Music

Fans Fire Off Their First-Listen Reactions To Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’

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Finally, after eight long months filled with uncertainty and thinning patience, Drake fans all over the world rejoiced tonight as the rapper’s long-awaited sixth album Certified Lover Boy was finally released. The project was originally set to arrive back in January, but the rapper was forced to delay it following knee surgery and rehab from the injury. Finally, when the rapper completed the album, he began to roll out the red carpet for it. He “hacked” Sportscenter to reveal its release date, shared a controversial artwork for it, and took over billboards all over the country to share its guests.

However, all of Drake’s marketing goes to waste if Certified Lover Boy is deemed as sub-par by listeners. In total, the rapper’s new project presents 21 songs with guest features from Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Young Thug, Future, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Giveon, Ty Dolla Sign, Lil Durk, Yebba, Project Pat, Masego, Rick Ross, and Tems. As it’s become customary in today’s music streaming era, fans wasted no time rushing to social media to share their first-listen reactions.

You can read their thoughts in the tweets below.

Certified Lover Boy is out now via OVO Sound/Republic. Get it here.

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

Drake, Future, And Young Thug Flaunt Their Sex Appeal On The Braggadocios ‘Way 2 Sexy’

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Ladies and gentlemen, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy is finally here. Prior to its release, the last piece of music that fans received from the project came more than a year ago thanks to “Laugh Now, Cry Later” with Lil Durk. The Toronto rapper also released Scary Hours 2, but for the most part, things have been fairly quiet in terms of Certified Lover Boy content. All of that changed this week when Drake kicked things into high gear to prepare for the album’s arrival. The past few days were filled with opinions on its controversial artwork, billboard takeovers, and more, but at long last, Certified Lover Boy is finally here and it’s highlighted by “Way 2 Sexy” with Future and Young Thug. The track is a braggadocios effort that sees the trio speaking confidently of their sex appeal towards the ladies.

Elsewhere on Certified Lover Boy, listeners will catch additional appearances from Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Travis Scott, Rick Ross, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Giveon, Ty Dolla Sign, Lil Durk, Yebba, Masego, Tems, and Project Pat. Drake spent the week leading up to the release of Certified Lover Boy using digital billboards in each of the guest acts’ homes to reveal their inclusions on the highly-anticipated album

You can listen to “Way 2 Sexy” in the video above.

Certified Lover Boy is out now via OVO Sound/Republic. Get it here.

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

Anderson .Paak Stands In Awe At The ‘Fire In The Sky’ On His Dreamy New Track

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The true release Anderson .Paak fans are waiting is his and Bruno Mars’ upcoming joint album as Silk Sonic. The duo recently revealed the project would be delayed until 2022 as they focus on “touching up parts that need a little more… grease,” as they revealed in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. Until then, listeners will just have to enjoy their two singles, “Leave The Door Open” and “Skate,” but now they can also indulge in .Paak’s latest track, “Fire In The Sky.”

The singer’s new track is a dreamy effort that captures him riding shotgun with his soon-to-be romantic partner. .Paak sings about the time he met her and promised that she’d be his next lover as well as the moment that prediction became true. All in all, “Fire In The Sky” is a passionate tale about falling in love what happens after one does just that.

The track is one of 18 songs on the newly-released soundtrack for the Marvel film, Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings. The project also includes features from Rick Ross, Earthgang, Swae Lee, Jhene Aiko, Guapdad 4000, Rich Brian, and more.

You can press play on the new song in the video above.

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings: The Album is out now via Marvel/Hollywood Records. Get it here.

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

Bobby Shmurda Is A Wide-Eyed Hustler In His Video For ‘No Time For Sleep Freestyle’

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At long last, after nearly seven years, the world has received new music from Bobby Shmurda. The rapper’s last official release came at the end of 2014. Soon after, Shmurda was arrested and sentenced to prison for conspiracy to commit murder and weapons charges.

In February, after nearly seven years behind bars, the rapper was released from jail which opened the door for him to make an epic comeback to the hip-hop world. After taking some time to get reacclimated to the world and deliver some performances like the one he did at Miami’s Rolling Loud festival, Shmurda is back with new music.

The rapper returns with a “No Time For Sleep” freestyle. The track presents him as a wide-eyed hustler who’s on a constant grind to earn his riches and survive, even if it means missing out on a doctor’s order of eight hours of sleep per night. The track also comes with a fiery matching visual that finds the rappers posted with a heavy collection of weapons and women who are down to fire away if necessary.

Shmurda’s “No Time For Sleep” freestyle comes after he teamed up with J Balvin and Daddy Yankee to remix Eladio Carrion’s “Tata.” Shortly after that was shared with the world, the rapper opened up about his post-prison mindset in a recent interview with the New York Times. “I ain’t mad about going to jail, because my mind-state now versus my mind-state before — I probably would’ve been in jail for life before,” he said. “The stuff that’s going to get you in trouble or put you in that situation, you can see that from miles away.”

You can listen to the freestyle in the video above.

Drake Finally Unveils The Official Tracklist For His Star-Studded ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Album

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The world is just hours away from finally receiving the music industry’s most anticipated album: Drake’s Certified Lover Boy. It’s a project that was supposed to be released back in January before the rapper opted to delay it after knee surgery and recovering from it forced him to take time off from placing the finishing touches on it.

Finally, after eight long months, Certified Lover Boy will soon be available for everyone to press play on, but before that happens, Drake unveils the official tracklist for the album.

Drake previously revealed the cast of guest acts for the album Certified Lover Boy, but did not share how they would be paired or grouped up until now. Altogether, the rapper’s new album boasts 21 tracks with features from Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Future, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Giveon, Ty Dolla Sign, Lil Durk, Yebba, Project Pat, Masego, Tems, and Kid Cudi.

You can read the full tracklist for the project below.

1. “Champagne Poetry”
2.” April’s Home”
3. “Girls Want Girls”
4. “In The Bible”
5. “Love All”
6. “Fair Trade”
7. “Way Too Sexy”
8. “TSU”
9. “N 2 Deep”
10. “Pipe Down”
11. “Yebba’s Heartbreak”
12. “No friends In The Industry”
13. “Knife Talk”
14. “7am On Bridle Path”
15. “Race My Mind”
16. “Fountains”
17. “Get Along Better”
18. “You Only Live Twice”
19. “IMY2”
20. “F*cking Fans”
21. “The Remorse”

Certified Lover Boy is out 9/3 via OVO Sound/Republic.

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

Drake Adds Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, And More To The Star-Studded Guest List For ‘Certified Lover Boy’

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The world is just hours away from receiving Drake’s highly-anticipated album, Certified Lover Boy. It follows the promotion-heavy week that the Toronto rapper has put up to increase the excitement for the project. It includes “hacking” a SportsCenter broadcast to share the release date for the album as well as revealing its controversial artwork.

Drake also revealed Jay-Z, Young Thug, Future, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Giveon, Ty Dolla Sign, Lil Durk, Yebba, and Project Pat as guest features on Certified Lover Boy. While the cast is already impressive enough, Drake revealed on Thursday that there are more individuals coming to the party.

Just like he did for the guest features that were revealed on Thursday, Drake used digital billboards from across the country to share the additional features for Certified Lover Boy. Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, Masego, and Nigerian singer Tems will also join Drake on his upcoming album. The rapper used shared the news on billboards in all of the additional guests’ hometowns except for Lil Wayne, whose birthplace of New Orleans is currently in the midst of extended power failures due to Hurricane Ida.

You can view the billboards announcing the new guests in the posts above.

Certified Lover Boy is out 9/3 via OVO Sound/Republic.

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

The Weeknd Shifts Perspective In A Female-Focused Alternate Video For ‘Can’t Feel My Face’

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Back in the summer of 2015, The Weeknd’s career was reaching star status. He’d laced a No. 1 single with “The Hills” and was just weeks away from sharing his second album, Beauty Behind The Madness. That project would go on to be his first chart-topping album, but before it arrived The Weeknd graced the world with what would be his second No. 1 single, “Can’t Feel My Face.”

More than six years after the world received that track, the singer has returned with an alternate video for the song, one that shifts the perspective to another character in the story. In the new visual, the camera keeps much of its focus on a female companion that captures The Weeknd’s attention from start to finish.

The woman in question is presumably the person The Weeknd sings about in the song as he alludes to their relationship with lines like, “She told me ‘Don’t worry’” and “She told me, ‘You’ll never be alone.’” Altogether the new visual is quite sensual, and it turns out that the video is one the singer hoped to use for the song before it was sidelined due to a “shift in creative direction,” according to a press release.

The Weeknd’s alternate “Can’t Feel My Face” video comes after he joined Kanye West and Lil Baby on “Hurricane” and released the trailer for his upcoming Super Bowl halftime show documentary. The upcoming film brings viewers behind the scenes of his performance for February’s Super Bowl game.

You can press play on the alternate video for “Can’t Feel My Face” above.

Fat Joe And Ja Rule Will Go Head-To-Head In An Upcoming ‘Verzuz’ Battle

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Verzuz will be keeping things in New York for the time being as the platform announced its next battle for fans to enjoy. Fat Joe and Ja Rule will be bringing their talents to the table for a head-to-head matchup on September 14. The battle will once again be a live in-person event, as Verzuz is giving fans the opportunity to purchase tickets to watch Fat Joe and Ja Rule play their classic records in a venue that has yet to be revealed.

The announcement comes after Verzuz held an epic battle between The LOX and Dipset, and it ended up being one of the most exciting battles that the platform has held since its inception back in March 2020. At its conclusion, many picked The LOX as the winners of the night as Jadakiss emerged as the battle’s star thanks to a number of memorable moments. LeBron James even called Jadakiss the most underrated hip-hop artist of “all time” once the night came to an end.

As for Fat Joe and Ja Rule, the announcement comes after the former played tracks from his past and present during a NPR Tiny Desk concert. As for Ja Rule, he’s been fairly quiet on the music side of things but he recently auctioned off an NFT of the viral cheese sandwich and a painting from his infamous Fyre Festival.

Tickets for hopeful attendees go on sale September 7. You can take a look at the flyer for Ja Rule and Fat Joe’s Verzuz above.