Starz has another successful show under their belts, thanks to 50 Cent. BMF has gained similar praise to shows like Power since his made its debut this fall. The story follows the tales of Big Meech and Southwest T as they grew the Black Mafia Family into a national enterprise from their beginnings as the 50 Boyz. Lamar, this show’s main antagonist, became a fan favorite since his introduction but it was one scene in season one episode 6 that fans have been raving about.
Lamar’s eerie rendition of Loose Ends’ 1985 hit “You Can’t Stop the Rain” during the latest episode sparked a parody trend on TikTok. Hoever, YN Jay has taken a step further and created a whole song loosely inspired by the scene, aptly titled, “Lamar (You Can’t Stop The Rain).”
Check it out below.
Quotable Lyrics All you gotta do is cut his water off N***a broke as hell, can’t pay the bills Then cut his water off Bitch got some ass shots, I sit back and wonder, ‘is it hard or soft?’
Scam rap continues to thrive in many ways but only a few artists are really doing it properly. G4 Boyz have, in many ways, been at the forefront of this subgenre in the underground rap scene. Over the past few years, they’ve dropped songs like “Local Scammer” and “S.C.A.M” that practically lay out the foundations of fraud and they make it sound so good.
The New York-based duo returned with yet another banger this week alongside their UK connect G4 Choppa. They reunite for their latest offering, “Scam Likely.” Inspired by the sounds of drill dominating both NY and London, their latest record is an ode to their favorite past time and hustle.
Check out the latest song from G4 Boyz and G4 Choppa below.
Quotable Lyrics Used to get teased in class ’cause my clothes smelled like fufu and soup Now I got white girls tellin’ me ‘MM, I love jollof and stew’ My pops is a Naija boy, my mom, she came here straight from Ghana That eba and waakye made my stomach strong, I’m built for problems
Stunna 4 Vegas has been taking the DIY route in recent times to release new music. While he does have the benefit of the Billion Dollar Baby Ent. backing, he’s been releasing loose singles on YouTube that have racked up hundreds of thousands of views. This week, the rapper delivered a brand new record titled, “WTW” that many might find a change of pace. While his usual choice of production is just as rowdy as he is, this one takes on a smooth soul sample layered with rattling 808s as Stunna gets his bars off.
The latest from Stunna 4 Vegas won’t be included on his forthcoming album, tentatively titled, How I Feel, which he says is currently in the works.
Check out his latest track below.
Quotable Lyrics Had to kick down the door, get my brothers rich Fuck yo club, if we can’t get them cuttas in Big footprint, bitch, I brought them stompas in Kill my dawg if I feel that you onto shit
Leonardo DiCaprio is one of Hollywood’s most revered actors. So, when it was announced that he would be taking on the role of cult leader Jim Jones in MGM’s upcoming biopic, there were some mixed reactions. Some people were excited while others were disgusted at the idea of a movie chronicling the cult leader’s life. Most, however, mixed up the cult leader Jim Jones to the beloved Dipset member. Memes began to flood the timeline and many began choosing other white actors that could make up for the other members of the Diplomats in this imaginary biopic.
Rich Fury/Getty Images
While neither Jones nor Leonardo DiCaprio immediately responded to the jokes, the Dipset rapper eventually issued a response to the memes circulating. “I’m a have to show him how to throw up [them] gang signs,” he commented. “He gone need some gang tutoring lol,” he added before joking about their uncanny similarities.
“They said it would b Leo or Denzel I said Leo n me could pass for brothers. Don’t u see the resemblance[?] Box office shit,” he wrote. “Leo plays me in the new Jim Jones movie harlem we up.”
No word on if Leonardo DiCaprio would ever accept that role but Jim Jones (the rapper) has teased a Dipset movie. Now’s a better time than any to get Leo’s agent on the phone.
While each of Mac Miller’s six albums hit the top five in the Billboard 200 chart, it’s only his debut full-length, Blue Slide Park, that topped the chart. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this week, the album is a testament to the late rapper’s carefree, authentic persona. It shows how even though he had inner demons that tragically ended his life, he was always just a kid from Pittsburgh looking to have fun.
In concert with the album’s anniversary, Rostrum Records released a new visualizer to the track “Frick Park Market,” an ode to Miller’s local corner store that seemed to have “anything you need” on the shelves. The visual features animations by Shokka, in a colorful and psychedelic display of the store, and the personalities in its orbit, that fits the song perfectly. In fact, on the Blue Slide Park commentary, Miller even alluded to the song’s kaleidoscopic nature:
“That was the first single, that was the first thing we let people hear and I think that it really helps to represent what I’m doing with this album: how it starts out just fun and some things you’re used to hearing from me and it goes into something a little more trippy and a little more different and kinda takes you on an adventure.”
In the end, revisiting the track and hearing Miller drop lines like “I’mma feed the world you can put it on my tab / Run until my legs go numb, I don’t plan on lookin’ back,” it’s a warm reminder of his style, his disposition, and how much he’ll be missed.
Watch the visualizer for “Frick Park Market” above.
Mac Miller is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
More information emerges each hour about the tragedy that occurred at Astroworld festival where eight people died in a deadly crowd surge. Fans of Scott have called for his cancellation while the families of the victims have demanded someone be held accountable for their actions. The lawsuits have been piling on, too. The rapper has been named in over 30 lawsuits but new information regarding the venue’s liability insurance reveals that the potential judgments might ultimately put a strain on his pockets.
Image via HNHH. Photo shot by @frankievergara_
TMZ obtained NRG Park’s Certificate of Liability that was filed to the city of Houston ahead of the Astroworld Festival. Under the liability policy, the venue has insurance that totals $26M — less than the potential total of judgments that could come. The policy includes $1M in primary coverage with a $25M umbrella. However, with the number of lawsuits being filed against NRG Park, the venue would be on the hook for anything exceeding the policy limit, if there isn’t any additional coverage.
There’s nothing that has been said about Travis Scott or Live Nation’s insurance policies. However, both can be found in similar situations if the judgment is above their insurance coverage.
In related news, the FBI recently announced that they would be getting involved in the Houston Police Department’s investigation of the tragedy that occurred at Astroworld Festival on Friday.
Ausar is a promising up-and-comer from the musically rich city of Chicago, and now the rapper has been granted a tremendous opportunity to make good on his potential.
In a new video from the Next Success series (presented by Uproxx and Sprite), Ausar gets the chance to work with Quincy Banks, an established creative pro in Los Angeles. The name may not be familiar, but his work certainly is: He’s contributed key visual elements to projects by artists like Lizzo, The Rolling Stones, and Charli XCX, among plenty of others. Needless to say, having Banks on your side isn’t something that should be taken lightly.
In the clip, the two meet up for the first time and quickly get to talking about the project at hand: a new video for Ausar’s song “Homies,” breaking down the track and what they want to accomplish with the visual for it.
To learn more about the behind the scenes process between mentor and mentee check out the above video. And check out Ausar’s completed music video and a bit more on his journey by checking out our Next Success hub [hub link].
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
If you were to say at this time last year, that in less than a year, we’d be able to hold large-scale music festivals that wouldn’t be a COVID-19 super-spreader event, you might’ve sounded like a crazy person. But by and large, as we’ve learned how change our behavior to help stop the spread of COVID-19, festivals like Lollapalooza and Outside Lands were executed remarkably. Requiring proof of vaccination and implementing a system to verify said proof was a major key, and tens of thousands of people have been able to revel in the grandeur of live music outdoors once again.
On Halloween weekend at Outside Lands festival, over 70,000 people a day came out to San Francisco’s sweeping Golden Gate Park, for what was nothing short of one of the best concert weekends of the year. Fans emanated gratitude for the experience just as much as artists did.
The live music industry was hit hard and for artists, it bore a big weight not just on their livelihoods, but on their creativity as well. Things got pretty dark there for a year and a half. And now with live music and music festivals back in action, there’s a welcome freshness from musicians on stage; thriving once again and needed for so many reasons. We caught up with five performers at Outside Lands 2021 — Albert Hammond Jr., Bartees Strange, Mxmtoon, ZHU, and Rexx Life Raj — to talk about what it means to be playing live shows for massive crowds again. Tap in.
Albert Hammond Jr. – The Headliner
Adrian Spinelli
The Strokes took a solid victory lap around the festival circuit this year, playing III Points Fest in Miami, Atlanta’s Shaky Knees, and even making a headlining stop at The Forum in Los Angeles before the band’s Friday night closing set at Outside Lands. Albert Hammond Jr. has been behind some of the most iconic riffs of the past 20 years and he most recently put out his fourth solo album, Francis Trouble in 2018. But in San Francisco, he was here to put it down with The Strokes, all while relishing in the launch of his sneaky delightful wine seltzer, Jetway.
“Just gathering with people is very important to being a human being. But even besides me, where my career is playing live music and recording, I can see it in people that they want to be around other people. People want to f*ck, man! [laughs] I’m kidding obviously, but I mean that in how people want to interact… It’s a very human thing. And If we’re just home, things start to fall apart.”
Bartees Strange – A Big Realization
Adrian Spinelli
Washington D.C.-based indie rocker Bartees Strange’s career is on the up. His 2020 album Live Forever proved to be a critically-acclaimed breakout hit and its surging artists like him who relish in the number of people at a music festival who are witnessing him and his music for the first time. He delivered one of the most inspired and positively-charged performances of the weekend on the Sutro Stage, and being back out on stage and playing to big festival crowds helped him re-focus on why he makes music to begin with.
“For the last 15 years, I’ve just been playing music and playing shows. And then all of a sudden it just went away. But I kept writing… but then I kinda forgot why? I was like ‘No one is ever gonna hear this?!’ And then I had to remember that I was always writing for myself anyways. And I found a lot of peace in that. And now that I’ve come back out and I’m playing to bigger crowds, it’s exciting to watch everybody react to the music, and I feel really good about being happy with myself. It’s a beautiful thing to come to realize, at a point where I don’t think I would’ve ever had that realization if things wouldn’t have stopped. So it’s been really amazing to be in front of people and to be perceived, and I feel very solid, which is nice.”
Mxmtoon – From The Bedroom To The Big Stage… Finally
Adrian Spinelli
Mxmtoon not only built her music from her bedroom, but she also built a massive fanbase. The Oakland native has close to a billion Spotify streams across all of her quaint folk-pop songs and is a TikTok sensation with more than 2 million followers. She launched a pop culture-friendly history podcast called 365 days with Mxmtoon, where she’s had guests on like Carly Rae Jepsen, Jon Batiste, and Julien Baker. And this past September, she put out the True Colors EPin conjunction with the Life Is Strange adventure game series. Suffice it to say, the 21-year-old had a lot of material to share on stage and she said that being back at a festival in her backyard means “everything” to her.
“I started making music by myself in my room and I think to have an opportunity to bring the pieces of work that I’ve been making for the last three years really, to a live stage and just play it to an audience that’s so close to my heart in the Bay Area? It’s so cool and something I’ve been waiting to do for years at this point. And I can’t really believe that it’s actually happening, it feels really surreal. I can only hope to keep having experiences like this and hopefully for people to see that there is a light at the tunnel through all of this and that live shows are back and hopefully here to stay.”
Rexx Life Raj – The Hometown Rapper Back Where He Belongs
Philip Cosores
Few people made an entrance at Outside Lands quite like the gregarious and gigantic Rexx Life Raj. On Halloween afternoon, he came out mounting a literal T-Rex, clad in a Jurassic Park-style safari vest that his whole team on stage was also wearing. It was not only a testament to his larger-than-life persona, but also to the team mentality that Bay Area hip-hop is founded on. In true Bay Area fashion, the man knows how to relax, and after his set, sipped an Aperol Spritz (at the branded “Aperol Piazza,” of course) and reflected on not just being back on stage, but doing so to a hometown crowd.
“It literally feels insane, but insane in a good way. I knew I missed it, but I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I was on stage and was like, ‘This is where I’m supposed to be.’ And just being around this many people? I haven’t been around this many people in a year and a half, two years even. it just feels good to be at home here and see friends and family, and just to be able to perform is really tight.”
ZHU – The Electronic Music Heavyweight
Wilson Lee
Living in the shadows has always been a part of ZHU’s persona. The electronic producer and multi-instrumentalist initially came up as a mystical figure in EDM with an unknown identity. He’s since stepped out from behind the curtain to become one of the most crucial voices for Asian-Americans in electronic music, and released the excellent Dreamland 2021 this year. A San Francisco native, he headlined the Twin Peaks Stage on Saturday night following his fellow SF-er 24KGoldn’s performance. The pair would perform their hit “I Admit It” together at the festival and for someone who plays electronic festivals all over the world, a return to the normalcy of being back on the road and on stage was beginning to set in.
“I think that it was a transitional period for all of us. For me, it really didn’t hit until even last week when I was in Miami playing to 10,000+ kids and for the first time, I had the realization that we’re really back. It’s not a minimal capacity. People were ready and it’s great for the culture.”
The most wonderful time of year is quickly approaching, and this season, one lucky Elf fan will get to celebrate the holidays the right way – dressed in full, original Buddy the Elf regalia, right down to his silly little shoes. According to TMZ, the famous film costume just fetched nearly $300,000 at a Hollywood memorabilia auction.
The sale is being hosted by Prop Store, as they’re currently in the midst of selling some of the most iconic film and TV props that have ever graced the big (and small) screen. Ferrell’s outfit was expected to fetch an estimated $27,600 – $41,000, but wound up beating projections by a landslide. The winning bidder paid a whopping $296,702.66 to take home the prize.
If that number doesn’t have you gasping in horror, wait until you hear how much someone paid for the Wilson volleyball used in Castaway, starring Tom Hanks – $388,750. Talk about big spender!
Other amazing pieces listed include Freddy Kruger’s razor finger glove from A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Michael Myers’ mask from Halloween: Resurrection, Val Kilmer’s Batman Forever costume from 1995, a Gryffindor robe from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, as well as Toby Maguire’s production made Spider-Man 3 costume that dates back to 2007.
One thousand unique items are a part of Prop Store’s auction, which, rumour has it, could bring in an estimated $7,600,000. If everything included sells for higher than anticipated like Buddy’s costume did, it won’t take long for that goal to be reached.
Speaking of Elf, we recently shared a story explaining why Ferrell turned down a $29 million pay check to make a sequel, which you can read here.
