Music

The Crossover Between Rap And Basketball Showcases Dual Threats On Both Sides

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Basketball players and rappers occasionally crossing into one another’s worlds is by no means a new trend. For years, some hoopers have viewed music as an interest to pursue when they’re not out on the hardwood, while rappers have viewed the basketball court as a place to go have some fun in between recording sessions.

In today’s Dime Breakdown, we decided to look at both sides of the coin. We start by highlighting a pair of NBA players who are two of the best on the mic right now. Of course, Damian Lillard is at the top of the NBA’s rap game right now, but there are plenty of other dudes on the come up. One of them, Sacramento Kings youngster Marvin Bagley III, has actually gotten into it with Dame (and, if we can be honest, came up short), but can still hold his own in the booth.

On the other side of things, we highlighted a pair of rappers who have game for days. J. Cole was an easy mention here, as he’s coming off of a spell as a professional basketball player in the Basketball Africa League earlier this year, while NLE Choppa is as bright a star on the court as he is in the studio.

The Crossover Between Rap And Basketball Showcases Dual Threats On Both Sides

by

Basketball players and rappers occasionally crossing into one another’s worlds is by no means a new trend. For years, some hoopers have viewed music as an interest to pursue when they’re not out on the hardwood, while rappers have viewed the basketball court as a place to go have some fun in between recording sessions.

In today’s Dime Breakdown, we decided to look at both sides of the coin. We start by highlighting a pair of NBA players who are two of the best on the mic right now. Of course, Damian Lillard is at the top of the NBA’s rap game right now, but there are plenty of other dudes on the come up. One of them, Sacramento Kings youngster Marvin Bagley III, has actually gotten into it with Dame (and, if we can be honest, came up short), but can still hold his own in the booth.

On the other side of things, we highlighted a pair of rappers who have game for days. J. Cole was an easy mention here, as he’s coming off of a spell as a professional basketball player in the Basketball Africa League earlier this year, while NLE Choppa is as bright a star on the court as he is in the studio.

Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, And Swizz Beatz’s Sons Are All Starring In A Movie Together

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Dr. Dre‘s son Curtis Young has reportedly landed a role in the new film Charge It To The Game. He’ll apparently also be composing original music for the film.

According to TMZ, who spoke to Young, Charge It To The Game is a coming-of-age story about four best friends with Young playing “Kong,” one of the friend’s older brothers. And, making it a veritable who’s-who of famous rappers’ offspring, Snoop Dogg‘s son Julian Broadus is also in the movie, playing Kong’s younger brother, and Swiss Beatz‘s son is reportedly making his acting debut as one of the four friends (plus scoring the film with Young).

“This is my first movie and I wanted to get into acting… I always loved the art,” Young told TMZ. “It’s just an art form I’ve always loved. I’m playing a role, Kong, which is a gentleman named Hardtime — it’s Julian Broadus, which is Snoop’s son — I’m playing his older brother. So, I’ve been reading the script, just preparing, getting motivated, behind it and getting engaged with it.”

Talking about scoring the film, Young said, “I was asked and I’m honored to score the film and I believe they just yesterday announced that note. Swizz Beatz’s son is gonna be scoring it with me, so I’m just honored to have this opportunity.”

Young also offered an update on Dre’s health since his father suffered a brain aneurysm earlier this year. “My pops is healing,” he said. “He appreciates me for what I’m doing and doing on my own… It’s been a while since I had an opportunity like this to really step out of that shadow, but at the same time show respect and understand that people came before me.”

Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, And Swizz Beatz’s Sons Are All Starring In A Movie Together

by
Getty Image

Dr. Dre‘s son Curtis Young has reportedly landed a role in the new film Charge It To The Game. He’ll apparently also be composing original music for the film.

According to TMZ, who spoke to Young, Charge It To The Game is a coming-of-age story about four best friends with Young playing “Kong,” one of the friend’s older brothers. And, making it a veritable who’s-who of famous rappers’ offspring, Snoop Dogg‘s son Julian Broadus is also in the movie, playing Kong’s younger brother, and Swiss Beatz‘s son is reportedly making his acting debut as one of the four friends (plus scoring the film with Young).

“This is my first movie and I wanted to get into acting… I always loved the art,” Young told TMZ. “It’s just an art form I’ve always loved. I’m playing a role, Kong, which is a gentleman named Hardtime — it’s Julian Broadus, which is Snoop’s son — I’m playing his older brother. So, I’ve been reading the script, just preparing, getting motivated, behind it and getting engaged with it.”

Talking about scoring the film, Young said, “I was asked and I’m honored to score the film and I believe they just yesterday announced that note. Swizz Beatz’s son is gonna be scoring it with me, so I’m just honored to have this opportunity.”

Young also offered an update on Dre’s health since his father suffered a brain aneurysm earlier this year. “My pops is healing,” he said. “He appreciates me for what I’m doing and doing on my own… It’s been a while since I had an opportunity like this to really step out of that shadow, but at the same time show respect and understand that people came before me.”

Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, And Swizz Beatz’s Sons Are All Starring In A Movie Together

by
Getty Image

Dr. Dre‘s son Curtis Young has reportedly landed a role in the new film Charge It To The Game. He’ll apparently also be composing original music for the film.

According to TMZ, who spoke to Young, Charge It To The Game is a coming-of-age story about four best friends with Young playing “Kong,” one of the friend’s older brothers. And, making it a veritable who’s-who of famous rappers’ offspring, Snoop Dogg‘s son Julian Broadus is also in the movie, playing Kong’s younger brother, and Swiss Beatz‘s son is reportedly making his acting debut as one of the four friends (plus scoring the film with Young).

“This is my first movie and I wanted to get into acting… I always loved the art,” Young told TMZ. “It’s just an art form I’ve always loved. I’m playing a role, Kong, which is a gentleman named Hardtime — it’s Julian Broadus, which is Snoop’s son — I’m playing his older brother. So, I’ve been reading the script, just preparing, getting motivated, behind it and getting engaged with it.”

Talking about scoring the film, Young said, “I was asked and I’m honored to score the film and I believe they just yesterday announced that note. Swizz Beatz’s son is gonna be scoring it with me, so I’m just honored to have this opportunity.”

Young also offered an update on Dre’s health since his father suffered a brain aneurysm earlier this year. “My pops is healing,” he said. “He appreciates me for what I’m doing and doing on my own… It’s been a while since I had an opportunity like this to really step out of that shadow, but at the same time show respect and understand that people came before me.”

Kanye West Is Hosting A ‘Donda’ Listening Event This Week At A Huge Stadium

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The way things have gone with recent Kanye West albums is that ahead of their release, West goes from completely off the radar to drumming up unreal amounts of hype. Well, the latter step seems to be taking place now. He apparently hosted a listening event for Donda over the weekend, and an associate declared the album is dropping this week. Now, another listening event is on the way, and it’s a big one.

Some West associates, including Pusha T, shared a minimalist flyer for the event, which is scheduled for July 22 at 8 p.m. at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a 75,000-capacity venue where the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons play their home games.

The reported cover art for the album has also surfaced, and it’s an abstract painting that looks like a woman, painted in red on a gray background. The art was made by the late French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (and not West’s daughter North, as some have speculated), who died at 98 in 2010.

A couple days ago, what may be the tracklist for the album also leaked. Furthermore, a post on the Kanye West subreddit r/WestDayEver collects information from users who were supposedly at the first listening party. The thread indicates that the album will feature appearances from Lil Baby, Post Malone, Griselda, KayCyy, Travis Scott, and Baby Keem.

Of course, West has famously not released albums on their expected street dates — he previously said Donda was coming in 2020 — so only time will tell if this week actually brings new music from West.

Ty Dolla Sign And 070 Shake Reflect On Once In A ‘Lifetime’ Loves With Swedish House Mafia

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EDM supergroup Swedish House Mafia returned earlier this year with a new single, “It Gets Better,” and the announcement that they’d be releasing their debut studio album Paradise Again in late 2021 — their first project since 2012 compilation Until Now. Today, they released the latest single from the upcoming project, “Lifetime,” which features R&B futurists Ty Dolla Sign and 070 Shake reflecting on once-in-a-lifetime lovers over a pulsating production from the Stockholm-based trio.

Debuting the song on Apple Music 1, the trio told Zane Lowe: “This was the time where we sat down and we were just throwing ideas at each other of what kind of music we like, and this is boiling everything down to like, ‘What did we feel?’”

070 Shake, who sings the song’s electrifying chorus, returns after a year of near radio silence in the wake of her debut album Modus Vivendi. SHM member Steve Angello said of working with her, “We’ve never experienced an artist like her. She’s so far away from formula, but she’s right at the center of youth and we just love her, the energy, the vibe she has, the artistic integrity — everything about her is so unique… we would put her on every single record we did. She’s incredible.”

Of Ty Dolla Sign, Sebastian Ingrosso said, “We love Ty Dolla Sign. We loved him from the very, very beginning. We actually talked to him kind of 10 years ago doing something because he did a remix of ‘One’ that came out on YouTube, I think, something like that. So we always had Ty Dolla Sign in mind.”

You can check out the new song above.

Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lil Nas X Lampoons His Nike Trial In The Trailer For His Jack Harlow-Featuring Single ‘Industry Baby’

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Lil Nas X continues to be one of music’s most creatively hilarious trolls as he prepares to go to trial in Nike’s copyright infringement case against him. After tweeting a string of sarcastic jokes about going to jail, he shared a “livestream” of the proceedings to social media… which actually turned out to be a clever courtroom comedy sketch in which he plays a variety of characters, including a sugar daddy judge, a talkative juror, his own forgetful defense attorney, and a ruthless prosecutor.

As Lil Nas X takes the stand against himself, the prosecutor declares that “this is about much more than shoes” before asking, “Lil Nas X, are you gay?” “What does that have to do with the shoes?” Nas shoots back. “Let me rephrase the question,” he says as the prosecutor. “Do your mama know you’re gay?” Nas has no choice but to answer, “Yes.” For this “crime,” the “judge” sentences Nas to “five years in Montero Prison.” This by itself would be a hilarious lampoon of several of the debates surrounding Nas since his arrival with “Old Town Road,” but being Lil Nas X, he uses the opportunity to flip the script one last time.

The whole sketch turns out to be the trailer for his next single, “Industry Baby” featuring Jack Harlow and produced by Kanye West and Take A Daytrip. A snippet of the song plays over the credits, which wonders, “Damn, how many roles do this n**** got?” Considering his ability to transform from a cowboy to a demented Santa to the devil, I would say: “All of them.”

Watch Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby” trailer above. Pre-save the song, dropping July 29, here.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Kanye West Previewed A New Song Featuring Baby Keem And Fans Can’t Wait To Hear It

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Baby Keem hasn’t put out a lot of music since rumbling the earth with his breakout single “Orange Soda” in 2019, but each of his subsequent single releases has increased the anticipation for more new music from the 20-year-old mystery man. With his latest appearance, that anticipation is reaching a fever pitch, and the song featuring that appearance isn’t even out yet.

Over the weekend, Kanye West supposedly played a bunch of new music at a listening event in Las Vegas (where Keem was raised), and when a clip of a song featuring Keem previewed hit Twitter, fans understandably went a little ballistic.

The co-sign from Kanye is unsurprising for those fans who’d been following Keem’s rise. He’s already got songwriting credits on the Black Panther soundtrack and Beyonce’s companion album for Disney’s The Lion King remake, with connections to Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free’s pgLang offering a possible explanation. In addition, he’s called Kid Cudi a major influence and featured Travis Scott on his most recent single “Durag Activity.” Both artists were mentored by West and signed to his label GOOD Music at points, and Kanye collaborated with Kid Cudi on 2019’s Kids See Ghosts. However, some fans still expressed confusion at the young rapper’s inclusion due to his apparently short time in the spotlight.

Meanwhile, Keem has slowly built up his repertoire since appearing on the 2020 XXL Freshman cover, releasing videos for “Hooligan” and “No Sense” in addition to “Durag Activity.”

Lil Nas X Cracks Jokes About Going To Jail On The Day Of His ‘Satan Shoes’ Trial

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Nike filed a lawsuit against Lil Nas X and MSCHF over their “Satan Shoes,” but it was reported that the parties had settled the lawsuit. However, they’re still heading to court today, and ahead of that, Lil Nas X, as he tends to do, has had jokes.

He’s been cracking jokes for the past few days, joking about potential outfits he’s going to wear to court, getting more muscular so he can look good in jail, “dropping the soap,” and other related things. Consequently, #FreeLilNasX became a trending topic on Twitter today, and shortly before the trial, the rapper tweeted, “all jokes aside i can’t believe i might be going to jail. who’s going to make mildly funny tweets about being gay while i’m away.”

He also took to TikTok yesterday to share a joke about the trial, sharing a hilarious video he captioned, “the judge tomorrow when i try to flirt with him to avoid going to jail.”

@lilnasx

♬ industry baby by lil nas x – lil nas x

Nas wasn’t the only one getting in on the fun, as his fans shared hilarious tweets about them showing up to defend the rapper in court, what’s happening in the courtroom, and more. Check out some of the #FreeLilNasX tweets below.