Fans of turnt-up, unapologetically Southern crunk rap are undoubtedly tuned in to the monstrous hit that is Hitkidd and GloRilla’s “FNF (Let’s Go).” Released in May, the song has already accumulated well over 30 million streams across all platforms and has been tabbed as the song of the summer in many circles. That’s before Bay Area favorite Saweetie teased an impending remix, adding her star power to what has already become an unstoppable juggernaut of a hit. And now, the icing on the cake: The song has officially resulted in a label deal for the burgeoning Memphis hitmaker GloRilla, courtesy of one of her hometown’s heroes.
Yo Gotti, head of CMG Records and the rapper behind huge viral smashes such as “Down In The DM” and “Rake It Up,” announced he has signed GloRilla to his imprint via a video Tweet showing GloRilla and her friends mobbing their way onto a private plane, where she puts ink to paper to solidify their artistic partnership.
In a report about the signing, Yo Gotti told Billboard, “GloRilla is a natural born star – she has a different sound and approach that’s needed in hip-hop right now. It’s one of the quickest rises that I’ve seen in my career because she only dropped in late-April and now she has the hottest cultural records in music. Glo is hungry for success and determined to win. We look forward to watching her grow as an artist and reach her full potential.”
Meanwhile, GloRilla herself said of the move, “I’ve put in years of hard work to get this point and I’m blessed to sign with the hottest label in music with CMG. manifested this moment and trusted my talent even when others didn’t. I’m grateful for Gotti for believing in me and I’m not gonna let up. Trust that I have more new heat on the way.”
She’s not exaggerating; CMG is also home to several of rap’s fastest rising stars, including Moneybagg Yo, 42 Dugg, and EST Gee, all of whom have seen tremendous success in the last two years with either their debuts, follow-ups to their debuts, or joint projects masterminded by Yo Gotti himself. If the pattern holds, expect to see a lot more of GloRilla on the charts in the coming months.
The mashup was inspired by a trend on TikTok of fans performing Megan’s “Body” choreography to the seemingly incongruous “Under The Bridge.” Its creator, who goes by Ben Vertz, crafted the video to edit one of Megan’s “Body” verses into the instrumental for “Under The Bridge” and became kind of a hit on the platform in its own right, even becoming the subject of several viral tweets like the ones below.
The Adele x Megan Thee Stallion trend on Tiktok is one of the best things I’ve seen and heard in ages.
i was mulling over a take about tiktok dances falling out of vogue this year but then this adele x megan thee stallion mix went viral pic.twitter.com/njFOXDquTE
It seems that Adele loved the mashup so much that she decided to incorporate the choreo into her own live show, as seen in a few more tweets Ben Vertz posted himself after being sent a few angles by fans on social media.
And thus, we are one step closer to a legit Megan Thee Stallion/Adele collaboration, which is a win for everybody — one made possible, once again, by those oddball geniuses on TikTok.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
After previewing her upcoming HBO Max seriesRap Sh!t with a twerk-tastic teaser, Issa Rae finally shared the official trailer today, revealing more detail about the show’s plot. While previous descriptions had the show sounding like an unofficial City Girls biography (they’re listed as executive producers), the series will actually address the fractious dichotomy facing women who pursue careers in rap.
The narrative follows two estranged high school friends from Miami, Mia and Shawna, as they reunite and form a rap duo. However, there’s friction within their ranks as Shawna (comedian Aida Osman) dreams of making it as a more socially-conscious rapper, lamenting the industry’s expectations of booty-baring and rump-shaking for women in hip-hop (as one observer puts it in the trailer, “Just say you want to be Queen Latifah!”). Meanwhile, the more freewheeling Mia (Love and Hip Hop: Miami star KaMillion) is a single mother willing to do whatever it takes to provide for her four-year-old daughter. Over the course of the show, they will learn to lean on their sisterhood, even when they’re at odds over how to present themselves as Black women in entertainment — or in general.
They’ll also encounter Miami nightlife characters who try to help them reach their goals, such as Chastity a “sex work manager” with connections throughout the industry as a result of her profession, and Jaboukie Young-White’s music producer Francois Boom, whose arrogant social media posts both inspire and discourage Shawna, his former classmate. News flash, kids: That money your favorite rappers flash on camera isn’t always the real deal.
The show seems to tie together threads from the last few years of discourse as new female rappers have emerged on the scene and detailed their struggles with the rap biz’s double standards for them, such as Rapsody and Cardi B being pitted against each other, Latto’s insistence that women have to do twice as much as their male peers for less recognition, and City Girls’ own insistence that they could have made more “relevant” content but that consciousness isn’t commercially viable. I guess you could say the show kind of is their biography — and the biography of any woman trying to make it in hip-hop.
Last week, just six months following the Astroworld tragedy at Travis Scott’s Houston festival that left ten people dead and over 5,000 injury claims, Scott announced his first headlining concert return to the stage. His first solo show is taking place on August 6th at London’s O2 Arena, which has a capacity of 20,000 people. This performance comes before his already announced November headlining set at Primavera Sound in São Paulo, Brazil and would have come before Scott’s Day N Vegas festival headlining performance had it not been recently cancelled.
Tickets for the London show sold out within two hours of going on sale, and Scott wasted no time in adding a second show. Scott posted on his Instagram feed this past weekend to announce the second show, which will be happening the next night on August 7th at 02 Arena. The image shows both dates, but with a “Sold Out” tag in front of the first concert and his comment reads, “Ahhhhhhhhh…quicker than a flash,” with British flag emojis interspersed between the text. “Extra date added due to demand,” reads the caption above the newly added concert.
As Complex reports, a spokesperson for Scott issued a statement referencing Scott’s performance at this past weekends Coney Art Walls, saying, “Travis’s packed weekend performances and [the] fact that his O2 show in London sold out within two hours are just the latest signs that fan demand is sky-high for the return of one of the world’s favorite artists.”
To Scott’s credit, he stopped the Coney Island show to ensure that fans that were climbing a lighting truss made their way down before the show continued. When he takes the stage for two nights in London this coming August, things will surely have a different tone than in the past.
Luis Cross/ Gemma Warren/ Kene O/ Danielle Barbieri/ Dominiq Dominiq
On The Up is Uproxx’s monthly column that brings you a round-up of the best new artists that you need to be listening to. Some of these musicians might be brand new, some might have been making music for a while and are starting to hit a major stride, but they’re all destined for bigger things in the very near future. Our July edition features a UK soul singer that crushed it at Glastonbury, an unreal vocalist, the second coming of The Roots, a singer-songwriter evoking shades of Elliott Smith, and Flying Lotus’ latest vocal muse. Check it out.
Greentea Peng
Neo-soul and R&B singer Greentea Peng has a style that harkens back to the ’90s British boombap R&B heyday. While the Londoner’s debut album Man Made dropped last year, she collaborated with UK garage innovator MJ Cole and Gorillaz/Jorja Smith/Ezra Collective drummer Femi Koleoso on the brand new “Stuck In The Middle.” Peng operates over psych-jazz and hip-hop instrumentation from her band, the Seng Seng Family, and drops metaphysical lyrics like, “I believe in magic because I’ve seen it,” (on “Nah It Ain’t The Same.”) She just left an indelible mark at Glastonbury and has appearances on deck at other UK summer festival staples like All Points East and End Of The Road.
Laufey
There are gorgeous voices, and then there’s Laufey. The Icelandic-Chinese singer, violinist, and pianist now lives in Los Angeles and when you hear her sing, it feels like you cozied up to a fancy piano bar and stumbled into a jaw-dropping vocalist. Her music is cinematic, instantly elegant, and even a bit showy. “Fragile” hums with pronounced strings painting a canvas for Laufey’s delivery, which will legit send chills down your spine. Her debut album, Everything I Know About Love is due out on August 26th and Laufey’s U.S. headlining tour that begins in September is almost entirely sold out.
Butcher Brown
If you’re a fan of The Roots, then Butcher Brown is for you. You might’ve heard the Richmond, VA jazz and hip-hop five-piece led by MC/multi-instrumentalist Tennishu with their rendition of Little Richard’s “Rip It Up” as the theme music to Monday Night Football for the 2020 NFL season. They’ve established their prowess in a series of albums, but are now embarking on the more expansive big band jazz sound with the Triple Trey album due out on September 16th. Tennishu comes across like golden era rap legend J-Live, as drummer Corey Fonville lays groundwork for a horn section, synths and Andrew Randazzo’s sick sax solo on “Liquid Light.” Finger snaps, bells, and even tuba pop up everywhere, and it’s clear that these dudes are master jazz-hop instrumentalists. Butcher Brown is on the festival circuit this summer, including appearances at Afropunk, Pitchfork Fest, and the Blue Note Jazz Fest in Napa.
Blondshell
The solo project of indie singer-songwriter Sabrina Teitelbaum, we highlighted Blondshell’s debut single, “Olympus,” in June. Skillfully produced by indie superproducer Yves Rothman, the song has heavy, visceral lyricism, where Teitelbaum confesses her helplessness in a destructive relationship. “I wanna save myself, you’re part of my addiction. I just keep you in thе kitchen while I burn,” she sings. Moments like this seethe with shades of Elliott Smith’s dark honesty and you root for her to come out on the other side. More music is on the way soon and the LA-based, New York City-raised Blondshell is undoubtedly one to watch.
Devin Tracy
Probably the same spark that went off for Flying Lotus when he discovered LA future-soul vocalist Devin Tracy at a recent session, is what hearing Tracy for the first time will do to you. Tracy was FlyLo’s vocal muse of sorts on their mid-June collaborative double single release, “The Room” and “You Don’t Know.” Tracy floats in wavelengths over Lotus’ silos of strings on the former and rides a controlled wormhole of snare drums on the latter. He just appeared on Sango’s new Great Lakes Series mixtape, soaring on the dance floor batucada of “Winter All Year.” There’s a sensual androgyny to Tracy’s voice that’s just irresistible, and we want to hear more of it stat.
Last month, Rolling Stone shared their list of hip-hop’s 200 greatest albums. Naturally, it’s practically impossible to do something like that without upsetting some legion of rap fans in some corner of the world. In fact, it happens with yearly lists (check out Uproxx’s Best Of 2022 So Far lists while you’re here) so you can only imagine what the reaction would be towards a list filled with albums from the last half-century. One of the talking points from the Rolling Stone list was Cardi B’s debut Invasion Of Privacy. Many felt that the album, which was ranked at No. 16, was placed too high on the list.
During a recent interview on Angela Yee’s Lip Service, Cardi spoke about the list and how she felt it was a “setup.”
“They was dragging me like ‘How dare them put Cardi before Nas,” she said around the interview’s 52-minute mark. “I was like, oh my goodness. I just woke up and I’m getting my ass dragged. I didn’t even ask for this.”
Despite this, Cardi made sure to remind people are the album’s impact.
“I understand that but it’s like, b*tch, I ain’t motherf*cking ask for it,” she added. “You know, I understand that people feel a certain type of way. But don’t try to disrespect me or my work or my album because your mother was listening to my sh*t, your b*tch was driving, listening to f*cking ‘Be Careful.’ All y’all b*tches, all y’all hoes. So it’s like, don’t even try it.”
Still, Cardi wasn’t too pleased with how the list disrupted her peace.
“Of course they’re gonna use a b*tch like me. […] It’s gonna start a stir,” Cardi said. “Yeah, it was, like, a setup. […] Rolling Stone, you trying to set me up. You got my ass dragged on a f*cking Tuesday for no reason.”
You can watch Cardi’s full interview on Lip Service above.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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.
At the end of 2020, I wrote about Giveon and how his heart quite literally opened and closed with the world that year. The Long Beach native was receptive to romance with his debut EP Take Time, all to watch it depart from his life some seven months later with the release of When It’s All Said And Done. Through it all, we were introduced to Giveon’s charming ways thanks to earnest records like “The Beach,” which doubles as an ode to his Long Beach home, and “Like I Want You.” His baritone-baked lyrics also came from a man who has his own fair share of toxic tendencies, an undeniable aspect that “Favorite Mistake” and “Still Your Best” both make very clear. Nonetheless, through both his good and bad actions, Giveon has been left empty-handed without someone to call his own and hold at night.
Nearly two years removed from the aforementioned projects, it appears that Giveon has realized that love is somewhat transactional. Not so much in the sense of only doing things for a loved one when something is guaranteed in return, but more so in light of the Golden Rule. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It’s a revelation that Giveon stumbles upon during a conversation with his mother at the end of his newly-released debut album. “Love will give you what you need / But also, take what you don’t appreciate,” he says to conclude “Unholy Matrimony.” It’s this conversation that provides insight into the title of Giveon’s debut album: Give Or Take.
Prior to the release of Give Or Take, we’ve known Giveon to be someone that can love hard and hold on tight to what he hopes is a fleeting romance. Much of that is true through the music on Give Or Take, but there is a new presence within these baritone soliloquies: fear. It causes him to run for the door when the time for commitment arrives and it even leads to him building walls to unconquerable heights to ensure that he can avoid attending to his heavy baggage. To his benefit, Giveon admits to being battered and bruised by romance at several points on the album. “Scarred” comforts a partner who is emotional and frustrated at their failed attempts to get Giveon to commit to a relationship. “I just don’t want you same way you want me,” he sings. “I can’t give you my heart ‘cause it’s broken.” He delivers this message point-blankly while also suggesting that the pain he’s endured in the past pales in comparison to what his partner will experience due to his rejection.
Through the 15 songs that appear on Give Or Take, Giveon’s past traumas result in indecisiveness that brings stagnation to his journey of progressing from his past and moving toward a freer future. While Giveon seems set on blaming his past failures with love for his current missteps and unpreparedness, there is also a lack of determination to conquer his mountains on his part. On “This Will Do,” he settles for intimate moments for a fan he meets at a show despite knowing it’s not what he truly wants. Two songs later on “Tryna Be,” Giveon presents loyalty and staying faithful as an extraneous task that’s made further difficult due to his occupation as a popular and touring mainstream artist. Even with the discernment that he presents throughout the album, like we hear on “For Tonight,” Giveon sometimes opts to stick within the exhausting cycle of failed love. Perhaps this occurs due to his fear – there it is again – of searching for something new all to end up in the same position sometime later.
Within the rollercoaster ride of Give Or Take, Giveon also experiences a love that moves way too fast for his liking. A freefall from the heavens can only result in a fatal crash on Earth and Giveon is quite aware of this. It’s why he sings “slow it down, don’t wanna miss a moment” on “Make You Mine,” a message he reiterates on “July 16th” adding, “Goin’ too fast, it won’t end well.” Finally, as Giveon’s discernment told him so many times that it would, he and his partner’s speeding bullet towards a lifelong love slams into a wall, bringing everything to an abrupt end. It’s a dramatic explanation of a failed relationship, but as he explains on “Unholy Matrimony,” it comes through the realization that a lifelong commitment to each other is far from the best decision they could make for themselves. “All we’re waiting for behind these chapel doors,” Giveon sings, “is a crashing course to a bad divorce.”
At 27 years old, Giveon discovers the double-edged sword that is love. Its beauty, as well as its harsh and ugly truths, are brought forth to the light, forcing him to accept its never-ceasing presence. It’s through romance that he also learns that the back he stabs within it can return the favor with little remorse. The biggest thing for Giveon on Give Or Take is how he struggles with control in the realm of love. Giving control ends with him stumbling into something he’s not ready for while taking control results in him not receiving a fair chance to find someone to truly call his own for the long haul as his past pains arrive to interrupt that process. Giveon is still trying to find his balance in love, but it would certainly help him a whole lot if he let go of his old baggage to rediscover his footing and make some progress on his journey.
Give Or Take is out now via Epic Records. You can stream it here.
13 years after his death, Michael Jackson’s legacy continues to be disputed, debated, and discussed by fans both old and new. Recently, a new twist was thrown into the discourse as Sony Music, which manages the rights to Jackson’s music, has removed three of his songs from streaming services. The three songs, “Breaking News,” “Keep Your Head Up,” and “Monster” featuring 50 Cent, all appear on the 2010 posthumous album Michael and have been subject to controversy for years.
The controversy stems from some fans’ belief that the songs do not feature Jackson’s vocals. Instead, they think that the songs were completed by a session singer, undermining the claim that the album consists of “previously unreleased vocal tracks performed by Michael Jackson.” In fact, one fan even sued Sony and Jackson’s estate over the contentious tracks, claiming they violated consumer laws and amounted to fraud. Vera Serova’s 2014 class-action lawsuit calls the three songs an “elaborate artistic fraud masterminded by co-defendants Eddie Cascio and James Porte.”
Some members of Jackson’s family have even weighed in on both sides. His mom Katherine and sister LaToya both maintained that the songs were either faked or didn’t sound like him, but a court eventually ruled that there was no case because of lack of evidence. It has since been appealed.
However, according to American Songwriter via Stereogum, the three tracks weren’t removed because of their doubted veracity, but because “the continuing conversation about the tracks is distracting the fan community and casual Michael Jackson listeners from focusing their attention where it should be: on Michael’s legendary and deep music catalog,” according to a statement from the estate.
Summer music festival season is in full swing. Bonnaroo just went down in Tennessee in mid-June, Glastonbury just lit the world ablaze with a slew of memorable performances from the UK last weekend, and Wireless Festival wrapped up the first of three hip-hop superfests in London. Meanwhile, Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, the largest music festival in Scandinavia, happened last week with Post Malone and Dua Lipa headlining two of the fests closing nights. But when the proverbial lights were down, Posty was holding court on the ping pong… err… beer pong table backstage and Dua Lipa was his partner.
In a TikTok clip shared by Posty, he and Dua Lipa are playing a neck and neck match-up against members of Turnstile. It’s down to one cup on each side and the Twelve Carat Toothache star stepped up to the table with the game on the line. Dua Lipa rubs her hands with tense anticipation as Posty shakes any residual liquid from the ping pong ball (for optimal grip, duh, bro!). He flanks his cigarette hand off to the side (for balance) calculates the shot and lets it go. BOOM! Direct hit! Post Malone and Dua Lipa win the game and everyone erupts.
Of course Posty hit the winning shot. Who did you expect? The experience was clearly a formative one for Dua Lipa, who posted a photo of it along with a video of a “strategy” session with her victorious teammate.
And don’t feel too bad for Turnstile, they just announced the continuation of the Turnstile Love Connection Tour with Snail Mail and Jpegmafia. Hopefully they learned a thing or two about beer pong from the headliners.
Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Method Man, who recently won an NAACP Image Award for his role on Power Book II: Ghost, stopped by for an interview on the My Expert Opinion podcast with Math Hoffa. During his time there, Method spoke about his past struggles with “low self-esteem” and how it affected his relationships with artists in the music industry. “I didn’t like myself, so I didn’t like anybody f*cking else,” he said. “So that meant anything that would have come in my circumference at that point in time was gonna get it. My family went through a lot with my ass during that era, man.”
He continued, “And I can admit that I did take a lot of my f*cking misery out on them, and they did not deserve it. And I took some of my misery out on people at Def Jam that did not f*cking deserve it.” Meth went on share a story about how he once disrespected Destiny’s Child back in 2001 at Janet Jackson’s MTV Icon special. “We were at Janet Jackson’s Icon and I remember I had just come off stage and where we were sitting, there were nothing but VIPs. We had *NSYNC up here, Destiny’s Child right there, Tommy Lee was over here, [Pamela Anderson],” he said.
Meth went on, “And I see the girls, so I kinda moseyed out of my seat to go over and say what’s up to them. Now, this is still me in my low self-esteem era. But I’m thinking like, comfort zone here, I’m gonna say what’s up to the girls. I love them, I’m just gonna say hi. I go over to say hi to them and when I said hi, they didn’t even turn around and acknowledge me.” He then shared how he reacted after this moment.
“Now, my ass, in my head, with my low self-esteem is like, ‘They just sh*tted on me.’ When in fact, they didn’t even hear me. It was so loud in that motherf*cker. That’s the excuse that I’m giving right now—they didn’t even f*cking hear me. Afterward, Rockwilder, he was gonna do the ‘Bootylicious’ song for them. He comes over, he’s talking to them, he’s like, ‘Oh, you know Red and Meth?’ And they put their hands out to shake, and I kept my hand here and was like, ‘Go ’head with that Hollywood sh*t.’”
.
Method acknowledged that “neither Kelly, Beyoncé, or Michelle ever did any-f*cking-thing to me,” and then delivered a long-overdue apology for the incident. “I apologize to Beyoncé, I apologize to Kelly Rowland, and Michelle — y’all did not deserve that, at all.”
You can watch Meth detail the whole incident in the video above.
#FNF #TheMovement
pic.twitter.com/chuOfZS4QR
@Dua Lipa