Brooklyn native Fivio Foreign nearly saw his upward career track derailed this spring when he was arrested for carrying an unregistered firearm after fleeing police officers in New Jersey. Fivio was taken into custody and booked at the Bergen County Jail for weapons possession, having a defaced firearm, and resisting arrest. He apparently wasn’t able to secure bond until very recently; yesterday, he tweeted simply: “Free,” with an unlocked padlock emoji.
In addition to celebrating his release, Fivio hinted at his plans for the summer now that he’s free. “Summer Jam?” he wrote, adding a pair of curious eyes and a flame emoji. If he does join the lineup of the annual New York festival in August, he’ll be joining a stacked roster that includes the also recently released Bobby Shmurda and Rowdy Rebel, Saweetie, Moneybagg Yo, Migos, Meek Mill, and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. Also, many other drill-related artists will be appearing, including Dusty Locane, Sheff G, and Sleepy Hallow.
Fivio may have to work a bit to regain his momentum this year but he’s certainly laid a solid enough foundation, with both solo tracks like “Self Made” and his guest appearance on Lil Tjay’s “Headshot” video alongside Polo G.
After securing a No. 1 album for his 2019 effort Kirk, DaBaby’s career has taken off. The rapper has gone on to earn multi-Platinum certifications and perform at awards shows like the 2021 BET Awards. But his fast track to fame has apparently left him seeking some advice. To get his questions answered, DaBaby sought wisdom from someone who he has looked up to his entire career: 50 Cent.
DaBaby recently got together with 50 to pick his brain about making a lasting impact in the music industry. 50 obliged, agreeing to take on DaBaby as a mentee and teach him a few tricks of the trade.
“Somebody I been studying for a MINUTE lent me a few hours of his time today,” DaBaby wrote in an Instagram post. “N****s so scared to let me in the room they f*cked around & let me end up in the room w/ @50cent BIG MISTAKE! Beyond grateful for the game. Couldn’t have come from a better source. Now watch me put this shit to use #BackToWork”
The post was noticed by 50, who said he hopes to mentor DaBaby to “be better” than him. “I lost Pop [Smoke] before he could get it, This one already got it and he listen,” he wrote. “I’m a teach him all the mistakes i made, so he can be better than me. THIS IS HIP HOP!”
Genre-fluid Montreal soul outfit Chiiild, aka Yonatan Ayal, has teamed up with singer-songwriter Jensen McRae on an updated version of his song “Gone.” The result is a beautifully harmonized duet, with McRae’s smooth vocals complimenting Chiiild’s to create an expansive, even orchestral feel.
Of the collab, Chiiild said, “‘Gone’ featuring Jensen is a reminder that there are always two sides to every story.” McRae chimed in, noting, “I was so excited when I got connected with Chiiild for this collab. He has such a special, rich voice and his music exists at the nexus of multiple genres I love. As soon as I heard the first version of ‘Gone’ I had so many ideas — the themes of miscommunication and emotional distance are things that I think a lot of people can relate to but don’t want to admit it. It was such a thrill to hear it all come together. I don’t have any music by myself that sounds like this and I can’t wait for people to dive into it — it’s a perfect song for the summer.”
Speaking to Uproxx about his intentions as an artist, Chiiild said earlier this year, “I’m here to translate what has happened in the streets and try to immortalize it on record and say, ‘Hey you know what? Tomorrow’s going to be better.’”
Chiiild’s debut album, Hope For Sale, arrives 7/23.
Polo G has been on a roll in 2021, securing his first no. 1 album with his third full-length, Hall Of Fame, supported by single releases for “Rapstar,” “Gang Gang,” “No Return,” “Painting Pictures,” and “Party Lyfe.” Today, he kept the ball rolling — he must truly have a limitless budget for videos this album cycle — with the clip for “Toxic,” which describes a mutually destructive relationship plagued by his obsession with street life.
The video tends to highlight the latter part of that description, with Polo and his friends flexing cars, cash, jewelry, and their brotherly bond. CGI effects embellish the visuals, including slow-motion effects, lyrics flashing across the screen, and lightning bolts striking upon some of the more impactful lines.
In addition to his own tracks, Polo G has maintained his visibility throughout the year by appearing on a number of contemporaries’ tracklists. Most recently, he appeared on Fredo Bang’s video for “Bless His Soul,” on fellow Windy City rapper G Herbo’s upcoming album 25, and in Moneybagg Yo’s “Free Promo” video. Polo also sat down with Chicago legend Scottie Pippen to discuss the costs of greatness.
Post Malone is fresh off the release of his new single “Motley Crew,” as well as an accompanying NASCAR-themed video. To commemorate the occasion, Malone has teamed up with Siberia Hills for a new designer merch capsule. Interested parties should act fast, though, as the collection won’t be available forever.
The capsule is only available for ten days and features, as press materials put it, “car-fueled graphics accented by macabre details and Siberia’s signature spiritual edge.” Items in the collection range in price from $21 to $142 and features expected items like shirts and hats, as well as offerings like an air freshener, a car-shaped keychain/bottle opener, a license plate frame, and more.
Siberia Hills notes of the collection, “We always want to make clothing that lasts longer, and that’s unique from others. Fabric choice on this was important from the terry for hoodies & sweats to the jersey cotton and wash process on shirts. All fits are unique to Siberia — cargo sweatpants, double layered long sleeves (with contrast lightweight striped sleeves), single stitched terry shorts, and a variety of accessories we’ve always wanted to do.”
After yesterday’s leadoff, West Coaster rap-crooner Blxst and North Carolina’s Toosii accept the baton for the next leg of the 2021 XXL Freshman Cypher. Once again, their bumping backdrop is provided by Internet Money’s Nick Mira, giving the two rappers an exotic-sounding beat to flex over. Blxst’s verse is a boastful affair in which he offers “two places I won’t go back, of course, / That’s ‘broke’ and that’s ‘forth,’” while Toosii offers an extended verse from his previously teased “Ms. Parker” snippet.
All in all, their part of the Cypher is calm, straightforward, and surprisingly short, with Blxst obviously bringing a bit more effort than Toosii. It marks an intriguing departure from the proceedings yesterday, where Coi Leray’s antics captured the attention of fans on Twitter — and not in a good way. While her cohorts DDG, Lakeyah, and Morray acquitted themselves well — Lakeyah especially impressed a number of fans with her technical proficiency and witty wordplay — Coi Leray delivered an odd, unserious verse/hook/ad-lib combo, giving up after only a handful of bars to twerk instead. Responses weren’t kind, as many questioned her inclusion in this year’s Freshman class, as well as her rap skills in general.
Watch the latest installment of the 2021 XXL Freshman Cypher above.
Cardi B has been one of rap’s more outspoken artists on the subject of the cultural and industry double standards that revolve around hip-hop. Most recently, she commented about this disparity on Twitter, remarking on how female rappers must confront higher standards in presentation only to receive a higher proportion of disrespect than their male counterparts. In a new interview with NME, she receives a co-sign from one of her fellow women in Latto.
When asked about Cardi’s comments, the Atlanta star said, “I definitely agree with that. If you don’t agree with that, you’re ignorant; it’s flat out in our face every day. Females have to have dancers, we just have to do the whole nine just to be on the same playing field as a male rapper who gets up there and talks about whatever he wants to, in his white tee and his little two same moves he’s doing on stage. And he’s straight but we just overanalyze and over critique. It makes us appreciate our success more because for female rappers this stuff doesn’t happen overnight. Period.”
TMZ reports that a judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Cardi B for allegedly threatening a blogger after the blogger made disparaging comments about the rapper online. The blogger, Latasha K, filed the suit against Cardi in response to Cardi suing her for defamation over the comments, claiming that Cardi’s response prompted death threats from the rapper’s fans.
The judge said that Latasha failed to produce any evidence that [Cardi] herself threatened [Latasha] or made her believe that she was going to harm her. Instead, [Latasha] has only made allegations that others who may be associated with [Cardi] made these threats … and has failed to demonstrate here that the threats … were directed by [Cardi].”
Meanwhile, Complex detailed the tiff between the two media personalities, which began in 2019 when Cardi sued two bloggers, Latasha and Starmarie Ebony Jones, for making videos full of outlandish claims about Cardi. Among them were accusations of drug abuse they said would cause her daughter Kulture to be born with “intellectual disabilities.” Cardi gave both bloggers the opportunity to back down and remove the videos but when they refused, she sued them for defamation, warning them of the impending suit on social media.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
In the week leading up to the release of his latest, self-titled album, Vince Staples, Long Beach native Vince Staples appeared on Apple Music’s Radio 1 show to premiere the single “Are You With That?” for host Zane Lowe. In describing the record’s new, more mainstream-friendly sound, Vince said this: “I was just having a lot of conversations with a lot of people around me… and people always say, ‘Oh, you used to always say these stories and this and that, and I don’t notice much about these specific things. Why don’t you put it into the music?’ And it’ll be stuff that has been in songs for years. And then I realized the backdrop wasn’t right for certain things I was saying or vice versa.”
To translate: Civilians missed the pungent reality of Vince’s detailed storytelling and trenchant, hard-won observations because they couldn’t get past the admittedly sometimes bonkers beats he shared them over. Now, Vince Staples is way too good of a rapper with way too much authenticity behind his rhymes to be getting overlooked this way — a flag I’ve been waving since first hearing him tearing up Common’s “Kingdom” back in 2014 — so it was one of those problems that needed correction, despite being a much better problem to have than the ones he describes in his music.
Vince is currently at a place in his career where this approach makes all the sense in the world. I’ve had conversations about his music similar to the ones he described to Apple Music, where fans of all ages and affiliations would argue that they just couldn’t get past those alarming beats — even those who were inclined to see past his galling comments about the ‘90s being overrated or his profuse praise for Millennial whipping boys like Bow Wow and Ray J. Rap, for all the noise its greatest proponents make about the importance of lyrical innovation, is prefaced by the beats that rappers choose to rhyme on, making the production every bit as important as the bars themselves.
To that end, he’s recruited longtime friend and frequent collaborator Kenny Beats to recalibrate the abrasive soundscapes that scared away potential listeners who warily approached his music after finding that they loved his incorrigible online personality. Rather than the bombast of a “Blue Suede” or the mid-apocalyptic futurism of his work on Big Fish Theory, listeners are now confronted with the easygoing haze of “Are You With That?” The subject matter is no less harrowing but now, the spoonful of honey helps mask the flavor of the bitter medicine with which Vince laces each of his stony-eyed recollections — which even he sometimes seems to feel ambivalent about.
We saw a little bit of this with FM!, the bouncy collection of summery bangers from 2019 that saw Vince leaning a bit toward the territory of radio friendliness, but here, he finally wholeheartedly embraces the role of an artist — something he always claimed he wasn’t. Now that he sees value in sharing the sometimes grim stories that have made up his oeuvre in a more accessible fashion, Kenny’s beats make his responsibilities a much lighter lift. It’s easier to sink into the fatalism of “Sundown Town” when the song sounds almost like a PBR&B standard made for lounging on a lazy summer day.
Likewise, “Take Me Home” would be right at home on a YouTube lo-fi station, even with its sobering depiction of gangbanging activities and their deleterious effect on his relationships. And the mellow mood of the top-down cruising anthem “Taking Trips,” camouflages the paranoid tension sizzling just below the surface without undercutting it. Instead, chill-inducing lines like “Can’t even hit the beach without my heat, it’s in my trunks” hit harder because of the relaxed atmosphere — just like an outbreak of gunshots on a warm summer day, right when you least expect it.
Clocking in at a truly breezy 22 minutes and with two interludes among its 10 tracks, it’s an even quicker listen than FM! — yet, due to its comforting sonic palette, it feels more cozy than disappointing, prompting repeat playthroughs to try and catch the witty wordplay and cushy vibes of Kenny Beats’ production. Vince Staples is just one of two planned projects this year, marking an uptick in productivity for the young rapper and as functions as something of a checkpoint delineating the break between Vince Staples, the defiant upstart, and Vince Staples, the potential star.
Vince Staples is out now via Blacksmith Recordings/Motown Records. Get it here.
