In news that Rihanna fans are painfully aware of at this point, this singer’s most recent album is 2016’s Anti, which was released nearly six years ago now. In the years since, Rihanna has periodically offered statements on either when she expects to release the album or what her upcoming music is sounding like. Her latest dispatch on this front falls in the latter category, as she’s teasing an experimental new project.
In an interview with the Associated Press (on the red carpet of her latest Savage X Fenty fashion show), Rihanna said:
“You’re not going to expect what you hear. Just put that in your mind. Whatever you know of Rihanna is not going to be what you hear. I’m really experimenting. Music is like fashion: you should be able to play. I should be able to wear whatever I want, and I treat music the same way. So, I’m having fun and it’s going to be completely different. That’s it.”
This expands upon what she noted at the end of 2020 when she said, “2021 is a little unknown for everybody and nobody is sure what restrictions there are going to be. My creativity is within my control, though, and I want to take my music and my brands to a different level.”
Windy City natives Vic Mensa and BJ The Chicago Kid team up for “The Taste,” a nostalgic ode to summertime in the city. Throughout the soulful single, the two name-check their favorite hometown landmarks like River Oaks Center mall, Lakeshore Drive, and Navy Pier, while telling a romantic interest “you taste like Chicago.” After a pair of velvety verses and choruses, the song’s bridge breaks down into a juking beat to really emphasize the point.
Vic Mensa’s comeback in the past year has been nothing short of impressive. Beginning with the V Tape in 2020, Mensa returned to the soulful, lyrically dextrous hip-hop that first brought him to national prominence. He followed up in spring this year with I Tape, which featured his reunion with longtime brother-in-arms Chance The Rapper on “Shelter.” In July, Vic teamed up with Just Blaze for the triumphant “Victory,” which celebrated his return to form, and most recently, he performed his entire breakout mixtape INNANETAPE at Riot Fest.
“The Taste” marks the reunion of Vic and BJ, who previously worked together on V Tape‘s “Rebirth.” BJ, meanwhile, recently announced his independence and has been quietly working on a new project while appearing of projects from likes of Polo G, Common, and more.
Watch Vic Mensa and BJ The Chicago Kid’s nostalgic ‘The Taste’ video above.
Although Lil Nas X’s debut album Montero is a star-studded affair with features from icons like Elton John and contemporary favorites like Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion, fans noticed a conspicuous absence of other male rap features — specifically, from other Black men (Jack Harlow appears on “Industry Baby”). Nas previously expressed his disappointment and received support from Kid Cudi after telling a fan, “Maybe a lot of them don’t wanna work with me.”
Shortly after the album was released, though, he did share the name of one who did: Drake, who Nas sent “Dolla Sign Slime.” However, Drake was finishing up Certified Lover Boy and unable to dedicate time to recording a verse, so Megan Thee Stallion was tapped to replace him. However, it turns out there was another rapper willing to align himself with Nas’ progressive vision; again, he was thwarted by bad timing.
Yesterday, during a Twitter Q&A with fans about Montero, the question came up once again, with another fan wondering why no other Black male rappers appeared on the album. This time, Nas was a little more forthcoming, revealing that he did almost have one but that deadlines forced him to forego the collaboration. “Ski Mask was almost on ‘Scoop,’” he shared, referring to rebellious Florida rapper Ski Mask The Slump God. “But we had to turn it in before he could finish.” However, Nas reiterated that “other than that a lot of them just don’t fwm tbh.”
ski mask was almost on scoop but we had to turn it in before he could finish other than that a lot of them just don’t fwm tbh https://t.co/DJmDVeDhEu
While it’s disappointing to learn that the few allies Nas has were unable to participate, the end results still wound up being excellent, as Doja Cat’s verse on “Scoop” was appreciated by fans as a standout on the project. Hopefully, Nas’ success will convince more of his peers that working with him is worth whatever risk they think it’ll bring and, like Cudi later said, break down the “homophobic cloud” that hovers over hip-hop.
Jennifer Hough, who says that Nicki Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty have been harassing her over his 1995 rape conviction, appeared on The Real to address her current lawsuit against the couple and the residual effects of the original incident, for which she says she previously blamed herself. She says that after the initial incident, for which Petty served four years in New York prison and was eventually registered as a sex offender, she tried to hide from the world, blaming herself for his assault.
However, in recent years, she says her fear changed to one of Nicki Minaj’s power and influence. Hough recounts her conversation with Nicki in 2020 in which the star offered to fly Hough and her family to California in exchange for recanting her 1995 testimony and helping Petty clear his name from the sex offender registry. Petty had recently been arrested for failing to update his address when the couple moved from New York to California after getting married and has since pled guilty for failing to register as a sex offender. Hough, however, declined the offer, saying, “I told her, woman to woman, this really happened.”
She explains how the couple harassed her, sending representatives to her family members to negotiate payments to help them out, and eventually resorting to threats over her reluctance to assist them. “The last message I received was that I should have taken the money because they are gonna use that money to put on my head,” she says. Her intention with the lawsuit is to stand up to the couple and tell them that “you can’t do this to people — you shouldn’t do this to people… you can’t intimidate people to make things go better for you.”
Moneybagg Yo’s sleeper summer hit “Wockesha” receives a woozy remix courtesy of the two artists the Memphis rapper originally just sampled on the song: Lil Wayne and Ashanti. Lil Wayne, whose voice is sampled from an old interview on the song’s intro, contributes a sturdy verse dedicated to the delights of his favorite styrofoam cup filler. Then, Ashanti, whose song “Foolish” uses the same interpolation as “Wockesha” (from DeBarge’s 1983 song “Stay With Me”), offers a honeyed hook, as well as a melodic verse of her own.
“Wockesha” turned out to be the breakout hit from Moneybagg’s recently released album A Gangsta’s Pain, which garnered the Memphis native his first-ever No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart. Since the album’s release, Moneybagg has seen himself become an in-demand features artist as Belly tapped him for “Zero Love” and Fredo Bang put in the call for “Doin’ My Dance.” Moneybagg’s also accumulated high-profile performances, including one at Broccoli City’s return festival and the 2021 BET Awards, where he performed “Wockesha” live.
Meanwhile, his guests have had bountiful years of their own. Lil Wayne has popped up on tracklists from Conway The Machine, Drake, and more, while Ashanti recently graced the Verzuz stage twice, once in January in her own battle with Keyshia Cole, and again during Fat Joe and Ja Rule’s show, performing alongside both.
Listen to Moneybagg Yo’s “Wockesha” remix featuring Lil Wayne and Ashanti above.
It looks like Baby Keem is taking a page from Kanye West’s playbook, adding new songs to his album The Melodic Blue after its release. When the project originally dropped two weeks ago, fans noticed a pair of songs from the rollout missing: “Hooligan” and “No Sense,” two tracks released as singles before the album was officially announced. Today, Keem announced that he’d added them back onto the album, along with a new song, “Lost Souls” featuring R&B singer Brent Faiyaz. The three new tracks appear as a “Disc 2” on the reissue, which is notably not identified as a deluxe edition.
In addition to those singles, Keem also dropped “Durag Activity” featuring Travis Scott, and “Family Ties” featuring his cousin Kendrick Lamar. Both songs did appear on the original tracklist along with “Issues,” for which he dropped a video alongside the album, and “First Order Of Business,” which he dropped a few days later.
While releasing deluxe editions of rap albums a few months or even days after their initial release has become old hat, it’s notable that Keem isn’t calling this a deluxe. Kanye West did something similar with the release of his new album Donda, adding several tracks from his first two listening sessions back to the project.
The Melodic Blue is out now via PgLang and Columbia Records. Get it here.
Today, though, his simple tweet of “It’s been real” has his name trending on Twitter as fans speculate that the dejected-seeming tweet refers to the outcome of the case against him. A quick search of his name on the platform surfaces hundreds of tweets from fans who believe that the Torontonian’s downfall is imminent.
tory lanez having to go to jail over violating his restraining order after being all big and tough with the other midget is the funniest shit to happen in 2021. little men always think they’re above the law
Tory certainly didn’t help his case with his surprise appearance at Rolling Loud in Miami. Popping out during DaBaby’s ill-fated set to perform their collaboration, “Skat,” Tory was thought by Megan’s team — and by local police — to have violated the restraining order against him, a thought the court agreed with. Because DaBaby’s set was immediately after Meg’s, Tory would have been backstage and within the restraining order perimeter at the same time as her. Although there’s no additional information concerning his “It’s been real” tweet, fans believe that he was at least found guilty of violating the restraining order and will soon face penalties over it.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
In the lead-up to the release of his debut album, Montero, Lil Nas X was confronted with a question. The question’s method of delivery and its questionable messenger failed to undermine its import — although it also likely highlighted a different problem than the inquirer intended. Pointing out the Montero tracklist’s lack of Black male artists, our concern trolling, gay panic conspiracy theorist wanted to draw attention to the project’s so-called “agenda.” Instead, they only threw Nas’ historical position within hip-hop into stark contrast.
Hip-hop has always had a homophobia problem. From its very inception, the genre has touted an image of Black masculinity that left little room for alternative expressions of manhood. Words like “gay,” “homo,” “f****,” and more have been slung indiscriminately for decades in the music of giants like 50 Cent, Big L, Diplomats, Eminem, Jadakiss, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Meek Mill, Nas, and Tyler The Creator. Even so-called conscious rappers and seemingly progressive allies, including Chance The Rapper, J. Cole, and Nicki Minaj have peppered their ostensibly innocuous bars with language that undermines their positive messages.
It’s even more astonishing that Tyler The Creator eventually came out as queer on his 2017 game-changer Flower Boy. It cast his prior offenses in a new light, while also muddling the impact of his admission. Why, if Tyler was gay or bi, would he spend so much of his early career flinging this specific species of invective? It was never haphazard either — the intentionality of his jabs was seen in the unapologetic way he handled the question in interviews, even before coming out. Was this the only way he felt he could establish his credibility in a genre that so often rejects queer people, let alone artists seeking their fortunes within it?
And is this why Lil Nas X, whose first attempt to breakthrough in the industry was the rap-focused Nasarati mixtape, built himself as more of a pop star now? Never mind how he defines himself, though, because the backlash he’s drawn has come much more from rap mainstays like Dave East, Joyner Lucas, and Lil Boosie than it has from pop circles. His music, though it’s pop-influenced, is grounded in hip-hop’s production, vocal delivery, and flair for braggadocio, even as he takes tremendous steps away from pure rapping on Montero.
This is where the crooning, grungy closer “Am I Dreaming” lives. As Nas duets with Miley Cyrus, he implores the listener to take his stories and experiences with them. It’s the most outward-facing song here, the one time the album truly acknowledges what Nas is doing for the rest of the album: Creating a space for artists like himself to flourish in a hostile environment, simply by being too talented to ignore. If no other Black male artists will work with him, he won’t just make do, he’ll jump the entire pop music hierarchy, tapping mega stars like Miley and icons like Elton John (who appears on the sobering “One Of Me,” on which Nas addresses the pressure to fit in and serve the whims of a fickle audience) to validate himself instead.
Elsewhere, Nas nods to the wave of female talent currently tipping hip-hop’s scales away from its hypermasculine origins, employing Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion, two of his fellow No.1 record-holders from 2020, to replace artists who couldn’t or wouldn’t show up. If rap fans are so miffed about Jack Harlow’s placement on “Industry Baby,” then that ire should be directed at all the other rappers who could and should have jumped at the chance to rock along with Nas on what would assuredly be a massive hit. Of course, if those fans kept open minds, they would hear razor-sharp verses from the atypical trio of rap guests — especially from Doja, who delivers a witty missive on “Scoop.”
But the star remains Lil Nas X and his unique perspective — at least within hip-hop. Perhaps the most telling aspect of his stature is the fact that songs like “Call Me By Your Name” and “Sun Goes Down” have resonated so deeply within the audience, despite departing so sharply from the usual content and texture expected of rappers in the modern era. Even when he treads familiar territory such as depression on “Tales Of Dominica” and “Don’t Want It” and alienation on “Life After Salem,” his most relatable material is informed by two things: 1. The fact he is a gay Black man, and 2. His clearly defined pop sensibilities.
Old school hip-hoppers have always rejected rap’s categorization as pop… but sometimes I wonder why. Is it because pop is seen foremost as the domain of women, especially young white women? Is it because relating too closely to those sounds and sentiments can be seen as feminine, and therefore as gay? I can certainly see why that would feel like a threat, even boys are taught games like “Smear The Queer” before they are even old enough to know what “queer” means (see: Moonlight). Being different means being a target… but it also means standing in the spotlight. It means being seen for better or worse. By embracing pop and hip-hop and all the parts of himself he’s always been told not to, Lil Nas X sets an example. He makes space for the next generation. He moves the balance ever so slightly toward acceptance.
Montero is out now via Columbia Records. Get it here.
Some of the artists mentioned here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The Weeknd has some new legal troubles on his hands. The singer has been accused of plagiarism by an electro-house duo in a new lawsuit. Epikker’s Suniel Fox and Henry Strange claim the singer’s 2018 track, “Call Out My Name,” off his EP My Dear Melancholy, ripped off their 2017 song “Vibeking.” The lawsuit also takes aim at the song’s co-writers Frank Dukes and Nicolas Jaar, their publishers, and Universal Music Group.
In court documents, Fox and Strange claim that “Vibeking” was created in April 2015 and published “in or around April or May 2017.” The duo adds that they sent the song to PNDA, one of The Weeknd’s engineers, with the hope that he would hear the song. They add that the track was one of many songs they sent to him for consideration.
On April 29, 2015 PNDA allegedly responded to one of the writers and told them that the song is “fiiiire” in emails that contained the track. Later, on May 15 of that year, PNDA added that The Weeknd heard the song and said that “it’s fire.”
PNDA then responded to Strange saying, “Just gonna tell [The Weeknd] that our production team wrote the track. Cool? Or u have another idea? Just don’t wanna say ‘hey, [Strange] wrote this’ when he doesn’t know u.” Strange replied, “[The Weeknd] knows me. Say both. [Strange] with Ponytail you met on Drake tour. Who is part of our production team.”
Despite this, the “Vibeking” writers did not receive a license or agreement from The Weeknd’s team to use the song for “Call Out My Name.” Chris Ghazarian, the lawyer representing the “Vibeking” writers, spoke on behalf of them in regards to the lawsuit.
“The Weeknd is no stranger to accusations of infringement, and this one is probably the most egregious case to date,” he said. “Epikker (Suniel and Henry) works with many artists in the industry, and was profoundly disappointed when The Weeknd and his team copied ‘Vibeking,’ an original Epikker song that was shared with them years ago in good faith.” He added, “I look forward to working with Doniger Burroughs to secure reasonable compensation and credit for Epikker in connection with ‘Call Out My Name.’”
After going more than three years without a solo album, J. Cole made his return earlier this year with The Off-Season. The 12-track project saw the rapper step away from his formula of working without guest features. Instead, it included appearances from Bas, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Morray, and 6lack. Four months after its release, Cole is back in action with a new remix of Drake’s “Pipe Down” called “Heaven’s EP.”
A video for the remix shows him riding around Las Vegas, as well as relaxing in the city’s Flamingo Hotel & Casino and on a plane as Bas sits beside him. The track finds Cole grappling with fame and success.
“Heaven’s EP” comes weeks after Cole teamed with Bas and Lil Tjay for their single “The Jackie.” That track also came with a video, which found the trio cruising around New York. Cole is also gearing up to hit the road soon, accompanied by 21 Savage and Morray, for The Off-Season Tour, which kicks off later this week in Miami. It was also recently announced that comedian Druski will join the rappers as a host for the tour, presumably to make people laugh.
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