Music

Ashnikko Continues To Unfold Her Sound On Two New Tracks — ‘Panic Attacks In Paradise’ And ‘Maggots’

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Ashnikko made our rising pop stars list at the beginning of this year, and her fierce, darkly funny sound has continued to unfold throughout 2021. Kicking off with her Demidevil project in January, she’s been busy doing things like starring in her “Slumber Party” video with Princess Nokia and collaborating with Lady Gaga on the Dawn Of Chromatica remix album for a new version of “Plastic Doll.”

Now, she’s back with two brand new singles, and both “Panic Attacks In Paradise” and “Maggots” build on her sound in unexpected ways. Check out her thoughts on writing both singles below.

“‘Panic Attacks In Paradise’ and ‘Maggots’ were both written when I was in a very low place,” she said. “‘PAIP’ is a commentary on how much I was annoying myself at the time. I was healthy and my career was going great. I was in a metaphorical “paradise.” But alas my brain chemistry had other plans. I was an insufferable mess, so obsessed with my own hurt. I was leading it around with me like a rabid dog, letting it bite anyone I came into contact with. Where ‘PAIP’ is soft and forlorn, ‘Maggots’ is pure rage. I’m casting a protective shield of electricity around myself and daring anyone to try to cross it. I’d rather be a raging b*tch than let people take advantage of my kindness. I will take every parasite burrowing its way into my flesh and flatten it under my boots.”

Listen to the softer “Panic Attacks In Paradise” above and the rageful “Maggots” below.

Future And Lil Durk Flex All Over The FaZe Kaysan-Produced ‘Made A Way’

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FaZe Clan has built a reputation as a haven for some of the coolest personalities in e-sports, with ties to basketball through LeBron’s son FaZe Bronny and plenty of hype in the ever-growing gaming community. FaZe has always made it clear that their scope stretches well beyond just e-sports or video games, though, with a focus on becoming one of the biggest lifestyle brands in the space.

And that’s not the only space the brand is intent on conquering, as they made clear this week with the announcement of their first musician and gamer, FaZe Kaysan. Check out his introduction video below:

Not content to simply roll out this artist with a walkthrough detailing how cool his every day life is, the company also shared a new song that was co-produced by Kaysan and Wondagurl. And while plenty of hip-hop artists thrive off the collaboration ecosystem, Kaysan is coming out of the gate strong with a pair of rappers on his debut single that plenty of fledgling artists would be thrilled to have co-signs from — Future and Lil Durk. On the production side, Wondagurl was also thrilled to be involved and praised Kaysan’s enthusiasm.

“It was a lot of fun connecting with Kaysan on this project,” WondaGurl said of the track. “He has a great vibe and is super enthusiastic, two things that are really important to me when I’m working with new artists. Kaysan has a vision for himself and is driven to succeed and make his mark.”

Fat Joe Is Convinced ‘Everybody’ — Including Himself — Is Afraid To Verzuz Battle Busta Rhymes

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“‘Fat Joe scared to do Verzuz with Busta Rhymes’ and so is everybody else.” So says… Fat Joe, who spoke on the possibility on his latest Friday live stream on Instagram. Amid talking about all the hot topics heading into the weekend, Joe touched on his recent Verzuz battle with Ja Rule, addressing the fan criticism that he’d ducked a similar faceoff against the other hip-hop legend, whose career of hits extends back 30 years to his breakout appearance on A Tribe Called Quest’s seminal posse cut, “Scenario.”

In defending himself, Joe praised Busta’s legacy and untouchable record of fan-favorite jams. “You gotta understand, sometimes you ever notice — you seen boxers and they knock everybody out?” he asked before insisting that, “People be scared to fight those boxers. Busta Rhymes is gonna out-rap, outperform anybody who goes up in a Verzuz with him. That’s a fact. Yo, Busta Rhymes, nobody wanna get in there with you, man. You might have to be an honorary — they gotta give you the check for no reason.”

Joe would know; in his battle with Ja Rule, despite his advantage in longevity, Rule pulled out way too many undeniable jams for him to keep up (it didn’t help he played a lot of his backpack rap favorites in a hits battle). Meanwhile, Rule had been taunting 50 Cent, hoping to joust with his onetime rival — who declined. Meanwhile, suitable opponents have yet to be found for other such legends like Eminem, Jay-Z, and Nas.

Drake Roasts 21 Savage After Nearly Taking A Spill During His J. Cole Tour Set

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21 Savage is currently on tour with J. Cole for the latter’s new album The Off-Season, and while performing in Atlanta, the hometown hero almost took an inadvertent stage dive as he emerged from backstage before catching himself to join J. Cole at center stage. He took the awkward moment in stride (heh), posting a video on Instagram along with a good-humored caption teasing himself for nearly falling. “this the closest I’ll ever be to falling off,” he joked.

Of course, that wasn’t enough to keep some of his famous peers from also taking advantage of the moment, including Drake. The Toronto rapper commented with a sarcastic “Agile,” while fellow Atlanta trap rapper Skooly noted 21 “Caught that Mfr doe.” Chicago rapper G Herbo simply commented with a string of laughing emojis, and Atlanta rapper Trouble praised Savage’s reflexes, writing, “a Boy wasn’t goin fa nannnn.”

Other commenters noted that it looked like 21 “slipped on a banana peel” and one even compared his stumble to the new Korean Netflix show Squid Game. The amusing moment wasn’t the rapper’s first viral hit this week. Speaking with DJ Akademiks, he noted that in Atlanta, Future always seemed to be bigger than Drake, sparking a debate on Twitter about whether he was right or just blowing smoke. He later clarified the comment, explaining that growing up, he and his associates listened to more mixtapes than albums.

Watch 21 Savage’s near spill above.

Lil Wayne, Ice Cube, Biggie, And Other Rappers Now Have Their Own Funko Pop

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Most collectors of Funko Pop! action figures know the brand has collectibles for just about every form of entertainment from music to TV. The brand even has some exclusive Golden Girls Funkos. Funko has been recently beefing up their collection of music-related actions figures, and after unveiling dolls of Aaliyah and Devo earlier this year, they are now immortalizing some of hip-hop’s biggest stars.

Funko just dropped their new Vinyl Gold collection this week. Fans can now show some love to their favorite emcees by purchasing a Notorious B.I.G, Lil Wayne, Ice Cube, or Tupac Shakur Funko. Rather than having a large head and cartoonish features like most Funko figures, the rappers in their Vinyl Gold collection are more realistic looking.

Each premium vinyl figure stands at five inches tall and features one of their recognizable outfits, with Biggie sporting a crisp white suit, Lil Wayne showing off his tattoo’d arms and red accessories, Ice Cube in some all-black attire, and Tupac standing shirtless with his signature bandana and Timberland boots. Biggie’s Funko is the only one with a different size option as there’s a 12-inch figure available for fans who want to make a statement.

Check out Funko’s Vinyl Gold collection here.

Lakeyah Delivers An Aggressive ‘Check’ Performance On ‘UPROXX Sessions’

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Milwaukee-bred Quality Control Music member Lakeyah brings a ruthless rendition of her cutthroat song “Check” to UPROXX Sessions just days after dropping her latest full-length project, My Turn, with DJ Drama. It’s not every day a rising artist like Lakeyah can secure Drama’s assistance on a Gangsta Grillz-branded album/mixtape, which should be all the proof you need that this XXL Freshman is the real deal.

In an interview with Uproxx earlier this year, Lakeyah explained the “time” motif of her three releases: “I feel like success — slow success — builds character,” she said. “Everything is going to happen at the perfect time for me… I just feel like everything is going to fall into place. I’m just working my ass off right now being super consistent. It’s all about timing. You don’t want to burn yourself out, out here.”

Watch Lakeyah’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Check” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

SZA Sings In Spanish For Kali Uchis’ Sultry ‘Fue Mejor’ Remix Video

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Kali Uchis may have released her album Sin Miedo (Del Amor Y Otros Demonios) in 2020, but it’s gotten a lot of recent attention thanks to TikTok. The album’s tracks “Fue Mejor” and “Telepatía” went viral on the platform, the latter of which has been used in over 1.7 million videos. Capitalizing on the album’s newfound attention, Uchis prepped a remixed version of the LP which includes a song with SZA.

After previously teasing a snippet of their collaboration, Uchis and SZA officially dropped a remix to “Fue Mejor” on Wednesday. The instrumentals stay the same on the new version of the song, but PartyNextDoor’s verse is swapped out for SZA’s smooth addition. The singer delivers the majority of her lyrics in Spanish, a first for the TDE singer.

Along with releasing the official collaboration as a single, the duo shared a sultry single to celebrate the new track. The visual opens with Uchis strutting her stuff in a parking garage and sees both singers showing off their best dance moves atop moving cars, delivering sweltering choreography while speeding down the highway.

Watch Uchis and SZA’s “Fue Mejor” video above.

Sin Miedo (Del Amor Y Otros Demonios) Deluxe is out 9/29 via EMI/Interscope. Pre-order it here.

Bill Cosby Believes That R. Kelly Was ‘Railroaded’ After Being Found Guilty Of Sex Trafficking

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For some reason, TMZ thought it’d be a grand idea to find out what Bill Cosby thought of the recently concluded R. Kelly trial. The disgraced R&B singer was found guilty this week of an extensive list of crimes including racketeering and sex trafficking. The equally disgraced comedian, whose own 2019 conviction for sexual assault was recently overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on a technicality, gave a comment through his spokesperson Andrew Wyatt.

Asked by one of TMZ’s seemingly omnipresent flock of cameramen what Cosby thought of the result of Kelly’s trial, Wyatt said, “We talked about it today and the first thing he said, he was like, ‘Look, the guy was railroaded.’”

Of course, in both cases, massive amounts of evidence were given of the two stars’ deeds. In Cosby’s case, dozens of women came forward to give testimony that he had a pattern of drugging women to have sex with them — something Cosby himself admitted to doing in 2005. Cosby’s recent conviction was overturned thanks to a “non-prosecution agreement” made by prosecutor Bruce Castor. When new witnesses came forward, another prosecutor pushed for a second trial before the statute of limitations on the crimes expired.

Likewise, Kelly previously dodged justice when the defendant in his 2008 rape case refused to testify — but that opened the door for the new case, in which Kelly was accused of running a criminal empire that allegedly intimidated and bribed witnesses, paid to have documents faked so he could illegally marry a teenaged Aaliyah, and coerced a number of girls and women into having sex with Kelly and members of his entourage.

Naturally, plenty of observers on Twitter are only too aware of the details of both cases and had plenty to say about it. See responses to Cosby’s thoughts below.

Rod Wave And Lil Durk Count Their Blessings In The Mournful ‘Already Won’ Video

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Coming off the release of the deluxe edition of his first No. 1 album Soulfly, Rod Wave shares a reflective video for its new single “Already Won” with Lil Durk. Opening with a short monologue about his childhood dream to be the “biggest dope boy in the world” and that dream’s dissolution as he took stock of the losses accumulated in its pursuit, the video juxtaposes mournful shots of a family standing around a casket and a son visiting his father in prison with nostalgic ones of a young Rod lying in bed dreaming about the future.

The Florida crooner certainly did take a different path — one that’s paid off in a big way since releasing his well-received debut album Ghetto Gospel in 2019. Thanks to TikTok, the album’s single “Heart On Ice” climbed to No. 25 on the Hot 100, setting the stage for his meteoric rise. After Ghetto Gospel reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200, Rod’s second album, Pray 4 Love, debuted even higher, peaking at No. 2 in 2020. Then, this year, Rod acquired his first album chart No. 1 with the release of Soulfly, buoyed by fan-favorite singles “Street Runner,” “Tombstone,” and “Richer” featuring Polo G. Now, Rod’s on his tour promoting the album which is scheduled to finish on October 23 in Seattle.

Watch Rod Wave’s “Already Won” video featuring Lil Durk above.

J. Cole Is Forced To Postpone Some Of His ‘Off-Season’ Tour Dates Due To Production Delays

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J. Cole is finally kicking off his long-awaited The Off-Season tour and he’s already experiencing a few hiccups. The rapper just performed his third show of the year in Greensboro, North Carolina. But after running into several road blocks, Cole made the decision to postpone some of his upcoming concerts.

The rapper shared a video to Instagram to apologize to his fans and explain the reason for the delay. Cole announced he would be postponing the tour’s Philadelphia and Detroit dates because the live show production is so intricate that his crew simply can’t get to the venues in enough time:

“I’m backstage at the Greensboro show. I’ve been here for hours trying to get my voice right. This is the Off-Season tour. I have an announcement for specifically Philly and Detroit. […] When we came out on the Off-Season tour, we wanted to do this sh*t big. I spent days programming the lights, hours and hours the programming the lights. While the show is amazing, we didn’t account for the fact that it takes way longer to load this sh*t into the house, so we’re experiencing delays in opening the doors and getting people in.”

Cole explained that it’s a nine-hour drive from North Carolina to Philadelphia, and that’s not enough time to “get the show up in time.” He added: “I apologize for the inconvenience. I know people done hired babysitters, some people drive in from out of town, I hate this sh*t. Even the fact that people waiting outside right now in Greensboro. That sh*t is A.) embarrassing and B.) I think about people’s time. This is the first time this ever happened to us. So I apologize for this sh*t.”

The Off-Season is out now via Dreamville. Get it here.