Rihanna Teases A New Valentine’s Day Savage X Fenty Collection With Saucy Pics

Rihanna has been especially inspirational to people around the world lately. When her native country of Barbados officially renounced the British crown and became a Republic this past November, she was declared a “National Hero of Barbados,” by Prime Minister Mia Mottley and rose to the distinguished occasion. Ed Sheeran recently revealed how she inspires him specifically, and asks himself “What would Rihanna do?” when he starts making songs. Her talent clearly stretches across the cultural spectrum. She has also become much more than just a fashion icon, but also a creator of iconic fashion, with her Savage x Fenty line of “lingerie for every body.”

As she has customarily modeled many of the new collections for the Savage x Fenty line, she teased a new Valentine’s Day collection in a series of photos on social media. Wearing a red number with pink accents — naturally — she posed for the evening shoot in a modest living room. She wrapped her legs in fishnet stockings that complemented the laced look. “Valentine’s Day is for me….but you can watch,” read the racy caption.

“Can y’all handle this heat?,” read the caption on Fenty Beauty’s post from the shoot. This marks the first collaboration between her Savage x Fenty and Fenty Beauty cosmetics brand too. The post explained that Rhihanna’s “purrfected pout” is from Fenty’s Glow Bomb Heat lip luminizer and plumper, which is due out soon.

Now as far as the incredibly-anticipated follow-up to ANTI goes, Rihanna was quoted as saying that new music is coming “soon, soon, soon.” And that whatever comes from her next is going to be a totally unexpected sound, because “music is like fashion: you should be able to play.”

The Weeknd Shares His ‘103.5 Dawn FM’ Livestream Event In Full

At midnight ET on January 7, The Weeknd released his latest album, Dawn FM. At that very same time, he hosted a livestream event, “103.5 Dawn FM,” for which he put on a live show in Los Angeles, playing the whole album from front to back. When the event was announced, The Weeknd said of it, “The power of the 103.5 Dawn FM experience is that maximum fulfillment comes when all who hear it are tuned in at the same time.”

So, while the window for maximum fulfillment has come and gone, fans who missed out on the livestream now have the chance for at least some fulfillment: Today, The Weeknd shared the full “103.5 Dawn FM” livestream on YouTube. During the performance, The Weeknd, in the gray-haired old man look he’s sported for much of the Dawn FM era so far, stands behind an illuminated table on a raised platform as fans watch and dance on the floor below, with The Weeknd playing the role of DJ (fitting considering the album’s radio themes) all the while.

Meanwhile, The Weeknd recently indicated that Dawn FM is actually part of a new trilogy, writing on Twitter, “i wonder… did you know you’re experiencing a new trilogy?”

Watch the full show above.

Freddie Gibbs Gets In A Financial Fracas With Chris Redd In A Cut-For-Time ‘SNL’ Sketch

Hip-hop fans got a pleasant surprise over the weekend when Freddie Gibbs popped up in a Saturday Night Live sketch, one that didn’t make the broadcast but was still shared on the SNL YouTube page.

The skit is a music video for a song called “All On Me” by an up-and-coming rapper named Lil T (played by Chris Redd), who just got signed to a record deal and is celebrating by spending loads of money in the club alongside his entourage, played by Kenan Thompson and host Ariana DeBose. Lil T is taken aback when he sees the massive tab he’s run up, though, so he starts being more frugal. Partway into the song, Gibbs pops up, rapping, “OK, Lil T, you up in the big leagues / See you spending big G’s like your boy Freddie G / Young’uns making money is something I like to see / Send him one big bottle of Ace, it’s on me.” Then, in accordance with the “club code,” Redd sends Gibbs something back: a bottle of Diet Coke. After chastising Redd for that move, Gibbs continues, “Old dude’s just being cheap / Shots for everybody and they all on T.”

Gibbs shared a clip of the skit and wrote on Twitter, “Man shout out my dog Chris Redd for putting me on this SNL sh*t. Live from New York!!!”

Watch the sketch above.

Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Cardi B ‘Really Really’ Wants To Get A Face Tattoo

A little over four months ago, Cardi B gave birth to her second child (who is also her first son). Naturally, she’s fallen head over heels for the little one, so much so that she’s apparently very close to getting the kid’s name tattooed on her face.

Last night, Cardi tweeted, “Random but ….I’m 1% close too tatting my sons name on my face….I really really wanna do it!” In response to a fan saying they wanted to get a tattoo by their ear, Cardi added, “I want mine on my jaw.”

As for what that tattoo would say, that is to be revealed, as Cardi hasn’t actually publicly announced her son’s name yet. This comes after Cardi noted last summer that she’s grateful she didn’t get a face tattoo when she was 16.

Earlier this month, Cardi noted that her son said his first word, noting on an Instagram Story (as Us Weekly notes) “I’m not exaggerating, this baby is talking. I put this on everything I love. Yesterday, I was like, ‘You love Mommy? Yeah?’ Then I asked him again, ‘You love Mommy?’ And he replied back, ‘Yeah!’ I don’t know if that’s, like, a pandemic thing don’t know if this is normal. This sh*t is crazy. I need a camera in his room 24/7. You’re talking, and you just turned 4 months today. You’re talking for real.”

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Pope Francis Left The Vatican To Visit A Record Store And He Got A Mystery CD

Vinyl records are currently the physical music format of choice: In 2020, they outsold CDs for the first time since the ’80s. However, when you narrow the scope down to just recent physical music acquisitions by Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic Church, CDs are in first place: The Telegraph reports that last week, Francis made “a rare private foray” to visit Stereosound, a record store in Rome, and while there, he was gifted a mystery CD.

Tiziana Esposito, one of Stereosound’s owners, told The Telegraph, “He was here for maybe 20 minutes, just time for us to have a chat. It was an honor, very emotional. He is a great person, a simple man but marvelous. He used to come here before he became pope, when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires and visiting Rome. This time we gave him a present, a CD, but I’m not telling anyone what it was.”

Letizia Giostra, another of the store’s owners, also told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera (as Catholic News Service notes), “The Holy Father is passionate about music and was already our client, years ago, when he was still a cardinal and would pass through Rome. Then, of course, we never saw him again. And now he came to visit us, to say hello.”

Aside from the CD, Francis was also seen holding a vinyl record as he left the store, of which Giostra said, “It’s a gift we gave him, a record of classical music.”

In a 2016 interview, Francis noted he missed being able to do everyday things like go out and get some pizza, saying, “I could order it, but it is not the same. It’s nice to go there.” In a 2013 interview with America Magazine, Francis noted of his favorite composers, “Among musicians, I love Mozart, of course. The ‘Et incarnatus est’ from his Mass in C minor is matchless; it lifts you to God! I love Mozart performed by Clara Haskil. Mozart fulfills me. But I cannot think about his music; I have to listen to it. I like listening to Beethoven, but in a Promethean way, and the most Promethean interpreter for me is Furtwängler. And then Bach’s Passions. The piece by Bach that I love so much is the ‘Erbarme Dich,’ the tears of Peter in the ‘St. Matthew Passion.’ Sublime. Then, at a different level, not intimate in the same way, I love Wagner. I like to listen to him, but not all the time. The performance of Wagner’s ‘Ring’ by Furtwängler at La Scala in Milan in 1950 is for me the best. But also the ‘Parsifal’ by Knappertsbusch in 1962.”

Su’Lan Bears No Filter In Their Bashful Video For ‘We Talking Sh*t Again’

The Bay Area has given plenty to the hip-hop world, whether it be certified legends like E-40 and Too Short, who competed in a Verzuz at the end of 2020, or more modern acts like Saweetie, Mozzy, Guapdad 4000, and Larry June. Add genre-influencing acts like the late Drakeo The Ruler and it’s clear that the region is more than worthy of recognition. Now there’s female rap duo Su’Lan, who have impressed many with their releases over the past couple of months.

One of them includes “We Talking Sh*t Again,” which recently received the music video treatment. The video captures the duo’s menacing approach, both with the performers’ aggressive demeanors and the militant support they receive from their crew. Su’Lan also delivers several cut-throat bars that aim to deliver the highest dose of disrespect possible towards their opponents. The track appears on their EP Free Su’Lan, which they released at the end of 2021. The album is also home to their single “Blue Cheese,” which also received a music video.

Prior to Free Su’LanBaby Glock Gang in 2020 and Tia & Tamera in 2019.

You can watch the video for “We Talking Sh*t Again” above.

Free Su’Lan is out now via Special Sounds. Get it here.

Monaleo Throws A Raucous House Party In Her Vibrant Video For ‘We Not Humping’

After earning a lot of attention last year, rising Houston rapper Monaleo wasted no time getting to work in 2022. In 2021, she had her breakout single “Beating Down Yo Block,” plus an appearance on fellow Houston native Maxo Kream’s Weight Of The World album. She ended the year by dropping the single “We Not Humping,” which she recently graced with a video. In it, Monaleo and her boyfriend and rapper Stunna 4 Vegas throw a raucous house party that upsets at least one of her neighbors, but that proves to be the least of her worries.

The video is set to be the latest offering from Monaleo’s upcoming debut project, which is set to arrive spring of this year. The song also captured her growing popularity as the video became her quickest to tally 100,000 views, doing so in just a day. In addition to records like “Beating Down Yo Block” and “We Not Humping,” Monaleo has also shown her versatility through the muscle-flexing “Suck It Up” and the warm-spirited “Girls Outside.”

Other highlights in Monaleo’s career so far include being selected for Beyonce’s Summer 2021 Ivy Park campaign and Youtube Music’s Foundry Class of 2021.

You can check out the video for “We Not Humping” above.

Jay-Z Returns To Twitter After Questlove Tweeted About ‘In My Lifetime, Vol. 1’

When Jay-Z tweets, you might as well buy a lottery ticket. After sending a total of zero tweets in both 2019 and 2020, Hov sent a meager five to the three million followers of his @sc account in 2021. Two were thank yous following his Rock And Roll Hall of Fame induction, and three were about Jack Dorsey/Square’s purchase of Tidal. There was also one reply to Jack Dorsey, who was bigging up Tidal’s algorithm. It’s not the most riveting stuff and Jay-Z (who won’t do a Verzuz battle) also follows exactly zero people on the platform. Suffice it to say, Twitter just isn’t his thing. That’s cool. But pardon us for getting excited when he does tweet out something revealing, which is exactly what happened Sunday in a brief exchange with Questlove.

Somehow, this all started when a Pro Wrestling podcast host sent an innocuous tweet about the polarizing 1997 single “Always Be My Sunshine.” “Hot take: ‘Sunshine’ by Jay-Z was fine and got an unnecessarily bad rap. Actually holds up better now than it did then,” tweeted Will Washington. This prompted a quoted retweet from Questlove, who had some feelings of his own about Jay-Z’s 1997 sophomore album, his first with Def Jam. “Our main argument is his hate for Vol 1. He is embarrassed for trying to make a monster & not putting numbers up. But ALOT of this lp contains his best moments. Fight me @sc,” Questo said.

And lo and behold, this got Mr. Carter out of hiding. At 8:45 am on January 16th in the year of our lord 2022, Jay-Z clapped back, writing, “Agreed . More so, I know what could have been, so it haunts me … streets is watching was the first song made !”

Babyface Ray Uses ‘Dancing With The Devil’ With Pusha T And Landstrip Chip To Announce His New Album

Babyface Ray rose to fame as one of the leading names in Detroit’s re-emerging rap scene, alongside other notable acts like 42 Dugg, Icewear Vezzo, and Sada Baby. The rapper is preparing for a huge 2022 year, and he kicks it off with a brand new track. Ray unites with Pusha T and Landstrip Chip for “Dancing With The Devil,” a somber song that finds Ray and Pusha T grappling with the temptations and demons in their lives while Landstrip Chip provides a reflective hook to tie it all together. As if the new record wasn’t enough, the track also features an exciting announcement.

On January 28, Ray will release his latest album Face, which could potentially feature previously-released strong singles like “What The Business Is,” “It Ain’t My Fault” with Big Sean, and “Catch It,” in addition to “Dancing With The Devil.” It will also hopefully serve as a great follow-up to Ray’s 2021 project, Unf*ckwittable.

Ray ended 2021 with a collection of solid guest features, which paired him with acts like Big Sean, Trippie Redd, Icewear Vezzo, Mozzy, and more.

You can listen to “Dancing With The Devil” in the video above

Face is out 1/28 via Wavy Gang / EMPIRE.

Sada Baby is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Kanye West And The Game’s Cover Art For ‘Eazy’ Was Criticized By PETA

For the first time since their 2016 track “Mula,” Kanye West and The Game have teamed up. On Friday, the two released “Eazy,” which featured production from Hit-Boy as well as several attention-grabbing lines. West took a shot at Pete Davidson, who is dating his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, rapping, “God saved me from that crash / Just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s ass.” He also addressed his split with Kim Kardashian saying, “N****, we havin’ the best divorce ever / If we go to court, we’ll go to court together / Matter of fact, pick up your sis’, we’ll go to Kourt’s together.”

Aside from the song’s lyrics, “Eazy” also got some attention for its cover art, which depicts a skinned monkey over a red backdrop. Shortly after the art was revealed, PETA’s president Ingrid Newkirk condemned the photo in a statement to Billboard.

“The photo is reminiscent of the monkeys PETA has found, sometimes heads, sometimes hands, sometimes the whole body, in meat markets around the world and it makes it clear that when you remove the fur you can’t miss that there’s a person in there, that they are fellow primates, and do not belong to us to abuse for any purpose, not in laboratories, roadside zoos, movies, or meat markets,” Newkirk said.

You can view the cover art about and listen to “Eazy” on Spotify here.