Music

Young Thug Is Producing And Starring In A Film With One Of The Stars Of ‘Us’

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Young Thug is about to make the jump from music to film and, in typical Young Thug fashion, he’s diving in with both feet, making sure to have his hands in as many aspects of the production as possible. Not only is he executive producing and starring in the film, titled Throw It Back and described in a press release as a musical dramedy, but he is also overseeing its soundtrack.

Throw It Back will co-star Shahadi Wright Joseph, the young actress who Zora (and her Tethered counterpart Umbrae) in Jordan Peele’s 2019 horror-thriller Us, giving the film some added punch in the star power department. Per the press release, the film will be directed by Shadae Lamar Smith, whose credits include three Black Eyed Peas music videos (“Mami,” “New Wave,” and “Yes Or No”) and several shorts, as well as the feature The Heyday Of The Insensitive Bastards, which featured James Franco and Kristen Wiig.

Produced by Tiffany Haddish’s She Ready Productions (Haddish will play a supporting role in the film), the film’s logline is provided in the press release and can be seen below.

Throw It Back follows Wytrell, a high school senior who has never stood out from the crowd. After a controversial superstar Miami rapper decides to feature the renowned dance team from her high school in his latest music video, it throws the school into chaos, and Wytrell battles for a spot on the squad and her final chance to be in the spotlight. The film is a dance-filled musical dramedy set to a soundtrack of southern hip hop and HBCU collegiate band rhythms.

Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

NLE Choppa Is Being Sued By An Outkast-Affiliated Rapper For Copyright Infringement

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NLE Choppa is being sued by Outkast-affiliated rapper Kilo Ali for copyright infringement in a suit filed in California Central District Court last week (June 24), according to Music Business Worldwide, which obtained the court documents.

Ali, an Atlanta-based rapper who released a string of relatively successful albums throughout the ’90s and worked closely with members of the Dungeon Family crew, including Goodie Mob’s Cee-Lo Green and Outkast’s Big Boi, as well as George Clinton of Parliament and Lil Jon, says Choppa’s 2020 single “Make Em Say,” which features Latto (FKA Mulatto), illegally samples Ali’s own 1997 “Love In Ya Mouth,” using the same “flow and pitch” in the post-chorus.

“Love In Ya Mouth,” which features Big Boi, featured on Kilo Ali’s 1997 Interscope debut Organized Bass, and in the documents filed in the suit, Ali says his music has “proven inspirational to much of the rap music emerging from the South, particularly Atlanta.” Meanwhile, Choppa and Latto’s song appears on Choppa’s Warner Music debut Top Shotta. The lawsuit argues Choppa’s song features “a distinctive sample of Kilo Ali’s melodic vocal chorus from the sound recording embodying the Original Work.” Ali wants “all gains, profits, and advantages derived by Defendants as a result of their unfair trade practices and unfair competition” by way of restitution and has included Warner Records Senior Vice President of A&R Norva Denton and Warner Music Group in the lawsuit.

You can check out both tracks above. [Source]

NLE Choppa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ski Mask The Slump God Seeks Revenge In His Gory ‘Admit It’ Video

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The theme of Ski Mask The Slump God‘s “Admit It” video makes perfect sense in light of his new mixtape, Sin City. Taking inspiration from the 1990s neo-noir crime comics by Frank Miller — or perhaps the 2005 film based on them — the video is a desaturated, gory revenge tale that sees Ski Mask come back after being left for dead to execute violent retribution on his foes. As with the Sin City movie, Ski Mask’s video is washed of almost all color save a few bright splashes that accentuate the action, whether through the gold glinting on his teeth or the blood splashing on the walls.

Sin City: The Mixtape is Ski Mask’s first full-length project since 2018’s Stokeley, which highlighted the South Florida rapper’s impressive technical skill and hedonistic outlook and featured appearances from a then-emerging Juice WRLD, Lil Baby, and Lil Yachty. However, he seemingly took a hiatus in the wake of his friends Juice WRLD‘s and XXXTentacion’s deaths, with the pandemic delaying the comeback he teased in 2020 with his protest anthem, “Burn The Hoods.” While he did provide a guest feature on DJ Scheme’s “Soda” with Cordae, 2020 was a relatively quiet year for the Slump God.

However, earlier this year, he expressed excitement for a spate of new videos and dropped Sin City amid a crowded New Music Friday that included new Tyler The Creator and Doja Cat albums. The nine-track album is spare and straightforward, but with such a tight concept and sharp execution, it’s not one to be overlooked.

Watch Ski Mask The God’s “Admit It” video above.

Sin City The Mixtape is out now on Victor Victor Worldwide and Republic. Get it here.

Curren$y’s Jet Life Brand Is Way More Than He Ever Imagined

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Everybody knows how much Currensy loves his cars, weed, and how much he loves to deliver good music to his legion of loyal fans. He’s managed to turn that love into his Jet Life brand, which keeps growing and growing since its birth in 2011.

As one of the more consistent rappers in the game, known for flooding the streets with fly tunes, what he’s built with Jet Life is a reflection of the many labels he’s had the opportunity to be part of with legends right out of his hometown of New Orleans, such as Lil Wayne’s Young Money label and Master P’s No Limit label under his brother C-Murder’s imprint.

From 2006’s “Where da Cash At” to the re-released collaborative mixtape Covert Coup with The Alchemist to 2021’s Welcome To Jet Life Recordings 2, which is a collection of songs by Jet Life Recordings artists which include Fendi P and T.Y., Currensy has proven to be as resilient as he is industrious. Over the phone, he took Uproxx on a cerebral journey of how his mind works and how he’s adapted to the ever-changing technology of the music industry.

What are you up to?

Watching some new cartoon I found on Amazon, but I think it’s just a pilot and I think that it’s called…it’s called The New VIPs and it’s not a full season, it’s just one episode. I think they’re trying to see what people think of it.

What do you think of it?

I think this is good. This sh*t is good. It’s just one episode. When we get done with this interview, I’m going to take the survey and I’m going to let them know that this is a f*cking good show and it should have went into production or whatever you call that. You should watch this when you get done.

What’s your favorite Adult Swim or just any cartoon show?

Home Movies. I don’t know if you remember that because it was four seasons. The voice from Bob’s Burgers and Archer, you know that guy? [Editor’s Note: It’s H. Jon Benjamin] He’s one of the voices on there. It’s a good f*cking show, man.

It’s so well written though. It’s like how The Office still works whenever you put it on.

Well, I guess if I ever need any TV recommendations, I’ll just hit you up.

Yeah, I’m the one.

Let’s talk Covert Coup. How long had you and Alchemist been talking about re-releasing it?

Oh man, you’re going to love this story. We didn’t know that it wasn’t on streaming sites. We didn’t even know. When we went to San Francisco recently for this Nautica and Diamond Supply photo shoot, we were like, “Damn, it’s been 10 years since Covert Coup came out.” And I was like, “Yeah, that’s crazy. We should probably jam it.” Then I was like, “Is it on iTunes?” He’s like, “I don’t know.” I was like, “F*ck, I don’t know either.” So I asked my manager and he checked, and he’s like, “No.” I was like, “Oh, what is it on, Tidal or something?” It wasn’t on anything. We missed 4/20. That would have been ideal because that would have been the exact 10 year anniversary, so we just put it out in May.

People were and still are reacting to it like it’s a new project. That’s a whole different generation of people. Some people outright did not know about it. Some motherf*ckers are jamming it like it just dropped.

A lot of artists are re-releasing projects that were on DatPiff. I look at DatPiff as a historical music archive. There are so many legendary debut mixtapes on DatPiff.

Yup. That was the avenue right there. To me, that was major distribution because it’s like, everybody go right here and anybody can get on it. They didn’t have they picks and choosers. The homies from down the street was like, “Yo, I’m uploading my tape to DatPiff tonight, bro.” It was giving everybody a shot and it still do. That’s why I always put sh*t out so much because it was just cool to go on different sites and sh*t and see and just download stuff.

It’s so dope to see a lot of those tapes on there like Wiz Khalifa and Meek Mill.

That was an opportunity for people. It was just real listeners and people who respected the game, and curators of the whole vibe of what we do. They were shining a light on artists who they felt like deserved one because, at that time, all we had was MTV jams. We wasn’t on that motherf*cker. If the people saying your sh*t is dope, then dope people will give it a chance. If it’s what it’s supposed to be, then they’ll share it with other people. That put a lot of us in position, and it weeded out a lot of the bull. A lot of sucker sh*t couldn’t really advance at that time.

What’s the biggest difference between releasing music back then to today as a label owner of Jet Life Recordings?

I’m more focusing on the rollout of the next few projects that we putting out from Jet Life because I’m putting out a Welcome To Jet Life Recordings Vol. 2 and the first one that I did, a lot of the solo songs was for me and then a few from the artist. This time, everybody is on every song. There’s different artists on every record. I’m on all of them, but people from the label are on all of them too. Now, it’s about a rollout. How you going to promote this music outside of just putting up clips of you rapping?

What I would do before is put out one record from the tape or a snippet on Instagram, 30 seconds, just bars from the record. Maybe seven records I would damn near play the whole record — just putting up clips to get motherf*ckers ready for it and then drop it.

Now, I roll it out more like the way they do movies, where it’s just sh*t around it as opposed to the actual dish. You’re not really giving them that much in the promo, you’re just promoting the idea of what’s going on instead of playing the records and giving away so much of the project before you drop it. The physical aspect of purchasing music being removed. Everybody’s just getting it right from the phone and so you don’t have the thrill of picking up the CD and having to take the shrink wrapping off, so we have to save as much of that as we can for them so that the music is fresh to them once they download the project.

If I put so much of it up the way I used to, when they download it, it’s like, “Oh, I heard this one. I know this one, I know this one.” F*ck that. So now it’s like, Nah, I’m not going to do it that way. I’m going to roll the project out like a movie and let you see the process of us working. Maybe what car I drove to the studio and what we wore, what we was drinking. But, you’re not going to hear this sh*t until the sh*t drop. Until you actually sitting in the theater to watch the movie.

Tell us more about the compilation tape.

Welcome To Jet Life Recordings Vol. 2. features the entire label and some affiliates like Jay Worthy and Scotty ATL. Outside of that, it’s everybody on my label and a lot of rising stars from my city out of New Orleans: A lot of the people who I know are about to pop anyway with or without me. These people are going to blow anyway. I had better had got in front of that sh*t and fcking helped to usher them into the industry if I wanted to stay alive.

I saw also you tried that Jay-Z weed. I don’t really see Jay-Z as a weed smoker, but curious to know how it was from someone like yourself.

Well, they had different strains, but they weren’t labeled how you would think. It wasn’t jars just saying, “Oh, this is OG Kush.” They were all numbered and named little slick sh*t like Heavy. With anything associated with Jay-Z, if it was something that he not really in the know of, he’s going to do the research and then put the best people on the team to make it happen. Clearly, he’s got some good growers because the bottles marked Heavy are f*cking heavy. Those were the ones to smoke when I was at that shoot.

I also saw that you got into NFT. I’m still a little lost on that, what exactly it is.

Well, you know what? It’s because you live in the physical world, as do I. But do you remember when Dwight was playing Second Life on The Office? Okay, now Dwight Schrute was playing Second Life so much so that his character on Second Life had started an account on Second Life himself and it was second Second Life. His video game character was playing a video game of himself in the video game.

There are people who live, heavily immerse themselves, in the cyber world and cyber real estate. All of this is real because they live in a digital space. When they hang out with their friends and people are in these avatars on these computers, they need worlds and sh*t to live in, and in those worlds, you’re going to need dwellings, cars.

I’m involved in some NFT low riders right now and car parks for these f*cking digital cars because people want to upgrade them. People sit in front of they computer and live like that more than they step outside of the house because it’s hot outside, people are shooting. They’ll just rather just sit there and do that. You going to need all that s*it, so you better figure out what you going to sell them. When we get off the line, you better figure it out. You better come up with something. They need some digital mirrors, haircare supplies… They got NFT shoes, all that. NFT weed, lighters… all of that sh*t is already in the market.

I haven’t seen a NFT fish tank yet, so I don’t know. Cook that one up.

I’m thinking about all the games I play. I buy stuff for Call Of Duty all the time.

Dude, you’re fu*king buying NFTs then because where can you use those guns? Can you protect your house with that sh*t that you bought? With your money that you’re working for? Alright, you bought a NFT.

Okay, so what made you decide to hop in on the wave?

Because that digital money transfer to real money. It’s the same reason I’m telling you if those people believe you sold them a fish tank, you need to make them a fish tank and sell them the fish and sh*t.

Welcome To Jet Life Recordings 2 is out now. Check it out above.

Saweetie Pushed Back Her Album After Talking To Cher Gave Her An ‘Epiphany’

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Saweetie fans were disappointed to learn that the “Fast (Motion)” rapper’s album wasn’t coming out as promised last week when she delayed her album Pretty B*tch Music again to “reconstruct some songs.” Now, thanks to Billboard, those fans know who they can (partially) blame: None other than music icon Cher, who Saweetie met to work on a “really big campaign.” After the Bay Area rapper met the pop goddess, she realized her album wasn’t done and needed just one more thing.

As Saweetie told Billboard, I thought [the album] was done, but after I met her, I had an epiphany. This album needs to have feelings, it needs to have soul, it needs to have spirit. And I have a lot of room for improvement, so I’m gonna work on that. And once it’s done, the album will be released.”

At this point, that strategy might end up paying big dividends, as it shows the care and deliberation with which she’s been proceeding. Certainly, fans have been pretty patient with the rollout, which began sometime last year with the release of “Back To The Streets” and has since included “Best Friend” and “Fast.” In the meantime, she’s sustained her pop-culture dominance with illuminating performances (for which she’s attending an artist development boot camp to help her improve), TV and commercial appearances, features with pop queens like Gwen Stefani, and her Pretty Summer Playlist Vol. 1 EP, as well as an impromptu bout of busking at the Santa Monica Pier.

Saweetie is a Warner Music Group. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Cardi B’s Latest Pregnancy Portraits Include Loving Embraces From Offset And Kulture

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Cardi B continues to make rap history, racking up an impressive collection of firsts as she expands her catalog of hits, movie roles, and powerhouse performances since breaking out in 2018 with “Bodak Yellow.” Her latest: Becoming a mother twice over, revealing her second pregnancy during an electrifying performance with her husband Offset’s band Migos at the 2021 BET Awards. Popping out in a bedazzled sheer jumpsuit designed to accentuate her belly, Cardi stole the show, with the reveal becoming one of the night’s biggest moments.

At the same time, she revealed her first pregnancy portrait, posting the plaster-clad picture on Instagram and accumulating over 12 million views in less than 24 hours. The photo also garnered thousands of congratulatory comments as admirers and peers alike responded supportively to the reveal. Today, Cardi shared some of the remaining portraits from the shoot, including one featuring Offset, who is seen embracing Cardi from behind while kissing her neck, and soon-to-be big sister Kulture, who wears a matchup dress and headwrap while touching her mom’s tummy (and bearing the expression of an only child who knows her days of being the only favorite are numbered… I feel you, kid).

Cardi and Offset’s family has been a focus of their art for a while, and as it expands, should give them plenty more fodder for adorable social media posts and bars about potty training and sibling rivalries. Check out their loving family photos below.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Coi Leray Wonders Why Her ‘Body Is Always Trending’ In Light Of Fans Trolling Her BET Awards Look

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Being a woman in music seems exhausting. Billie Eilish regularly pointed out fans and media’s fascination — borderline obsession, really — with her body, from covering herself in baggy outfits to avoid creepy comments to shutting down the perception of her revealing Vogue cover constitution “growth.” Lizzo constantly battles derogatory comments about her weight and shape despite the extreme level of fitness it takes to play flute, dance, rap, and sing at the same damn time.

The latest target of users trolling on social media is Coi Leray, the breakout artist who spent the last two years building a buzz before landing a huge hit with “No More Parties” earlier this year and becoming a 2021 XXL Freshman. Commenters have compared her to a boy in the past, and today, her name is trending on Twitter in light of her appearance at the BET Awards, where she wore a pair of baggy pants with a bikini top, a look that has become something of a trademark for the artist, who seemingly loves to embrace her shape and show off a lot of skin (her twerking videos get nearly as much attention as her music).

The negative attention prompted her to wonder at the fascination with her shape, tweeting, “Is there a certain way I’m supposed to look? Help me understand.” She then questioned, “In the Bible is it a Sin to be thin?”

She also pointed out the hypocrisy inherent in these comments, subtly imploring empathy for women from those commenters, saying, “I hope all yall mothers got beach bodies.”

A quick look at the Coi Leray trend on Twitter sees plenty of users echoing her sentiment, decrying the abusive commentary surrounding her and other women’s bodies in the music industry.

So long as social media gives a platform to every Tom, Dick, and Harry to share their worst opinions (and continues to reward them with engagement), it seems unlikely that there will ever be much change on that front. However, Coi’s post, and the current conversation, highlight the problem, and spreading awareness is the first step to resolving it.

DaBaby Admits His Videos Were Inspired By Ludacris But Says The Comparison Is ‘Too Commonly Used’

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Last week, DaBaby and Ludacris trended for the better part of a day when comedian Lil Duval compared the two, calling DaBaby “this generation’s Ludacris.” While fans on social media debated whether the two artists really were analogues of each other or not, DaBaby prepared for his overstuffed BET Awards performance and Ludacris went to space in the latest Fast & Furious film. Fortunately, Billboard was able to get ahold of DaBaby on the BET Awards red carpet and ask him about it, giving him an opportunity to set the record straight.

Although DaBaby didn’t outright reject the premise, he was careful to point out how limited — and limiting — it is. “I feel like that’s too commonly used,” he said. “I think people use that too lightly. I was inspired by Ludacris’ creativity with his music videos. [I was inspired] by a lot of people. Not only people like Ludacris but people like Nelly. I mean, everybody. I feel like as the generations unfolded, people from every era was inspired by somebody from the era before them. Even when it boils down to 50 Cent, Eminem, and Mystikal, everybody’s videos used to be crazy. Busta Rhymes’ videos used to be crazy [too]. So I definitely was inspired by Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, and several other artists with their music videos.”

DaBaby, who first broke out with the comedic video for his song “Walker Texas Ranger,” might be onto something there. If nothing else, he’s far from the first younger artist to take inspiration from his forebears; Uproxx even has a whole show about it. From Busta to Eminem to Missy, modern artists have been looking to many of the icons of days past to inspire their own standout visuals because if you’re going to take from anyone, you’ve got to take from the best.

Read DaBaby’s full interview with Billboard here and watch his BET Awards performance of “Ball If I Want To” here.

The Biggest Moments Of The 2021 BET Awards

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The 2021 BET Awards were, as usual, full of surprises, with enough moments that lit up social media to forgive the at-times seemingly slapdash and slightly overlong production (going to commercial during performances should simply not be a thing, ever, especially in a show that ran almost four hours). Whether those moments prompted wig removals, like Jazmine Sullivan’s virtuoso vocal performance of “On It” with Ari Lennox, or roasting, like DaBaby’s bursting-at-the-seams, off-sync rendition of “Ball If I Want To,” BET put on a show worth talking about, pulling its fair share of online buzz even amid an NBA conference finals game with lots of dynamite moments of its own.

With so much chatter throughout the show, though, there will still a few moments that rose above the rest, causing more than just a stir. Instead, they felt more like culture-shifting occurrences, whose residual effects will ripple outward like waves in a pond when a stone breaks the surface. These may end up being the ones that inspire retrospectives as we look back on them as the inciting incidents for huge changes in the way things are. Here are the three biggest moments of the 2021 BET Awards.

Cardi B Announces Her Pregnancy

Joining Migos to perform their Culture III standouts “Straightenin‘” and “Type Sh*t,” Cardi B pulled another pregnancy reveal for the ages, walking out midway through the performance in a rhinestone-studded bodysuit with a sheer midriff to show off her belly. The crowd pop when she does says everything that needs to be said; Cardi is already helping to carve out a new status quo for mothers in entertainment, but adding another child to the mix makes things even more interesting. It’s one thing to be a working artist while pregnant, it’s another to keep working when you have a child, but it’s an another-other thing entirely to get pregnant again, keep working, and still outwork the dudes — including the one who helped make all these kids in the first place.

Lil Nas X Remembers The Times — And Makes Out With One Of His Dancers

When Lil Nas popped out in dazzling golden ancient Egypt-inspired regalia to perform “Montero,” it didn’t take long for Twitter to draw comparisons to Michael Jackson’s 1991 music video for “Remember The Times.” After all, that was the theme for Mike’s video, which despite being way before Nas’ time, is such a fixture of Black culture that I’m sure he’d been exposed to it about 100 times before he hit puberty. So when he broke out into the iconic choreography from that video with his dancers, a thrill of satisfaction shot through viewers’ timelines — then transformed when he called back to another legendary award show moment. In 2003, Madonna, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera made history with a same-sex kiss at the MTV VMAs, solidifying their status as queer icons. I imagine we’ll look back on Nas’ kiss with his dancer the same way, as a watershed moment of representation. Happy Pride!

Megan Thee Stallion Refuses(?) To Perform Alongside DaBaby

This one’s more of a developing situation, but viewers couldn’t help but note that despite their long string of collaborative hits together — including DJ Khaled’s “I Did It,” which they performed last night — Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby’s relationship seems to have strained to the point where at least one of them won’t share a stage with the other. While there could be any number of reasons why Meg slunk off stage after finishing her verse for “I Did It” without joining the group shot at the end (which included DaBaby, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, and HER), considering their recent social media spat, which resulted in Meg unfollowing DaBaby across platforms, it’s almost assured we haven’t seen the end of this saga. One or the other may soon be called upon to address the rather obvious moment — in which case, another round of reactions wouldn’t be out of the question.

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

Young Nudy Is Taking His Dueling Alter Egos On The ‘Dr. Ev4l Vs. Rich Shooter’ Tour

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Atlanta rapper Young Nudy is taking his dueling alter egos on the road for the Dr. Ev4l vs. Rich Shooter tour beginning this August. The 10-city tour starts in Houston, TX, and ends in Boston, MA, hitting Charlotte, Memphis, Nudy’s native Atlanta, New York, and Philadelphia along the way. The tour is in support of his new album Dr. Ev4l, which features guest appearances from Nudy’s cousin 21 Savage, G Herbo, and Lil Uzi Vert, and is supported by the singles “2Face” with G Herbo and “Dr Ev4l.” 21 Savage appears on “Child’s Play.”

Nudy, who is coming off a successful 2020 in which he released the well-received Anything and featured as a guest on Deante’ Hitchcock’s Better single “Attitude,” enjoyed increased attention thanks to singles like “All White,” “Never,” and “Vice City.” He was also the subject of a viral video of students crashing through the floor of an Airbnb as they turned up to the sounds of his breakout single “EA.”

You can get more information on the Dr. Ev4l vs. Rich Shooter tour here and check out the tour’s dates and venues below.

8/6 — Houston, TX @ House of Blues
8/7 — Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
8/11 — Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
8/12 — Memphis, TN @ Growlers
8/13 — Atlanta, GA @ Believe
8/14 — Birmingham, AL @ Zydeco
8/18 — Silver Springs, MD @ Filmore
8/19 — New York, NY @ Gramercy Theatre
8/20 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
8/21 — Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall