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The Grammys Have Changed Their Rules About Album Of The Year Nominations

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After an especially rough year when it came to criticism, The Recording Academy is changing a number of things about the Grammys. They recently announced some changes, including the elimination of “secret committees” that decide on award nominees (The Weeknd is still boycotting regardless). Now, in the newly published rules and guidelines for next year’s 64th Annual Grammy Awards, the Academy has unveiled a number of other changes, including a significant one for the Album Of The Year category.

The “Rule Updates” section of the new rules and guidelines document notes that at this year’s 63rd Grammys, the “award credited artists, features artists, songwriters, producers, mixers, engineers with 33% playing time of the album.” Next year, though, the “33% playing time rule” has been removed, which means that more people who were involved in making an Album Of The Year winner will be recognized as Grammy winners.

For example, if these new rules had been in effect for the 2021 Grammys, Bon Iver would have won an Album Of The Year Grammy, as they were featured on “Exile” from Taylor Swift’s Folklore. Another historical example: In 2014, Pharrell Williams, Julian Casablancas, and Panda Bear also would have gotten Album Of The Year trophies for their work on Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories.

There are more changes than that for next year, including the establishment of two new categories: Best Global Music Performance and Best Música Urbana Album. Find the full revised rules and guidelines document here.

Toosii Gets Support From His Formidable Crew In The Complacent Video For ‘Red Die’

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Toosii has been feeding his fans with plenty of music over the last fifteen months. The Raleigh, North Carolina rapper’s latest release came earlier this month when he dropped his Thank You For Believing mixtape. Just a few weeks removed from its arrival, Toosii returns with a brand new video for the project’s outro, “Red Die.” In the new effort, the rapper surrounds himself with a formidable crew while reflecting on the hard times and celebrating the good moments in his life. The visual moves back and forth from moments of Toosii and friends standing in a parking lot to them posted up in a room drowned in red lighting.

The video for “Red Die” is just the latest in a string of visuals that Toosii’s released over the last few weeks. He previously delivered videos for “Shop” with DaBaby and “What It Cost.” He also accompanied Lil Tjay in an effort for “Love Hurts.” As for Thank You For Believing, the project sees addtional appearances from Latto (fka Mulatto) and Key Glock and altogether, it serves as a great follow up to Toosii’s 2020 efforts — Poetic Pain and Platinum Hearts — which helped put him on the map as an artist to watch in 2021.

You can press play above to watch the “Red Die” video

Thank You For Believing is out now via South Coast Music Group. Get it here.

SZA Says ‘I Really Hate My Label’ After ‘Good Days’ Dropped Out Of The ‘Billboard’ Hot 100 Chart

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SZA has had her fair share of quarrels with her label, Top Dawg Entertainment. An example came on Tuesday after news that her most recent single, “Good Days,” fell out of the Billboard Hot 100 after staying within the singles chart for 20 consecutive weeks. The song was released on Christmas Day and later peaked at No. 9 on the chart before its descent began. After getting word that the song was gone, SZA didn’t take it kindly.

“I really hate my label . So much,” she wrote under a SZA fan account page that shared the news. The singer did not specify why she put the blame on her label. It should also be noted that SZA is signed to both TDE and RCA, so it’s unknown who her comments are exactly directed at, but given her past, it’s safe to guess that the message is aimed at the former.

Last summer, SZA called out TDE’s president, Terrence “Punch” Henderson, for not releasing some of her new music. “At this point y’all gotta ask punch,” she tweeted, adding, “I’ve done all I can do.” SZA’s frustration was exacerbated when one person revealed that Punch merely said “soon” when they asked him about a release date for her upcoming music. “This is all he says to me as well,” she wrote. “Welcome to my f*cking life .”

Lil Baby Accompanied The Family Of The Late George Floyd During A Visit To The White House

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Tuesday marks exactly one year since George Floyd was tragically killed by Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin. The incident sparked nationwide protests, with millions angry that yet another Black life was lost at the hands of police. Days later, Chauvin would be arrested and charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter; in April, he was found guilty on all counts. Fast-forward to today and the family of the late George Floyd visited the White House to meet with President Joe Biden. They were also accompanied by Lil Baby.

Floyd’s family met with the president to discuss police legislation. Video provided by TMZ shows the rapper, when asked about the specifics of their meeting with President Biden, saying he was “trying to pass the George Floyd Police Act bill.” Shortly after a guilty verdict against Chauvin was reached, Biden asked lawmakers to revisit the bill, formally known as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would ban chokeholds, make it easier to prosecute officers for fradulent offenses, and place restrictions on the use of deadly force.

This is not the first time Lil Baby has helped Floyd’s family. Back in December, he and former NBA basketball player Stephen Jackson threw a birthday party for Floyd’s daughter, Giana, with help from Atlanta restauranteurs Ericka and William Platt of Restaurant Ten and Rosie’s Café.

Rick Ross Responds To The BAL Player That Called J. Cole’s Roster Spot ‘Disrespectful To The Game’

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Shortly after the release of his latest album, The Off-Season, J. Cole played his first game in the Basketball Africa League. The Dreamville rapper had signed with the Rwanda Patriots to play six matches with the team. Three games have already gone by and while it may be exciting for some to watch Cole play professional basketball, his stats haven’t been great. The rapper has only scored five points in those three games, a performance that caused one BAL player to criticize his roster spot.

“For a guy who has so much money and has another career to just come here and average, like, one point a game and still get glorified is very disrespectful to the game,” Terrell Stoglin, a guard for AS Salé, said. Some people agreed with Stoglin, while others, like Rick Ross, did not. In fact, Ross took to his Instagram Story to respond to Stoglin’s statement.

“In no way is this meant to be disrespectful, but first and foremost, should no Black man’s dreams be censored nor limited,” Ross said. “Comin’ from a brother, I think you would understand what building these types of relationships would do for the business. For the eyes on the industry, you know what I’m sayin’?” He added, “You should be there to support the brother. If he made one point on the first game, by the time he get to the 10th, you should make sure he makin’ six a game, you understand?”

You can listen to Ross’ reply in the video above.

Earthgang’s ‘Aretha’ Is A Soulful Account Of The Duo’s Highs And Lows Over The Last Year

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If you ask Earthgang about their upcoming sophomore album, Ghetto Gods, the Atlanta rap duo will tell you it’s ready to be released. In fact, they originally teased that it would arrive on the same day as J. Cole’s latest effort, The Off-Season, which dropped on May 14. Sadly hat day came and went without Ghetto Gods, for reasons unknown to fans as well as the rappers themselves. Luckily, it appears that it’s finally on its way, as the duo released one of its songs, “Aretha.”

It’s a soul-driven effort that sees the duo reflecting on the highs and lows that occurred during their journey as artists. Johnny Venus leads the way with a verse recounting a disappointing moment from his career. “‘Options‘ dropped, barely made a sound, damn / I guess we let Nas and Cole down,” he said, referencing Earthgang’s 2020 single with Wale. As for WowGr8, he brings a bit more optimism to the mix. “This what I’m addicted to, this all I’m committed to,” he declares. “Set my sights on bigger moves, feel like this is middle school.”

“Aretha” is Earthgang’s second track in a little over two weeks, as they teamed up earlier this month to remix Drake’s “Lemon Pepper Freestyle.”

You can listen to “Aretha” in the video above.

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

DMX And Griselda’s Benny, Conway, And Westside Gunn Get Busy On ‘Hood Blues’

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Fans of gritty, ultraviolent New York rap rejoice. DMX‘s long-awaited track with the members of Griselda Records, “Hood Blues,” has arrived and it doesn’t disappoint. Opening with a slinky, sinister kick-snare combo and the signature ad-libs of its primary performers — X’s growl and Gunn’s tongue-trilling automatic rifle effects — the new track hearkens back to an era when visiting the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time could result in some pretty unpleasant experiences.

With “Hood Blues” providing a guidepost to the sound of X’s upcoming posthumous album Exodus, fans now have a better idea of what to expect from the Swizz Beatz-produced project, which X’s longtime collaborator played in full for a select group of DJs and fellow industry pros during a private listening session on Zoom last week.

It’s certainly vintage-sounding DMX material, built around a sample of Lee Mason & His Orchestra’s “Shady Blues” and recalling Swizz’s more recent, stripped-down work more so than the raucous, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink synth approach he used earlier in his career. If Exodus continues in the same vein of “Hood Blues,” then it should satisfy longtime X fans and newcomers alike — and, on a personal note, I can’t wait to hear Jay-Z and Nas on a beat in this style, which could bring out the latent chemistry they’ve only rarely been able to tap into.

Listen to “Hood Blues” above. Exodus is out 5/28 on Def Jam.

Pusha T Says He Really Wants To Write A Children’s Book But No One Will Publish It

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Pusha T is currently hard at work on the follow up to his 2018 LP Daytona. The rapper has confidently said the 12-track effort is his bid for the “best album that drops in 2021.” But the upcoming album isn’t the only project Pusha wants to be working on. In fact, he’s apparently always dreamed of becoming a children’s book author.

Pusha first shared the news in response to a fan’s tweet about playing his Clipse song “Keys Open Doors” for their two-year-old kid. The rapper replied with, “Thanx and I’ve been trying to write a children’s book for years…they won’t publish me…”

One fan offered a theory as to why Pusha has a hard time securing a book contract. “It’s because you’ve used too many regular items as drug references,” they wrote.

Pusha had a simple response, writing: “A simple metaphor can be the death of you…”

If Pusha T did in fact end up securing a book contract, he wouldn’t be the first rapper to write a children’s book. Earlier this year, Lil Nas X unveiled his illustrated ABC picture book C Is For Country. It featured lines like “S is for swag. Just ’cause I’m going to bed doesn’t mean I can’t look good!” and “A is for Adventure. Every day is a brand new start!” In less than a month, the book landed on the New York Times’ best-sellers list. So if Pusha really is committed to children’s literature, he already has some stiff competition.

One BAL Player Thinks J. Cole Being On A Roster Is ‘Disrespectful To The Game’

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J. Cole’s professional basketball career has been, for lack of a better term, pretty modest. As a player for Patriots Basketball Club in the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League, Cole has scored five points in three games. He’s looked like, well, a person playing professional basketball for the first time, although he does certainly have some skill on the court.

The biggest thing Cole’s done is bring attention to the league, although for one player, that trade-off is not worth it. Terrell Stoglin, a guard for AS Salé who averages 31 points per game, certainly sees the benefit of “a lot of attention, and, I guess, money” coming in because of Cole, but generally thinks he is disrespecting the game.

Via ESPN:

“I think there’s a negative and a positive [to J. Cole’s presence],” Stoglin told ESPN. “The negative part of it is: I think he took someone’s job that deserves it.

“I live in a basketball world. I don’t live in a fan world. I know a lot of guys that had their careers stopped by COVID and they’re still home working out and training for an opportunity like this.

“For a guy who has so much money and has another career to just come here and average, like, one point a game and still get glorified is very disrespectful to the game. It’s disrespectful to the ones who sacrificed their whole lives for this.”

Patriots chief operating officer Haydee Ndayishimiye unsurprisingly disagrees with this assessment — “We made a basketball decision which can be justified by our performance so far,” she said — but it is fair to point out that someone who has put their life towards playing ball professionally lost out on an opportunity to someone who recently started pursuing a basketball career. Still, the only rule is it has to work, and the brain trust with Patriots seem to be happy with Cole’s performance on the floor.

Moneybagg Yo’s Sunny ‘A Gangsta’s Pain’ Video Celebrates His Album’s No. 1 Debut

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In Moneybagg Yo’s breezy new “A Gangsta’s Pain” video, the Memphis native takes a break from promoting his new album of the same name to celebrate that album’s success. Not only was it his first album to reach No.1 on the Billboard albums chart, it did so twice, returning to the top spot just weeks later.

The video follows Moneybagg and his crew as they party in a fancy vacation home in the tropics, lounging in its pool, boating on a nearby body of water, and enjoying a big bag of green nuggets of you-know-what.

In addition to keeping his album rollout going, Moneybagg Yo also introduced the newest member of his Bread Gang crew on social media today. Not a lot is known about Tripstar at the moment, other than he’s also a Memphian and appears on the song “I Believe U” from A Gangsta’s Pain. Yo posted a video of the young, up-and-coming artists on his Instagram, writing, “AnyTime I Stamp Sum It’s Det, So If U Rock Wit Me And My Brand I Need Yall To Go Get In Tune Wit Da Newest Member.”

Watch Moneybagg Yo’s “A Gangsta’s Pain” video above.

A Gangsta’s Pain the album is out now on CMG/N-Less/Interscope Records. Get it here.