Music

Latto Reveals The Artwork And Release Date For Her Second Album, ‘777’

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Atlanta rapper Latto — who recently made waves when she appeared on rising rapper Omeretta The Great’s “Sorry Not Sorry” admitting that she, like many of the city’s greats isn’t technically from ATL — is set to depart as headliner on the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour later this week, and as it turns out, she won’t be going empty-handed. Today, Latto announced the official release date for the long-awaited follow-up to her 2020 debut album, Queen Of Da Souf and shared its carnival-themed artwork.

Titled 777, the album will arrive on March 25 via RCA Records. On the cover, Latto stands in front of a massive bullseye in white boots, shorts, and an extremely cropped top with knives and daggers stuck into the target behind her. According to a tweet she also shared, the artwork offers a glimpse into her state of mind as she prepares to release her first album since the lockdown and her official name change. “I put a lot of thought into my artwork,” she wrote. ” hope u guys love it and understand where I’m at mentally 🙂 the music will give just as much as the visuals! I PROMISE U THAT!”

Meanwhile, Latto’s biggest single to date, the Mariah Carey-sampling “Big Energy,” continues to rise on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching a new peak at No. 14 this week, up three spots from last week. Can it climb into the top 10? Perhaps her announcement will help it do so, but its success will certainly go a long way toward helping her album make an impressive debut when it drops on March 25, along with her new single “Wheelie” featuring 21 Savage. In the meantime, you can catch Latto — along with fellow ATLien supporting act Kali — on tour in Santa Cruz, California, San Francisco, Seattle, and Fresno starting March 19.

Performing At The 2022 Grammys Are Billie Eilish, BTS, Lil Nas X, And Others

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Slowly but surely, this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony is starting to come together. At the top of the year, the event was postponed, and not long after that, organizers revealed the show would be taking place on April 3 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, not its original venue, Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena. Now, we’re getting an idea of who’s going to be there: The Recording Academy and CBS revealed some of this year’s performers, a list that so far includes BTS, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X with Jack Harlow, Brandi Carlile, and Brothers Osbourne.

Those artists have a storied history with the Grammys. Eilish, for instance, won all four major awards at the 2020 show and had a major presence the next year, winning Record Of The Year for “Everything I Wanted,” which she also performed. As for BTS, this is their second year both being nominated for a Grammy and performing at the ceremony. Rodrigo had a huge Grammy year in 2021 as she was nominated for a whopping seven awards, which she called “probably the most meaningful” of her dreams that came true that year.

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

Some Death Row Albums Including ‘Doggystyle’ And ‘The Chronic’ Were Removed From Streaming Services

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Following his purchase of Death Row Records last month, it appears Snoop Dogg has removed several of the label’s albums from digital streaming platforms. Upon purchasing the label, Snoop revealed plans to transform Death Row into an “NFT label” which will operate within the Metaverse.

Among the albums missing from streaming services are Snoop Dogg’s debut album Doggystyle, Dr. Dre’s debut album The Chronic, and Tha Dogg Pound’s Dogg Food. Still available from streaming are Tupac’s All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, as Death Row no longer owns the rights to Tupac’s master recordings.

While Snoop has not confirmed that he ordered these albums’ removal from streaming services, Dr. Dre’s attorney Howard King issued a statement to Complex earlier this month, following Snoop’s acquisition of Death Row. “There are false reports out regarding ownership by Death Row of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic,” King said. “Dr. Dre owns 100% of The Chronic.”

Over the past year, Snoop has built a large collection of NFTs, and even revealed himself as the owner of popular NFT Twitter account @CozomoMedici. Singer and prolific songwriter Sia also revealed herself as Cozomo de’ Medici’s “granddaughter” and the owner of the @BiancaMedici69 NFT Twitter account.

In addition to his venture into the NFT space, Snoop also joined FaZe Clan earlier this month as a member of the esports company’s board of directors and talent. He plans to launch a community outreach program through FaZe Clan.

Pusha T And His Brother No Malice Mourn The Death Of Their Father

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Pusha T is currently preparing to release his fourth solo album It’s Not Dry Yet. While things have been going smoothly for him so far, thanks to the project’s lead single “Diet Coke,” Pusha and his brother No Malice are now dealing with a heavy loss in their lives. The rappers, who were once united as the rap duo Clipse, took to their respective Instagram pages to announce that their father Gene Elliott Thornton Sr. passed away over the weekend.

“I love you Dad…you taught me to remain poised, to always be calculated, to be prideful, and to respect hustle and hard work but to know the difference between the two,” Pusha T wrote on his Instagram post. “I am who I am because of you and I’ve always been proud to be your son. We are all gonna miss you… R.I.P. Gene Elliott Thornton Sr. P.S. We all know what this is abt, kiss my mom for me…[heart emoji].”

No Malice’s message to his late father was just as touching as his brother’s own. “You told me Psalm 34:19 was your favorite verse,” he wrote. “Right now, I clutch it with both hands. We all love you dad. You were everything a father is supposed to be. ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous: But the LORD delivereth him out of them ALL.’ Psalm‬ ‭34:19‬ ‭KJV‬‬ #TogetherAgain #Jesus #Salvation.”

Pusha T and No Malice’s messages come four months after their mother passed away. Pusha shared the news in a post back in November. “I love you Ma, thank you for sticking around to meet your grand baby,” he wrote at the time. “We all are gonna miss you. R.I.P.”

You can view the posts from Pusha T and No Malice above.

Rihanna Shares The Two Songs That She’s Proudest Of

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The start of 2022 marked six years since Rihanna released her last album Anti. The project is often heralded as a favorite among her fans, and it’s left them itching for more. However, Rihanna is quite a busy person these days. Most of her time is consumed by handling her Fenty empire and fulfilling a series of philanthropic efforts. She’s also expecting her first child with ASAP Rocky. As for that long-awaited ninth album, we’ll have to continue the wait for it. In the meantime, Rihanna took a moment to reflect on two songs that she’s proudest of from her career.

During an interview with social media influencer and make-up artist Mikayla Nogueira, Rihanna was asked which records from her career was she the proudest of. Before the singer revealed her answer, the two shared a laugh after Nogueira said her favorite song by Rihanna was “Unfaithful.” “I love ‘Needed Me’ and I also love ‘Diamonds,’” Rihanna said while showing off her diamond rings.

Despite her pregnancy, Rihanna promises that her first child will not stop her from making new music. She shared the comments during a recent interview with ET’s Rachel Smith. It’s there’s that she also spoke about how her pregnancy has been so far. “It’s all an exciting journey so far,” she said. “I’m just taking it as it comes every week. There’s always something new and I’m just taking it and I’m enjoying it.”

You can watch Rihanna’s response in the video above.

Lil Baby Is Excited About The Music That He Has On The Way: ‘The Summer Is Mines’

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It hasn’t been too long since we received new music from Lil Baby. Less than a year ago, he teamed up with Lil Durk for their joint album, Voice Of The Heroes. That project topped the albums chart and gave Lil Baby his second No. 1 album. His first was 2020’s My Turn, which stands as his most recent solo album. My Turn grew to be one of the most popular albums of 2020 and it helped to launch Lil Baby into a new tier within the rap game.

More than two years later, Lil Baby is ready to give us his third album and the music on it has him very excited to share it with the world. In a series of posts that he shared on Monday, Baby shared his excitement with the world. “It’s Gone Be A Nastyyyyy Summer,” he wrote in one tweet, before adding in another, “My turn again” with fire emojis. In a third tweet, he continued, “Drop a video every few weeks until [exploding head emojis].” As if the tweets weren’t enough to bring more anticipation towards his upcoming album, Baby took to his Instagram Story to share a short message. “The summers mine,” he wrote in a post.

Lil Baby’s posts come after he delivered collaborations with Nicki Minaj (“Do We Have A Problem?” and “Bussin“), 2 Chainz, and Polo G.

You can view the posts from Baby above.

Rick Ross Believes ‘Hip-Hop Has Already Embraced’ LGBTQ Artists And Fans

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Rick Ross can probably be forgiven for not knowing who Saucy Santana is. After all, the fast-rising rap newcomer’s largest audience remains on TikTok, where Saucy’s song “Material Girl” has completely taken over, appearing in well over 27 million views since its release in 2020. However, Ric — who is no stranger to making the jump from underground sensation to mainstream superstar — isn’t surprised by Santana’s success and says hip-hop undoubtedly has space for more queer artists to make similar leaps.

Ross learned about Saucy Santana — a fellow native of Miami — during an interview with YouTube gossip vlogger Funky Dineva, who asked for his take on gay rappers coming into the rap game. “I’m not familiar with the name Santana, but live your life, chase your dreams, and go hard, man,” Ross replies smoothly, meeting Dineva’s follow-up question — “Do you think hip-hop will ever embrace the LGBT community fully?” — with an equally unfazed response. “I believe hip-hop has already embraced it. Without a doubt.”

“Material Girl” isn’t the only Saucy Santana song fans have received warmly, nor is Rick Ross the first rapper to co-sign the burgeoning star. His 2020 single, “Walk,” is also a viral favorite on TikTok, with 516 million views on the #WalkChallenge and related hashtags. Santana has worked with LightSkinKeisha on “Back It Up,” Sukihana on “Food Stamp H*e,” Latto on “Up & Down,” and “Shisha” with City Girls, for whom he once worked as a makeup artist. His debut album, Keep It Playa, dropped in December of 2021.

As far as Rick Ross’ claim that hip-hop has embraced queer artists goes, he might be a little optimistic in that respect. Last year, Lil Nas X had one of the best-performing debut albums in recent memory but still had to field homophobic comments from rappers like Boosie and fans who questioned him for not working with any other Black men on the album, something he pointed out had more to do with those he asked than with his own preferences.

Kim Kardashian Wants Kanye West To ‘Stop The Narrative’ That He’s Not Allowed To See Their Kids

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Kim Kardashian appears to be fed up with her ex-husband Kanye West’s ongoing campaign to force a reunion by using their kids as leverage. Although Kanye seems to be unhappy about their current co-parenting arrangement, he’s still been active and involved, but in recent months he’s gone as far as claiming Kardashian won’t let him see the children, tried to ban him from Chicago’s birthday party, and wouldn’t allow them to attend his most recent Sunday Service.

It looks like Kim is done being a scapegoat according to her reply in the comments on his recent post. After Kanye posted a photo of a trio of pins stuck to their daughter North’s backpack with the caption “This was on my daughters back pack when I was ‘allowed’ to see her last week,” Kardashian pushed back against Kanye’s insistence that he’s being kept out of his kids’ lives. In a screenshot taken by Complex, she asks Kanye, “Please stop with this narrative, you were just here this morning picking up the kids for school.”

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Kanye has previously expressed his discontent with the parenting arrangement, chastising his ex for managing a TikTok account for North against his wishes. However, as his kids get older, he may have to come to terms with the fact that they’re their own people and won’t always do things he wants. Also, free advice: trying to interpret your 10-year-old’s fashion sense is a great way to get extremely confused incredibly quickly. Maybe she just like aliens.

Fans Spotted Pete Davidson’s New ‘Kim’ Tattoo In The Photo He Texted To Kanye West

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Pete Davidson has made some random tattoo choices in the past. The SNL star has a “Shaolin” emblazoned across his abs and both Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Hillary Clinton profiles inked on his body. Now, it seems as though the budding astronaut can add a tribute to his girlfriend Kim Kardashian to the list.

In a recent flurry of texts that Davidson sent to Kardashian’s ex-husband Kanye West, the proverbial “shot heard round the world,” was Davidson’s photo reply to West’s “Where are you right now?” question. “In bed with your wife,” Davidson replied, with a selfie of his bare-chested self laying in bed.

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Surely this image had Kanye fuming, but he might’ve been even angrier had he noticed what appears to be a new tattoo on Davidson’s right shoulder that says “KIM.” For all of the Pete Davidson tattoo enthusiasts, the placement is directly below the RBG tat and the ink looks especially dark (aka fresh) in the image.

The Davidson vs Kanye feud continues to show signs of boiling over after Kanye and The Game made another video for ‘Eazy’ where a CGI Davidson gets beat up. Davidson and Kardashian have only been dating since October of last year, but tattoo indicates that he is clearly committed to the relationship long-term, just as much as he is still committed to Hilary Clinton…

Tekashi 69 Says He Could Go ‘Bankrupt’ If He Doesn’t Win His 2018 Robbery Case

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Constantly controversial rapper Tekashi 69, also known as 6ix9ine, has been in a lot of trouble as of late over aggravated battery, refusing to play a show after being paid, an NFT scam, an unpaid security bill, and his involvement in a 2018 armed robbery. Last year, he had to postpone shows because of “court matters.” He’s currently dealing with the robbery, in which he and members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods allegedly ambushed Seketha Wonzer and Kevin Dozier in Manhattan. 69 didn’t participate in the actual robbery but filmed it from a nearby vehicle. Now he’s claiming that he’s “struggling to make ends meet,” and will go “bankrupt” if he doesn’t win this case.

Per court documents obtained by Complex, 69 stated, “Right now, I am struggling to make ends meet. I do not know if I will ever command the kind of advances I was paid before my arrest, and my career stalled.” He continued: “I did receive large advances under the recording artist and merchandising agreements prior to my arrest. However, I do not receive any royalties under those agreements either since my royalty accounts remain unrecouped.”

“It will surely bankrupt me in a way from which I will never recover to the permanent detriment and hardship of the family members who rely upon me,” he added in the documents.