Music

Juice WRLD’s Music Serves As The Inspiration Behind An Upcoming Animated Film

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It’s been over a year and a half since Juice WRLD passed away as the result of a drug-induced seizure at Chicago Midway International Airport. Since then, faithful listeners will have another way to enjoy his work.

According to Deadline, an animated film that uses Juice WRLD’s music as inspiration is currently in the works. The movie is produced by Modern Magic, a media company created by Adam Rosenberg and Rodney Rothman. Its script will be written by Jaboukie Young-White, who currently serves as a correspondent on The Daily Show. John Janick, Steve Berman, and Tony Seyler (who appears on behalf of Interscope Records) are listed as executive producers, as are Carmela Wallace, Peter Jideonwo, and Lil Bibby, each of whom are a member of the rapper’s estate.

The news comes after Juice WRLD’s label, Interscope Records, revealed that three posthumous projects from the late rapper are on the way. The first will be a new EP, The Party Never Ends, which the label promised is “coming soon.” Jideonwo also revealed the project will feature Lil Uzi Vert and “a few other big people.”

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Travis Scott Will Gift A Lucky Fans With Cacti Merch Through A New Partnership With Uber Eats

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Last winter, Travis Scott announced a new line of spiked seltzer drinks called Cacti. The beverages, which come in lime, pineapple, and strawberry flavors, hit stores this spring. So far, they’ve been a hit, and now he’s looking to bring more exposure to it through a new partnership with Uber Eats.

According to Complex, Scott teamed up with the food delivery service to give lucky fans a shot at winning exclusive Cacti merchandise. Between July 21-25, consumers can score a chance at getting the merch — namely, an army green t-shirt that sports the Cacti logo, as well as a handwritten note from Scott himself — by purchasing the seltzer on the Uber Eats app. Consumers will then be able to enter a contest to win the shirt.

Unfortunately, this deal is not available to everyone. Only residents of Chicago, Washington D.C., Miami, Orlando, and Tampa are eligible for the giveaway.

The partnership comes after Travis launched his cannabis line, Cactus Farms, together with marijuana cultivator Connected Cannabis. According to NME, the “Indica-leaning strain” features a “dense, purple bud that releases a pungent, funky-sweet gas aroma rounded out by a unique berry twist.”

This also comes after Scott hid tickets for his upcoming festival Astroworld in variety packs of his cacti seltzer. A total of 200 tickets were made available via the giveaway.

Watch Trippie Redd And Lil Uzi Vert Take Over An Arcade In The ‘Holy Smokes’ Video

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Trippie Redd is getting back in album gear, and today he’s dropped a video for “Holy Smokes,” the second new song off his forthcoming record, Trip At Knight (get it?). On the track, he’s teaming up with Lil Uzi Vert, who has been in hot water lately due to a violent altercation with his ex-girlfriend, who later accused him of abuse and stalking. The rappers are focused on other issues during this clip, though, namely getting their racks up, though the lyrics admit stacking cash isn’t everything — “but I still can’t buy love,” they croon.

“Holy Smokes” follows up the first Trip At Knight single, “Miss The Rage,” which featured Playboi Carti. With two massive features on his first two singles, looks like Redd will be hitting up plenty of guests to appear on this new project. Redd also recentl guested on Uproxx’s own sessions showcase, performing “V12” off his 2020 Pegasus album. Considering Trippie just released that project a few months ago, it’s impressive and ambitious that he’s already readying another new project. But that’s the cadence that has become the norm for this new generation of hip-hop stars. Check out the “Holy Smokes” video above and look for more info on Trip At Knight coming soon.

Idles Tap Slowthai To Lend A Verse On Their Raucous ‘Model Village’

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Idles shared their latest LP Ultra Mono back in September, which included the track “Model Village.” They’ve now linked up with their friend and fellow UK musician Slowthai to feature on a new version of the song, which they debuted on a special episode of vocalist Joe Talbot’s Balley TV series.

Talbot’s Balley TV first began as a quarantine entertainment show. The latest episode aired a month before Ultra Mono‘s release but this week, Talbot and his band took over House Of Vans in London to record an hour-long episode with musicians Katy J Pearson, Deep Tan, and Nuha Ruby Ra. They were also joined by Slowthai for a raucous performance of their new “Model Village” track, which injects even more energy into the already lively tune.

Sitting down for an interview with Talbot after their “Model Village” rendition, Slowthai talked about his overarching goals with his music. The rapper said he just hopes to inspire others to be themselves and share their own viewpoints with the world:

“I think the aim of life is that you’re born, you learn, you pass on your knowledge. It’s about sharing, discovering, communicating, and coming together. So my thing is being able to take what I learned and give my opinions and people can either steer me in the right direction or I can change their viewpoint. I think with music, it’s always to spark a discussion. People are people at the end of the day so they’re influenced how they’re influenced. But I think it’s a responsibility to just share my viewpoint and mainly bring some kind of joy, even though a lot of my music is miserable, and help people who are from a less fortunate place or haven’t had the opportunity to see that they can do what they want and be who they want to be. They haven’t got to follow no rules or guidelines on the way the world expects them to be. Be yourself, don’t give a f*ck, and do it with a smile on your face.”

Listen to Idles and Slowthai’s “Model Village” single and watch their performance on Balley TV above. Pre-order a 7-inch vinyl copy of the song here.

Kalan.FrFr Gives A Charismatic ‘UPROXX Sessions’ Performance Of The Plaintive ‘Never Lose You’

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Compton rapper Kalan.FrFr gives a confident, charismatic performance of his plaintive TwoFr 2 single “Never Lose You” on this week’s episode of UPROXX Sessions, demonstrating why he’s rapidly becoming one of the Hub City’s fastest-rising talents.

Giving off a similar vibe to LA area rap crooners 03 Greedo, Bino Rideaux, and 2021 XXL Freshman Blxst (who has produced beats for him), Kalan blends a melodic delivery and emotive penmanship with lush, G-Funk-inspired beats to tell relatable stories of heartbreak, love, and loyalty shot through with the familiar notes of Los Angeles street culture. Starting off making beats in high school, Kalan retired from San Diego State University’s football team (he played defensive back) to focus on rap full-time.

The switch paid off earlier this year when he was signed to Roc Nation in March. He followed up the signing with the release of his debut album TwoFr 2, which has rapidly become a local favorite. With his deluxe version dropping over the weekend and adding impressive features from fellow South LA standouts 1TakeJay (a fellow UPROXX Sessions alum), BlueBucksClan (stay tuned), and Chicago breakout star Lil Durk, Kalan is one hit away from following his song-rap brethren into the mainstream spotlight.

Watch Kalan.FrFr’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Never Lose You” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Logic And His Entourage Take Over In Their Rowdy ‘Vaccine’ Video

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After dropping his sixth studio album No Pressure last year, Logic announced he would be stepping away from music. His son had just been born and the rapper wanted to focus on his new role as a father. While Logic did end up taking an extended hiatus from his music, it wasn’t long before the rapper returned to announce new songs. Logic unveiled “Vaccine” earlier this month to mark his return to the limelight, and he’s now followed up the song with a rowdy visual.

Directed by Mike Holland and Justin Fleischer, Logic’s “Vaccine” video is a fitting return for the rapper. The quick-paced visual shows the rapper and his crew hitting the streets to have a good time while sporting shirts that aptly read “vaccine.” The video occasionally cuts to share behind-the-scenes videos and photos from Logic’s personal life, depicting him both in the studio and playing with his son. The song itself speaks to Logic choosing to prioritize his family as he fires off verses about spending time at home. “I got happiness, ain’t no need to repeat, I got number ones / Ain’t got time for these rappers, I only got time for my son / Him and his momma the one,” he raps.

In addition to sharing the “Vaccine” video, Logic has teased a few potential project. The “Vaccine” single features some vague lyrics about the impending release of Bobby Tarantino 3, the third installment of his mixtape series. On top of that, Logic has continued teasing a joint project with Madlib.

Watch Logic’s “Vaccine” video above.

Tekashi 69 Is Postponing His Upcoming Shows For ‘Court Matters’ And ‘Personal Family’ Issues

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It’s been over a year since Tekashi 69 was officially released from prison due to COVID concerns. The rapper finished the remainder of his sentence on house arrest and in that time recorded a hit track with Nicki Minaj. He’s played a handful of large-scale stadium concerts since his sentence was completed, which he’s been majorly flexing on Instagram, but it now looks like he’s opting to put some upcoming shows on hold due to more legal issues.

Though he usually posts regularly, it’s been a while since Tekashi has been active on Instagram. But this week, the rapper took to social media to inform fans he would be postponing a few concerts. Tekashi explained the shows will be pushed back to deal with family matters and court issues. “I must postpone my North Carolina show & Virginia show due to personal family & court matters,” he wrote. “Update soon.”

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While the rapper didn’t specify which family or court matters he needed to attend to, Tekashi has had his fair share of legal troubles in recent months. Earlier this year, Tekashi was reportedly sued by a stripper in Miami after getting in a fight with someone who called him out for snitching. After that, the rapper was hit with another lawsuit, this time by his own security team. The lawsuit reportedly noted the rapper owed the company which employs his security team over $75,000.

Lil Durk Was Left Off Of Kanye West’s Upcoming Album Because Of A Missed Flight

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Kanye West fans were excited this week by sparse footage emerging from a recent listening event for his new album during which he revealed some of the guests for the album. According to attendees and one clip that surfaced on Twitter and Instagram, the features include usual Kanye collaborators like Travis Scott and Ty Dolla Sign and newcomers like Baby Keem in addition to the previously rumored Tyler The Creator.

However, one name fans won’t find on that list is Lil Durk, who was apparently invited to the recording sessions but was unable to attend — at least, that’s the inference from Durk’s comment on a post about the listening sessions on Instagram. Replying to a post featuring a screenshot of comedian Justin LaBoy’s recap tweet of the event, Durk expressed his regretful reason for not being on the album: “I missed the jet.” However, he also expressed hope for the future, writing, “Well next album.”

Durk, who looked up to Kanye as a fellow Chicagoan, paid homage to the hometown hero in the video for “Kanye Krazy” from his recent album The Voice, recreating some of Kanye’s own videos like “I Love It” and “Bound 2.” Meanwhile, fans who missed out on the Las Vegas listening event will get another chance at it, provided they can get to Atlanta by Thursday. He’s holding another event there at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but he has yet to announce a new release date after pushing it back multiple times.

J. Cole Teams Up With NBA Superstar Carmelo Anthony To Dominate Their Pickup Game

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Even though he finally fulfilled his dream of playing basketball professionally earlier this year with the Basketball Africa League, J. Cole has still been keeping up his skills practice. He recently worked out with NBA trainer Phil Handy and the Lakers’ Talen Horton-Tucker, and it looks like he’s still playing pickup ball pretty regularly. At a recent run with even more NBA trainers, he picked up a teammate who knows a little bit about playing with pros: Carmelo Anthony.

Footage from the session was posted to social media depicting Cole and Melo teaming up at a run that also featured the Houston Rockets’ Kevin Porter Jr. Cole appears to be keeping up, sinking a pull-up jumper in transition and feeding Melo for an easy top-of-the-key, catch-and-shoot three. Of course, Melo’s highlights dominate the clip as he pours in bucket after bucket from seemingly everywhere on the floor.

Judging from the fact that Cole has been popping up with NBA trainers, it doesn’t look like he totally satisfied just with playing overseas. He’s certainly received some positive feedback from many of the players he played with for Rwanda, although he received his share of criticism too. Whether he’s still pursuing the NBA or just working on improving his skills, the work ethic he spoke about leading into the release of his new album The Off-Season looks to be intact as he prepares to go on tour with 21 Savage and Morray to promote the new project.

HER’s Lights On Festival Is Coming To Brooklyn This Fall With Sets From Chloe Bailey, 6lack, And More

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A few weeks back, HER announced another edition of her personally curated Lights On Festival in Concord, California, happening over two consecutive days in September. (The first Lights On went down in 2019, if you’ll recall.) Now, Lights On is making its way to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center the following month.

Also curated by the Grammy-winning performer, the East Coast iteration of Lights On also goes down on two consecutive days — October 21 and 22 — and features performances from HER (and friends), plus R&B favorites Maxwell, 6lack, Bryson Tiller, Ari Lennox, SWV, Queen Naija, Lucky Daye, Chloe Bailey (of Chloe x Halle), Blxst, Victoria Monet, Skip Marley, Joyce Wrice, and Tone Stilth, with more to be announced.

Lights On Festival

As previously reported, Lights On Festival is making its way to the Concord Pavilion in Concord, California on September 18 and 19 with performances from HER, Erykah Badu, Tiller, Ari Lennox, Ty Dolla Sign, Keyshia Cole, Masego, Lucky Daye, Kiana Ledé, Fousheé, and lots more. According to today’s announcement, tickets for the Barclays show in Brooklyn are set to go on sale this Friday, July 23, at 10 a.m. ET, though fans can get pre-sale tickets today, July 20, at 12 p.m. ET. Get tickets here.

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