STEPHEN COLBERT

Brockhampton Performs ‘Don’t Shoot Up The Party’ On ‘The Late Show’

by

If Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine really is Brockhampton’s penultimate album as a group, they’re going out with a bang. The group appeared on last night’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform the album’s pensive but electrifying cut “Don’t Shoot Up The Party.”

Wearing matching jumpsuits — as per usual for the extremely coordinated, self-professed “boy band” — the group performs from a tiered platform surrounded by massive LED screens projecting their performance back at them. The effect is suitably trippy for the glitched-out, magnetized VHS look they’re fond of embracing, and as always, their energy is unmatched, despite being sort of constrained by the small set.

Kevin Abstract, the group’s de facto leader, informed fans ahead of Roadrunner‘s release that their next two projects would be their last. With Roadrunner out now, that leaves one album to go — although Abstract later offered a glimmer of hope in explaining the band’s oncoming dissolution. Writing, “we all love each other and we wanna continue making the best music we can everybody just getting a lil older and got a lot to say outside of group projects,” Kevin revealed that the band may have a bonus project on the docket — the previously postponed Technical Difficulties, which he says has “hella samples to clear.”

Watch Brockhampton’s Late Show performance of “Don’t Shoot Up The Party” above.

Shelley Shows Off His Romantic Side With His Tender ‘Exposure’ Performance On ‘Colbert’

by

The Chicks and Lady A were among several musicians that decided to change their name in 2020, mostly due to the fact that their monikers were problematic in nature. DRAM was another musician that changed their name, choosing to go by his first name Shelley and announcing an album, though the shift wasn’t tied to controversy. Now under his new name, Shelley offers a taste of his upcoming project with a performance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

The singer brought his charming single “Exposure” to the late-night set. Throughout the tender track, Shelley sings of learning to be vulnerable with his lover and making sure to respect their boundaries in the process. “Let me love you inside-out and outside-in / Let me touch your soul just like I touch your skin,” he sings.

Shelley’s upcoming album is aptly titled Shelley FKA DRAM. The release date is set for April 29, which is his late mother’s birthday. According to Shelley, he hopes to honor his mother’s memory with the LP’s release. “Before she passed I played her my upcoming album and I begged her to promise she wouldn’t play it for anyone else. She held her promise and took the music with her beyond this life,” Shelley explained. “Her birthday is April 29th, so I’m pushing my album Shelley FKA DRAM’s release date to April 29th as not only my gift back to her, but my promise to play it for the world.”

Watch Shelley perform “Exposure” on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert above.

Shelley FKA DRAM is out 4/29 via Atlantic Records. Pre-order it here.

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

Vic Mensa Delivers A Defiant Performance Of ‘Shelter’ On ‘The Late Show’

by

Chicago rapper Vic Mensa appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to perform a medley of new songs, “Shelter” and “FR33DOM.” Recruiting “Shelter” guest Wyclef Jean and longtime Windy City collaborator Peter Cottontale, Vic’s prerecorded performance finds him performing from the floor of an empty warehouse and visually condemning the prison system. For the second half of the performance, red highlighting accentuates a riotous rendition of the defiant “FR33DOM.”

Both songs are due to appear on Vic’s upcoming EP, I TAPE, the follow-up to last year’s V TAPE. The activist/rapper revealed the I TAPE due date via a press release after the performance: March 26. It’s clear that Vic is building up to a larger project, so a C TAPE can’t be very far behind that.

“Shelter,” I TAPE‘s first single, featured the reunion of Vic and his musical brother-in-arms Chance The Rapper. The two rappers came up at the same open mic together and had parallel career tracks early on, but when Chance’s Coloring Book took off, the two apparently had a falling out that lasted for several years. In the meantime, Vic released an experimental punk album, became an outspoken critic of various US policies, and even visited Palestine, deciding to recommit to the social justice cause and apparently getting back to his musical roots. You can read more in Uproxx’s new interview with Vic Mensa here.

Watch Vic Mensa’s The Late Show performance of “Shelter” and “FR33DOM” above.

I TAPE is out 3/26 on Roc Nation.