Alchemist Talks Earl Sweatshirt Chemistry & Action Bronson’s Pen Game

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The Alchemist has been enjoying an incredible run, having laced impressive projects alongside Armand Hammer, Conway The Machine, Freddie Gibbs, and Boldy James — not to mention his own immersive musical narrative Carry The Fire. Now, with his upcoming EP This Thing Of Ours (which features Earl Sweatshirt, Navy Blue and more), Alchemist took a moment to catch up with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 radio.

Off the bat, he opens up about Earl’s unique artistry, deeming the poetic young lyricist to be his unofficial “A&R.” “Earl is like my brother, basically,” says Alc, crediting Earl for helping This Thing Of Ours come together. “We do so much music together. He’s also kind of like an A&R for me. His ear is immaculate. Armand Hammer record I did earlier this year came through Earl just sitting here playing stuff. So I felt like most of the characters on [This Thing Of Ours]were people that were coming over regularly to the studio and just kind of we were just making records in the off time. I felt like, “Wow, this just kind of feels like something new, but it’s familiar, and Earl’s kind of the copilot.”

“He reads books and he’s putting me on to stuff all the time,” explains Al. “I’m however many years older than him, but he’s always showing me things, and he’ll go from an MOP record to a RX Poppy record, which is a new guy he put me up on. His span is incredible. And I feel like, I don’t know if that’s what sets him apart, but it definitely makes him unique.”

Earl Sweatshirt

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He also reflects on another of his longtime collaborators, Action Bronson, who is currently in the midst of undergoing one of the most impressive body transformations hip-hop has ever seen — among other key developments. “Shout out to my brother Action Bronson,” praises Alc. “That transformation is unbelievable, man. I’m so proud of him. This is his third book already. Talk about an overachiever man. He does it all and then some and just seeing him get healthy and fit, I didn’t see that coming. You know, I actually haven’t seen him in person. We talk all the time on FaceTime, but it’s been a while. So I’m just so proud of him, and his music lately too. I don’t want to spill the beans, but the pen is back in order. So stay tuned.”

As for what else he has in store, Alc teases an upcoming album with Boldy James, as well as a few mysterious collaborations that shall remain shrouded in secret. “I have one that’s bucket list that I always wanted to do basically my whole career,” he reveals. “That’s going down this year, too. So I can’t wait.”

For more from Alchemist, check out his recent single “Loose Change,” featuring Earl Sweatshirt, right here.

LISTEN: Alchemist & Earl Sweatshirt – Loose Change

Dr. Fauci Responds After Joe Rogan Offers Vaccine Advice

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It seems that every week, the internet is giving another headache for Spotify to deal with following hot takes from Joe Rogan. The podcast host can sometimes offer incredible insight but a recent clip that’s made the rounds probably wouldn’t convince you of that. Conspiracy theories on COVID-19 have been a topic of discussion on numerous occasions on his show, as have vaccines. In a recent episode, he said that he wouldn’t advise young people in their 20s who are healthy to get innoculated, saying, “I don’t think you need to worry about it.”


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Dr. Anthony Fauci responded to the comments on NBC Today where he described Rogan’s comments as selfish. “You’re talking about yourself in a vacuum,” said Fauci. “You’re worried about yourself getting infected in the likelihood that you’re not going to get any symptoms but you can get infected and will get infected if you do put yourself at risk.”

Fauci continued to explain that even those who are asymptomatic can still spread the virus to others who might be more at-risk than others. “So if you only want to worry about yourself and not society then that’s okay but if you’re saying to yourself, ‘Even if get infected, I could do damage to somebody else, even if I have no symptoms at all.’ And that’s the reason why you gotta be careful and get the vaccine,” concluded Fauci.

Check out Fauci’s clip below. 

Study Suggests Hip-Hop Music Benefits Surgeons In The Operating Room

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A new research study from German educational institution Heidelberg University Medical School reveals that in addition to Hip-Hop being a genre that regularly dominates the Billboard charts, it also has positive effects on surgeons in the operating room.

According to HipHopDX, the study looked into the effects of surgeons listening to different genres such as Hip-Hop, classical, rock, and mixed radio music, and the team of researchers found that both Hip-Hop and classical music came out as winning soundtracks that influenced surgeons to be more efficient.

Dr. Joseph Varon, left, medical staff members Gabriel Cervera Rodriguez, center back, Stephanie, center front, and Elizabeth Gamboa, right, watch a monitor screen for an endoscope while performing tracheostomy procedure on a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at the United Memorial Medical Center on December 14, 2020 in Houston, Texas.
Go Nakamura/Getty Images

Fabian Riedel, the lead researcher in the study, said, “Our findings suggest that certain genres of music may have benefits for students during surgical training, which could make the process more efficient.”

According to HipHopDX, the study consisted of 82 medical students being monitored as they performed keyhole surgery, a surgical procedure that involves accessing the inside of the abdomen and pelvis without making large incisions in the skin. The results reportedly showed that students who listened to music at a constant sound level of 70 decibels performed better than those who didn’t listen to any music at all.

With Heidelberg University Medical School’s new study, it appears that Hip-Hop’s reach has expanded once again, so don’t be surprised if you see a boost in doctor-related rap songs like Lil Wayne‘s classic Tha Carter III cut “Dr. Carter.”

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Conway Announces “Love Will Get You Killed” Tour Dates

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With artists once again looking toward the possibility of hitting the road and touring, it’s no wonder that many of the game’s heavy hitters are eager to make up for lost ground. In the case of Conway The Machine, who has been thoroughly prolific throughout the pandemic with Lulu, two Big Ghost LTD collab albums, From King To A God and La Maquina, it means there’s a wealth of new material ready for the road. 

Today, Conway announced the Love Will Get You Killed tour, which will kick off on Wednesday, September 8th before winding to a close on Tuesday, October 19th. Machine, opener Stove God Cooks, and the rest of his DrumWork family will hit a string of seventeen venues across various U.S cities; alas, Canadian fans will have to wait a little longer for The Machine to set his sights on the North. 

Conway The Machine

 Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

“It’s MY turn now!!” captions Conway, sharing the complete string of dates on his Instagram page. “I’m back on road and it feels amazing!!, this time I’m wit my dawg @godcooks and all my @drumworkmusic family. I got some other special guests pullin up, I got exclusive merch, this the tour u don’t wanna miss!!! Comin to a city near you!! Get ya tickets and ya drip ready TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY!!!”

Given the fact that he’s set to hit the road in September, some have concluded that his Shady Records debut God Don’t Make Mistakes will be released prior, which would give him an additional dose of momentum moving into his first solo tour. Fans of The Machine would be wise to keep an eye out for tickets when they go on sale this Friday.  

Top Dawg’s Cryptic ‘Wait’ Tweet Has Fans Convinced Kendrick Lamar’s Album Is Dropping Soon

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When TDE CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith tweeted “THE WAIT IS OVAH!!!” with a video showing a release date of May 7, he set Twitter ablaze with speculation about just which TDE-instigated “wait” would be concluding next week. A resounding consensus has emerged favoring Kendrick Lamar — who last released a full-length album in 2017 — making “Kendrick” one of the top trends on Twitter just an hour after the tweet.

However, some were skeptical about the possibility that it’d be the Compton rapper, as TDE has had follow-ups for a handful of projects in the works, including Isaiah Rashad’s 2016 album The Sun’s Tirade and SZA’s 2017 debut CTRL, which were both critically acclaimed fan favorites.

Meanwhile, some seemed resigned to the possibility that it might not be any of the “big three,” considering the label’s gift for constantly upending expectations. A few fans seemed less excited, skeptically preparing themselves for May 7 bringing disappointment instead.

One thing seems to remain certain: Even without revealing a single detail about whatever is coming on May 7, TDE’s roster collectively has enough pull to dominate the discussion, meaning that whenever any of the speculated albums actually do release — whether that’s in May or another time entirely — they’ll surely be able to capture fans’ attention all over again.

Topaz Jones Is A Funky Historian On The Lush ‘Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma’

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Getty Image/Ralph Ordaz

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

On his new album Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma, New Jersey rapper Topaz Jones tries to address some heavy questions. Five years removed from his solitary 2016 hit “Tropicana,” Jones pondered the implications of possibly having a platform with no substance; that isn’t to say that he didn’t have an interesting story to tell, he just had to figure out how to tell it.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said, “Now that I have a platform to tell my story, [I had] to really reckon with, well, ‘What is my story? What made me the person I am? What things about myself come from me directly? What things are passed down from my relatives? What’s my generational trauma?’ That was a whole lot of shit to balance out.”

Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma is the result of that introspection, and the method by which Jones ultimately resolved how to best answer those questions: A short film of the same name, detailing his upbringing in Montclair, New Jersey, combining magic realism, documentary, and even edutainment television to place his life in historical, familial, and cultural contexts.

The album, sprinkled with audio clips from the film in which his family members recount beloved anecdotes and dynastic legends, spins out of those ideas to verbally expound Jones’ thoughts on subjects like love, legacy, history, racism, hustling, and dreaming of a better life. Over the 13 whimsical, groovy, lush, and occasionally disorienting tracks, he doesn’t necessarily find all the answers, but then again, this was always more of a “finding yourself in the journey” proposition anyway.

Production-wise, Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma is something of a masterpiece. It’s rare that any artist puts so much thought into instrumentation and expansive genre exploration — especially with how much territory technology has opened up. Jones charts paths through spacey grooves on “Baba 70s,” “Gold,” and “Blue,” incites some hip-wiggling on the dancey “Amphetamines” and “Herringbone,” and stank faces his way through a thicket of throwback, funky hip-hop on “Who?” with Maxo and Phonte Coleman and album closer “Buggin’.”

The live instrumentation evokes smokey lounges, and darkened basement parties from the 1970s, only more timeless. Musically, the technique reinforces the lyrical links Jones traces throughout his family history and nostalgic narratives. The exquisite soundscapes could easily overwhelm a less adept lyricist, but Jones has clearly been using the time since his 2016 album Arcade to sharpen his pen game.

On “Buggin’,” Jones deftly details a twitchy tableau that could just as easily be a scene set in any hood in America, threading a neat metaphorical connection to insects throughout the narrative the way an auteur might draw the eye to a physical placeholder for a conceptual thought — as only befits a rapper turned director turned back to rapper, explaining his vision with dense wordplay and scintillating twists of the tongue.

Likewise, Topaz lets the syllables spill over each other in his verses on “Mirror,” a self-effacing reintroduction to both longtime listeners and potential new fans that highlights his polished gift for both setting a scene and impressing with dazzling displays of verbose wit. On “Herringbone,” he describes a family reunion in such charming, achingly familiar terms, you might be able to taste the collard greens and smell the macaroni baking in the oven.

Throughout the album, the rhymes sit so snugly within the pockets of the soulful beats that listening becomes nearly interactive; Topaz invites you in, and rewards your interest in every unexpected turn of phrase and tempo change. The tales he tells are personal but relatable; he could just as easily be telling any listener’s story, or that of a cousin, brother, or neighbor at a family reunion, recounting the events of the spell since the last get-together.

And that’s really the answer, told both through the film and the album. Our experiences are universal because the same things move us. The same things are important to us. We can put ourselves in Topaz’s shoes just as easily as he can put himself in ours; the same holds true across generations, geography, and any other line we can draw between ourselves and anyone else. Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma is a story about the stories we tell each other and ourselves, the ones that are told to us, and the ones that tell us who we are.

Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma is out now via New Funk Academy / Black Canopy. Get it here.

50 Cent Lights Up “Old Hater” Dr. J For LeBron James Diss

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50 Cent Cuban Link Ski Masks 2

New York rapper 50 Cent isn’t staying quiet. The G-Unit boss has come forward to speak up for NBA superstar LeBron James not having proper respect placed on his name by retired league icon Julius “Dr. J” Erving. 50 Cent Lights Up Dr. J Over LeBron James Fifty went to his Instagram page to share […]

The post 50 Cent Lights Up “Old Hater” Dr. J For LeBron James Diss appeared first on SOHH.com.

Drake’s Chrome Hearts Customized Rolls Royce Will Be On Display In Miami

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If you don’t know by now, Drake’s a big fan of Chrome Hearts. In the past week or so, the rapper’s been heavily teasing his Certified Lover Boy x Chrome Hearts collaboration on his IG story and it seems his wealthy influencer friends are getting dibs on the first batch. However, the working relationship between the hip-hop heavyweight and the luxury brand also includes a customized Rolls Royce that fans will be able to check out next month.


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A 2020 Rolls Royce Cullinan that was designed in collaboration with Drake and Chrome Hearts will be available for public viewing at The Institute of Contemporary Art Museum’s sculpture garden in Miami starting on May 1st until May 15th by appointment only. The car was customized by Masonry with the design done by Richard Stark with Drizzy adding some final touches.

An interactive website launch along with the announcement allowing fans to get a better look at the vehicle with Drake’s “What’s Next” soundtracking the virtual experience. It seems that this could’ve been the same Cullinan that he was seen in during the music video for the Scary Hours II single. 

Meanwhile, fans are anticipating the release of Drake’s upcoming project. The last update he provided was in early March on SiriusXM’s Sound42 where he said that he’s currently working on it but assured fans it could be coming soon.