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Van Buren Records Might Be ‘Bad For Press,’ But Their New Album Is Too Good For That To Matter

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Oludare Ohi/Ralph Ordaz

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.

Collaboration is nothing without chemistry. It’s why when a superstar athlete joins a new team, critics question if success will be attained or things will crumble into failure. When a group effort sees each member recognizing and making up for one another’s weaknesses, more times than not, art in its most beautiful form arrives, leaving its consumers to stand starry-eyed to take in the new experience. Elsewhere, doubters rush to eat their words in an attempt to hide them and avoid having to own up to their wrongs. It’s this excellent chemistry in collaboration that lives on Van Buren Records’ debut album, Bad For Press.

The thirteen-track effort compiles some of the best hip-hop talents Massachusetts has to offer. The heavy-muscled collective includes names like Luke Bars and Saint Lyor, who both caught attention in 2020 for their respective GoodEvil and If My Sins Could Talk. Jiles is the epitome of a flower blooming in a dark room, as his sinister verses both rattle and enthrall listeners. Meech, Andrew Regis, and Lord Felix punch jaws and dizzy minds with their bars while Ricky Felix and Kiron create the ideal landscape for the rappers to go berzerk in.

Bad For Press arrives with a “yeah, so what?” sneer from the Van Buren collective. Suits & ties with smiles never fit the group’s desired aesthetic like a mean mug and slight tilt of the head do. Just two songs into the project, “Braindead” captures the groups overwhelming audacity towards anything that steps before them. Lyor’s straight-faced hook delivers a message within the words that menacingly leave his mouth: this is not a group you want to spar with. Similar sentiments arrive on “Medic,” a song that sonically warns of impending danger all for the Van Buren rappers to be the individuals to make these fears a reality.

On the album, individual egos aren’t left outside the door, rather, they’re combined into some supernatural force that entwines itself with the words the group raps throughout the albums. So when songs like “It Is What It Is” or “No Interview” pierce through your headphones, it’s a huge disservice to ignore the talent, energy, and persona that are packaged into what is the Van Buren collective. Both tracks encapsulate the rambunctious energy the group would present onstage in a perfect pandemic-less world, but simply hearing them rapping their asses off makes this impending moment all that more desirable.

Despite the strong-armed reinforcement Van Buren delivers on the album, there are moments where the aggression is replaced with reflection and an effort to look into the past and see how far they’ve made it. “Looking For Trouble” opens the memories of their turbulent youth that Lyor describes best, rapping, “I be looking for trouble, I had nothing else to do.” Luckily for them, things have changed for the better. Van Buren also documents their struggle to thaw their cold hearts to receive the warmth of love on “Nevermind” while “Outro” is a smooth landing that ties an elegant bow around the wild ride Bad For Press is. In letting their guard down for a few moments, Van Buren effectively proves why it was up in the first place.

Bad For Press could be dissected in many ways. You could focus on individual talents and applaud Bars’ show-stealing verse to close “Gangbanger (Remix)” or Andrew Regis’ knife-wielding bars on “Medic.” There’s Meech’s slick-talk over Ricky Felix’s best-produced song with “No Interviews” and Jiles’ cutthroat contribution to “Braindead.” Not to mention Lyor’s honest tales on “Looking For Trouble” as well. However, this approach overlooks and diminishes the best thing about Van Buren: the fact that these individual qualities, which vary in presence and effectiveness on each song, contribute to the gleaming pot of gold that represents the Massachusetts rappers and all their glory. If Van Buren thinks they’re Bad For Press so be it, we could use more artists who embrace going against the grain.

Bad For Press is out now via Van Buren Records. Get it here.

Lil Yachty Flexes His Freestyle Skills In The In-Studio ‘Cortex’ Video

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Lil Yachty has been on a tear lately, as if he’s out to prove all his early-careers haters’ assumptions that he couldn’t rap wrong. Over the last few months, he’s released a string of lyrically focused freestyles such as the “Royal Rumble” cipher with seemingly all of the rising rappers in Michigan and the “No More Beatboxing Freestyle,” which saw him take on two of the hotter instrumentals of the moment. Now, he keeps the ball rolling with “Cortex,” a quick hitter accompanied by an in-studio video surrounded by his clique.

In addition to his freestyle videos, Yachty’s been rolling out a few singles that show that his songwriting remains as clever as ever, with videos that showcase his quirky sense of humor and visual creativity. In February, he released the dapper “Asshole” video with Oliver Tree, as well as the Vince Staples-featuring “In My Stussy’s” video. Meanwhile, he’s keeping his corporate profile pristine as well; at the end of 2020, he collaborated with Reese’s Puff cereal on a box and a new song, and earlier this year, it was reported that he’s developing a heist movie based on the card game Uno. He’s also set to appear in season two of Lil Dicky’s breakout FX comedy, Dave.

Watch the Lil Yachty “Cortex” video above.

Morrissey Is Accusing ‘The Simpsons’ Of ‘Taunting A Lawsuit’ (With A Parody) That He Can’t Afford To Pursue

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FOX

After Morrissey’s manager called out The Simpsons for its parody of the former The Smiths frontman, which featured Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the character “Quilloughby,” the singer himself released his own statement on Monday that accuses the cartoon series of “obviously taunting a lawsuit.” In a long-winded, and very Morrissey-esque message in the “Hello Hell” section of his website, the singer rails against everything from the accusations of racism that have plagued him to the lack of “Hate Laws” that he believes should be protecting him from the “scandal sheets.”

Via Morrissey Central:

Since my very first interview several decades ago I have lived with horrible accusations to such a degree that it is generally understood that ‘this is how we write about Morrissey’. In other words, I’m quite used to it. I’ve had enough horror thrown at me that would kill off a herd of bison. Accusations usually come from someone with a crazed desire for importance; they don’t operate at a very high level. Writing for The Simpsons, for example, evidently requires only complete ignorance. But all of these things are too easy for me to say. In a world obsessed with Hate Laws, there are none that protect me.

Despite dramatically accusing The Simpsons of opening themselves up to a lawsuit for daring to parody him like it does to countless other celebrities, Morrissey made it clear that he won’t be going down that road because it would require “more funding than I could possibly muster.” He believes this is why The Simpsons targeted him. “I think this is generally understood and is the reason why I am so carelessly and noisily attacked.”

(Via Morrissey Central)

Snoop Dogg Starts His 4/20 Celebrations With The Forgetful Anthem ‘Left My Weed’

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Today is April 20, which of course marks one of the most widely observed unofficial holidays: 4/20. Naturally, Snoop Dogg will be celebrating the occasion and he got things started early with a new album, From Tha Streets 2 Tha Suites. The project features some songs about smoking, most notably wrapping up with “Left My Weed,” a collaboration with J Black and Devin The Dude.

On the narrative tune, Snoop begins by describing an unfortunate situation at a party:

“Yeah, pull up to front, party going live / Everybody happy when the Dogg arrive / […] Reaching in my Louie bag / Tryna find that King Louie stash / Yeah I’m ’bout to do em bad / Baby wanna take a flick / I’m like, ‘Cool, make it quick ’cause I still can’t find my sh*t’ / Reach a little deeper, now I’m mad / No weed in the party, all bad / I’m in the parking lot, heading to the whip / Cuz now this party ain’t sh*t.”

J Black also comes through on the hook, “I can’t believe it, believe it / I do this sh*t every time, damn / Get so very high and forget / What I needed, I needed / Did one of y’all see if I, damn / Searching like CSI, yeah / ’cause I f*cked around and left my weed.”

Listen to “Left My Weed” above, stream From Tha Streets 2 Tha Suites below, and check out our 420-song 4/20 playlist here.

From Tha Streets 2 Tha Suites is out now via Doggystyle Records/Create Music Group. Get it here.

The Weeknd And Ariana Grande All But Confirm They Have A New Remix On The Way

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A few weeks ago, The Weeknd indicated that there is still more to come from the After Hours era, tweeting, “p.s. this chapter isn’t quite done yet … still tying some loose ends.” At the time, he didn’t make clear what exactly that meant. Now, though, it looks like we know one thing that may be coming soon: a new remix of “Save Your Tears” featuring Ariana Grande, which both artists teased on social media yesterday.

Both Grande and The Weeknd shared the same audio clip on social media and tagged each other in their posts, all but confirming the collaboration. The video runs for eight seconds, and during that time, isolated, reverb-heavy vocals from the pair, singing what seems to be a melody from “Save Your Tears,” can be heard.

The pair have of course collaborated multiple times, once on Grande’s “Love Me Harder” from her 2014 album My Everything and again on “Off The Table,” from Grande’s 2020 album Positions. Of course, it’s also widely believed that the two were once linked romantically.

Meanwhile, Grande has also recently spent some time revisiting one of her recent albums, as she shared a behind-the-scenes clip of herself recording some vocals on “Positions.”

Check out the teaser clip above.

Rolling Loud Announces Its Return To Miami With Headliners Travis Scott, Post Malone, and ASAP Rocky

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The return of music festival announcements have seen typical summer events like Bonnaroo and Outside Lands getting pushed to the fall. Rolling Loud is never one to go with the flow, however, and has announced their festival’s gates will open just a few weeks later than originally planned. The event will now take place during the weekend of July 23rd-25th at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL.

The organizers were able to keep much of the lineup intact from its 2020 iteration, including Travis Scott, Post Malone and ASAP Rocky. Bobby Shmurda will serve as a special guest, along with appearances from some of the best and brightest in hip hop including Lil Baby, 21 Savage, DaBaby, Young Thug, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, Roddy Ricch, Rod Wave, Lil Tjay, Pooh Shiesty, Polo G, Ski Mask The Slump God, City Girls, Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, T-Pain, Curren$y, Fetty Wap, and Wale. Check out the full lineup image below.

Rolling Loud

“We want to extend a massive thank you to all of our ragers who have held onto their tickets,” the festival said in a statement. “Those who can’t make the new dates will have the opportunity to obtain a refund. Information on how to obtain a refund will be sent out to ticket holders later this month. We are also working on sweetening the deal for those of you who choose to keep your tickets in addition to the rage pack you already earned from the last reschedule.

The statement continued:

We can’t wait to reunite together in the pits we’ve all grown to love (and miss) so much. Many of you, like us, have been looking forward to Rolling Loud for months now. And although we may need to wait a little bit longer—trust that this comeback and reunion will be even stronger. Whether you’re a Rolling Loud veteran or a first-timer, you are about to be a part of history.

Tickets go on sale 4/23 at 12PM ET. Get them here.

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

A DMX Album Nearly Topped The ‘Billboard’ 200 Chart Following His Death

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Over the course of his legendary career, DMX had about as much success on the charts as anybody: His first five albums all managed to peak at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Now, after his passing, the late rapper is continuing to have an impact on the charts, as on the new chart dated April 24, he had an album come so close to placing on top.

Taylor Swift is No. 1 on the current Billboard 200 with Fearless (Taylor’s Version), but the 2010 compilation The Best Of DMX managed to finish the week at No. 2 and become the rapper’s seventh top-ten album. This is up from No. 73 last week, which was the album’s chart peak at the time. Additionally, two of DMX’s studio albums — 1998’s It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot and 1999’s Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood — re-entered the chart, at No. 46 and 107, respectively.

The Best Of DMX features some of the rapper’s biggest hits, including all of his RIAA-certified singles: “Get At Me Dog,” “Slippin’,” and “X Gon’ Give It To Ya.” It’s not surprising that the rapper’s music has shot up the charts, as his streams increased by nearly 1,000 percent after his death. He is also set to be memorialized at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The Second Season Of Lil Dicky’s ‘Dave’ Premieres This Summer And Features Lil Nas X, Doja Cat, And More

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Earlier this month, Lil Dicky declared, “That’s a wrap on season 2,” presumably talking about his breakout hit FXX series Dave. It didn’t take long, by the way, for FXX to renew Dave for a second season, considering it was the network’s most-watched comedy ever. Anyway, that seems to be what he was referring to, as the premiere date of the show’s second season has now been set for June 16.

Benny Blanco, who appeared in multiple episodes in the show’s first season, is set to return in Season 2. Also making appearances will be Lil Nas X, Doja Cat, CL, Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, Kyle Kuzma, J Balvin, Rae Sremmurd (Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lil Yachty, and Kevin Hart, among others.

Press materials also tease some topics to be covered in the new episodes: “Dave knows he’s destined for rap superstardom — but at what cost? With the pressure mounting as he records his debut album, he has to decide if he’ll sacrifice friendships, love, and his own sense of self in order to make his dream come true. Simultaneously exasperating and inspiring to his friends, Dave vows to leave no stone unturned on his quest to become the next superstar.”

Revisit our interview with the show’s GaTa here.

Polo G’s ‘Rapstar’ Has Debuted At No. 1 On The Hot 100 Chart And He’s Thrilled

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It’s not every day that a song debuts on top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In fact, only a few dozen songs have ever pulled that off (51 prior to this week, to be precise). Now, Polo G’s “Rapstar” has been added to that list, as the hit single as debut on top of the Hot 100 dated April 24. The song’s success came thanks in part to the third biggest streaming week of the year, behind only two weeks of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License.”

Quickly after the news was made official, Polo G shared his excitement on social media, writing on Instagram, “It’s Crazy I really Manifested this sh*t. I got a long list of goals imma b scratchin off just this year alone…Only 52 ppl ever debuted @ #1 on the billboard hot 100 & I’m part of that group U can’t tell me I ain’t chosen I done really beat the odds fr From A Place where n****s like me b the 1st to die who woulda thought I’ll go #1….thank y’all Mann. I can’t stress that enough Ik I work hard asf & y’all work just as hard supporting me We gone keep goin up fr REAL #rapstar Album comin sooooonnnnnnn.” He also wrote on Twitter, “#1 song On the billboard Charts. Thank u God & Everybody Supportin me This sh*t don’t even Feel real. Naw like gang I really just went #1 wtf [crying emoji].”

Polo G recently released a video for the track, so check that out here.

Saweetie Reps For The Independent Women On ‘Pretty Summer Playlist: Vol. 1’

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Brian Contreras/Ralph Ordaz

It’s been three years since Saweetie’s Icy regime began. Blowing up with her breakout hit “ICY GRL” and car raps in 2018, the slick talker born Diamonté Harper has stuck to her pretty girl code. As first heard on previous offerings, like 2018’s High Maintenance and 2019’s ICY, and sticky smashes like “Tap In” and “My Type,” the Bay Area rapper steps out of a public breakup and heads back to the streets — and booth — to do what she knows best: rapping about being fine and the finer things in life on her latest project Pretty Summer Playlist: Vol. 1.

Breakup aside, Saweetie has been the people’s champion all pandemic. While most of us Slacked, Zoomed, or Netflixed our way through quarantine, the Bay Area rapper took “working from home” to new levels. She stuck on her lengthiest press-on nails and swapped wigs and ‘fits to pose for glamorous pictorials on Instagram and magazine covers. From the studio, she served up the single ladies’ PSA “Back To The Streets” featuring Jhené Aiko, the TikTok-able BFF bop “Best Friend” alongside Doja Cat, and then hopped on the remix to Gwen Stefani’s spirited single “Slow Clap,” among other features.

Also adding to her resume during lockdown: a plethora of eye-popping visuals, cameos on Grown-ish, highly debated concoctions (a la ranch sauce on spaghetti), and three seasons of the quirky yet intimate YouTube reality series called “The Icy Life.” Like her Birkin bag vignettes, Saweetie is juggling multiple bags (checks from Quay and Tesla included) and paying it forward with new fire for her fans to heat up the summer.

On Pretty Summer Playlist: Vol. 1, Saweetie celebrates her singledom with a soundtrack made for sinning and spending. Setting off the pretty party is “Risky,” a collaboration with Drakeo the Ruler sure to activate the kind of shot contest that doesn’t involve a basketball. She also shares the spotlight with other women such as Bbyafricka on the latter’s kitty-loving single “Baby Mama Coochie” and Lourdiz on “Back Seat,” a sexy entry best paired with a string of purple grinning devil emojis.

On “Pretty & Rich,” Saweetie flips a manicured finger to the haters wishing for her downfall. And if curious minds were expecting a statement from Saweetie on her latest split, “See Saw” is the closest thing to it. As she and singer Kendra Jae trade lines about chucking the deuces to an old flame who fumbled the relationship, Saweetie spits: “How you figure, ain’t the woman that you thought?/ You was humpin’ thots / F*ckin’ narcissist, you just mad you got caught.” Oop.

No Saweetie project would be complete without nostalgia. As the subject of a trending topic or three, she’s drawn criticism on timelines for constantly rapping over throwback beats and dedicating bars to bagging fellas with eight figures, but that doesn’t stop her from reviving old favorites here. For “Talkin’ Bout,” she brings back Cali Swag District’s “Teach Me How To Dougie” for her take on Loui’s “Put Yo Back Into It.”

However, Saweetie also keeps her ear to the tweets and offers a direct response to the feedback on the final track and Freaknik-ready twerk-off anthem, “Sweat Check”: “I know y’all tired of me talkin’ about a rich n****,” she allows. “But you are who you f*ck and I’m a big spender.” There’s no need to enroll in her Icy University sessions online to recognize that Saweetie’s affirmations are a masterclass in owning the narrative.

While the formula for her songs feels familiar, Saweetie knows how to amplify her brand across algorithms. Pumping out thirst traps and signing business deals is just daily routine for the University of Southern California graduate, who has experience in balancing a heavy workload. The same goes for her catalog of ear candy. She knows her saweet spots and delivers fun in different flavors — and everyone wants a taste.

Pretty Summer Playlist: Vol. 1 is out now via ICY/Warner Records. Get it here.

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