21 Savage may be best-known for his Slaughter Gang crew title and dead-eyed, murderous bars, but on Instagram, he’s been known to show his sensitive side, crooning along to ’90s and 2000s R&B hits to the delight of his fans. Likewise, OT Genasis hit it big with his love of the “Coco,” but experienced a resurgence in popularity recently when he covered Keyshia Cole’s hit “Love” and turned it into a Crip anthem. Now, the Long Beach native is challenging 21 for the “King Of R&B” crown with a tongue-in-cheek post covering another R&B classic.
Singing Mariah Carey’s 1995 hit “Always Be My Baby,” Genasis captioned his teasing post by declaring himself “King Of R&B” with an emphatic “period, pooh!” He capped the challenge by tagging 21 Savage, writing “U don’t want no smoke.” The comments were filled with verified accounts declaring their allegiance to one or the other, including Joe Budden, Snoop Dogg, and even Tamar Braxton, who rather than choosing sides, heckled OT with, “At least u singing the queen.”
With hit battles in full swing on Instagram Live, a direct sing-off between 21 Savage and OT Genasis has the potential to be immensely entertaining as both seem to have similar senses of humor, not taking themselves too seriously even though they’re better known for mean-mugging and menacing their way through their gritty catalogs. Someone get Swizz to set this one up.
New Zealand indie-rockers The Beths spent the last year and a half touring the world to devoted fans and opening for the likes of The Pixies and Death Cab For Cutie. Following the arduous period, the quartet reflected on their nomadic life, regrouped, and wrote an album: The Beths announced their sophomore record Jump Rope Gazers with the spirited lead single “Dying To Believe.”
According to a statement, Jump Rope Gazers “tackles themes of anxiety and self-doubt with effervescent power-pop choruses and rousing backup vocals, zeroing in on the commonality and catharsis that can come from sharing stressful situations with some of your best friends.” The recent track is woven with the same themes, as vocalist Elizabeth Stokes reckons with the distance that inevitably comes between friends as life passes by. “I’m sorry for the way that I can’t hold conversations / They’re such a fragile thing to try to support the weight of,” Stokes sings.
Listen to “Dying To Believe” above. Below, find The Beths’ Jump Rope Gazers cover art, tracklist, as well as the band’s upcoming tour dates.
Carpark Records
1. “I’m Not Getting Excited”
2. “Dying To Believe”
3. “Jump Rope Gazers”
4. “Acrid”
5. “Do You Want Me Now”
6. “Out Of Sight”
7. “Don’t Go Away”
8. “Mars, The God Of War”
9. “You Are A Beam Of Light”
10. “Just Shy Of Sure”
When George Lucas appeared at Star Wars Celebration in 2017, he gave a necessary reminder to the thousands-strong crowd: much like the Wu-Tang Clan, Star Wars is for the children. “It’s a film for 12-year-olds. This is what we stand for,” he said. “You’re about to enter the real world. You’re moving away from your parents. You’re probably scared, you don’t know what’s going to happen. Here’s what you should pay attention to: Friendships, honesty, trust, doing the right thing. Living on the light side, avoiding the dark side.” Also, death sticks. Stay away from death sticks.
Star Wars as kid-friendly entertainment is one of the reasons why Ahmed Best, who played the much-maligned Jar Jar Binks in the prequels, agreed to host the Disney+ series Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge. Think: Legends of the Hidden Temple in a galaxy far, far away. “[Kids have] always given me the feedback and the positivity that I always looked for,” he recently told interviewer Jamie Stangroom. When I was Jar Jar, I would always get great responses from kids and I really wanted to, not just continue that, but give back to the kids. I wanted to give them something else, because Star Wars has since skewed older and there isn’t very much for the kids anymore in Star Wars.”
In the post-Lucas era, Best believes Star Wars has gotten too adult.
“It’s very much for the millennials and gen-Xers like myself…so kids are kind of left out of these, and the kids have to go to the animated series in order to get their dose of Star Wars, or they do like Phantom Menace. Phantom Menace is very much a kids movie. The new iterations of Star Wars are not really skewed towards kids, which is not something that George ever really wanted to do. George was always about the kids, and he used to say that if you get the kids, you have fans for the next 20 years; he was very much about kids. This idea that the movies are for adults is a very new thing, to be honest.”
Best’s point can be picked apart (how kid-friendly is talk of trade disputes?), but to be fair, I thought this was the funnest sh*t ever, pun intended, when I was nine years old.
During these times of social distancing, people around the world have expressed their gratitude for those who put themselves at risk in order to try to curb this coronavirus pandemic: healthcare workers. Britney Spears is one of the latest to offer her thanks, and she did so with a partial re-write of one of her classic songs.
Spears shared a drawing (by Venezuelan illustrator Patricia Urrutia) of herself from her classic “…Baby One More Time” video, holding up a bottle of Purell hand sanitizer and with the text, “My loneliness is killing me saving me!” Spears wrote alongside the post, “Enough said, and thank you to all of the healthcare workers tirelessly working to keep us safe during this time !!!!”
She also recently took to Twitter to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her hit “Oops!… I Did It Again,” which was originally released on March 27, 2000. Spears shared a photo from on set and wrote, “Oops!…how did 20 years go by so fast?! I can’t believe it. I remember that red suit was so freaking hot … but the dance was fun and it made the shoot fly by !!! You have all shown so much support for this song & I thank you for it … sending love to you all!!”
Oops!…how did 20 years go by so fast ?! I can’t believe it. I remember that red suit was so freaking hot … but the dance was fun and it made the shoot fly by !!! You have all shown so much support for this song & I thank you for it … sending love to you all !! pic.twitter.com/E09TuZXld7
Previously on AEW Dark: The first matches in round one of the TNT Championship Tournament were announced, Preston Vance solidified himself as AEW’s Brendan Vink, and Jon Moxley met AEW’s next breakout star, Faboo Andre.
As a reminder and disclaimer, I think it’s great that AEW’s using Dark to give out-of-work indie wrestlers a spotlight and a payday, and the “Jobbers of the Week” gimmick is just a borrowed gag from the WWF Superstars column. Not an insult. Jobbers are the best.
You can watch the latest episode of AEW Dark here:
YouTube
Jobbers Of The Week
AEW
Up first this week is Lee Johnson, who sadly goes one-on-one with his trainer, QT Marshall, instead of debuting as a tag team called LEE MARSHALL. I want them using 1-800-COLLECT to call in and let AEW know they can’t wrestle tonight, because they’re already in the next town. They should also refuse to stop calling Excalibur a “weasel,” whether it makes sense or not.
If you’ve seen a trainer vs. student match at your local wrestling school, this is basically it. Marshall gets to look way better than he’s ever looked in an AEW ring (because he’s 100% in charge of what’s going on), and Johnson’s got some good athleticism, but is clearly nervous and rushing. It’s normal. QT wins, of course, but not before getting busted open when Johnson’s elbow catches him in the cheek during a speed-run of the Lethal Combination.
AEW
Kip Sabian main-events the show against Tony Donati, who looks like Adrian Neville had a baby with Bo Dallas when they were both in NXT. The fact that he’s wearing hot pink tights and tells the camera he’s the, “toughest wrestler around,” makes me believe he could’ve walked into All Elite Wrestling straight from a WCW Saturday Night taping.
Three notes:
Whoever is assigning these AEW Dark jobber themes is punching above their weight right now. Faboo’s theme killed it last week, and this week Donati’s entering to a song that’s either a pop banger from the early 1960s or a Foster the People B-side.
Sabian still needs Penelope Ford interference to win a match against Tony Donati, a guy we’ve never seen or heard of who doesn’t even have a Twitter handle to put on his title card. Wanting to do “heel things” in matches shouldn’t be at the expense of making you look even mildly competent. Have Ford interfere when he’s wrestling Darby Allin, sure, but if the man can’t beat a guy Tony Schiavone could’ve taken to the wood shed, that not good heel work, that’s sad
Jimmy Havoc sits in on commentary for the match and sounds like Nigel McGuinness just got back from the dentist. I also love that he mentions how he and Sabian live together, which doesn’t do Sabian’s character’s “bad boy” image any favors — would you have thought Ric Flair was that cool if you found out the Horsemen were splitting rent four ways on a two-bedroom apartment? — but DOES make me want to see a Being The Elite spinoff that’s just, like, Sabian forgetting to Venmo his half of the cable bill and Havoc getting mad and stapling it to his forehead.
AEW
mlady
Finally (because this entire episode is only 18 minutes long, which will probably be the norm going forward until the pandemic’s over and the state’s not locked down), here’s Ryan Pyles on his way to get eaten for breakfast by WARDLOW & ASSOCIATES.
The match is just that Brock Lesnar and Kofi Kingston WWE Championship match from the first Smackdown on Fox — Pyles runs at Wardlow, Wardlow scoops him up, hits an F-5, and pins him — only about 12 seconds longer. That’s such a sad thing to type, isn’t it? Pyles, who didn’t even get to break out his finishing hold which I assume is the PYLES DRIVER, gets thrown so awkwardly by Wardlow that his upper body doesn’t even make contact with the mat. He lands on the side of his ankles, ends up on his knees, and has to like, bend over and pretend there was impact.
Here it is in slow motion GIF form. That’s what happens when you think you’re a bad-ass and don’t guide your opponent to the mat so the bump’s safe and clean, and/or your opponent’s not experienced enough to know how to salvage it on the way down. Sometimes you throw them at your own back. This poor guy could’ve had his knees DESTROYED on this, and it wouldn’t have even looked good. Here’s Brock Lesnar doing the same version, if you wanna compare and contrast. Not that it’s fair to compare Brock Lesnar to Wardlow. Brock spins a bunch, but he’s ostensibly doing the same, normal F-5, and Moore’s bumping off it the same way. Brock didn’t just like, throw his little ass to the wind.
Anyway, that’s it for this week’s Dark. We may have to consolidate these into the weekly Dynamite columns until things get back to some version of normal, but thanks for reading!
Although Lil Wayne has developed a semi-notorious reputation for not keeping up with modern musical trends, it turns out there is one other up-and-coming rapper that he listens to besides himself. During his new interview with NBA stars Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s podcast, All The Smoke, Wayne revealed the one other rapper who has become his current favorite: Quality Control Music’s Lil Baby.
As Wayne explains in the clip, “I was in a session with him before. He heard a beat come on out of the blue that I was working on. It was an uptempo beat. It was probably a feature for somebody. Baby was like ‘I couldn’t even begin to rap on no sh*t like that.’ After that session, I done heard two or three songs like that come out that he done did. I was like, ‘See, he went right back and figured it out.’” He doesn’t say what they did in that session, but it may have been the one that led to Baby’s My Turn standout, “Forever.”
That dedication to improvement is likely something that Wayne is drawn to; we saw it over the course of his career, from 400 Degrees to The Funeral, and in his admiration of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who he also spent some time discussing with Barnes and Jackson — both of whom played against Bryant at various times throughout their careers.
“[Kobe] worded a few words from a verse and I was like ‘You really really know me?’” Wayne reminisces. “He was like, ‘Man, I been on you since Hot Boys.’ For a competitive guy like that, I figure whatever he was admiring it had to be my competitive nature.”
Watch Lil Wayne’s full interview with All The Smoke podcast above.
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.
For the last several years, the name Griselda Records has gone from being relatively obscure to eliciting massive hype surrounding each project the Buffalo, New York-based label announces. What makes the accomplishment even more impressive is the fact that this buzz has been sustained over a nearly nonstop album release cycle as the group punches out project after project at a rate even Amazon might envy.
The reason for much of this relentless production is Conway The Machine, who lives up to his name with a ceaseless cadence of musical releases purveying Griselda’s usual gritty brand of luxury street rap. Marketed to a brand of hip-hop head rooted in New York City nostalgia and pop culture paraphernalia, the Griselda sound is what would happen if Wu-Tang Clan and G-Unit tapes, a handful of Attitude-era WWE magazines, and a Naruto box set were thrown in a blender and recorded over 1950s horror movie scores.
It makes sense, then, that the most natural fit for this type of aesthetic is a producer who is partly responsible for its proliferation in the 2000s and early blog rap era: Los Angeles-bred producer The Alchemist. On his latest release, Conway teams up with The Alchemist for Lulu, a seven-song joint EP that may very well foretell the direction for the next five years of rap music, despite being so nostalgic in theory. In truth, Conway and Alchemist use the seven tracks to try to push the genre forward, finding new avenues to convey their grimy style.
From the harrowing “14 Ki’s” to the elegant “The Contract” to the chilly “Gold BBS’s,” Lulu is primarily preoccupied with the inner workings of the drug trade, but eyes it all from the detached lens of Conway’s steady flow and Alchemist’s beat mastery. The pair has been working together for a while, but on Lulu, their chemistry elevates to a higher level — and this isn’t even their final form. That’s what Conway tells Uproxx via phone, with his predilection for recording with anime in the background even seeping into his conversation style.
When asked why now was the best time to release this particular collaboration, both Conway and Alchemist seem nonplussed. “Why not?” they both ask. They praise each other’s skillsets, with Alchemist calling Conway “one of the best rappers out right now” and Conway reciprocating: “When you got producers like Alchemist, you gotta do it.” It’s obvious that the mutual respect bleeds into the music itself, as their shared nostalgia for 1970s Blaxploitation flicks and 1990s wrestling references makes itself evident through vocal samples employed on Lulu as interludes, taking from The Mack and 2000s hood classic Paid In Full.
Cinema is even the inspiration for the album’s title. While Conway jokes that “Lulu” is actually the name of a lion — then a tiger, in deference to my questions about whether the duo has watched the viral Netflix miniseries Tiger King yet (they had not) — astute film buffs will recall that “Lulu” was the nickname of Luis Lujano, the drug dealer from Pain In Full. As Conway puts it, “Lulu’s the plug.”
However, despite all the drug references that permeate Griselda’s oeuvre, Conway wants me to know that he can do much more. He highlights the wrestling and fashion references that make up much of his lyrical catalog and even offers up a serviceable facsimile of the so-called “Migos flow” as proof that “It’s not just the grimy sh*t… What a lot of people don’t realize is I can do any style,” he says. “We can rhyme about bricks or wrestling. I can switch up the flow.” Meanwhile, Alchemist notes the irony in a West Coast-bred producer being so beloved on the opposite coast, despite the two hip-hop hubs’ past rivalries. “I’m just a student of the game,” he says. “I’m blessed to have been around some of the greats — Mobb Deep, Jadakiss, Nas.” He’s quick to add Conway to that canon.
When asked about the ultimate impact they want Lulu — and by extension, all of the Buffalo rhyme unit’s gritty-style, throwback rap music — to have on hip-hop, they demur. Instead, they say, they’re focusing on “rejoicing” in any success the EP garners, then getting back to work. When I relate that mentality to a recent encounter with a group of sidewalk hustlers still on the block despite “safer at home” orders in Los Angeles, Conway rejoins with the perfect response. “Hustlers don’t take days off.” Alchemist echoes: “The game will keep moving.”
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.
For the last several years, the name Griselda Records has gone from being relatively obscure to eliciting massive hype surrounding each project the Buffalo, New York-based label announces. What makes the accomplishment even more impressive is the fact that this buzz has been sustained over a nearly nonstop album release cycle as the group punches out project after project at a rate even Amazon might envy.
The reason for much of this relentless production is Conway The Machine, who lives up to his name with a ceaseless cadence of musical releases purveying Griselda’s usual gritty brand of luxury street rap. Marketed to a brand of hip-hop head rooted in New York City nostalgia and pop culture paraphernalia, the Griselda sound is what would happen if Wu-Tang Clan and G-Unit tapes, a handful of Attitude-era WWE magazines, and a Naruto box set were thrown in a blender and recorded over 1950s horror movie scores.
It makes sense, then, that the most natural fit for this type of aesthetic is a producer who is partly responsible for its proliferation in the 2000s and early blog rap era: Los Angeles-bred producer The Alchemist. On his latest release, Conway teams up with The Alchemist for Lulu, a seven-song joint EP that may very well foretell the direction for the next five years of rap music, despite being so nostalgic in theory. In truth, Conway and Alchemist use the seven tracks to try to push the genre forward, finding new avenues to convey their grimy style.
From the harrowing “14 Ki’s” to the elegant “The Contract” to the chilly “Gold BBS’s,” Lulu is primarily preoccupied with the inner workings of the drug trade, but eyes it all from the detached lens of Conway’s steady flow and Alchemist’s beat mastery. The pair has been working together for a while, but on Lulu, their chemistry elevates to a higher level — and this isn’t even their final form. That’s what Conway tells Uproxx via phone, with his predilection for recording with anime in the background even seeping into his conversation style.
When asked why now was the best time to release this particular collaboration, both Conway and Alchemist seem nonplussed. “Why not?” they both ask. They praise each other’s skillsets, with Alchemist calling Conway “one of the best rappers out right now” and Conway reciprocating: “When you got producers like Alchemist, you gotta do it.” It’s obvious that the mutual respect bleeds into the music itself, as their shared nostalgia for 1970s Blaxploitation flicks and 1990s wrestling references makes itself evident through vocal samples employed on Lulu as interludes, taking from The Mack and 2000s hood classic Paid In Full.
Cinema is even the inspiration for the album’s title. While Conway jokes that “Lulu” is actually the name of a lion — then a tiger, in deference to my questions about whether the duo has watched the viral Netflix miniseries Tiger King yet (they had not) — astute film buffs will recall that “Lulu” was the nickname of Luis Lujano, the drug dealer from Pain In Full. As Conway puts it, “Lulu’s the plug.”
However, despite all the drug references that permeate Griselda’s oeuvre, Conway wants me to know that he can do much more. He highlights the wrestling and fashion references that make up much of his lyrical catalog and even offers up a serviceable facsimile of the so-called “Migos flow” as proof that “It’s not just the grimy sh*t… What a lot of people don’t realize is I can do any style,” he says. “We can rhyme about bricks or wrestling. I can switch up the flow.” Meanwhile, Alchemist notes the irony in a West Coast-bred producer being so beloved on the opposite coast, despite the two hip-hop hubs’ past rivalries. “I’m just a student of the game,” he says. “I’m blessed to have been around some of the greats — Mobb Deep, Jadakiss, Nas.” He’s quick to add Conway to that canon.
When asked about the ultimate impact they want Lulu — and by extension, all of the Buffalo rhyme unit’s gritty-style, throwback rap music — to have on hip-hop, they demur. Instead, they say, they’re focusing on “rejoicing” in any success the EP garners, then getting back to work. When I relate that mentality to a recent encounter with a group of sidewalk hustlers still on the block despite “safer at home” orders in Los Angeles, Conway rejoins with the perfect response. “Hustlers don’t take days off.” Alchemist echoes: “The game will keep moving.”
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?! I can’t believe it. I remember that red suit was so freaking hot … but the dance was fun 
and it made the shoot fly by !!! You have all shown so much support for this song & I thank you for it … sending love to you all 
