Last week, fans were shocked to hear that the music industry’s favorite couple, Saweetie and Quavo, had split. But in the following days, it was made clear that the couple’s relationship wasn’t as happy as they made it seem. After Saweetie publicly called out Quavo for cheating on her, a video surfaced of the two getting into an altercation in an elevator. The video has now gone viral, and Saweetie has finally issued a response.
In a statement given to TMZ, Saweetie notes that the incident had taken place over a year ago, well into their relationship:
“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.”
The original video was security footage from an apartment complex’s elevator. It showed Saweetie taking a swing at Quavo in order to try to get an orange suitcase out of his hands, which TMZ reports contained a gaming console. Quavo ultimately grabbed Saweetie and flung her to the ground before closing the elevator’s doors.
After the video circled the internet, LAPD reportedly opened an investigation. Law enforcement apparently wants to question both of the rappers separately to find out what caused the altercation in the first place. If police find any grounds for criminal charges, they plan to turn the case over to City Attorney, who would determine any charges.
Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
When it came to what song to perform for her UPROXX Sessions debut, Erica Banks’s choice was a no-brainer. Her biggest hit to date — and the song that introduced her to the world via a fan-approved TikTok challenge — remains “Buss It,” the Nelly-sampling, bass-heavy, twerk-ready anthem that had fans dropping it low at the Dallas native’s behest. Stopping by Uproxx Studios, Banks brought her signature bold energy to a buoyant performance that proves her personality comes through live even better than it does on the record.
Being signed to 1501 Certified Entertainment — the same label that helped introduce the world to Megan Thee Stallion — brings a fair share of expectations for Banks. As a fellow Texan, her accent, flow, and taste in production have all been compared to the Grammys’ 2021 Best New Artist winner, yet Banks also has to stand out and prove that she’s a completely different artist.
Fortunately, the success of “Buss It” has given her a running start at reaching that goal, while its remix with Travis Scott and her subsequent guest appearance on Yella Beezy’s “Star” took massive strides toward becoming a breakout artist in her own right. With her UPROXX Sessions performance, she takes another step on that journey, strutting with her head held high and showing she’s got the tools to carve out her own lane.
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 Sessionsis a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.
Erica Banks is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Every day, more and more rappers are hopping on the viral “Beat Box” challenge. It’s essentially a way for artists to flex their lyricism while offering their own interpretation of SpotemGottem’s “Beat Box” beat. So far, rappers like Mulatto, DaBaby, Polo G, and Lil Yachty have hopped on the trend. Now, NLE Choppa offers up his own version of the viral challenge while also celebrating his recent release from prison with “Beat Box (First Day Out).”
Over SpotemGottem’s recognizable beat, Choppa asserts his dominance with each boastful lyric. Choppa’s “Beat Box (First Day Out)” arrives alongside a fast-paced video, the filming process of which apparently saw some hiccups. It closes out with a clip of the rapper and his crew fleeing a car that they had crashed into the side of the road while on camera. Even still, the video is a way for the rapper to celebrate that he’s currently out of jail on bail.
Earlier this week and ahead of the “Beat Box” filming, the 18-year-old was arrested in Florida on suspicion of burglary, carrying a concealed firearm, and possession of drugs including Xanax and weed. He was taken into Broward County Sherrif’s Office in Fort Lauderdale and his bail was set at $4,500, which he was able to pay shortly after his arrest.
Choppa is looking to make the most of his legal situation, however. Along with dropping “Beat Box (First Day Out)” as an anthem for his freedom, the rapper announced a line of merch that is printed with his most recent mug shot.
When your brand is literally called MSCHF, it shouldn’t be a shocker that there’s a good dose of actual mischief embedded in the ethos. That’s exactly what the label behind Lil Nas X’s wildly viral Satan shoes promises to deliver with each of its bi-monthly drops. Note we didn’t say “bi-monthly sneaker drops” — because while the most famous MSCHF products are shoes, they’ve also launched tongue-in-cheek bath bombs, internet browser add-ons, AI-generated feet photos, and rubber chicken bongs, along with various other weird shit and ephemera.
The Satan shoes aren’t the brand’s first brush with viral fame, either. Launched in 2016 and based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (obvi), MSCHF is the same brand that brought you this year’s Birkinstocks — Birkenstock sandals made using the leather from real Birkin bags and those dope as hell all-white Nike Aix Max 97s filled with 60CCs of Holy Water sourced from the River Jordan back in 2019. So while it might feel like they’ve come out of nowhere, stunt marketing like this is very much their #brand.
Everything out of MSCHF comes wrapped in layers of nihilistic irony that attempts to reflect the absurdity of a world where people get hyped over things like Supreme stamped bricks and shrug off stuff like an attempted coup from a game-show-host-turned-President as just another Wednesday in the waning days of the American Empire. But by adopting the uber-capitalistic “bi-weekly drop” cadence of a modern streetwear company, MSCHF is very much part of the world they’re skewering. (The line between viral marketing and literal trolling gets very tough to see when you look at things like MSCHF’s ClickSwipe app, which swipes right on Tinder for you every time you click something with your mouse).
“Our perspective is everything is funny in a nihilistic sort of way,” MSCHF CEO Gabriel Whaley told Business Insider in an interview. “We’re not here to make the world a better place. We’re making light of how much everything sucks.”
If you take those words at face value, MSCHF feels a lot of the old Supreme — which gained legitimate clout via viral product drops. When the Supreme brick happened it was product-as-commentary, a release that reflected the absurdity of the hype machine surrounding the counterculture skatewear brand itself. The fact that people actually paid for it is what made the brick such an iconically dark moment in streetwear history.
These days, Supreme plays its relatively safe, favoring official collaborations over everything, though they’ll still drop a random accessory here and there. The gap in the “is this a real commentary on commerce or just commerce in disguise as commentary?” space that Supreme left behind has since been filled by MSCHF. And the relationship is a weirdly reciprocal one — with MSCHF’s ironic products hitting harder because we saw how well that model actually served Supreme.
Now bring all that context to bear on the Satan shoes — which a judge has just ordered the brand to stop selling. Note, that this isn’t an official collab. MSCHF calls them “art pieces” and that’s correct, though Nike is arguing that the general public isn’t sophisticated enough to know that this devil-themed footwear wasn’t actually made by Swoosh & Co., which also seems to be true. While sneaker customization isn’t illegal, when you’re selling 666 customized sneakers with blood in the air bubble and freaking out square Christian parents across the country, the brand whose shoe you’re using has every right to ask you to chill.
MSCHF will surely cease and desist and their next drop will be all the more anticipated because of this episode. Nike lawyers could squash them, but why would they? Their brand got a little badass-rebel energy from this dance and their PR machine will fight to correct misperceptions among their core suburban fanbase. Round and round we go.
Eventually, the two brands will probably collaborate for real. Again, Supreme laid down the playbook for this. In 2000 Supreme received a cease-and-desist from Louis Vuitton for lifting the brand’s signature monogram print. 17 years later the two brands announced their first of several official collaborations. Let’s hope it doesn’t take that long for MSCHF and Nike to make nice.
What you think of MSCHF’s actual products depends on your life stage and whether its model feels fresh or tired to you. Do you think blood in a shoe is bold? What about a bath bomb shaped like a toaster? Or an Instagram account that proudly proclaims “DO NOT FOLLOW US“? If that sounds corny or if you’re past it because it feels like a retread of Supreme, feel free to look away.
For the rest of us, MSCHF is infusing the world of streetwear and accessory drops with some conversation-starting fun, re-capturing the counter-culture energy of an industry that has become commercialized to the point of banality. Whether it’s capitalism masquerading as rebellion or rebellion masquerading as capitalism is impossible to say. But maybe that, too, is part of the point.
Earlier this week, hit TV series The Voice surprised fans by announcing that a big-name star would be joining their roster. Ariana Grande is officially replacing Nick Jonas as a judge for the series’ 21st season this fall. But that’s not the only celebrity they’ve recruited. The Voice announced that Snoop Dogg will also be joining their team to coach contestants and share his advice on how to make it in the music industry.
The rapper broke the news about his new guest role Thursday. He’ll be joining Blake Shelton, John Legend, Kelly Clarkson, and Nick Jonas as a “Mega Mentor,” or someone who offers contestants advice ahead of the Battle Rounds, the segment where two contestants go head-to-head to deliver a rendition of the same song.
In a statement, The Voice shared their excitement about Snoop joining the show, saying: “Drawing from his unique experience in navigating the music and entertainment industry as a renowned rapper, producer, and performer, Snoop Dogg will impart a new and fresh perspective to help the artists craft their performances. Coaches alone choose the winner to advance from their team. Each coach has one steal in the Knockouts.”
Snoop’s official The Voice appearance will take place on 4/19 and airs at 8 p.m. EST. Tune in here.
The last time popular investing app Robinhood was in the news, it was because a handful of Reddit users had banned together to successfully driving up the value of GameStop stocks on their platform. Now, Robinhood finds themselves in hot water over a photo they used of Ice Cube.
In a recent newsletter, Robinhood inserted a photo of the rapper along with the caption, “Correct yourself, before you wreck yourself,” an obvious play on words from his “Check Yo Self” track. According to TMZ, Ice Cube sought to sue the company because he claims the photo wasn’t authorized by him or his team.
Furthermore, someone from the rapper’s team claims that Ice Cube would “never endorse Robinhood.” In a statement given to TMZ, Ice Cube’s team made it clear that he doesn’t want anything to do with the app. In fact, Ice Cube thinks Robinhood is “antithesis of everything that [he] stands for” and even named the app “horrible.”
However, Robinhood has responded to news of Ice Cube’s lawsuit, saying that they were completely within their rights to use the photo in question. “No, we didn’t use his image without permission. The image was licensed and used for non-commercial, editorial purposes in connection with a blog article.”
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
The right voice can make even the most generic boasts sound not just convincing but compelling. That’s the lasting impression left by Rod Wave’s third studio album SoulFly after a few listens. Content-wise, the project leaves a lot to the imagination; Rod doesn’t reveal much about himself, his circumstances, or his worldview… but he sounds absolutely great singing his ghetto blues.
There’s oddly little biographical information out there about the trapsoul crooner from St. Petersburg, Florida, which would seem to run counter to the intense fervor he apparently inspires in fans. He doesn’t do interviews and he maintains a relatively low-key social media profile, mostly tweeting the sort of one-line platitudes you’d read on an office poster with a photo of a chimp in a suit.
Yet, his last album, Pray 4 Love, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with relatively little promotion from either Rod or his label. SoulFly is reportedly on track to exceed that accomplishment, even though the rollout started with Rod goading his label, threatening to withhold the project unless some kind of dispute involving his pay was sorted out. It apparently was; the rest of the rollout proceeded without a hitch, with Rod dropping two singles, “Street Runner” and “Tombstone,” before dropping the album itself.
Even the music is atypical of most chart-toppers today; aside from one feature from Polo G on the new album, Rod seemingly avoids collaborating with bigger names to expand his fanbase. To date, his highest-profile collaborators appear to be Lil Durk, Lil Baby, and Yo Gotti, the latter duo only being added to the deluxe re-release of Pray 4 Love four months later. He’s an iconoclast in a music landscape where iconoclasts — especially commercially successful ones — are quickly becoming an endangered species.
So what gives? How does a rapper who barely promotes his work, who doesn’t work with other artists, and who doesn’t dazzle with pyrotechnic displays of lyrical wizardry end up fronting the XXL Freshman cover and topping the Billboard charts? After playing back SoulFly multiple times and wrenching my critical brain for something that explains it, there’s only one possibility: That damn voice.
It’s the sort of voice honed in a Baptist pulpit, mellowed by handles of whiskey, and put through its paces by the demands of turning dry missives like “I play the game that was taught to me / I fry the beef that was brought to me” into soulful, blues-inspired croons. It’s a warm, inviting tenor, shot through with just enough vibrato to suggest emotional turmoil, along with a sprinkling of grit, like a pinch of pepper flakes in a salt shaker.
It allows him to convincingly sell hustler narratives and their resulting trauma without getting into the authentic details that you usually need to make them work. To his credit, there are enough true-life tales that undergird the framework of those narratives to hold them up, even when you scratch the surface. On “Pillz And Billz,” he details watching “my cousin smoke crack his whole fuckin’ life,” lamenting, “Fentanyl hit the street and he OD’d the same night.” There are enough truthful moments underlying the boasts that the boasts feel earned.
If these attributes don’t necessarily make Rod Wave a singular artist — his sole guest on SoulFly, Polo G, convincingly uses similar methods in his own work — Rod has the fortuitous timing to exist at a time when he can just be the artist he is, without bothering with courting the algorithms or resorting to attention-grabbing social media shenanigans.
It’s impressive that there are still artists who can do it with just a voice. While there’s not a tremendous amount of true introspection or innovation on SoulFly, there is, however, a supreme level of self-assurance and technical craftsmanship. What Rod lacks in wit he makes up in emotion, and where his stories lack detail, he imbues them with a powerful sincerity that makes them read just as truthfully, resonating as deeply as an impressionist portrait. Maybe at a time when cryptocurrency is the future and math runs just about every aspect of our day-to-day lives, what people really want — really need — is music with some soul
It was reported a couple days ago that Nike sued MSCHF Product Studio, which collaborated with Lil Nas X on the controversial “Satan shoes.” Now, it looks like that situation is swinging in Nike’s favor so far, as The Hollywood Reporter notes that a federal judge has ordered MSCHF to stop selling the custom Air Max 97 shoes. The shoes quickly sold out when initially put for sale, so it would seem Nike is trying to prevent those orders from being fulfilled.
Nike filed a trademark lawsuit against MSCHF earlier this week and followed up with a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. Nike claims the shoes will dilute their brand and the company “submitted evidence that even sophisticated sneakerheads were confused.” A Nike attorney also noted, “We have submitted numerous evidence that some consumers are saying they will never buy Nike shoes ever again.”
In a letter to the judge, MSCHF’s attorneys argued that the limited edition shoes are “not typical sneakers, but rather individually-numbered works of art that were sold to collectors for $1,018 each,” and notes that confusion among the shoes’ customers isn’t likely “given the sophistication of purchasers.”
Naturally, Nas has handled the whole situation with his signature sense of humor.
Keeping track of all the new albums coming out in a given month is a big job, but we’re up for it: Below is a comprehensive list of the major releases you can look forward to in April. If you’re not trying to potentially miss out on anything, it might be a good idea to keep reading.
Friday, April 2
Alex Little & The Suspicious Minds — Waiting To Get Paid (Light Organ Records)
Bambounou — Cascade EP (Bambe)
The Beat Farmers — Tales Of The New West (Deluxe) (Rhino)
In the wake of a video surfacing that depicts a physical altercation between rappers Quavo and Saweetie at her North Hollywood apartment, TMZ reports that the LAPD is now investigating the situation. Law enforcement sources told TMZ that the department wants to question both rappers separately to obtain a clearer idea of what happened before, during, and after the fight, as the video only catches the tail end of what appears to be an argument that escalates to Saweetie swinging at Quavo and Quavo throwing Saweetie to the ground, apparently tussling over what appeared to be a video game console. There’s no sound, either.
If investigators find grounds for a criminal case, they’d turn their findings over to the City Attorney, who would determine any charges. Neither rapper has commented on the incident since the video surfaced, but Saweetie did confirm their breakup a week before it emerged, seemingly accusing Quavo of infidelity. Meanwhile, Quavo maintained that Saweetie was not “the woman [he] thought [she was].”
Until their breakup, the former couple was the toast of social media, with their cutesy stories and interactions becoming a source of fascination for fans and prompting the view of their relationship as “goals.” Unfortunately, it turns out that the curated social media image didn’t show the whole story — it never does — and the only goal fans should have is keeping violence out of their own relationships.
(@LilNasX) 
