Music

Kendrick Lamar’s ‘The Heart Part 5’ Arrives As An Appetizing Prequel To His Long-Awaited Fifth Album

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Finally.

Late last month, Kendrick Lamar arrived with news that the music world spent the last three or so years waiting to hear from him. He revealed that his fifth album, titled Mr. Morale And The Big Steppers, would arrive on May 13. The announcement was made in a statement from his PgLang agency, which he founded with longtime partner Dave Free. Aside from the album’s title, its release date, and some very early projections of the project’s first-week numbers, there’s little we know about the nature of Mr. Morale And The Big Steppers. With just less than five days until the album arrives, officially launches his new era with “The Heart Part 5.”

The new track is the fifth installment in the series that Kendrick has run in between albums since 2010 with the last edition coming in 2017 with “The Heart Part 4.” Just like “The Heart Part 5,” the 2017 track was released a short time before Kendrick’s fourth album Damn. “The Heart Part 5” is the first piece of music with Kendrick as the lead artist that we’ve received since his contributions to the 2018 Black Panther soundtrack. One of his more recent musical contributions overall came on Baby Keem’s “Family Ties,” which the two won a Grammy award for last month.

The new track also arrives after Kendrick appeared beside Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Mary J. Blige at the upcoming Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show. As the group’s performance neared, rumors swirled that Kendrick would use the marquee weekend to make his long-awaited and that turned out to be the case.

One final note about Mr. Morale And The Big Steppers: it’s set to be Kendrick’s final album on TDE, a label he’s called home since 2004. Once Mr. Morale And The Big Steppers is released to the world, it remains to be seen what Kendrick’s next moves as one of rap’s biggest superstars will be.

You can press play on the video above to hear “The Heart Part 5.”

‘Drunk’ Drake Had Nothing But Jokes After He Crashed Jack Harlow’s Kentucky Derby Interview

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This weekend was quite the active one for Jack Harlow and Drake. The former released his second album Come Home The Kids Miss You which featured an appearance from Drake as well as Lil Wayne, Pharrell, and Justin Timberlake. Harlow and Drake’s collaboration, “Churchill Downs,” is named after the famed horse racing complex in Harlow’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. It’s also the site of this year’s Kentuck Derby which Harlow and Drake both attended on Saturday along with other big names like DJ Drama, Michael Jordan, Lewis Hamilton, and David Beckham.

Jack Harlow took a moment to speak with an NBC Sports reporter during his time at the Derby, and it’s here that things took a hilarious turn. In the middle of the interview, Drake steps in and says, “I was just trying to listen to what you guys got going on, adding, “I just want to hear the conversation. I’m not really here to speak on nothing.” That didn’t last too long as an intoxicated Drake soon took a moment to show some love to Harlow. “I just had to show up. I’m so proud of this guy,” Drake said before adding, “And we’re drunk.” He’d quickly correct himself and clarify that he was drunk while Harlow was sober.

The duo was then asked if they placed any bets on a horse. “We got a lot going on,” Drake said. Harlow added, “We were forced to make a move, on the one and only Happy Jack. He’s really giving a good description of how I feel right now. [If there] was a Happy Aubrey, we’d run that too.” Unfortunately for Harlow at least, Happy Jack finished in 14th place while Rich Strike, who entered with an 80-1 shot of winning, took home the Kentucky Derby crown.

Towards the end of Harlow and now Drake’s TV interview, the rappers seemingly received a cue from the production crew to wrap up the interview, but Drake wasn’t quite ready to end things. “You can’t give the wrap-it-up signal,” he said. “What are you gonna cut to? What are you gonna cut to? A shot of, like, poorly manicured grass, or something?”

You can watch clips from Drake and Harlow’s time at the Kentucky Derby above.

Come Home The Kids Miss You is out now via Atlantic. You can stream it here.

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

Future’s ‘I Never Liked You’ Goes No. 1 With The Biggest Week Of 2022

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It’s been almost seven years since Future obtained his first No. 1 album. He earned it with his 2015 third album DS2 which many herald as a classic in his discography. Future’s stardom was cemented in the following years, especially in 2017 when he released two albums — Future and Hndrxx — in the span of two weeks with both topping the charts. Nowadays, Future’s output is not what it used to be, but his chart performance has remained the same. At the end of last month, Future released his ninth album I Never Liked You and many expected it to debut at No. 1. Those expectations have come true thanks to the latest chart from Billboard.

For the Billboard 200 dated May 14, 2022, Future’s I Never Liked You went No. 1 thanks to 222,000 album units sold in its first week. That number is comprised of 214,000 streaming equivalent album units which equates to 283.75 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs. I Never Liked You also posted 6,500 pure album sales.

With its first-week sales of 222,000 units, Future’s I Never Liked You earns the biggest debut of any album released in 2022. It’s also the highest sales week since Adele’s 30 posted 280,000 units in the week ending on December 2, 2021. Additionally, I Never Liked You had the biggest debut of any hip-hop/R&B album since Drake’s Certified Lover Boy posted 613,000 album sales last September.

Future’s latest No. 1 gives him his eighth chart-topping release in the last seven years which is the most by any artist in that timespan.

You can revisit our review of I Never Liked You here.

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

Eminem Acknowledges His Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction With Help From The Minions

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Earlier this month, it was announced that Eminem would be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He joins Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, Eurythmics, and Carly Simon as artists that will be inducted through the Performers category. After the announcement, The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s CEO Greg Harris praised Eminem during an interview with Taryn Daly of Audacy.

“For a lot of years people asked about hip hop,” he said. “He is the tenth artist to be sort of categorized that way. But you listen to his music, it is as hard-hitting and straight ahead as any metal song. It is right there. It is a chest punch with a message and with a power and with a rhythm and with a band.”

A few days after the inductees for the 2022 class were announced, we finally received a message from Eminem himself about the inclusion, and it couldn’t come in a more Eminem way. The rapper shared a cartoon image of himself standing in front of a bunch of Minions in between a message that read “The Minions congratulate Eminem. Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 2022.”

Fans noticed that amongst the cast of Minions, there is a green one with an M on its chest and it looks extremely similar to an M&M (which is phonetically pronounced the same way as Eminem). As a result, many believe that Eminem is in some way involved in the upcoming Minions: Rise Of Guru movie which arrives in theatres on July 1. It’s also not the first time that Eminem has promoted the movie as he did so at the end of March with a trailer that featured “Lose Yourself” playing in the background.

You can view Eminem’s tweet above.

Kanye West’s Video For ‘Life Of The Party’ Will Premiere In An Ad For Yeezy Gap Engineered By Balenciaga

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As 2022 got underway, it appeared that Kanye West would shift his attention to his eleventh album Donda 2. The project eventually arrived in February, but not in the traditional way that we might have expected. He decided that the album would be housed exclusively on his Stem Player website, and to this day, he’s yet to upload the project to streaming services. However, since releasing Donda last summer, Kanye has continued to share content from the album. He dropped a visual for “Hurricane,” the Grammy-winning standout from the album and now he’s announced that a visual for “Life Of The Party” is on the way.

The track, which features Andre 3000 and finds both rappers speaking about their mothers, will have a matching visual for it released later today. With today being Mother’s Day, it’s a perfect day to share the video for the song. The visual will be available to view on all streaming platforms starting at 9:45pm EST later tonight.

A press release for the video’s announcement also revealed that the visual will appear in the first TV commercial for Yeezy Gap Engineered By Balenciaga. New pieces from the collaboration, which has been described as a “creative exploration,” will debut in the commercial. The items will be available for release on May 25 at 9am EST/6pm PST on Yeezy Gap’s website as well as sites for Balenciaga’s online partners: Farfetch, Mytheresa, and Luisa Via Roma.

Later tonight, you can click here to watch the video for “Life Of The Party.”

42 Dugg Claimed He Was A Sovereign Citizen Exempt From Federal Laws According To Prosecutors

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Earlier this week, 42 Dugg was arrested by federal agents at a Detroit airport after he failed to turn himself in for a sixth-month sentence for firearm possession. The charge comes after Dugg, who is a convicted felon, was seen firing a weapon at an Atlanta gun range back in 2019. As a result, he was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay a $90,000 fine. However, Dugg repeatedly violated the terms of his probation after he allegedly tested positive for drugs on multiple occasions and was arrested in Las Vegas. As a result, a judge sentenced him to six months at a federal prison camp in West Virginia.

According to Detroit News, prosecutors shared that they had been looking for Dugg since April when he was scheduled to turn himself in to the prison camp. Eventually, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives secured a search warrant to track the location of the rapper’s phone, which led to them finding him at the Detroit airport around 4:45 a.m. Wednesday. The next day, prosecutors explained why they believe Dugg is a flight risk during a court hearing about the arrest.

“When he was arrested he had $25,000 in cash and more than $100,000 in jewelry,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Lanning said during the hearing. “He’s claimed more than $11 million worth of assets. He has access to a private plane with a pilot willing to fly an unnumbered flight where Mr. Hayes is not included on the flight’s manifest.” Lanning concluded, “That’s not an accident. That’s not a happenstance.”

In response to the charges, Dugg’s lawyer told the Detroit News that his client did not turn himself in because they were appealing the six-month sentence. He adds that they mistakenly believed that Dugg did not need to surrender as the appeal was pending. Despite this, prosecutors said Dugg and his teamed filed paperwork in late April that claimed the rapper was a sovereign citizen that was exempt from federal laws. On Thursday, Dugg’s court-appointed lawyer, Casey Swanson, said Dugg did not file the paperwork. “Mr. Hayes did not flee,” she said. “He did not intentionally avoid a sentence in this case.”

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

Jack Harlow Says Dua Lipa Approved The Song About Her On His New Album

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Less than two years removed from his strong debut album That’s What They All Say, Jack Harlow returned over the weekend with his sophomore effort Come Home The Kids Miss You. It presents 15 tracks and the previously heard singles “Nail Tech” and “First Class” as well as guest appearances from Drake, Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake, and Pharrell. While Harlow’s collaboration with Drake, titled “Churchill Downs,” is one of the highlights off the new album, another track that’s getting some attention is “Dua Lipa.” Harlow uses the track to shoot a confident shot at the Grammy-winning Future Nostalgia singer.

During a recent appearance on The Breakfast Club, Harlow revealed that he got Dua Lipa’s approval for the song before putting it on his album. “I wanted to get her blessing,” he said. “I didn’t want her to be blindsided by that or feel creeped out or anything.” Harlow revealed that Lipa’s response was “I suppose it’s OK.” He added, “If she had said, ‘Yo, I hate it, I don’t want it to come out,’ it wouldn’t have came out.”

Harlow was then asked if he had a crush on Dua Lipa. “I admire her,” he replied. “I think when the song comes out, she’ll grow to appreciate it even more.”

You can listen to “Dua Lipa” and check out The Breakfast Club interview in the videos above.

Come Home The Kids Miss You is out now via Atlantic Records. You can stream it here.

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

Lil Nas X Wins Outstanding Music Artist At The 2022 GLAAD Media Awards

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Last month, Lil Nas X brought his talents to the 2022 Grammy Awards where he was nominated in five categories. While he gave exciting and energetic performances of “Industry Baby” and “Montero” at the show, Lil Nas would end the night without a new Grammy award to call his own. Lucky for him, less than a month later, Lil Nas is back to his winning ways as he took home a trophy at the 2022 GLAAD Media Awards. During the second half of the awards Friday night, which comes after the first half was held on April 2, Lil Nas won the Outstanding Music Artist award.

It’s the second time in three years that Lil Nas has been graced with the award after he won it for the first time back in 2020. With the win, Lil Nas X becomes the eighth repeat winner of that award in the show’s history. Melissa Etheridge, Rufus Wainwright, K.D. Lang, and Scissor Sisters have won it three times while Indigo Girls, Lady Gaga, and Tegan and Sara have won the award two times.

The news comes after Lil Nas announced the Long Live Montero Tour which will kick off on September 6 in Detroit and continue for two months before coming to a close in Spain on November 17.

Nicki Minaj’s Father’s Killer Faces A Year In Prison After Pleading Guilty To A Pair Of Felonies

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Last year, Nicki Minaj suffered a huge loss in her life through the unexpected death of her father Robert Maraj. The 64-year-old was walking between Roslyn Road and Raff Avenue in Long Island, New York on February 12, 2021 when he was hit by a car heading northbound. The driver did not stop at the scene and Maraj would eventually die from his injuries. The vehicle in question was driven by 71-year-old Charles Polevich who turned himself in for the incident less than a week later. As a result, Polevich was charged with one felony count each of leaving the scene of an incident without reporting and another count of evidence tampering.

A little over a year after the tragic incident, we now know how long Polevich might stay in prison. According to TMZ, the 71-year-old pled guilty to the aforementioned felonies during a recent hearing. With that, he escaped a seven-year sentence after Judge Howard Sturium agreed that Polevich could serve a maximum of one year in prison in addition to fulfilling community service requirements and getting his license suspended.

Shortly after her father’s death last winter, Nicki took to Instagram to remember him with a heartful message and pictures of them together. “I can say it has been the most devastating loss of my life,” she wrote in one post.

Polevich will head back to court on August 3 to receive his official prison sentence.

‘Stranger Things’ Caleb McLaughlin Looks To Escape In The ‘Soul Travel’ Video

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While Stranger Things is set to return this month, actor Caleb McLaughlin is looking to remind the world that he’s multi-faceted with the new “Soul Travel” visual. The 20-year-old wrote, performed, and produced the upbeat love song, asking his lover to get away from the city with him as his life is moving too fast. Throughout the video, you’ll see McLaughlin riding in between women in the car or spending time with his friends. With such a demanding life, his desire to leave it all behind and focus on who he cares about the most is sensible.

This is just the second track that Caleb has ever released, following 2021’s “Neighborhood.” He told Complex that “Soul Travel,” despite being done before “Neighborhood,” is actually a continuation of that song’s story. “‘Neighborhood’ tells the story of a teenager meeting a girl and bringing her to my neighborhood, and then in ‘Soul Travel’ I am talking about going away while driving in the video.”

You can find Caleb playing Lucas Sinclair in Strangers Things’ penultimate season kicking off this month, before closing off for good in Season 5. The show has been running since 2016 and received favorable reviews from fans and critics alike.