Music

Lil Uzi Vert’s Ex Brittany Byrd Accused The Rapper Of Abuse And Stalking

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In the wake of his recent altercation with fellow musician Saint Jhn, Lil Uzi Vert has been accused of physical and mental abuse by his ex-girlfriend Brittany Byrd, whose manager told The Shade Room that the rapper caused the confrontation after “stalking” Byrd. Byrd, a Los Angeles-based visual artist, dated Lil Uzi Vert briefly between 2014 and 2016, during which Byrd’s manager — referred to only as “Brianna” in the story — was “toxic and mentally and physically abusive.”

Brianna also claims that the rapper “has been stalking Brittany since they broke up,” and says that Byrd was hospitalized after the attack. The manager alleges that when Uzi arrived to the Dialogue Cafe in West Hollywood where Byrd was having a lunch meeting with Jhn, Uzi punched Byrd in the face multiple times and pointed a gun at her.

This contradicts the previous reports from TMZ that Uzi tried to punch Jhn and revealed a gun during their altercation. The report was updated after the fact to reflect new sources that said Uzi’s gun fell after his initial punch missed, Byrd approached him, and he pointed the gun at her and struck her. Byrd filed a police report at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s station.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Yung Baby Tate’s Freestyle On Doja Cat’s ‘Get Into (Yuh)’ Has Fans Campaigning For An Official Remix

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Doja Cat may have already put out a deluxe version of her recent album Planet Her featuring Gunna and Eve, but that hasn’t stopped fans — and some of Doja’s peers — from campaigning for a remix featuring just one more rapper whose visual aesthetic matches Doja’s well: Yung Baby Tate. The Atlanta rapper posted a video of herself freestyling to the instrumental from the exuberant Planet Her song “Get Into It (Yuh),” sparking interest in an official remix featuring the verse.

Although Doja’s already released the album and a deluxe version, if anyone were to advocate for a sharp rapper like Tate, it’d be Doja Cat, who explained when releasing her new album that she put rappers like Gunna, JID, and Smino on her projects to highlight her love for “bars.” Certainly, Tate is someone who’d have worked with Doja had they crossed paths earlier in their careers; her breakout project, GIRLS, featured collabs with female rappers like Bbymutha, Kari Faux, and Latto (formerly Mulatto).

Both rappers will be busy this year, though, with Doja touring Planet Her and Tate appearing on Love & Hip-Hop. Additionally, Doja made it clear that she doesn’t plan on doing too many more collabs going forward because she doesn’t want them to sound like mashups — but since this verse already exists, maybe she can make an exception.

Watch Yung Baby Tate’s freestyle video above.

Yung Baby Tate is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

J. Cole Works Out With The Lakers’ Talen Horton-Tucker After Completing His BAL Contract

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Although J. Cole’s basketball career is effectively over — for the time being, at least — that doesn’t mean he isn’t staying ready should he be bitten by the competition bug again. Legendary trainer Phil Handy (who goes by @94feetofgame on Twitter) posted evidence of the rapper turned hooper’s commitment to the grind, a video showing off one of the workouts Handy is putting him through alongside one of the trainer’s more successful clients, Lakers player Talen Horton-Tucker, who will begin his third season in October.

The #passion is real, the #work is real, the love for the #game is real and @JColeNC is a real student of the game,” Handy wrote. “Pulled up for a couple of days and got some work in with @Thortontucker … got out of his comfort zone and got better.”

Cole has been open about his basketball dreams since early in his career, using basketball imagery throughout his album artwork and promotions. In 2020, that interest kicked into high gear with the release of Cole’s basketball shoes with Puma. Then, ahead of his most recent album The Off-Season, he announced that he’d be joining the Rwanda Patriots of the newly formed Basketball Africa League. After three games, he completed the terms of his contract and returned home to the US, but that doesn’t mean he’s completely done playing just yet.

Watch the video of J. Cole’s workout with the Lakers’ Talen Horton-Tucker above.

Chloe Bailey Puts Her Own Spin On A Vulnerable Cover Of Drake’s ‘Marvin’s Room’

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Chloe Bailey’s solo profile has gone up ever since she and her sister temporarily split last year with the start of production on Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. With Halle in Europe filming her starring role as the titular mermaid, Chloe has been building a buzz of her own with scintillating covers of songs like Silk Sonic’s “Leave The Door Open,” Cardi B’s “Be Careful,” Rihanna’s “Love On The Brain,” and Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good.” Her latest cover/remake is Drake’s emotional Take Care favorite “Marvin’s Room,” revamped with vulnerable new lyrics showing off Chloe’s own impressive pen.

As it turns out, the covers haven’t just been for the fun of it — although they have been pretty fun — as it appears Chloe has been ramping up to release her own solo music in the near future. The timing couldn’t be better; with Halle recording her own takes on the beloved soundtrack faves from The Little Mermaid to accompany the film’s release, they’ll likely both have plenty of “solo” material out in lieu of a follow-up to their most recent album as Chloe X Halle, Ungodly Hour. The release will also give the elder sister the chance to stretch her creative muscles and enjoy the more grown-up image she’s been cultivating with her solo material.

Check out Chloe’s “Mavin’s Room” cover above.

HER Calls Working With The Obamas On ‘We The People’ ‘Life Changing’

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R&B singer HER has been experiencing a huge breakout over the past year after a slow-burning rise that included the EPs HER and I Used To Know HER and a burgeoning collection of awards that has her well on the way to an EGOT. Now, not only is her debut album out now and racking up critical praise, but she can also now count among her collaborators such names as Barack and Michelle Obama thanks to her work with them on the Netflix animated series We The People.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, she called the experience “life-changing,” saying she’d do “anything for the Obamas.” “It was more exciting more than anything,” she gushed. “it made me really want to kill it just because of them being attached and them being a part of it. It’s like, wow, I am a part of something that the Obamas [did]. It’s kind of life-changing.” She also spoke on the series’ theme of the importance of youth civic involvement.

“Sometimes you think, ‘I’m just a kid,’ or, ‘That’s a job for the adults,’ but the youth is really the beginning of the rest of our lives,” she noted. “I would like to believe my generation and younger, we’re going to set the tone for the future and it’s up to us to be informed. I always say you can’t understand today without understanding yesterday, and so I think kids are going to start being more proactive and not reactive and really take control of our future. And we’ll learn from those things that we learned in the past, and make a difference and make a change when they know that they can — that they have the power to. This project is going to empower people. I mean, it empowered me.”

You can check out We The People now on Netflix.

Lil Uzi Vert’s Display Of Breakdancing Skills Draws Impressed Reactions From Fans

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Lil Uzi Vert’s a man of many talents. Not only is he a groundbreaking, hitmaking rapper whose stylistic outbursts have made him a fashion icon, but he’s also shown a penchant for fancy footwork on songs like “Futshal Shuffle.” However, even with that display of dexterity in his oeuvre, fans were still surprised to discover he also has a talent for breakdancing, courtesy of girlfriend JT’s Instagram Story.

The outspoken City Girls member caught him getting down at a party while Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison” blasted in the background and an assembled crowd of onlookers shouted encouragement — none louder than JT herself. He uprocks for a bit — Yep, that’s where the name up top comes from — then busts out some full-on windmills, looking for all the world like he could have been a member of the Get Fresh Crew.

Once the video appeared on Twitter, fans couldn’t get enough, reposting the video with such commentary as “Lil Uzi Vert do be just vibing doe” and reposting scenes from the 2004 Wayans comedy White Chicks.

The viral moment was decidedly a bunch more wholesome than his other viral moment of the week when he allegedly flashed a gun during an altercation with fellow artist Saint JHN.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Tyler The Creator Celebrates His Album Going No. 1 By Quoting DJ Khaled

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Tyler The Creator has shown that he can hold a grudge — albeit, a lighthearted, mostly harmless one — for a really long time. In the past, he’s trolled both random commenters on Twitter and the political Heads of State that have crossed him long after the initial slights, and upon learning that he’s currently got the No. 1 album in the country, he once again proved that he’s got a long memory and a love for having the last laugh.

This time around, he targeted a musical peer, DJ Khaled, referencing the Snapchat rant that fans attributed to Khaled’s bitterness over losing out on the No. 1 spot to Tyler’s Igor in 2019. While the impassioned speech in actuality never referred to Igor or Tyler and was in fact posted days before the Billboard results were posted, once fans resurfaced them in light of the Billboard chart placements, Khaled’s fate was sealed. It looked like he was tasting sour grapes and throwing shade at Tyler The Creator’s more experimental album, calling it “mysterious sh*t.”

Tyler laughed it off at the time, but continued to reference the moment at each new watermark Igor reached, tweeting “MYSTERIOUS MUSIC” when the album won Best Rap Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards. It seems he’s decided to make it something of a tradition now, tweeting the same yesterday as this week’s Billboard chart leaders were announced, with his new album Call Me If You Get Lost earning the No. 1 position.

Meanwhile, although fans are definitely trolling DJ Khaled right along with Tyler, the Miami producer has been celebrating his own string of successes, including having a limited-edition Funko Pop! modeled on him, and the chart success of his Lil Baby and Lil Durk-featuring Khaled Khaled single, “Every Chance I Get.”

Iggy Azalea Addresses Accusations That She Was Blackfishing In Her ‘I Am The Strip Club’ Video

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Friday saw the premiere of Iggy Azalea’s new “I Am The Strip Club” video, and the visual quickly generated controversy over Azalea’s look in some part of the video. She faced accusations of “blackfishing,” which Urban Dictionary says “involves artificial tanning (spray tanning and tanning booths) and using makeup to manipulate facial features in order to appear to have some type of Black African ancestry.” Following the video’s release, Azalea took time to address criticisms on social media.

On Twitter shortly after the video was shared, she wrote, “Imagine being so upset about a black wig, somehow the same foundation color and tan I’ve had for years now (with no issue) Is now such a problem you have to pull up an image of me from 7 years ago when I didn’t like to tan. the desperation.” She added in another tweet, “I’m the same color as the other white dancer in the room and not anywhere close to the color of the black dancers. People will say ANYthing to try and cancel me and it’s actually kinda funny to watch people so worked up over a black wig and Smokey eye.” She then wrote, “I’m the same color as I always am, just in a dimly lit room with red lights. It’s the same makeup from every other part of the video just with a Smokey eye and different wig.”

Azalea went on to reiterate her points and call the blackfishing accusations “ridiculous and baseless,” writing, “I can’t care about something that ridiculous and baseless. I’m wearing a shade 6 in armarni foundation, it’s the same shade I’ve worn for the last 3 years. It’s the same shade in every music video since sally Walker. Suddenly I wear a black wig in a club scene & its an issue.”

A couple days after that, on the 4th Of July, she followed up, “To everyone showing me love: Thankyou for dedicating your day to me & helping me promote, I love you! To everyone showing me hate: Thankyou for dedicating your day to me & helping me promote, I love you!”

Check out Azalea’s tweets on the subject below.

Courtney Love Was Brought To Tears While Covering Britney Spears’ ‘Lucky’

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As Brintey Spears’ conservatorship battle continue, many artists have found their own ways to show support for the singer and she continues the fight. Some have shared thoughtful messages on social media, especially after Britney’s explosive court hearing at the end of last month where she labeled the court arrangement as “abusive.” Others have thought of different ways to show love to the singer.

This includes Courtney Love who recently shared a cover of Britney’s 2000 song, “Lucky,” which appears on her Oops!… I Did It Again album. In the middle of her performance, Love was brought to tears but continued to complete the song.

The cover arrived hours after The New Yorker shared an investigation they conducted into Britney Spears’ conservatorship. It revealed how much control the singer’s conservators had on her life and the great lengths she had to go through for brief moments of freedom. This includes borrowing phones from strangers to contact people as her own phone was being monitored by conservators. She was also pushed to call 911 on the day before her explosive June 23 hearing to “report herself as a victim of conservatorship abuse.” Lastly, she accused her conservators of forcing her to do a European tour, however, they’ve denied the singer’s claims saying she “begged” to do to 2018 tour.

You can watch the cover in the video above.

Tyler The Creator’s ‘Call Me If You Get Lost’ Tops The Chart Becoming His Second Consecutive No. 1 Album

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Prior to almost two weeks ago, it’d been two years since Tyler The Creator graced the world with an album. His last effort was 2019’s Igor, a project that saw the rapper take a big step away from his trademark style. This step proved beneficial as it topped the charts and earned him a Grammy award for Best Rap Album. Fast-forward to the present and Tyler is seeing similar success with his sixth album, Call Me If You Get Lost. The project, which the rapper released last month, became his second consecutive chart-topping album after it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

The album reached the top of the chart thanks to 169,000 album units sold. This number is comprised of 114,000 streaming equivalent album units, backed by 152.96 million on-demand streams of the project’s songs. It also posted a total of 55,000 pure album sales. It should also be noted that if album sales were deducted from Tyler’s first-week numbers, Call Me If You Get Lost still would have gone No. 1 thanks to a strong streaming week.

Tyler’s album was accompanied by just one other debut within the top 10 positions of the chart this week. That would be Doja Cat’s Planet Her which checked in at No. 2 thanks to 109,000 units sold. Her album was boosted by a five-track deluxe reissue that arrived two days after the standard edition of Planet Her.

Revisit our review of Call Me If You Get Lost here.