Crypto mania continues to tighten its hold on hip-hop as more and more jump on the blockchain wave in the hopes of a big payday. Just a week after Eminem reportedly pulled down almost $2 million selling a collection of NFTs and Nas purportedly made out like a bandit thanks to early investment in the cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase (prompting him to dub himself the “Cryptocurrency Scarface” on DJ Khaled’s “Sorry Not Sorry”), Meek Mill has joined in the feeding frenzy, buying $50,000 worth of the meme currency Dogecoin as prices rise in the wake of increased media coverage (but not scrutiny).
“I just grabbed some doge I’m tired of missing out,” he said on Twitter. Meanwhile, on Instagram, he posted a screenshot revealing both his investment — $50,000, or the price of a midsize sedan, or more than many Americans make in a year, depending on how you look at it — and his chronic misunderstanding of investment practices (buy low, sell high, Meek!).
We’ll see if it works out for him but for now, it looks like he’s another person who’s bullish on cryptocurrency and betting he can cash out before the casino closes.
Over the past couple of years, LVRN has flown a bit under the radar in terms of labels that also function as rap crews. Where lots of attention is (rightfully) lavished on Dreamville and TDE for their tight-knit groups, Love Renaissance has seemed like more of a loose collective under one banner until recently. That changed last December when the label released its first compilation, which was, incidentally, also a holiday album showcasing the singing talents of its R&B roster. However, it looks like the rap unit is beginning to jell as well, as shown in the LVRN Cypher for Spotify’s RapCaviar.
For the first time, all of the group’s impressively gifted rappers come together on one track. While the better-known members 6lack and Westside Boogie may be the big draws, the track highlights the newbies as well, including OMB Bloodbath, who kicks things off with a breathless verse, BRS Kash, who shows he’s more than the “Throat Baby” crooner, and NoonieVsEverybody, who should increase the team’s trap appeal. The video sees the crew take over what looks like a bank lobby as DJ Kitty Cash spins from the concierge podium and the rappers do their thing in matching maintenance uniforms emblazoned with the LVRN logo.
It took a while for the Avengers to come together; now it looks like rap has a new superteam aiming at taking over, one verse at a time. Meanwhile, the team also released individual videos for each member with extended verses, ensuring even more content to hold fans over for whatever comes next.
MF DOOM is returning this week — in a way — thanks to Super What?, a joint album with Czarface (Esoteric and Wu-Tang’s Inspectah Deck) releasing this Friday, May 7. The project will be the first posthumous MF DOOM release since his death was announced by his family on New Year’s Eve last year, two months after his passing. The album is a follow-up to the trio’s 2018 effort Czarface Meets Metalface and was recorded and scheduled for release in 2020. Those plans were paused due to COVID-19 but will proceed this month as a tribute to the late, great DOOM.
Super What? is available for pre-order on both CD and vinyl on MFDOOM’s website GasDrawls.com, with a special edition vinyl already sold out (sorry) and a GasDrawls exclusive vinyl still available for the price of two standard editions. The album is accompanied by a comic book written by Czarface MC Esoteric and illustrated by Benjamin Marra. The ten-track tape features guest appearances from Gorillaz’s Del The Funky Homosapien and Run-DMC’s DMC.
DOOM’s passing sparked a renewed interest in the underground icon’s discography, as streams of his old projects leaped nearly 900% in the wake of the announcement of his death and tributes poured in from both collaborators like Open Mike Eagle and admirers such as Playboi Carti. Hopefully, Super What? will satisfy that interest as fans continue to await news on the Madvillainy sequel that was also reportedly in the works.
A lot of people do not like DJ Khaled. That’s not a controversial statement; it’s as close to being outright fact as anything in our post-truth, “fake news” saturated modern world. But on Khaled’s glitzy new album, Khaled Khaled, he tries hard to give us reasons to appreciate his presence. One of those attempts is the latest in a series of ultra-rare occurrences in hip-hop that I’m almost shocked he didn’t try to have minted as an NFT first: A collaboration between erstwhile foes Jay-Z and Nas on the song “Sorry Not Sorry.”
These are a rare animal indeed, the rap equivalent of Halley’s Comet. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the two veteran rappers have seemed reluctant to join forces over the years. After all, some truly nasty things were said during their early 2000s war of words that took nearly a decade more to address and get over — if they were ever truly able to actually get over them. Between their cult-favorite status, continued longevity, popularity, and commercial viability over the last 30 years, and the animosity that once simmered between them, their team-ups are infrequent events that would make most Marvel execs salivate.
Unfortunately, they’ve also never truly lived up to their hype, as the actual products have nearly always fallen well short of their outsized expectations. Again, I’m not trying to be controversial here; you could almost sense the disappointment of long-time fans in their Twitter reactions the night of the album’s release. Not even Khaled’s motivational speaker energy could liven up the proceedings. Nas and Jay-Z’s verses sound like they come from two different songs; although Jay’s verse is light and bouncy, Nas seems almost bored by his own money talk as he brags about getting in on cryptocurrency early (tech bro rap has a very limited audience, as it’s a lot like trying to have a conversation with a tech bro).
The reasons behind this are likely myriad, from lack of chemistry between the collaborators (the people want Rae-and-Ghost-level verse trading, but Nas really only has that with AZ while Jay’s last real back-and-forth was with Kanye West on “Otis”) to perhaps some lingering tension between the two. Fans have noticed Jay’s unfortunate tendency to step on Nas’s release dates, Nas refuses to punch up his verses after hearing Jay’s contributions, and their subject matter has been, after everything the two have been through together, very shallow and empty, more flash than substance.
It’s been a problem throughout each of their prior collaborations — two on their own, and one with Ludacris — that bears some looking into. So, here’s a timeline of their collaborations, beginning at the beef, as we try to get to the bottom of why these two just can’t seem to find their groove.
“Takeover”/”Ether”/”Supa Ugly”
The only time Nas washed Jay came during their actual battle in 2001. Countless histories have been written already but Nas was the consensus winner even if there are plenty of Jay-Z diehards who’ll take their “Takeover was better” beliefs to the grave (guilty). While “Takeover” kicked things off with a flurry of bars undermining Nas’s newly adopted mafioso image at the time, as well as poking at the declining public perception of his music’s quality, Nas’s schoolyard taunts got personal, ratcheting the excitement up several more notches. Unfortunately, it was Jay who blew a gasket, revealing his hurt feelings by sharing the “Supa Ugly” freestyle to radio and later apologizing after being admonished by his mom.
“Black Republican”
In 2006, just two months after Jay-Z’s “I Declare War” concert which saw the two former foes share the stage for the first time since the extremely early ’90s — possibly ever — Nas and Jay delivered their first collaboration on Nas’s eighth album Hip Hop Is Dead. It should have been a historic moment — certainly, it came with an epic beat. But it was also bogged down by its focus on tax brackets and the relative disparity between the two performances. The normally laid-back Jay sounds energetic, going for broke with rhyme schemes deadset on proving he could hang with the more “lyrical” Nas, who took the opportunity to rap an overly-smooth verse that completely ignores the monumental vibe of the beat or the moment.
“Success”
A year later, Nas would return the favor, appearing on Jay-Z’s 2007 movie companion album American Gangster. This time, the beat was an airy production by No I.D. that had a lot of potential but becomes overwhelming after a few repetitions. Again, the unrelatable subject matter weighs on the proceedings, but this time, the two reverse roles. Jay delivers a lethargic pair of verses that comes across as careless (Jay hollering “Let that b*tch breathe” when he was barely jogging wasn’t the flex he thought, making him look out of shape after a light jog), while Nas yanks out the brakes for an overly wordy contribution that could have used a lighter touch.
“I Do It For Hip-Hop” (with Ludacris)
This is the closest the two have come to a balance on one of their collaborations, probably because of Ludacris’s leavening influence. His boisterous, megaphone flow elevates the energy of the downtempo track, although the verse sequence means the coasting that Jay and Nas do here resembles a hang glider aimed at a cliff. They don’t quite crash; Jay finds his sense of humor again and Nas displays some timely self-awareness, pulling things up just in time to stick the landing. What works is getting the two out of their “emotionless rich guy” schtick. While too much nostalgia can get treacly, there’s just enough of it here to transport listeners back to blocks where the New Yorkers owned their crafts, more concerned with accessible endeavors.
“Sorry Not Sorry”
One thing this track does right: pairing that dreamy, glittering beat with James Fauntleroy and Beyonce vocals — pardon, Harmonies By The Hive vocals — and finding a smooth lane that reflects the elegance and opulence the two rappers try to convey. But again, it all sounds kind of perfunctory; they’re just listing brags, checking off lists, barely trying to impress, and certainly not trying to compete. Oh, and Nas calls himself “Cryptocurrency Scarface,” which doesn’t call to mind a swaggering rap titan so much as a nerdy, underachieving undergrad, trying way too hard to shed his dorky high school image — think Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. Jay’s verse is clever and smooth and makes you wonder why Rick Ross wasn’t paired with him instead because this is very “Maybach Music” territory… it just turns out Jay and Nas aren’t the right Lewis and Clark to explore it.
Clearly, mellower beats are the way to go, but it seems like the two should be more collaborative in their approach if they really want to make people care about their collaborations. As it stands, it feels like they’re writing their verses to different beats in separate rooms and slapping them together. Considering the rarity of their alliances, fans deserve more than this slapdash approach. I’m not saying they have to write each other’s bars, but the joy evident in their collabs with other artists is always lacking when they get together. Maybe they can never truly get past what Jay said about Nas’s baby seat or Nas comparing Jay-Z to Joe Camel, or maybe the hype will simply always overwhelm the final product. But considering the reputations and skill levels involved, perhaps it’s just about finding the right person to put it all together. Khaled came close, maybe another producer will be the one to pull it off.
Khaled Khaled is out now via Epic Records. Get it here.
In March of this year, Saweetie shocked admirers of her relationship with Migos rapper Quavo when she announced that the two had broken up in a tweet that effectively turned every “goals” post about the couple into a grim reminder that social media only tells a fraction of the story. As it turned out, she sent that tweet from the set of W magazine cover shoot. That cover finally came out today and in the story that accompanies it, Saweetie addresses the controversy about her very public love affair and its equally public dissolution head-on.
“I’ve learned that the world doesn’t stop for anybody,” Saweetie said. “And it’s for sure not going to stop for me just because I got my heart broke. I was grateful to be doing the photoshoot. I was like, I can deal with all this later.” Although she doesn’t go into details about what led to her breakup with Quavo in the interview, she does discuss her plans for the future — and they involve a rather large sum of money. “I want 900 million dollars,” she said, elaborating, ““I look at Rihanna. I look at Kylie. I look at all the girls who are working in the worlds that I’m in. I kind of averaged out the money between all these women I admire, and 900 million is the number. So if I’m having a bad day, I’m just like, ‘900 million, girl! Go!’”
Saweetie declared that the two had split in a tweet declaring, “I’m single.” She elaborated, “I’ve endured too much betrayal and hurt behind the scenes for a false narrative to be circulating that degrades my character. Presents don’t band-aid scars and the love isn’t real when the intimacy is given to other women,” leading to speculation that Quavo had cheated on her. Later, a video surfaced of the couple having a physical altercation in an elevator at Saweetie’s apartment building, with both issuing statements dismissing the incident.
DoorDash has pretty famously used rap to plug its service, hiring Blackalicious MC Gift Of Gab, Hamilton star Daveed Diggs, and hip-hop queen Rapsody to record rhyme-laden commercials for television, but someone decided that the equation could probably work the other way around. Providence, Rhode Island rapper Brendan Rush is going viral after a driver for DoorDash apparently shared his music info with customers’ deliveries, dropping off placards with his Spotify page along with the customary burgers and fries.
When one fan posted a picture of their Five Guys bag along with the info card to Twitter, the post went mega-viral within a matter of days, providing Rush with plenty of exposure and even drawing attention from Spotify’s account, which called the plan “next-level genius.” As it turns out though, Rush himself wasn’t the person including the card in deliveries; the rapper responded in the thread, confirming, “I don’t do deliveries.” That means the true culprit is either a fan or a friend who really wants folks to check out Rush’s music.
Rush himself retweeted the viral post on his own page, where he’s also contemplating making a run at TikTok fame and working on plugging his album Rush World through more traditional means. Meanwhile, whoever did drop off the Five Guys with Rush’s Spotify link may be the real MVP for not only bringing back the concept of a street team but also taking it to the next level.
In recent months, Pete Davidson has found himself a new recurring character on Saturday Night Live: Eminem. He played the rapper in a pair of memorable sketches from December and March. That gave Davidson the opportunity to get on the phone with Eminem, a conversation that he described to Seth Meyers on yesterday’s Late Night.
Davidson spoke about the call and explained why he hung up on Eminem “as quick as possible,” saying:
“It went I think as good as it could go. Those [sketches] were written by the great Dan Bulla and Steven Castillo, great SNL writers, and [Chris] Redd. Eminem said a couple nice things about me and I of course heard them. I reached out, I was like, ‘I would just like to say thank you.’ And I just hit him up and said thanks and he was like, ‘Yeah man, you really did that. When I saw Stu on script, I was like, I don’t know how it was going to go, but after you did that, it was fire.’ I was like, ‘Oh thank you so much, you’re the coolest,’ and then I just hung up as quick as possible. That’s all you need, you don’t want anything more.”
Meyers elaborated on Davidson’s point about hanging up, adding, “When you talk to a hero, you don’t want to extend it. If you’re good, get out,” and Davidson agreed. Davidson also briefly touched on playing Joey Ramone in the upcoming movie I Slept With Joey Ramone, describing the decision to get him involved with the film as “either a really great or horrible choice by a studio and we will find out.”
While some romantic relationships in hip-hop have fallen apart, Lil Uzi Vert and City Girls’ JT have been going strong for the past few months. Their relationship saw some ups and downs in its early stages, but the pair was able to work things out. During a recent appearance with fellow City Girls rapper Yung Miami on Justin Combs and Just LaBoy’s new show Respectfully Justin, JT shared how her first date with Lil Uzi went.
“He had a bag full of money and I had a little Chanel bag and he was like, ‘Take as much as you can.’ I could only fit $30,000, and I was so mad,” JT said during the episode. She added that their time together included a trip to the Louis Vuitton and Taco Bell for a rather short date night due to JT needing to “be back to the halfway house,” which she stayed at between October 2019 and March 2020 following a conviction on identity theft and fraudulent credit card charges.
The City Girls rapper then showed some love to Lil Uzi for how great of a partner he is. “I don’t want to keep talking because it’s gonna seem like I’m bragging,” she said. I have a good man. I didn’t even know he was a good man. I was f*ckin’ with him for almost two years before I found out he was a good man.”
You can watch the full Respectfully Justin episode above.
Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Back in 2019, when DJ Khaled dropped his 11th album, Father of Ashad, he released a boatload of videos within the first 24 hours. With his new album Khaled Khaled, he’s doing something similar, though at a much slower rate this time around. The latest is for “Every Change I Get,” and it finds the rapper stasnding side by side with Lil Baby and Lil Durk, all of them surrounded by women, luxury cars, burning objects, and more, all while Durk and Baby deliver verses about their relentless pursuit of success.
The new video is the fourth that Khaled’s has released in five days. He kicked things off with a lavish one for “Sorry Not Sorry,” with Jay-Z and Nas, before heading to Jamaica to connect with reggae artists Buju Banton, Capleton, and Bounty Killer for their collaboration “Where You Come From.” Next, he called on Lil Wayne and Jeremih for the album’s intro track, “Thankful.”
As for Durk and Baby, the two rappers are currently working on their joint album, The Voice & The Hero, which is set to arrive in the near future.
You can watch the video for “Every Chance I Get” above.
Khaled Khaled is out now via Epic Records. Get it here.
YFN Lucci is once again in trouble with the law. The Atlanta rapper, born Rayshawn Bennett, was indicted on racketeering charges connected to a murder that occurred in his hometown of Atlanta. The announcement was shared through the city’s local news station, WSB-TV, which also revealed that Bennett was one of 12 individuals indicted in relation to the incident. The rapper is also accused of tampering with evidence at the crime scene, strangulation, encouraging the assault of a person for playing a rival gang’s music, and other offenses.
After news of the indictment arrived, Bennett’s lawyer Drew Fielding denied the accusations in a statement to WSB-TV. “He’s not a gang member,” Fielding said. “What he is is an internationally recognized musical artist that is a triple platinum winner, that has performed all over the United States and all over the world.”
The racketeering charges are not connected to the felony murder charges Bennett received at the top of the year. In this case, the rapper was charged in connection with the December 10 shooting death of 28-year-old James Adams. He was also accused of aggravated assault, participating in criminal street gang activity, and more in relation to Adams’ death. He surrendered to police in mid-January and was released nearly a month later on $500,000 bond.
YFN Lucci is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Is it a smart move??? pic.twitter.com/GaziU1dVqo
(@jjjjjjjjjjjosh) 
