “Leave The Door Open.” Now, they’re released a live performance of the song as a standalone single.
They’ve also dropped the release as a limited edition CD, which is available for purchase now.
The original version of the song has done well so far on the charts, as it debuted at No. 4 and has so far peaked at No. 2. This was somehow .Paak’s debut appearance on the Billboard Hot 100, so he shared a message of extreme gratitude, writing, “Ima stretch this goose neck to The moooon!! All I can say is thank you!!!! To have a song like this debut in the hot 100 ( my first song to ever make it up there ) is truly amazing. It can’t happen without hard work and yalls support. Thanks for pushing everyone to greatness @brunomars and showing us new heights! I’ll never come down!! let’s keep rising! We love you for this!!! Y’all gonna have me faded all damn week!!”
Listen to “Leave The Door Open (Live)” above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Baseball is back as the MLB began its 2021 season yesterday. The league got some help kicking things off courtesy of Lil Wayne: To help get fans excited for a new year of baseball, the rapper made an original new song called “Ball Game,” which is a take on the classic “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.”
The track packs in a bunch of lyrical references to baseball. Wayne begins, “Take me out to the game, yeah / Take me out to the ball park / This a home run, I hit it far-far / Knock it out the park, hit a parked car / Root, root for the home team / It’s a cool game with a warm heart / And some high heat in the sweet spot / It’s a grand slam, it’s a walk off.”
Wayne has a bit of experience on the diamond, as he threw out the first pith at a Miami Marlins game in 2018. Some celebrity first pitches live in infamy, but Wayne’s was fairly innocuous: He one-hopped his throw, but it went right over the plate and was an uneventful moment, which is about as good an outcome as a first pitch thrower can hope for.
Barack Obama hasn’t been the president of the United States for over four years now, but he still has plenty of admirers who are eager to hear from him. That especially true of his music preferences, as he often shares well-received playlists. Fans were surely delighted a few weeks ago, then, when the former POTUS made a post on Instagram asking for questions from his followers. In his response to one of those questions, he explained why a particular Jay-Z song from The Black Album means to much to him.
Complex cited Obama’s well-known love of hip-hop and asked, “Do you have one verse you can recite by heart? Obama responded with a video, which Complex shared. In the clip, Obama begins, “First of all, Complex: you do not want to hear me rap. When I have tried to rap, my daughters have rolled their eyes, covered their ears. They think it’s painful. They even think my dancing is better than my rapping.”
He went on to speak about The Black Album‘s closing track, “My 1st Song”:
“Now, having said that, I’ve mentioned a couple of songs that even when I was running for president came up a lot on my iPod. One of them was ‘My 1st Song’ by Jay-Z, which is a song that I love because it talks about the struggle of just trying to make it. And sometimes you have to resort to false bravado and hustle and tamping down your insecurities, and when I was running for president, obviously, at that point, I didn’t know whether I was gonna make it, so somehow, that inspired me.
There’s a line in there, ‘Treat my first as my last and my last as my first and my thirst is the same as when I came.’ And I actually kept on listening to that song during the presidency because it was a reminder that — even when you do make it — having a little bit of that sense of still being hungry, still having to work hard, still having to prove something, that’s what keeps propelling you forward.
In mid-March, music lovers went understandably and rightfully berzerk after news that legendary R&B groups The Isley Brothers and Earth, Wind & Fire would be the next big names to hit up Verzuz, social media’s hottest head-to-head music battle. The musicians are slated to appear on the program April 4, and fans can stream the event via the Verzuz Instagram and Triller pages.
Originally a gospel quartet who became popular in the late 1950s, The Isley Brothers broke new ground in the ’70s after proving their mastery over the pop and funk sounds. They are among one of the only acts in popular music history to have singles hit the Billboard charts in five separate decades, and because of their inimitable career, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. Earth, Wind, & Fire is considered one of the most innovative groups to ever do it, often using their work to combine elements of R&B, funk, disco, Latin, and pop. They are one of the best-selling musical groups of all time, with sales of over 90 million records, and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
Each group’s influence and legacy lives on in our hearts and headphones, and throughout the last few decades, several artists have paid homage to these acts in some way, shape, or form. You may not even realize it, but some of the most popular songs in contemporary R&B and hip-hop have celebrated these two iconic groups through song covers, samples, and interpolations.
To gear up for Verzuz on Easter Sunday, take a listen to some of the best uses of The Isley Brothers and EW&F’s work in modern songs.
Big Pun’s “Still Not A Player” Interpolates Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Beijo (Interlude)”
The late rapper’s staple song, a remix to his debut “I’m Not A Player,” is perhaps more well-known and more successful than the original. (The remix hit No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1998, while the OG peaked at No. 57 in 1997.) The track, produced by music maker Minnesota, not only interpolates R&B crooner Joe’s “Still Not A Player,” it ties in one of the most catchy moments of EW&F’s popular interlude from their 1977 album, All N’ All. Get your best speakers out in order to hear Joe croon “Punisher…Punisher…Punisher, Big Punisher” to the original’s recognizable tune.
The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa” Samples The Isley Brothers’ “Between The Sheets”
Christopher Wallace was no stranger to using an R&B or soul-driven sample in his work, evident by the Herb Alpert sample in “Hypnotize” and the Diana Ross sample in “Mo Money Mo Problems,” to name just a few. “Big Poppa” in particular (which in 1996 would receive two Grammy nominations) signaled a stylistic shift for the rapper by utilizing a slower, more sensual groove to pair his rhymes with, and The Isley Brothers’ baby-making hit definitely fit the bill.
Throughout the hip-hop collaboration, a loop of the piano intro from “Fantasy” can be heard in the background. While subtle in order to let Plies and Pain’s verses do the talking, the sample is undeniable. Like most songs featuring samples and interpolations from already-popular artists, Maurice White, Verdine White, and Eddie del Barrio of EW&F have songwriting credits on “Shawty.”
Thundercat’s “Them Changes” Samples The Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps In The Dark”
“Them Changes,” found on Thundercat’s 2017 album Drunk, is perhaps one of his most recognizable songs today. This is fitting, considering “Footsteps In The Dark” is one of the hallmarks of The Isley Brothers’ catalogue. The tone is instantly set with the original tune’s iconic opening drum beats. However, Thundercat makes the song his own by including lyrics with gory imagery, which we learn is symbolic of heartbreak and love lost. In a 2020 interview, the Grammy-winning musician says he’s thrilled that “Them Changes” “translated the way it did,” and that he hopes the tune “sticks around forever.”
Yo-Yo’s “You Can’t Play With My Yo-Yo” feat. Ice Cube Samples Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Devotion”
The 1991 song slingshot the rapper into the public’s consciousness, and set her apart from her contemporaries as a self-assured and strong woman. Sonically, listeners are treated to a combination of timeless throwback energy with hip-hop’s infectious rhythms, from a crinkling record noise to kick off the beat to a thumping bass that mixes in seamlessly with EW&F’s cool and collected style.
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘I” Samples The Isley Brothers’ “That Lady”
The first single off of K. Dot’s To Pimp A Butterfly was written in order to instill confidence in his listeners. While the project largely pertains to commentary on society’s negative effects on the Black community, “I” serves as a triumphant tune with a positive perspective. What makes “I”s use of “That Lady” stand out is that elements of the sample were recorded live with Ronald Isley (instead of just using the original version), which provides an unfinished yet classic feeling for the listener.
“You can actually hear him on the record with a few ad-libs that he actually did,” Lamar says of working with Isley. “We got it on camera and things like that, it’s a beautiful thing.” Isley is also a featured artist on “How Much A Dollar Cost?” from the same album.
Queen Pen’s “Party Ain’t A Party” Samples Earth, Wind & Fire’s “On Your Face”
This Teddy Riley-produced hit features a delicious twist on EW&F’s popular Spirit album cut, which is not an entirely unexpected choice given Riley’s reverence for using classic R&B samples in his ’90s production staples. (SWV’s “Right Here” samples Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature,” Blackstreet’s “Let’s Stay In Love” samples “Say You Love Me, One More Time” by D. J. Rogers.) The result of this particular production decision is a bonafide party starter that put the young rapper on the map in 1997.
Aaliyah’s “At Your Best (You Are Love)” Is A Cover Of The Isley Brothers’ Song Of The Same Name
Fresh on the scene as a budding musical ingenue, Aaliyah Haughton’s cover of The Isley Brothers’ “At Your Best” for her 1994 debut Age Ain’t Nothin’ But A Number catapulted her to stardom. Her version of the track — which was considered somewhat of a deep cut for the group — became more popular than the original ’70s version, and its remix brought the song to new heights. After her death in 2001, Ronald Isley said that the group was “devastated,” and they dedicated several performances of the song to her in the aftermath of her passing.
“I met this young lady when she was 15,” Isley said during a concert set in 2001. “She said, ‘Your group is my favorite group. I’m recording one of your songs. This is a favorite of mine.’”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Last month, Freddie Gibbs went into the 2021 Grammys Awards as many fans’ favorite to win the Best Rap Album category thanks to his Alfredo album with The Alchemist. Unfortunately for both, the award would go to Nas and his King’s Disease. While a number of his supporters were disappointed with the pick, Freddie had nothing but jokes to let off about the decision. His nonchalance towards the loss can be found once again on his new track, “Big Boss Rabbit.”
Regarding the matter, he raps, “Grammy after party but we rock it like we won the b*tch.” The song was also released with a video that sees Freddie rapping with extreme confidence in all corners of his house as he totes a shotgun, records music with friends, and enjoys the company of strippers.
“Big Boss Rabbit” is just the latest single Freddie’s released since dropping Alfredo. Back in October, he linked with Big Sean and Hit-Boy for their “4 Thangs” which arrived with a video that present Freddie and Sean as a championship-winning basketball duo. In the new year he tapped Schoolboy Q for their relaxed “Gang Signs” collaboration. The three tracks could appear on the rapper’s upcoming solo project, which he partnered with Warner Records to release when the time comes.
Check out the video to “Big Boss Rabbit” above.
Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Roddy Ricch has been fairly quiet since dropping his debut album, Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial, at the end of 2019. Luckily for the Compton native, the music from the project did all the talking for him as it became one of the most popular albums of 2020 thanks to efforts in particular like “The Box,” which tallied 11 weeks at No. 1 on the singles chart.
While the wait continues for his sophomore album, the rapper has slowly emerged from his cave. His last appearance finds him working alongside 42 Dugg on their “4 Da Gang” collaboration. The track is a rambunctious effort that is sure to have you rocking out to the guitar-heavy production, which samples Scoprions’ 1982 track, “No One Like You.”
Prior to the track’s release, Roddy stopped by the 2021 Grammy Awards stage to give an epic performance of “The Box,” which also nabbed a few nominations at the show. A scary moment for fans of the rapper occurred earlier this year when a shooting at his and 42 Dugg’s music video shoot left three people injured, one that was presumably for this song. Roddy eventually revealed that he was not among the injured individuals and the incident eventually resulted in the arrest of rapper OMB Peezy.
Rock out to the new single in the video above.
Roddy Ricch is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Friday will mark one week since the music world was surprised with news that Saweetie and Quavo called it quits in their romantic relationship. The two had grown to be one of hip-hop’s favorite couples but their break-up, which spilled out into the public, proved that things were not as rosy as they may have seemed.
While the split was a shocker, a video of the two rappers fighting in an elevator was even more of a surprise to fans when it leaked earlier this week. The clip was shared by TMZ and it quickly went viral on social media. After staying quiet for the few days since the video’s emergence, Quavo has come forward with a statement about the incident.
Speaking to TMZ, he said, “We had an unfortunate situation almost a year ago that we both learned and moved on from.” He added, “I haven’t physically abused Saweetie and have real gratitude for what we did share overall.”
Quavo’s words come hours after Saweetie also spoke to TMZ about the incident. “This unfortunate incident happened a year ago, while we have reconciled since then and moved past this particular disagreement, there were simply too many other hurdles to overcome in our relationship and we have both since moved on,” she said in a brief statement to the publication.
Not too long after the video emerged online, the LAPD reportedly began an investigation into the matter, as officers apparently would like to speak to both parties and see what caused the altercation. If criminal charges are necessary, they plan on turning the case over to the City Attorney, where appropriate charges could be determined.
Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Nearly two years after releasing Ginger, Brockhampton will treat their fans with their sixth effort, Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine next week. It’s a project that their supporters have spent a few months waiting for, especially after the band dropped off some hints about it.
After kicking off its rollout with “Buzzcut” featuring Danny Brown, Brockhampton doubles back with their second single, “Count On Me.” Unlike their previous single, “Count On Me” is a much lighter and upbeat track that sees the rappers providing assurance to their partners that no matter what, things within their relationships will be okay.
Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine will arrive with 13 songs and features from ASAP Rocky, ASAP Ferg, Charlie Wilson Sogone Soflex, Jpegmafia, and Baird in addition to Danny Brown. While the upcoming effort’s release is certainly exciting for fans, it does arrive with some bad news. Brockhampton’s lead vocalist, Kevin Abstract, shared the news about the band’s future in a tweet. “2 brockhampton albums in 2021 – these will be our last,” he said, seemingly promising that the album that arrives after Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine will bring an end to Brockhampton as we know it.
Until then, you can press play on the song in the video above.
Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine is out 4/9 on Question Everything/RCA Records. You can pre-order a limited edition box set here.
The last project Lil Tjay delivered came not too long ago with 2020’s State Of Emergency. It was the follow-up to his debut album, True 2 Myself. Now, to begin the second quarter of 2021, Tjay has emerged with his sophomore album, Destined 2 Win.
One of the eye-catching songs on the project is a collaboration between him, Tyga, and Saweetie for a track titled, “Move.” The bouncy effort sees the Bronx rapper lusting over hypnotizing dancers that stand before him. Tyga and Saweetie, who have both made a career out of songs that ideal for strip club personnel, join Tjay to echo similar sentiments.
Destined 2 Win arrives with features from 6lack, Polo G, Five Foreign, Toosii, Offset, and Moneybagg Yo. The project received a great promotional boost thanks to Tjay’s “Calling My Phone” single with 6lack as it debuted on No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the highest-charting single for both acts.
He kept up the momentum with “Headshot” and “Born 2 Be Great,” using the latter track to announce the new album. The full-length also comes after the rapper was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, weapons, grand larceny to close out 2020.
Listen to “Move” in the video above.
Destined 2 Win is out now via Columbia Records. Get it here.
Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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