Kenny Beats

Joji Is Bringing ‘Pandemonium’ (And Kenny Beats) Across North America With A 2023 Tour

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Joji 2022
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Joji kept his strong run going last year with Smithereens, his third album and third to reach at least the top five on the Billboard 200 chart. The album also features “Glimpse Of Us,” his first top-10 single that’s currently approaching a billion plays on Spotify, with about 931 million at the moment. So, there’s a lot for Joji fans to be excited about, and now there’s something else: He’s going on tour this fall and he’s taking some special guests with him.

He made the announcement with a comedic video featuring elderly people at a speed dating event.

The run starts with a trio of Texas shows in late September/early October before wrapping up about a month later in Orlando. Lil Toe (Ammo) and Savage Realm will join Joji on all dates, while Kenny Beats will also be on board for all but the first two.

Check out the tour dates below and find information about getting tickets here.

09/29 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center #
09/30 — Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena #
10/03 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center #*
10/05 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center #*
10/06 — Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena #*
10/07 — Las Vegas, NV @ Michelob Ultra Arena #*
10/09 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena #*
10/11 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena #*
10/13 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena #*
10/14 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center #*
10/17 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena #*
10/20 — Chicago, IL @ United Center #*
10/21 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center #*
10/24 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena #*
10/25 — Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center #*
10/27 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center #*
10/29 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden #*
10/31 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center #*
11/01 — Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena #*
11/04 — Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center #*
11/06 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena #*
11/08 — Orlando, FL @ Amway Center #*

# with Lil Toe (Ammo) and Savage Realm
* with Kenny Beats

Kenny Beats Steps Into The Spotlight In His Soulful Tiny Desk Concert

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Usually, when you think of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts, you tend to think of rappers, singers, and other vocalists. Although it’s a live band music series, the focus is usually on the frontmen, women, and people, rather than on the musicians that make up the band or the producers who create the music.

However, that doesn’t mean there’s no place for producers at the forefront. Kenny Beats, who is best known for providing pounding hip-hop bangers to rappers like Denzel Curry, Rico Nasty, and Vince Staples (who he previously played a Tiny Desk with), sits on the backline for his Tiny Desk performance, but there’s no doubt that he and the soulful production from his debut solo album Louie are the stars of the show.

In a pretty cool flip of the usual dynamic, Kenny plays the backbeat on drums while his backup singers soulfully reproduce the samples that populate the album. Kenny also brings in a few guest performers, including Jpegmafia, who raps on “Still” and Remi Wolf, who sings on “Last Words.” Nami closes out the set with “Rotten.”

Kenny’s album is dedicated to his dad, and he addresses the complexity of making music for your family. “This is an album about family I made with my friends,” he explains. “Usually, music about familly is about how much you love them, how much you care about them… everybody knows family is a much more difficult thing to explain in 2-3 minutes.”

Watch Kenny’s Tiny Desk performance above.

TiaCorine Take Us Back With ‘Chaka Khan’ For ‘UPROXX Sessions’

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You may know North Carolina’s TiaCorine from her single “Lotto,” which caught the attention of SZA, A$AP Rocky, and fellow female rapper Rico Nasty. If not, get to know today’s UPROXX Sessions talent with over a million streams on SoundCloud and millions more on Spotify. She dropped, I Can’t Wait this past month, her first offering since releasing her 34Corine EP. The album features UnoTheActivist, Tony Shhnow, and Kenny Beats.

She joins UPROXX Sessions to perform her latest single, “Chaka Khan,” a collaboration between Kenny and herself from I Can’t Wait. Her performance is sweet and childlike, emphasized by her high-pitched rap-singing and barrettes. Yet, with lyrics highlighting her sexual prowess (like the legend the song borrows its name from) and Kenny’s signature production, TiaCorine flexes her range and delivers a lively performance.

Watch TiaCorine perform “Chaka Khan” 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.

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The Best New Music This Week: Lil Baby, Yeat, Ari Lennox, and More

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Image via Complex Original

  • Lil Baby, “Detox” 


  • Yeat, “Talk”


  • Ari Lennox & Summer Walker, “Queen Space”


  • Pi’erre Bourne f/ Young Nudy, “Moving Too Fast” 


  • Freddie Gibbs f/ Moneybagg Yo, “Too Much”


  • EST Gee, “Hell”


  • DJ Drama & Jeezy, “I Ain’t Gone Hold Ya”


  • Smino, “24-8”


  • Quando Rondo & NBA YoungBoy, “Give Me A Sign”


  • Kenny Beats f/ slowthai, “Family Tree” 

Kenny Beats Shares The Tracklist For His Debut Album, ‘Louie’

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kenny beats album
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Kenny Beats, who has spent a decade producing for the likes of 03 Greedo, Denzel Curry, Freddie Gibbs, Rico Nasty, Vince Staples, and many, many more, has never put out an album of his own, incredible as it may seem. Despite hosting a popular YouTube series based on his experiences with making beats for his rapper friends in his studio, “The Cave,” all of Kenny’s full-length projects to date have been collaborations with those rappers like FM!, Anger Management, Netflix And Deal, or Unlocked.

However, next week, that changes as Kenny drops his debut album, Louie, which he first began teasing on Twitter and Instagram earlier this month. Today, he made the official announcement, revealing the mysterious “Louie” caption with which he accompanied teasers of new beats is the title of his first-ever solo project, which is due August 31 via XL Recordings. In addition, he shared the cover art and tracklist for the album, which does not appear to contain any features — although he could just be keeping those a surprise for his longtime fans.

You can watch the teasers and check out the Louie tracklist below, and pre-order Louie here.

1. “Leonard”
2. “Parenthesis”
3. “Hold My Head”
4. “So They Say”
5. “Family Tree”
6. “Hooper”
7. “Still”
8. “Moire”
9. “Get Around”
10. “Eternal”
11. “Last Words”
12. “Drop 10”
13. “The Perch”
14. “Really Really”
15. “That Third Thing”
16. “Rotten”
17. “Hot Hand.”

Musicians React To Comedian Jak Knight’s Untimely Death

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Jak Knight, a comedian known for co-creating and acting on Peacock original series, Bust Down, has died at 28. In addition to Bust Down, Knight was a writer on shows like Blackish and Big Mouth, on the latter of which, he voiced DeVon. Although he proved to be a promising comedian, Knight was very much known and loved within the realm of music.

In 2018, Knight appeared in a live version of Zach Fox’s Bruh podcast, alongside rapper Amine. In one of his most iconic stand-ups, he hilariously detailed Chance The Rapper‘s career evolution and recounts a time when he saw the rapper perform at a music festival while on shrooms.

“I thought I was in The DaVinci Code, directed by Jordan Peele. This sh*t was crazy as hell,” he said in a Comedy Central special.

Following the news of his death, several musicians have taken to social media to mourn the loss of Knight.

“RIP to Jak Knight,” said Flying Lotus, “honestly was my fav comedian these days. Unapologetically bold and hilarious.”

Producer Kenny Beats also expressed sadness over Knight’s death, tweeting “Rip Jak I’m heartbroken.”

Television personality and rapper Steelo Brim, who once had Knight as a guest on his Wine And Weed podcast, said “Truly don’t know what to say but Jak Knight was & is the man. He will be forever missed and loved, lit up every room and was as pure as they come. F*ck this one hurts.

A cause of death has not yet been confirmed for Knight.

The Weeknd Praises Ariana Grande’s Production Skills: ‘That Woman Is A Beast On Pro Tools’

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The Weeknd Ariana Grande iHeart 2021
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The Weeknd has been riding a wave of momentum since the January release of Dawn FM, but took a moment this weekend to reach further back into his past and offer praise to longtime collaborator Ariana Grande. “I’ve seen Ariana work in real time. That woman is a BEAST on pro tools,” he tweeted, piggybacking on talented producer Kenny Beats’ call for more discussion of women producers just several hours prior.

Weeknd and Grande have previously joined forces on the “Save Your Tears” remix, “Off The Table,” and “Love Me Harder,” so his familiarity with her abilities should come as no shock. The Positions artist is often just acknowledged for her vocal talent and acting career, thus learning she knows her way around Pro Tools as well only adds to her repertoire.

Beats’ original tweet highlighted Grande’s knack at comping vocals with 100 stacks, Rosalía’s engineering, King Princess’ versatility with instruments, and Doja Cat’s production. King Princess expressed her appreciation for the recognition from someone of his stature, echoing the sentiment that women along with LGBTQ+ and POC artists are regularly overlooked when it comes to production.

As women demand a larger presence in the music industry, it is important now more than ever to not box them in.

Freddie Gibbs And Rick Ross Get Busy On The Kenny Beats-Produced ‘Ice Cream’

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Freddie Gibbs has tapped Rick Ross for a guest appearance on his latest single, “Ice Cream.” In and out like a flash in two minutes, Gibbs and Ross don’t hold back on the track, and especially not in the video, where Gibbs rides in the back of an ice cream truck, booty slapping twerking ladies and smoking a blunt like it’s going out of style. Ross is decked out in all red with layers of gold chains, rapping in a white room that’s snowing. What a drip.

Produced by Kenny Beats, the beat is a trippy flip of Raekwon’s classic 1995 cut of the same name off of the seminal album, Only Built For Cuban Linx. Back then, the RZA sampled and twisted Earl Klugh’s 1980 joint, “A Time For Love,” and wove it into one of the most iconic beats in the Wu-Tang canon for Raekwon, Method Man, and Cappadonna to flow over. Kenny Beats’ homage is subtle, but once you hear it, it’s a worthy nod to the classic. And as the track comes to a close, the melody is more noticeable.

Meanwhile, Gibbs is set to perform at Coachella in two weeks. That hasn’t stopped him from beefing with Benny The Butcher on Twitter lately over a joint album that’s probably never going to happen. As for Ross, the budding lumberjack was recently seen bragging about how he saved ten grand by cutting down his own trees.

Watch the video for “Ice Cream” above.

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