Today is the fourth anniversary of Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning fourth album, DAMN. which went on to win big at the 2018 Grammys, taking home five awards including Best Rap Album and Best Music Video. However, the anniversary of DAMN. also means it’s been four years since he dropped a solo album. As his fans continue to wait for his next release, TDE’s in-house engineer, MixedByAli, who has worked on all of Lamar’s albums, spoke a little bit about the rapper’s forthcoming project.
“I would say, every album that he has dropped since Good Kid has come with a different feeling so just look forward to Kendrick obviously expressing himself in the most creative way– the most highest of the creative way,” he said during an interview with Complex. “How he works, I’ve never seen it before. The recording process, the thought process of piecing an album together and sequencing it. Things like that is what keeps guys like me great. Watching his work ethic… You would expect someone like Kendrick to be at home and sitting back– nah, he still comes in on time and is punctual.”
MixedByAli was later asked if Lamar’s album would arrive this year, and he replied, “It might, it might, you never know.”
You can watch his conversation, which includes discussion of his work with SZA and Baby Keem, in the video above.
It’s been about four months since Conway The Machine released a new project (the deluxe version of From King To A God), so it’s just about exactly the right time for him to drop a new one, semi-unannounced. It’s called La Maquina, it’s packed with production from some of hip-hop’s heaviest hitters (Bangladesh, Cardiak, Don Cannon, and The Alchemist all appear on the tracklist), and loaded with unexpected features like the guests “Scatter Brain,” the single Conway shared just moments ago ahead of the full album’s Friday release.
“Scatter Brain,” which is produced by Don Cannon, features skittering, lightspeed verses from ATLiens JID and Ludacris for a cross-generational cipher-style linkup that lets all three lyrical technicians put their full skillsets on display. The beat features blasting 808s, a ghostly chant, and rainfall snares, providing a different sort of backdrop from those longtime Griselda followers may be used to hearing from Conway, but which he rides with ease and grace. Next up, JID weaves a spider web of a verse with interlocking syllables stacking like a waterfall in reverse.
After a reprise from Conway in which he boasts that he “still get a paycheck from Shady” despite rumors he departed the label last year, Ludacris swoops in to bat cleanup, sounding every bit as athletic as he did in his prime over 10 years ago. As a taste teaser of the upcoming full project, it’s beyond an appetizer — it’s the first hit of a highly addictive substance, leaving fans itching for the full course. Fortunately, they won’t have long to wait; La Maquina is due 4/16 via Griselda.
With climate change continuing to grow in importance as one of the most urgent issues facing society today, non-profit booster Propeller and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) are launching a new awareness initiative called the “NOW: Climate Action Campaign” to raise public consciousness of the looming dangers of climate change.
Beginning Earth Day (April 22) and continuing throughout the year, NOW will leverage the platforms of musicians and festivals to promote climate awareness. To encourage fans to take action — signing petitions, making donations, planting trees, and signing up for education courses — artists and festival partners will offer prizes like custom bikes and more.
Among the artists participating are Lil Dicky, who is offering a trip to an exotic location impacted by climate change so fans can see its effects firsthand, Julien Baker, A-Trak, and The National, while BUKU Music + Arts Festival, Deep Tropics Festival, and Sub Pop Records are all billed as participants as well.
Propeller, a digital marketing company that works to connect non-profit social causes with celebrity endorsers to, well, propel these movements beyond what they might be capable of otherwise, highlighted the importance of the NOW campaign in a press statement from founder Brandon Deroche. “Climate change is only going to be solved with sustained attention and pressure from all of us, and we see this campaign as a way to help energize the movement,” he said.
Lil Dicky, who previously recorded the celebrity charity song “Earth” in 2019 and donated the profits to environmental causes, echoed Deroche’s sentiment. “Climate change is an incredibly important cause for me,” he said. “I’m excited to get fans that may be new to the cause activated through the NOW Climate Action Campaign, and give them the chance to see the impact of climate change first hand.”
More information will be forthcoming but for now, you can learn more at propeller.la and nrdc.org.
Though Lizzo has been fairly inactive on her Twitter page over the last year, the singer has been using TikTok to connect with fans, give insight into her personal life, and use her platform to spread awareness about the body positivity movement. In the past, the singer has detailed how hateful comments have affected her body image and now, Lizzo shares what she believes is the real goal of the body positivity movement.
Lizzo explains how the body positivity movement isn’t just about body acceptance, but it also recognizes how some people can be discriminated against in healthcare and the workplace because of their size.
Responded to a user who asked their followers if they would “trade places with someone who was on the heavier side,” Lizzo expanded on the question:
“If I asked you right now, ‘Have you been shamed?’ Yes, you’ve been through a lot, yes, it sucks being a person in this society because we have to go through so much to love ourselves. But would you switch places with a fat person’s body tomorrow? You would not because you know there’s a whole system that oppresses fat people that you do not experience that you will never experience. So let’s remember body positivity. Yes, we want to end harassment and shame, but we also are working to dismantle a system that oppresses fat people.”
Following up on the explainer, Lizzo responded to a user who commented that he would, in fact, opt to trade bodies with a larger person so that he could “lose it all.” “Ain’t nobody asked you if you could lose weight or not,” Lizzo said. “First off, you’re a man. Second off, you’re genetically predisposed to be an athlete according to your f*cking name and your f*cking pic, so you have no idea how hard or how easy it is for any other body to do anything except for your f*cking body, the one you’ve been given. It’s not just about food and intake. It’s people like you that make people feel like sh*t for just existing, or sh*t for their genes.”
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.
All artists must have a certain degree of self-belief, but very few have as much as Lakeyah. It’s one thing to record your innermost thoughts over a beat and put them out, knowing that someone, somewhere in the world will want to hear them and relate, but it’s another thing entirely to convince your mom to pay for art school in Atlanta for the sole purpose to pursuing a label deal with Quality Control Music.
That’s exactly what the Milwaukee-bred 20-year-old did, though, enrolling in the Art Institute of Atlanta in order to have a pretext for relocating to Coach and P’s hometown, only to drop out just two months into the semester to chase her rap dreams full time. The leap of faith had a soft landing; not only did Lakeyah, who’d first gained a semblance of notoriety with a series of freestyle videos from her car (a la Saweetie, to whom she’s sometimes compared), ultimately ink the deal just a few months later, she’s now two projects into her career and receiving the full-fledged support of the “family-oriented” label.
Her latest release, In Due Time, arrives just months after her debut Time’s Up. While both records are glitzy affairs, Lakeyah is also committed to a much more lyrics-focused approach than some of the artists she gets compared to, owing to her early fascination with the songwriting of Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Wale. Displaying her love for witty wordplay on “Easy,” and the Gucci Mane-featuring “Poppin,” she also layers in a newly refined sense of storytelling, fleshing out the emotional corners of tracks like “Dirty World” and “From The Bottom.”
Over the phone with Uproxx, Lakeyah relayed the challenges of starting a career during a global music shutdown, reflected on the support she’s received from her label home, explained the thematic importance of “time” to her first two releases, and agreed that pursuing a dream often means being your own superhero.
How has your last year been? I know it’s not the most ideal situation to start your career in the middle of a global, once-a-century pandemic. How have you been handling it? What have you been doing with the time that you would have been touring or whatever?
It’s kind of sad but at the same time, I’m kind of blessed to have been signed during a pandemic, it’s preparing me for when the world opens up. I’ve been doing a lot of Zoom interviews and I stay in the studio. I’m shooting videos a lot and I’m always getting content ready for Instagram. That’s what it’s about right now, while there’s nothing going on.
“Time” is a theme in your album titles. Why is that so important for you to highlight that theme?
I feel like success — slow success — builds character. I was just talking to P about this. Everything is going to happen at the perfect time for me. The next tape is going to be called Perfect Timing. I just feel like everything is going to fall into place. I’m just working my ass off right now being super consistent. It’s all about timing. You don’t want to burn yourself out, out here.
Right. And you’re 19, you’re young. You have time. Jay-Z didn’t put out Reasonable Doubt until he was 26. With that being said, what are some of the things that you’ve learned from being around older fellows like Coach and P, as opposed to being around your own peers?
To stay out of drama. To be focused on the job. I’m around a lot of people that have a lot of money and they ain’t making money being in bullsh*t. Focusing on work and putting everything I have into my career, my artistry: that’s what I’ve been learning.
I had to hit Google a little bit and look for Milwaukee rappers because I don’t know any rappers who are from Milwaukee except for K Camp. Do you have rappers from your city that you look up to? If not, who have you been looking up to?
I don’t have any from my city because, to be honest, I was young. I wasn’t shooting music videos like everybody else, I was just doing freestyles in a car. So I didn’t get really a lot of recognition when I was in the city. I had dreams of being global and not local. So growing up I definitely always listened to Nicki Minaj, Drake. I love Rick Ross and Wale. I like people who really care about the bars, the lyrics, make you feel like a boss.
I’m surprised, but not surprised, to hear you say “Wale.”
I love him.
I remember when he came out, like early on. We’re the same age. So hearing someone talk about someone who I came out with, someone the same age as me, that’s crazy.
He’s super poetic but it’s still that music you want to listen to. Sometimes people are so talented that they can’t make a song, but Wale makes songs, hits actually. I love him. I’m a big fan.
Why do you focus so much on lyrics and how do you find that balance between being a good rapper and being a good songwriter?
Well, like I was just saying, people be so good that they can’t make a song. Me and P even had this discussion. I come from freestyling, where you got to take that element and really put it into the music. You want people to still feel your music, but not get bored with you. I have a huge vocabulary. I read a lot of books. I don’t want people to be like, “What she say?” But I still want people to think. I got to make sure everything is like, “It’s a bop,” but it’s still like, “She’s saying some real sh*t. It’s a balance I’m still learning.
One of the bars that actually did crack me up listening to your album was on “Easy.” You say you’re 19 and you’re making more money than your father. When your father heard that line, what did he say to you?
He got a rich daughter. He like, my daughter got money, I can get a house.
Your mom may have had a slightly different reaction. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you convinced her to send you down south for school, and then you just decided that you were going to drop out and pursue rap. What did she say when you got signed? What is she thinking now? Has there been any change over the past year?
Yes. A huge change. When I first told myself, “I’m not doing college no more,” at first I’m like, “I’m not telling nobody.” I don’t know what my plan was because I knew I was going to have to tell somebody, but I wasn’t telling nobody. I was skipping classes. But I’m not promoting that sh*t. Education is key.
So when I told her, she was yelling, she was cussing me out. She was like, “I put all my money… I moved you out here.” I had to go through that. And then a couple of months later, I got signed. So she was proud. She probably thinking she wanted to see her daughter graduate college, but she’s super proud.
You have Gucci Mane on “Poppin.” To me, my generation, that is impressive. Like, “Okay, who is this kid to be getting a Gucci Mane feature?” How does you feel about having this veteran of the trap scene come through and bestow the blessing upon you?
It’s so, so, so lit. Growing up in Milwaukee, that’s one of the people we listened to. So, it’s a blessing beyond measure. And he really killed the track, I was super surprised. I remember I got in the studio with Hitmaka and we made the song, they must’ve sent it to P, and P sent it back to me a week later with a feature on it, and it’s Gucci. I’m like, “You’re kidding me right now, is that my song?” So it was super exciting. The video was fun to shoot, and both P and Gucci are super humble people. And they really support these artists out here trying to make it.
I know that this is sort of an old man, uncool thing to ask anybody under 20, but do you have anything even remotely resembling a five-year plan for your career in hip-hop?
Honestly, I really, really plan to be the biggest artist — not “female rapper,” not “female R&B”… but the biggest artist in the world. Whatever steps it takes to get there, that’s part of the five-year plan. I’m only 20 like I said. I got so much time and sometimes I get caught up judging my success off of what’s going on with other artists. But, I heard somebody say a week ago, it takes 10 years to become an overnight success.
Being a new artist, you probably do a ton of interviews and get asked a lot of the same questions. Do you have anything that you would love to talk about that you just wish somebody would ask you about, but they just haven’t?
A lot of people don’t know the type of stuff I like, like superheroes and sh*t. I like Marvel and DC movies. I’m a super big fan of Avengers movies and all that. And vampire, supernatural movies too. I do not want to watch f*cking rom-coms or nothing like that. I want to see people flying in the air.
Who is your favorite Avenger?
Oh my God. I cried when Iron Man died. I was sick about it.
You know what? I think we all cried when Iron Man died. If you got a superpower, what would your superpower be? And what would your superhero name?
I think I would teleport, but I want to read minds, too.
So you want to be a telepathic teleporter?
I don’t know what my name would be.
Why not “Lakeyah?” A rap name is a superhero name. You are your own superhero, right?
Exactly.
In Due Time is out now on Quality Control Music. Get it here.
While promoting his recently-released album, 1176, Oakland artist Guapdad 4000 has focused much of his press run on Filipino publications and radio stations, in honor of his Filipino roots and how they tie closely into the themes of the new album (he even collaborated on the album with a Filipino-American producer, Illmind). In a recent interview with Entertainment Inquirer, he touched on how he was affected by anti-Asian discrimination growing up due to his biracial heritage (his grandad was Black, while his grandmother was Filipino).
In the interview, Guapdad makes it a point to note the similarities between the two cultures (“A sense of family and loyalty is something we both share”), but also highlights how, due to his upbringing he was able to see how both can be negatively affected by prejudice. “My mom looks Asian and I look Black, and some people would say weird things at times,” he recalls. “Discrimination was always sneaking through the cracks.”
“I’m flamboyant with my taste in fashion,” he continues. “So, you have this handsome, flashy Black child walking around with this super modest, humble Filipino lady, and some would be like, ‘What’s going on?’ I also experienced some prejudice from older Filipinos, who would crack jokes about my dark skin. That hurt my feelings, too. So I had to dodge bullets from both sides. I usually chalk racism up to ignorance.”
He says he was able to overcome those experiences because “they made me mentally tougher.” He also shares how his partnership with 88rising helps shed light on Asian-Americans’ accomplishments in music and advocates for a better understanding of them in the mainstream and admits that, despite having a song titled “Chicken Adobo” on his album, it’s the one traditional dish he’s intimidated to try cooking. “We had some discussions, especially about trying to be more forward in letting people know that I’m Filipino; that I want to go out of my way to do stuff for us, and shine a light on what other Filipino artists people are doing. It just seemed a good fit.”
“I think it’s super cool and it’s a beautiful opportunity for Asian artists in general to have this platform. I’m excited to see what everyone else is up to. And I’m just on board as a fan in general. I’m a fan of so many of their artists before I was even part of it. I’m now reaching out to a lot of people and getting familiar with people I didn’t know about. I expect to do more collabs with Filipino artists in the future. But now I’m just warming myself up.”
Freddie Gibbs has been around the block in the music industry before blowing up on a greater level last year but that doesn’t mean he’s gotten used to the trappings of fame. While hanging out with Diddy at his home, Gibbs was amused at some of the house’s amenities. Posting a video to Twitter, Gibbs expressed his amazement that, among other things, the man formerly known as Puff Daddy has a full-fledged restaurant in his house.
While recording a selfie video, Gibbs gains Diddy’s attention, calling him a “fly-ass young n****” and prompting Diddy to show off a bottle of his Ciroc vodka and begin singing along to the Marvin Gaye song playing over the P.A. (It’s “I Want You,” by the way).
Freddie, who’s become one of hip-hop’s most celebrated artists over the past year thanks to his joint album with Alchemist, Alfredo, and its Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album, may be experiencing a new level of success, but clearly, he’s still humble enough to crack jokes at his own expense and use fake Instagrams to mock his rivals. His humility is one of the things that makes him so easy to root for — and his amazement at Diddy’s extravagance might just be the most relatable things he’s shared yet.
Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
TMZ reports that R&B star Chris Brown is being sued by the sister of his housekeeper, who claims that his dog mauled the housekeeper while she was cleaning his home in Tarzana, California. According to the plaintiff, Patricia Avila, the two had been hired to clean twice a week for $600 a day under the condition that the dogs would be kept in a separate part of the property while they cleaned.
However, Avila says that when her sister went into the backyard to empty a vacuum cleaner, one of the dogs, a Caucasian Shepherd Ovcharka, had found its way there and attacked. Avila says that her sister was bitten on the arm, face, and leg. Eventually, the dog was removed and Brown called an ambulance for Avila’s sister, who she says was treated at the hospital for several days, including at least two surgeries. She says that her sister now has PTSD and panic attacks.
She is suing for damages, although the report doesn’t specify how much, saying that Brown failed to protect the sisters from the risk of attack by his dogs. There is no information on a separate suit from the actual alleged victim or a response from Brown.
Thanks to his bookish knowledge of pop culture and gift for storytelling, The Roots drummer Questlove has become one of music’s foremost historians — albeit, an informal one, in most cases. So, it’s fitting that his next book is titled Music Is History and will take on the task of examing the last 50 years of pop culture through the lens of the music that inspired it and was inspired it. The book is due in October through Abrams Image.
According to a press release, in the new book, Questlove will choose an “essential” track he believes defines each year, and “unpacks each song’s significance, revealing the pivotal role that American music plays around issues of race, gender, politics, and identity.”
Choosing the year 1971 as the book’s starting point, Quest gives it a link to his own personal history — he recently celebrated his own 50th birthday — and will also include personal anecdotes to highlight the way grand themes like race and politics can have a huge impact on the individual, as well. Topics will include the blaxploitation era, disco, and “the secret ingredient in all funk songs,” which will also be the theme of one of the playlists Questlove is curating to promote the new book. He’ll also be recording the audiobook version, releasing it through Recorded Books.
Following Daunte Wright’s death after being shot by police during a traffic stop a few days ago, many thoughts about the situation have been shared. Now Cardi B has chimed in and one of her big questions is why she’s not seeing a lot of high-profile Republican leaders addressing the incident.
Ya been real quit .Twitter Blue check Republicans are a fuckin joke .I don’t ever want to see yaa ranting on celebrities,athletes until yall address what’s REALLY WRONG IN AMERICA ! pic.twitter.com/z3Lyf1GGZb
Cardi shared a video last night, which she started by summarizing the Wright situation, as well as that of Caron Nazario, an Army lieutenant who was pepper sprayed and had guns drawn on him during a traffic stop in December (video footage of the incident recently surfaced). She then continued, “My thing is: Where the f*ck are you Twitter blue-check Republicans at? Y’all are the loudest in this motherf*ckin’ app. Y’all not saying nothing, y’all not complaining. Y’all blame everything with what’s wrong with America beside the police! Y’all have been very silent! What’s going on?” She also wrote alongside the video, “Ya been real [quiet] .Twitter Blue check Republicans are a f*ckin joke .I don’t ever want to see yaa ranting on celebrities,athletes until yall address what’s REALLY WRONG IN AMERICA !”
(@FreddieGibbs) 
