Kodak Black will avoid jail time in his sexual assault case that dates back to a 2016 incident. According to CBS affiliate WBTW, the rapper entered a guilty plea for assaulting a high school student, an act he was indicted for on first-degree sexual assault charges back in 2017. Under the deal, Kodak pled guilty to lesser charges of first-degree assault and battery. As a result, rather than the suspended 10-year sentence that he originally faced, he’ll be on probation for 18 months.
According to 12th Circuit Solicitor Ed Clements, the victim in the case was present during the court proceeding and agreed to the terms of the plea deal, which also included Kodak vocally taking responsibility for his actions, agreeing to undergo counseling, and publicly apologizing to the victim, which he did in court. He was also joined by Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in court. Earlier this year, Jackson called for former President Donald Trump to commute Kodak’s 2019 sentence on weapons charges. Trump eventually pardoned him on his final day in office, something Kodak celebrated on his “Last Day In” single.
On a more recent note, Kodak’s security guard was shot earlier this month. The incident occurred in a Tallahassee, Florida McDonald’s parking lot and left the security guard with a bullet wound in his leg.
Kodak Black is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
While Travis Scott has amassed a number of awards in his career, his latest comes as a result of his work with public service. According to Billboard, the Astroworld rapper was recently awarded for his philanthropic efforts for HBCU students, specifically his work with Red Carpet Advocacy (RAD) Awards, which highlights people who “inspire purpose.” Scott was one of five recipients of the award, joining a list that includes Laverne Cox, Charlize Theron, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Margot Robbie.
Some of Scott’s past charitable contributions include paying off the tuition of five students at historically Black colleges and universities, which he did back in October. A month later he created the Cactus Jack Foundation, and a few months later, he partnered with his Houston hometown to deliver 50,000 meals to residents after the state’s brutal ice storm. The foundation also launched its first major initiative, the Waymon Webster Scholarship program, named after the rapper’s grandfather, who attended an HBCU, and aimed at granting several HBCU students with scholarships. First-round selections have already been made through the program for potential recipients that were enrolled at Prairie View A&M University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Texas Southern University, and Grambling State University.
The award arrives after Scott was listed as a headliner for Rolling Loud’s Miami festival with Post Malone, ASAP Rocky, and others.
The rollout for Young Thug and YSL Records’ Slime Langauge 2 has been quite eventful. Thug and Gunna teamed up for a lavish pool party in their video for “Ski,” which also saw the emergence of the Ski Challenge. Thug later spotlighted his brother, Unfoonk, in a video for “Real.” Outside of music, Thug and Gunna also joined forces to bail 30 inmates out of Georgia’s Fulton County Jail, a good deed that was displayed in their latest video for “Paid The Fine.”
The new video captures the newly freed inmates as they walk out of the county jail and reconnect with family friends. Elsewhere, Thug, Gunna, Lil Baby, and YTB Trench sit around a large table, accompanied by fellow rapper Bankroll Freddie and more. There, they eat a big meal as they rap along to the Slime Langauge 2 track.
Prior to the new video, Thug and Gunna joined a list of celebrities that includes Saweetie, Jack Harlow, Mookie Betts, and more in the trailer for the third season of Call Of Duty: Warzone. Their appearance convinced J. Cole to play the video for the first time ever, which was shared by Cole’s manager, Ibrahaim “Ib” Hamad.
You can watch the “Paid The Fine” above.
Slime Language 2 is out now via 300 Entertainment/YSL Records. Get it here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Comedian Tiffany Haddish stars in the sunny video for Ty Dolla Sign’s “By Yourself” remix, hopping from man to man on a series of dates throughout the Los Angeles area, reflecting the song’s emphasis on a woman embracing her independence. Meanwhile, for each verse, Ty performs alongside one of the song’s guests Bryson Tiller and Jhene Aiko, as well as Haddish herself during Ty’s verse.
The song is the latest remix to emerge from Ty’s 2020 album, Featuring Ty Dolla Sign, including remixes of “The Business” with Tiesto and “Spicy” featuring J Balvin, Tyga, and YG.
Since releasing Featuring Ty Dolla Sign, Ty’s lived up to the album’s cheeky title, popping up on Ariana Grande’s album Positions, 2 Chainz’s “Can’t Go For That” video from So Help Me God, Blxst’s single “Chosen” with Tyga, and SZA’s “Good Days.” Ty also staged a number of impressive live performances, including one for “Nothing Like Your Exes” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and a soulful return to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts with an in-home setup that let his skills shine.
Watch Ty Dolla Sign’s “By Yourself” video featuring Bryson Tiller, Jhene Aiko, and Tiffany Haddish above.
Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The latest posthumous King Von video to be released from the OTF vaults (or hard drives, as it were) is “Mine Too,” from his album Welcome To O-Block. The video features Von performing to the camera in and around a cavernous mansion, showing off a collection of luxury cars, and shining from head to toe with an eye-popping array of diamond-encrusted accessories. As Von raps, he’s flanked by his stoic-faced crewmates and a pair of scantily clad women, who provide even more atmosphere to the moody aesthetic.
Although it’s been six months since King Von died after being shot in an Atlanta parking lot, the apparent backlog of videos he had previously recorded has been released at a relatively steady trickle by his label, including “Wayne’s Story,” released almost chillingly close to the actual event, “Armed & Dangerous,” and the posse cut “Jump,” while he received homages in OTF founder Lil Durk’s videos for “Backdoor” and “Still Trappin,” as well as Fivio Foreign’s “Trust” and PNB Rock’s “Rose Gold.”
In the wake of Von’s death, Welcome To O-Block, released just days before, debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart — his highest to date — while two other projects also entered the chart for the first time.
Most of the recent talk around Kanye West’s Yeezy brand is about how his shoes look like Crocs, or how the company fired an intern for violating their NDA contract. But this time, Yeezy’s new logo design is at the forefront of the conversation. Walmart has filed a copyright infringement complaint against the Yeezy brand, saying that the new logo is so similar to theirs that it might cause confusion among customers.
The new Yeezy logo features eight clusters of three dots which radiate from the center like a star. But because Walmart is concerned that the design is too similar to their own logo, they filed an official complaint with the US Patent And Trademark Office, according to Business Insider. They state that the design “is likely to cause confusion, mistake and deception” for their customers, and could lead to people mistakenly thinking the two brands are related. In their infringement complaint, Walmart states that the “false affiliation” between Yeezy and their company would potentially “damage” their brand and the “goodwill” they’ve worked to associate their name with.
News of the copyright infringement complain arrives on the heels of Yeezy’s charitable initiative. Kanye’s company announced that they would be releasing a DMX tribute shirt to honor the rapper’s legacy, with all proceeds from sales going directly to DMX’s family.
Check out a photo of the proposed Yeezy logo above and compare for yourself.
As soon as DJ Khaled announced that his new album, Khaled Khaled, was “100% done” via a huge billboard in downtown Miami, fans knew it would be a star-studded affair. Now, we know just which stars will appear on the project, and the quickest way to sum up it up is: “All of them.”
Hip-hop stars 21 Savage, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Big Sean, Bryson Tiller, DaBaby, Drake, Jay-Z, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Lil Wayne, Meek Mill, Megan Thee Stallion, Migos, Nas, Puff Daddy, Rick Ross, and Roddy Ricch fill out the features list, along with R&B standouts H.E.R., James Fauntleroy, and Jeremih, pop stars Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, and Post Malone, and reggae legends Barrington Levy, Bounty Killer, Buju Banton, and Capleton.
Of the features, Lil Baby has the most appearances, popping up on three tracks, while Drake appears twice (on previously released singles “Greece” and “Popstar“), as does frequent Khaled collaborator Justin Bieber, and Khaled’s “Wild Thoughts” partner Bryson Tiller. New collaborator H.E.R. pops up a couple of times as well, continuing her meteoric rise, while “Sorry Not Sorry” reunites erstwhile rivals, Jay-Z and Nas, for their fifth collaboration since their 2000s battle for the King of New York crown.
Khaled Khaled is due 4/30 via Epic Records.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Lil Mosey has pled “not guilty” to the rape charges against him after turning himself in upon learning that a warrant had been issued due to a missed court date in January, according to local Centralia, Washington paper, The Chronicle. Mosey’s lawyer explained his absence from the initial court date, telling the court that the summons was sent to an address that Lil Mosey vacated five years ago, leaving him with no knowledge of the court date until after it had passed.
Mosey appeared for his arraignment, however, with his lawyers and his parents to enter the not guilty plea, and was released on $50,000 unsecured bail. The conditions of the bail include travel restrictions, which his lawyers requested lifted to accommodate his international tour dates, including Canada and Portugal for Rolling Loud. The lawyers also waived Mosey’s right to a speedy trial, requesting a date in January 2022 to give them time to locate witnesses they believe can clear his name.
The judge seemed amenable to lifting the travel restrictions, saying, “It’s not like he can go off and hide somewhere because that would make this so much worse.” However, the trial date was rejected, with Judge James W. Lawler reasoning that in the two days since accepting the case, the attorneys were unlikely to have discovered new witnesses and wouldn’t have needed so much additional time to track them down.
A woman accused Mosey and another teen, Francisco Prater, of having sex with her and another woman when they were inebriated and incapable of consenting during or after a party. After consuming alcohol, women say they passed out and woke up to the men assaulting them. Mosey was, at the time, just 17, but turned 18 earlier this year. Prater was 18, and has yet to turn himself in. The victim was legally an adult. Although police began investigating the same day, charges weren’t filed until 15 months later, earlier this month. Mosey’s trial is tentatively set for July 19.
Lil Kim’s story has been extensively detailed in interviews, movies, and even TV shows, but in a statement to People announcing her debut memoir, she insists, “Many people have thought they knew the story of Lil’ Kim, but they have no idea.” Looking to correct that oversight, Kim teamed up with God Save The Queens: The Essential History of Women in Hip-Hop author Kathy Iandoli to write The Queen Bee, coming out November 2 via Hachette Books. “I’m excited to finally get to tell my story after all this time,” Kim says.
Kim, counted by most — if not all — of today’s emerging female rap talents as one of the biggest influences on their careers, has been revered for decades as a rap pioneer and a fashion icon. Her legacy was already examined in print in numerous books, including the recently released The Motherlode by Clover Hope, which aimed to profile the oft-overlooked female contribution to the history, culture, and music of hip-hop. Lil Kim was one of the rare exceptions.
While Kim hasn’t released very much new material in recent years — with the exception of 2019’s 9, her first full-length album release since 2005’s The Naked Truth and a handful of underrated mixtapes — she’s still very much a fixture of hip-hop’s tapestry, contributing her voice to BET’S American Gangster series as fans continue to clamor for her and Foxy Brown to participate in Swizz Beatz’s Verzuz hits battle.
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.
On his new album Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma, New Jersey rapper Topaz Jones tries to address some heavy questions. Five years removed from his solitary 2016 hit “Tropicana,” Jones pondered the implications of possibly having a platform with no substance; that isn’t to say that he didn’t have an interesting story to tell, he just had to figure out how to tell it.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said, “Now that I have a platform to tell my story, [I had] to really reckon with, well, ‘What is my story? What made me the person I am? What things about myself come from me directly? What things are passed down from my relatives? What’s my generational trauma?’ That was a whole lot of shit to balance out.”
Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma is the result of that introspection, and the method by which Jones ultimately resolved how to best answer those questions: A short film of the same name, detailing his upbringing in Montclair, New Jersey, combining magic realism, documentary, and even edutainment television to place his life in historical, familial, and cultural contexts.
The album, sprinkled with audio clips from the film in which his family members recount beloved anecdotes and dynastic legends, spins out of those ideas to verbally expound Jones’ thoughts on subjects like love, legacy, history, racism, hustling, and dreaming of a better life. Over the 13 whimsical, groovy, lush, and occasionally disorienting tracks, he doesn’t necessarily find all the answers, but then again, this was always more of a “finding yourself in the journey” proposition anyway.
Production-wise, Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma is something of a masterpiece. It’s rare that any artist puts so much thought into instrumentation and expansive genre exploration — especially with how much territory technology has opened up. Jones charts paths through spacey grooves on “Baba 70s,” “Gold,” and “Blue,” incites some hip-wiggling on the dancey “Amphetamines” and “Herringbone,” and stank faces his way through a thicket of throwback, funky hip-hop on “Who?” with Maxo and Phonte Coleman and album closer “Buggin’.”
The live instrumentation evokes smokey lounges, and darkened basement parties from the 1970s, only more timeless. Musically, the technique reinforces the lyrical links Jones traces throughout his family history and nostalgic narratives. The exquisite soundscapes could easily overwhelm a less adept lyricist, but Jones has clearly been using the time since his 2016 album Arcade to sharpen his pen game.
On “Buggin’,” Jones deftly details a twitchy tableau that could just as easily be a scene set in any hood in America, threading a neat metaphorical connection to insects throughout the narrative the way an auteur might draw the eye to a physical placeholder for a conceptual thought — as only befits a rapper turned director turned back to rapper, explaining his vision with dense wordplay and scintillating twists of the tongue.
Likewise, Topaz lets the syllables spill over each other in his verses on “Mirror,” a self-effacing reintroduction to both longtime listeners and potential new fans that highlights his polished gift for both setting a scene and impressing with dazzling displays of verbose wit. On “Herringbone,” he describes a family reunion in such charming, achingly familiar terms, you might be able to taste the collard greens and smell the macaroni baking in the oven.
Throughout the album, the rhymes sit so snugly within the pockets of the soulful beats that listening becomes nearly interactive; Topaz invites you in, and rewards your interest in every unexpected turn of phrase and tempo change. The tales he tells are personal but relatable; he could just as easily be telling any listener’s story, or that of a cousin, brother, or neighbor at a family reunion, recounting the events of the spell since the last get-together.
And that’s really the answer, told both through the film and the album. Our experiences are universal because the same things move us. The same things are important to us. We can put ourselves in Topaz’s shoes just as easily as he can put himself in ours; the same holds true across generations, geography, and any other line we can draw between ourselves and anyone else. Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma is a story about the stories we tell each other and ourselves, the ones that are told to us, and the ones that tell us who we are.
Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma is out now via New Funk Academy / Black Canopy. Get it here.
