Jay-Z And Kid Cudi’s ‘Guns Go Bang’ Collaboration Is A Standout On ‘The Harder They Fall’ Soundtrack

Jay-Z has been flexing his artistic talents in all kinds of directions of late, and his latest project is a Western film called The Harder They Fall. Jay-Z co-produced the film alongside James Lassiter. It was directed and written by Jeymes Samuel and stars a massive roster of talent including Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, Regina King, Delroy Lindo and LaKeith Stanfield. And what’s one of the best perks when Jay-Z produces your film? He can help out with the soundtrack, too, no problem.

The film is in theaters now, but will be heading to Netflix next week, on November 3, so tonight was the perfect time to drop the soundtrack. The tracklist is packed with appearances from Jay himself and other hip-hop royalty like Lauryn Hill, Jadakiss, Seal, Kid Cudi and Koffee — and, unfortunately, CeeLo Green also appears. But the high points are worth it, like Cudi and Jay together on “Guns Go Bang,” and Jay-Z, Jadakiss, Conway The Machine and BackRoad Gee connecting on “King Kong Riddim.” The contribution from Koffee, which amounts to the title track, is also a stunning addition to the packed roster.

Check out the full soundtrack below and hear Kid Cudi and Jay-Z’s collaboration up top.

Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ Stem Player Is Finally Being Released And Comes With Three Additional Songs

Just days before Kanye West finally released his tenth album Donda, it was revealed that the rapper would be packaging purchases of the album with a stem player that allows its users to “customize any song.” The product’s features let users control vocals, drums, bass, and samples, isolate certain parts of a song, and add effects. It also supports Bluetooth capabilities and features a headphone jack, volume buttons, speakers, a haptic engine, and 8GB of storage. Two months after it was made available, the stem player is finally being delivered and it appears that the device certainly lives up to the hype. Furthermore, Kanye uploaded three more songs, in addition to the entirety of Donda, to the stem player.

The first song that was added is a censored version of “Life Of The Party,” featuring Andre 3000. For those who remember, the song was thrown into the middle of West and Drake’s beef after the latter leaked it during a late-night radio broadcast. Andre spoke out about the song being leaked in a statement, writing, “It’s unfortunate that it was released in this way and two artists that I love are going back and forth.”

The other two songs that were added are the official version of “Up From The Ashes” — a track that was a last-minute scratch from West 2019 album Jesus Is King, according to HipHopNMore — and a final and complete version of “Never Abandon Your Family.” Additionally, Kid Cudi appears on “Remote” with Young Thug after he was removed from the digital version of the track.

You can check out previews of the added songs as well as how the stem player works all together in the videos above.

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

Kid Cudi Details His Musical Mission In The Trailer For His Documentary, ‘A Man Named Scott’

When he first arrived on the scene 15 years ago, Kid Cudi was one of the first rappers to live his life not just in the spotlight but on social media as well, giving fans an unprecedented level of access to his triumphs and trials. However, that doesn’t mean that we know all there is to know about him; following the modern trend of artists putting out their own documentaries about their lives and careers, Cudi shared the trailer for his upcoming film, A Man Named Scott, streaming November 5 on Amazon Prime Video.

The trailer finds Cudi detailing his musical mission: “to make something that calls out to the broken and the lost… How can I give people something that they haven’t heard before?” It also touches on how the pressure of the fame that resulted from pursuing this goal weighed on Cudi’s mind and forced him to make “adjustments from being Scott to being Kid Cudi.” He describes how the success of Man On The Moon made people look up to him despite his own unhappiness because they related so much. “I felt like a fraud,” he admits. “I sacrificed the privacy of my life and put my story out there to help others. That’s always been my mission.”

Watch the trailer for Kid Cudi’s A Man Named Scott documentary above and stream the film on 11/5 on Prime Video.

Lil Nas X Says His Collaboration Bucket List Includes SZA, Playboi Carti, Ariana Grande and More

The world is not enough for Lil Nas X, who on his latest album Montero alone, has tracks with Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, Jack Harlow, and even Elton freakin’ John. Let’s not forget the countless versions of “Old Town Road” that have included BTS, Billy Ray Cyrus, Young Thug, and Diplo. So you gotta give it up for his insatiable thirst to continue to collaborate with other like-minded pop stars and we’re pretty sure they’d jump at the opportunity to work with him too.

In what might constitute this week’s most exciting 15 seconds, a recent TikTok post from Lil Nas X laid out images of what a robotic voice introduced as “Artists who I want to make a song with.” The post flashed photos of Willow, Playboi Carti, SZA, Azealia Banks, Kid Cudi, The Kid LAROI, Rema, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Tyler, The Creator, and Cardi B (“again”.)

The post comes after the early September hoopla regarding how Lil Nas X had no Black male guests on the Montero tracklist. When Lil Nas X posited that perhaps they didn’t want to work with him, Kid Cudi responded, saying essentially that he was game.

Let’s face it, Lil Nas X has really got this social media thing down and it’s probably a good bet that at least half of those bucket list collaborators end up on a track with him at some point.

The New ‘Harder They Fall’ Trailer Teases A Jay-Z And Kid Cudi Collaboration

Jay-Z and Kid Cudi, despite both being very popular rappers in the upper echelon of the genre’s best-known names, would seem to be diametrically opposed at first glance. Jay came up in the gritty ’90s and helped define the glitzy sound of the 2000s before settling into his elder statesman role in the last decade. Kid Cudi, however, was a part of the blog era movement to redefine rap, focusing on mental health rather than “Money, Cash, Hoes.”

But the two make for one awesome dynamic duo in the new trailer for the Netflix Western The Harder They Fall, where a new collaboration between them can be heard as Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, and Regina King shoot at each other with old-timey revolvers. Fittingly, the song features a shootout theme, with Cudi’s chorus echoing the refrain “My guns go bang” and Jay’s verse describes a duel: “Bullets with your names, drew / Cock back, aim, shoot.”

Netflix has appeared to make an effort to reach out to both hip-hop generations in recent years; from the rap contest Rhythm + Flow to a new Kanye West documentary to a comedy special hosted by Saweetie, the streaming company has made sweeping overtures to capture a demographic with plenty of potential for all kinds of enjoyable content.

Watch the Harder They Fall trailer above and stream the film itself on Netflix on 11/3.

Kid Cudi Reacts To His Prophetic Old Myspace Bio: ‘Everything I Said In This Bio, I Did’

Kid Cudi started his career at the same time that Myspace launched in 2003, so unsurprisingly, he took to the platform, which was then a popular destinations for musicians to promote themselves online. Over the weekend, Cudi revisited his old profile and shared his thoughts on it now.

Yesterday, a Twitter user shared Cudi’s old profile photo on the site, as well as his bio, which read:

“Its dat Cleveland boy reppin Shaker H.T.S all day baby, K.i.D CuDi a.k.a. Tubbz a.k.a Scotty McFly. Yea I go by many names but call me which ever one u want. I reside in new york right now workin on music. Dats right yall ima mc, but not ur normal kind. Id like 2 think I’m from another planet and my mind is really gears, hardware, and a sim card. Lol. I’m 22 years old and I’m on here 2 network with music. Currently I’m getting ready 2 start shoppin my records at labels this month and I’m also workin on outside projects with other underground artist. I’m really on here 4 bizness ladies but if u wanna holla, I won’t ignore u. I do love da ladies oh so much. Especially models. So much so I did a song called ‘ I love models’ produced by myself and 0-Dot from Full Circle Ent. dat I will be posting so can hear it. Real talk. If ur a producer and u got heat, get at me. I’m always lookin 4 talent 2 put on my elite team of producers. Right now I have a strong clique of producers but if u got dat different new age sound dat can take da rap game 2 da next level, we can make it happen. Anyway dais about it yall. I’m Cudi. Wut it be!!! LEAN!!! Sip & Lean Teamer ‘The Talent’ MidWest Action ‘droppin dem muthaf*ckin beez on em’

Who I’d like to meet:
..Anybody interested in music period. Mostly singers witta r n b soulful alternative kinda feel. Lol or if ur good, I mean extremely dope I’d f*ck wit it 2. I’m all about creativety, makin new hot sh*t, and Lakin hip hop or music n general 2 a whole nother level. I don’t wanna get in da game 2 blend in, I’m tryna change da face of it. I wanna make my mark. I aim 4 grammy statis. Don’t u?”

Cudi saw the tweet and was blown away by his ambition about about how well he has achieved the goals he laid out for himself, writing in response, “This is so wild. I had that fire burnin in me. Everything I said in this bio, I did. F*ckin unreal. Destiny.”

That said, some of Cudi’s latest achievements are ones he probably did not see coming, like acting in a movie with Leonardi DiCaprio and Meryl Streep, having (and eventually squashing) beef with Eminem, and hiring a professional blunt roller.

Kid Cudi Escapes To A Higher Place In His Elevating Video For ‘Mr. Solo Dolo III’

At the end of last year, Kid Cudi released his seventh album, Man On The Moon III: The Chosen. It was his first solo, full-length effort since 2016’s Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’ and first overall since 2018’s Kids See Ghost, which he made with Kanye West. The album was a strong continuation of the rapper’s trademark series, and nearly a year after its release, Cudi returns with a new video for one of its tracks, “Mr. Solo Dolo III.” It finds Cudi enjoying a blunt in various places, like a studio, a party, and in the pool.

Cudi recently joined Young Thug and Strick for their own video, for their collaboration “Moon Man,” which showed the trio chowing down on a massive stack of pancakes. Cudi also spoke about Lil Nas X and explained why he thinks he will break down hip-hop’s “homophobic cloud.”

“When I saw the tweet about Nas’ album Montero not featuring Black male artists, and he replied that ‘maybe a lot of them just don’t wanna work with me,’ that made me sad,” Cudi wrote about Lil Nas for Time magazine’s 100 most influential people list. “There’s a homophobic cloud over hip-hop, and he’s going to break that sh*t down. We have to stand with him. I’m going to do whatever I have to do to let him know—you have my support. When we do our song together, however trippy the video is, let’s get sexy with it.”

You can watch the video for “Mr. Solo Dolo III” above.