NorCal and SoCal unite. LA’s Jay Worthy and San Francisco’s Larry June have not only just released the new track entitled “Leave it Up To Me,” but they’ve also announced a collaboration album. Dubbed 2 P’s In A Pod, it arrives on March 25, and for anyone who’s heard numerous collab tracks from the pair in the past, this is a long time coming.
“That’s really my brother u don’t meet many people in this industry that are solid and genuine like that,” Worthy said in a statement. “We really a team and it’s deeper then than rap with us, it’s family! Larry the only person who truly understood the Lndn Drgs sound. If you notice, Larry June the only other rapper other than myself who receives production from Sean House.”
June, who is coming off of last year’s album, Orange Print — which might very well be the best installment in his prolific catalog thus far — is a fluid foil to Worthy — who did the first Uproxx Sessions performance of 2022 — on “Leave It Up To Me.” Sean House’s soul sample-soaked production lets the pair flourish on a track that’s tailor-made for cruisin’. This is the vintage sound of West Coast rap and when two pillars from each end of the state can link up with such lyrical harmony, it’s a real smooth proposition.
Watch the video for “Leave It Up To Me” above.
2 P’s In A Pod is out on 03/25 via GDF Records/EMPIRE
Although both rose to prominence decades apart, Griselda rapper Benny The Butcher and The Notorious B.I.G. have plenty in common. Both men rap with a gritty, underground-approved delivery about life in the streets, yet have risen to mainstream prominence on the strengths of their talents and connections. Both made their money via shall we say “alternative means” before finding success in the rap game. And now, both have parlayed their hard-won experience into instructional songs about the commandments of the illicit drug trade.
Building on the ground rules established by Biggie’s Life After Death standout “10 Crack Commandments,” Benny linked up with the late rapper’s number-one benefactor Diddy to offer “10 More Commandments” from Benny’s newly released project, Tana Talk 4. Produced by Griselda’s go-to beatsmith Daringer, “10 More Commandments” finds Benny counting down from number 20 this time around, dishing more advice that, while being far less pithy than Big’s, is no less useful to the aspiring kingpins who might be listening. Some examples:
Count the money
Test the work before you buy it
Only buy sh*t that can be sold
No social media postin’
The most important one: The first chance you get, you better get out this sh*t
Man’s got a point.
Watch the “10 More Commandments” video above. Tana Talk 4 is out now via Griselda Records / EMPIRE. Stream it here.
He reminisced about what it was like meeting with Tyler in Los Angeles early on in his career and a lesson Tyler taught him, saying:
“It was just opening my eyes to a different world that I just couldn’t possibly understand from a bedroom in the countryside in the UK. I remember that The Game rolled up to the studio in a Red Rolls Royce! It just felt like a different world. […] I had 500 followers on SoundCloud at the time when I headed out to LA and nobody really knew who I was. It made me realize that if I have to believe in myself, then someone like Tyler will believe in me, too. He’s taught me a lot, but also just him giving me a mirror to look at what I did — that I had made it out there and done it on my own.”
He also discussed how he was affected by the pandemic, saying, “I was mentally prepared to be on tour and away for a whole year, and then came back to my parents’ house in the countryside… it was like, ‘What now?’ I’d look at the schedule and see certain places I was excited to go to like Australia, South America, Mexico, Asia, New Zealand and then it was… Surrey. It was just mentally a bit confusing.”
She’s rarely at a loss for words but came close when she encountered a video on Twitter purporting to explain why the US is facing a shortage of qualified teachers. In the video, which the original poster claims was shot at a middle school in a Dallas suburb, a teacher can be seen ducking a flying chair that was apparently propelled by one of his students. Cardi was “disgusted” by the video, responding, “This generation is really lost… I went to school wit a lot of gangstas and no matter what they never put their hands on a teacher. Kids this is not respected, not cool, not funny, not tough, not gangsta.” You can see the video below.
Disgusting this generation is really lost … I went to school wit a lot of gangstas and no matter what they never put their hands on a teacher …Kids this is not respected,not cool,not funny,not tough,not gangsta ….it’s giving y’all pussy https://t.co/xzbtKSXkG6
Last night, after a week of teases, Megan Thee Stallion and Dup Lipa released the macabre video for their collaboration, “Sweetest Pie.”
Although it takes place in a fairy tale fantasy land, the video is packed with disconcerted slices (heh) of body horror and unsettling surrealism that apparently had some fans feeling a bit creeped out, according to a celebratory tweet Megan posted this morning. However, rather than being apologetic, she flaunted the fact that some fans probably had to watch through their fingers, crowing, “I see that the #SweetestPie video scared some people or creeped them out a lil bit. Lol MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. How many times do I have to say I love horror films/ aesthetics?”
I see that the #SweetestPie video scared some people or creeped them out a lil bit… lol MISSION ACCOMPLISHED how many times do I have to say i love horror films/ aesthetics
She certainly has said as much a few times; in 2019, she said that she was writing her own horror movie before sharing her “Hottieween” series of shorts to celebrate the spooky season. Then, in 2020, she hinted at wanting to work with master horror director Jordan Peele, who has been chilling audiences since 2016 with his Oscar-winning Get Out, Us, and the upcoming Nope. Meg even compared herself to seemingly immortal (or at least, unkillable) slasher icon Jason Voorhees in an interview earlier this month, joking that “no matter how hard my haters try to take me out, I keep coming back harder!” She also shared her favorite horror films after a fan followed up her earlier tweet with a question, and I gotta say: It’s a pretty solid list.
Off the top of my head rn evil dead (1981 version) house of 1000 corpses, 13 ghost , a nightmare on elm street https://t.co/mRkSh6E7nV
With her Netflix first-look production deal in place, she’s getting closer to her dreams of giving us all nightmares; perhaps “Sweetest Pie” is just a dry run, letting her practice and preview what skin-crawling delights she has in store.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Not everyone was enthused to hear about Travis Scott’s proposed Project HEAL initiative, which the Texas rapper announced earlier this week. Travis donated $5 million to local community-based funds such as HBCU scholarships and mental health programs, as well as the U.S. Conference of Mayors Task Force on Event Safety. However, the family of one of the victims of the Astroworld Festival disaster was unimpressed, calling the move a “PR stunt” that he could later use to make himself look good in court when the combined slew of cases against him goes to trial.
Bernon and Tericia Blount, the grandparents of Ezra Blount, the youngest of the Astroworld attendees who were killed as a result of the crowd crush during Travis’ headlining set at the festival, aren’t convinced Travis is just giving out of the goodness of his heart. Tericia told Rolling Stone, “It’s a PR stunt. He’s pretty much trying to sway the jurors before they’re even assembled. He’s trying to make himself look good, but it doesn’t look that way to someone with our eyes. What we’re seeing is that he’s done wrong, and now he’s trying to be the good guy and trying to give his own verdict on safety.” Bernon agreed, “Every time he does something like this, it’s an ongoing reminder.”
Meanwhile, the lawyer for Ezra’s father Treston Blount, who filed a separate lawsuit from the 9-year-old’s grandparents, believes that Travis’ Project HEAL announcement may have flouted court orders, violating a gag order instated to ensure objectivity from the jury. “Blount and the other plaintiffs herein do not have the high profile ability to sway public opinion as defendant Scott — an international music star — and his sophisticated media team do,” wrote Blount’s lawyer, Robert Hilliard, in an emergency motion to “immediately clarify” whether the gag order “applies equally to lawyers and parties.”
Meanwhile, Travis’ spokesperson, Stephanie Rawlings Blake, called Hilliard’s statement “shameful and beyond cynical,” continuing, “It is also disappointing that Mr. Hilliard would attack Project HEAL, a series of philanthropic gestures designed to give students and young people a leg up. Project HEAL is a continuation of Travis Scott’s longstanding work, including academic scholarships and creative design programs for underprivileged students.” Travis’ lawyers have since filed their own statements defending the star’s right to “make public statements about his ongoing philanthropic work, even as it relates to public safety.”
For quite some time, hip-hop has been dominated by a style that fans have come to describe as “toxicity.” Pioneered by moody rappers like Future and Drake, it’s marked by passive aggression, avoidant attachment, and audio gaslighting, with rappers and singers delighting in keeping their significant others guessing in the narratives of their songs. Notably, this style has also been dominated by men — until now.
Atlanta newcomer Kali looks to shake up the status quo with her debut EP, Toxic Chocolate, in which she turns the tables on the f*ckboys of hip-hop, using their manipulative tactics to even the odds and give them a taste of their own medicine. After initially gaining popularity on TikTok — how else? — with her breakout single “Mmm Mmm,” Kali makes the most of that attention on Toxic Chocolate, demonstrating her gift for wordplay and her spicy relationship sensibilities.
In the standout single “UonU” featuring Yung Bleu, Kali promises to play an Uno reverse card on a cheating boyfriend, while on “Standards,” she throws down a gauntlet, explaining why she “ain’t doin’ that back and forth sh*t.” Further promoting the new EP, she revels in other women’s relationship drama and gives them some supremely bad — but satisfying — advice via her Toxic Chocolate Hotline skit, which you can watch above.
Kali’s already off to a great start and will build on that momentum this month when she joins her “Mmm Mmm” collaborator, fellow Atlantan Latto, on the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour kicking off March 19 in Santa Cruz, California, with more episodes of her Hotline to come.
Watch episode one of the Toxic Chocolate Hotline series featuring Sukihana above and stream Toxic Chocolatehere.
In addition to being a rap star with beloved mixtapes like 1999 and party-starting singles such as “The Revenge” to his name, Joey Badass has been building out his acting resume, adding roles in Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga and Grown-ish to his ever-expanding list of accomplishments. However, he recently missed out on a highly coveted role in the Jay-Z-produced, Jeymes Samuel-directed Western, The Harder They Fall, as he revealed in a new interview with Ebro Darden for Apple Music. Originally, the role of cocky quickdraw gunslinger Jim Beckwourth, played in the film by RJ Cyler, was meant for Joey.
After meeting Samuel at the Roc Nation Brunch in 2020, Joey says Samuel first pitched him the role of Beckwourth. “He said he was working on this crazy film, which was The Harder They Fall,” Joey recalled. “He had this role for me. Like, you see dude with the pistols and sh*t? That’s supposed to be me. Shout to my man RJ [Cyler] though, who actually got the role. The young dude with the two pistols and everything. Jeymes wanted me to play that role.”
Unfortunately, it turned out Joey’s success in securing new acting roles actually prevented him from accepting this one. “[Samuel] called me a few months later, it was like March,” he continued. “He was like, ‘Yo, I need you to come to Arizona,’ I think that’s where they were shooting it, or New Mexico, something like that, so I could do this role. I had just accepted the role on Power for Unique, so now it was like a conflict. We were still trying to make it work, but unfortunately, it didn’t work.”
Eventually, though, Samuel helped Joey land the role in the Oscar-winning short film Two Distant Strangers, so things weren’t all that bad. You can check out the video of the full interview below.
With the recent release of the six-hour Beatles documentary, Get Back, music fans have been re-examining the Fab Four’s body of work, achievements, and impact. And rightly so — the group absolutely set standards for what achievement and excellence in popular music could look like. But, what if you found out that there was another group who achieved twelve No. 1 singles, who knocked The Beatles out of the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 100 not once but three times; who appeared on the Ed Sullivan show eleven times to the Liverpudlians’ three visits; who released 20 albums between the years 1962 and 1970, and who toured and performed long after The Beatles retired from live concerts in 1966?
That group was none other than The Supremes, the Motown trio consisting of Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard. And yet, these women haven’t received half the accolades and hero worship that is attached to The Beatles. That’s because the primacy of the Fab Four as the platonic ideal of serious musicians worthy of study and consideration is deeply entrenched and unquestioned. But The Supremes made history, broke records, and set standards at a level that deserves the same level of regard.
The first argument against this position will undoubtedly be that The Supremes didn’t write their songs, nor did they play any instruments. Yes, The Supremes benefited from the same hit-making machine that all the Motown artists used — songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland and the stellar house band, The Funk Brothers. They also greatly benefited from the creative vision of Motown founder and CEO Barry Gordy. But all of that behind-the-scenes skill and talent would have gone unheard without the voices of the three women who sang, performed, and interpreted the songs. You could try to argue that Barry Gordy could have gotten anyone else in the Motown family to sing the songs, except that the minute The Supremes became successful is when Holland-Dozier-Holland figured out how to write for Diana Ross’ voice.
The Beatles didn’t exist in a vacuum. They taught themselves to write songs by listening to and performing covers of American rhythm and blues artists. But they too were guided by seasoned professionals who had the skills to plug into The Beatles’ innate talents. Brian Epstein, the group’s manager, and George Martin, the A+R man who signed them to their record contract and produced their albums, provided equally decisive and impactful guidance and direction. Epstein influenced their visual image and presentation, and offered direction that helped the band evolve their live act to a more professional level. Martin was instrumental in piloting the band through the unwelcoming and unfamiliar recording studio process and knowledge required to successfully capture their sound on record, and remained a valued ally for life.
Both groups were incredibly successful from a commercial standpoint. Their chart histories on the all-important Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart is a literal hit parade. The Supremes reached the No. 1 position no less than twelve times within a five year period, which included five No. 1 singles in a row in 1964 and 1965: “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love,” and “Come See About Me” in 1964, then “Stop! In The Name of Love” and “Back In My Arms Again” in 1965. By comparison, The Beatles achieved 20 No. 1s, beginning with “Please Please Me” in 1963. But their activity directly impacted each other: “Come See About Me” knocked The Beatles’ “I Feel Fine” out of the No. 1 spot, “Stop! In The Name of Love” replaced “Eight Days A Week,” and in 1968, “Love Child” toppled none other than “Hey Jude,” which had stayed in the top slot for almost five months.
Both The Beatles and The Supremes toured and performed live, and once both groups hit the charts, they were constantly in demand. The Supremes got started in one of the traveling revue types of shows popularized in the 1950s, Dick Clark’s ‘Cavalcade Of Stars,’ where they started at the bottom, not even appearing on the marquee. By the tour’s end, they were the headliners due to the success of “Where Did Our Love Go.” They also toured with Berry Gordy’s own operation, the Motortown Revue, played their own headlining shows, and as part of Gordy’s strategy to move The Supremes into the mainstream, played residencies in Las Vegas and the Copacabana in New York City. The Beatles, on the other hand, followed what is now the traditional rock and roll path of playing headlining shows in theaters, arenas, and, finally, stadiums. They wound up retiring from live performance in 1966 because Beatlemania made it dangerous and artistically unrewarding. The perils the band faced while performing live, from non-stop screaming making it impossible to be heard to real physical peril from surging fans, is incredibly well-documented and obviously very real. But we hear far less about the danger Black artists like The Supremes faced touring the American South due to racism and segregation, which made simple acts like stopping for a bathroom or finding somewhere to eat literally life-threatening.
In terms of cultural influence, the stories of The Beatles’ first appearance on Ed Sullivan causing every young boy in America to run out and buy a guitar is now canon. The impact they had on the art, culture, music, and society of the 1960s is undeniable; it’s been written about, documented, discussed in a million interviews with rock and roll bands from that time forward. But The Supremes’ effect on popular culture is somehow less revered despite having effected a level of impact that is similar, if not greater in some ways. They were the first Motown act to appear on Ed Sullivan, which beamed them into exactly the same households that watched The Beatles. Oprah Winfrey has told the story about what it felt like to see The Supremes on the show, and how “every little Black girl of my generation wanted to grow up and be…Miss Ross.” And the esteemed civil rights leader Reverend Ralph Abernathy, told Diana, “Just continue to be great. Every time the white man sees you on television or in concert and becomes a fan, you are being of assistance.”
Expanding the traditional canon of popular music to include artists who should have always been considered influential doesn’t devalue the achievements of the artists who are already there. Recognizing wider definitions of influence and importance, and re-examining our criteria of interpretation provides listeners and music fans with a new vantage point that potentially enhances and enriches their enjoyment and understanding, and also provides inspiration for future musicians by giving them a wider palette to draw from. The Beatles themselves adored Motown and the American rhythm and blues that they drew from to create something that was uniquely their own. They’d likely be the first ones to agree with a more expansive definition of influence that included The Supremes.
LL Cool J, the legendary rapper who was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame last year, is having some fun on Twitter. After a tweet went viral that read, “LL Cool J was ridiculous in every music video he was in. Just go look,” the “I Need A Beat” singer decided to provide some humorous commentary by making a TikTok with the classic green screen effect so that he appeared in front of the tweet. “Time to break the silence,” he says. “Yeah, I was definitely ridiculous. That’s my goal. I make my own rules.”
The tweet is full of replies that proved the original tweeter’s point; there’s a clip where he is “playing the guitar on a young lady’s leg,” as Cool J puts it. “I think I should’ve had two or three girls though,” he remarks with a completely serious tone. There’s another clip where he’s pouring chocolate syrup on a woman’s knee caps. “Definitely was wildin’,” he says. “Although, I always felt there should’ve been more chocolate. Maybe using a giant paintbrush or something, and just really go in.”
All of these clips are, you know, something else, and Cool J’s explanations only make them even funnier.
how many times do I have to say i love horror films/ aesthetics
