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A Joe Budden Podcast Network Contributor Accuses The Former Rapper Of Sexual Harassment

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Rapper turned podcast personality Joe Budden has been at the center of a number of controversies involving his treatment of the employees and fellow hosts of his podcast network, and today, one of those hosts added fuel to the fire by revealing her reasons for resigning included sexual harassment on the part of Budden himself. Posting a 26-minute video to Instagram, Olivia Dope explained why she departed the See The Thing Is… podcast hosted by herself, Bridget Kelly, and Mandii B just a few months after the show launched in October of 2020.

Following the departure of Joe Budden Podcast co-hosts Rory and Mal after they disagreed with Budden’s profit-sharing practices, Olivia Dope shared her reasons for quitting her own show after less than four months online. “On January 18, 2021, Joe Budden sat in on a recording of the female-led podcast I was a part of and continuously made sexual, suggestive remarks to me that made me extremely uncomfortable as well as fearful of dampening the mood if I didn’t laugh along while he made those sexual remarks to me,” she explained. “Those moments not only live on the internet forever, it also forced me into the decision of quitting the podcast.”

Elaborating on the last effects of the encounter, she continued, “It was traumatizing, embarrassing and I’ve decided that I have to actually speak up because not only was it important for me to walk away from it, it also is important for me to speak up to let others know this probably wouldn’t be the best situation for you to enter into, working with this person.” She also recounted some of the comments Budden made, which were subsequently edited from the episode before it premiered, including Joe admitting he “been wanted to f*ck me since we’ve met.” There are also numerous hostile comments as well as more comments making sexual passes at her.

Budden, who’s been accused of domestic abuse by multiple former girlfriends, was able to turn his rap career into fodder for the successful podcast, which has bounced from Diddy’s Revolt to Spotify, and where he happily trolls his fellow rappers like Jay Electronica and Logic. Since the exits of his co-hosts, however, he’s said that the Joe Budden Podcast is “100,000% over.”

You can watch Olivia Dope’s full video above.

Nicki Minaj Is Releasing Clean Versions Of Her Songs ASAP Thanks To A Fan’s Grandparents

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Nicki Minaj’s music has been heard billions of times at this point and is widely beloved, but at least a small faction of people faces a dilemma: They like how her music sounds, but the explicit lyrical content makes them hesitate to hit play on it. That’s true of a pair of Minaj’s older fans, who wish they could hear a clean version of “Seeing Green,” Minaj’s new Drake and Lil Wayne collaboration from her newly reissued Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape. Now, Minaj is determined to quickly accommodate with some censored music.

Today, a fan tweeted at Minaj, “hey sister i have really religious grandparents who LOVE your music but don’t like explicit music so can we get the clean version of seeing green?” Minaj responded by declaring that she will drop some clean versions of songs tomorrow, writing, “The fact that I didn’t realize no clean versions were uploaded. Smh. The cleans will b out tmrw guys. My bad on that. Give ur grandparents a hug for me babe.” She also tagged her label, Republic Records, in the tweet, presumably to prompt them to get the ball rolling on adding the clean songs to streaming services.

Based on Minaj’s tweet, it’s not clear if just the new songs from the Beam Me Up Scotty reissue will be getting clean versions, or if Minaj’s promise will apply to other songs from her catalog as well. Either way, tomorrow should be a good day for Minaj fans who prefer their music curse-free.

Lil Nas X Hints At Doing ‘Something Special’ For Pride Month

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Lil Nas X is one of the most successful and visible gay music stars of the past couple years, thanks both to hits like “Old Town Road” and “Montero (Call My By Your Name)” and to his willingness to speak out about being gay. Now, he has suggested that he might have something in the works for Pride Month, which is celebrated in June.

Taking to Twitter this afternoon, he wrote, “i wanna do something special for homosexual month in a few weeks.”

Since coming out, Lil Nas X has discussed his sexuality on a number of occasions. Recently, for example, he talked about the possibility of alienating his straight fans, saying that this doesn’t bother him anymore: “At first I was really afraid of alienating any of my straight fans. But then it was kind of like, if they feel offended, they were never really here for me. They were here for whatever version of myself they made up in their head.”

Over the weekend, he also teased the video for his next single, “Sun Goes Down.” He wrote of it, “in the ‘sun goes down’ video i go back in time to visit a younger version self who’s struggling inside, hating himself, & doesn’t want to live anymore. i try my best to uplift him. can’t wait to share this song and video with you guys on friday. this one is really special to me.”

Tobe Nwigwe And His Wife Fat Shout Out Their Hometown In The Exuberant ‘Fye Fye’ Video

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After taking a little break in the wake of his and Fat’s pregnancy announcement, Tobe Nwigwe and his family return in the elaborate, exuberant video for “Fye Fye.” Debuting the video exclusively on Facebook, Tobe and the gang turn all the way up while representing South West Alief, Texas (aka SWAT, aka “WEEEEEST”), again donning their matching uniforms and employing a small army of dancers on a local outdoor basketball court.

This time around, Tobe’s flow reaches a register normally reserved for college basketball fans after winning a championship game as he shouts out his hometown — literally — and asserts his realness over yet another domineering, bass-heavy production from Lanell Grant. Fat herself appears midway through the video to run rampant all over the beat, proclaiming her toughness, wit, and loyalty as she and the bun in her oven bop along. “I ain’t Kim,” she shouts to close her verse. “Tob’ can’t never go Kanye!”

2021 looks to be a big year for the Nwigwe family. Not only was Tobe booked for The Roots’ 2021 Jam Session in March (with kids and wife in tow, as per usual), he also made his television debut with a performance of “Eat” on JImmy Kimmel Live! Tobe’s always been about progressing with every move, so his next one is sure to be even bigger.

Watch the “Fye Fye” video above.

J. Cole’s Triumphant ‘Amari’ Video Literally Sets The Booth On Fire

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J. Cole’s new album The Off-Season has only been out for three days but it’s already trending toward being one of the top-selling releases of the year so far. This is despite a rollout that only included two singles before the album’s release, neither of which received a music video. Today, the first video for The Off-Season arrived, and rather than being for either “The Climb Back” or “Interlude,” J. Cole instead released a video for the album’s second track “Amari,” which is named for his Dreamville labelmate Bas’s nephew.

We don’t know yet whether “Amari” is the video that Cole shot in January as he crossed off his to-do list ahead of “The Fall-Off,” but the video is an eye-catching collection of shots in which Cole flies a helicopter (sort of), reflects on his dorm-to-mansion come-up, and literally sets “the booth” on fire.

Aside from the “Amari” video, Cole’s unusual album rollout also included a documentary, Applying Pressure, a cover story in Slam in whch he denied that he’s preparing for retirement, an incendiary freestyle for the LA Leakers radio show, and most unusually of all, a surprise signing to the Basketball Africa League’s Rwanda team, where he scored three points in his debut game.

Watch J. Cole’s “Amari” video above.

The Off-Season is out now via Dreamville/Roc Nation. Get it here.

Bottlerock Announces Foo Fighters, Stevie Nicks, And Guns N’ Roses As 2021 Headliners

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Slowly but surely, the live music industry is returning to normal. Artists are announcing tour dates and festivals are planning to go ahead with their 2021 events after canceling or postponing in 2020. Even just today has been big for festival news: Pitchfork Music Festival unveiled a big 2021 lineup this morning, and now so too has Bottlerock.

The Napa, California music, wine, food and brew festival is set to return this year, on the weekend of September 3 to 5. Foo Fighters, Stevie Nicks, and Guns N’ Roses have been tapped to headline the weekend. Elsewhere on the poster, rounding out the lineup are Miley Cyrus, Megan Thee Stallion, G-Eazy, Run The Jewels, Brandi Carlile, Cage The Elephant, Portugal The Man, Young The Giant, Maren Morris, Black Pumas, Future Islands, James Murphy (DJ Set), Jimmy Eat World, Finneas, Polo G, Jack Harlow, Jessie Reyez, Dominic Fike, Chromeo, Mavis Staples, Jon Batiste, Kota The Friend, Village People, Hamilton Leithauser, Joywave, Big Freedia, and Meg Myers, among others.

Tickets for Bottlerock are set to go on sale on May 20 at 10 a.m. PT. More information about the festival can be found on its website.

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

Sada Baby Taps Into His Techno Roots Again On ‘Little While’ With Big Sean And Hit-Boy

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Up-and-coming Detroit rapper Sada Baby has been on the rise since his 2018 record “Bloxk Party” went viral, securing him a record deal and the attentions of such luminaries as Big Sean and Nicki Minaj. The latter featured on a remix of his TikTok-favorite 2020 track “Whole Lotta Choppas,” and Sean included him on the hometown-praising “Friday Night Cypher” from Detroit 2.

Capitalizing on these connections, Sada Baby released yet another Big Sean collaboration today, the Hit-Boy-produced “Little While.” Like “Whole Lotta Choppas,” it employs a techno-influenced beat that taps into his Motor City roots while offering an upbeat departure from his usual gritty sound. In an interview with Apple Music, he explained the intentions behind the beat choice.

“I’m the type of artist that likes to dance and just give the energy through the music,” he elaborated. “So songs like ‘Whole Lotta Choppas,’ and this one are intentionally made for people to have fun. I feel like I do those with ease. I have a lot of them, but I never wanted that to be my main thing. That’s what people expect from you.”

He also said hearing Detroit 2 prompted him to scrap his entire debut album and start over. “Me hearing his album made me scrap everything that I had, as far as [how] we’re going to structure these songs and then put them into the album,” he said. “So nope. I scrapped it and set up fresh studio time in LA to start from scratch.” He says he’s now three weeks away from completing the recording process, leaving him with enough material for three planned mixtapes next year as well.

Listen to Sada Baby’s “Little While” featuring Big Sean and Hit-Boy above.

Sada Baby is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Young Thug Explains Why He Compared Himself To Jay-Z: ‘I Got Just As Many Hits’

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Late last year, when Young Thug was asked whether he’d participate in a Verzuz hits battle, the genre-bending Atlanta rapper’s answer caused a minor dustup on social media because of his controversial inclusion of one of rap’s biggest names in the response. “It would probably have to be like [Lil Wayne],” he said at the time. “… Jay-Z ain’t got 30 songs like that.”

While some fans thought that Thug’s mention of Jay-Z was disrespectful, Thug later explained on his Instagram that he wasn’t trying to diss Jay, he was just “talking too fast.” Today, he returned to the scene of the faux pas, the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast, to further elaborate on his original comments and set the record straight with regard to where he stands on Jay-Z’s legacy.

Host Gillie Da Kid tees him up saying, “You were basically saying you got a lot of f*ckin’ records,” to which Thug replies, “That’s all I was saying, I just used his name because he the biggest n**** in the world to me. I just used his name, to let the world know, ‘Yo, I got just as many hits as the biggest n**** in the world.’ I’m doing two hours on stage. I don’t remember my last hour show… and I don’t do too much talking.”

Still, it might be interesting to see how the two fanbases would react to a Verzuz-style battle. Obviously, both have more than enough hit records to go back-and-forth, but the generation gap and difference in their styles could generate some fun debate among hip-hop heads, possibly even bringing them together across the regional and generational splits that have prompted so much of hip-hop’s friction over the years. However, it might be more productive for the two to collaborate on a new hit record that brings them together instead of forcing them to compete.

You can watch the full interview with Million Dollaz Worth Of Game above.

Pitchfork Music Festival Unveils Its 2021 Lineup, Led By Phoebe Bridgers, St. Vincent, And Erykah Badu

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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.

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.

DMX Discusses Dogs, God, And Meeting An Angel In His Final Interview

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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.