Last year, it looked like Vic Mensa, the genre-hopping Chicago rapper who had gone through the showbiz wringer since exploding onto the scene at the tail end of the blog era, was finally making his comeback and receiving his due with the I Tape EP. He’d returned to form, reunited with his longtime friend and collaborator Chance The Rapper, and regained the swagger that had made him an XXL Freshman in 2014. Then, the pandemic struck, effectively shutting down the momentum for Vic and pretty much every other rapper in the game.
However, he hasn’t let that setback stop him from completing his comeback. Instead, he kept working his and Chance’s collaboration, “Shelter,” performing on The Late Show and offering their own stripped-down live performance filmed at Chance’s house. Vic also continued releasing videos from the new project, including “Fr33dom,” and today, the video for the Just Blaze-produced “Victory.”
Equal parts celebratory and defiant, the track finds Vic slinging some of his slickest punchlines over a signature, triumphant-sounding Just Blaze beat, addressing the perception of his fall-off and expressing his love for the Windy City. The video, shot in black-and-white, is a simple affair in which Vic takes a literal victory lap around his city, then posts up in a parking lot to watch motorcycles burn rubber as he performs his witty, validating verses. With a C Tape no doubt in the works, it looks like Vic Mensa is back on track to retake the pole position in rap’s race for greatness.
On Wednesday was the Balenciaga 50th Couture Collection show for Paris Fashion Week. Aside from the inherent noteworthiness of the brand itself, also drawing attention to the festivities were high-profile attendees like Kanye West (and his elaborate face mask), NBA star James Harden, and Lil Baby. The latter two spent time together outside of the show, and there was one moment that has left the rapper trending today.
A clip shows Harden and Baby seemingly caught off-guard by some paparazzi photographers. Some of them shouted his name, but instead of Lil Baby, they seemed to have put a French spin on it by calling him “Le Baby.”
James Harden and Lil Baby were getting love in Paris @brkicks
The rapper seemed a little amused by either the nickname or the attention in general, as he offered a polite smile and a wave. Following that run-in, both “Lil Baby” and “Le Baby” were trending on Twitter, with some users suspecting that Lil Baby was low-key into the new moniker.
Legendary rapper DMX tragically passed away April 9 at the age of 50. Original reports claimed that the rapper had died from an overdose, but medical examiners have just now confirmed his official cause of death.
A source from the Westchester County medical examiner’s office reported DMX’s cause of death to Vulture. According to the publication, DMX died of cocaine-induced cardiac arrest that completely cut off blood circulation to his brain, causing him to go into a coma.
“His death literally happened immediately because the brain was dead,” the medical examiner’s source said. “So obviously, there were a number of days where he was on ventilatory support and so forth in the hospital. However, he was diagnosed brain-dead early on […] He never woke up from [a] coma.”
Following DMX’s death, there was an outpouring of love and support for the rapper’s legacy and family. The 2021 BET Awards aired a heartwarming tribute to the rapper featuring Method Man, Griselda, Busta Rhymes, and his own Ruff Ryders crew. Together, they performed some of his biggest hits like “Ruff Ryders Anthem” and “Party Up” as a montage of DMX images played behind them.
Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox truly have a way with words when it comes to describing their relationship. Kelly infamously wears a drop of her blood around his neck and Fox once said being in love with him is like “being in love with a tsunami or a forest fire.” But despite their very public displays of affection, Fox still has to constantly field critics who slam her for the age gap between them. Fox chalks it up to the patriarchy, but still has a explicit message for those carrying judgement: “Go f*ck yourself.”
Fox recently sat down for an in-depth interview with InStyle Magazine where she spoke about her recent career resurgence and the moment she decided to stop living in fear of critics. The conversation inevitably turned to her romance with Kelly, who was recently seen packing on the PDA with Fox after painting his tongue black at the Billboard Awards.
Fox says she is sometimes criticized for dating a younger man, which she labels as “ridiculous.” Fox is only four years older than Kelly, a fact she says wouldn’t ever be mentioned if the roles were reversed:
“You want to talk about patriarchy? The fact that he’s four years younger than me, and people want to act like I’m dating a younger man. He’s 31, and I’m 35. Granted, he’s lived like he’s 19 his whole life, but he isn’t 19. No one would blink twice if George Clooney was dating someone four years younger. Four years? Go f*ck yourself. We would have been in high school together. That’s so ridiculous that women are treated that way.”
The actress also says she has paparazzi questioning where her kids are, a question that her ex-husband is never asked. “You don’t expect a dad to be with the kids all the time, but I’m supposed to not be seen and be at home with my kids,” she said. “They have another parent. I have to leave and sometimes I don’t want them photographed and they don’t come with me. This whole year I’ve been very surprised by how archaic some of the mindsets still are in some people.”
Of course, Kelly also made an appearance in the InStyle interview. When asked about what Fox is like, the musician fired off another head-scratching compliment. “She’s like the earth,” he said. “When it’s summer, it’s the hottest summer. When it’s winter, it’s the most amazing chill. In the fall and spring, it’s a beautiful transition.”
Wale, who built his career on his social media presence, has announced that he’s taking a break from posting and perusing as usual as the result of an unknown illness on Instagram. Posting the message to his Instagram Story, he informed fans that “I am out of commission. I been extremely sick since Saturday. I’ve missed many calls and texts. Thank you to everybody who called wit genuine concern. I ain’t sure how long I’ll be down but this sh*t ain’t slight.”
However, he softened the blow of this concerning message, promising: “Soon as I can come back strong, I’ll be back strong. As for now, management will run my socials. Much love, see y’all soon.”
Instagram
The news comes at an inopportune time for the DC rapper, who recently announced the impending release of his album Folarin 2, his seventh studio album and first full-length to drop since 2019’s Wow… That’s Crazy. Most recently, he appeared with Earthgang on their new single “Options,” as well as on its remix with Coi Leray, and promoted his own music with “Good Vibes” and the Gunna-featuring “Flawed.” Hopefully, his confidence and fans’ patience will pay off and he’ll get well soon.
Wale is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Resort To Love, a new Netflix movie coming out this month produced by Alicia Keys, is garnering a lot of attention on Twitter today. Unfortunately for her, the buzz consists less of excitement to see the movie than it does fans trolling it for its premise. The film, which stars Keys’ fellow 2000s pop fixture, Christina Milian, as a singer who gets booked for her ex’s wedding and winds up romancing him away from his new fiancee, is reminding fans of Keys’ own affair with Swizz Beatz, who divorced his wife Mashonda and married Keys the same month in 2010.
.@ChristinaMilian plays a singer who accidentally gets booked to perform at her ex’s wedding but when she rediscovers feelings for him, his brother attempts to keep them from reuniting. @aliciakeys produced Resort To Love, a rom-com premiering July 29 pic.twitter.com/xgKZwe8Cli
Love can be messy, sure, but the film’s plot is hitting a little close to home for some fans, prompting a roast session of trend-worthy proportions. The jokes came flying at breakneck speed to point out the obvious similarities between Keys’ real-life love story and the one that she produced, which apparently asks viewers to sympathize with the would-be homewrecker’s point of view. Granted, the movie still isn’t out yet so we don’t know that this is actually what happens in it, so maybe it deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Ya’ll really got Alicia Keys trending because she produced a movie about a woman falling for her friend’s fiance? pic.twitter.com/qxB34HrQJZ
— Maskeduntilthenextpandemic (@itgetsnobetta) July 8, 2021
That, however, would be entirely too reasonable and not what we’re here for today. Today, we are going to get these jokes off. Check out the film’s trailer above and more hilarious reactions below.
How were you together for 4.5 years, engaged, and you never met your ex-fiancé’s brother? This plot is terrible but I’m still gonna watch it sksksksksk https://t.co/ageAH1cmg1
So she was engaged to the man but didn’t know his brother?
Also the irony of Alicia Keys producing a movie about a man calling off his wedding to immediately marry someone else isn’t lost on me https://t.co/JcEfs47yR6
OG Parker is the producer you can count on. He knows how to create a song that the people will love and he’s done it numerous times for the likes of Migos, PartyNextDoor, and Chris Brown. His latest achievement has been his work on XXL Freshman DDG’s project Die 4 Respect and their TikTok hit “Impatient” with Coi Leray.
The talented multi-instrumentalist (Parker plays the clarinet, piano, and drums) attended Georgia State University in Atlanta to study music and in 2017 decided to put everything into being a producer. From Migos’ Culture hit “Walk It Talk It” featuring Drake to Megan Thee Stallion’s latest single “Thot Shit” and DDG’s “Impatient,” OG Parker has kept up with his own momentum with consistency. The 27-year-old Quality Control beat maker’s next move is to put together his own project, with the release of “Rain” featuring Chris Brown, Layton Greene, Latto, and PnB Rock.
Uproxx got the chance to catch up OG Parker to talk about the year he’s having in music and how he’s able to constantly create hits.
Let’s talk about “Rain” and how you got PnB Rock, Chris Brown, Latto and Layton Greene on that one track.
It was a song that I had already did with Chris. Chris was already on it and PnB was already on it. I had it for about a year and a half now and I knew it was a song that I wanted to do as my single. I had been trying to figure out the right artists I wanted to put on it. I knew I wanted females on it. I went and I got Latto and I got Layton Greene on it and it just took a minute to get it all together, get the mix right, get everything together.
What was the most difficult part about putting the song together?
I think just trying to make it perfect. I’m an overthinker. So I’ve been trying to figure out the order of the artists. I didn’t know who I wanted to go first and everything.
Does that happen often or is that your normal work process of you rearranging things multiple times? Reminds me of Kanye West, how we got all those Life Of Pablo edits in real-time.
Exactly. Usually, I’m not as hands-on because it’s not always my song. Usually, the artist gets to control that more. This is one of the first times where I really get to make the final decision.
So the project as a whole, is it done? When is it coming out? What’s the status?
It’s about 70% to 80% done, I would say and we’re looking for it to come out a little bit after summer.
How many songs are on it so far and what’s the vibe like?
We got a lot of songs, but I wanted it to be around five to eight. I want it to be like an EP. I don’t want it to be too long because I’m just trying to introduce myself right now. I want it to be everything. I want it to be awesome. I want to have a dance hall song on there, a trap joint going on there, and an R&B joint on there.
Can you say who else you’ve collaborated with on this project?
I can’t say who’s going to make the final cut because we have a lot of records, but I’ve been working with Kehlani, PartyNextDoor, Tyga, a lot of people.
Tell us about working on “Thot Shit” for Megan Thee Stallion.
We actually have a whole bunch of songs, we’ve been going crazy, but the first song I made with her was “Thot Shit.” I’m actually really cool with her engineer. So he hit me up like, “Yo. I’m in the studio with Meg, send me some beats.” I sent a couple of beats over and then he was like, “Yo, I’m about to FaceTime you.” He FaceTimed me and Meg took the phone and she was like, “Yo, all these beats you just sent me are mine. I love them all.” Ever since then I just been sending her beats and we just been going crazy. We got in the studio a couple of weeks ago and we were just working on the album.
I also want to talk about your production. I feel it’s really distinct and I’m just curious to know where do you draw your production ideas from to make a hit?
I would say, I don’t think I’m a super-emotional person, but I think that I draw a lot of my beats from the emotions that I’m feeling at the moment. So if I’m sad, I’m probably going to go to the studio and make some R&B beats and if I’m turned up, if I’ve been drinking with the homies and stuff, I’m going to make some turnt trap stuff or a club hit because that’s the vibe I’m feeling.
What would you say is a song that maybe you were very passionate about something and that’s the beat that got created when you pulled from that place?
I would say “Thot Shit.” I actually produced that with Lil Ju who did Body and all those songs for her. When we cooked up that day, I think that we were cooking up for her, we knew she was working on the album. I think that we were mainly focused on making up-tempo club stuff. I think that was the time that we kind of went in with a set plan and then it worked out.
So you guys made this beat together in person?
He actually lives in LA and he came to Atlanta for a couple of days and he hit me up. He was like, “Yo, what you want?” I was like, “Yo, come to my house.” We made like seven beats that night and “Thot Shit “was one of them.
You also worked with DDG who is going crazy this year as well. What made you want to work with him?
So originally it was actually a session that my manager set up. I actually was on his last tape. I had two songs on there and it was a cool vibe. I would say about eight months later, I was like, “Yo, I want to lock back in with DDG.” So I flew to LA and we just started working and then I was like, “Yo, we should just do a whole tape.” We just kept growing and working and then getting features. It was just a crazy vibe. That was kind of my first time ever, just EP-ing somebody’s whole project and it was a great experience and I feel the people are receiving it very well.
I also want to just talk about your influence in Atlanta as a whole. Tell me a little bit about you coming up in Atlanta and the style of music that you make and your influence.
Growing up, you had your Shawty Redd’s and your Zaytoven’s and things like that. The trap drums and stuff I feel is embedded into Atlanta producer’s DNA because we grew up hearing those Gucci songs at every club we went to. It was the trap drums and stuff like that came to me naturally. Then being somebody who plays instruments and having a grandfather that was a professional pianist, I feel that gave me a different melodic edge to my production. My stuff is kind of melodic mixed with the trap stuff.
Once this project comes out, what can everyone expect?
I think that’s going to definitely take my career to the next level. I think it’s something that I’m going to continue to tap into. This definitely wouldn’t be my last project, I would want to keep working and drop a full-length project after this one. Then also just keep working with all the artists that I’ve been working with.
You’ve accomplished quite a bit. How do you want to impact your fans or listeners at the end of the day?
I would say definitely for the producer community, I would want to be looked at as somebody who can make all the genres at a high level for your favorite artists. The goal is to break new artists. I feel that’s something that I heard Timbaland say in an interview. He said that he’s remembered for breaking Aaliyah more than just getting with an artist that’s already famous to give them a hit song because that’s easier than breaking a new artist. That’s something that I definitely want to do.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Pooh Shiesty’s current legal troubles continued this week as a Miami judge denied the Memphis rapper bail in the second of his firearms cases after being charged with discharging a firearm during a violent crime, conspiracy, and robbery under a law regulating commerce, according to Miami’s local news channel 10.
Shiesty, who is signed to Gucci Mane’s 1017 Records, was charged with the above after allegedly shooting a pair of men alongside two of his own friends, Bobby Brown and Jayden Darosa, after a sneaker deal gone wrong in October 2020. Federal agents were able to link Pooh Shiesty to the robbery thanks to one of his own Instagram posts, matching the serial numbers on bills he flashed in a photo to ones that fell out of Shiesty’s vehicle — a rented McLaren — at the scene of the shooting. Both victims survived.
The news comes after Pooh was denied bail in another shooting case in which the rapper was accused of shooting a security guard at a strip club where he’d just performed. Although the victim supposedly recanted his witness statement, prosecutors found his revised statement fishy and successfully argued against Pooh receiving bail. The timing of both cases couldn’t be worse, as the rapper was on the upswing of his career, with a major hit to his name in “Back In Blood” and a selection to XXL‘s 2021 Freshman class ensuring maximum attention.
Pooh Shiesty is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Diplo’s legal troubles are far from ending. According to TMZ, the DJ and producer has been hit with yet another sexual assault allegation involving a woman who said he coerced her into performing oral sex on him after a Las Vegas concert in 2019. The victim says the incident occurred when she was invited to an after-party by the DJ, which she attended with friends. She claims that she and her friends were all intoxicated upon arriving at the party and that they accepted weed and more alcohol from Diplo at the event.
Later on, the victim claims she was invited to Diplo’s personal room, and his security team proceeded to kick everyone out, including her friend, who was allegedly punched in the face when he refused to leave without her. Eventually, it was just the woman and producer alone in the room. Here, Diplo reportedly told the victim that she could not leave the room without performing oral sex on him. She repeatedly refused, but after realizing there was no way out, she reluctantly gave in and followed his demand. She also alleges that he filmed the encounter without her permission. As a result of it all, she’s suing the DJ for an unspecified amount in damages.
Bryan Freedman, Diplo’s attorney, denied the allegations and claims there’s a connection between the victim’s account and that of another woman, Shelley Auguste, who is also suing him for sexual assualt. “This complaint is completely outrageous, wildly untrue and yet also entirely predictable, given that it simply repeats the exact same claim already made by the plaintiff’s friend Shelly Auguste, an individual who has been harassing Mr. Pentz and his family for more than a year and already has repeatedly violated the restraining order issued against her,” he said.
He adds, “We have irrefutable evidence that this is a completely meritless claim and we will be providing it to a court as quickly as we possibly can to put an end to this shakedown by Ms. Auguste and her accomplices once and for all.”
Auguste, who is Diplo’s ex-girlfriend, sued him for sexual battery, assault, defamation, infliction of emotional distress, and fraud at the end of last month.
More than three years ago, Nipsey Hussle released his official debut album, Victory Lap,which arrived after years of critically acclaimed mixtapes including The Marathon Continues, Crenshaw, and Mailbox Money. The 16-track effort would become of the best hip-hop releases of that year and it later earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. Now it’s earned a new milestone: Its 100th overall week on the Billboard album chart.
It’s a feat few artists today have achieved, and it demonstrates the power Nipsey has continued to exude well after his untimely death. The album’s success started with its release, as it debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. It was later certified Platinum at the beginning of 2020.
The news comes after an announcement that revealed Nipsey would receive a posthumous star on Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame in 2022. Next year’s class of inductees also includes Ashanti, Black Eyed Peas, DJ Khaled, and late actress, producer, and writer Carrie Fisher. Nipsey’s star joins previous hip-hop inductees like Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliott, and 50 Cent.
Nipsey’s alleged killer, Eric Holder, still remains behind bars on a murder charge. Despite it being more than two years since the shooting, a trail for the murder has not begun.
Nipsey Hussle is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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