Metro Boomin brought a who’s-who of hip-hop superstars to his performance at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, overseeing the proceedings from a DJ booth hovering far above the stage. First, Future appeared to perform their song “Superhero” on a mist-covered stage. Then, Swae Lee popped out to sing the Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse soundtrack standout “Calling.” He was joined in short order by Nav, then by A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie (whose name got mangled by announcers and presenters all night. How hard is it to say “A Boogie?”). The performance ended with a loving dedication to Metro’s mom, Leslie Wayne, who was killed last year.
Metro Boomin e Future agora fazendo a performance de “Superhero (Heroes & Villains)” no MTV VMA’s.
However, because of the ongoing WGA strike, it was pretty clear that show didn’t have as much room for the scripted moments that have made the VMAs must-see TV in prior years. That left more room for music and awards, making the three-hour show feel much shorter than it actually was.
You can watch Metro’s performance above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Metro Boomin has let fans know that his forthcoming project with Future is ready to go. Hitting Instagram, Metro shared an image holding a bird and delivered a message.
“me and @future album on the way drop some if you ready #freebandz,” Metro wrote.
Metro Boomin is continuing to tease his forthcoming project with Future. While at his Heroes and VIllains pop-up in New York City, Metro Boomin was asked about his upcoming album with Future, and Complex got an answer.
“The ultimate album right now is about to be the one with me and Future,” Metro said. “Now that Spider-Man is out and people love and resonate with it, my focus can go to what I and Pluto got coming out. I’m not doing anything until that gets done.”
He added, “It’s tunnel vision on that one because I was spreading myself thin between Heroes & Villains, Spider-Man, Coachella, and still shooting videos for Heroes. But now the focus is on this album and we’ve been working.”
JID has been busy. While the rapper was touring earlier this year he clearly also spent some time in the studio and he has the tracks to prove it. In a recent series of announcements, he confirmed a number of big things coming soon. The first new material fans can expect will drop later this week. He’s teaming up with Lil Yachty to release a pair of new tracks under their Blakkboyz collaboration. One of which is “Van Gogh” a song that has been floating around online for a while. The official release of the project to streaming in addition to the release of another new song has fans hyped.
But what has fans even more excited is the confirmation that JID has a new album on the way. The singer confirmed that an album called Forever & A Day will be arriving later this year. The project is reportedly around 10-12 tracks in length though very little else about it is currently known. And that isn’t even the only new album he has on the way. He confirmed that a previously announced and currently unnamed collaborative outing with Metro Boomin is still on the way. That collaborative project is expected to be released after Forever & A Day.
JID is following up his critically acclaimed album The Forever Story from last year. For the album, he teamed up with an incredibly impressive list of features. Kenny Mason, Earthgang, 21 Savage, Baby Tate, Lil Durk, Ari Lennox, Lil Wayne, Yasiin Bey, and more make appearances on the stacked project.
JID hasn’t been quiet since then either. He teamed up with Lute for a track called “Ma Boy” earlier this year. The single served as a single for the Dreamville produced soundtrack to Creed III. He also appeared on Mick Jenkins’ critical darling new album The Patience which dropped just a few weeks ago. Which of the three new projects JID announced are you most excited about? Let us know in the comment section below.
Nine years ago, rapper ILoveMakonnen dropped his breakthrough single, “Tuesday.” The song proved to be a viral hit for Makonnen, especially on platforms like the six-second video-sharing network, Vine, and resulted in him signing to Drake’s OVO imprint. But Makonnen was eventually dropped from OVO when he couldn’t recreate the success of “Tuesday.”
Last week, Makonnen and rapper Youngboy Never Broke Again dropped “Parasites,” a collab that’s already proving buzzy. So much so, that Metro Boomin’ — who co-produced “Tuesday” with Sonny Digital — reached out to him via Instagram DM. Swae Lee and Post Malone also reached out, however, it appears Makonnen wasn’t really thrilled about them hopping on the bandwagon.
Makonnen shared a carousel on Instagram, which featured screenshots of conversations he had previously had with the three. In the conversations, it appears Makonnen had reached out to the artists over the years, only to be ignored.
“I’m HIM and I Been HERE!,” said Makonnen. “I ain’t do sh*t to yall! Y’all turned y’all back on me and held hands together, unfollowed me and everything, now y’all see me with YB…and start hitting me up like it’s all good. Damn, That sh*t painful to see, especially after we came up together in Atlanta in 2014.”
At the time of writing, only Swae has responded to the post. He took to the comments to express disappointment in the fact that Makonnen chose to address the situation publically.
“We can chop it up anytime you see me though,” said Swae. “I don’t do the public drama sh*t, stay up.”
Makonnen then insisted that there is no beef, and that he still maintains admiration for Swae, Post, and Metro.
“well chop it up, it’s love it’s just a conversation,” said Makonnen, “dont be mad that the only way I get support is if some drama going on, u know the music fire, and u know everybody been tryna deny it. It ain’t no beef. U stay up too.”
Youngboy Never Broke Again is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Arizona is set to witness a spectacular hip-hop extravaganza as the inaugural IYKYK Music Festival takes center stage. With a lineup featuring chart-topping artists like Lil Uzi Vert, Metro Boomin, Denzel Curry, and Jeleel, the festival promises an immersive experience celebrating hip-hop culture through music, art, fashion, and more. As Uzi’s first headlining festival appearance […]
Spotify’s All-RapCaviar campaign unveils MVP and Rookie of the Year nominees, recognizing Hip Hop’s top artists who dominated the RapCaviar playlist.
Fans can vote for their favorites on the official site and share their picks on social media. MVP nominees include Metro Boomin, Drake, 21 Savage, Lil Uzi Vert, and Lil Baby, while ROTY nominees feature Ice Spice, Central Cee, GloRilla, Destroy Lonely, and Luh Tyler.
“Man, it’s an incredible feeling to be recognized as one of the MVP nominees for All-RapCaviar this year,” Metro Boomin said. “It’s a huge honor to be recognized among the best in the game, and it’s a testament to the hard work and dedication I’ve put into my craft.”
On being nominated for ROTY, Central Cee said, “Feels great & shout out to all the other nominees. I feel like I may do a few more features this year, I haven’t done many in the past so it should be interesting.”
The winners will be announced on @Rapcaviar IG and Twitter on Friday, July 28, while the All-RapCaviar Coach of the Year will be revealed on July 24. Don’t miss the chance to hear your voice in honoring the best in Hip Hop!
Spotify’s All-RapCaviar campaign is returning, announcing the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd team lineups featuring the top Hip Hop artists that dominated the RapCaviar playlist. Teaming up with NBA superstar Kevin Durant and Boardroom, Spotify shows fans their three-episode social series, Inside RapCaviar.
The convergence of the basketball and Hip Hop worlds takes center stage in All-RapCaviar, where every rapper dreams of being a baller and every baller wants to be a rapper. Like the end-of-season honors for the best players in the league, All-RapCaviar brings together the elite rappers in the game. Starting today, Tuesday, July 18, Spotify unveils the All-RapCaviar teams, allowing fans to vote for the MVP and Rookie of the Year on July 19, with winners set to be announced on July 28.
The campaign celebrates the connection between basketball and Hip Hop, highlighting the best talents. With the support of Kevin Durant and Boardroom, Spotify’s All-RapCaviar promises to be an exciting event for fans of music and basketball. Stay tuned to see which artists make the cut and who takes home the titles of the prestigious MVP and Rookie of the Year.
To generate buzz and engage fans, the All-RapCaviar campaign kicked off with the announcement of the All-RapCaviar teams, carefully chosen by Spotify editors. The teams were divided into three groups, each featuring five notable artists from the world of Hip Hop:
1st Team: Metro Boomin, Drake, 21 Savage, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Baby 2nd Team: Tyler, The Creator, Coi Leray, Lil Durk, Ice Spice, Youngboy Never Broke Again 3rd Team: GloRilla, Central Cee, Nicki Minaj, Don Toliver, NLE Choppa
On July 19, the @RapCaviar Twitter account and Kevin Durant’s Boardroom will reveal the nominees for the highly anticipated MVP and Rookie of the Year awards. Spotify will then invite fans to participate in the voting process through a dedicated microsite. This interactive platform will allow users to vote, engage in online discussions, and debate with other fans about their picks for the prestigious titles.
With the All-RapCaviar campaign in full swing, fans now have the opportunity to support their favorite artists and be a part of the conversation surrounding Hip Hop’s biggest talents. Stay tuned for updates and cast your votes to make your voice heard in the All-RapCaviar MVP and Rookie of the Year selections.
The list of musicians holding out for a collaboration with Nicki Minaj just grew by one. The “Barbie World” rapper is currently working on her forthcoming album, Pink Friday 2. While the release isn’t due until November, if Metro Boomin has his way, fans won’t have to wait until then to hear new music.
Boomin took to Twitter to publicly profess his desire to collaborate with the musician on a new track, writing, “Let’s make more @NICKIMINAJ.”
Minaj enlisted the producer’s help on her 2014 song “Want Some More,” off her album, The Pinkprint. Since then, the pair have worked together on other tracks, including Young Thug’s song “Money,” which appears on his latest album, Business Is Business.
Although Minaj hasn’t replied to Metro Boomin’s initial tweet, her fans have given their stamp of approval.
“The only producer we need, mother,” wrote one fan.
Meanwhile, others speculated that the track is already done, writing, “I kinda feel like they just got done recording something, and this is more so an announcement, but maybe that’s just me.”
I kinda feel like they just got done recording something and this is more so an announcement but maybe that’s just me https://t.co/H1FSMRGmBq
Of the two, Metro’s Version is — unsurprisingly — superior, despite having all the same tracks and only two new songs. Its success highlights the importance of sequencing on a project, an art that goes overlooked by fans all too often. Business Is Business presents a unique opportunity to explore how sequencing changes the tenor and direction of an album because while “deluxe editions” of albums have proliferated in the streaming era, rarely have they experimented with song order the way Metro does here.
For instance, on Metro’s Version, the late-album standout “Jonesboro” is repurposed as the intro; while it gets lost in the shuffle amid the original 15 tracks, popping up around the time that most albums tend to start dragging, on the deluxe edition, it sets the mood for the whole project. Although the vibey, melodic track “Parade On Cleveland” with Drake is probably one that fans were itching to get to upon the album’s release, “Jonesboro” more accurately predicts the… well… businesslike tone of the project.
Business Is Business is a much more somber effort than Thug’s prior releases So Much Fun and Punk, owing at least partially to his present circumstances as a guest of the Fulton County Jail. It also makes sinister tracks like the 21 Savage-featuring “Want Me Dead” and “Hoodie” featuring BSlime and Lil Gotit a bit uncomfortable to listen to, considering it was Thug’s lyrics about sliding on enemies that initially tied him to the Fulton County D.A’s racketeering case against gang/label YSL.
Likewise, the celebratory overtones of “Oh You Went” with Drake and “Hellcat Kenny” with Lil Uzi Vert are undermined by the looming threat of a prison sentence reaching football numbers hanging over Thugger’s head. And, of course, there’s another elephant in the room. Although incarceration isn’t the same as death, the album’s compilation of old verses and guest appearances makes it feel almost cobbled together the way some notable posthumous releases have been and raises the question of how much of this was what Thug actually wanted versus how much of it was just feasible over the past few months.
Similar projects recorded or released by incarcerated rappers like Drakeo The Ruler and 03 Greedo attempted to answer these questions with incomplete results, and Business Is Business rarely does better at doing so. Thug’s vocal and lyrical dynamism helps, as does his well-established chemistry with Metro as a producer and the team of beatmakers employed on the project. But you can’t help but wonder as you listen whether he’d have made changes to the beat selection or to his partners’ verses if he had true access to the process of putting things together.
The lack of Gunna and Lil Keed’s voices on the album only twists the knife. While Gunna was able to process his feelings about the past year on his own new album, he was only free to record it by potentially betraying his longtime mentor, benefactor, and friend. Meanwhile, even if Thug truly believed that Gunna isn’t a “snitch,” they’re barred from associating by the courts anyway, breaking up what has been a lucrative and creatively fruitful musical partnership, if not a criminal one.
Metro does a superb job of tying the disparate elements of the album together enough to sound like a cohesive project on the original but truly works wonders on the resequenced version bearing his name. If his efforts weren’t undermined by the above concerns, Business Is Business might have been a triumph in the same order as his and Thug’s last handful of releases. As it stands, the project is a testament to the value of sequencing and an emblem of what the music world might lose if Young Thug loses his case.
Business Is Business is out now on Young Stoner Life Record / 300 Entertainment.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
(@metroboomin)
