Music

Silk Sonic Began With Bruno Mars Calling A Drunk Anderson .Paak To The Studio On His Birthday

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Anderson .Paak was one of the supporting acts on Bruno Mars’ world tour in support of his album 24K Magic, and it turns out that’s where the seed of pair’s new band, Silk Sonic, was planted. The way Mars tells it, though, things really got started with .Paak getting drunk on his 25th birthday and joining Mars in the studio.

Mars and .Paak chatted about the project and their new song “Leave The Door Open” with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. Mars explained, “There’s a song on the album that we started in 2017, that was on tour. And it was just a little phrase that we had that we were joking around going back and forth about. When we got to the studio, I actually called him on his birthday and I said, ‘I think I figured out that little hook we had. Come to the studio.’ He’s like, ‘It’s my birthday.’ So he came drunk. After every take, he was on fire.”

.Paak then chimed in, “My 25th birthday, bro, what was I going to do?”

Mars continued:

“That’s what it was. It snowballed. And it was like, well, want to come back tomorrow? And we kept coming up with music. It felt like why you fall in love with music in the first place. And jamming with your buddy… There’s no plan, just working out the parts and trying to excite each other. That’s why this wouldn’t happen if it didn’t make sense and it didn’t feel natural and organic. This was a series of events that led us to, ‘Man, why don’t we just do it?’ Starting with the tour, us creating a friendship and a bond and talking to each other and sharing the same love for music, getting into the studio, quarantine, all of these things. it was the equation to get this album and it’s… that’s God.”

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

Juice WRLD Posthumously Links Up With Post Malone And Clever On ‘Life’s A Mess II’

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Juice WRLD passed away a bit over a year ago now, but that actually hasn’t had a drastic impact on his musical output. The late rapper has made a number of posthumous appearances since his death, and now the latest one is “Life’s A Mess II,” a collaboration with Post Malone and Clever.

The track is a follow-up to Juice and Halsey’s collaboration “Life’s A Mess” and Clever previously explained, “the juice wrld record is a different version of ‘Life’s a Mess’ by Juice and Halsey. I was on that record before Halsey- and the beat got changed- this version I have is the version Juice wanted as far as the beat goes. it has more of an acoustic vibe.. but with a verse from me on it- oh and this other artist you may have heard of named Post Malone
.”

Clever also wrote of the song on Instagram, “This song means so much to me.. everything was working against it- the devil tried so hard to keep it from happening- but it’s out. I wish Juice was here to see this- Thank you for everything. I love you. 999 til the world burns.” In another post from over the weekend, he also wrote, “for an artist that came up under Grade A while Juice was opening the doors for artist like me and Seezyn and Laroi- and then doing a collaboration deal before we lost Juice- between Grade A and Posty Co- a song with me in the middle of Juice and Post Malone couldn’t be more fitting. It really means a lot to me and I hope you enjoy it.”

Listen to “Life’s A Mess II” above.

Rexx Life Raj Shares His Nonchalant View Of The World In His ‘Built For Everything’ Video

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Rexx Life Raj has been giving fans plenty of music over the past few months and in keeping the streak alive, the Berkeley act returns with yet another offering for fans. His latest drop comes in the form of his new song and video for “Built For Everything.” Raj gives viewers his nonchalant take of the world’s most confusing aspects and just labels them as things he’ll have to accept until they one day change. Lines like, “My n**** did a bid for some weed and he still in here / The whiteboy sold the same thing, now he a millionaire,” capture the parts of society that disappoint Raj the most. Elsewhere, he throws some shade at Blueface and speaks about an untrustworthy girl in his life.

The new track joins a growing collection of songs and videos he’s shared over the past few months. His most recent release was “Bounty,” which featured production from Illmind and was later paired with a music video that portrayed Raj as a full-on desperado. He also linked with D Smoke and G-Eazy for his respective “Optimistic” and “Bounce Back” singles and later showed off his new ride in his “Telsa In A Pandemic” video. In the midst of all of this, he also dropped his Californa Poppy 2 EP, with features from Juvenile and Kojey Radical.

You can watch the video above.

Jhene Aiko Brings A Magical World To Life In Her ‘Lead The Way’ Video

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It only took three albums, an EP, a mixtape, and a slew of singles of guest features, but Jhene Aiko finally got to live out her fantasy of being a Disney princess. It became a reality thanks to her new music video for “Lead The Way.” The single will appear on the soundtrack for the upcoming Disney film, Raya And The Last Dragon and in the new visual, Jhene heads to the magical kingdom of Kumandra to deliver the soothing video for the song that focuses on bringing a community together to fight the toughest battles and come out on top.

The singer spoke about the song and her Disney princess dream during a recent interview on Apple Music. “The number one thing was, I heard ‘dragon,’ and I love dragons,” she explained. “I have a big dragon tattoo on my back. I was born in ’88, which is the year of the dragon. And I just think it’s a beautiful, mystical creature that is just so many things, symbolizes so many things for me, personally. I’ve always had this little fantasy of being a Disney princess, voicing one, or like being the character. And so this was the closest that I’ve gotten, so I was pretty excited.”

The video arrives just a little over a week from the Grammy awards where Jhene received three nominations including Album of the Year and Best Progressive R&B Album for Chilombo.

You can watch the video for “Lead The Way” above.

Anderson .Paak And Bruno Mars Unite As ‘Silk Sonic’ With Their Groovy New Single, ‘Leave The Door Open’

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Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars have both proven to be phenomenal artists in their respective fields, but sometimes, two good things are better as one, and that’s exactly what the two singers will look to show next. Anderson and Bruno announced last week that they would soon release an album together as Silk Sonic.

Outside of a confirmed appearance from Boosty Collins, details on the upcoming body of work are limited, but tonight the first single from the effort has arrived. “Leave The Door Open” is a groovy number that sees the duo promising to keep a spot in their lives open for a past lover. It comes with a match visual that finds Anderson and Bruno passionately playing the song in a studio.

The new track is the first piece of music from Anderson in a few months. The Cali-born singer was a bit busy in 2020 thanks to singles like “Jewelz,” “Cut Em In” with Rick Ross, and “Lockdown,” a track that was later remixed with help from Noname, Jay Rock, and JID.

Bruno, on the other hand, has been rather quiet for the last few years. His last album arrived in 2016 with 24K Magic, an effort that gave him six awards at the 2018 Grammys including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. His other releases since then include “Please Me” with Cardi B and “Blow” with Ed Sheeran and Chris Stapleton. Elsewhere, he’s also set to produce and star in music-centric Disney film.

Give the new single a listen above.

Bruno Mars is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Stefflon Don Hops On Saweetie And Doja Cat’s ‘Best Friend’ Remix

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Even though the early accidental leak of “Best Friend” had Saweetie upset one night, now that the song is actually out, fans are giving it the love it deserves. Aside from launching the “Bestie In A Tessie” contest to give away Teslas, Saweetie and Doja Cat’s ode to female friendship is popping off like it should. In fact, the song is so catchy that another rising female rapper, Stefflon Don, wanted to hop on a remix to add another character to the friend group, giving her a verse early in the track.

The British rapper is quickly earning fans on this side of the pond, adding bars to the song that flex with the best of them. Strangely enough, Stefflon isn’t the only other woman concerned with the “Best Friend” collaboration — Roc Nation duo Ceraadi also accused Saweetie and Doja of plagiarizing the videos concept for their track “BFF.” Well, at least having a third female rapper on the song makes those accusations less sticky. Check out the new version above and stay tuned for more from all three of these artists — any one of them could take over 2021 with the right hit. And it just might be “Best Friend.”

Baby Keem Questions The Actions Of His Partner On His Mellow Single, ‘No Sense’

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Baby Keem gained nationwide attention back in 2019 thanks to his breakout hit, “Orange Soda,” which appeared on his Die For My B*tch project. Since then, the Vegas rapper has kept things rather quiet, with the most noise he made coming through an appearance he made in an ad for the launch of Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free’s media company, PgLang, as well as landing a spot on the 2021 XXL Freshman class. After bringing 2020 to somewhat of a quiet end, Baby Keem is back in action for 2021.

The Vegas rapper touches down with his new single, “No Sense.” On it, Keem tackles some tension that is present between him and his love interest. He questions her actions as a way to get under his skin while apologizing for his towards her. The single also arrives just a few days after he teased it in a brief video he shared on Instagram.

“No Sense” is also the follow-up to his November singles, “Hooligan” and “Sons & Critics Freestyle.” The former track also received a music video that presented the rapper as a silent figure beside a woman who rapped the lyrics to the song. On the latter track, he bragged about the new PgLang company. “We got Telfar bag, what’s your taste level on?” he raps. “Mine is pgLang, no, you didn’t hear wrong.” The new endeavor that’s headed by Lamar and Free was announced exactly one year ago with help from Jorja Smith and Yara Shahidi.

Listen to the new song above.

Chance The Rapper Details An Internal Battle On His Reflective ‘The Heart & The Tongue’ Single

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For the first time in nearly two years, we’ve received new music from Chance The Rapper. The Chicago native makes his return with his highly reflective single, “The Heart & The Tongue” and it comes with a music video that finds rapping the song in the many corners of his house as he looks to tackle the internal battles that he feels within. This issue is made clear with lines like, “My heart and tongue are fightin’ / My mind is undecided / It’s not like Trump and Biden / It’s more like it’s something private.”

The song is Chance’s first official single since he released his official debut album, The Big Day, which arrived after his impressive mixtape run with 10 Day, Acid Rap, and Coloring Book. Chance has also given fans a decent number of guest verses in the last two years, working with the likes of Vic Mensa, G Herbo, Justin Bieber, and Spillage Village.

While things over the past two years have been going well for Chance, the rapper recently found himself in a new battle with his former manager. In December, Pat Corcoran sued him for breach of contract in the amount of $3 million. At the end of last month, Chance filed a countersuit against Corcoran citing damages for breach of fiduciary duty, interference that led to the loss of business opportunities and profit, and breach of contract.

You can watch the music video for the song above.

Drake’s ‘What’s Next’ Video Is An Exasperated Flex Full Of Snowy Late Night Drives

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The Boy is back.

Though rumors about Certified Lover Boy have been swirling since 2021 began, the timeline has been a little jittery so far. Fans were sure Drizzy’s next album was going to drop a few weeks ago, but his producer 40 insists that although they’ve been working all through the pandemic, it’s going to be some time still — but within the next two months. Drake, rather infamously, has been recovering from a pretty severe knee injury, but that doesn’t seem to limit his mobility in the new video that dropped tonight, the “What’s Next” video that comes alongside the release of a new mixtape, Scary Hours 2, which is obviously the follow up to Scary Hours.

In the meantime, he’s also been busy relaunching the OVO Sound Radio Show with SiriusXM, notably moving the show away from its former home at Apple Music. Back to his imminent new album, for fans who are eager to trace Drake’s evolution from the early days of So Far Gone all the way up to the superstar he’s become, check out our timeline leading up to the release of Certified Lover Boy here. But if you’d rather hear more exasperated flexes and watch him take snowy night drives, check out the video above.

Drake Drops ‘Scary Hours 2’ With Lil Baby And Rick Ross As The Wait For ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Continues

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Drake has never been one to make his fans wait long periods of time between projects. The last time the rapper went a full year without a full-length effort was in 2014 and while the wait for his upcoming sixth album, Certified Lover Boy may be longer than fans expected, it hasn’t been nearly as grueling as the wait some of Drake’s peers have left their fans to endure. Following Dark Lane Demo Tapes and a number of “leaks,” and guest features, Drake is back with more music, this time in the form of a new EP.

The rapper touches down with Scary Hours 2, the sequel to his 2018 effort that featured “Diplomatic Immunity” and his smash-hit, “God’s Plan.” Switching things up this time around, Drake drops a trio of songs with help from Lil Baby and Rick Ross. The former appears on “Wants And Needs” for a blunt request to keep them away from drama while Drake rekindles his decade-long chemistry with Rick Ross for “Lemon Pepper Freestyle.” The final track is “What’s Next,” a braggadocious anthem that sees relishing in the superstar spotlight.

The road to Certified Lover Boy hasn’t been as smooth as Drake might have hoped. It began with the release of “Laugh Now Cry Later” with Lil Durk last August. He later confirmed the album would drop in January 2021, but as the release date approached, he returned to say it would unfortunately be delayed. “I was planning to release my album this month but between surgery and rehab my energy has been dedicated to recovery,” he said in a post to his Instagram story. “I’m blessed to be back on my feet feeling great and focused on the album, but CLB won’t be dropping in January. I’m looking forward to sharing it with you all in 2021.”

A recent report from DJ Akademiks said the Certified Lover Boy would arrive within the next two months, but that remains to be seen.

Until then, you can listen to both songs here.