Music

Nicki Minaj Made Her First Public Performance In Two Years At Lil Baby’s LA Tour Stop

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For the past two years, Nicki Minaj has refrained from making very many public appearances as she focused on her growing family. However, tonight at Lil Baby’s Back Outside Tour stop at Staples Center in Los Angeles, she returned to the stage for the first time to perform her verses from “Seeing Green” and BIA’s “Whole Lotta Money” remix. You can watch videos captured by attendees below. The crowd goes bananas as Nicki emerges from backstage, reasserting her presence in pop culture as a rapper instead of a controversy magnet.

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Nicki’s public image could use some rehabilitation after the past few weeks. The “Seeing Green” rapper became the target of backlash and ridicule when she tweeted that she wasn’t vaccinated and shared a relative’s vaccine horror story involving a wedding getting canceled because of the groom’s swollen testes and infertility. Dr. Anthony Fauci debunked the possibility of such vaccine side effects and the Health Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, where the story supposedly took place, even held a press conference to allay the rumor after a thorough investigation.

In the midst of that firestorm, Minaj and her husband, Kenneth Petty, who had pled guilty for failing to register as a sex offender when the couple moved to California in 2019, are being sued by Petty’s alleged 1995 victim Jennifer Hough for harassment. Hough recently appeared on The View to detail both the initial assault from 1994 and the alleged harassment that has gone on for the past two years as the couple supposedly pressured her to recant her original testimony and clear Petty’s name.

Other guests that hit the stage during Lil Baby’s show included local acts Roddy Ricch, who performed his Mustard collaboration “Ballin” and his groundbreaking 2020 hit “The Box,” and Chris Brown, who performed “Go Crazy.” You can see more videos below.

Yung Baby Tate Backs Up Princess Nokia On The Flouncy ‘Boys Are From Mars’

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Riffing on the popular dating advice book, Princess Nokia points out the differences in genders on her new single “Boys Are From Mars.” Offering her own, slightly salty advice to listeners, she asserts that not only are men and women from different planets but that it’s also up to women to set the terms of engagement in the gender war — and in love. Yung Baby Tate joins her sister-in-arms to spit her own clever verse goofing on men’s inability to deliver and telling girls to “focus on yourself” while doing helpful activities like tai chi and yoga.

“Boys Are From Mars” is Princess Nokia’s second single of the year after the J-Lo-inspired “It’s Not My Fault” which symbolized coming of age for “the average millennial woman, taking control of herself as the subject.” However, whereas “It’s Not My Fault” and Nokia’s other most recent video, “I Like Him,” took a techno-futuristic approach to their respective visual components, the lyrics video for “Boys Are From Mars” takes its inspiration from retro cinema instead — particularly the Saturday afternoon matinee double-features of the 1970s, which featured Blaxploitation and martial arts flicks as their main draws. As the lyrics flash on the screen, the two artists can be seen in silhouette, throwing flare-legged high kicks and waving curved Chinese swords.

Listen to Princess Nokia’s “Boys Are From Mars” with Yung Baby Tate above.

Eminem Is Turning His ‘Mom’s Spaghetti’ Pop-Up Concept Into A Permanent Restaurant

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Eminem is going from rapper to restauranteur with next week’s opening of Mom’s Spaghetti, a new eatery based on the pop-up concept inspired by one of his most famous lyrics. The Detroit rapper previously brought the dish based on his famous “Lose Yourself” line to his Revival promotional event, as well as a second pop-up dedicated to the hospital workers of Detroit during last year’s quarantines. He also brought the pop-up to Coachella and Firefly in 2018 when he headlined those festivals. To promote the restaurant, Eminem even shot a tongue-in-cheek commercial that is currently airing on local TV.

In addition to Mom’s Spaghetti — both with and without meatballs — the restaurant will apparently be serving something called a “s’ghetti sandwich,” which sounds like exactly the thing a stressed-out mom living on the outskirts of Detroit’s city center would serve a hyperactive pre-teen. In the commercial, which details these items, Eminem appears to upchuck a takeout container from the restaurant, paying a fitting tribute to the line that inspired the whole thing:

His palms are sweaty
Knees weak, arms are heavy
There’s vomit on his sweater already: Mom’s spaghetti

You can lose yourself in the saucy, noodle-y goodness next Wednesday, September 29 in Detroit.

Azealia Banks Celebrates Grimes’ Breakup With Elon Musk With A Request To ‘Make Those Darn Songs’

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Azealia Banks is one person elated at the news of Elon Musk and Grimes’ breakup. Posting a screenshot of the Page Six tweet announcing the split to her Instagram, the controversial artist crowed in a caption, “Ok girl, can we finally make those darn songs now that apartheid Clyde is out of the way? We were really supposed to eat these bitches up.”

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Back in 2018, when the couple first got together, Grimes invited Banks to Musk’s estate to work on music together but apparently, the weekend didn’t go as planned. Banks eventually went on a tirade against Musk, saying that he avoided her during the visit while scrambling to find investors for Tesla after tweeting about taking the company private. She said that she missed her chance to collaborate with Grimes, who was attending to the stressed-out Musk, calling the whole situation a real-life scene from Get Out. She also says Musk’s staff took her phone.

Musk, meanwhile, denied ever having met Azealia, calling her a compulsive liar (he’s not the first), while earlier this year, Grimes told fans on Discord that her song “100% Tragedy” was about “having to defeat Azealia Banks when she tried to destroy my life.” This prompted Azealia to call Grimes “weird undercover millennial racist” who “doesn’t have the musical capacity i have.”

Something tells me that Grimes isn’t going to be calling Banks to work together again anytime soon.

Westside Boogie Takes A Break From His Problems On The Meditative ‘Float’ Featuring Mamii

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Compton rapper Westside Boogie is over two years removed from his debut album Everythings For Sale, and while fans impatiently await his follow-up album, he’s kept their appetites satisfied with a string of freestyles throughout the year, including the “Joe Exotic Freestyle,” a freestyle over Moneybagg Yo’s “Said Sum,” “Do 4 Love” over Tupac’s Bobby Caldwell-sampling hit, and a freestyle over CJ’s breakout hit “Whoopty.”

However, what fans really wanted in all that time was a single, something that showed the new album might be on the way. Today, Boogie scratched that particular itch with “Float,” a meditative ode to the calming powers of the ocean featuring R&B/soul singer Mamii. Featuring a chill, guitar-driven groove and down-tempo percussion, “Float” finds Boogie considering his myriad problems and the way he can temporarily escape them by taking a little time to himself to drift on the waves. Like many of Boogie’s fan favorites, it’s relatable and illuminating, giving listeners a look at his interior thoughts while reminding them of our universal experiences.

Whether this means Boogie’s new album is ready remains to be seen, but in the meantime, fans will still get plenty of new material from the Compton rapper with his feature on Lute’s upcoming album Gold Mouf.

Listen to Westside Boogie’s meditative new single, “Float” featuring Mamii, above.

Morray Celebrates Overcoming Some ‘Bad Situations’ On His Triumphant New Single

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As Morray gears up to head out on tour with J. Cole, the Fayetteville native (Morray, not Cole) releases a triumphant new single celebrating his year of success. “Bad Situations” may have a haunting title, but in its lyrics, Morray marks his overcoming bad situations, coming from the “Trenches” to getting money. Over a soulful beat, Morray trains his church-honed vocals on telling his rags-to-riches story and expressing his gratitude for the positive changes in his life.

Morray, who broke out in the spring of 2020 with the viral video for “Quicksand,” has seen a whirlwind rise to stardom after “Quicksand” received co-signs from fellow Carolina natives DaBaby and J. Cole. In April of this year, Morray announced he’d signed to Interscope Records, releasing his debut mixtape Street Sermons that same month. Debuting at No. 41 on the US Billboard 200, the tape received further attention when Morray was featured on “My Life” from J. Cole’s long-awaited album, The Off-Season. “My Life” reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, further solidifying his burgeoning stardom.

All of that was enough to secure Morray a spot on the 2021 XXL Freshman Class, which he commemorated with a remix of “Trenches” featuring Polo G. And while not everyone is happy about Morray’s ascent, he’s in position to earn himself a spot in the upper echelon of rap stardom.

Listen to Morray’s new single “Bad Situations” above.

21 Savage Surrendered To Police On Drug And Weapons Charges Connected To His 2019 ICE Arrest

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Few updates have emerged in 21 Savage’s ICE immigration case after he was arrested in 2019 and held for nearly a month while he battled against the agency’s attempts to have him deported under questionable circumstances. However, today, Buzzfeed reported that the rapper recently found out about a warrant stemming from that arrest that was only issued earlier this month. He surrendered to Atlanta police Thursday and was released on bond the same evening.

According to Buzzfeed, the warrant, issued by a local magistrate after being filed on September 7, alleges felony drug possession and weapons possession during the ICE arrest in January of 2019, saying that he threw out a bottle of codeine when he was stopped and also had a handgun in the car. Savage’s attorney, Charles Kuck, told Buzzfeed he believes that the warrant was requested by ICE, which has refused to drop the rapper’s deportation case, to cover its own mistakes.

In a statement, Kuck said, “The warrant appears to have been sought at the behest of ICE, as the warrant was issued in the eve of an Immigration Court hearing in Mr. Joseph’s deportation proceeding, and is based upon events that transpired on the evening that ICE arrested Mr. Joseph over 2 and one-half years ago. There can be no doubt that ICE is seeking to cover its own errors in detaining Mr. Jospeh by pushing trumped-up charges against him and seeks to stop him from obtaining lawful permanent residence in the United States.”

ICE’s deportation case was initially based on felony drug charges which were vacated, on the grounds that 21 overstayed his visa as a child. The Atlanta-based rapper originally immigrated to the US at seven years old with his mother, with the visa expiring when he was 12 or 13. He has since pursued a U visa for his cooperation in a shooting involving a relative and in more recent months, applied for a green card. He has three children who are US citizens.

Adding insult to injury, Savage is scheduled to join J. Cole on his Off-Season tour tonight in Miami, but would have remained close at hand for a hearing over his immigration status on November 1.

Remble And Lil Yachty Trade Hilarious, Punchline-Packed Verses On The Irreverent ‘Rocc Climbing’

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Among the hilarious bars dispensed on Remble’s new single “Rocc Climbing” with Lil Yachty, the two rappers issue side-splitting witticisms such as, “I’m a known home wrecker, like Jerry Springer” and “A lot these Instagram hoes look just like aunties.” Look, none of this stuff is very PC, but it is undoubtedly funny, if only for its audacity and not the eye-popping contrast between the two artists’ unusual deliveries.

On one side, Lil Yachty is in full Michigan Boy Boat mode, deploying the marble-mouthed, overstuffed rhyme schemes of his collaborators on that mixtape with his usual, un-enunciated, lethargically mellow flow. On the other, Remble pronounces every phoneme of every word in every bar, which sounds a little like if one of the guys from Big Bang Theory grew up in South Central gangbanging. Drakeo The Ruler‘s influence hovers over the whole thing — and if you’ve never noticed the affinity between the off-kilter cadences of both LA’s emerging underground and Michigan’s, you will never un-hear the similarities now.

“Rocc Climbing” is Remble’s first new single since releasing his debut mixtape It’s Remble this summer. The release considerably raised the San Pedro rapper’s profile, and his association with the never-not-working Drakeo’s Stinc Team more or less ensures that more music is on the way.

Watch Remble’s “Rocc Climbing” video featuring Lil Yachty above.

Lakeyah’s ‘Reason’ Video Details The Creation Of Her Gangsta Grillz Mixtape, ‘My Time’

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In 2020, Milwaukee-born, new Quality Control Music product Lakeyah said Time’s Up. Then, this spring, she promised In Due Time. Today, she’s back with another full-length project, declaring it My Time and bringing along DJ Drama to make it a Gangsta Grillz affair (thank you, Tyler, for reminding us about these mixtapes and giving Drama a reason to start doing them again). After kicking off the tape’s promotion with “313-414” featuring Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley, she keeps the ball rolling with a video for “Reason,” showing the grind she’s been on for the past year in stark black and white.

In addition to making a name for herself over the past year with standout appearances in City Girls’ “Female Goat” video and her own catchy single “Young & Ratchet,” Lakeyah’s profile skyrocketed when she was selected for the 2021 XXL Freshman Class. And while fans may not have realized the body of work behind her upon the initial announcement, her impressive cypher verse ensured their ears perked up and they were paying attention. Now, with the QC cosign and a whole Gangsta Grillz mixtape under her belt, it’s only a matter of time until she’s being mentioned among the top names in hip-hop.

Watch Lakeyah’s “Reason” video above.

My Time (Gangsta Grillz: Special Edition) is out now via Quality Control Music. Get it here.

Lil Wayne And ASAP Ferg Offer A Lyrical Assist To Logic On The Trunk-Thumping ‘Perfect’ Remix

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All of Logic’s time hanging around with Juicy J is clearly rubbing off on him if the beat from his newly released “Perfect” remix is any indication. Featuring a trunk-thumping, throwback Memphis beat, the percussion-forward production wouldn’t have been out-of-place in the Birthplace of Rock ‘n’ Roll during the cassette tape era. Naturally, that makes ASAP Ferg, a fellow adherent of the OG crunk sound, a perfect feature along with Lil Wayne, who can and will rap over anything and everything (check out his verse on Run The Jewels’ “Ooh La La” remix, as well).

The track is part of Logic’s unexpected but not entirely surprising comeback, which arguably started in January with the Doctor Destruction project. Logic’s “new artist” fooled absolutely no one with the voice-changing tech the project employed to disguise Bobby Bullet’s distinctive, dulcet tones, and sneaking an MF DOOM poster onto the cover art was probably a dead giveaway, as well (DOOM was well-known for his vast array of alter egos). Logic followed that up with a duo release alongside longtime DOOM collaborator Madlib as MadGic (kinda catchy, right?), then straight-up dropped a Michael Jordan homage to announce what everybody already knew.

And although he helped proved that rappers are really bad at retiring, he did use the downtime productively, finishing up his memoir, which details the effects of fame on his mental health.

Listen to Logic’s “Perfect” remix with Lil Wayne and ASAP Ferg above.