If there is one thing that has defined this NBA season, other than COVID-19, it would most certainly be injuries. It feels like every big superstar has undergone some sort of setback, and we are seeing that right now with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The injury bug has also affected the likes of Kevin Durant, who is easily one of the best players in the sport. He has missed several weeks with a hamstring injury and he hasn’t exactly been rushing back to the court. In fact, things got worse for the Brooklyn Nets, as James Harden went down with a similar injury.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Nets shouldn’t be too worried right now as it appears as though Harden’s injury is only a day-to-day injury. As for Durant, he should be back soon, as he is taking the time to make sure he is 100 percent and ready to go once he does hit the court.
As Charania noted, had this been the playoffs, Durant would have rushed back sooner but at this point in the season, there really is no point in forcing the issue and coming back sooner than what would be comfortable. Either way, this is good news for the Nets, who are looking poised for a championship run.
Stay tuned for more NBA news throughout the day, as we will be sure to bring it to you.
Earlier this week, hit TV series The Voice surprised fans by announcing that a big-name star would be joining their roster. Ariana Grande is officially replacing Nick Jonas as a judge for the series’ 21st season this fall. But that’s not the only celebrity they’ve recruited. The Voice announced that Snoop Dogg will also be joining their team to coach contestants and share his advice on how to make it in the music industry.
The rapper broke the news about his new guest role Thursday. He’ll be joining Blake Shelton, John Legend, Kelly Clarkson, and Nick Jonas as a “Mega Mentor,” or someone who offers contestants advice ahead of the Battle Rounds, the segment where two contestants go head-to-head to deliver a rendition of the same song.
In a statement, The Voice shared their excitement about Snoop joining the show, saying: “Drawing from his unique experience in navigating the music and entertainment industry as a renowned rapper, producer, and performer, Snoop Dogg will impart a new and fresh perspective to help the artists craft their performances. Coaches alone choose the winner to advance from their team. Each coach has one steal in the Knockouts.”
Snoop’s official The Voice appearance will take place on 4/19 and airs at 8 p.m. EST. Tune in here.
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.
The right voice can make even the most generic boasts sound not just convincing but compelling. That’s the lasting impression left by Rod Wave’s third studio album SoulFly after a few listens. Content-wise, the project leaves a lot to the imagination; Rod doesn’t reveal much about himself, his circumstances, or his worldview… but he sounds absolutely great singing his ghetto blues.
There’s oddly little biographical information out there about the trapsoul crooner from St. Petersburg, Florida, which would seem to run counter to the intense fervor he apparently inspires in fans. He doesn’t do interviews and he maintains a relatively low-key social media profile, mostly tweeting the sort of one-line platitudes you’d read on an office poster with a photo of a chimp in a suit.
Yet, his last album, Pray 4 Love, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with relatively little promotion from either Rod or his label. SoulFly is reportedly on track to exceed that accomplishment, even though the rollout started with Rod goading his label, threatening to withhold the project unless some kind of dispute involving his pay was sorted out. It apparently was; the rest of the rollout proceeded without a hitch, with Rod dropping two singles, “Street Runner” and “Tombstone,” before dropping the album itself.
Even the music is atypical of most chart-toppers today; aside from one feature from Polo G on the new album, Rod seemingly avoids collaborating with bigger names to expand his fanbase. To date, his highest-profile collaborators appear to be Lil Durk, Lil Baby, and Yo Gotti, the latter duo only being added to the deluxe re-release of Pray 4 Love four months later. He’s an iconoclast in a music landscape where iconoclasts — especially commercially successful ones — are quickly becoming an endangered species.
So what gives? How does a rapper who barely promotes his work, who doesn’t work with other artists, and who doesn’t dazzle with pyrotechnic displays of lyrical wizardry end up fronting the XXL Freshman cover and topping the Billboard charts? After playing back SoulFly multiple times and wrenching my critical brain for something that explains it, there’s only one possibility: That damn voice.
It’s the sort of voice honed in a Baptist pulpit, mellowed by handles of whiskey, and put through its paces by the demands of turning dry missives like “I play the game that was taught to me / I fry the beef that was brought to me” into soulful, blues-inspired croons. It’s a warm, inviting tenor, shot through with just enough vibrato to suggest emotional turmoil, along with a sprinkling of grit, like a pinch of pepper flakes in a salt shaker.
It allows him to convincingly sell hustler narratives and their resulting trauma without getting into the authentic details that you usually need to make them work. To his credit, there are enough true-life tales that undergird the framework of those narratives to hold them up, even when you scratch the surface. On “Pillz And Billz,” he details watching “my cousin smoke crack his whole fuckin’ life,” lamenting, “Fentanyl hit the street and he OD’d the same night.” There are enough truthful moments underlying the boasts that the boasts feel earned.
If these attributes don’t necessarily make Rod Wave a singular artist — his sole guest on SoulFly, Polo G, convincingly uses similar methods in his own work — Rod has the fortuitous timing to exist at a time when he can just be the artist he is, without bothering with courting the algorithms or resorting to attention-grabbing social media shenanigans.
It’s impressive that there are still artists who can do it with just a voice. While there’s not a tremendous amount of true introspection or innovation on SoulFly, there is, however, a supreme level of self-assurance and technical craftsmanship. What Rod lacks in wit he makes up in emotion, and where his stories lack detail, he imbues them with a powerful sincerity that makes them read just as truthfully, resonating as deeply as an impressionist portrait. Maybe at a time when cryptocurrency is the future and math runs just about every aspect of our day-to-day lives, what people really want — really need — is music with some soul
The last time popular investing app Robinhood was in the news, it was because a handful of Reddit users had banned together to successfully driving up the value of GameStop stocks on their platform. Now, Robinhood finds themselves in hot water over a photo they used of Ice Cube.
In a recent newsletter, Robinhood inserted a photo of the rapper along with the caption, “Correct yourself, before you wreck yourself,” an obvious play on words from his “Check Yo Self” track. According to TMZ, Ice Cube sought to sue the company because he claims the photo wasn’t authorized by him or his team.
Furthermore, someone from the rapper’s team claims that Ice Cube would “never endorse Robinhood.” In a statement given to TMZ, Ice Cube’s team made it clear that he doesn’t want anything to do with the app. In fact, Ice Cube thinks Robinhood is “antithesis of everything that [he] stands for” and even named the app “horrible.”
However, Robinhood has responded to news of Ice Cube’s lawsuit, saying that they were completely within their rights to use the photo in question. “No, we didn’t use his image without permission. The image was licensed and used for non-commercial, editorial purposes in connection with a blog article.”
The new video is directed by NLE Choppa, showing him goofing around with knives in his kitchen and doing the “Beat Box” challenge in his driveway. His lyrical content deals mostly with sexual themes, describing an encounter with a woman for a few lines before dropping some menacing bars about firing off some rounds at his opps.
At the end of the video, the teenaged rapper shows off his latest merch offerings: hoodies and t-shirts with his mugshot on them.
NLE Choppa is back home and he’s still doing his thing. Listen to his “First Day Out” freestyle below.
Quotable Lyrics:
Walk him down straight to the ground, we make sure that he don’t get up Caught a red beam and his mama tell him, “Come and pick him up” I’ma smack you with this .40, askin’ is my Glizzy tucked Only like it sloppy, she gon’ beatbox when she suckin’ me Told her, “Bring a friend” if she ever think about f*ckin’ me Touchin’ who? Touchin’ me? To God where yo’ ass gon’ be Leave him stuck and sеnd him up like he f*ckin’ with Cardi B
The running for the 10th spot in the highly-anticipated 2021 XXL Freshman Class is tight. Metro Marrs, Kevo Muney, Yung Bleu, Symba, OMB Peezy, Deante’ Hitchcock, and countless other artists are all in the running for the coveted position, but one artist whose momentum might help them secure the 10th spot is Erica Banks. Known for her viral breakout hit “Buss It” and the equally infectious “Toot That,” the Dallas, Texas-based rapper has been one of the hardest working rising rappers as of late.
At the top of March, Erica Banks unleashed a melodic freestyle over another viral hit, Mooski’s inescapable “Track Star,” and now, the Texas rapper has returned with a freestyle that pays homage to the original Queen of Rap: Lil’ Kim. For her latest E-MIX, Erica Banks bodies the instrumental to Lil’ Kim’s classic 2003 single “The Jump Off,” and you can hear the hunger and passion throughout her two-minute freestyle.
Check it out below, and let us know if you think Erica Banks deserves the 10th spot in the forthcoming XXL Freshman Class.
Quotable Lyrics
First off, checkin’ in, I ain’t never checkin’ out Every time I eat the beat, they be like: “Who you checkin’ out?” This is rap, baby, I thought this is what the check about Been the shit, I been legit, now take a pic to check me out
Australian rapper Iggy Azalea knows how to demand attention. The curvy mother of one has blown social media away with fresh pics of her modeling and showing off a new all-green hair. Iggy Azalea’s New Green Hair The international rap artist hit up Instagram with her must-like pics. The green hair shot features her rocking […]
A few weeks ago, we started hearing about NFTs for the first time. An acronym for non-fungible tokens, NFTs are the latest craze to pop off in the crypto art world. Artists including Grimes, Tory Lanez, and Azealia Banks have made millions of dollars off of the new crypto-art trend, setting off the hype to last for another few months as everyone tries to get involved.
The latest artist to express an interest in entering the NFT space is none other than Meek Mill, who wants to revolutionize his craft by releasing a full-length album as an NFT. The Philadelphia-based rapper took to Twitter to reveal that, once he’s out of his record deal, he’s going to look into the possibility of partnering with a crypto company to drop a new album as an NFT.
Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images
“I’m doing a nft album as soon as im out my deal,” he said. Already, people have been reaching out to help Meek with the lofty endeavor, including NBA star Spencer Dinwiddie, who seemingly has some money invested in the craze.
If you’re not educated on how NFTs can be beneficial in art, music, and entertainment, you might be a little late to the party. The Weeknd announced that he’s releasing a new song this weekend as an NFT. As more and more mainstream artists dabble with the trend, demand will simply continue to rise. It looks like NFTs are here to stay.
Last year, Alchemist and Boldy James came together for the collaborative album The Price Of Tea In China, a project that many hailed as one of 2020’s greatest releases. In fact, it was but one of many strong efforts to emerge from Boldy and Alc’s respective camps, and many were quick to demand a follow-up effort. Now, it would appear the time has come, as Alchemist recently confirmed that the pair are currently working on a new album — “coming soon.”
The announcement came alongside a revealing behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the Boldface, a 2019 project that preceded the release of Price Of Tea. For those who appreciate a more thorough glimpse into the studio process, the footage should prove most welcome, as it grants a glimpse into Alchemist’s routine behind the boards. Two words: records and weed. Near the end, the video showcases Alchemist in action, adding drums and bass to a hazy sample while Boldy observes from the couch.
“2019. In the studio making the Boldface EP with @boldyjames,” captions Alc, sharing a snippet of the documentary on his Instagram page. “Full video on youtube. New Boldy ALC album coming soon.” Great news to be sure, especially given their previous collaborative track record — though it’s unclear what “soon” means to Alchemist. As rap fans have learned, it can mean anything from a matter of weeks to, in the worst-case scenario, years.
In the meantime, check out the new behind-the-scenes footage below, courtesy of The Alchemist.
Wheaties is an iconic brand that has seen numerous superstar athletes grace their box. With the Supreme collab, the brand dressed the Wheaties box in purple and yellow camo, all while putting their red box logo right in the middle. It’s a superb look and it’s one that found its way onto a few merch pieces, which is what fans should expect from Supreme, at this point.
While many remain skeptical of Supreme as a whole, there is no doubt that they have a stranglehold on pop culture right now, and we can only imagine what other kinds of brands they will be working with in the not-so-distant future. The sky is the limit right now, and we can’t wait to see what else comes out of Supreme during the coming months.
In the meantime, let us know if you copped anything from the Supreme x Wheaties collection, in the comments below.
