Music

YFN Lucci’s Lawyer Criticizes Georgia’s ‘Racist’ RICO Law That Has Young Thug And Gunna Behind Bars

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The fate of Young Thug, Gunna, and other YSL members most likely won’t be known until January 2023. That’s because both Young Thug and Gunna had their bond denied in the RICO case against them that began last month when a 56-count case against 28 members was unveiled. Gunna’s bond was denied as he was accused of having a “command” role in YSL while Young Thug was labeled a possible danger to the community when his bond was denied. Since the case began, Georgia’s RICO case has been criticized for multiple reasons, including the fact that song lyrics are being used in court.

YFN Lucci’s lawyer Drew Findling, aka the “Billion Dollar Lawyer,” was the latest person to criticize the RICO law. He did so during a recent conversation with TMZ. “I think we’ve exaggerated what gangs are in Atlanta,” he said. “I think we’ve exaggerated what RICO is Atlanta. We need to take a look at just going ahead and charging people based on their lyrics and musical aspirations and their First Amendment right to express themselves. We’re not really indicting anybody from Quentin Tarantino films, are we?”

Findling continued, “We’re not indicting anybody for, ‘I shot the sheriff, but I didn’t shoot the deputy down,’ but all of a sudden we’ve handpicked this music, this music aspiration, and this music of people in the Black and brown community and it’s completely f*cking racist and that’s what it is.”

In addition to representing Lucci, who is currently behind bars on a RICO charge and has ties to the YSL RICO case, Findling has also represented Gucci Mane, Offset, and DaBaby in the past.

You can watch Findling share his thoughts with TMZ here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Queen Latifah Sides With Lil Nas X After He Was Snubbed From The 2022 BET Awards: ‘He Should’ve Been Nominated’

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Earlier this week, the BET Awards unveiled the list of nominations for its upcoming show later this month. Doja Cat led the way with six nominations in categories that include best female R&B/pop artist, best female hip-hop artist, and album of the year. Elsewhere, Ari Lennox and Drake were tied for the second-most nominations as they can both be found in four categories. With that being said, there was a glaring absence in the list of nominees, with that being Lil Nas X, and fans were not happy about it. Lil Nas himself expressed his frustration at the snub in a pair of now-deleted tweets.

“Thank you bet awards,” he wrote in one of the tweets. “An outstanding zero nominations again. black excellence!” He later added, “I just feel like black gay ppl have to fight to be seen in this world and even when we make it to the top mfs try to pretend we are invisible.” Many agreed that Lil Nas should’ve been nominated, including Queen Latifah, who shared her thoughts after a run-in with TMZ.

“Lil Nas X is amazing,” she said. “He should’ve been nominated.” Despite this, Latifah didn’t seem to think that his sexuality was behind the snub. “I don’t know if that’s the case. I don’t know what’s behind all that, but inclusion is always the key. That’s what we should be striving for. There’s enough room in this world for everybody.”

You can view Queen Latifah’s interaction with TMZ here.

Doechii Says Her Dog Was Eaten By A Coyote While She Was On Vacation

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Doechii is one of this year’s buzziest artists after dropping cinematic videos for her songs “Crazy” and “Persuasive,” as well as having gone viral on TikTok with her “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” sound. Unfortunately, the latest news from the TDE-backed rapper isn’t great. While she was away on vacation, Doechii took to her Instagram story to share that her dog was eaten by a coyote.

“My dog got eaten by a coyote today,” she said in a now-deleted post, “so I’m not sure how to continue on with the vacation.”

She has since posted clips from her vacation on her story, however, it is unclear if those clips were previously recorded or recorded in real-time.

Following the news about her dog, rapper JT from City Girls took to Twitter to express support for Doechii.

“so sorry this happened to her,” said JT, “especially while she’s away.”

JT faced a similar incident last month, while she was out of town, however, her dogs remained unharmed.

“So while I was out of town a coyote tried to get in the yard to get my puppies while they was playing,” said JT in a tweet, “now I’m sad & don’t want them to play outside no more!”

Drake Picked Up The Tab For Two Women In A Detroit Bar

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During a recent visit to Detroit, Drake surprised a pair of friends in a bar by joining them for shots.

In the clip, Brittney asks Drake, “What you drinking? Light or dark? I’m a whiskey type of girl.” She proceeds to order a shot of Jack Daniel’s, then asks Drake if he wants Casamigos. He responds “42, please,” referring to Don Julio 1942 Anejo Tequila.

In a separate clip, obtained by TMZ, Drake is seen declining Brittney’s offer, as he was set to board a flight later, however he later changed his mind and took her up on her offer.

Brittney later spoke to TMZ, saying Drake was “as courteous as ever.” According to her, Brittney ordered a shot of Jack, but when the camera was off, Drake upgraded her to Johnny Walker. He also covered the tab for Brittney and her friend.

This isn’t the first time Drake has taken someone by surprise on camera.

As his buddy Jack Harlow was doing an interview with NBC Sports last month at the Kentucky Derby, Drake, who later clarified that he was drunk, stepped into the frame, saying, “I just had to show up. I’m so proud of this guy.”

Check out the full clip above.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Hunxho Channels The Black Panthers In His New ‘Fight’ Video

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Still hot off the release of his Street Poetry project, which dropped this past March, Atlanta rapper Hunxho has dropped a new video for “Fight.” In the video, directed by Hunxho embodies the power-fighting spirit of the Black Panthers, knocking out his opps as he fights them in a warehouse.

Over the past year, Hunxho (not to be confused with fellow ATL rapper Quavo, who also has adopted the Huncho nickname) has proven to be a promising act, garnering a huge amount of streams following his viral single, “Let’s Get It,” featuring fellow ATL rapper 21 Savage. Although Street Poetry was just released this past March, he is already gearing up to drop a new EP called Xhosen later this month.

In a recent interview with AllHipHop, Hunxho says that all though he’s achieved a considerable fan base, he plans to continue working as if he hasn’t blown up.

“Man, if I can sleep in the studio I will,” Hunxho said. “As long as I’m doing something that’s got to do with music, I feel good. I like moving a lot, I like doing a lot. I want to every day, wake up and do something that has to do with music. I like working. I don’t ever want to feel like I made it. I don’t care if I made it yet, I’ll always want to keep working.”

Check out “Fight” above.

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

Logic And Wiz Khalifa Announce Their Vinyl Verse Summer Tour

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With Logic gearing up to release his album Vinyl Days this month, it’s only right that he’s also launching a tour to go with it. Dubbed the Vinyl Verse Summer Tour, the tour is a joint excursion alongside Wiz Khalifa launching Wednesday, July 27 at FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine, California, and running through to the beginning of September, ending on September 2 at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in St. Louis, Missouri. Logic and Wiz will be joined by 24kGoldn, DJ Drama, Fedd The God, and C Dot Castro, with select dates featuring Berner and Rubi Rose.

Vinyl Days will be Logic’s seventh and final album under Def Jam. Fueled by the singles “Therapy Music” with Russ, “Orville” with Blu & Exile and Like of Pac Div, and “Bleed It,” the album is due on June 17. You can pre-save it here and see the full tour dates below.

7/27– Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre^
7/28 – Inglewood, CA @ YouTube Theater^
7/30 – Phoenix, AZ @ Ak-Chin Pavilion^
8/02 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater^
8/03 – El Paso, TX @ UTEP Don Haskins Center^
8/05 – Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater^
8/06 – Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion^
8/07 – Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion^
8/08 – Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP^
8/10 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena^
8/11 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion^
8/12 – Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheatre^
8/13 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach^
8/14 – Camden, NJ @ Waterfront Music Pavilion^
8/16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclay’s Center^
8/17 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center!
8/19 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live!
8/20 – Hartford, CT @ XFINITY Theatre!
8/21 – Gilford, NH @ Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion!
8/22 – Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center^
8/23 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center^
8/25 – Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheatre^
8/26 – Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center^
8/27 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center^
8/28 – Burgettstown, PA @ The Pavilion at Star Lake^
8/30 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center^
9/01 – Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre^
9/02 – St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre!

^ = With Rubi Rose
! = With Berner
* = No 24KGoldn

A Teen Young Thug Fan Was Arrested For Making Death Threats Against The Fulton County Sheriff’s Department

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When 28 members of Young Thug’s Atlanta-based YSL crew were arrested for racketeering — including Gunna and Young Thug himself — fans were understandably distraught. However, one fan, in particular, took things a little too far according to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department, which told FOX5 that it had arrested the teenaged offender after he made death threats against the Sheriff and the Fulton County Clerk.

18-year-old Quartavius Mender was taken into custody on May 26 after commenting on Sheriff Pat Labat’s Instagram posts, saying that he would kill Labat, Labat’s wife Jackie, and Atlanta Public Schools Police Chief Ronald Applin unless the defendants in the case were set free. While Fox’s report is vague about just which defendant Mender was referring to, it’s probably safe enough to guess who the “high-profile defendant” was. Mender has been charged with 23 counts of terrorist threats, which are all felonies, and he has not been granted bond as yet.

“We take these kinds of brazen threats seriously,” Labat told the local news. “Social media cyberbullying, and hiding behind a keyboard will not protect someone from criminal prosecution. Our investigators are diligent in seeking individuals who mean to do harm to anybody, and I am grateful to them for ensuring the safety of myself, my wife, and all citizens of Fulton County.”

Young Thug, Gunna, and their YSL cohorts were all arrested and charged under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act for being a hybrid street gang responsible for dozens of counts of violent crimes, from armed robbery to murder. However, the case has also drawn criticism for including the two rappers, as the majority of the evidence listed against them in the 88-page indictment came in the form of their own lyrics, which prosecutors used to draw the connection between them and the alleged gang. Most recently, Young Thug and Gunna were both denied bond, as the judge felt they could both be flight risks or even tamper with witnesses.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

‘P-Valley’: Here’s All The Music You Heard In Season 2, Episode 1

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(SPOILERS for this week’s P-Valley epsiode will be found below.)

After almost two years, P-Valley made its return to STARZ to kick off the show’s long-awaited second season. The Katori Hall-led show, which is an adaptation of her play of the same title, follows a group of strippers who work at The Pynk, a strip club in Chucalissa, Mississippi. For season two of P-Valley, things are a bit different at The Pynk. Hailey, who came to Chucalissa after surviving a hurricane, is now a co-owner of the strip club after she paid $250,000 to buy it at an auction after it went into foreclosure towards the end of season one. Additionally, all of the girls at The Pynk are figuring out how to stay afloat as the world navigates the coronavirus pandemic.

The aforementioned events in this week’s episode are soundtracked by songs that help to accentuate the emotions behind each scene. They include Jucee Froot’s thumping “Down In The Valley” which serves as the series’ theme song.

What Songs Were In ‘P-Valley’ S2E1?

The songs that soundtracked the standout moments on this week’s episode of P-Valley are Jucee Froot’s “Distance” with A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and J. Alphonse Nicholson’s “Mississippi Pride (Extended)” with FM New Money and “When I Get Out.” Froot’s record appears as a man (Rolando Boyce) checks out a make-shift car wash that the Pynk Ladies have set up to bring in some dollars. It’s this scene that establishes the new day-to-day lives of everyone at The Pynk.

Nicholson’s records support his role as Lil Murda on the show. Both records show that the aspiring rapper is finding his sound as he aims to spread his name far past the Mississippi Delta.

The soundtrack for this week’s episode also includes the following songs:

Jennifer Robles & Belinda Robles — “Drip Wet”
Shae Marie — “IDFWYB”
LightSkinKeisha — “Spend Sum Cash”
Sam Cooke — “The Last Mile Of The Way”

STARZ’s ‘P-Valley’ airs on Thursdays at 9:00 pm EST.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lizzo Hilariously Declares Harry Styles ‘Put The Whole Harrussy Into’ His Album ‘Harry’s House’

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A lot of people out there like Harry Styles’ new album Harry’s House and there’s plenty of quantifiable data to back that up: “As It Was” is No. 1 for a fourth week, three other songs from the album are in the top 10, and Harry’s House debuted at No. 1 with far and away the biggest sales week of the year. The LP has itself a fan in Lizzo, too, who found a creative way to express how terrific she thinks the album is.

During a recent Instagram Live session, the conversation got to Harry’s House, about which Lizzo proclaimed, “[Styles] put his… Harrussy [laughs]… he put the whole Harrussy into that album. I love his new album.”

The linguistics of that feedback are funny but not unprecedented coming from Lizzo, whose own current hit single “About Damn Time” includes the lyric, “Feelin’ fussy, walkin’ in my Balenci-ussies.”

Of course, Lizzo and Styles have become friendly in recent years: They put on a joint concert during the weekend of the Super Bowl in 2020 and more recently, Lizzo popped up as a surprise guest during Styles’ set at Coachella this year.

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

Syd Opens Up About Writing Songs During A Breakup: ‘That Anger Was Still In There’

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Syd recently released her sophomore album Broken Hearts Club, whose title off the bat hints at the headspace she was in while working on the record. The artist told Uproxx that the main difference between this LP and her debut was the increased sense of vulnerability, which a listener can notice immediately in the songs. She explained more about that in a new interview with Rolling Stone, discussing how she approached songwriting after going through a breakup.

“There’s one song in particular on the album that I wrote while I was really still in it,” she said. “I wrote it, like, sobbing, probably. But everything else… I actually took a few months off to heal from the heartbreak before I started writing anything, because the first few songs that I wrote sounded really bitter because that anger was still in there so I had to lift some weights. Get that out and revisit it. Once I revisited it, I honestly started off trying not to write songs about it. And so I wrote a lot of random stuff. A lot of practice songs. And I let what come out come out. I think that’s the best way to do it — keep it organic.”

Check out the full Rolling Stone interview here.