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Burna Boy Reveals His Plan To Release His New Album ‘Love, Damini’ During His MSG Concert
Burna Boy released his last album, Twice As Tall, under very different circumstances than his US breakthrough African Giant. Twice As Tall dropped in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — which didn’t stop it from reaching No. 11 on the Billboard 200 and garnering a Best World Music Album Grammy Award. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to tour the album when it came out, the only thing truly detracting from its impressive success.
However, it doesn’t look like his next album will have those same problems. Burna unveiled the album’s title at the biggest signifier of his success so far: his recent concert at Madison Square Garden. It’ll be called Love, Damini, and according to a press release, it’s due to “release for his 31st birthday,” which would make it available on July 2. While that date is probably subject to change, it’s certainly exciting news for fans of Afrobeats — and for the 20,000 or so fans in attendance at his concert last night, where performed his global hits.
If you missed the show, not to fear; it streamed live on YouTube, with the video remaining available to watch.
Watch Burna Boy’s Madison Square Garden concert above.
Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The Best Vinyl Releases Of April 2022
Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.
Whatever you might be into, each month brings a new slew of vinyl releases that has something for everybody. Some stand out above the rest, naturally, so check out some of our favorite vinyl releases of April below.
El-P — Fantastic Damage (20th Anniversary Reissue), I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (15th Anniversary Reissue), Cancer 4 Cure (10th Anniversary Reissue)
While El-P is best known today as half of Run The Jewels alongside Killer Mike, he had previously made a name for himself with his own material. He put out three solo albums between 2002 and 2012, with each one of them celebrating a milestone anniversary here in 2022. So, now, El has made those albums available on vinyl for the first time in years, all getting special colored pressings.
Get them here.
Wet Leg — Wet Leg
Wet Leg has Dave Grohl’s attention and they should have yours, too. The Isle Of Wight duo is fresh off releasing their beloved self-titled debut album, which went No. 1 in the UK and Australia. The album has a lot going on besides viral hit “Chaise Longue,” all of which are sure to be delightful when experienced on a turntable.
Get it here.
M83 — Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (10th Anniversary Reissue)
Sixth time was the charm for French group M83, as their sixth album, 2012’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, was their most iconic release and biggest success so far. It’s been a decade since the release of the Grammy-nominated album, which has prompted an anniversary reissue, pressed on vibrant orange vinyl and emblazoned with alternate cover art.
Get it here.
Pavement — Terror Twilight: Farewell Horizontal
Terror Twilight is a truly classic Pavement release and now it’s being given a reissue so in-depth that it necessitates a new title: Terror Twilight: Farewell Horizontal. This edition of the album has a ton of extras, most notably 28 previously unreleased tracks, consisting of the remastered original album, B-sides, home demos, rehearsal tapes, live recordings, and even the rough tracks from a scrapped session.
Get it here.
Kurt Vile — Watch My Moves
Vile recently told Uproxx of his new album, “Basically, I just want it to be as honest as possible. I want the songs to creep up to me. In the older days, I used to think too much. ‘Oh, why am I not writing? Am I going to write a good song?’ None of that matters, because now I like when I’m not writing. I like to be present in whatever I’m doing and then the music comes through inspiration. If you just go about your day, inspiration’s going to strike. I’m not too worried about anything really. I feel like I’ve proved a lot on this album, to be honest. But at the same time, I have nothing to prove.”
Get it here.
Marvin Gaye — What’s Going On (50th Anniversary Reissue)
What’s Going On has been at or near the top of so many “best albums of all time” lists that it truly justifies the cliche of needing no introduction. The album is 50 years old now and a new reissue in honor of that milestone is full of treats. Included here are four rare cuts making their vinyl debut, including a previously unreleased “stripped” version of the title track.
Get it here.
Brian May — Another World (Reissue)
Queen is of course Brian May’s biggest claim to fame, but he also had a handful of solo albums following Freddie Mercury’s death. Now, 1998’s Another World has been given new life via a fresh reissue, which, among other goodies, includes Another Disc, a collection of alternative versions, B-sides, and live recordings.
Get it here.
Jack White — Fear Of The Dawn
Jack White, perhaps the music industry’s biggest supporter of vinyl, has a new album out, so it’s only natural to pick it up in LP form. Furthermore, Target has an exclusive “moon glow white” pressing of it, which pairs gorgeously with the cover art.
Get it here.
A Tribe Called Quest — The Low End Theory (Vinyl Me, Please reissue)
Speaking of prominent figures in the vinyl community, Vinyl Me, Please has been up to a lot lately: Aside from announcing a new pressing plant in Denver, one of the latest albums of the month is a reissue of A Tribe Called Quest’s classic album The Low End Theory, a 2-LP release that is pressed on aesthetically simple and perfect red and green vinyl.
Get it here.
Toro y Moi — Mahal (Vinyl Me, Please reissue)
VMP’s monthly album selections are their main attraction, but they have other sorts of exclusive pressings available, too. For example, they’re currently offering an edition of Toro y Moi’s new album Mahal, pressed on “blue jay and white” vinyl. To even further connect this specific pressing with the aesthetics of the album cover, VMP references the bus on the cover by offering a bumper sticker, the sort of clever nod that helps make VMP the best at what they do.
Get it here.
Kehlani Marks The Release Of ‘Blue Water Road’ With A Video For ‘Everything’
Today is a major day for Kehlani, as it marks the release of her third album, Blue Water Road. To mark the occasion, she released a video for “Everything,” a smooth and tranquil tune that sees Kehlani infatuated with a well-rounded special someone.
“Everything” is a solo cut, but the new album sees Kehlani collaborating with Justin Bieber, Blxst, Syd, Jessie Reyez, Ambré, and Thundercat, as well as getting songwriting contributions from Anthony Clemons Jr., Ravyn Lenae, and Jacob Collier.
Kehlani previously said of the new album, “Blue Water Road is a destination in my mind. I’m giving everyone access. It’s an emotional journey, a sexual journey, and a spiritual journey. To me, the album is like a glass house. It’s light, transparent, and the sun is shining right through it.”
Meanwhile, Kehlani is fresh off throwing shade at Noel Gallagher, who recently called Harry Styles’ music “worthless” and claimed he doesn’t actually write his own songs. Kehlani has since responded, “That person — whoever that is — can kiss my ass.”
Watch the “Everything” video above.
Blue Water Road is out now via Atlantic. Get it here.
Kehlani is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Olivia Wilde Is Reportedly ‘Confused’ And Mortified By Having Legal Papers Served To Her While Promoting A Movie
While preparing to present the trailer for her highly-anticipated movie Don’t Worry Darling starring Harry Styles and Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde was served with legal papers from ex Jason Sudeikis. The two split in 2020, and have two kids together.
The move confused those in attendance, though Wilde calmly took the papers and continued with her presentation. Wilde has been linked with Styles for the past year and was recently seen attending his Coachella set. The two allegedly began dating while Wilde was directing the film.
A source told Page Six that the whole ordeal was confusing and inappropriate, and sent Wilde reeling. “Olivia was confused when she was handed the envelope, and she was even more confused when she opened it,” the source shared.
The source added, “It seemed unthinkable to her, and it took a moment to set in, but as mortifying as it was, she did not want to give a reaction. She was there to introduce a project that is near and dear to her heart, and for someone to try to take that moment from her — whether it be Jason, a process server or anyone else — was beyond inappropriate.”
Sedeikis’ team insists the Ted Lasso actor had no knowledge of when and where the papers would be served, which can be at the descretion of the legal team that was hired.
Bakar Is The Moment
It’s hard to nail Bakar down — in terms of genre, style, and, in his early days, even by a name. With each of the London-bred singer’s songs, he wants the listener to cherish the moment in which they are hearing and feeling it. On Bakar’s debut album, February’s Nobody’s Home, each track unfolds like the pages of a book, detailing his most cherished moments, lining in Hampstead, Camden, and Chalk Hill.
We get a glimpse of Bakar’s day-to-day life in the video for “NW3,” the title of which refers to the postal code of London’s Hampstead district. Whether he’s alone on a rooftop, enjoying a meal with friends, or smoking in his flat, Bakar finds solace in each moment, often getting lost in time, dancing throughout.
But before Bakar, born Abubakar Baker Shariff-Farr, “found the answer” in “NW,” he released much of his music on Soundcloud beginning in 2015, anonymously. Oftentimes, he would upload vocal freestyles over samples of King Krule and Bombay Bicycle Club, many of his raw, unfiltered lyrics opening windows to his soul. One of these tracks is 2016’s “Sharing Is Caring,” on which, he reels over a love lost.
“Hope that you believe like how I believe / Gave you my love, you sold it back to me / Play with love too much, you might lose it / Smoked my last Camel but we can twos it,” Bakar sings, as adlibbed hums and coos give the song a forlorn and haunting element.
The influence of Kid Cudi and Dev Hynes is present in Bakar’s work, the latter of which Bakar has been a fan of since Hynes’ Lightspeed Champion days. Hynes released his most recent album as Lightspeed Champion in 2010, and Bakar says Hynes and Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke were among his favorite artists during his adolescence. As Bakar is wont to live in the moment, these are probably the closest hints we’ll ever get in regards to his actual age. In a 2018 interview with Wonderland, following the release of his debut mixtape, Badkid Bakar said his age was “infinity.”
A year after that interview, Bakar would release an EP called Will You Be My Yellow?, which contained the breakthrough hit, “Hell N Back.” Like Bakar himself, his music is ageless, as he remarks on a tumultuous relationship over jazzy horns and subtle drum patterns.
“Could you tell where my head was at when you found me? Me and you went to hell and back just to find peace,” he sings, delivering soft, silky vocals, with his soulful, British accent still audible throughout.
“Hell N Back” became a sleeper hit in the United States, reaching the top of the Adult Alternative Charts 27 weeks after its release, breaking the record for the longest climb to No. 1. Bakar had actually begun the process of writing Nobody’s Home before he wrote Will You Be My Yellow?, but the timing of the ideas he had conceived and the work he wanted to put out just wasn’t right.
“Will You be My Yellow? started picking up — you know, that song ‘Hell N Back’ started going crazy,” Bakar said in an interview with Document Journal. “It bought me some time, basically, to figure out the record. A couple songs [from my first try] were really potent. They stood the test of time. When I came back to Nobody’s Home in 2020, I was ready, long story short. I was so ready — the way the world was, all the topics, Palestine, this, that.”
On his proper debut, Bakar offers a collection of tracks that are both timely and timeless. He shares anecdotes of love and heartbreak, both romantic and familial. On a particular track, “Youthenasia,” he explores the dark parts of fame, and how his status has affected his role in his family.
“It’s like lately feel the pressure, I’ve been feelin’ nauseous / Lately like my mama has become my daughter / I wouldn’t change it for the world, man, this sh*t is awesome / I ain’t seen my dad in fifteen years, who would’ve thought it?,” he rap-sings over a thumping drum loop.
As the son of an immigrant mother from Tanzania, Bakar examines racial injustice on the track “The Mission,” while expressing a desire to create wealth for the generations of his family after him.
“All I ever hear is people talking about how bad nepotism is,” Bakar says in the song. “Do you know how badly I want some nepotism in my life?”
Since his breakthrough, Bakar has found fans in collaborators Dominic Fike, Kenny Beats, and Benee, as well as the late Virgil Abloh, the artistic creative director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection. Abloh even designed a special edition cover for Bakar’s Nobody’s Home. Though Bakar’s rise in the US may seem less rapid compared to that of the TikTok hitmakers of our time, his music, both old and new, still sounds fresh and timely, whether you were to have your first listen today, or months from now.
An Astroworld Documentary Maker Claims Travis Scott Is A Criminal And Deserves Jail Time
As we ease back into festival season, the tension continues when it comes to the unresolved tragedy of Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival, where ten people died. There have been many lawsuits, petitions to get him removed from Coachella, and conflicting attempts of damage control. The rapper was just recently announced as a headliner for Brazilian festival Primavera Sound, his first since the tragedy.
In the midst of all this, filmmaker Charlie Minn has been working on a documentary that’s (maybe insensitively) called Concert Crush: The Travis Scott Festival Tragedy. In a recent interview with Page Six, Minn said, “Travis Scott to me is a punk. In my opinion, he is a criminal. Ten people died. How do we get around that?”
“The reason he deserves criticism and jail time, he knew there was a problem,” he further explained. “He acknowledged an ambulance in the crowd. He noticed people passed out and stopped the show on three occasions. I’m not saying he knew people were dead, but he knew there was a problem. An ambulance is not an ice cream truck.”
The documentary is playing in select theaters in Texas starting today for just one week. It’s also available to stream online.
Nardo Wick Talks Super Tough In His Intense ‘Krazy Krazy’ Video
Burgeoning Jacksonville, Florida star Nardo Wick explained who he is with his 2021 debut album (fittingly titled Who Is Nardo Wick?, which dropped via RCA Records in December). Today, he picks up where he left off with the video for “Krazy Krazy,” his first new music since dropping the debut. “Krazy Krazy” comes with an intense video depicting the Florida rapper’s livewire energy through clips in the studio and on the streets, sewn together with a frenetic edit that matches the thumping Tay Keith production.
Nardo’s been on a roll since releasing his breakout single, “Who Want Smoke??” Releasing a remix of the song featuring 21 Savage, G Herbo, and Lil Durk, he maintained his momentum with another star-assisted single, “Me Or Sum” featuring Future and Lil Baby. The strength of those singles helped lift his first major-label album to a No. 21 debut on the Billboard 200.
Also featured on the album were fellow rising stars like Big30 from Memphis and Milwaukee’s own Lakeyah, while production was contributed by Boi-1da, Hit-Boy, Murda Beatz, and Tay Keith. In addition, Nardo was able to keep his name buzzing this year with features on Doe Boy’s mixtape Oh Really and Latto’s album, 777.
Watch Nardo Wick’s “Krazy Krazy” video above.
Kehlani Defends Harry Styles From Noel Gallagher’s Snide Remarks: ‘Whoever That Is Can Kiss My Ass’
Noel Gallagher is pretty well-known for being one of rock’s grumpiest grumpy old men, often making condescending remarks about everyone from Jay-Z to his own brother and former Oasis bandmate, Liam Gallagher. Most recently, he directed his disdain toward Harry Styles, calling the pop star’s music “worthless” and positing that he doesn’t write his own songs — an opinion likely born from Styles’ origins as a member of X Factor-launched boy band, One Direction.
Normally, given Noel’s crotchety reputation, the majority of music’s stars dismiss or ignore him (although Jay-Z got in an awesome, subtle shot in 2008 at Glastonbury, pretending to play a guitar and covering “Wonderwall”), but one self-declared Harry Styles fan decided to stand up for him in a recent interview. Appearing on NME’s latest cover, Kehlani addressed the situation in the accompanying feature promoting their new album, Blue Water Road.
“That person – whoever that is – can kiss my ass,” they said. “They might as well call me inauthentic and I’m about as authentic as it gets. [Styles] worked his ass off to make people fall in love with him on national TV and be lumped in with a group of boys and still had to stand out from an entire group of people. That’s as authentic as it gets! I’m a Harry Styles fan, clearly, but watching the transformation that he’s taken to find his own songs and his own voice, own persona, own fluidity and image – I think he’s been brave and epic. He’s f*cking tight.”
We’re sure Gallagher will be just delighted someone finally responded back to him, but if nothing else, let’s all hope we get a ripping Harry Styles/Kehlani collaboration out of this.
Hot 97 Summer Jam’s 2022 Lineup Is Led By Fivio Foreign, Lil Durk, And Lil Baby
Whatever city on the hip-hop map you call your own, there’s no escaping the impact of Hot 97’s Summer Jam in New York. It’s still one of the biggest single-day festivals in the culture, nearly always offering a who’s-who of the biggest stars in hip-hop. This year’s lineup is no different, highlighting the leading rap artists of 2022, as well as some of the genre’s fastest-rising up-and-comers.
The festival’s top line gets to include one of New York’s hometown favorites in the form of Fivio Foreign, with Chicago’s Lil Durk and Atlanta’s Lil Baby right behind. Young Thug and Gunna are apparently sharing a joint set, which makes sense considering how closely tied the duo’s output has been over the past two years between Punk, DS4EVER, and Slime Language 2 (we’re definitely getting both “Surf” and “Ski“).
Elsewhere on the lineup is a cross-section of styles and locales, from Miami’s City Girls to Virginia’s Pusha T to Compton’s Roddy Ricch. Even Nigerian favorite Burna Boy is there. Meanwhile, New York will remain well-represented thanks to Benny The Butcher (I know, I know, he’s from Buffalo, but still), DreamDoll, 22Gz, Lady London, Dougie B (hopefully, he makes bail by showtime), and The Girll Codee (worth giving a Google).
Summer Jam takes over Metlife Stadium on June 12. As always, get more information at the official website.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.