Music

Cardi B Explains Why She Stopped Talking About Politics: ‘I Was Tired’

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Throughout her initial rise to stardom, Cardi B was one of music’s most outspoken voices, from developing a friendship with Bernie Sanders to calling out injustices on social media, but lately, she hasn’t addressed current events or politics quite as much. When a fan asked why she stopped talking about politics as much, Cardi’s heartbreaking response made perfect sense.

“I was tired of getting bullied by the republicans and also getting bashed by the same people I was standing up for,” she replied, referring to the outsized backlash she received for many of her political statements. By aligning herself with Bernie Sanders, she became a favored target for conservative commentators, who also took to criticizing her music and performances, even as they ignored plenty of other rappers whose music was even raunchier than hers. However, also receiving criticism on her opinions from the other side of the aisle seemingly took its toll, as well.

As if to prove the point, one commenter posited their own cruel reasoning behind the two-sided backlash: “cus you sound like you’re slow when you talk and it was ruining everything.” Cardi had the perfect response, though, pointing out that “It was the only way YOU would of understand me.” Cardi’s down-to-earth explanations, which always came from her, may have been unpolished, but by no means is she out of her depth; Cardi’s AP History teacher pointed out that the rapper was an A-student, despite her freewheeling approach to grammar on Twitter.

Dom Kennedy Enjoys The Simple Things In His Breezy ‘Don’t Walk Away’ Video With Quentin Miller

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Dom Kennedy is back, bringing former Drake co-writer Quentin Miller along in the new video for “Don’t Walk Away.” The West Coast summertime stalwart returned with a smooth new album of low-key luxury lifestyle lyrics, From The Westside With Love Three. As usual, Hit-Boy provides production, sampling the 2000 DJ Quik and Sugafree single “Don’t Walk Away” for a mellow, breezy jam over which Dom and Quentin brag about their accomplishments and possessions.

The video finds the two rappers throwing a laid-back get-together after-hours at Honey’s Kettle Chicken in LA (which I will never forgive for moving out of my beloved Compton). As some lady friends hang out, dance, and eat in the front of the shop, the fellas convene for a private card game at a secondary location. Dom also shows off his Porsche collection outside a garage, soaking up the LA sunshine.

Kennedy has experienced something of a resurgence in recent years, regaining momentum from his Yellow Tape era thanks to his partnership with Hit-Boy. From The Westside Three is his third album in as many years, and on each, he’s sounded revitalized, rapping with fervor and grace we haven’t heard from him in nearly a decade. Wherever this new burst of inspiration came from, let’s all hope it remains consistent because the blog-era favorite deserves this success.

Watch Dom Kennedy’s breezy “Don’t Walk Away” video with Quentin Miller above.

From The Westside With Love Three is out now via The OPM Company. Get it here.

Anitta And Saweetie Are Tired Of ‘Faking Love’ On Their Confident New Single

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Brazilian pop star Anitta‘s new single, “Faking Love,” is a brazen breakup anthem, so it’s fitting that she tapped the Bay Area’s own Icy Princess, Saweetie, to deliver a slick, dismissive verse to really drive the message home. After all, Saweetie’s become kind of an expert at that type of song thanks to her experience on similar anthems like “Back To The Streets.” She also shines quite a bit brighter when paired with another woman’s voice — just see “Best Friend,” “Slow Clap,” and “Seesaw” — so she’s a perfect fit on Anitta’s upbeat track.

Saweetie’s flow has improved quite a bit as well, as those performance boot camps she delayed her album for seem to be paying off. The verse also helps hold fans over as they await the holidays to find out more about her collaboration with another pop icon, Cher. Meanwhile, Anitta, who has had a relatively quiet year so far, is smart to tap another American star as she warms up the new music rollout machine. After calling on Cardi B to spice up her fan-favorite single “Me Gusta,” getting in touch with another of the top female hitmakers in the US keeps her trajectory pointed solidly toward the sky.

Listen to Anitta and Saweetie’s new single, “Faking Love,” above.

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

Only One Other Artist Has Heard Adele’s Upcoming Album ’30’ And It’s Drake

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After years of waiting, Adele is back with new music, as her new single, “Easy On Me,” was released earlier today. Fans will be able to listen to Adele’s forthcoming album, 30, when it drops on November 19, but of course, there are people in Adele’s circle who have already heard the album. As for other artists who have had the privilege of getting an advance listen of 30, there’s only one: Drake.

In a Capital FM interview this morning, Adele was asked if she sent the album to anybody so she could get their thoughts on it, and she was quick to respond, “No.” She then continued, though, “I played it to Drake maybe last year, when he was in town, just to get… like, ‘Do you think this is what people want or not want,’ and he was like, ‘Absolutely.’ But that’s it, really. […] I don’t sent it around to various people being like, ‘Can I get your thoughts on this?’”

This comes after Drake gave the new song a co-sign: After it was released, he took to his Instagram Story to spread the word about the track and show love for his pal, writing, “One of my best friends in the world just dropped a single.”

30 is out 11/19 via Columbia. Pre-order it here.

Comedian Zack Fox Finally Goes Full Rapper-Mode With His Still-Hilarious New EP, ‘STFU Talking To Me’

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Comedian Zack Fox had previously dabbled in rap with mischievous singles like “Fafo,” “Jesus Is the One,” and “Square Up,” but as it turns out, those were just practice for him to lock in and release a full EP. That EP, Shut The F*ck Up Talking To Me, arrived last night and across its nine tracks, Fox turns out to be every bit as adept (and profane) a rapper as he is a standup comic.

Just check out “Mind Your Business,” an ’80s-R&B-sampling two-stepper that finds Fox slinging witty, wild one-liners like “I’m smokin’ big pressure, call that hypertension,” and “I took the top off the whip, circumcision.” Meanwhile, on the EP’s title track, Fox employs a soulful beat courtesy of The Alchemist to spit a multi-syllabic string of punchlines worthy of inclusion in the long list of hardcore rap artists that Alchemist has produced for in the past couple of years.

“Don’t get embarrassed tryna snatch my carats,” Fox warns, “My n***s barbaric, sh*t could get ugly as f*ck like Ed Sheeran.” No target is safe from his hilarious threats as he reps Atlanta, references wrestling, and delivers one smirking haymaker after another on his thoroughly impressive debut tape. You can check it out in full below.

Wale, Maxo Kream, And Yella Beezy Throw A Parking Lot Party In The ‘Down South’ Video

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If you’re going to make a video for a song called “Down South” featuring Houston hard-hitter Maxo Kream and Dallas star Yella Beezy, it’s only right that you make that video a blowout celebration of all things Texas car culture. That’s exactly what Wale does for his Paul Wall-sampling single from Folarin II, throwing a parking lot party with all the candy paint, hydraulics, and horsepower he could fit into four minutes.

The video is also crammed with legends of Texas hip-hop, including Bun B, Slim Thug, and more. As the trio’s guests gyrate to the no-doubt booming bass from the circled-up, showstopping slabs, the rappers perform their verses and sip from styrofoam cups, completing the image of a good, old-fashioned Texas shindig. Interestingly, “Down South” is the third video from the Folarin II rollout, but it was the first single. Wale also dropped videos for “Poke It Out,” featuring J. Cole, and “Angles” with Chris Brown.

Watch Wale’s ‘Down South’ video featuring Maxo Kream and Yella Beezy above. You can read Uproxx’s autumn digital cover story on Wale here.

Folarin II is due 10/22 via Warner Records and MMG. You can pre-save it here.

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

Young Thug Reunites With J. Cole, Juice WRLD, And Mac Miller On His New Album, ‘Punk’

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In keeping with the modern trend in hip-hop, Young Thug’s newly released second(!) album, Punk, is a star-studded affair on which the trap experimentalist is accompanied by a plethora of guests from across the genre. However, unlike his previous release, So Much Fun, he expands the range of artists he taps to help him fill time, including newcomers like ASAP Rocky, Doja Cat, and Mac Miller among his frequent collaborators like Drake, Gunna, and Future. He also reunites with J. Cole, Juice WRLD, and Post Malone after working with them on some of their biggest singles.

Thug, who officially kicked off the promotion for his latest album with his first-ever NPR Tiny Desk Concert alongside rock drummer Travis Barker, rolled out the album in a most unusual way, only releasing one single, “Tick Tock,” and playing new songs at places like Givenchy’s Paris Fashion Week show and in the backseats of Lyft drivers’ cars. And speaking of cars, his release party stunt of trashing a brand-new Rolls-Royce with baseball bats alongside Gunna and Metro Boomin drew both attention and criticism. However, judging from the fact that many fans on Twitter freely admitted to staying up later than usual for the release (midnight Pacific, three hours later than most New Music Friday releases), it would seem that these tactics had an overall positive effect on the album’s reception.

You can check out some of the new songs from Punk above and listen to the full album courtesy of Atlantic and YSL here.

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

Fans Celebrate Mac Miller’s ‘Faces’ Mixtape Finally Hitting Streaming Services But Lament Missing Samples

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While a good handful of Mac Miller albums can be heard on streaming services, they alone offer an incomplete picture of the late rapper’s career. Miller released more mixtapes than he did albums, after all, but due to the non-commercial nature of those releases, they’re mostly not available on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Now, though, it just became a lot easier to listen to a Miller classic: 2014’s Faces — his final mixtape, excluding the 2015 Larry Fisherman release Run-On Sentences: Vol. 2 — is now streaming, as was announced last month.

Fans are excited, but they’re also noticing that this version of Faces isn’t exactly the mixtape they remember. For example, one fan on the r/MacMiller subreddit shared a list of samples that don’t appear on the streaming version of the album, including dialogue from Bill Murray, Hunter S. Thompson, and Charles Bukowski.

One fan tried to see the positive side, though, commenting, “I mean it kinda sucks that these couldn’t get cleared but as long as all the beats and rhymes are unchanged then I’m cool with it.” However, other fans replied to note that some of the production on Faces actually is different. One said of “New Faces v2,” “Should have titled it new faces v3 lol. Really the 808s are just a bit heavier and start like 10 seconds sooner.”

Hear the changes for yourself by streaming Faces below.

Mac Miller is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.