With Christmas just a week away, it would appear as though Fox has a gift for his fans. This early present comes in the form of a four-track EP called “Wood Tip.” Although Fox is mostly a comedian, fans will be very surprised by the direction of this new EP. Instead of delivering his signature hilarious raps, Fox has come through with a soulful project that has an 80s twist to it.
Since this project is only four tracks long, it won’t take you long to get through it. The longest song here is “can’t fight the devil” which comes complete with a feature from Diamond Cafe. Additionally, Diamond Cafe is also on the song “holdin’ on.” For the most part, however, Fox handles the singing by himself. Overall, you may find yourself surprised by just how solid his voice is here.
Fans are already praising the project, and it is easy to see why. The production throughout the project is stunning, and it matches the winter vibe quite nicely. There is a nice bit of replay value here, and if you love this kind of music, then Fox’s latest effort is right up your alley. Moving forward, we hope he continues to explore this sound.
As always, you can stream the new project, down below. Additionally, you can head to the comments section to give your thoughts on this surprising new EP. Furthermore, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world.
Zack Fox doesn’t give up – except when it involves Elden Ring. And that’s why he’s one of rap’s most exciting new lyricists, even if he’s hesitant to consider himself a contender for rap’s throne.
But more on that later. Back to Elden Ring — the notoriously difficult role-playing game that’s become the best-selling release of 2022 since it dropped in February. Playing the part of a banished person that’s coming back to become a king, gamers around the world have been getting their asses kicked at every turn by the RPG’s many bosses.
Fox is one of those players who, up until a few weeks ago, was tweeting about the progress that he was making in the game. Once he made it to its first boss, Margit, the Fell Omen, he shared a video of him getting pulverized. When I ask him about it over a phone call, he first sighs, then reveals a decidedly un-Zack Fox-like philosophy.
“Sometimes, it’s about quitting,” he says with a genuine, sheepish laugh. “Shouts out to the n****s who built like that. It ain’t me. I play Animal Crossing, f*cking Katamari Dynasty, and Pokemon. I had no business and that’s totally on me. I’ll take that L.”
As far as stories go, Fox’s is one of perseverance — and genuinely being the funniest person in the room. The 31-year-old, Atlanta-born comedian found an early Twitter audience for his unique brand of deadpan-through-tweets jokes under the alias of “Bootymath” back in 2013 and, years later, joined the Father-led and Playboi Carti-featuring collective, Awful Records, where he often contributed a unique brand of illustrations to its projects.
As his popularity grew through both his tweets and other projects like stand-up comedy and the Bruh podcast for Red Bull Radio, Fox made the jump to music in 2018 with the release of “Square Up” with producer Kenny Beats. The track, which sounds like it’s about to steal your lunch money, is built around Fox’s unique humor through ridiculously funny punchlines. It immediately found favor with fans of his jokes as well as, surprisingly, fans of rap. While its release may have seemed like a spur-of-the-moment drop with a rising producer, Fox says now that it was an organic step into the next phase of his “creative wheelhouse.”
“I think [rap] has always been right there, on the table,’ he says. “I grew up basically with musicians, and I was a part of Awful, and being in proximity to it for so long, music never felt like a drastic departure from anything else. It was time to step out into that creative wheelhouse of what I’m building.”
Fox’s decision to keep going musically didn’t just stem from fans who showered him with praise, admitting that he “hates everything after I put it out.” Instead, it came from some of his favorite artists. “Seeing Lil Jon and Mike Will Made IT [give their approval]made me push further because it gave me a little boost due to the fact that some of my heroes were taking notice of it,” says Fox. “I wanted to just dig further into it.”
The following year, Fox broke through the mainstream when he appeared on Kenny Beats’ freestyle series The Cave in which the producer invites artists to his studio to rap on the spot. In an episode where Fox pulls up to have fun, the two hopped into the booth and gave birth to “Jesus Is The One (I Got Depression).”
What can be said about “Jesus Is The One (I Got Depression)” that would make sense from a strictly descriptive sense? It’s “What The F*ck” flavored ice cream, sprinkled with bits of truth that make it a delicate dance between absurdity and a breathing diary. Fox does everything on the track from drinking his own semen, crashing into white-owned businesses, and making the claim that his show was canceled because “white folks don’t trust me” (he’s probably referring to Vice Live, which aired for two months in 2019 before being discontinued). He rants and screams, but it never delves into ridiculous territory. It’s an intoxicating listen — one that shot to the top of Spotify’s Viral chart soon after its release.
Hearing the track leads the listener to ask one thing: how the hell does he record something like that with a straight face? There has to be a writer’s room in the same way that Jimmy Kimmel and other late-night hosts develop content to air on a daily basis. But, it’s actually quite the opposite. Fox doesn’t even really believe in getting to the studio, instead describing what he does as being “just a n**** with back pain in his house talking about germs.”
“When I’m with my guys Jak and Alex, we throw basketballs at each other in the studio,” he says. “Music is like drawing and doodling, and that’s like a big thing that I’m into. I treat both the same by sitting at a desk because I don’t really need to be in a studio with n****s ashing out backwoods on me.”
Fox’s approach can be heard across his debut album, Shut The F*ck Up Talking To Me, released in 2021. It’s a battalion of punchlines, insults, and missiles in the shape of dick jokes. It’s not made for critics — just the fervent fanbase that devours his jokes like the first meal after a day of fasting. “I was a poor-ass kid who had all this time to be imaginative, f*ck around, draw, and make beats on my mom’s furniture and be silly as a kid so I don’t try to force myself out of that now,” he says about the LP. “I’m a big-ass kid.”
Now, it’s 2022. With Fox’s debut album firmly in the rearview mirror, the world’s getting that itch for new music from Fox now that he’s firmly in the running for rap’s throne. Except, that’s just the thing — he firmly makes it clear that he’s not purposely running for anything. “I don’t put out music to be a contender,” he says. “I’m not making music to get anything out of it aside from this just being fun to me.” Besides, he’s been plenty busy with other aspects of his multifaceted career, including his recurring appearance on Quinta Brunson’s sensational sitcom Abbott Elementary, and writing on the Peacock original comedy Bust Down.
With that being said, there’s hope for the future for Fox’s 2022, he’s just not putting a timetable on when something else is coming. “I have no idea when I’m dropping a new project,” he says. “I’m always working on stuff, but I’m never going to burden myself by saying ‘this is the time when you’ll get this.’ I think it’s important for artists to go into their dungeon and then when I’m ready to drop something, I’m just going to put it out.”
While he’s locked in the dungeon, Fox is being inspired by classic shows like Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Ren And Stimpy for his music. “I’m making songs from the perspective of a cartoon character, but also just being myself and finding the balance between those things,” he says. “I like to make sh*t that’s kind of silly, but I also want to be able to listen to it in the car for long-ass drives.”
Judging by his own checklist for good music, Fox has found success in his musical endeavors and will continue to do so. And when he thinks about his younger self and his goals, it looks like everything’s going according to plan. Well, almost.
“I didn’t succeed with having sex with Vanessa Williams like I wanted to when I was a kid,” Fox admits. “But I think that the other stuff, especially the music, is working out really well.”
A big part of being a music fan is keeping up with the music of the moment; There’s a reason popular artists have gotten to where they are, after all. Another equally important aspect of being an informed consumer of music, though, is maintaining an awareness of the up-and-coming artists who are primed to shape the industry in their own ways.
That’s what Uproxx’s new Next Up series is all about.
Over the course of ten feature profiles, you’ll learn about artists currently laying the foundation for some major things to come, things that will both establish themselves as forces and influence those who come after them. Before those features start rolling in, keep reading for a rundown of who we decided needs to be a part of this conversation.
Dove Cameron
Getty Image
The pipeline from Disney Channel star to music icon has been fruitful over the years, as folks like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Ariana Grande have started on the network and gone on to tremendous musical success (also Olivia Rodrigo if you count her High School Musical series on Disney+). Now it’s looking like Dove Cameron, whose lengthy acting resume includes the lead role in the Disney Channel series Liv And Maddie, could very well be next. Her debut EP, Bloodshot / Waste, arrived in 2019 and she just recently had her biggest hit yet in February with the dramatic single “Boyfriend,” which was her first, and likely not last, song to grace the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Saya Gray
Jennifer Cheng
With her recent signing to Dirty Hit, Canadian-Japanese singer-songwriter Saya Gray finds herself in great company: The label’s esteemed artists include The 1975, Beabadoobee, Wolf Alice, and Rina Sawayama. Her first album for the label, 19 Masters, is on the way in June and based on songs like the recent single “If There’s No Seat In The Sky (Will You Forgive Me???),” it’s easy to see why Dirty Hit brought the innovative young artist on board, who’s adept at switching genres not just between songs, but sometimes right in the middle of them.
PinkPantheress
Getty Image / Brent McKeever
TikTok has become a real proving ground for up-and-coming artists as the young generation gets exposed to a lot of new music on the platform. PinkPantheress managed to stand out above all the noise and earn herself a record deal with Parlophone. Her music definitely embraces the fast-paced nature of TikTok: Most of the songs on her 2021 debut mixtape To Hell With It are shorter than two minutes. That didn’t stop the multi-genre project from performing particularly well, as it landed in the top 20 of the charts in PinkPantheress’ native UK.
Kali
YouTube
Speaking of TikTok, Atlanta rapper Kali also found success on the platform and now she’s breaking new ground beyond it. As Uproxx’s Aaron Williams notes, she’s moving into a space traditionally dominated by male rappers, one that is “marked by passive aggression, avoidant attachment, and audio gaslighting, with rappers and singers delighting in keeping their significant others guessing in the narratives of their songs.” Kali parlayed her breakout single “Mmm Mmm” into a debut EP, Toxic Chocolate. The Yung Bleu-featuring “UonU” is a highlight, on which she turns the tables and asserts dominance, rapping, “It’s a two-way street, we in the same lane / Play you ‘fore you play me, that’s just my mind-frame / But you still mine, babe.”
Tobi Lou
Empire
Odds are you’ve already heard Tobi Lou working with one of your favorites, as the Chicago-via-Nigeria rapper has collaborated with some of his biggest hometown peers, like Chance The Rapper, Dreezy, and Saba. He was on the ballot for the 2020 XXL Freshmen list and while he didn’t make the cut, he’s on to bigger and better things, like his recently released new album Non-Perishable, which mostly features Lou shining on his own but also alongside guests like T-Pain and Chika. All the name-drops are to illustrate that Lou has support from folks in high places, co-signs that show Lou is worth consideration.
Omah Lay
Uproxx
A lot of things have been going right for the 24-year-old Nigerian afrobeats star lately. Since landing a record deal a couple years ago, Omah Lay’s ascent has been quick, as he had a social media hit with “Bad Influence,” dropped some EPs that landed on Apple Music’s charts in Nigeria, and caught the attention of Justin Bieber, with whom he recently released the collaborative single “Attention.” Furthermore, Lay’s status as an afrobeats favorite was cemented with the launch of Billboard’s new US Afrobeats Songs chart in March. On the inaugural ranks, he had two songs in the top 30, including “Attention,” which graced the top five. Basically, Lay’s on an upward trend, so if you haven’t been paying attention so far, now’s a good time to start.
Bakar
Epic
Like many artists before him, Bakar got his start uploading songs on SoundCloud. That’s really one of the few ways the experimental UK indie rocker is like other artists, though. He gradually worked on his craft, forged a distinct aesthetic identity, and had himself a bit of a hit in 2019 with “Hell N Back,” which popped up on multiple rock and alternative Billboard charts, including a No. 1 placement on Adult Alternative Airplay. Things have only gotten better since then, as he had a feature on one of 2020’s most esteemed indie/pop albums in Benee’s Hey U X and released his debut album, Nobody’s Home, in February. He got some hometown love for that one, as it was a top-40 album in the UK. Now it feels like just a matter of time before the rest of the world catches up.
Horsegirl
Cheryl Dunn
Chicago trio Horsegirl formed in 2019, when its members were all teens. While many teenage endeavors are best left forgotten, Horsegirl has built on their start in a major way. They’ve since signed to Matador Records and so far released two singles for the label: 2021’s “Billy” and this year’s “Anti-Glory.” As for the sound, the group falls somewhere between post-punk and shoegaze, a zone that has clearly worked for them given the aforementioned examples of their success. It’s the kind of music that begs to be heard live, so there’s good news there, as one of the year’s buzziest bands has a slew of tour dates set for this summer.
Caracara
Maria Daniela Lynn
The 2019 EP Better was big for Caracara, as the rocking effort landed them on many people’s radars. That includes renowned producer Will Yip, who has worked with everybody from Lauryn Hill to Keane to The Wonder Years. He also linked up with Caracara on their recently released album New Preoccupations (As The Gods Descend), which is highlighted by the single “Colorglut,” which features Circa Survive’s Anthony Green. The company a band keeps can say a lot about them, and so far, a lot of top-tier folks have found their way to Caracara’s corner. Now that the new album is out and music fans have something fresh to sink their teeth into, the Caracara corner is about to get even more crowded.
Zack Fox
YouTube
As social media has become a primary method of fan interaction for celebrities, a lot of musicians have emerged as legitimately hilarious social media personalities. Then there’s Zack Fox, who’s approaching things from the opposite direction: He was a comedian first, but in recent years, he’s found some solid footing in hip-hop: His debut album, Shut The F*ck Up Talking To Me, came out last year and he’s touring with Freddie Gibbs this year. On top of all that, he’s still acting and has a recurring role in one of the most acclaimed comedies of the moment, Abbott Elementary. He’s even an accomplished visual artist, as he illustrated the album sleeve of Thundercat’s Drunk. Basically, Fox has done something you’d probably enjoy in just about every artistic medium, which is something very few people can say.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Freddie Gibbs is soaring. Already one of the best pound-for-pound lyricists in the game, Gibbs balled out at his Grammy nomination party at the top of the year, announced his film debut, has been soundtracking Tom Brady victory videos, and last month, dropped an absolute heater of a track in “Black Illuminati” featuring Jadakiss.
Now he’s going on the road again, with a newly announced 24-stop North America Tour. He’ll be joined by Zack Fox, Mike and Redveil throughout the stops and tickets are on sale this Friday, December 17th. Check out the full tour dates below.
04/14/2022 — San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom*
04/20/2022 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Pressroom*
04/27/2022 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex*^
04/29/2022 — Boulder, CO @ Fox Theater*^
04/30/2022 — Denver, CO @ Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom*^
05/04/2022 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Tower Theatre*^
05/05/2022 — Dallas, TX @ The Echo Lounge*^
05/07/2022 — Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade – Heaven Stage*^
05/08/2022 — Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre*^
05/11/2022 — New York, NY @ Irving Plaza*^
05/12/2022 — Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Spring*^
05/13/2022 — New York, NY @ Irving Plaza*^
05/14/2022 — Buffalo, NY @ Town*^
05/15/2022 — New Haven, CT @ Toad’s Place*^
05/18/2022 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club – Music Hall +
05/19/2022 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club – Music Hall +
05/20/2022 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theater of Living Arts +
05/21/2022 — Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues – Cleveland +
05/24/2022 — Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theater +
05/26/2022 — Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe at Old National Centre +
05/27/2022 — Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre +
06/01/2022 — Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom +
06/02/2022 — Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo +
06/03/2022 — Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore
+ – w/ Zack Fox
* – w/ MIKE
^ – w/ Redveil
Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Comedian Zack Fox had previously dabbled in rap with mischievous singles like “Fafo,” “Jesus Is the One,” and “Square Up,” but as it turns out, those were just practice for him to lock in and release a full EP. That EP, Shut The F*ck Up Talking To Me, arrived last night and across its nine tracks, Fox turns out to be every bit as adept (and profane) a rapper as he is a standup comic.
Just check out “Mind Your Business,” an ’80s-R&B-sampling two-stepper that finds Fox slinging witty, wild one-liners like “I’m smokin’ big pressure, call that hypertension,” and “I took the top off the whip, circumcision.” Meanwhile, on the EP’s title track, Fox employs a soulful beat courtesy of The Alchemist to spit a multi-syllabic string of punchlines worthy of inclusion in the long list of hardcore rap artists that Alchemist has produced for in the past couple of years.
“Don’t get embarrassed tryna snatch my carats,” Fox warns, “My n***s barbaric, sh*t could get ugly as f*ck like Ed Sheeran.” No target is safe from his hilarious threats as he reps Atlanta, references wrestling, and delivers one smirking haymaker after another on his thoroughly impressive debut tape. You can check it out in full below.
