Music

Guapdad 4000 Explains How He Was Affected By Anti-Asian Discrimination Growing Up

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While promoting his recently-released album, 1176, Oakland artist Guapdad 4000 has focused much of his press run on Filipino publications and radio stations, in honor of his Filipino roots and how they tie closely into the themes of the new album (he even collaborated on the album with a Filipino-American producer, Illmind). In a recent interview with Entertainment Inquirer, he touched on how he was affected by anti-Asian discrimination growing up due to his biracial heritage (his grandad was Black, while his grandmother was Filipino).

In the interview, Guapdad makes it a point to note the similarities between the two cultures (“A sense of family and loyalty is something we both share”), but also highlights how, due to his upbringing he was able to see how both can be negatively affected by prejudice. “My mom looks Asian and I look Black, and some people would say weird things at times,” he recalls. “Discrimination was always sneaking through the cracks.”

“I’m flamboyant with my taste in fashion,” he continues. “So, you have this handsome, flashy Black child walking around with this super modest, humble Filipino lady, and some would be like, ‘What’s going on?’ I also experienced some prejudice from older Filipinos, who would crack jokes about my dark skin. That hurt my feelings, too. So I had to dodge bullets from both sides. I usually chalk racism up to ignorance.”

He says he was able to overcome those experiences because “they made me mentally tougher.” He also shares how his partnership with 88rising helps shed light on Asian-Americans’ accomplishments in music and advocates for a better understanding of them in the mainstream and admits that, despite having a song titled “Chicken Adobo” on his album, it’s the one traditional dish he’s intimidated to try cooking. “We had some discussions, especially about trying to be more forward in letting people know that I’m Filipino; that I want to go out of my way to do stuff for us, and shine a light on what other Filipino artists people are doing. It just seemed a good fit.”

“I think it’s super cool and it’s a beautiful opportunity for Asian artists in general to have this platform. I’m excited to see what everyone else is up to. And I’m just on board as a fan in general. I’m a fan of so many of their artists before I was even part of it. I’m now reaching out to a lot of people and getting familiar with people I didn’t know about. I expect to do more collabs with Filipino artists in the future. But now I’m just warming myself up.”

You can read the full interview here.

Guapdad 4000 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Freddie Gibbs Is Astounded To Learn That Diddy Has Restaurant In His House

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Freddie Gibbs has been around the block in the music industry before blowing up on a greater level last year but that doesn’t mean he’s gotten used to the trappings of fame. While hanging out with Diddy at his home, Gibbs was amused at some of the house’s amenities. Posting a video to Twitter, Gibbs expressed his amazement that, among other things, the man formerly known as Puff Daddy has a full-fledged restaurant in his house.

While recording a selfie video, Gibbs gains Diddy’s attention, calling him a “fly-ass young n****” and prompting Diddy to show off a bottle of his Ciroc vodka and begin singing along to the Marvin Gaye song playing over the P.A. (It’s “I Want You,” by the way).

Freddie, who’s become one of hip-hop’s most celebrated artists over the past year thanks to his joint album with Alchemist, Alfredo, and its Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album, may be experiencing a new level of success, but clearly, he’s still humble enough to crack jokes at his own expense and use fake Instagrams to mock his rivals. His humility is one of the things that makes him so easy to root for — and his amazement at Diddy’s extravagance might just be the most relatable things he’s shared yet.

Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Chris Brown Is Being Sued By His Housekeeper Over An Alleged Dog Attack

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TMZ reports that R&B star Chris Brown is being sued by the sister of his housekeeper, who claims that his dog mauled the housekeeper while she was cleaning his home in Tarzana, California. According to the plaintiff, Patricia Avila, the two had been hired to clean twice a week for $600 a day under the condition that the dogs would be kept in a separate part of the property while they cleaned.

However, Avila says that when her sister went into the backyard to empty a vacuum cleaner, one of the dogs, a Caucasian Shepherd Ovcharka, had found its way there and attacked. Avila says that her sister was bitten on the arm, face, and leg. Eventually, the dog was removed and Brown called an ambulance for Avila’s sister, who she says was treated at the hospital for several days, including at least two surgeries. She says that her sister now has PTSD and panic attacks.

She is suing for damages, although the report doesn’t specify how much, saying that Brown failed to protect the sisters from the risk of attack by his dogs. There is no information on a separate suit from the actual alleged victim or a response from Brown.

Questlove Analyzes 50 Years Of Pop Culture In His Upcoming Book, ‘Music Is History’

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Thanks to his bookish knowledge of pop culture and gift for storytelling, The Roots drummer Questlove has become one of music’s foremost historians — albeit, an informal one, in most cases. So, it’s fitting that his next book is titled Music Is History and will take on the task of examing the last 50 years of pop culture through the lens of the music that inspired it and was inspired it. The book is due in October through Abrams Image.

According to a press release, in the new book, Questlove will choose an “essential” track he believes defines each year, and “unpacks each song’s significance, revealing the pivotal role that American music plays around issues of race, gender, politics, and identity.”

Choosing the year 1971 as the book’s starting point, Quest gives it a link to his own personal history — he recently celebrated his own 50th birthday — and will also include personal anecdotes to highlight the way grand themes like race and politics can have a huge impact on the individual, as well. Topics will include the blaxploitation era, disco, and “the secret ingredient in all funk songs,” which will also be the theme of one of the playlists Questlove is curating to promote the new book. He’ll also be recording the audiobook version, releasing it through Recorded Books.

Cardi B Accuses High-Profile Republicans Of Having A Quiet Response To Daunte Wright’s Death

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Following Daunte Wright’s death after being shot by police during a traffic stop a few days ago, many thoughts about the situation have been shared. Now Cardi B has chimed in and one of her big questions is why she’s not seeing a lot of high-profile Republican leaders addressing the incident.

Cardi shared a video last night, which she started by summarizing the Wright situation, as well as that of Caron Nazario, an Army lieutenant who was pepper sprayed and had guns drawn on him during a traffic stop in December (video footage of the incident recently surfaced). She then continued, “My thing is: Where the f*ck are you Twitter blue-check Republicans at? Y’all are the loudest in this motherf*ckin’ app. Y’all not saying nothing, y’all not complaining. Y’all blame everything with what’s wrong with America beside the police! Y’all have been very silent! What’s going on?” She also wrote alongside the video, “Ya been real [quiet] .Twitter Blue check Republicans are a f*ckin joke .I don’t ever want to see yaa ranting on celebrities,athletes until yall address what’s REALLY WRONG IN AMERICA !”

Other folks from the music world have chimed in as well, including Snoop Dogg, Phoebe Bridgers, and Madonna.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Cardi B Laughs Off Reports That Her Grammys ‘WAP’ Performance Sparked Over 1,000 FCC Complaints

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It’s been a few weeks since Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s racy performance of their hit song “WAP” at the 2021 Grammys, but the performance is still causing controversy among more conservative viewers. While it was previously reported that the performance drew a number of FCC complaints, yesterday, Rolling Stone turned up a more exact number — over 1,000 angry emails from viewers who compared it to porn and packed their long-winded missives with plenty of slut-shaming and melodrama.

Of course, Cardi herself has been the target of conservative complaints ever since she helped Bernie Sanders with his 2020 presidential campaign, so she’s used to the histrionics. She remained unbothered when the complaints were brought to her attention quote-tweeting a fan account’s screenshot and adding a .gif of a smug-looking Wendy Williams smirking at the camera to an eye-roll emoji and several laughing ones.

Maybe Cardi is unfazed because she sees through the disingenuous intentions behind such complaints, as she pointed out a few hours later. Commenting on conservative voices’ apparent silence after a Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police officer shot and killed resident Daunte Wright — on camera, no less — Cardi noted the glaring hypocrisy. “Where the f*ck are you Twitter blue-check Republicans at?” she wondered. “Y’all are the loudest in this motherf*ckin’ app. Y’all not saying nothing, y’all not complaining. Y’all blame everything with what’s wrong with America beside the police! Y’all have been very silent! What’s going on?”

Check out Cardi’s responses to the FCC complaints above, and read more of them here.

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

Brockhampton Lets Lil Nas X And Dominic Fike Embark On A Trippy Journey In Their Video For ‘Count On Me’

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Brockhampton has promised two albums this year, and the first, Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine, arrived last week. Already there’s a new video for one of its tracks, and it finds the boy band teaming up with two of his musical peers, Lil Nas X and Dominic Fike. The two star in the video for “Count On Me,” the second single from the new album, and it begins with Lil Nas and Fike riding in a Jeep as they kick off while cracking jokes like, “Who the f*ck is Radiohead?” Things take an unexpected turn when the two singers end up in the midst of a seemingly drug-infused trip that ends with surprising make-out session.

Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine enlists ASAP Rocky, ASAP Ferg, Danny Brown, Jpegmafia, Charlie Wilson, and more for the thirteen-track effort. Prior to the project’s release, Kevin Abstract, the groups’ lead vocalist, delivered news about Brockhampton’s future in a tweet. “2 brockhampton albums in 2021 – these will be our last,” he wrote. Exactly when that second album will arrive remains to be seen, but it appears that after a long run that started back in 2016 with their debut mixtape, All-American Trash, Brockhampton will be no more come 2022.

You can watch the “Count On Me” video above.

Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine is out now via Question Everything/RCA Records. Get it here.

Key Glock Cozies Up With His Yellow Lamborghini Truck In His Video For ‘Move Around’

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Last month, Key Glock returned with some help from Young Dolph for his third project in a little over twelve months. The new effort was the Memphis rappers’ Dum And Dummer 2, the sequel to the pair’s 2019 joint album. Just a little over two weeks after the project’s release, Key Glock has released a laidback video for “Move Around,” one of five new solo tracks from Glock. Here, the rapper posts up by his Lamborghini truck to deliver cold lyrics about the fame and wealth he’s accumulating over his career.

While the arrival of Dum And Dummer 2 was big one for fans of both rappers, it came with some unfortunate news about the former. “I hope y’all enjoying the new mixtape, it’s my last project putting out,” Dolph revealed in an Instagram post. “I wasn’t gonna tell y’all but i thought y’all should know im done with music. ENJOY.” Last summer he publicly contemplated retirement, but he changed his mind, returning with his last solo album, Rich Slave. The duo has also delivered music videos for “Aspen,” Dummest And The Dummest,” “Penguins,” and more.

Watch the “Move Around” video above.

Dum And Dummer 2 is out now via Paper Route Empire. Get it here.

Lil Nas X’s Claim That ‘Montero’ Will Be Removed From Streamers Has Been Confirmed By His Label

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On Tuesday, Lil Nas X’s had some news: His No. 1 single “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” will be removed from streaming services. Why? He did not say. Hours later, his label, Columbia Records, confirmed the news over Twitter.

“Thanks for all your comments regarding @LilNasX ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name),’” the company wrote. “It’s unfortunately out of our control but we are doing everything possible to keep the song up on streaming services. We will keep you up to date as we hear more. Thank you for understanding.”

It was such a shock that some people assumed it was all a big joke. But Lil Nas revealed that it was all too serious.

“Not even joking,” he wrote on Twitter. “Everybody stream call me by your name hard today because it may no longer be available tomorrow and there’s nothing i can really do about it. thanks for all the support tho! (white heart emoji).” He even told them to “screen record the audio/video on YouTube so you will have the song in your gallery worst case scenario.”

But there is some hope: One managed to get the controversial song to play on a Game Boy Advance, which even surprised the singer himself.

Justin Bieber Once Intentionally Lost His Passport On Purpose Because He ‘Missed Normalcy’

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Justin Bieber has been a superstar in the music world since he was 16. That means he missed out on a normal childhood. But in a recent profile with GQ, Bieber revealed that, early in his career, he did something in attempt to seem like a regular boy.

“I was working so much as this young kid that I got really sad, and I missed my friends and I missed normalcy,” he said. “And so me and my friend hid my passport. The record label is freaking out, saying, ‘You have to do The Today Show next week and you can’t find your passport.’ It takes a certain amount of days to get a new passport. But I was just going to do anything to be able to just be normal at that time.”

He eventually confessed to hiding the passport and later performed on the show, but the move left people worried about his well-being. Fortunately enough, the singer apparently convinced everyone that he was okay and returned to the grind of stardom.

The anecdote arrives after his sixth album, Justice, returned to No. 1 on the albums chart two weeks after it debuted there. This marks the first time in a decade that one of Bieber’s albums have spent multiple weeks at No. 1.