We’ve already reported on Atlanta rapper Omeretta’s response to being left off of the remix, which she previously previewed to her growing fanbase. She was one of the fan-favorite picks to tack onto the remix, but she was ultimately left out. In addition to people singing Omeretta’s praises following the addition of Megan Thee Stallion to the official remix, a number of folks have been backing up Mulatto too, who they believe would have made more sense on the song. In fact, Mulatto’s name was trending on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon with thousands thinking she could have shined on the track.
What do you think about the new remix? Does Megan sound right on the song or do you think Omeretta or Mulatto would have been a better feature? Let us know in the comments and check out what people are saying below.
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 Mama, 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 Mama 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 Mama 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 Mama 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.
Top Dawg Entertainment is well-known for esoteric rollouts which include blacked-out profile pics and surprise single releases, but it’s been a while since we’ve heard from the West Coast-based label home of Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, and SZA. Today, the Top Dawg himself, TDE CEO Anthony Tiffith, broke the silence, tweeting out a mysterious release date reveal with a triumphant caption. “THE WAIT IS OVAH!!!!” he wrote, while a video displayed a simulated loading screen with a progress bar that rapidly reaches the 99% mark before resolving into a simple “5/7/21.”
In typical TDE fashion, though, this leaves us with more questions than answers. What is the label planning? Which member of the roster warrants such excitement from the head honcho? It’s been a while since most of the marquee stars of TDE last released full-length projects; fans have been anxiously awaiting updates from Ab-Soul (who last released Do What Thou Wilt. in 2016), Isaiah Rashad (The Sun’s Tirade, 2016), Kendrick Lamar (DAMN., 2017) and SZA (CTRL, 2017). That’s not counting Jay Rock, whose last album dropped in 2018, Schoolboy Q, who last released in 2019, or group efforts like Black Hippy or the collaborative project Reason and Jay Rock hinted at in 2019.
For now, it looks like we’ll just have to wait to see if the label plans to release more information before next Friday or stay glued to their social channels to find out who it is. Check out Top Dawg’s tweet above.
West Coast rapper Lil Mosey is simmering down the Internet days after people believed he fled from a court appearance in a rape case. The rap star has officially pleaded not guilty to a second-degree rape charge. Lil Mosey’s Fighting For His Life According to reports, Lil Mosey a.k.a Lathan Moses Echols didn’t realize he […]
Today, Interscope’s rising star Morray has come through with his debut mixtape Street Sermons, a thirteen-track effort featuring many of his recently-released singles. In honor of the big drop, Morray has delivered yet another new video for “Can’t Use Me,” a soulful guitar-driven track that serves as the perfect backdrop for the rapper’s soulful and passionate vocals.
In an era where many rappers ring closer to melodist than emcee, Morray toes the line effectively, boasting a powerful voice honed from years in the church choir. Not only does “Can’t Use Me” highlight his vocal chops, but also his flow, which easily stands as one of the deadliest tools in his arsenal. There’s a fluidity that speaks to his ear for precision, and he has yet to meet an instrumental he can’t body with calculated grace. It’s no wonder Interscope appear to be throwing their considerable weight behind the talent, who has already earned co-signs from J. Cole, DaBaby, Rick Ross, JAY-Z, and more.
For more from Morray, be sure to check out his debut mixtape Street Sermons right here. If that’s not enough, check out an exclusive clip from Morray’s upcoming “Up Next” interview with Apple Music, during which he discusses following in J. Cole’s footsteps.
QUOTABLE LYRICS
Sad when the grown men who act like the groupies I can feel these ni**as hating Tummy ache because they snaking Crawling on their belly, undercut for information Man, these ni**as super different They gon’ make me come and shake ’em
Ever since their debut album SEPT 5TH and their major guest appearance on Drake‘s gargantuan fourth studio album Views, dvsn has consistently been one of the most impressive R&B acts in the music industry. Most recently, the producer-singer duo delivered their sound-expanding junior studio album A Muse In Her Feelings, which featured an impressive assortment of guest artists, including PARTYNEXTDOOR, Future, Jessie Reyez, Popcaan, Ty Dolla $ign, and several others.
Now, dvsn has formed a connection between two of the music industry’s most notable R&B camps: Drake’s OVO Sound and LVRN, the home to 6lack, Summer Walker, BRS Kash, and Shelley FKA DRAM.
According to a press release provided by LVRN, the Toronto-based R&B duo consisting of producer Nineteen85 and vocalist Daniel Daley has officially joined the management arm of the Atlanta-based label, management, and all-around multimedia company Love Renaissance (LVRN).
When touching on their new management signing with LVRN, dvsn said, “We plan to change the climate of R&B…So we had to get the team that we know can help us get that done.” The duo has further elaborated on the announcement on Instagram by sharing a black-and-white video of an in-studio meeting between dvsn and LVRN executives like Justice Baiden, and for the caption, they wrote, “One of those days for you to remember in the story…”
Congratulations to dvsn on their new management deal with LVRN! Stay tuned to see what comes out of this exciting new partnership.
Here’s your daily reminder to pay off your taxes… There are constantly reports breaking about Ja Rule’s seemingly endless battle against the IRS for his alleged back taxes. One report from 2018 even suggested that the rapper hadn’t paid a cent in taxes for an entire decade. According to the latest update in the war between Uncle Sam and Ja Rule, it’s being reported that the rapper, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, and his wife, Aisha Atkins, have been sued by the IRS for $3 million in alleged tax debt.
If you don’t pay your taxes, the government will likely come cracking down on you. Ja Rule knows that potentially better than anybody else. His tax issues have been well-documented over the years and in an update from this week, it’s reported that Ja Rule and his wife are being sued for refusing to hand over $3 million in back taxes.
Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images
The report stems from RadarOnline, which breaks down the amount he owes for each year since 2005. “The government says the two owe a total of $3,139,237.76,” wrote the publication. “The breakdown is $357,421.23 (2005), $518,700.88 (2006), $348,087.49 (2007) $267,193 (2008), $198,817.99 (2009), $47,901.53 (2010), $128,926.37 (2012), $116,720.65 (2013), $229,577.62 (2014), $212,270.42 (2015), $526,431.46 (2016) and $187,188.52 (2017).”
Though they appear to have emerged from the blue, it would appear that NFTs aren’t going anywhere — and as such, the rap game has embraced them with open arms. Artists like Eminem, A$AP Rocky, Curren$y, and more have already hopped on board, and the legendary DJ Premier has officially stepped up with an NFT of his own.
Today, Primo will be auctioning his Golden Era Future NFT, beginning at 1:30 pm EST on Nifty Gateway. Created in partnership with artist collective Animus, Golden Era Future will feature nine instrumental tracks from the producer, which arrive complete with accompanying visuals inspired by the music.
Brad Barket/Getty Images
“I will always show up and show out to rep the art of the DJ, and this is one of the most personal projects I’ve ever been a part of” explains Premier, speaking on his latest development. “I’m looking forward to showing what we’ve been working on for my very first NFT drop. A collection of beats I’ve never released before with visual arts that speaks to my trajectory.”
Speaking on their partnership with DJ Premier, Animus Founder JN Silva opened up about the creative process. “We made sure to pay homage to DJ Premier’s incomparable career in hip-hop and honor his legacy through the visuals,” he explains. “Preem gave us nine beats that show his undeniable range production-wise, and every piece speaks to his life and legacy.”
It should be interesting to see how Primo’s foray into the NFT space plays out, though we can only hope this instrumental album ultimately ends up seeing the light of day. After all, hearing such a personal project from one of rap’s greatest beatmakers of all time would certainly be welcomed by any self-respecting hip-hop head.
With the auction set to kick off at 1:30 PM EST, interested parties can head over to Nifty Gateway to participate right here.
Grammy-winning rapper T.I. is going back in time. The King of the South has shared his thoughts about the recent deaths of hip-hop veterans and specifically the legacy of late Digital Underground leader Shock G. T.I. Shares Deep Thoughts Tip went to his Instagram page this week to reflect on Shock G. The Georgia native […]
