After releasing his new song on Friday Lil Tjay returns today with an irreverent video for the propulsive “Headshot” featuring fellow New Yorker Fivio Foreign and friend Polo G. The three drill influenced rappers play William Tell at an opulent mansion, firing old-fashioned pistols at a group of butlers with apples on their heads. All three display much better marksmanship than most rappers do in real life, turning their targets to applesauce and leaving the domestic help unscathed. Tjay also communes with a giraffe, while the fountain outside is filled with models lying on pool floats.
Tjay’s year got off to a bumpy start after getting a video shoot searched and eventually getting arrested shortly after Christmas last year. After being booked on possession of guns and marijuana, he was released on bond. Getting back to work on his upcoming follow-up to 2020’s State Of Emergency, he released his video for “Calling My Phone” featuring Atlanta singer 6lack before apparently hunkering down to complete his album.
Meanwhile, each of his “Headshot” co-stars have also kept busy. Polo G just released his “For My Fans (Freestyle)” video in which he raps to the instrumental tracks for “Beat Box,” “Whoopty,” and “No More Parties,” while Fivio Foreign is a few months removed from his “Trust” video with the late King Von.
Now that seemingly everyone and their momma has rapped over SpotemGottem’s “Beat Box” beat, you could argue the trend has reached its peak and it’s all downhill from here. However, it looks like Polo G has found a way to mix it up and keep the party going for just a little bit longer. The Chicago journeyman’s “For My Fans (Freestyle)” video, in which he goes in on “Beat Box,” also includes beats from more contemporary hits like CJ’s “Whoopty” and Coi Leray’s “No More Parties.”
The three-part video, directed by Ryan Lynch, follows Polo and his crew as they roam the city, doing the dances from the songs’ various viral challenges — i.e. the Junebug on “Beat Box” — and has Polo switching up his delivery to match the respective beats. On the first, he’s got an aggressive, yell-rap style that plays with the aggressive 808s of “Beat Box,” then a mellower flow over “Whoopty,” until finally, he shows off his hum-rap on “No More Parties.”
Polo is just the latest rapper to try his hand at rapping over the “Beat Box” instrumental. Previously, DaBaby, Deante’ Hitchcock, and Mulatto all rapped to the track, with DaBaby’s and Mulatto’s videos causing minor controversies. DaBaby was censured by JoJo Siwa fans for name-checking the teen pop star, while Mulatto sparked a back-and-forth with Renni Rucci that had fans buzzing on Twitter.
Watch Polo G’s “For My Fans (Freestyle)” video above.
For years, rappers have voiced their appreciation for anime through their rhymes, their album art, and even their fashion choices. Lately, though, the folks who work in anime have been returning that attention, from giving rappers shout outs in their work to meeting with some of their biggest fans in hip-hop. Over the weekend, one such meet-and-greet went down with one of the standout artists of the past decade and another special guest.
Big Sean posted a video to Instagram on Sunday in which he introduces his mom to Seán Schemmel, the voice actor who famously plays the character Goku in the Dragon Ball franchise of series. As excited as the Detroit native must be as a child of the Dragon Ball generation, his mom seems just as enthused about the moment, telling Schemmel how much her Sean “loved, loved, loved, and still loves” the massively popular franchise that Schemmel has been part of for decades.
“I didn’t know Big Sean,” Schemmel says of his mentality when recording lines. “But in my head I’m thinking, ‘That little kid needs to be flipping out. I gotta make him believe this guy is real… To hear it come back after all these years is astounding.’” The video finishes out, naturally, with the elder Seán throwing on that familiar voice and doing the signature “powering up” yell from so, so many epiosdes that the younger Sean undoubtedly grew up enjoying.
A few weeks ago, another well-noted anime fan in hip-hop got a nod from a voice actor as well. Jujutsu Kaisen voice actor Adam McArthur took a fan’s challenge to update a very specific reference in the show to name-check Megan Thee Stallion, delighting fans of both the rapper and the show. At this rate, it’s probably only a matter of time before the rappers and the voice actors are one and the same.
Post Malone hasn’t shied away from busting out a cover in recent years. Most famously, he raised millions of dollars for charity with a full set of Nirvana covers around this time last year. Now he’s gotten back in the saddle, which is appropriate phrasing because he covered two contemporary country music icons during Matthew and Camila McConaughey’s We’re Texas virtual benefit concert over the weekend.
Joined by Dwight Yoakam’s band, Malone busted out a rendition of Brad Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her,” which he didn’t try to genre-shift and kept faithful to the original version. To conclude the two-hour broadcast, Malone and Yoakam’s band gave a rollicking performance of Sturgill Simpson’s “You Can Have The Crown.”
Elsewhere during the show, Kacey Musgraves also popped up, sitting in her bedroom and armed with an acoustic guitar to cover Willie Nelson’s classic “On The Road Again.” Musgraves also spoke about how she came to be involved with the event, saying it started with the sort of phone call she doesn’t usually answer: “I don’t answer unknown numbers, but for some reason I did and it was Matthew. Obviously it was a hell yes for me.”
Watch the full concert above. Malone’s cover of “I’m Gonna Miss Her” begins at 2:03:54 into the video, his cover of “You Can Have The Crown” begins at 2:10:34, and Musgraves’ rendition of “On The Road Again” begins at 1:26:23.
Earlier this month, Lil Baby was the talk of Twitter and it wasn’t because of his music. During the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, the rapper joined 2 Chainz for a pickup basketball game against Jack Harlow and Quavo as a part of Bleacher Report’s “Open Run.” Despite Lil Baby’s claims that a “guy like Jack Harlow” would be unable to beat him in the game, the matchup turned out to be an easy one for Quavo and Harlow, as they took home the win by a score of 21-7. Lil Baby had quite the underwhelming performance, from a pretty bad free throw attempt to a few air-balled shots. Despite this, he’s calling for a second chance.
The rapper shared a video of him practicing some shots before the pickup game earlier this month. “Give me three months Im setting one of [these] up,” he captioned the video. “Y’all got [me] f*cced up.” In it, viewers can see the rapper making a couple of baskets, so it’s completely possible that his performance in the “Open Run” game was just a case of bad luck.
Until the rematch is confirmed, the next thing fans of Lil Baby can expect from him is one of two projects: his Lamborghini Boys tape, which will only feature rappers who own a Lamborghini, and The Voice Of The Hero, his joint tape with Lil Durk.
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Fat Joe found himself in a bit of controversy following a verse he did on Benny The Butcher’s new project, The Plugs I Met 2. On a song titled “Talkin’ Back,” the rapper said, “Track me in and out of court, Harvey Weinstein / Threw that white up in the pot, gave ’em pipe dreams / And watch it spread like the Wuhan virus / Do ’em dirty for the low like Wu-Tang ’Sirus.”
In the less than two days that passed since the song’s release, a number of listeners have hopped on Twitter to share their displeasures with the song. On Sunday, Fat Joe explained the verse in a tweet.
I’ll adress the Benny verse i did that verse a year ago when the news was calling it the wuhan virus before they called it COVID i support and love all my asian brothers and sisters never hate
“I’ll adress the Benny verse i did that verse a year ago when the news was calling it the wuhan virus before they called it COVID i support and love all my asian brothers and sisters never hate,” he said in the post. The mention of the “Wuhan virus” is a poor and insensitive coronavirus reference, and with the song dropping amid the recent rise in anti-Asian attacks, it’s no surprise that fans were not happy with Fat Joe’s verse. The Harvey Weinstein name-drop was another reason the song faced criticism as he is currently serving a 23-year sentence on sexual assault and rape charges.
You can read his response above.
The Plugs I Met 2 is out now via Black Soprano Family. Get it here.
Chika is enjoying a fairly good start to her 2021 year. She attended this year’s Grammy Awards in addition to being a nominated act in the Best New Artist category. She’s also a little over a week removed from the release of her Once Upon A Time EP. Despite this, she still faces disrespect from others on social media, and the latest example came from well-known blogger Perez Hilton.
It began when Chika shared a tweet about a past interaction with Hilton. “i distinctly remember perez hilton purposely misgendering me on here a couple years ago, but now his b*tch ass is playing cinderella (pt. 2) on his IG story without crediting me,” she said.
Hilton would respond in a now-deleted tweet writing, “Misgendering someone is assigning or referring the wrong gender to a person. I never gendered you. So the stupid one is you.” He added, “Hey, at least you’re stupid and making some money now. Xoxo.”
The rather tasteless response caused Chika to give the blogger a piece of her mind through a lengthy thread on Twitter. “1.) Saying he/she, even to someone whose gender you don’t know is wrong. Esp bc nonbinary and agender people exist. Which is why the majority of the intelligent population says ‘they,’” she said. “You adhered to the binary because you wanted to offend me, and that’s clear, doofus.” She added, “2.) You, yourself, as the f*ckin anal polyp you are have admitted that you know who I was PRIOR to ‘not gendering me.’ It was clear that I am a woman. But you trying to be cute actually showed your transphobia live and in stereo. You wanted to defeminize a black woman.”
In a third tweet, she continued, “3.) Even now, 3 years later, you’ve refused to acknowledge your sh*tty behavior — instead you’ve doubled down after using MYYY content on YOUUUR dead Instagram. You don’t have [the] decency to apologize for that, you tw*t.” In additional posts, she called Hilton the “cancer of an industry that will make my family wealthy forever,” a “waste of an existence,” and a “vile human being.”
You can watch the interaction in the post above, which Chika reposted on Instagram with the caption, “wanna see a ded bawdy?”
Chika is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Back in July, Florida’s Disney World reopened despite a coronavirus surge in the state. The park opened with a mask mandate that applied for all guests “ages 2 and up and Cast Members, including those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine.” These official guidelines came into play for Joey Badass when he and his family, which included his autistic cousin, took a trip to the theme park. Unfortunately for them, they were all turned away after they said Badass’ cousin could not enter without a mask.
The rapper criticized Disney World for the incident on Instagram in a video that captured some of the ordeal. In it, Badass can be seen approaching a security guard and two vacation planners at the park and questioning their decision to turn away his cousin. The video’s caption added more context to the situation.
“Here’s Luis, Cameron, and Kaitlyn and they just turned away an autistic child at Disney World because he didn’t want to wear his mask,” he said. “The child thinks the mask is suffocating, the child also has no idea why it is even a requirement. Not to mention that, kids under 2, doesn’t have to wear a mask. These guys have completely ruined my family’s trip.” He added, “We came out here 30+ for my daughters bday and they turned my lil cousin away, can’t even enjoy this experience anymore.”
It’s unclear how old the rapper’s little cousin is as it would factor into whether or not the mask guidelines would have applied. Disney has not issued a statement about the matter as well. You can watch the Badass’ video above.
On Saturday, Verzuz made its return with a hip-hop focused battle between Wu-Tang Clan members, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah. The matchup saw fans head on a trip down memory lane through the artists’ respective catalogs, both as solo acts and with their Wu-Tang cohorts.
From Ghostface’s Supreme Clientele and Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx to Wu Tang’s 36 Chambers, viewers enjoyed the battle, which proved to be more of a collaborative affair if anything. Once the night came to an end, Verzuz returned with exciting announcements for the future.
We got so much on the way and can’t wait to reveal the rest, but for now… #VERZUZ
The Isley Brothers vs Earth, Wind & Fire April 4th
Shortly after Raekwon and Ghostface Killah’s battle concluded, Verzuz announced a string of matchups folks can expect to see over the next couple of months. First, the platform will welcome The Isley Brothers and Earth, Wind & Fire for an exciting Easter Sunday competition on April 4.
“Time to SHOUT for the #IsleyBrothers!” Verzuz said on Instagram, referencing their 1959 debut album, Shout! Less than three weeks later, the Timbaland and Swizz Beatz-led platform will return with a battle between Redman and Method Man for a “How High” special on April 20.
As if the pair of announcements weren’t enough, Verzuz also confirmed an untitled battle on May 8, a “Mother’s Day Special” on May 9, and a “Rematch” during Memorial Day weekend. A “Ladies Night” and two additional untitled battles were also revealed, but their dates were not shared. Participants for these matchups were also withheld in the announcement.
You can read the flyer for the upcoming Verzuz nights above.
“Trust me girl / You’ll wanna be high for this.” Quite the bold statement coming from someone who you couldn’t even make out in a crowd.
The lyrics from “High For This,” The Weeknd’s House Of Balloons opener, embody everything the artist stood for: drugs, dependency, and defenselessness. It’s hard to picture The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye) as anything but an international megastar. But upon the release of his debut mixtape, which celebrates its 10th anniversary today, he was merely a faceless enigma.
At the time, no one knew what a “The Weeknd” was. It was unclear if Drake’s right-hand producer Noah “40” Shebib was behind it after Drake’s manager Oliver El-Khatib posted a handful of The Weeknd’s songs on the OVO blog in 2010. Critics didn’t know if it was a solo act or an R&B group, and fans only saw shadowy black-and-white photos he posted during the mixtape’s rollout. Even the cover art was obscure, featuring a woman in a bathtub whose face was hidden by balloons with only her left breast exposed. All we had was a voice: a light tenor that could go from sweet to dangerous in a quick octave change. The mystery looming over his artistry is what lured listeners in.
“In the beginning, I was very insecure. I hated how I looked in pictures,” Tesfaye revealed in 2013’s career-first interview with Complex. “I was very camera shy. People like hot girls, so I put my music to hot girls and it just became a trend. The whole ‘enigmatic artist’ thing, I just ran with it. No one could find pictures of me. It reminded me of some villain shit.”
And what a villain he was. Rather than the typical monster you see in action films, House Of Balloons introduced Tesfaye as a villain who forced the gloomiest parts of your life into the spotlight.
The mixtape’s title is ironic: a balloon-filled house sparks images of carnival-like bacchanal. But it compared despair to a straggler that simply won’t leave the party. The Weeknd’s music was as captivating as it was chilling, as he utilized his Michael Jackson-inspired falsetto to reveal a revolving door of emotionless sexual escapades that were often brought on by drug binges.
The general public was introduced to The Weeknd when he packaged his 2011 mixtapes (House Of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes Of Silence) into the major-label Trilogy re-release the following year. But listening to the House Of Balloons mixtape is the only way to ingest its authenticity (he’s since tweeted the original release with its intended mixes and samples will be on all streaming platforms on Sunday).
On Sunday for its 10 year anniversary I’m releasing House of Balloons on all streaming platforms for the first time in it’s original incarnation. With the original mixes and samples. pic.twitter.com/Wi3joxt1fq
Aaliyah’s “Rock The Boat” sample that opens “What You Need” adds to its seductive allure as Tesfaye puts on his dirty macking best. The ending of “The Knowing” is more explosive as he confronts both his and his girl’s infidelities. The singer shares his adoration for dream-pop duo Beach House, as their 2008 song “Gila” is the base for the uncharacteristically heavenly “Loft Music” and “The Party & After Party” samples 2006’s “Master Of None.”
“The Party & After Party” is a nearly eight-minute-long opus, with The Weeknd promising that he’ll provide his girl with an endless supply of cocaine and sex. The track turns sadder and more manipulative in the second half. “Gimme right attention or I’ll start drowning from my wrist,” he mutters. It’s a bleak moment that reveals just how dependent he is.
And of course, there’s the definitive trio: “High For This”, “Wicked Games” and “House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls.” The heart-stopping production of “High For This” isn’t as glossy as the re-released version, with the singer handholding a fearful lover into a world filled with drugs. “Wicked Games” (no relation to Chris Isaak’s 1989 hit) is him at his most vulnerable and sleaziest. Sex is a transactional tool to mask shame, trading it for a baseless promise of fame.
“House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls,” which has since become The Weeknd’s signature song, is the mixtape’s highlight. This mix is actually glitchier than the mastered version; laid atop a heavy sample of Siouxsie And The Banshees’ 1980 single “Happy House,” “House Of Balloons” is chaotic in its debauchery. It’s peak euphoria that is accented by the rattling bassline, needle-sharp synths, and that hair-raising falsetto. The rapid comedown occurs on “Glass Table Girls” as the singer darkly urges girls to test out the 707 glass tabletops. His creepy advances are bolstered by woozy bassline and chopped & screwed vocals. Singing about drugs isn’t new in music, yet The Weeknd personalizes it with self-deprecation as he shamefully reveals predatory instincts.
House Of Balloons is frightening in its relatability. It forced listeners to confront the loneliness they feel after realizing partying is the only thing that sustains them. There’s no joy in watching the sunrise on the loft’s rooftop. Rather, its harsh sunlight calls attention to bloodshot eyes, a parched mouth following endless rounds of alcohol, a red nose caked with residue, and overall desperation. I can say this all because I was just as reckless. Being only a year younger than Tesfaye, we had parallel coming-of-age experiences: dabbling in similar substances, using all-night college parties as escapism from depression, and ultimately sought comfort in a mixtape that targeted a shared despondency.
The mixtape reflected a doomed generation who grew up with films like Kids, Trainspotting, Requiem For A Dream, and A Clockwork Orange. We didn’t want to be seen. Like Tesfaye, we hid our faces behind Tumblr photos that showed both a brilliant, snarky sense of humor and a not-so-subtle cry for help.
“It definitely changed the culture. No one can do a trilogy again without thanking The Weeknd,” he told Rolling Stone of the mixtape’s impact in 2015. “A lot of artists started doing things faster and quicker after that: Justin Timberlake dropped two albums in a year, Beyoncé dropped a surprise album. I’m not gonna say any names, but just listen to the radio. Every song is House Of Balloons 2.0.”
It’s partly true, as House Of Balloons and its follow-ups found mostly white critics who previously shunned R&B all of a sudden praising it. They dubbed it “PBR&B”, a nod to the inexpensive beer often drank by hipsters. But the movement surrounding The Weeknd and counterparts like Frank Ocean, FKA Twigs, Miguel, and Tinashe surpassed whatever trend critics wanted to brand it as. It sparked a refreshing sonic shift in R&B that called back to the experimentation seen during the late ‘90s neo-soul era and the peaks of Prince, Janet, and Michael Jackson’s careers.
Artists like H.E.R., PARTYNEXTDOOR, and DVSN (the latter two signed with Drake’s OVO Records) were shrouded in similar mystery as Tesfaye, while frequent collaborator Future exposed his dark battle with drug use. Even Drake got into the mix, with Tesfaye’s credits sprinkled atop a murkier-sounding Take Care at the end of 2011 (he later revealed “Crew Love,” “Shot for Me,” and “The Ride” were supposed to be on House Of Balloons). And just last year, The Weeknd sparked controversy after claiming Usher’s 2012 “Climax” single ripped his early sound. He later clarified while co-producer Diplo acknowledged the influence. “When I heard those early records they blew my mind,” he tweeted. “Soulful in their silences, and a spacey iconic voice that felt uniquely internet. The idea of R&B having dark edges was what I wanted to bring to Usher.”
The Weeknd’s career trajectory is absolutely bonkers. There have been more sinister moments pre-crossover fame (Echoes Of Silence’s terrifyingly coercive “XO/The Host” and the nightmarish “Initiation” that alludes to gang-rape, and the John Carpenter-inspired screams on 2013’s Kiss Land title track). But he’s now a bonafide pop star; he was Oscar-nominated for 2015’s “Earned It,” won three Grammys, he teamed with pop masters Max Martin and Daft Punk, he has five chart-topping singles, he had a Super Bowl halftime show (he tributed “House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls”), and his recent single “Blinding Lights” made history was the first song to spend a year on Billboard’s Hot 100 top ten.
But the remnants of House Of Balloons haven’t dissipated, from haunting singles like “The Hills” and “Party Monster” and the entirety of 2018’s bleak My Dear Melancholy to his continued work with the mixtape’s original producers Illangelo and Martin “Doc” McKinney. There are still broken pieces to Tesfaye. But he’s now learned how to piece them all together.
The Isley Brothers vs Earth, Wind & Fire 
Redman vs Method Man
