jimmy fallon

Buddy And Blxst Give A Laid-Back Performance Of ‘Wait Too Long’ On ‘The Tonight Show’

by

Compton rapper Buddy’s new album, Superghetto, is out now. To celebrate and promote its release, he and fellow SoCal artist Blxst stopped by The Late Show to perform their standout from the new project, “Wait Too Long,” looking cooler than a fan in matching black-on-black ensembles.

Buddy opens the performance lounging on an armchair with a telephone — a nifty callback to the song’s music video — as Blxst croons the catchy chorus backed by a mellow groove from the duo’s band.

Superghetto is Buddy’s first new album since his 2018 debut, Harlan & Alondra. The album, which features Ari Lennox, Blxst, Tinashe, and T-Pain, clocks in at a smooth 10 tracks and features “Black 2,” “Hoochie Mama,” and “Wait Too Long” as singles.

As fans awaited the new album, Buddy delivered a string of solid guest appearances on projects like Dreamville’s Revenge Of The Dreamers III, which landed him his first platinum plaque, and Guapdad 4000’s debut album, Dior Deposits, as well as Tinashe’s latest on the single “Pasadena.” Buddy also teamed up with fellow LA area artist Kent Jamz to release a joint mixtape, Janktape, Vol. 1, spawning the single “Bad Boys.”

Watch Buddy and Blxst perform “Wait Too Long” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon above.

Superghetto is out now on RCA Records.

Lil Durk Pops Out With Future To Perform ‘Petty Too’ And ‘Ahhh Ha’ On ‘The Tonight Show’

by

Lil Durk’s 7220 rollout continued last night with a chilled performance of album standouts “Ahhh Ha” and “Petty Too” with Future on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Durk utilized a stripped-down stage setup and plenty of smoke effects to accentuate the verbal gymnastics the two rappers share on their joint song, while Future surprised fans popping out to perform his verse on “Petty Too” to the crowd’s delight.

Durk’s new album, which also features his surprising collaboration with Morgan Wallen, “Broadway Girls,” and the singles “Golden Child” and “Barbarian,” is projected for a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 — the first of Durk’s decade-long career. Of his questionable “Broadway Girls” collaborator, Durk was gracious despite the country star’s racial slur controversy, saying, “Nah, he ain’t no racist. That’s my boy… we had [a talk] behind closed doors, and I’ll vouch for him and he good.”

Meanwhile, Durk’s tenure on Alamo has been so successful — his numbers have trended skyward with each new release, to the point he’s considered a genuine superstar within rap — that he was recently able to boast that the label “gave” him $40 million to re-sign.

Watch Lil Durk perform “Ahhh Ha” and “Petty Too” with Future on The Tonight Show above.

7220 is out now on Alamo / Only The Family. Get it here.

YG Cracks Open The Vault Performing ‘Scared Money’ On ‘The Tonight Show’ With Moneybagg Yo

by

YG and Moneybagg Yo cracked open a bank vault to perform amidst the crates of cash in their late-night performance of “Scared Money” on The Tonight Show. The pre-filmed performance finds YG and Yo dressed up in matching two-piece suits rapping the camera as dollar bills fly around them inside a replica bank vault. While their third collaborator, J. Cole, apparently wasn’t able to make the appearance, the remaining performers hold it down with charismatic stage presence and braggadocious rhymes.

YG and Yo appeared on The Tonight Show to promote YG’s upcoming album Pray For Me, which is due this year under Def Jam Recordings. The album will be the Compton rapper’s first since 2020’s My Life 4Hunnid, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, selling 64,000 album-equivalent units in the first week. However, in 2021, YG did also release Kommunity Service, a joint album with Sacramento rapper Mozzy, which. produced the videos for “Bompton To Oak Park,” “Dangerous,” “Gangsta,” “Perfect Timing,” and “Vibe With You.”

Since then, YG has released one other single, “Sign Language,” and concentrated his efforts on his philanthropic endeavors, which included handing out more than $20,000 worth of his signature sneakers to former cons and delivered teleconferencing devices and applications for mental health services to low-income residents of Los Angeles.

You can watch YG’s late-night performance of “Scared Money” above.

Kamasi Washington Makes His Late-Night Debut With ‘The Garden Path’ On ‘Fallon’

by

Last night, Kamasi Washington made his television debut on The Tonight Show, and his performance of “The Garden Path” lived up to the hype. Where most late-night performers bring at most a five-piece band (drums, bass, guitar, keys, and maybe a DJ), Kamasi brought an only slightly scaled-down version of his usual extravagant orchestras with him, utilizing what looks like every square inch of available space on the Tonight Show stage to play the sweeping, funky composition.

Kamasi himself stood in the center of the storm flanked by his backup singers, controlling the chaos with massive blasts from his sax.

Although “The Garden Path” is Washington’s first solo release since 2021’s “Sun-Kissed Child,” the jazz revivalist did find time over the past year to contribute to The Metallica Blacklist, a tribute album dedicated to the metal pioneers, with a horn-heavy cover of “My Friend Of Misery.”

Of his latest song, Kamasi said in a press release, “The world feels turned upside down. There’s so much push and pull in every direction, from everyone you meet—no one knows what to think, who to believe, or how to approach life right now. No matter how smart you are, it’s hard not to feel blind.”

Watch Kamasi Washington’s Tonight Show performance of “The Garden Path” above.

Watching Black Thought Speed-Rap One Of His Earliest Flows Will Remind You Just How Talented He Is

by

Though plenty of hip-hop heads are more than familiar with exactly how talented Black Thought (aka Tariq Trotter) is, he’s always ready to remind everyone at the drop of a hat. Whenever the uninformed posters of the internet reveal their ignorance of his immense skill level, Black Thought fans always rush to defend his honor. It’s almost become a meme itself at this point, but not quite, because he really is that good! Just in case anyone was left with any doubts, Trotter recently returned to his old stomping grounds at The Tonight Show to discuss a project he briefly left the show to work on.

Trotter took a hiatus from The Roots and late night to help adapt John Ridley’s novel Black No More into a musical that will be playing in New York until February 27 (tickets here). So of course, Jimmy Fallon had his former coworker back on the show to actually talk about the musical and what Trotter experienced during the process of working in live theater. But it wouldn’t be a Black Thought appearance if there wasn’t also some off-the-cuff freestyling, right? After sharing some middle school memories, and with just a tiny bit of mild coaxing, Trotter unleashed a bout of speed-rapping — on command, no less — that’s so epic it really does put most MCs to shame. Kendrick better come with that rumored new single as soon as possible if he wants to stay in the running for greatest rapper alive, at least that’s how I feel when I watch Black Thought take the mic. Check it out above.

Earl Sweatshirt Brings His Moody Single ‘2010’ To ‘The Tonight Show’ Stage

by

Earl Sweatshirt finally found his way to the Tonight Show stage Monday night to promote his new album Sick!, performing the not-quite-nostalgic single “2010.” Ironically, it was just after 2010 that Earl’s rabble-rousing crew Odd Future first made their own television debut on The Tonight Show (albeit minus Earl, who had been shipped off to boarding school in Samoa by his protective mother for his troublemaking activities), menacing host Jimmy Fallon and the audience in a performance Questlove was sure would get the show canceled altogether.

Fortunately, it wasn’t canceled, leaving the path clear for Earl to make his own appearance a little over a decade later. While his performance this time was much more self-contained, with just Earl, his DJ, and the projections on the screen behind him, Earl proves to be sufficient by himself to capture and hold the audience’s attention as he narrates the tumultuous time that led to his absence when Odd Future took over with their unique brand of anti-establishment chaos.

Watch Earl Sweatshirt’s Tonight Show performance of “2010” above and catch earl on the NBA Leather World Tour with Action Bronson and The Alchemist.

Sick! is out now via Warner Records.

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

Gunna Gets Extra Cozy To Perform ‘Empire’ On ‘The Tonight Show’

by

Last night, Gunna stuck the landing on the impressive rollout of his new album DS4EVER. The Atlanta trap star gave his Drip Season a fitting sendoff, launching a campaign to make “Pushin P” the latest adult-bewildering slang, trying out new visual formats for his videos like “Life Of Sin,” dropping a deluxe edition with four new songs, and pulling in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. With all those notches on his belt, he made one last stop at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City to deliver a mellow performance of “Empire” on The Tonight Show.

Appearing on a fog-shrouded stage wearing an all-white ensemble and accompanied only by his guitarist — also dressed in all-white, the supremely laid-back Gunna rapped his verses from a comfy-looking chair flanked by a classy, candle-bearing side table. Completing the cozy look was a pair of bright yellow house slippers for a pop of color. The only things missing were a Snuggie, a cup of hot tea, and a fluffy blanket — who knew Gunna could do lo-fi self-care so well?

Watch Gunna’s Tonight Show performance of “Empire” above.

DS4EVER is out now via 300 and Atlantic. You can stream it here.

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

Cordae Delivers A Stripped-Down Performance Of ‘Sinister/Chronicles’ On ‘The Tonight Show’

by

With just three more days to go until the release of his second album, From A Bird’s Eye View, Cordae stopped by The Tonight Show to give a stripped-down performance of two of the album’s tracks, the Hit-Boy-produced “Sinister” and the mellow but heartfelt “Chronicles.” Backed by just drums, guitar, and a lone horn, Cordae prowled the stage solo, spitting the venomous lyrics from “Sinister” before adopting a more inviting posture and singing his heart out on “Chronicles.” He also gave a lighthearted interview and met his hero, wrestler/actor John Cena.

From A Bird’s Eye View is the follow-up to Cordae’s 2019 debut album, The Lost Boy. While he also released the Just Until EP early last year, FABEV will be his first full-length album since then. The first glimpse of the new album actually came last year when Cordae freestyled over Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy” to tell fans they weren’t ready for his stylistic evolution. Then, just two days later, he released the album’s first single, “Super,” following up two months later with the official release of “Sinister” featuring Lil Wayne.

Then, after announcing the From A Bird’s Eye View Tour scheduled to kick off in December, he shared the “FABEV Freestyle” over Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 4” as a hype single and revealed the star-studded tracklist earlier this week. The album will reunite him with many of his past collaborators, including Eminem (with whom he worked on the “Killer” remix), Freddie Gibbs and Nas (who both appear on “Champagne Glasses” after the two younger artists helped Nas complete “Life Is Like A Dice Game” last year), and Stevie Wonder (Cordae rapped on “Can’t Put It In The Hands Of Fate” with a who’s-who of guests like Busta Rhymes, Chika, and Rapsody).

Watch Cordae’s Tonight Show performance above. From A Bird’s Eye View is out 1/7 via Atlantic. Get it here.

Chance The Rapper Mistakenly Paid The Price For Forgetting The Lyrics In A Celebrity Karaoke Game

by

Jimmy Fallon is a menace and he must be stopped. His new show, That’s My Jam, riffs on some of the musical segments from The Tonight Show, which he also hosts, but also adds a head-to-head challenge aspect for its celebrity contestants with added, over-the-top consequences for the losers — and sometimes, even the winners, as Chance The Rapper and Joseph Gordon-Levitt learned in last night’s series premiere.

Chance and JGL, and their opponents, Alessia Cara and Josh Groban, were shut into their own isolation booths for a challenge called “Say It, Don’t Spray It,” in which the challenge is to sing along to a hit karaoke-style until the music suddenly drops out and the lyrics must be completed. Forgetting the lyric will cause the microphones to spray the team that misses the lyrics with water while getting it right will cause the other team to get hosed.

For the final round, the chosen song was Bon Jovi‘s “Livin’ On A Prayer” sung by both teams. The music drops out just as Jon belts “we’ll make it, I swear” and JGL absolutely nails it — only for him and Chance to catch a faceful of H2O just as they begin to celebrate. It turns out, there might be a few kinks to work out of the system. To make up for the mistake, Alessia and Josh get splashed as well — although the “Here” singer is just small enough to avoid the worst of it — so justice was (sorta) served.

Watch Chance The Rapper and Joseph Gordon-Levitt get accidentally hosed down in the clip above.