Rap’s always had a minor obsession with brands and brand names, which at the best of times gives it a deeper connection with pop culture. On the other hand, by tapping into cultural touchstones, rap has occasionally run afoul of the civil side of the law. From rappers being forced to change their names (Remy Ma, who once went by the more recognizable Remy Martin, which also sued 50 Cent over his competing cognac) to copyright infringement suits (Tyga and Lil Nas X were both recently sued over sneaker collaborations), rap’s propensity for name-checking has gotten more than one artist into trouble.
Now, the brands that associate with rappers are feeling those effects too. According to Reuters, the Rap Snacks potato chip brand is being sued by toy manufacturer Mattel over its new Nicki Minaj-themed flavor. Spinning the flavor’s name off from Nicki’s self-derived Barbie nickname, Barbie-Que” Honey Truffle — and its logo, which borrows the original logo of Mattel’s long-running, beloved doll line — Rap Snacks has drawn the ire of Mattel’s legal department, which filed suit last week, alleging unfair competition and false designation of origin, trademark dilution, and unfair competition violation.
Mattel argues that the logo’s use creates customer confusion and false association with the actual Barbie brand. The logo’s use wasn’t authorized and Rap Snacks “purposely” misled customers, allegedly refusing to “correct the misimpression it foisted on the public.” Nicki Minaj, who has long used the Barbie terminology and aesthetic, even calling her fans “Barbz” and herself “Harajuku Barbie” (oof), is said to have deferred to Mattel, obtaining at least tacit permission to continue using the moniker, even having her own doll made in 2011.
Mattel not only wants Rap Snacks to discontinue its “Barbie-Que” flavor but also wants it to cancel its trademarks for Barbie-Que and hand over all of the profits made from its sales. Rap Snacks, which also has flavors based on Cardi B, Lil Durk, Migos, and Moneybagg Yo, has not made a public statement as of press time.
In a new profile in Esquire, former GOOD Music artist Kid Cudi says it would take nothing short of a miracle to repair his fractured relationship with his erstwhile mentor Kanye West. Once upon a timeline, the two seemed inseparable; as recently as 2018, they had collaborated together on a joint album titled Kids See Ghosts and were even said to be working on an animated project based on the album. But apparently, Cudi has had his fill of Kanye’s antics in the intervening years and said “enough is enough.”
Sadly, he’s not the only artist formerly signed to West’s label whose relationship with the mercurial producer has soured since leaving the label. In fact, Kanye seems to have made it a point to alienate practically everyone who ever shared the stage with him prior to his first public show of support for Donald Trump in 2016. It makes a certain kind of sense; of course, those artists who teamed up with him after that wouldn’t have minded, but many of those who worked with him early on must feel a sense of betrayal.
Kanye certainly does. In interviews he’s given throughout the year, he’s identified his support of Trump — and his own disastrous presidential bid — as the major breaking point in nearly all of his relationships. He’s apparently felt hurt by what he perceived as a lack of support during that tumultuous time. Whether they were truly disloyal or he caused the schisms himself with his erratic behavior is debatable. But either way, it’s clear that things have gone bad at GOOD Music. Here’s where Kanye stands with his former artists.
Big Sean
During Kanye’s appearance on the Drink Champs podcast in November, he proclaimed that the worst thing he ever did was sign Big Sean. Sean himself said that he was baffled by Kanye’s comment, pointing out that he “was just wit this man, he ain’t say none of that!” After revealing that Kanye still owes him royalties from his time on the label — he completed his contract with Detroit 2 in 2020 — Sean went on Drink Champs himself a month later, calling Kanye’s assertion “some bitch-ass sh*t.” He also shot down Ye’s complaint that he was unsupportive of his presidential campaign, saying that he isn’t interested in politics one way or the other (which is something of a political position in itself). However, they were seen together at a studio in Los Angeles, leaving the ultimate fate of their relationship a big question mark.
Common
It could be argued that Kanye’s intervention revitalized Common’s musical career in the late 2000s after Com misstepped with the experimental (and misunderstood) Electric Circus. Com’s Kanye-produced follow-up, Be, is widely considered one of the Chicago rapper’s best and earned him enough goodwill to renew interest in his music. Fittingly, Com’s been reluctant to talk about the status of his relationship with the younger rapper, maintaining that he still feels a kinship with him and that he wishes they’d made just one more album together.
Desiigner
Of the former GOOD Music artists who released more than one record on the label, Desiigner’s the one whose friction with Kanye stems most from his treatment while signed there. In 2019, he admitted that he felt ignored by GOOD Music’s leadership, asking for the label to release him on Twitter after saying “I’ve been doing this sh*t myself” on Instagram earlier that year. In 2021, Desiigner released “Letter To Ye,” a nostalgic reflection on his time with the label in which he relishes the highs but also deplores the way Kanye treated him.
John Legend
Along with Kid Cudi, John Legend is one of the handful of artists who makes no bones about his standing with Kanye. Earlier this year, he told CNN’s David Axelrod, “We aren’t friends as much as we used to be.” He attributes the change in their relationship to his refusal to support Kanye’s 2020 presidential campaign, something Ye himself alluded to on Drink Champs. As Legend puts it, “I honestly think because we publicly disagreed on his running for office, his supporting Trump. I think it became too much for us to sustain our friendship, honestly.”
Kid Cudi
The fracture between Cudi and Kanye seems to stem as much from Cudi’s continued friendship with Pete Davidson as anything else. Considering how Kanye felt about those who distanced themselves from his support of Donald Trump, it makes sense he’d want his friends to side with him in his one-man war against his ex’s new (now ex-) boo. However, Cudi and Davidson had formed a bond stemming from their shared affinity for comedy and mutual struggles with mental health — something you’d think Kanye would relate to. Unfortunately, as he’s told us repeatedly in the past, he’s insecure and immature, cutting Cudi off and even cruelly mocking his old friend for being pelted with objects during his Rolling Loud set.
Teyana Taylor
It’s difficult to get a read on just where Teyana Taylor stands with Kanye these days, but when you consider her declaring her retirement from music over label frustrations in 2020, you have to imagine that at least some of that stems from Kanye. When collaborator Mykki Blanco said that they weren’t paid for their contributions to Taylor’s 2018 album KTSE, Teyana deferred the complaints to Kanye, GOOD, and Def Jam. While it is generally the label’s job to handle those sorts of disputes, it’s telling that she included Kanye in her response. After feeling underappreciated at GOOD Music, there’s no wonder that some of that disappointment would be pointed at Kanye, but Teyana has remained mum as to whether the two remain on speaking terms.
San Bernardino rapper KINGMOSTWANTED has proved he’s one of Cali’s most promising talents. His single “In My City” had a viral moment on Tik-Tok, piling millions of views and thousands of videos from creators. And with singles like “Cali Lovin” and collaborations with West Coast artists like AZ Chike, label mate MCM Raymond & KayDaBandit, KINGMOSTWANTED doesn’t shy away from his roots.
In today’s UPROXX Sessions, he represents the West with his single “Cali Lovin,” sampling Ice Cube’s infamous 90’s banger “Check Yo Self. The song is upbeat and boastful, selling California dreams with KINGMOSTWANTED rapping of the state’s infamous Interstate 10 (I-10) and lyrics like “weed puffin, Cali loving, the music up high and I’m outchea thuggin.” In addition to delivering a turnt-up rendition of his latest single, he brings his crew, a cup of coffee, and a laid-back cadence to Uproxx Studios.
Watch KingMostWanted perform “Cali Lovin” for UPROXX Sessions above.
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 Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.
People hate The Chainsmokers. Clearly not all people based on how successful the electronic/pop duo is, but hundreds of thousands of Google search results indicate there is indeed some hate. The hate is so prominent, in fact, that the duo actually addressed it on their 2018 single “Everybody Hates Me.” They had some palpable hate fly their way recently, when T.I. punched the group’s Drew Taggart in the face.
The Chainsmokers shared a TikTok yesterday and it starts with the title “When meeting T.I. goes wrong” over footage of them posing for photos with the rapper at an event. The video then cuts to Taggart in a car, saying as others laugh in the background, “T.I. just literally punched me in the face. We were on a vibe, and I gave him a kiss on the cheek; It was totally my fault. He was like, ‘Don’t do that.’ I was like, ‘OK.’ He pushed me off and I was like, ‘Alright, my bad.’
Fellow Chainsmoker Alex Pall interjected, “Dude, his friend goes, ‘You need to get your boy,’ and I go, ‘What the f…,’ I don’t even know what happened. I had no context.”
Taggart continued, “He punched me in the face, and I was like, ‘OK, I’m sorry.’ And he was like, ‘Alright, cool, we’re good.’ It was the weirdest interaction ever.” He went on to elaborate, “First of all, T.I.’s fully in the right here. I was feeling the vibes way too hard and I kissed T.I. on the cheek [laughs] and he punched me in the face for it. It’s fully fine.”
In a 17-minute video shared on Instagram today, T.I. told his side of the story, and like Taggart, T.I. had a good-natured take on the proceedings. He just laughs for about the first 30 seconds of the video and indicates he’s been made aware of the situation becoming a matter of public interest. He continues, “OK, first of all, I love The Chainsmokers [laughs], OK, so let’s just get that straight. I love The Chainsmokers, first of all. I have nothing negative to say. We just had to work through some stuff and we worked through it. We got to a much better place.”
He didn’t get into specifics of what happened, but he did say, “There’s really not much more to the story than you’ve already heard.” He added, “Afterwards, we had a drink, we took a shot, you know what I’m saying, and we moved on.” He also said, “Love The Chainsmokers… not to get no sugar, though, you know what I’m saying?”
T.I. also invited the duo to guest on his ExpediTIously podcast, so perhaps a more detailed account of what happened is on the way.
Earlier this month, Britney Spears found herself in a spat with ex-husband Kevin Federline after he claimed her sons were distancing themselves from her. Nicki Minaj didn’t at all care for how that went down, so now she has sided with Spears and shared some unflattering words about Federline.
On the August 16 episode of Minaj’s live Queen Radio show, Minaj started:
“Do you understand what kind of a clown you have to be to be a whole grown f*cking man and as soon as you see somebody happy and getting married and moving on and being free and feeling good in their own skin, to do the very thing that you know is going to attempt to break them down? Going to the media. Only cowards use the media against a famous person who they once loved, they procreated with, they once were being taken care of by, using the person’s fame as this constant ‘gotcha’ moment, and you think you’re not going to f*cking have karma from it? You think it’s OK? You think that anybody is going to feel sorry for you?”
She continued with praise and more empathy for Spears:
“She loves her kids more than life itself. As soon as y’all see people feeling strong and good and confident and happy, and you no longer have them by the f*cking balls, you want to take your little goofy ass and do some motherf*cking interview. How dare you. How dare you encourage this woman’s children to be a part of your nonsense. And when they look back, they’re going to say, ‘Why? Why? Why did we do this?’ They’re kids, they don’t know how detrimental this is, but you know, c*cksucker. Leave her the f*ck alone!”
Listen to Minaj discuss Spears and Federline below.
Nicki Minaj defends Britney Spears from ex-husband Kevin Federline.
“Do understand what kind of a clown you have to be… How dare you encourage this woman’s children to be a part of your nonsense? Leave her the f*ck alone.”
The hosts of the Rap Radar podcast are still plugging their upcoming episode with Quavo and Takeoff of Migos. While discussing topics like the duo’s recording processes, it seems that they also got to the bottom of a longstanding Migos mystery that has plagued fans since 2017: Why Takeoff doesn’t appear on the group’s No. 1 hit “Bad And Boujee.” While the question has been asked before, Elliott Wilson and Brian “B. Dot” Miller are just higher caliber journalists than Joe Budden and Akademiks, so they were able to get a much more positive response.
In fact, in sharing the clip on Twitter, Wilson seemed to reference the past incident, writing, “Did it look I was too shook to ask the question? Ha.” In the clip, he asks (respectfully), “Was it something about ‘Bad And Boujee’ why you didn’t wanna rap on that beat? Why wasn’t you on that song when it came out?”
This time, rather than popping up to intimidate the questioner, Takeoff left much of the talking to his uncle. “I just think it was just timing,” Quavo replies. “We was just trying to get something out. We was actually pissed off because we ain’t have no music out. I think like a couple months before the whole little wave and we was going through the litigation with 300 [Entertainment, their former label], so we ended up leaking ‘Bad N Boujee’ on SoundCloud first. Sh*t, I wasn’t even gonna be on it. I had to do my verse on some quick fast in a rush sh*t. So it was just like everybody running to the song and trying to get it done.”
So, there you have it. It seems it was all a matter of bad timing and rushing to get the song to market. Sometimes, things just work out, though… “Bad And Boujee” was Migos’ first No. 1 single, making them a household name outside of hip-hop and setting off their pop culture dominance for the next three years. As for whether or not their current duo configuration is temporary or permanent, I suppose we’ll have to wait for the full episode, which drops on August 18.
The latest installment of EA Sports’ mega-popular football video game franchise, Madden NFL 23, is just a couple days away from its August 19 release. The game has also turned into a music event in recent years, as the soundtrack has become a venue for premiering new music. Indeed, that’s the case again this year, as EA has announced this year’s soundtrack features a good handful of songs making their debut in the game.
The 39-song tracklist features 14 previously unreleased songs, including “Run It Up” by Bas, “Extra Credit” by Big K.R.I.T., “The Best (TUA Remix)” by Erica Banks, and “Get Some Money’ by Killer Mike. A couple of the new songs — Money Man, Babyface Ray, and Key Glock’s “No Limit” featuring Bleu, and Cordae and Hit-Boy’s “Checkmate” — will only be made available after the game’s launch.
On top of the soundtrack, Hit-Boy also created “33 exclusive beats for the game’s cinematics.” Beyond the new material, the Madden 23 soundtrack will also include familiar favorites from Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Nas, Tyler The Creator, and plenty of others.
Check out the full list of songs on the Madden 23 soundtrack below.
Aha Gazelle — “Tear It Down”
Bas — “Run It Up” *
Benny The Butcher — “Remember Me”
Big K.R.I.T. — “Extra Credit” *
Blackway, Aeph, Koko — “Impossible”
Boslen — “Levels”
Cam Wallace — “Energy!”
Charmaine — “Logic (Lucky Charm Freestyle)”
Coast Contra — “505”
Cordae — “Sinister” Feat. Lil Wayne
Cypress Hill — “Hit Em’”
Doechii — “Crazy”
Dreamville with Bas — “Lifestyle” Feat. A$AP Ferg
Earthgang — “Ghetto “Gods
Erica Banks — “The Best (TUA Remix)” *
Gizzle — “One Shot” Feat. BRE-Z *
IMRSQD — “Run It Up”
Joey Badass — “The Rev3nge”
Kendrick Lamar — “N95”
Killer Mike — “Get Some Money” *
King Green — “Cold” *
Kwesi Arthur — “Winning” Feat. Vic Mensa
Lord Afrixana — “Touchdown” *
Malachiii — “Hold Me”
Malachiii — “How To Be A Star” *
Marqus Clae — “Are You Ready” *
Nas — “Meet Joe Black”
Nigo — “Come On, Let’s Go” Feat. Tyler The Creator
OnCue — “Any Given Sunday”
Pap Chanel — “No Biggie” *
Pusha T — “Scrape It Off” Feat. Lil Uzi Vert and Don Toliver
Risqkae — “The Intro” Feat. Rti$ *
Robert Glasper — “Black Superhero” Feat. Killer Mike, BJ The Chicago Kid, and Big K.R.I.T.
Simon Said. and Jazzfeezy — “You Gotta Choose” Feat. Steve Samson *
Snoop Dogg — “Conflicted” Feat. Nas
Symba — “Go Get It” *
Symba — “Put Me In The Game” *
Trev Rich and Wallis Lane — “Whole Team” *
Ty Dolla Sign — “Champions” Feat. Wiz Khalifa
Money Man, Babyface Ray, and Key Glock — “No Limit” Feat. Bleu *^
Cordae and Hit-Boy — “Checkmate” *^
* exclusives and debuts
^ additional tracks with the start of the NFL season
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Since Kanye West discovered Kid Cudi through the latter’s 2008 breakthrough mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi, the two have been frequent collaborators, though their friendship has proven tumultuous. Despite the fact that they have been able to resolve past conflicts, Cudi revealed in a tweet this past April that despite recording a track with Ye for the Pusha T album It’s Almost Dry, he chose to end their friendship.
“I am not cool w that man,” Cudi said. “He’s not my friend and I only cleared the song for Pusha cuz thats my guy. This is the last song u will hear me on w Kanye.”
Hey! So I know some of you heard about the song I got w Pusha. I did this song a year ago when I was still cool w Kanye. I am not cool w that man. He’s not my friend and I only cleared the song for Pusha cuz thats my guy. This is the last song u will hear me on w Kanye -Scott
— The Chosen One : I YOU FRESHIE 4EVER (@KiDCuDi) April 19, 2022
Now, in an interview with Esquire ahead of the premiere of his upcoming animated series Entergalactic, Cudi revealed fans shouldn’t hold their breath for him and Ye to bury any hatchets.
“With all due respect, I’m not Drake, who’s about to take a picture with him next week and be friends again, and their beef is squashed,” Cudi said. “That’s not me. What I say, I mean. I will be done with you. It’s gonna take a motherf*cking miracle for me and that man to be friends again. I don’t see it happening. He gon’ have to become a monk.”
Young Thug is being sued for canceling a concert at State Farm Arena. A-1 Concert Entertainment wants $150,000 after paying a deposit for a 45-minute performance on June 18. Unfortunately, Thug was unable to perform that night because he was incarcerated after being arrested on racketeering charges in May and being denied bond by a judge. A-1 says that after reaching out to Thug’s tour management, YSL Touring, they were promised a refund, but have not received one.
“To date, A-1 Concert has not received any reimbursement of the $150,000 owed to it,” the lawsuit, which was filed last week, states. Suing YSL Touring for the funds owed, the complaint also demands damages and attorneys’ fees.
In May, 28 people including Young Thug, Gunna, and Yak Gotti were charged with 56 counts of conspiring to violate Georgia’s criminal racketeering law, murder, armed robbery, drug possession, and more. Prosecutors allege that they are members of a street gang, Young Slime Life, with ties to the Bloods. Meanwhile, Young Stoner Life, or YSL, is also the name of Thug’s label, and instances of the rappers shouting out YSL in their songs were included as evidence against them, prompting a fierce debate.
Kid Cudi has long been open about his mental health struggles and he’s a proponent of therapy and receiving treatment. But for years, he did not reveal a near-death experience he endured while seeking treatment back in 2016. In an interview with Esquire (ahead of his upcoming animated series, Entergalactic), Cudi revealed that he suffered a stroke two weeks into his rehab stint.
“Everything was f*cked,” said Cudi, noting that as a result of the stroke, his speech and physical movement were slowed down.
In addition to mental health treatment, Cudi would also enter a physical rehabilitation program. The following year, he would attempt to make a return to acting, this time, on the stage. He read with actor Michael Cera for a role in a Broadway play called Lobby Hero, memorizing a large amount of dialogue. Although Cudi didn’t land the role, he found the fact that he was able to prepare for the audition rewarding.
“I proved to myself that I could do it. I needed that at the time,” he said. “I was happy. Like, damn, my brain is still strong. I didn’t lose something in that sh*t that happened.”
Kid Cudi’s new visual album and animated series, Entergalactic, streams on Netflix on September 30.
YOU FRESHIE 4EVER (@KiDCuDi) 
