Music

Conway The Machine Says Jay-Z Told Him He Isn’t Working On Any New Music

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Jay-Z’s 2021 has been filled with business moves from all corners of the world. The billionaire rapper has bought his way into new ventures and sold his way out of others. The various deals involved his champagne company Ace Of Spades, his streaming service Tidal, Los Angeles-based fitness company LIT Method, and NFT marketplace Bitski. Through it all, some hoped the rapper would also be working on a new album, one that would be the follow-up to his 2017 solo effort, 4:44. According to Conway The Machine, however, who says he recently spoke to Jay about the possibility of new music from him, that is not the case.

“I was asking him, I’m like, ‘Yo, you gonna record more? You been cooking up, what you doing?’” Conway said during an interview with Nadeska on Apple Music. “He actually was like, ‘nah man, I ain’t, I ain’t’ and he was saying the way he records is kinda like how I do it. It’s gotta be a vibe. Like, I gotta hear something, they gotta take me there, I gotta be experiencing something, I gotta do something.

“I’m just sitting there soaking up jewels, you know what I’m saying,” he added. “But that’s what it was like with Hov. I’m a listener, so, I’ma sit back and collect all the jewelry as I, as much as I can.”

You can listen to Conway The Machine’s interview on Apple Music here.

Lollapalooza Receives Clearance To Return This Summer With A Four-Day Festival At Near Full Capacity

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Variety reports that Chicago’s Lollapalooza has been cleared to continue with a four-day event in its usual venue (Grant Park) at full capacity — or else, near to it. The festival’s organizers, C3 Presents, are expected to make an official announcement sometime next week, along with headliners. While C3 declined to comment, Variety notes the organizers expressed optimism about the festival’s return in 2021 to the Chicago Tribune, while Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the city would loosen its pandemic safety restrictions.

The Windy City Smokeout on July 8-11 is expected to be the first street festival, requiring full vaccination for all vendors, performers, and staff, while attendees will need to present proof of a negative COVID test within three days from attendance. Meanwhile, Rolling Loud is scheduled to return to Miami on July 23-25 at the 65,000-capacity Hard Rock Stadium with ASAP Rocky, Post Malone, and Travis Scott headlining, while New York’s Governor’s Ball returns in September, including many of the same artists, as well as more pop-oriented acts like Billie Eilish. If trends in festival booking hold to what they’ve resembled in the past, you can rest assured that many of the same names will appear on Lollapalooza’s announcement next week. Fingers crossed!

Shaq Applies His Analysis To Rap Lyrics About Him From Cardi B, Drake, Jay-Z, And More

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When it comes to pop culture figures that rappers love to reference in their songs, NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal stands head and shoulders above the rest — literally, in most cases. Not only does he have an extensive hoop, film, and rap career to draw lyrical comparisons to, but there is a wealth of words that rhyme with “Shaq” — not to mention, his many, many nicknames. The Big Diesel, who’s now best-known for his nightly hoops analysis on NBA on TNT, tried his hand at breaking down some of the bars about him from rap titans like Biggie, Cardi B, Drake, and Jay-Z for Genius’s Between The Lines.

Throughout the course of the video, Shaq gives his impression of the many, many rap lines about him. Nas’s “It Ain’t Hard To Tell” was one of the first songs to make reference to O’Neal (more precisely, to the way “Shaquille holds the pill”), blowing the then-NBA sophomore’s mind, while Mannie Fresh’s “Still Fly” line about buying a car from him turns out to be a true story. Shaq also notes he wasn’t bugged by Biggie’s line about losing money on Lakers games from “I Love The Dough” because it too was based on the performance of the Lakers in their first three playoffs appearances with Shaq on the team, plus due to BIG’s contribution to Shaq’s own album — which he naturally gets into as well.

There’s plenty more to talk about; watch the full video up top.

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

Jaden Smith Is Opening A Restaurant Where Homeless People Can Eat For Free

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Jaden Smith — who is also known mononymously as “Jaden” — is set to expand his philanthropic food truck operation into a full-blown restaurant, according to Variety (scroll down a bit). The restaurant, called I Love You, builds on the efforts he made to help feed homeless people on Los Angeles’ Skid Row two years ago with his I Love You food truck. In order for the concept to work, Jaden has figured out an unusual strategy to help offset costs: Those who can pay will pay more to “pay for the person behind you.”

While the report sports meager details — we don’t yet know when or where I Love You restaurant will open — it’s a pretty safe bet he’ll be able to follow through on his plans. Last year, he partnered with Lyft to provide free rides to people in communities like Flint, Michigan so that they have access to clean water, grocery stores, and work opportunities. He also has a boxed water initiative aimed at encouraging people to use more environmentally friendly methods of drinking portable water than plastic bottles.

Jaden is coming off a successful 2020 that saw the well-received release of his Cool Tape Vol. 3 and Jaden’s participation in the soundtrack from the Spider-Man: Miles Morales video game.

You can find out more about I Love You here.

Ahead Of Tonight’s Release, J. Cole Shared ‘The Off-Season’ Tracklist And Producer Credits

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These days it’s easy to feel like it’s J. Cole’s world, we’re just living it. As the North Carolina label head and rapper readies his next release, The Off-Season — which is dropping later tonight at midnight — the constant updates and hip-hop fan fervor has been hard to ignore. Cole is more than capable at creating hype around his new projects by putting out information bit by bit, and just hours before the album drops tonight he’s shared both the tracklist and a list of producers involved in the project. Obviously, his collaborators read like a list of who’s who in the rap world, and all signs point to The Off-Season being a direct contradiction of its tongue-in-cheek title. And don’t worry, this isn’t his retirement project, either.

Check out the tracklist below, along with his list of producers.

The Off-Season tracklist:
1. “95 South
2. “Amari”
3. “My Life”
4. “Applying Pressure”
5. “Punchin’ The Clock”
6. “100 Mil’”
7. “Pride Is The Devil”
8. “Let Go My Hand”
9. “Interlude”
10. “The Climb Back”
11. “Close”
12. “Hunger On Hillside”

Producer credits:
Timbaland
Boi-1da
DJ Dahi
Jake One
Frank Dukes
Tae Beast
Maneesh
Wu10
Sucucki
Coleman
Tommy Parker
Mario Luciano
T-Minus
J. Cole

The back cover of the album also notes the executive producers: Jermaine Cole, Ibrahim Hamad, and T-Minus. Now all we need is the music!

Skrillex Drops His Second New Single Of The Week, ‘Too Bizarre’ Featuring Swae Lee And Siiickbrain

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Earlier this week Skrillex dropped his first new music since 2019, “Butterflies” featuring the almighty Starrah and fellow electronic producer Four Tet. The glitchy, house track was full of glittery vocals from Starrah, and seemed to fit firmly back into the electronic lane, even if the artist born Sonny Moore revamped his old emo project a few years ago, that didn’t seem to be the direction he was going in this year.

Except, wait, maybe it is? On the second new single of the week, “Too Bizarre,” Moore is joined by Swae Lee of Rae Sremmurd and Siiickbrain, an upcoming songwriter, on a track that’s immediately guitar heavy, and a video that kicks off with Sonny grabbing the guitar himself to kick off a basement show. It’s very likely now that we’re going to be getting a whole new record from Skrillex with two new songs and lots of other big names involved. Of the two tracks, this one is the obvious frontrunner, combining Swae’s rap-singing and Siiickbrain’s screaming interlude into one epic piece of chaos. So check out his new punk-rap-leaning song above and keep your ear to the ground for more info on whatever Moore has coming next. Maybe there’s an emo collab coming, too.

Internet Money Reunites With Don Toliver And Gunna On ‘His & Hers’ Featuring Lil Uzi Vert

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Last year, hit-making production duo Internet Money shut down the summertime with their single “Lemonade” featuring Don Toliver, Gunna, and Nav, proving their penchant for tapping directly into the pleasure centers of audiences’ brains. Today, nine months after their alchemical formula made them a household name, they’ve reunited with their superstar partners Don Toliver and Gunna on “His & Hers,” swapping out Nav for Lil Uzi Vert for another mathematical colalboration poised to take over the Hot 100 chart.

Internet Money’s Taz Taylor has been hyping the track for weeks and spent most of the day tweeting out tidbits of information about the track’s production and development. He says it took over 10 months to complete, that he changed the tempo of the track because historically songs have done better at a higher rate of BPMs than it was originally recorded, and that he credited every person who had a hand in its creation, no matter their contribution.

Meanwhile, all three featured artists are poised for a huge year as well. After they all dropped well-received albums in 2020, they have each teased new material to come. Don Toliver started the rollout for his second album with “What You Need,” Gunna made multiple appearances on YSL’s Slime Language 2 compilation, and Lil Uzi Vert promised his new album would come “soon,” contributing features to Bebe Rexha and Justin Bieber.

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