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.
There are only so many people in the world that deal with pressure as Maxo Kream does. Through projects like 2018’s Punken, 2019’s Brandon Banks, and now Weight Of The World, the rapper reveals the causes o these pressures as well as what often pushes him through them. In an interview with Complex’s Andre Gee, he explained how the three albums relate to each other and further his goal of helping fans understand what goes on in his world. “I feel like Brandon Banks coming after Punken allowed my fans to understand Punken more,” he said. “So now, with this one, you’ll understand what’s going on from Brandon Banks, like where I left off.”
Throughout Weight Of The World, Maxo delivers clarity for his previous work, as well as clarity towards his current position and his hopeful future. The album presents a man who must balance the multiple worlds he’s immersed in as a family man, supportive friend, experienced gang member, and rapper, as well as the responsibility that arrives when these worlds collide — intentionally or not. He details the collision of the streets and family through the tragic death of his brother Mmadu, which he details on “Trips,” and his success as a rapper providing a better lifestyle for his family and friends, allowing them to live a life away from danger. His hopeful future is captured on “Mama’s Purse” when he raps, “I was tryna buy her love, but I really made it worse / Put a price tag on her love but can’t afford how much it’s worth.” Behind the tough persona lives a man who yearns to provide greener pastures filled with “greener knots” to his inner circle, even if the cost is more than he ever imagined.
While Brandon Banks covered Maxo’s childhood, growth, and his clashes with both loved ones (his father specifically) and the streets, on Weight Of The World, he’s a well-established man with a family of his own in the making. However, now his conflicts are with those who doubt his legitimacy and commitment to the lifestyle he often raps about. On “They Say,” just three songs into the album, he rhymes, “And they say Maxo a b*tch, they say Maxo a h*e / He got rich and he dipped, don’t come around no more / They say he switched on his clique, yeah, he turned on his bros / And he ain’t pimpin’ a b*tch, he out here trickin’ on h*es.” In response, Maxo sets the record straight with a menacing display of his receipts. “Like we ain’t slang that rock for paper, totin’ scissors,” he quips. “Told you worked n****s ass off so how I owe you n****? / ‘Cross the globe, took you to my shows, done bought poles for n****s.” In Maxo’s eyes, there’s more than enough proof that he’s carried the weight of the world for people, making his doubters’ attempts to rewrite history a sure failure.
To a certain extent, Maxo insists on facing the world’s pressures rather than finding a way to diminish them. It could be because this path, as dangerous and as ruthless as it’s been, has given him everything he wanted in life and more. It’s what allows him to rap this on “Big Persona” with Tyler The Creator: “Eight figure n****, no more section 8 / Moved momma out the hood / We ain’t doin good, b*tch, we doin great.” Even when people in his inner circle beg for him to detach himself from the risks, as his mom and preacher do on “Streets Alone,” Maxo’s only response is to double down.
Maxo Kream is more than deserving of a moment to breathe freely in a world without danger. Unfortunately, it appears that Maxo was born into a world where peril lurks around the corner. For Maxo, acquiescing to these dangers is a lot like running away from your own shadow, and that’s something he will never do. “Never ran from a n****, don’t ask if my legs work,” he says on “11:59.” For more than a half-decade, Maxo Kream has explained the many responsibilities, pains, and traumas that rest on his shoulders; on Weight Of The World, the rapper insists on carrying this weight. The ups and downs of the past years gave him the strength to do so, and hasn’t buckled under this weight before, he certainly won’t now.
Weight Of The World is out now via RCA. Get it here.
Although Terrace Martin’s last solo full-length collection came out four years ago (2017’s criminally overlooked Sounds Of Crenshaw Vol. 1 with The Pollyseeds), the Los Angeles producer has nevertheless remained busy throughout the past year, co-producing a number of EPs including They Call Me Disco with Ric Wilson and joining the jazz supergroup Dinner Party with 9th Wonder, Kamasi Washington, and Robert Glasper. However, today he announced his solo return with Drones, a new album coming out this Friday, November 5.
Included on the album’s 13 tracks are appearances from a veritable who’s-who of hip-hop luminaries including Cordae, D Smoke, Kendrick Lamar, Smino, Snoop Dogg, Ty Dolla Sign, and YG. Martin’s Dinner Party bandmates Kamasi Washington and Robert Glasper are also set to appear, along with a genre-hopping collection of rising stars and well-known hitmakers including Arin Ray, Celeste, Channel Tres, Hit-Boy, James Fauntleroy, Kim Burrell, and Kim Burrell.
In his press release for the new album, Martin teases the eclectic mix of sounds he intends to display throughout: “There are touches of R&B, touches of jazz, touches of hip-hop, touches of classical, Cuban music, West African music, house music,” he says. “You’re going to hear all elements of Black music within this record. It’s not one element I can leave out if I call myself a true Black artist.”
Drones is due 11/5 via Sounds of Crenshaw / BMG. You can pre-order here and check out the lead single, “Leave Us Be,” above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Lil Nas X is definitely an example of a self-starter. The musician’s debut smash hit “Old Town Road” was first uploaded to SoundCloud and shared on TikTok before being picked up by a record label. So when Lil Nas X first inked a recording contract, he celebrated by making a big purchase — which he now regrets.
When Lil Nas X first signed a record deal with Columbia, the musician was suddenly confronted with a bunch of money. As most people would do, Lil Nas X decided to buy himself something nice to celebrate, he recalled in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal. For his first post-record contract purchase, Lil Nas X shelled out $2,000 for a a Burberry jacket but then had almost instantaneous buyer’s remorse. He told WSJ he’s never really enjoyed shopping for himself and saw the jacket as a frivolous purchase. “What was the point? To post it on Instagram once?” he said. Later down the line, Lil Nas X ended up buying himself a house with his new funds, which still to this day hasn’t been filled with many furniture items because he’d “rather take his friends or family members out on shopping sprees instead.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, the musician described the one thing that helped him really open up with the lyrics on his album: psychedelic mushrooms. “I was able to open up a lot,” he says about the trip. “I was able to write actual stories about my life and put it into my music. I actually did that for the first time.” Lil Nas X isn’t the only musician who has taken mushrooms to help kickstart the creative process. Kacey Musgraves did the same with her Star-Crossed album, and so did Harry Styles on Fine Line.
Read Lil Nas X’s full interview with The Wall Street Journalhere.
“Queen Latifah is amazing,” Meg tells Glamour‘s Zandria Robinson. “She is all around someone I look up to because she took it further than music. She’s an all-around businesswoman who lets me know I can like more than one thing, and I can pursue more than one thing.”
Among the things Meg is currently pursuing is a degree in health administration from Texas Southern after switching from nursing and business. She recently completed all the coursework for her graduation this year and previously showed off her graduation cap on social media.“I’m making A’s now; I’m focused,” she says.
Meg also explains why she’s become such an outspoken advocate for women’s rights — especially Black women — to the point of using her 2020 SNL performance to call to “protect Black women” despite backlash from both fans and politicians. “The bigger I get, the bigger my platform gets, I start realizing that I’m not the only woman that goes through what I go through, and it doesn’t matter what scale it’s on,” she says. “Mine is just public because I’m a public figure. I want to bring things to light so other women don’t feel like they have to continue to be silent.”
Saweetie’s brand continues to grow, adding another new partnership to her ever-expanding compilation of them. Her latest big-money team-up is with Beats By Dre; Saweetie appears in the latest campaign for the noise-canceling Beats Fit Pro headphones arriving this Friday, November 5. In addition, she contributes a new song, “Get It Girl,” which plays over the ad. She struts the streets of LA with the headphones on, tuning out the world with the noise-canceling turned all the way up.
Hopefully, Saweetie’s extracurricular activities won’t cause any further delays to her debut album, though. She says it’s finished and teased that something will “unfold during the holidays,” so perhaps we’ll be hearing more new music from Saweetie very soon — no commercial needed.
Watch Saweetie’s Beats By Dre ad above.
Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Over the years Cardi B has become as well-known for her boisterous personality as her club-friendly music. According to Billboard, she’ll soon apply that personality to the task of hosting the upcoming American Music Awards. The show, which will air live on Sunday, November 21 from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, has been kind to Cardi since her 2017 breakthrough with “Bodak Yellow,” giving her five wins at previous shows along with three nominations this year. She also performed “I Like It” with Bad Bunny and J Balvin at the 2018 AMAs.
In a statement, Cardi said, “When I received the invite to host the AMAs, I was so excited. I’m ready to bring my personality to the AMAs stage! Thank you to Jesse Collins, ABC, and MRC for making this happen.” Cardi’s selection makes her the fourth Black woman to host the AMAs in five consecutive years. In 2017-18, the show was hosted by Tracee Ellis Ross; in 2019, Ciara took over hosting duties; and last year’s show was MC’d by none other than Taraji P. Henson.
The nominees, which were announced last Thursday, include Ariana Grande, BTS, Drake, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, and The Weeknd, who are all nominated for Artist Of The Year, while the show’s host Cardi B is nominated for Favorite Female Hip-Hop Artist alongside Coi Leray, Erica Banks, Megan Thee Stallion, and Saweetie.
The 2021 American Music Awards will air live at 8:00 pm ET on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu. You can still vote for various awards here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl scandal has become the subject of a new documentary coming soon to Hulu and FX, according to Deadline. After the success of the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears, the streamer is taking on the backlash against Jackson in Malfunction: The Dressing Down Of Janet Jackson, launching on November 19 (incidentally, both docs prominently feature Justin Timberlake for his role in both women’s respective downfalls. I don’t know what it says about JT that he was so closely involved in both but it feels a little like he’s gone through his own version of what they went through over the last few years, falling out of public favor as social media became more prevalent.).
For those who don’t remember, during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, Janet Jackson joined Justin Timberlake on stage during a performance of his song “Rock Your Body,” ending with Timberlake pulling part of Jackson’s costume off, baring her breast and touching off a national controversy that led to Janet essentially being blackballed by the entertainment industry. The incident coined the infamous term “wardrobe malfunction” and a content crackdown by government and network regulators.
According to Deadline, the film will “examine the racial and cultural currents that collided on the Super Bowl stage, and explores how the incident impacted one of the most successful pop musicians in history.” It will include interviews with some of the producers of the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, as well as “music industry insiders,” cultural critics, and members of Janet’s famous family.
After competing against Adult Swim’s very strong stable of animated voice talent, Tracy Morgan has emerged as the new voice of Early Cuyler in the final season of Squidbillies. The role was originally voiced by Stuart D. Baker, who essentially detonated his career last summer by launching a parade of offensive posts on Facebook, including one where he referred to country music superstar Dolly Parton as a “freak-titted, old Southern bimbo” because she voiced her support for the Black Lives Matter protests.
After being fired from the role, Baker lashed out at Cartoon Network and the makers of Squidbillies while continuing to make some not great remarks about Americans “forsaking your own race.” Via The Wrap:
“I just hope you a-holes are happy you took a good Man and talent down. You succeeded. Be proud that you ruined a person’s life all because of [the] Freak Show called ‘Dolly Parton and BLM.’ Thanks a lot. I gave my best to you assholes for over 30 years. I guess you just love to kick someone when they’re down. That’s so twisted and perverted. Again, thanks! I’m [sic] remember you bastards!”
Clearly, nothing of value was lost as Morgan steps into the role, which was revealed via a video of other voice actors auditioning for the part. When he won, Morgan celebrated the moment by announcing, “I’m Tracy Morgan, and I’m the new voice of Superman.” (He’ll eventually get it right. It’ll be cool.)
The Squidbillies final season premieres November 7 on Adult Swim.
Straight up, streetwear wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for hip-hop. The two entities go hand-in-hand, pushing up against and off of one another in their steady quest to take over the world. That’s not hyperbole, streetwear and hip-hop have taken over the world. Hip-hop went from a niche genre that was written off as a fad in the late ’70s and early ’80s and blossomed into a phenomenon that has since influenced every other genre of American music (see autotune country) and become the dominant musical genre of cultural expression in America. Streetwear similarly went from being a niche fashion aesthetic to a world-dominating force in modern fashion. Whether you’re a small fashion label just getting started, or an iconic luxury house like Gucci or Louis Vuitton, if you’re not designing streetwear, you’re not connecting with the people.
Streetwear and hip-hop haven’t just been growing parallel to one another, they feed off of one another. Hip-hop provides the face, streetwear provides the look, and the two entities rely on one another to move product. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some of the best sneakers (arguably the emblem of streetwear itself) have a rapper’s name attached. In a celebration of hip-hop and streetwear, we’re running through the most important hip-hop sneaker collaborations of all time, starting with…
Adidas Superstar, 1986
Adidas
The Adidas Superstar is not technically a hip-hop sneaker collaboration, but because of Run-DMC’s hit single “My Adidas,” it felt wrong to start this list anywhere else. Make no mistake, a fresh white pair of Adidas Superstars with contrasting stark black stripes is a look wholly owned by Run-DMC Streetwear fans treat this sneaker silhouette and colorway as a stone-cold classic, and Adidas has “My Adidas” to thank for that.
The song’s video gave the world its first glimpse of hip-hop’s new look and from “My Adidas” on, the two entities have been in lock-step. The sneaker features a leather base with a shell toe cap, it’s one of Adidas’ oldest and best-selling sneaker silhouettes. Adidas would go on to let Run-DMC design their own version of the silhouette, but nothing beats the OG.
Nike Dunk High Wu-Tang, 1999
Nike
No other rap group quite understood the synergy between streetwear and hip-hop like the Wu-Tang Clan, who went off and started their very own successful streetwear label, Wu-Wear. In 1999 Nike tapped them with a special Friends And Family Only release of the high-top Nike Dunk.
The colorway was lifted from a set of sneakers celebrating different university sports teams, this black and gold iteration was meant to represent Iowa University, but since it shared a color scheme with the Wu-Tang logo, Nike slapped a W on the heel and tongue, and with that simple move created one of the most sought after sneakers of all time.
ICECREAM Dollars & Diamonds, 2003
Getty/Uproxx
Pharrell Williams doesn’t get enough credit for being lightyears ahead on seeing the linkage between not just hip-hop and streetwear, but the importance of Japanese designers to the medium. Streetwear wouldn’t be what it is today without the influence of Japan, and it was Pharrell who was smart enough to link up with cutting-edge designers like BAPE figurehead NIGO before anyone else. The result was his very own label, Billionaire Boys Club, and the brand sneaker brand ICECREAM.
Pharrell was the first rapper turned sneaker designer, and this pair Diamonds and Dollars silhouette was his attempt at fusing streetwear and skatewear into a single entity. It was a success, it signified a turning point in streetwear that would see the aesthetic completely absorb the world of skateboarding.
Air Jordan 4 Encore, 2004
Getty/Uproxx
When “My Adidas” and the Wu-Tang Dunks dropped, streetwear was still pretty niche, but by the mid-00s the fashion aesthetic started to hit the mainstream. When Eminem linked up with Nike for the Air Jordan Encore, named after Eminem’s album of the same name, people lost their minds. This shoe single-handedly created the modern sneakerhead.
It remains one of the most popular sneaker colorways of all time, fetching bids exceeding $20,000 on aftermarket sites like StockX and eBay. Nike will occasionally drop a refresh of this sneaker in very limited runs, so it’s still possible to own a pair without paying a fortune for it. Good luck.
BAPE Kanye West Bapesta College Dropout, 2007
Bapesta
Long before Kanye West had his own sneaker brand, and even before he started calling himself “Yeezy,” West linked up with Japanese streetwear label BAPE for the College Dropout version of the brand’s Bapesta sneaker silhouette. The sneaker features a tan and brown leather upper with red accents and a cartoon graphic of Kanye’s Dropout Bear character.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Dropout Bear, Ye ditched the mascot after the “Graduation Album” which was released the same year. It’s a reminder of a younger more playful Kanye and still to this day, a pretty dope design, even if it’s a far cry from what Kanye would design with his own Yeezy brand.
Odd Future x Vans Syndicate Old Skool Pro S Golf Wang Pack, 2013
Vans Syndicate
Pharrell combined the worlds of street skating and hip-hop, and out of that came Tyler The Creator’s Odd Future collective. Inspired by the sort of bright color palettes you’d expect out of a Wes Anderson movie and not what you’d find in a typical hip-hop music video (at the time) Tyler The Creator presented his dark strain of hip-hop with a juxtaposing visual aesthetic that forever changed the look of modern rap music.
Before Tyler The Creator, the idea of a rapper wearing a sneaker with a pink sole is something only Kanye West would do, but he didn’t. Tyler did, and this early collaboration with Vans eventually caught the eye of Converse, who swooped up Tyler and gave him his own sneaker line by the name of Golf Le Fleur.
Air Yeezy 2 SP Red October, 2014
Getty/Uproxx
Another Kanye West sneaker? Yes. If you can’t talk hip-hop without mentioning streetwear, you can’t talk about either without mentioning Kanye West. His presence will weigh heavily throughout this roundup. While his cultural status is not quite at the heights it was just seven years ago you can’t deny that the name Kanye West still holds a lot of weight amongst hip-hop fans and sneakerheads alike.
But before Kanye West put his stamp on the world of footwear with his Yeezy Brand, he tried things out with Nike. Ultimately, it didn’t work out (Nike didn’t want to give Ye as much creative control as he wanted) but 2014’s Air Yeezy Red Octobers were the first indication that people needed to take West the sneaker designer as seriously as they took West the hip-hop producer and rapper.
Even today, it’s impossible not to fall in love with this all-over scarlet red colorway. Just look at the thing! Tell us you don’t want a pair.
Air Jordan 12 White OVO, 2016
Jordan Brand
Drake hasn’t had quite the same level of success attaching his name to sneakers as his contemporaries, but the Jordan 12 White OVOs is one of the finest colorways the sneaker has ever seen in its entire run, and it has Drake to thank for that. There is nothing special about this sneaker, Drake didn’t offer up any radical suggestions for a re-design, but what it presents is a highly effective colorway that exudes luxury and class thanks to its mix of white leather and gold accent work.
You can hardly tell Drake has anything to do with the sneaker, and that’s kind of its strength.
Adidas Yeezy BOOST 700 Wave Runner, 2017
Yeezy Brand
We can’t overstate just how important Kanye West’s name is to the world of sneakers. It’s arguably just as big as Michael Jordan’s, so we couldn’t finish this list without talking about West’s label with Adidas, Yeezy Brand. By 2017 Kanye West and Adidas had already been making sneakers together for five years, but West wasn’t really taken seriously as a footwear designer. That all changed with 2017’s Wave Runner.
When the Wave Runner dropped, which is still the 700’s best colorway, Kanye West singlehandedly made the ‘90s influenced “dad shoe” the hot footwear item everyone had to have. The world of sneakers changed once this shoe dropped, brands like New Balance, Nike, and Adidas started to bring out more of their ‘90s designs and Adidas was able to slash the price of these shoes from the usual $300 to the more affordable (but still expensive) $240.
After the success of the Wave Runner, Adidas themselves started to put more faith in Kanye, increasing the sneaker release runs of all of his future shoes in an effort to make them more accessible amongst the public.
Jordan 1 High OG SP Fragment x Travis Scott, 2021
Nike
If Kanye West dominated footwear in the 2010s, it’s looking more and more like Travis Scott will inherit that crown for this current decade. This year saw the release of Travis Scott’s 13th Nike collaboration, the Jordan 1 High OG SP Fragment x Travis Scott, a partnership with streetwear label Fragment Design. It’s not the first sneaker people would associate with Travis Scott — that would be the Jordan 1 Mocha — but, and brace yourself for this one, it is the best.
No, it’s not quite as iconic as the coffee-toned Mocha that it’s meant to be a sequel of, but give it time, that combination of University Blue, white leather, off-white midsole, and a black oversized backwards swoosh will no doubt go down as not only one of Travis Scott’s best sneakers but one of hip-hop’s best sneaker collaborations of all time.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
While some rappers have taken to posting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and spoken out against mask mandates over the past several months, others have been taking the COVID-19 pandemic more seriously… especially those who’ve actually felt the virus’ effects. During his recent visit to The Breakfast Club in New York, DC rapper Wale detailed his own scary experience with the virus — and its lasting effects on his health, even after he was sufficiently recovered to go home from the hospital.
“That sh*t feel like you don’t got no control over nothing,” he recalled. “I remember when I was in denial, I was like, ‘Yeah, I got COVID but I’m just gonna stay in the house’ and then it’s getting worse. I remember taking an Uber to the hospital ’cause I ain’t want to be dramatic. I’m like, ‘I can’t breathe’… I remember they was taking my blood, and the lady couldn’t find my veins and all this other stuff. I just remember I passed out from just that alone. I was like ‘Wow, I was really just like, regular, three days ago,’ and I realized how serious it is.”
After he recovered, he said, he had to “beg them n****s to let me go home” because the isolation began to get to him. “Just being in there dolo, nobody can come in,” he explained. He also addressed the aftermath, saying, “One thing that people don’t talk enough about COVID is the after-effects. The main thing with me is the COVID fog. That sh*t is real … It feels like you smoked too much. For me, because I have legitimate issues with anxiety and stuff, everything was heightened.”
You can watch Wale’s full interview with The Breakfast Club above.
