Music

J. Cole Advised Dave East To Make One Change To Improve His Rap Voice

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Harlem rapper Dave East has been around for a minute, but absent the big-name co-signs or signature hits that drove some of his peers’ careers, mainstream success has eluded him. With that said, his latest project, the Harry Fraud-produced Hoffa, is a masterclass in ignoring mass appeal in favor of crafting high-quality work and staying true to yourself — the album Dave East always needed in his catalog. However, it turns out one of East’s peers had some advice for him to improve his chances to gain traction on future projects.

Speaking with Apple Music 1’s Ebro, East recalled how J. Cole helped him make some adjustments to improve his rap voice — a key component in any rap artist’s success. “I got a chance to lock in with J. Cole, just me and him in the studio with the engineer, and he asked that same question, like, ‘Bro, I’m a fan of what you do, I really respect your pen, but you rap with one tone,’” he recounted. “And I really sat and listened to myself, and a lot of my sh*t is one tone.”

The rest of the session, he said, consisted of “me and him in the studio testing tones. He’s just really seeing how high I can take my voice, how low I can take it, and then he just was like, ‘Apply that to your music. Watch the difference. That’s just something I gotta keep working at, keep working at. I think it will be something dope to add to my music.” Listening to Hoffa, it’s clear the advice paid off, as Dave sounds more energized than ever, partly as a result of Harry Fraud’s complementary beat choices but also because his inflections bring a new-found dimension to his delivery, highlighting the emotional stakes of his rhymes.

Watch Dave East and Harry Fraud’s interview with Ebro below.

Tierra Whack Scores A Touchdown On ‘8’ From The ‘Madden 22’ Soundtrack

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Tierra Whack‘s latest track, “8,” constitutes her contribution to the soundtrack of the upcoming 2022 edition of EA’s Madden NFL video game series and finds the Philly rapper going in over a grumbly, buzzing beat produced by frequent collaborator J Melodic. It’s a short but hypnotic track that it’s easy to imagine backing a late-night session of shotgun passes and QB dives. Joining Whack on the soundtrack — which is out now on Interscope — are buzzy artists like 42 Dugg, BRS Kash, JID, Sally Sossa, and Tank And The Bangas.

In addition to popping up here, Whack’s latest mercenary efforts have included a collaboration with Lego on “Link” and with her hometown’s NBA franchise on “76.” While the former found her working with school kids to come up with a cute narrative music video as part of the brand’s Rebuild The World campaign, the latter celebrated the 76ers’ playoff run and had Whack name-checking the team’s players while showing off her own ball skills in the video.

Of course, she’s still had time to build on the impressive body of work she kicked off in 2018 with the attention-grabbing Whack World. As well as showing off her impressive, battle-honed flow on freestyles over “Whoopty,” “Last Dayz,” and “Stand Up,” she recently dropped her own original, house-influenced single “Walk The Beat.” She also celebrated her birthday this week.

Listen to “8” above.

A Botched Cher Tweet Led To Utter Chaos (From Herself And Others), And People Couldn’t Handle It

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Cher’s already thrown her support behind Britney Spears during her conservatorship fight, and she did so again on Thursday night over a report that Jamie Spears would be stepping down. Before that happened, however, the legendary singer and actress had a slip of the fingers, and all hell broke loose. This turned into a rare moment of real fun on Twitter, so we must talk this out.

Things were going well, given that Cher had been previously tweeting about an HSN (Home Shopping Network) appearance. When all was said and done, however, Cher popped onto her phone and simply tweeted, “I had a great time on H.” Oh no.

So, very clearly, this was a typo, yet Cher’s immediate replies turned into a mixture of people playing along and/or wondering what the heck was going on (especially since Cher’s former husband, Gregg Allman, was a heroin addict, and Cher is anti-drug and even campaigned against marijuana use in the 1960s).

Very quickly, Cher realized what had happened, but (like a champ) she did not delete her erroneous tweet. Instead, she explained (in her frequent ALL-CAPS fashion) that she’d pushed send too early. Then Cher communicated that the camera work on HSN was less than desirable, and had ‘MADE ME LOOK LIKE’ she had… eaten a turkey? Alright.

Cher then lamented losing all her ‘CRED’ over a ‘MANGLED’ tweet. The Oscar winner then declared a divorce from grammar, so please lighten up, everyone.

Fair enough. And here’s the aforementioned support for Britney Spears, even though her dad hasn’t stepped away from the conservatorship quite yet. Cher ‘COULDN’T HAPPIER 4 HER IF I WAS TWINS.’ Same, Cher!

Kanye West’s Still-Unreleased ‘Donda’ Gets Yet Another Expected Release Date

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Someday, Kanye West may actually release Donda, the album for which he has already hosted two stadium-sized listening events. The album has already missed multiple expected release dates, including today, August 13. Information on that front isn’t really pouring out of West’s camp, but regardless, the album has a new projected release day: August 20.

Again, that’s not according to anybody on West’s team, but rather, the current Apple Music listing for the album. Furthermore, the page shows off a 24-song tracklist, but without any song titles, save for “Hurricane” featuring The Weeknd and Lil Baby. The listing indicates that users can listen to that song now, but it doesn’t appear to be available in the US (or the UK either, per NME). The tracklist also has star icons attached to Track 1, 2 (“Hurricane”), 8, 9, 12, 17, and 19.

Meanwhile, it seems like a good idea for West to keep hosting his Donda listening parties, at least from a financial perspective: It was reportedly recently that from the two listening events, West made a combined $7 million dollars just from merch sales. The second event also broke viewership records on Apple Music. As for West, it would seem he’s still holed up in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, despite rumors that he was relocating.

Toosii And Latto Take Things Back To The 2000s With A Nostalgic Video For ‘5’5′

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After dropping two career-boosting projects for fans in 2020 thanks to Poetic Pain and Platinum Hearts, Toosii returned to 2021 with plenty of music for fans. He got the ball rolling on the year with his latest full-length release, Thank You For Believing. Across the project’s 13 tracks came an early highlight in “5’5” with Latto. The track is seemingly inspired by a line from Lloyd’s hit song, “You,” which has confused fans for years as some believed the singer says “5’2” while others insist he says “fine too.” The inspiration comes alive as Toosii raps, “5’5” and she too fine” on the song. More than three months after the track’s arrival, Toosii returns with a video for it.

The New York rapper finds himself at what appears to be a 2000s-themed party as oversized t-shirts, baggy clothes, velour clothing, and more take up most of the screen time for the visual. However, through it all, Toosii grabs the attention of a certain woman at the party and successfully shoots his shot with her as he exits the party with her number. Elsewhere, he and Latto also perform the TikTok dance that’s accompanied the song for the past few months.

The new video comes after Toosii released a deluxe version of Thank You For Believing, titled Thank You For Believing (The Manifestation), with ten additional songs including “Spin Music” with Fivio Foreign which also received the visual treatment.

Press play on the nostalgic video for “5’5” in the video above.

Thank You For Believing (The Manifestation) is out now via South Coast Music Group. Get it here.

Coi Leray Extends Her Streak Of Consistent Flexing With The Confident ‘Okay Yeah’

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While many may remain critical of the rapper and her music, there’s no doubt that Coi Leray’s 2021 year will go down as a defining one for the New Jersey-bred rapper. With a little over four months left in the year, Leray is pushing full steam ahead and with her latest single, “Okay Yeah.” Hopping on the song’s hard-hitting beat provided by Bankroll Got It, a producer duo from the Bay Area, Leray extends her streak of consistent flexing by bragging about her wealth, shopping habits, and jewelry all while also brushing off her haters in the process.

The new track arrives a couple of months after the rapper was chosen to be a part of this year’s XXL Freshman Class. Leray found herself besides names that include Blxst, DDG, Pooh Shiesty, 42 Dugg, Flo Milli, and Toosii. While that was certainly a big moment for Leray, her inclusion in the class would turn a bit sour thanks to a baffling XXL Freshman freestyle that failed to accurately portray her talents.

While that was not the brightest moment for Leray in 2021, she has plenty elsewhere that include her “No More Parties” remix with Lil Durk, “Big Purr (Prrdd)” with Pooh Shiesty, and her TV debut on The Tonight Show.

You can press play on “Okay Yeah” in the video above.

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

VanJess Deliver A Long-Overdue Collaboration With Lucky Daye Through A Remix Of ‘Slow Down’

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VanJess arrived with their first project in almost three years at the beginning of 2021 with their Homegrown EP. The project’s eight songs came attached with features from Jimi Tents, Garren, Kaytranada, Phony Ppl, and Devin Morrison. While all the aforementioned names provided strong collaborations on Homegrown, the EP’s strongest effort is a solo track. “Slow Down” grew to be a fan favorite off the project and now it’s getting a well-deserved remix with help from R&B standout act and labelmate Lucky Daye.

Lucky Daye leads the way with a brief verse to begin the song while VanJess sticks to the verses they laid for the song’s original version. During an interview with Uproxx earlier this year, VanJess’ Ivana and Jess spoke about the song and revealed what inspired them to create it. “The toxic love thing we hear about all the time and it seems trendy and that’s kind of what we’re thinking about, let’s put out a song about positive love, you know, what love is supposed to be?” Jess said. “Can we get back to that? That’s how that one had come.”

The remix arrives after Lucky Daye kicked off his 2021 campaign with an EP of his own, Table For Two, which delivered collaborations alongside Ari Lennox, Mahalia, Joyce Wrice, Yebba, Tiana Major9, and Queen Naija.

You can listen to the “Slow Down” remix in the video above.

Homegrown is out now via Keep Cool/RCA. Get it here.

Wale Flips A Southern Classic With Yella Beezy And Maxo Kream On ‘Down South’

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Wale concluded 2019 with the release of his well-structured sixth album Wow… That’s Crazy. The following year saw the DMV rapper released several singles as well as his EP, The Imperfect Storm and now, he’s ready to gift the world with another project. Wale previously announced that his seventh album Folarin 2 would arrive later this summer. The news came with a bold claim from the rapper which he shared on Twitter. “I understand you may feel how you feel for whatever somebody told you…but I just wanna reiterate that I’m one of the greatest of all time,” he wrote. “Catalog. Consistency. Influence. Longevity. DMV.

Nearly a month after sharing that thought, Wale returns with some heat thanks to his brand new single, “Down South.” The track features contributions from Texans Maxo Kream and Yella Beezy and is carried by production from Harry Fraud, who samples a Southern classic in Mike Jones, Paul Wall, and Slim Thug’s “Still Tippin.” On the track, Wale takes his talents to the South for a smooth verse that aims to separate himself from the competition while Yella Beezy and Maxo Kream stand beside with confident and hard-hitting verses of their own.

The track comes after Yella Beezy kicked off the year beside Erica Banks for their strong “Star” collab while Maxo Kream just made his return last week with his “Local Joker” video.

You can listen to the new song in the video above.

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

Wizkid Invites Justin Bieber Into The Afrobeats World For A Remix Of ‘Essence’ With Tems

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Wizkid’s mainstream appeal has noticeably increased since the afro-fusion star dropped his stellar fourth album Made In Lagos last fall. The project saw the singer work with big names like H.E.R., Ella Mai, Burna Boy, and Skepta, but the album’s most popular song came through an unexpected collaboration with fellow afro-fusion singer Tems on “Essence.” The track has grown to not only run in contention for song of the summer this year, but it’s also the highest-charting African song ever, as it peaked at No. 54 on the singles chart this past week. Now, the song is due for a huge boost thanks to a new remix.

Wizkid and Tems invite Justin Bieber into the “Essence” experience for a brand new remix of the track. While some fans felt the collaboration was a bit inorganic, Wizkid and Bieber are paying no mind to the comments, showing each other love on social media. “Thank u for letting me jump on the song of the summer,” Bieber wrote in a Twitter post that announced the remix. In his own post, Wizkid wrote, “I promised you something special. @temsbaby & @justinbieber on da way.”

In another post, Wizkid teased more music on the way for fans. “Made In Lagos Deluxe,” he wrote on Twitter.

Press play on the remix to “Essence” in the video above.

Made In Lagos is out now via Starboy Entertainment/RCA. Get it here.

Lizzo And Cardi B Clown Their Haters With Sarcasm On Their First-Ever Collaboration, ‘Rumors’

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It’s been almost two years since Lizzo delivered a new track to the world, with that being a remix of “Good As Hell” with Ariana Grande. However, when you consider how monumental 2019 was for Lizzo’s career, it’s understandable why the singer may have opted for a break once everything settled down. Between her Platinum-selling third album, Cuz I Love You, which peaked at No. 4 on the albums chart and winning in the Best Urban Contemporary Album category at the 2020 Grammys, that year’s success was life-changing for Lizzo. But now she’s back with Cardi B by her side for a brand new single, “Rumors.”

On the track, which arrives with an elegant video, Lizzo and Cardi use sarcasm to laugh off their haters by labeling all the rumors about them as true. Lizzo touches on comments on her body image, her music, and a possible fling with Drake while Cardi addresses claims of having “fake ass and fake boobs” and using streaming machines to boost her music.

“Rumors” is the latest track that finds Cardi B aligned with a big-name female act within the music industry. Last summer, she teamed with Megan Thee Stallion for their No. 1 single “WAP” and earlier this year, she joined Normani for the singer’s comeback single, “Wild Side.”

You can press play on “Rumors” in the video above.

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