The Weeknd’s is still winning awards for and setting new records with his 2020 album, After Hours. From nearly sweeping at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards to leaving with an armful of trophies at this year’s Juno Awards, the singer has been a force to reckon with. If that weren’t all, the singer’s continued presence on the Billboard singles chart has also been extremely noteworthy.
“Blinding Lights” recently became the longest-charting solo song in Billboard Hot 100 history after registering its 78th week, passing the previous record-holder, Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours,” to take the crown. Now the song sits behind Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” and Awolnation’s “Sail” to claim the overall record. The former leads the way with 87 weeks spent on the singles chart while the latter trails behind with 79 weeks.
The After Hours highlight and the album itself controversially failed to land any recognition at this year’s Grammys, but other award shows have honored the record. The track won Top Hot 100 Song, Top Radio Song, and Top R&B Song at last month’s Billboard Music Awards, which also saw him win Top Artist, Top Male Artist, and Top Hot 100 Artist. Elsewhere in 2021, “Blinding Lights” won Song Of The Year, Titanium Song Of The Year, and TikTok Bop Of The Year at the iHeartRadio Music Awards as well as Single Of The Year at the Juno Awards.
Celebrities, they’re just like us! They, too, get excited when they learn that two of the most famous and brilliant people in the world actually know who they are. That’s what happened to Trevor Noah the other night when he went to Barclays Center to see the playoff game between the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks. The Daily Show host and sporadic Ted Cruz sparring partner was casually sitting courtside when who should show up but former Barclays stake holder Jay Z and his wife, Beyonce, who is also very popular.
A Getty photojournalist just happened to snap the meeting of the minds, catching Noah and Beyonce mid-fist-bump. Noah made sure to post that pic to his Instagram feed, complete with a gushing, fanboyish, pinch-me-is-this-real? caption:
“I’ve thought of every possible caption for this picture but really what can I write? You’re at the @brooklynnets game, the King of Brooklyn walks in with his wife @beyonce and then they both fist bump you. You try to act cool but then later you see a picture of the moment and you realise that this life is insane!!! What a privilege and magical moment to experience in life. And even though magic happens to me every day, I hope the little South African boy inside of me never stops reminding me that I’m living a dream.”
Who among us hasn’t been sitting courtside at an NBA playoff game and traded fistbumps with Jay Z and Beyonce? Many were quick to congratulate Noah on the honor, though in the comments, Daily Show colleague Jordan Klepper took some jokey umbrage with one detail of his caption: him referring to Jay Z as “the King of Brooklyn.”
Instagram / @TrevorNoah
“To be clear, I live in Brooklyn,” Klepper wrote. “Is the Jay Z is King a totally settled thing?”
Anyway, it’s great to know one of the world’s most powerful power couples watches The Daily Show.
Michigan has become a hotbed of hip-hop talent in recent months thanks to the wave of young upstarts from the Great Lake State rising in conjunction like 42 Dugg, Icewear Vezzo, and Sada Baby. Another of the state’s up-and-coming potential stars is Babyface Ray, who debuted earlier this year with the release of his EP Unf*ckwitable. Building on the favorable buzz from the project’s release, Ray followed up with a deluxe version in May featuring additional tracks and Midwestern guest star Jack Harlow, who’s in the midst of a breakout of his own this year.
Today, Harlow and Ray released the video for their collaboration, “Paperwork Party (Remix).” A boastful track produced by Kardiak, the song features a ghostly woodwind loop over which the two rappers brag about their money-making enterprises — and their endeavors to blow it all, because as Ray puts it, “I never seen a money truck chase a hearse.” The video makes the title literal, as the duo celebrates their riches with a get-together, complete with confetti rain and bottles of champagne, as Harlow boasts that “shows got banned, but I still got bands.”
Watch the “Paperwork Party” video above.
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Ever since debuting with Die A Legend in 2019, Chicago rapper Polo G has been pretty intentional about stating his goals and following through on them — many times within the titles of the projects he’s released. For instance, after stating he’d “die a legend” on his first project, he followed up by calling himself The Goat in 2020. Now, he’s days away from dropping Hall Of Fame, and you can’t say the young rising star doesn’t aim high.
In a new feature in Complex about the upcoming album, Polo states another one of his goals — and the one caveat preventing him from pursuing it as aggressively as he normally would. He tells Harley Geffner that while he’d love to work with rappers like J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar in the future after being shouted out by Cole’s Dreamville partner Ibrahim Hamad, he wants “to get a little bit better lyrically in that style before I would jump on that type of song.”
Hall Of Fame will see him taking steps in that direction, sharing mic time with lyrical all-stars like Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj, but as Geffner notes, he may not be as far off as he feels. Look no further than his recent LA Leakers freestyle, which impressed Rap Twitter over its use of DMX’s “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem,” and Polo’s verse in BET’s 2020 Hip-Hop Awards Cypher, where he stood toe-to-toe with hard-hitters like Chika, Jack Harlow, and Rapsody.
Hall Of Fame drops 6/11 via Columbia Records. Pre-save it here.
In the sun-washed video for their collaboration “Pasadena,” Tinashe and Buddy head for the hills — literally. Taking over a far-flung, glass-walled home overlooking a truly stunning view, the two California artists take in the sights from the balcony while smoking and getting away from it all. Tinashe also puts her choreography skills on display with a team of dancers giving a performance that could put TikTok’s top influencers out to pasture.
The recently released track is their second collaboration to be released over the past year after August’s “Glitch.” It’s also Tinashe’s first solo single of 2021, building on the buzz from her cover of Chaka Khan’s 1978 classic “I’m Every Woman” from The Undefeated’s Music For The Movement Volume II project celebrating Black History Month to suggest that a new project is on the way from the genre-mixing singer.
In the press release for the video, Tinashe said she “felt a very strong calling to release music that feels like joy, excitement, and freedom” after the past year “to contribute positive energy to the universe.” “I wrote and recorded the song Pasadena in my home in Los Angeles with a bold, bouncing tempo that makes me want to dance,” she recalled. “The song is about growth, family, and the feelings I get when I visit the area I grew up in — energetic and nostalgic, but hopeful.”
Fans have been waiting patiently for Doja Cat’s new full-length album, Planet Her to drop, the follow-up to her 2019 project Hot Pink. One of the clearest signs that the record was going to be dropping soon is her new collaboration with SZA, “Kiss Me More,” — which the pair performed at this year’s Billboard Awards — but that song came out over two months ago now, and no album. But we’ve got another sign that Planet Her is going to be coming soon with a clip of a new track that Doja shared on Instagram today.
Though there’s very little actual music in the clip, the camera is whooshing through space to double down on the intergalactic feel for the record. Finally zooming in on a room decorated with art, where the long, pink nails give away Doja herself. Dubbed “Need To Know” in the video and in the pop star’s caption, the song is scheduled to drop this Friday, June 11. It’s too early to tell if this song will get caught up in a TikTok craze like her past singles “Say So” and “Streets” have, but it seems like it’s definitely going to have a space age theme. Check out the clip above and keep out an eye for Planet Her hopefully lifting off some day soon.
Fox, who was married before splitting with her husband to date Kelly, met the musician on set for their new movie, Midnight In The Switchgrass, where she plays an undercover FBI agent who is used as bait to help the law track down a serial killer, and in the meantime she encounters MGK’s character, and punches him in the face (!). While that doesn’t seem like the most romantic of settings, the two definitely have onscreen chemistry in the new preview. Switchgrass is the directorial debut of Randall Emmett, and it also stars Bruce Willis as Fox’s fellow FBI agent along with Emilie Hirsch, and Lukas Haas. The film will drop in theaters and be available for rent this summer, on July 23. Check out the preview above.
Young Nudy’s new album Dr. Ev4l is out now on RCA Records and as he continues to roll out the release, his new video for “Soul Keeper” highlights what fans can expect from the project overall: airy beats and a non-stop flow from Nudy. It’s simple but effective, as Nudy raps in a penthouse overlooking the city and in the street with his crew backing him up.
Nudy’s other standouts from the project include “2Face” with G Herbo and 21 Savage on “Child’s Play.” The album is his second major-label realease after debut project Anyways dropped just ahead of the coronavirus pandemic’s shutdown of live touring in 2020.
Nudy’s back catalog recently made headlines when a video of partying students causing a floor to collapse while Nudy’s “EA” played in the background went viral. One of the students created a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for repairs, explaining that the owner of the Airbnb where the party was held was home during the party and approved of the students’ graduation celebration. “Call y’all spam Young Nudy ina comments,” the student requested. “He gotta kno what his music doin to people.”
Watch Young Nudy’s “Soul Keeper” video above.
Dr. Ev4l is out now on PDE and RCA Records. Stream it here.
Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and D-Nice made a major impact on the music landscape in 2020, and now their efforts are being recognized: The three will be receiving the ASCAP Voice Of The Culture Award during the 2021 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards, for their inventive and uniting virtual music events — namely Verzuz and Club Quarantine — during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The award celebrates the most-performed R&B/hip-hop, rap, and gospel songs from the previous year. The virtual celebration will be held on June 22 through June 24 via social media. Registration for the virtual chats and other events is available at the ASCAP Experience website.
Timbaland and Swizz Beatz’s Verzuz was the virtual singing competition series that gained instant claim on Instagram Live by pitting musical legends from all genres against each other, including Gladys Knight vs. Patti LaBelle, Erykah Badu vs. Jill Scott, Earth, Wind & Fire vs. the Isley Brothers, Snoop Dogg vs. DMX, and more. The two Grammy-winning producers and label founders created must-see spectacles that brought millions of isolated people together over music.
Similarly, the legendary DJ Derrick “D-Nice” Jones, turned his Instagram Live broadcasts into a virtual dance party with Club Quarantine. D-Nice’s DJ sets were praised as a much-needed respite by millions during the 2020 lockdowns. Even A-listers like Will Smith, Oprah, Michelle Obama, and Diddy tuned in for D-Nice’s heavy rotation of funk, disco, hip-hop, and R&B. D-Nice teamed up with Issa Rae’s Raedio to co-curate the official playlist of the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris inauguration. His full-length studio album is set to arrive later this year.
Lil Baby stole the show in 2020 and his sophomore album, My Turn is complete proof of that. The project grew to be the best-selling album of the year thanks to efforts like “We Paid” with 42 Dugg and “Sum 2 Prove,” and helped push the Atlanta rapper into a new tier among hip-hop acts. However, the pandemic-riddled year wasn’t a bright spot for Baby only. Nearly a thousand miles northwest, Chicago native Lil Durk also elevated his artistry. Throughout 2020, he dropped two projects, Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 and The Voice, with both debuting at No. 2 on the album charts, a career-high for him.
With the rappers’ respective success came a new height of popularity and more eyes on them. While some prefer to take advantage of the new attention for their benefit, Baby and Durk — who hatched some chemistry of their own through frequent collaborations — decided to make the most of their increased status for their newly-released album, Voice Of The Heroes. Just like the last however many collaborative hip-hop albums we’ve received over the past decade, the project looked to answer one question: Was it worth the hype?
Yes, but not by a significant margin. The thing with hip-hop joint albums over the past decade is most of them are either underwhelming or age poorly. Huncho Jack is an example of the former while Drake and Future’s What A Time To Be Alive — minus a few highlight tracks — fits the shoe of the latter. Voice Of The Heroes sits in the middle of these. It wasn’t a disappointment nor will it age poorly. The project did what it needed to in highlighting the rappers’ best talents while inviting each other to their respective worlds to experience it and try a hand at thriving in it.
Examples of this arrive fairly often throughout Voice Of The Heroes. “Who I Want” sees both rappers tell their side of a “hustle and love” story with production that allows Durk’s laxed and woozy bars to be palatable with Baby’s grittier approach to the subject. The same occurs on the project’s title track, which doubles as the intro to the album. “Voice Of The Heroes” creates a space for both Durk and Baby that allows them to deliver a melodic sermon about life’s past and current struggles, the things they’ve overcome along the way, and their legacy that takes shape through each release. While there are songs that certainly complement both rappers, there are others that see one of them at an advantage.
“Medical” carries a piano melody that would’ve made the song ideal for placement on Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 and Durk shines because of it. Elsewhere, “Man Of My Word” and “How It Feels” sound like they were cut from the cloth of Baby’s My Turn fabric and released with slight alterations. “That’s Facts” is by far the best song on Voice Of The Heroes and it’s a jacket that fits Baby extremely well, but let it be known that Durk slides with ease on the track as well. Lastly, Durk treats his supporters to a pair of “No Auto Durk” offerings — which finds him rapping without his trademark autotune filter — through his verses on “Still Runnin” and “Lying.”
Lil Baby and Lil Durk’s project could have been a slimmer release. Outside of their excellent collaboration with Rod Wave on “Rich Off Pain,” the last third of the album is a bit of a drag that makes the energetic and diverse offerings that arrive before it feels like a distant memory. While today’s streaming world welcomes lengthy projects for the sake of a boost in sales, this writer will rarely be fond of projects that push past the 40-45 minute duration mark. This isn’t to say that the music in that section is bad, but in almost all cases, even the best things in life get tiring after a while.
Voice Of The Heroes is not the career-altering release that Baby and Durk’s respective 2020 projects put forth, but that wasn’t the expectation set by the rappers or their fans before it was released. The project delivers a satisfactory showcase in collaboration between two of this generation’s best rappers. Just like Future and Young Thug did when they shared Super Slimey in 2017, Lil Baby and Lil Durk recognized the potential in joining forces at the relative heights of their careers. Unlike the Atlanta rappers’ effort, Voice Of The Heroes is much closer in proximity to Baby and Durk’s best work. While this project isn’t heroic in any sense, Voice Of The Heroes is certainly better suited to save the day than most of the joint hip-hop albums we’ve received in recent years.
Voice Of The Heroes is out now via Quality Control/Alamo/Motown. Get it here.
