Mary J. Blige is looking the best she’s ever been as she gears up for the release of her next album. The music legend dropped a new video with DJ Khaled called “Amazing.” The video also features her BFF’s Angie Martinez and pioneer stylist Misa Hylton Brim. “Amazing” is one of the two singles from Mary’s […]
The Internet is still in a frenzy following Jay-Z’s appearance on Alicia Keys’ Spaces. The rapper dropped a few gems during the rare cameo, including a response Michael Jackson/Beyoncé comparisons. However, it was his comments on entering the Verzuz arena that has the people talking. In short, Jay-Z doesn’t feel like there’s another rapper who can go hit-for-hit with him or even bar-for-bar. Though no one in rap has directly responded to Jay-Z, many have chimed in on the matter.
Young Guru, unfortunately, found himself receiving plenty of messages and calls from people offering him their take on Jay’s comments. As you could probably imagine, it would get kind of annoying, so Guru issued a message on Twitter to everyone reaching out to him.
“Please stop calling my phone to give me your take. He said what he said!!” Guru tweeted.
Jay’s name has popped up time and time again when it comes to Verzuz. While names like Nas have been thrown around in the past, the Queensbridge rapper has previously explained that he’s more of a fan of the platform than anything else. However, in the wake of Jay’s comments, fans began bringing up a few names that might be able to take on Jay such as Eminem, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and even Drake. Somehow, Youngboy’s name got brought up but we’ll leave that up to Akademiks’ comment section to dispute.
Over a month after the Astroworld Festival tragedy occurred, and members of Congress are officially getting involved with investigations. Live Nation, who put on the event, is facing immense scrutiny for the death of 10 festival patrons and the hundreds of others who sustained injuries. TMZ reports The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is asking Live Nation to have a sit-down to explain how 10 lives were lost during the Astroworld festival.
The Chairwoman of the Committee of Oversight and Reform, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, and Ranking Member, Rep. James Comer were among the members of the committee who took the lead on this particular initiative. Rep. Maloney and Rep. Comer issued an open letter where they requested Live Nation answer for the mishappenings of the festival as the promotion company was “reportedly responsible for ‘planning, staffing, putting up money, securing permits, finding vendors, communicating with local agencies,’ for Astroworld Festival.”
“The tragedy at Astroworld Festival follows a long line of other tragic events and safety violations involving Live Nation,” the letter reads. “From 2016 to 2019, Live Nation and its subsidiary Live Nation Worldwide were cited ten times for safety violations and incurred fines.”
The Oversight Committee also referred to law enforcement statements including comments from Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña who stated injuries were reported as early as 20 minutes into Scott’s set. Additionally, Congress wants answers from Live Nation about allegedly withholding pay from part-time employees.
Congress is giving Live Nation until Jan. 7th to respond.
KingMostWanted has been making a name for himself, tackling classic samples on his recent releases and proving that despite his young age, he’s ready for the spotlight. At 19-years-old, KingMostWanted has risen to the next level of his music career, bringing his LA-inspired flow to collaborations with AzChike, Peysoh, Mike Sherm, and more. The “In My City” rapper is poised for big things and to let his fans know more about him, he stopped by for the latest episode of In My Bag, unpacking his Versace fanny pack and showing off his essentials.
The short episode includes KingMostWanted highlighting all of his various weed-inspired products, including a huge bag of Gushers, a vape pen, his favorite strain Wedding Cake, and more. Of course, that’s not all KMW keeps on him during the day — he’s also got his two phones locked in his bag, with one solely being for video games. He also keeps cash on him, but he explains that he doesn’t stash it inside of his Versace wallet.
Watch the latest episode of In My Bag below with KingMostWanted and let us know what you think of his essentials. Who do you want to see on this series next?
Last week saw the return of one of music’s most fun events: The Red Bull SoundClash. Taking over Radius Chicago, an event space converted from an old steel factory, the latest installment pitted two of hip-hop’s students of punk, Danny Brown and Rico Nasty. Despite being from two different generations, the two rappers are both steeped in the counterculture of punk-rock and other hardcore styles; both have embraced “weird” as an aesthetic, adopting hairdos, sonic choices, and rhyme approaches decidedly left of hip-hop’s traditional center.
However, they’re also different enough to make the matchup unique; aside from the obvious age and gender differences, they have taken divergent paths on the journey to being two of rap’s quirkiest iconoclasts. Rico is the more colorful of the two, often rapping in a screaming voice somewhere between Run-DMC and pop-punk staples like Blink-182 and The Offspring. Meanwhile, Danny wouldn’t be out of place on a late-90s Rawkus Records compilation but for his yelping delivery and unhinged drug references. Sparring head-to-head, the SoundClash takes its inspiration from the Caribbean tradition of musical battles — a little like the modern Verzuz, but with a more aggressive flair.
For what it’s worth, Danny tells me that while the spirit of Jamaican soundclash is still alive in Red Bull’s version, it’s also a much friendlier environment — he calls it a “pillow fight” — that still captures the competitive energy as the two stars try to outperform one another through multiple rounds including covers of popular songs and unreleased tracks. Ahead of SoundClash, Danny spoke with Uproxx about why Red Bull’s SoundClash is different from traditional ones, how he worked off the “ring rust” after not performing for a year, and the need for hip-hop’s artists to stick up for each other and their fans.
Tell me how you got involved and what was the attraction for you?
I was a part of the A$AP SoundClash in London that they did against Boy Better Know. I don’t know, but they just hit me up. But I was always a fan of what it was. So, of course, when they asked me to do it, I was down. It didn’t even matter who it was against.
What’s the difference in the approach of doing a soundclash versus doing your own personal set?
Like you said, it’s my own personal set. This is working with someone else. And to me, this is not a soundclash, with the real Jamaican sound clashes. This is training. This is preschool. I mean, that’s what they calling it, but this is not that vibe. It’s not that energy. In Jamaica, a soundclash is war. We ain’t got that energy with each other. We ain’t got that vibe, so this ain’t that. This is a pillow fight between two friends at a sleepover.
Is there something that you’re looking forward to the most when it comes to this set, or are you just kind of laid back, seeing what’s going to happen?
I’d love to see how the cover round goes.
Covering each other songs or covering any song?
No, we got to cover someone else. We covering someone else song, but we got to both cover the same song, and whoever do it the best.
Did you guys agree on what song to do first, or is it just going to be random?
Yeah, we agreed on the song.
Oh, what song is it?
I can’t tell you, man, I can’t tell you.
[Editor’s note: As it happens, they wound up performing different songs. Rico played Chief Keef’s “Faneto” while Danny Brown kicked out a blog-worthy rendition of Korn’s “Freak On A Leash” that just might have included the band’s own Jonathan Davis.
Danny Brown covers Korn’s ‘Freak On A Leash’ at his Red Bull SoundClash with Rico Nasty
(
: @fakeshoredrive)https://t.co/h1lDM9SfIp
— UPROXX (@UPROXX) December 16, 2021
And as far as Rico Nasty, you were already aware of her?
Yeah. I’m a fan of her shit. I love her shit.
Had you seen some of the stuff online about what they’ve been doing to Rico on the Playboi Carti tour?
Yeah, I seen it.
It really struck me as similar to what happened to Ashnikko on your tour and you handled it differently. Why do you think it was so important for you to stand up for Ashnikko in the way that maybe somebody should have stood up for Rico Nasty?
Well, for me, I can’t talk about anybody, but for me, I just fought for her to have her on the tour with me. I was a fan of her shit. And then, I knew she was going to blow up like crazy, so I knew I had a good spot where I could get her to open. I wanted her to have the best possible time she can have on the road with me. I didn’t want her to fucking have to go through things like that, but it was happening a lot. That was just the boiling point. But then, once that happened, and then that video kind of came out, then the shows was great after that. It was like people knew what was up.
But at a lot of times, it was a lot of her fans came to see her, just her. They wasn’t coming to see me. So a person doing something like that, you ruining the show for them. At the end of the day, you, they paid they money to see her. They ain’t paid they money to see me. It just happened that I’m the one bringing her out. So at the end of the day, don’t ruin the show for them. It ain’t even about her. It’s about the fans too, at the end of the day.
Had you ever performed on a set with Rico before doing this clash?
First time just meeting her literally like 10 minutes ago.
Oh wow. Really? What did you think? You guys going to be best friends?
Yeah. She’s great. You know, we vibe. We on the same wavelength. We got the same frequencies, I already could tell.
.@Rico_nastyy and @xdannyxbrownx weren’t playing when they said they would hold Chicago down at SoundClash
Who went the hardest for the city last night? pic.twitter.com/C13szk864y
— The TRiiBE (@TheTRiiBE) December 16, 2021
This is one of the first big things that I’ve seen your name on since the pandemic started. Any insight into how the last year off has maybe changed your style or changed your approach?
I mean, definitely rusty. I don’t care; you can be the best boxer in the world, you ain’t been in the ring, you got ring rust.
So there’s a little stage rust, but I’m a veteran. That’s no big deal, I’m actually happy to get out. Before, when we was just working so much, and being out all the time, it’s tiring. Just tired of traveling. Now, I miss it. All the shit that I hated, I missed it, so I’m coming back into this shit a lot more humble, for sure. No one ever knew this shit could just end like that, so definitely more appreciative of the situation.
There you go. So you are definitely going to be getting back into the album cycle soon? I’ve heard whispers.
I mean, the album been done. Just waiting on the right time.
Can we expect that next year?
Of course.
Can you tell us anything about it? Who’s on it? Who produced it?
Called Quarenta. It’s the sequel to XXX. Quarenta is 40 in Spanish. That’s the most I can get you.
Rico Nasty is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Celebrity dating rumors are in no way a new thing, but in recent years, with the advent of social media, they’ve managed to get a little out of control. Case in point: Lots of people are way too invested in the love lives of rappers like Saweetie, whom they’ve connected to an extensive list of potential beaus based on Instagram posts and trending Twitter pics since she announced her split with Quavo on Twitter in March of this year.
One of those potential suitors was Compton rapper Roddy Ricch, with whom Saweetie was photographed recently at a Lakers game. The two rappers were sitting in neighboring courtside seats, and in the usual fashion, the rumor mill quickly connected the two as fans speculated that Roddy and Saweetie were getting close. Saweetie herself shot down the speculation almost as quickly as it sprung up, joking on Twitter, “So avoid sitting next to men in public places otherwise the world assumes y’all are dating … got it.”
Today, it was Roddy’s turn to make a similar joke as he appeared on LA’s Big Boy’s Neighborhood radio show to promote his new album Live Life Fast. “For all the females out there: stop sitting by me next to the game,” he cracked. “I was sitting down first.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that either rapper’s response was able to put much of a dent in the public’s hunger for celebrity gossip; Saweetie was recently connected with Atlanta rapper Lil Baby, prompting him to reply that he’s single and Quavo to suggest a swap.
Watch Roddy’s full radio interview above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Chinese New Year will be taking place soon, and as it turns out, this year will be the “Year of the Tiger.” As you can imagine, all of the sneaker brands are gearing up for this as they will be putting together collections that bring forth some Year of the Tiger aesthetics. Every single year, Nike and Jordan Brand usually steals the show, and this year, that appears to be no different. In fact, the Air Jordan 1 Low is set to be a part of the Jumpman range for Chinese New Year, and it’s definitely got some flare.
In the official images below, you can see that the sneaker has some beige overlays, all while the upper is covered in orange and black tiger stripes. It is a truly gorgeous colorway that speaks to the essence of upcoming Holiday. This shoe is also going to be very limited, as only 5,000 pairs are expected to be made.
For now, an initial release will take place in Asia Pacific on December 30th, although you can expect a worldwide release in a couple of months from now. In the meantime, stay tuned to HNHH for all of the latest updates from around the sneaker world.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has reacquired the “Sean John” men’s fashion brand that he founded in 1998, after making the winning $7.551 million bid at an auction. Diddy Reacquires “Sean John” Clothing Brand Sean P. Diddy Combs is officially back in the fashion industry. The mogul barely beat out United Ventures LLC’s $7.50 million cash offer, […]
Heading into next year, sneakerheads are expecting Jordan Brand to step up its game to new heights. Every year, the brand seems to outdo itself with all of the Air Jordan colorways they release, and at a certain point, it becomes hard to stay innovative. Regardless, Jumpman is trying to make it happen, and over the past couple of weeks, we have been getting a ton of teasers for 2022 thanks to the Instagram sneaker insider @zsneakerheadz.
The latest shoe to be shown off is this Air Jordan 4 which is being dubbed “Canyon Purple.” Based on the photoshop rendering, the shoe is mostly made of some purple nubuck, all while the midsole is a mixture of mint green and black specks. There is even a touch of orange on the tongue which really helps offer some contrast and pronounced colors. Overall, this can definitely be considered as a unique Air Jordan 4, and as it stands, this will be a model for women only.
A Fall 2022 release date is expected although no exact details have been confirmed. With that in mind, stay tuned to HNHH as we will be sure to bring you all of the latest updates from around the sneaker world. In the meantime, let us know what you think of these, in the comments below.
