Music

HER Says Some People Don’t Recognize Her Without Sunglasses: ‘I Feel Like Clark Kent’

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Before earning four Grammy Awards, over a dozen nominations, and an Oscar, HER has been perfecting her artistry since a very young age. Along with making a name for herself with her moving music, the singer is also known for her ever-present sunglasses. In fact, some people apparently don’t recognize her without them.

HER recently chatted with Variety for their cover interview. During the conversation, HER spoke about her decision to take on a moniker, sport shades, and appear only as a silhouette on the cover of her debut project:

“Honestly, the reason I wanted to be HER is because I felt people tended to focus on the looks of things instead of music — listening with their eyes and not their ears. It was a social media time of the whole package: ‘This is what an artist should be; this is what a woman should be.’ So when I first released music, I wanted to be a silhouette — these truthful stories were what I wanted to show, not me.”

The singer added that when she walks around her Brooklyn neighborhood, “people don’t recognize me without my glasses. Sometimes I feel like Clark Kent.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, HER described the ups-and-downs of starting her career at such a young age. “It was tough, honestly,” she said. “I would leave school for a few days every month or every other month to travel to New York, and I’d be doing independent study in the studio. There were a lot of sacrifices made, especially by my parents.”

But even with the sacrifices, HER always knew she was striving to make it big. “I’m thankful I was able to go to school, but honestly, I’d be sitting in class like, ‘I can’t wait to get back to New York and work toward my future,’” she added. “Everybody else was thinking about the weekend, but I was thinking about the next ten years.”

Check out HER’s full conversation with Variety here.

‘XXL’s 2021 Freshman List Includes Blxst, Coi Leray, DDG, And Pooh Shiesty

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The 2021 XXL Freshman cover has arrived! Each year, rap fans wait and speculate in anticipation to find out which artists made the coveted list, mostly so we can all speculate and wait on their activities for the future — or debate whether they deserved placement.

But this post is just to let our readers know who all made it. This year’s cover includes plenty of Uproxx favorites like Blxst, DDG, and Pooh Shiesty, as well as 2020 fan favorites like 42 Dugg, Flo Milli, and Toosii. There’s plenty of female representation on this year’s list, with Coi Leray, Lakeyah, and Rubi Rose holding it down for the ladies. And breakout artists Iann Dior and Morray round out the list after some attention-grabbing features introduced them to a whole new audience.

This year’s list looks pretty well-rounded, as the breakout artists included have all made impressive debuts, charted highly, or garnered plenty of viral attention in the past year. Many regions, races, and styles are represented, from Fayetteville, North Carolina, to South Central, Los Angeles, with many of the entries hailing from oft-overlooked origins when it comes to hip-hop such as Milwaukee, WI, Lexington, KY, and Corpus Christi, TX.

Last year’s cover included breakouts like Chika, Jack Harlow, Mulatto, and Rod Wave. And for those who didn’t make it, there’s always next year — or the chance for a surprise breakout.

Meanwhile, XXL is gearing up for the usual slate of Freshman programming, including freestyles, Cyphers, and profiles on these up-and-coming artists. Stay tuned.

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

The Artists On The ‘Space Jam’ Soundtrack Show Their Hoop Skills In A Fun Reveal Video

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When the original Space Jam premiered in 1996 one of the elements that made it so iconic for kids of the era was its accompanying soundtrack, which is widely regarded as one of the best-produced film soundtracks of all time. Its eclectic collection of hip-hop, R&B, and pop artists was a hit, highlighting the increasing popularity of rap and its influence over the basketball world. So, naturally, for LeBron James’ sequel, Space Jam: A New Legacy, the bar is rather high — both for the film itself and for its soundtrack, which will likely be instantly compared to its groundbreaking predecessor.

Today, exactly one month before the film’s release — the soundtrack drops one week before — Warner Bros. pictures introduced the soundtrack’s “starting lineup” with a fun reveal video showing which of today’s stars have earned placement on what will undoubtedly be one of the more listened to soundtracks of the year. The video also shows off each star’s relative level of hoop skills and let’s just say it’s a good thing LeBron has the Looney Tunes on his team because some of these passes are looking rough.

Of course, stars like 24kGoldn, Aminé, Anthony Ramos, Big Freedia, Brockhampton, Chance The Rapper, Cordae, Duckwrth, G-Eazy, John Legend, Jonas Brothers, Joyner Lucas, Kash Doll, Kirk Franklin, Leon Bridges, Lil Baby, Lil Tecca, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Wayne, P-Lo, Saint JHN, Salt-N-Pepa, Saweetie, Symba, and White Dave are here to rap or sing and not hoop — although Dame D.O.L.L.A. is in there, pulling double duty as he also plays one of the villainous Goon Squad players in the movie.

The New Legacy soundtrack is due 7/9 via Republic Records and WB Watertower Music. The film itself hits theaters 7/16.

Watch the reveal video above.

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

Tyler The Creator Flexes Fashion And Flows In His Snowy ‘Lumberjack’ Video

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Tyler The Creator has been teasing new music all week, first with a billboard in LA bearing the phone number to a cryptic message from his mom, then with a video snippet called “Side Street” that appeared to be teasing a new aesthetic for his latest rollout. Yesterday, he updated the preview phone number with more new music, but he saved the biggest surprise yet for today, releasing the “Lumberjack” video to YouTube and DSPs.

The video opens with Tyler reading car magazines in bed while eating a pastry, with a mellow track backing Tyler’s narration from what sounds like a diary entry. Then, out of nowhere, the scene, music, and overall vibe take a hard 180, as we see Tyler standing atop a tower of designer trunks rapping like a madman over a gritty, ’90s-style beat, complete with ad-libs being screamed in the background by none other than DJ Kay Slay. And just in case you’re wondering, he does explain the meaning behind the title, with a bar that should have rap connoisseurs reaching for the rewind button with a sour lemon expression on their face.

The video concludes once again with the sitcom-y outro teasing “Call Me If You Get Lost,” which suggests that this is just the first salvo from a barrage of new music Tyler has ready to go.

Watch Tyler The Creator’s “Lumberjack” video above.

Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Thot Sh*t’ Video Has One Conservative Politician Feeling ‘Threatened’

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Megan Thee Stallion returned from a brief hiatus last week to issue a clap back to conservative politicians who are offended by her music. Releasing her “Thot Sh*t” video, Megan made fun of right-wingers who trash talk her music, but continue to obsessively follow her every career move. One conservative apparently took this critique to heart, as she took the visual as a personal affront.

GOP congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine was very outspoken about her disdain for Megan and Cardi B’s “WAP” video last year. Now, she’s taking aim at Megan’s latest song. In a video statement shared with TMZ, Lorraine mentioned that she felt personally targeted by Megan’s video:

“Megan Thee Stallion’s latest video, she’s referring to potentially me because we’ve feuded in the past with her videos like ‘WAP,’ but probably just the conservative political commentators on a whole that have called her out for her music videos and her outrageous, degrading songs in the past. So if I were to run again for office, I would say, ‘Look, we actually need to have better music, better examples of role models in our media and in our movies, and especially in our music because young people listen to music so much.’”

Lorraine continues to note that some particularly diehard Megan and Cardi B fans have sent her threatening messages. But in her mind, she really thinks she’s doing something to “help these people.” “I feel threatened. I worry sometimes if they’re going to come after me or they really will find my address and kill me or doing something terrible to me,” she said. “That’s a shame because I’m trying to help these people, I’m trying to help them see that they can be more than their ‘WAP.’”

Lorraine concluded her rant by doubling down on her assertion that Megan’s music is “garbage.” “I’m trying to help them realize that there’s a positive way to be successful in society that doesn’t mean selling your body on the streets and getting that money,” she said. “But they don’t really care, they’re going to listen to the Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion no matter what, and it’s not going to stop me from standing up for what I believe in, which is that this music is garbage and we need to do better for our youth, we need to do better for our culture.”

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

Earthgang Throws A Wild House Party In Their ‘Options Remix’ Video With Coi Leray And Wale

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Earthgang is well-known by now for the spacey, surreal visuals that accompanied their debut album Mirrorland, but with their latest rollout, they’ve gone for a more down-to-earth approach. While the initial video for “Options” with Wale featured Claymation analogs for the Atlanta duo and their guest, the grounded storyline revolved more around the mechanics of relationships and dating. The video for the remix, which added breakout artist Coi Leray to the mix, strips down the concept further, landing all four rappers at a debauched house party.

Earthgang, who recently used their notoriety to help fund a community garden at a local Atlanta school, have been somewhat cagey about a follow-up to Mirrorland, joking that it would drop on the same day as J. Cole’s album before admitting that they didn’t even know when their Dreamville boss would be putting his album out (that album, The Off-Season, has since released to an impressive commercial response).

Meanwhile, the ATLiens have kept themselves in the pop culture conversation with releases like “Aretha” and their take on Drake’s “Lemon Pepper Freestyle,” as well as returning to performing at New Zealand festival Bay Dreams and the upcoming Dreamville On The Rocks in Colorado, among others.

Watch Earthgang’s “Options Remix” video featuring Coi Leray and Wale above.

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

Spain’s Mad Cool Festival Is Making Its Return In 2022 With A Rock-Heavy Lineup

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Like many festivals, Madrid’s Mad Cool took a couple years off, as its 2020 and 2021 editions were a no-go. Now, though, organizers are preparing for 2022, when they’ll host the next Mad Cool between July 6 and 9. Ahead of then, they’ve shared the stacked lineup.

It’s a big one for rock fans: Headlining the four-day festival are Metallica, Twenty One Pilots, Placebo, Imagine Dragons, The Killers, Muse, Faith No More, Kings Of Leon, and Pixies. Additionally, more headliners are set to be announced. Elsewhere on the poster as it stands now are Carly Rae Jepsen, Wolf Alice, Deftones, St. Vincent, Foals, Sigrid, Tove Lo, Beabadoobee, Cherry Glazerr, Alt-J, The War On Drugs, Mø, Phoebe Bridgers, Black Pumas, Shura, Royal Blood, Zara Larsson, Editors, Leon Bridges, Sylvan Esso, Princess Nokia, Gang Of Youths, Marika Hackman, and Bartees Strange.

Tickets for the 2020 and 2021 festivals are valid for the 2022 festival, for which tickets are currently on sale.

A lot of the 2022 lineup is made up of artists who were set to perform in 2021. Some notable ones who aren’t on the new poster, though, include Cardi B, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Anderson .Paak.

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

Polo G Gets Advice From NBA Hall Of Famer Scottie Pippen

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Polo G wasn’t even born yet when the Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen-led Bulls tore up the NBA and redefined excellent in the game of basketball with six championships throughout the 1990s, but the Chicago native is mindful enough of their legacy to recognize that a nod to the greats would pair nicely with his new album Hall Of Fame. To that end, Polo shared “Hall Of Fame Conversations,” a video in which he interviews the NBA Hall Of Famer Scottie Pippen.

Polo turns out to be a pretty decent interviewer asking Pippen about the championships and accolades that the NBA legend has accumulated over the years. The conversation also allows Polo to speak on his own journey, highlighting how relatively quickly he’s reached the upper echelon of rap stardom over the course of his last three albums. Meanwhile, Scottie draws parallels between the rap game and hoops, complimenting the hard work that Polo has put in to follow his dream.

In addition to “Hall Of Fame Conversations,” Polo G has released videos for “Painting Pictures,” “No Return,” “Gang Gang,” and “Rapstar.”

Watch Polo G’s “Hall Of Fame Conversation” with NBA Hall Of Famer Scottie Pippen above.

Hall Of Fame is out now on Columbia. Get it here.

For Tupac’s 50th Birthday, Jada Pinkett Smith Shared A Previously Unreleased Poem By The Rapper

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Today (June 16) would have been Tupac Shakur’s 50th birthday. Many are remembering the late rapper on this milestone day, but Jada Pinkett Smith got started early yesterday by sharing a previously unreleased poem that Tupac wrote for her.

Filming the poem, which was titled “Lost Soulz” and written by Tupac on a sheet of lined notebook paper, Pinkett Smith says in a video, “Over the years, ‘Pac wrote me many letters and many poems, and I don’t think this one has ever been published, honestly. He had a song called ‘Lost Souls,’ on the Gang Related soundtrack, but I believe this was the original concept because he wrote this, I believe, when he was at Rikers [Island]. And I was like, I don’t think he would have minded that I share this with you guys.”

She then recited the poem, which reads:

“Some say nothing gold can last forever
And 2 believe this [I] need no proof
I have witnessed all that was pure in me
And be changed by the evil men can do
The innocence possessed by children
Once lived inside my soul
But surviving years with criminal peers
Has turned my warm heart to cold
I used 2 dream and fantasize
But now I’m scared 2 sleep
Petrified, not to live or die
But to awaken and still be me
It is true that nothing gold can last
We will all one day see death
When the purest hearts are torn apart
LOST SOULS are all that’s left
Down on my knees I beg of God
To save me from this fate
Let me live to see what was gold in me
Before it is all too late.”

Also yesterday, fellow Tupac associate Jim Belushi shared a story about trying to get the rapper to cover Frank Sinatra.

Watch Pinkett Smith read the poem above.