Jay-Z and Will Smith are the unofficial avatars of Black wealth, and with their latest venture, they hope to provide a means for building wealth for more people. Their investment funds, Roc Nation and Dreamers VC respectively, have joined a group of investors raising $165 million in housing startup Landis, which will rent homes to clients until they can afford to buy them.
According to Bloomberg, the company purchases a house, rents it to the client, and then sells it to them at a preset price (including a fee on top of its original value) up within two years from the initial purchase. Landis also provides financial coaching to clients to help them manage their budgets, build credit, and save the down payments they need to purchase their homes. After the first two years, the company may offer more time or sell the property.
The idea is, of course, to make it easier for aspiring homeowners to actually achieve their goal in a housing market that has become increasingly expensive and risky in the years since the Great Recession, which was in part caused by a housing market bubble bursting in the mid-2000s.
Bloomberg reports that the typical Landis client is a first-time buyer with a budget under $400,000. The $165 million investment will allow the company to buy around 1,000 homes with the hopes of following through on 80% of its initial customer base. That would be way more than traditional rent-to-own companies. The company’s founder, Cyril Berdugo, credits the business model, which would see Landis “make money when our client buys the house back.” “If we leave money on the table,” he says, “That’s our problem.”
While Kanye West has been holed up in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium finishing his album Donda, TMZ reports the extravagant producer may be planning to use the stadium once again for a listening event for the album. However, since he already did that to somewhat mixed reviews (without releasing the album, no less), TMZ’s sources say Kanye is working on ways to make the experience substantially different from that last one at the behest of Live Nation and Creative Artists Agency, which fear they won’t sell as many tickets to a redux.
Options on the table include a new stage or musical arrangement but because Kanye has been so mercurial, often changing critical details of his projects at the last minute — such as mixing his new reunion song with Jay-Z the day of the last Donda listening — no one knows quite what he’ll do. At the previous listening, he walked around the arena floor dressed in an all-crimson outfit wearing a stocking mask as the album played — something many fans both in attendance and online questioned.
Rexx Life Raj is back with another new entry into his weekly music releases, this time with the easygoing video for “Red Lobster Biscuits.” Opening with a cheeky disclaimer that the “the Runtz chain that Raj is wearing isn’t actually his,” the video sees Raj trying to “feel more like a real rapper” by wearing “shiny things that sparkle and glisten in the sun.” Shot at a recording session in the Hollywood Hills, the video is laid-back, while Raj’s lyrics reflect his business-first outlook and critique rapper with misleading images.
Veteran rap producer The Alchemist stoked the fires of anticipation in rap fans for his rumored joint project with Vince Staples after he tweeted his refutation of the Long Beach rapper’s claims that he takes “hella long” to complete work. Vince himself sparked the rumors when he appeared on Ebro’s Apple Music Radio show to make the claim that he recorded “30 verses on 30 beats” during a smoked-out session with Alchemist and Earl Sweatshirt. Vince said he got tired of waiting, so he recorded Vince Staples with Kenny Beats in the meantime.
However, Alchemist told fans Vince is “full of sh*t” today on Twitter. “I’ve had a finished 6 song EP with JUST HIM for over 3 months!!” he insisted. “MIXED! Plus mad songs with him and Thebe.” Alchemist has been known to send Rap Twitter into frenzies in the past, such as when he suggested he and Earl hid a joint album on YouTube under a fake name.
Vince is full of shit. Ive have a finished 6 song EP with JUST HIM for over 3 months!! MIXED! Plus mad songs with him and Thebe.
Of course, Vince was rumored to be releasing multiple projects this year, so it’s entirely possible that this was always going to be the second project and this back-and-forth is just their elaborate way of promoting it (weirder things have happened). Either way, rap fans who were already champing at the bit to hear more are now absolutely ecstatic to learn that the sessions Vince mentioned had possibly born fruit.
yo Al idk if you the man to tell but imma need that pronto
— Pablito (Fuck Da Police) (@DeadShogunn) July 30, 2021
Now that this tidbit has been revealed, I guess we’ll have to see if Earl chimes in to make his own outrageous claim, at which point Rap Twitter might simply implode. If nothing else, this whole episode proves that rap in 2021 has been more fun than ever.
In the spirit of that education, the latest voice to join the chorus belongs to another pop icon, Madonna, who posted her own response to Instagram in an effort to inform the North Carolina rapper why his remark about HIV/AIDS killing people in “two to three weeks” was wildly off the mark.
“A message to DaBaby,” she wrote. “If you’re going to make hateful remarks to the LGBTQ+ community about HIV/AIDS then know your facts.” She provided some of those facts, which you can read below.
After decades of hard won scientific research, there are life saving medicines available to children born with HIV, to people who contract HIV through blood transfusions, dirty needles, or exchange of bodily fluids.
These new [antiretroviral drugs] can keep a person with AIDS alive for the rest of their lives!!! AIDS is not transmitted by standing next to someone in a crowd. I want to put my cellphone lighter up and pray for your ignorance. No one dies of AIDS in 2 or 3 weeks anymore. Thank God.
And your sexist remarks about Ladies whose pussies need to smell like water only encourage more discrimination against women who fight daily against the oppression of living under the constraints of the Male Gaze.
People like you are the reason we are still living in a world divided by fear. All Human beings should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, sexual preference or religious beliefs. AMEN.
While the odds DaBaby knows (or cares) who Madonna is are about the same as the ones for him knowing Elton John or Questlove, considering his adverse reaction to Quest’s message, he probably won’t take hers any better.
Miley Cyrus has gone through distinct stylistic phases in her career, trying on different musical identities with each album. The Bangerz era was pop/R&B/hip-hop, Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz was experimental/psychedelic, Younger Now was country/pop-rock, and now we’re at Plastic Hearts, which is rock/synth-pop. Here in the Plastic Hearts era, Cyrus has become known for her rock covers and reverence for previous generations of artists. That was on full display during her Lollapalooza set last night, which featured a bevy of covers and guest appearances.
Her 26-song set (as setlist.fm notes) began with “We Can’t Stop” before moving into a cover of Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?.” From there, she sprinkled other covers throughout the set, including Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass,” Cher’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” Temple Of The Dog’s “Say Hello 2 Heaven,” and Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Most notable, she was joined by Billy Idol and they performed a couple of his songs together, “Night Crawling” and “White Wedding.”
Speaking of guests, aside from Idol, Cyrus also at various points had on stage G Herbo (to perform “Love Money Party”), Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J (“32”), and The Kid Laroi (“Without You”).
Cyrus posted some clips and photos from the performance and from around the festival, so check those out below, as well as some other videos from the show.
Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.
Whatever you might be into, each month brings a new slew of vinyl releases that has something for everybody. Some stand out above the rest, naturally, so check out some of our favorite vinyl releases of July below.
Various Artists — Bills & Aches & Blues
4AD
To celebrate 40 years of being fine music purveyors, 4AD has put out a compilation featuring artists covering songs from throughout their history. They secured quite the roster, too, as the album includes Big Thief, Future Islands, Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox, US Girls, Aldous Harding, Tine-Yards, Jenny Hval, and Helado Negro, among others.
2Pac — Until The End Of Time (20th Anniversary Reissue)
2Pac
For the first time in 20 years, Tupac’s multi-Platinum album Until The End Of Time is available on high-quality, 180-gram audiophile vinyl. This 4-LP release is pressed on bone-colored vinyl and it comes with a four-page folio book that features previously unseen photos and a handwritten tracklist from Tupac himself.
The Mars Volta — De-Loused In The Comatorium (Reissue)
GSL/Universal
The Mars Volta dropped their expansive, career-spanning La Realidad De Los Sueños box set earlier this year, but now they’re offering an option for folks who want to pick up albums from their discography individually. They started the rerelease series with a reissue of Tremulant in June, and July brought De-Loused In The Comatorium, and subsequent months will bring subsequent albums.
Various Artists — Almost Famous: Music From The Motion Picture (Reissue)
UMe
Almost Famous is one of the more memorable music movies of the past few decades, and now the music that inspired it (as well as the original songs from the movie) are available on a gigantic vinyl collection. Aside from some classic tunes, among the 103 total tracks are dozens of unreleased songs and exclusive new versions of songs you already know.
Bryan Ferry — These Foolish Things, Another Time, Another Place, Let’s Stick Together, In Your Mind, The Bride Stripped Bare, and Boys And Girls (Reissues)
Island
As Roxy Music was enjoying its generation-defining success, Bryan Ferry went ahead and launched a vaunted solo career of his own. Now the first six of those albums have been re-pressed on 180-gram black vinyl and come with enhanced versions of the original artwork, overseen by Ferry himself.
Abbey Lincoln carved out a major place in pop culture in the ’50s and ’60s, and now one of her defining albums has gotten a shiny new rerelease via the folks at Vinyl Me, Please. This edition of the 1958 album was newly remastered and it comes with a booklet of listening notes to help you fully immerse in the record. To celebrate this album, the 50th of VMPs Classics track, they held an essay contest to win every Classics album they’ve put out.
Dolly Parton remains a pop culture icon today, and now one of her classic releases has been given new life with a Vinyl Me, Please reissue. It’s a lovely-looking vinyl pressing as well with its rainbow splatter coloring, and to top it off, the album has been freshly remastered, meaning this should be the best this album has ever sounded on vinyl.
Vince Staples fans wanted a vinyl edition of his new self-titled album, and thankfully, the rapper delivered. What wasn’t so fortunate was how limited the available quantities were, as many fans on Twitter lamented their missed opportunity to pick up the album. As for the music itself, Uproxx’s Aaron Williams said of it, “Clocking in at a truly breezy 22 minutes and with two interludes among its 10 tracks, it’s an even quicker listen than FM! — yet, due to its comforting sonic palette, it feels more cozy than disappointing, prompting repeat playthroughs to try and catch the witty wordplay and cushy vibes of Kenny Beats’ production.”
Stone Temple Pilots — Tiny Music… From The Vatican Gift Shop (Super Deluxe Edition)
Rhino
Stone Temple Pilots’ adventurous third album is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, so the band has re-issued it with a bunch of goodies. Aside from the remastered original album, it has been expanded with unreleased studio and live recordings, which include early versions, instrumentals, and alternate takes.
Over the past week, public opinion on DaBaby has, to borrow a phrase from one of his collaborators, done “a full 180“: He’s faced accusations of homophobia and the fallout from them following his controversial appearance at Rolling Loud last weekend. Questlove decided to speak out against DaBaby’s actions, which prompted DaBaby to fire back.
Questlove took to Instagram and shared a list of artists he would include in a modern Summer Of Soul festival lineup, and DaBaby’s name was on the list but crossed out. Questlove explained that he removed DaBaby from the roster in light of his recent goings-on and admitted that while he hesitated to speak out against him, the things DaBaby said were “not cool at all.” He wrote:
“I was hypothetically asked if I was curating an updated version of #SummerOfSoul who would be my acts?
I gave my dream list.
And now I’m updating my list —-because it’s 2021 & f*ck the bullshit. I’m especially not here for any savagery (if you’re lost: Google the idiocy of the crossed out). I’m not trine be all performative smurf & create a social flogging or start some click bait headlines. That’s missing the point. But right is right & his actions are wrong. Somebody Gotta say it: Homophobia/Transphobia/Xenophobia/Misogyny/Racism—-this should go w/o saying is morally wrong.
& not that fake hiding behind religion holier than thou morally wrong.
But ‘that was f*cked up’ & wrong. I had to say something. Again I’m not doing this for ‘what do you want a cookie bro w your ‘love ye one another’ posts?—–black people already have a code about publicly criticizing so I’ll admit i was slow to do this because I mean he don’t know me from Adam. So this will prolly get marked as ‘old hater’ territory. But man…..that sh*t was not cool at all.
I dunno man—maybe I’m turning into a grump: barely said anything about Rih in ’06 (lemme mind my business), looked the other way w ol bol & that MaGa Hat (he going thru thangs let him work it out)—-don’t even get me started on half of my rap heroes damn near becoming f*x news talking points w their russian bot reposts & misinformation on all things facts.
Huey Newton wisely stated in the early 70s that we as a people should NEVER go so low in life (with what we been through) that we start oppressing/terrorizing the next man in the way we been terrorized for centuries.
Y’all got my point. Sorry this came off awkward but y’all get the point. Y’all gonna learn that there are other human beings living in the space you are.”
DaBaby caught wind of the post and responded by insisting that he doesn’t know who Questlove is (despite performing with The Roots on The Tonight Show in 2019) and sharing messages for his detractors. He wrote on multiple Instagram Story posts:
“i ain’t even tryna be funny when i say …. i do NOT KNOW WHO DIS N**** IS DAWG [laughing emoji] [shrugging emoji] $ do not care bout loosing you as a fan my boy lol @questlove. You or any other n**** who wanna play follow the leader . This superstar you was a fan of is STAND UP n**** , Yeen never seen one of these huh? [laughing emoji]
These n****s really think they gone influence people to stop f*ckin w/ the INFLUENCE [laughing emoji]. They go crazy bout what I say not yall [laughing emoji]. I got da influence AND the nuts n****. Y’all n****s cheerleaders.
Y’all extra ass n****s tagging along playing on my top like I’m a n**** you can bully of sumn [laughing emojis] going out y’all way creating art work & sh*t tryna gain new fans off my situation cuz it’s QUIET for y’all n****s [crying emoji]. N****s better hit the studio of sumn.”
There’s no doubt that Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars’ upcoming joint album as Silk Sonic is one of the most anticipated projects of the year. The duo set the bar extremely high earlier this year with the release of their debut single, “Leave The Door Open.” The groovy track quickly became a favorite of music lovers from all over, and soon enough, the singers would be hit with repeated requests to drop a follow-up to the song. Tonight, the duo comes through with “Skate,” at long last
If you had any fears of a misstep from Silk Sonic, we can confirm that none have occurred as “Skate” does nothing but keeps the funk alive. The track is released with a colorful video that features Bruno and Anderson performing for a group of female rollerskaters. Bruno sits behind a set of congas while Anderson takes his talents to a classic drum set. All in all, the song is quite the inviting release as the duo begs a woman that’s caught their attention to make her way over to them.
It’s very possible that “Skate” could bring the same success to Silk Sonic as “Leave The Door Open” did. The latter spent two weeks at No. 1 on the singles chart and helped the duo win Best Group at the BET Awards this year.
You can press play on Silk Sonic’s funky new single in the video above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Despite rising to fame after growing up for most of his life in North Carolina, Toosii taps into his New York roots (he was born in Syracuse) to access the drill rap sound that exploded in the state thanks to names like Pop Smoke, Fivio Foreign, CJ, Rah Swish, and more on his newest single, “Spin Music” featuring Fivion Foreign.
The track arrives with a visual that opens with Toosii and Fivio surrounded by an array of dirt bikes, ATVs, and a few other flashy vehicles. Toosii heads indoors to fire off a confident verse while Fivio goes back and forth between the outdoor’s rowdiness and the company of a woman in the bedroom for his own contribution to the song.
“Spin Music” is one of ten new additions to the deluxe version of Toosii most recent project, Thank You For Believing. Presenting just one additional guest appearance from Hotboii, the updated body of work arrives under a new titled: Thank You For Believing (The Manifestation). The project also features the previously released single, “Head Over Hills.”
You can watch the flashy video for “Spin Music” above.
Thank You For Believing (The Manifestation) is out now via South Coast Music Group. Get it here.
