Kehlani

Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2021 So Far

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Certified bangers from Drake, Tyler, The Creator, J. Cole and more. Continue reading…

T-Pain And Kehlani Pull A Slick Scam In Their Western-Themed ‘I Like Dat’ Video

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T-Pain may have suffered through a long depression as a result of some harsh criticism but recently, he’s been experiencing a career renaissance that must certainly feel validating after he was once blamed for “f*cking up music.” His song “I Like Dat” with Kehlani — which flipped one of his most iconic hits before TikTok could get to it — led to a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and renewed interest in future collaborations. Now, he’s shared the Western-themed music video for the track, piggybacking on the continued “Yee-Haw Agenda” that is also back after a year off due to COVID.

The video follows the exploits of T-Pain’s outlaw salesman character as he rides his coach into town to pitch his “Drank” — as you “Let me buy you…” — using Kehlani as his plant to convince the townspeople to buy his entire stock. Its advertised effect? Instant attraction from women, as demonstrated by Kehlani receiving a big, wet kiss from a beautiful bystander. After delivering a performance at the local saloon, the two cowpokes skedaddle before anyone can wise up to their “love potion”‘s clearly exaggerated effects.

Fortunately for T-Pain’s fans, they can try his real dranks courtesy of his book of cocktail recipes coming soon. Watch the video for “I Like Dat” above.

HER Says Some People Don’t Recognize Her Without Sunglasses: ‘I Feel Like Clark Kent’

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Before earning four Grammy Awards, over a dozen nominations, and an Oscar, HER has been perfecting her artistry since a very young age. Along with making a name for herself with her moving music, the singer is also known for her ever-present sunglasses. In fact, some people apparently don’t recognize her without them.

HER recently chatted with Variety for their cover interview. During the conversation, HER spoke about her decision to take on a moniker, sport shades, and appear only as a silhouette on the cover of her debut project:

“Honestly, the reason I wanted to be HER is because I felt people tended to focus on the looks of things instead of music — listening with their eyes and not their ears. It was a social media time of the whole package: ‘This is what an artist should be; this is what a woman should be.’ So when I first released music, I wanted to be a silhouette — these truthful stories were what I wanted to show, not me.”

The singer added that when she walks around her Brooklyn neighborhood, “people don’t recognize me without my glasses. Sometimes I feel like Clark Kent.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, HER described the ups-and-downs of starting her career at such a young age. “It was tough, honestly,” she said. “I would leave school for a few days every month or every other month to travel to New York, and I’d be doing independent study in the studio. There were a lot of sacrifices made, especially by my parents.”

But even with the sacrifices, HER always knew she was striving to make it big. “I’m thankful I was able to go to school, but honestly, I’d be sitting in class like, ‘I can’t wait to get back to New York and work toward my future,’” she added. “Everybody else was thinking about the weekend, but I was thinking about the next ten years.”

Check out HER’s full conversation with Variety here.

T-Pain And Kehlani Deliver A Soaring Performance Of ‘I Like Dat’ On ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’

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Kehlani’s run of duets over the past couple of years is bordering on legendary. She’s given the Bay Area a new wedding anthem with Rexx Life Raj, shared the tender “At My Worst” with Pink Sweats, and done heart-tugging joints with Russ and Bryson Tiller. She elevates practically everything she touches, and that includes her latest collaboration with T-Pain, the lush “I Like Dat.” The pair appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform their new hit, giving a swaggering rendition complete with cowboy hats and baggy chaps.

As enjoyable as the collaboration has been, it was nearly consigned to an extensive list of partnerships that never happened thanks to T-Pain’s unawareness of Instagram’s UI. The “Bartender” crooner posted a TikTok video toward the end of April, apologizing to all the celebrities and potential collaborators who reached out to him via Instagram’s DMs as he explained that he didn’t realize that verified accounts’ DMs also get filtered into the “requests” folder. Among those he’d overlooked were Diplo, Fergie, and more. But it turned out to be beneficial, as he later held a town hall with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about potential improvements for the feature. T-Pain also premiered “I Like Dat” during the stream, promising plenty more to come now that he’s realized people have been trying to get in touch with him.

Watch T-Pain and Kehlani perform “I Like Dat” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! above.

Kehlani Shares How Her Daughter’s Father Reacted To Her Coming Out As Lesbian

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Kehlani has been known to date both men and women, but at the end of April she came out as strictly lesbian. “Wanna know what’s new about me?” she said during an Instagram Live. “I finally know I’m a lesbian.” A couple of weeks later, she doubled down in a TikTok video, saying, “I am gay gay gay gay gay.” Recently, Kehlani, who has a two-year-old daughter, shared how her child’s father, Javaughn Young-White, reacted to her coming out as lesbian.

“I have a two-year-old daughter…She’s the best,” Kehlani said during Facebook Watch’s Pride On! Kehlani & Larray’s Excellent Pride Ride. “Me and her dad are like really, really close friends, and the decision to start a family was really easy for us because we both believed in each other’s ability to be good parents.” She added, “We just focus on being a team, honestly, and when I was able to tell him, like, I’ve come to newer terms with my sexuality and he’s super super super supportive.”

Kehlani also detailed how she and Young-White normalize different parental relationships with their daughter, saying, “Like usually where people would bring up ‘mom and dad,’ we also say ‘mom and mom’ and ‘dad and dad.’”

You can watch the full Pride On! Kehlani & Larray’s Excellent Pride Ride episode here.

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

Kehlani And Amorphous Won’t Commit To Their Past Lovers On The Summer-Ready Song ‘Back Together’

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Last year proved to be a great year for both Kehlani and viral producer Amorphous. The former shared her sophomore album It Was Good Until It Wasn’t early on in 2020, and it proved a hit, ranking high on critics’ year-end lists. As for Amorphous, the producer became a viral name on social media after sharing a number of DJ mashups that earned him a large fan base, catching the attention of many big names in music. Now, the two acts have come together for their brand new single, “Back Together.”

The track is a summer-ready number, with Amorphous providing a high-spirited beat for Kehlani, who sings about maintaining her independence while avoiding an exclusive. “Need you to know we ain’t gettin’ back together,” she sings on the chorus. “But that doesn’t that we can’t come together.”

Amorphous’ last release came as a feature alongside DJ Khaled and Fat Joe for “Sunshine,” which arrived with a video showing the trio enjoying a party aboard a yacht. As for Kehlani, “Back Together” marks the latest in a string of guest appearances she’s made over the past month, which includes tracks with T-Pain, Pink Sweats, Lil Durk, and more.

You can watch the video for “Back Together” above.

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

HER Reveals She Was Almost In A Band With Kehlani And Zendaya

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Despite still working on her official debut album, HER is one of today’s most-awarded young acts. The Vallejo, California-born singer already has four Grammys to her name along with a Golden Globe which brings her halfway to the coveted EGOT title. This undeniable success is a result of years worth of hard work and perfecting her craft, which dates back to her early teenage days. In a recent interview on The Carlos Watson Show, HER spoke about a band she was almost a part of earlier in her career, one that included well-known names like Kehlani and Zendaya.

“Dylan Wiggins, who is D’wayne Wiggins’s son from Tony! Toni! Toné!, we used to be in a band together,” she said. “We used to perform together when we were really young.” She added, “Kehlani was actually in our band. We all used to sing together. Zendaya was going to be in it at one point. But yeah, they all grew up together. I came into the picture in Oakland and we used to perform together.”

Poplyfe, a teen pop group from Oakland, California that appeared on season six of America’s Got Talent, is the band HER is referring to. At the time of their involvement in the talent show competition, the band’s members ranged in age from 13 to 18. The group would make it far into the show as they finish in fourth place.

You can hear HER share the news in the video above.

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

T-Pain Flips A Classic Track Of His With Kehlani For Their Lush Collaboration, ‘I Like Dat’

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A couple of weeks ago, T-Pain made a shocking discovery on his Instagram account. It turns out that the “Bartender” singer had accidentally ignored direct messages on the app from some of music and entertainment’s biggest names. Rather than sit and sulk about the missed opportunities, T-Pain turned it into something to laugh and learn from while apologizing to those who he accidentally ignored over the years. Despite the long-overdue response, many of the artists that reached out to T-Pain were still open to collaborating with him and today we’ve received the first of what could be many collaborations.

T-Pain connected with Kehlani for their brand new single, “I Like Dat,” an effort that flips the former’s classic 2005 record, “Buy U A Drank.” The duo previewed the song during a town hall that T-Pain held to apologize to all the people he ignored via Instagram DMs. Kehlani herself was excited for the collaboration to finally come to fruition as she took to Twitter to share her thoughts. “woke up out my sleep to say i really have a song wit t pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” she wrote. “on the flipped beat of Buy You A Drank!!!!!!! this b*tch Buy You A Drank Part 2!!!! what is my life!!!!!!!!!!”

You can check out the new track in the video above.

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

Kehlani Says She’s Getting Hate For Returning To Her Former Style Of Baggy Clothing

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Kehlani has switched up her style several times since she began releasing music several years ago, but apparently some listeners aren’t okay with that fact. She began leaning more into form-fitting fashion after giving birth to her daughter in 2019, but Kehlani has since returned to wearing baggier clothes. The singer took to Twitter to call out the hate she’s gotten for her baggier looks, saying she feels as though her style versatility makes her all the more “powerful.”

In a pair of now-deleted tweets, Kehlani addressed the criticism she’s received since pivoting back to her previous style: “i feel like there’s a group of people who just started finding me attractive or paying me mind after i had a baby when my body changed and i was more ‘feminine’ and me putting back on the same baggy jeans i had all my life prior is….shocking y’all”

Kehlani via Slack

Following up on her previous tweet, Kehlani added that she received similar criticism after she started wearing more feminine clothing: “it’s ok tho cuz i distinctly remember this happening when i started getting long nails and lashes & wearing heels. people was like ‘this isn’t you’ ‘i miss the old you’ i’m starting to feel like this is perhaps POWERFUL”

Kehlani via Slack

Fans flooded to Kehlani’s support after seeing the hate she was getting online, pointing out how versatile the singer’s style has been over the years.

This isn’t the first time Kehlani addressed how her perception of her body has changed after giving birth. Earlier this year, the singer said she has since discovered that being a mom is the “sexiest thing ever” in an interview with Playboy. “I think something happened to me when I became a mom; I just became sexier,” she said. “I was this quirky little person before — not super in touch with myself, a super tomboy. Then I became a mom, and all of a sudden I got these mom hips. I got this mom sensuality and grown-woman attitude and in-touch-ness with my body that I never had before.”

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

A Mac Miller Book With Stories From His Friends And Collaborators Has Been Set For Release This Fall

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Nearly three years have passed since the death of Mac Miller and this fall, a book remembering his life and music is set for release via Permuted Press. Pre-orders have already put the The Book Of Mac: Remembering Mac Miller, written by DJBooth veteran Donna-Claire Chesman, on the Amazon Best Sellers lists, where it’s currently No. 3 in Books, and No.1 in both Rap & Hip-Hop Musician Biographies and Rap Music (Books). Chesman announced the project after completing her Year of Mac editorial series on DJBooth, which compiled personal essays, interviews, and other features to commemorate Mac’s legacy over the course of 52 weekly dispatches throughout late 2018 and 2019.

The Book Of Mac will likewise be comprised of intimate interviews with those who knew Mac best, including friends and collaborators like Just Blaze, Kehlani, Syd, Thundercat, Wiz Khalifa, and more, with commentary and critique on his musical releases by Chesman.

Mac Miller passed away at the age of 26 in 2018, the result of an accidental overdose while on tour. Since then, his estate has released one album, Circles, completed with the assistance of Mac’s collaborator Jon Brion, while fan-favorite mixtapes like KIDS and Faces have found their ways to DSPs in the years since. Two new songs were released in August last year.

Due on October 26, 2021 you can pre-order The Book Of Mac on Amazon.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.