Music

Post Malone Performs ‘Cooped Up’ And ‘Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol’ For The First Time On ‘SNL’

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In just a few weeks, Post Malone will release his long-awaited fourth album Twelve Carat Toothache, his first full-length effort since 2019’s Hollywood’s Bleeding. With the release date for Twelve Carat Toothache, which is June 3, rapidly approaching, Posty is understandably in full promotion mode for the album’s arrival. An example of that comes through his recent performance on the Selena Gomz-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live. It’s here that Posty performed “Cooped Up,” his newly-released record with Roddy Ricch, and “Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol,” a song that features Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold.

Post Malone kicked off the night by performing “Cooped Up” alongside Roddy Ricch. The new song makes for the duo’s second collaboration following “Wow. (Remix)” back in 2019. Posty rocked a leather jack and leather pants to perform the song on the Studio 8H stage backed by orange and blue lighting before welcoming Roddy to join him. He returned later on the night to debut “Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol” in its entirety, a record he previously teased during an Instagram livestream. For that performance, he was surrounded by a choir dressed in black and white as Posty himself took center stage for an emotional set.

You can watch Posty’s SNL performances in the videos above.

Twelve Carat Toothache is out 6/3 via Republic Records. You can stream it here.

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

Lovers & Friends Festival Was Interrupted By A Mass Stampede Following Reports Of Gunshots

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Two years after it was first announced, the Lovers & Friends Festival finally opened its doors to fans on Saturday in Las Vegas. The nostalgia-themed ’90s hip-hop and R&B-focused showcase was first announced at the beginning of 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic pushed it back until this weekend. The Lovers & Friends Festival is curated by Live Nation, Snoop Dogg, and Bobby Dee, and it flaunted a two-day lineup that include Lauryn Hill, Usher, Ludacris, Lil Jon, TLC, Ciara, Nelly, Ashanti Ja Rule, Ne-Yo, and more. While day one was supposed to be a fun one, it concluded on a scary note as a mass stampede erupted following reports of gunshots at the festival grounds.

According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, who spoke with TMZ, reports of gunfire were made at 10 pm local time and it sparked a massive stampede as fans rushed to leave the venue and flock for safety. “At this time, there is no evidence of a shooting and the initial report has been deemed unfounded,” the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said after their investigation. They also noted that three people were transported to a local hospital with minor injuries. The festival resumed a short time with Usher and more delivering nighttime performances to conclude day one.

The stampede was not the only complaint from fans at Lovers & Friends. Many took to Twitter to complain about the showcase’s inability to provide adequate resources for those who attended the show in the sweltering desert heat as temperatures approached 100 degrees. Fans voiced their frustration about a lack of shade and a poor supply of water among other things at the festival.

You can view some tweets and videos from fans below.

Denzel Curry Shares His Honest And Unfiltered Opinion About ‘Certified Lover Boy’ And ‘Donda’

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Two of 2021’s biggest selling albums were Drake’s Certified Lover Boy and Kanye West’s Donda. The former was the Toronto rap star’s chart-topper full-length release since 2020’s Dark Lane Demo Tapes and one that gave him another No. 1 single with “Way 2 Sexy.” On the flip side, Kanye’s Donda gave him his tenth solo No. 1 album and two Grammy wins for “Hurricane” with The Weeknd and “Jail” with Jay-Z. Despite the accolades that the albums received, Certified Lover Boy and Donda were not the most critically acclaimed bodies of work in 2021. In a recent post on Twitter, Denzel Curry, who recently called himself the “best rapper alive,” gave his honest opinion about the albums.

“Donda and CLB could’ve been better,” Curry wrote. “Yall n****s rich and got the greatest musicians at your disposal.” He continued in second post, adding, “The artwork for both projects were booty.” Unsurprisingly enough, some fans objected to Curry’s with one saying in part, “Donda and CLB washes anything this n**** has ever dropped.” Curry promptly replied, “D*cccccck Eataaaaah.”

Curry would eventually move on from the conversation, but not without sharing one last thought. “There’s people that don’t even listen to my music but agree with what I’m saying so let’s get it,” he wrote. “I’m a real one f*ck wit me.”

You can view Curry’s tweets above.

Future Praises Tems And Says Her ‘Voice Is Amazing’ After Their Song With Drake Goes No. 1

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Despite the long list of albums, mixtapes, and more that fill up his discography, it took Future well over a decade to earn his first No. 1 song as a lead artist. That feat came earlier this week when “Wait For U” with Tems and Drake debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart. The song is a highlight on Future’s ninth album I Never Liked You, which he released at the end of last month. Days after “Wait For U” reached No. 1, Future hopped on Twitter to praise Tems and share how the song came together.

“Soon as I heard the @temsbaby sample over @atljacobbeatz Instantly connected to my soul,’ he wrote in one tweet. Tems’ vocals on “Wait For U” are actually a sample from her 2020 song “Higher” which lives on her For Broken Ears project. Future continued his praises in later tweets. “@temsbaby VOICE IS AMAZING,” he wrote. In a final post, Future thanked Tems for her contribution to “Wait For U.”

“Even tho wait for u is a sample and not an original recording I still put Featuring @temsbaby if u wasn’t familiar with her work,” he wrote. “Thank u Tems.”

Future’s praises come after he and Drake released a Medieval-themed video for the chart-topping song.

You can view Future’s posts above.

I Never Liked You is out now via Freebandz/Epic Records. You can stream it here.

Kendrick Lamar Balances Chaos And Tranquility In His Eventful Video For ‘N95’

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If you’ve been able to lend an ear to Kendrick Lamar’s newly-released fifth album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, you were probably a bit taken aback by the album’s content. With that, it leaves us to wonder what visuals for songs on the album would look like once they’re released. Well, just a day after the album’s arrival, Kendrick has released the first video from Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, that being for “N95.”

The visual is a cinematic affair, one that begins with Kendrick in an all-white garment as he floats above the ocean water. Throughout the video, he works out on a rooftop, plays the piano, dances and does donuts in a car with Baby Keem, watches a car crash into a row of chairs beside him, and much more.

Thanks to the video for “N95,” we now have an idea of when the song was completed, and even when Kendrick got going on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Towards the end of 2020, Kendrick was photographed shooting what many believed was a music video at the time. He was seen rocking tan shorts and a fresh pair of Chucks while sitting on a plastic crate. That same outfit and scene can be found in the visual for “N95” at the 2:32 mark. This is worth noting as Kendrick admits to struggling with writer’s block for two years on “Worldwide Steppers.”

The visual for “N95” arrives after Apple Music announced that Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers earned the most first-day streams for an album released in 2022 on the platform.

You can watch the video for “N95” above.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. You can stream it here.

ASAP Rocky Wants His Relationship With Rihanna To Be Filled With ‘Genuine Real Sh*t’

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Rihanna and ASAP Rocky’s first child will probably arrive in the new few weeks. All eyes have been on the celebrity couple since they kicked off 2022 with the announcement of Rihanna’s pregnancy. Since then, we’ve received pictures of Rihanna happily flaunting her baby bump, comments from Rocky and Rihanna about the couple’s relationship, and details about their “rave-themed” baby shower. Ahead of the birth of his first child, Rocky stopped by the Drink Champs podcast where he opened up about his relationship with Rihanna.

During the conversation, Rocky took a moment to shine a light on co-host N.O.R.E. and commend his decade-long marriage to Neri Santiago, which was documented through WE TV’s Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition. “I could see the realness between both of y’all and sh*t like that and I could really tell, like, y’all been through some sh*t together, y’all been through a journey and it’s real. It’s not fabricated, it’s actually real,” Rocky said. “And that’s what I aspire to keep, just genuine real sh*t, just f**k what the outside world got going on, f**k what the outside world think and sh*t like that. It’s really about an understanding between two components, you and your significant other.”

Rocky’s comments come after he dropped “D.M.B.,” which came with a music video that featured Rihanna herself.

You can watch the clip from Drink Champs in the video above.

LeBron James Posted A Video Of Himself Listening To Kendrick Lamar’s New Album And People Are Roasting Him

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Let’s face it, everyone is listening to the new Kendrick Lamar album. The Compton rapper made the world wait five years after Damn., before he dropped the already monumental accomplishment that is Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers this past Friday. The album officially had the most first-day streams for any album in 2022 on Apple Music, and even your Mom knows a factoid about it that she probably texted you with a bunch of emojis. So it’s only fitting that the NBA’s favorite Dad, LeBron James, is bumping that new Kendrick as well.

And not only is LeBron fully locked in to Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, but he posted a minute and a half video on his Instagram Stories of himself vibing the heck out to it. The first part of the multi-part clip sees LeBron dancing in his backyard to “Mirror,” the last song on the album. “@KendrickLamar VIBES!!! SO TOUGH [fire emojis],” he commented on the first clip. He dances with reckless abandon, rocking a durag and a Spring Hill Entertainment T-shirt (his media company). Then, the video just keeps going, and LeBron? Well, he just keeps dancing, this time to “Rich Spirit.” We see a very extra crown statue in the background and his dance moves just start to melt together into a fairly cringe-y and totally emo display.

Props to LeBron for being vulnerable and giving absolutely zero f*cks. But as they do, the haters have thoughts.

Say what you will, but at least he didn’t try to sing any of the lyrics.

Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ Earned The Most First-Day Streams For A 2022 Album On Apple Music

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Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers arrived as expected on Friday, and to the surprise of no one, the album was one of the most-talked-about things within the first 24 hours of its availability. Topics ranged from Kodak Black’s surprise appearances on the album to Kendrick’s comments about Drake and Kanye’s past beef, as well as his support for the transgender community. Additionally, Kendrick announced The Big Steppers Tour with Baby Keem and Tanna Leone, a string of shows set to kick off later this year. All that together seemed to be enough to help Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers set a new record on Apple Music.

According to a post from the streaming platform, Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers earned the most first-day streams for a 2022 album on Apple Music. While the platform did not provide exact numbers for Kendrick’s new record, it still speaks to the anticipation and focused that was placed on the rapper’s long-awaited fifth album. With Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers headed for a probable debut at No. 1 on the charts, it’s expected that the project will set more records

You can view the announcement from Apple Music in the post above.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. You can stream it here.

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

YSL Rapper Lil Keed Is Dead At 24

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Hours after the world clocked out of work and shifted their attention to the weekend, the music community was met with shocking news. It was announced that YSL rapper Lil Keed had died at just the age of 24. The news was shared by his younger brother and fellow YSL rapper Lil Gotit on his social media pages. “Can’t believe I seened u die today bro I did all my cries,” he wrote in a post. “I know what u want me to do and that’s go hard for Mama Daddy Our Brothers Naychur and Whiteboy.” A cause of death for Keed was not revealed as of press time.

Lil Keed began making music back with Lil Gotit in 2017. He released his first project at the beginning of 2018 with Trapped On Cleveland. That year he would go on to release three more projects, Slime Avenue, Trapped On Cleveland 2, and Keed Talk To ‘Em, with the latter two coming after he inked a deal with YSL Records. In the summer of 2019, Keed released his debut album Long Live Mexico which delivered 20 songs and features from Young Thug, Roddy Ricch, Lil Uzi Vert, YNW Melly, Moneybagg Yo, Nav, Gunna, and more.

The following year, he released Trapped On Cleveland 3 and was inducted into the XXL Freshman Class. The 2020 project gave listeners 19 songs with Young Thug, Gunna, Travis Scott, Lil Baby, Future, Ty Dolla Sign, and more. Trapped On Cleveland 3 was extended to 37 songs with a deluxe reissue in fall 2020.

Keed preparing to release his fifth solo mixtape Keed Talk To ‘Em 2 prior to his death. He leaves behind one daughter named Naychur.

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

Drake’s OVO Fest Is Returning In 2022

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In addition to anointing UK rapper Dave as one of the most unique artists in the business today, Drake also had another surprise for fans at Dave’s tour stop in Toronto last night. After performing “Wanna Know” and “Knife Talk” alongside his host (or guest, since Drake owns the venue, History), Drake told the diehards in attendance that he’s also planning on bringing back his own event, OVO Fest, sometime this year. “I love you with all of my heart,” he said. “They let the city back open so I will see you at OVO Fest soon.”

Drake’s festival would have had its 10th iteration in 2020, but COVID-19 and the resulting safety restrictions forced him to forego plans to celebrate the 10th anniversary at the event itself. Unfortunately, as a side effect of the slowed income from that year, there was no 2021 edition, either. The last OVO Fest took place in 2019 with guests like millennial favorites B2K, Chingy, and Lloyd. Intriguingly enough, Drake’s festival isn’t the only one coming back to Toronto this year; in April, Rolling Loud announced its own event in The Six featuring none other than Dave as a headliner alongside Future and international superstar Wizkid.

Drake didn’t offer any more details, but you can bet when he does, there will be a frenzy to get tickets to his hometown show — no matter how much they cost.