070 Shake, moniker of innovative hip-hop Danielle Balbuena, released her debut album Modus Vivendi back in January. The musician turned heads with her brooding tones and electric edge on the record. Now, Balbuena has implored an artist across genre lines to reimagine one of her Modus Vivendi tracks. Balbuena tapped Tame Impala’s Kevin Park to share a remix of “Guilty Conscience.”
Parker’s influence on the remix is immediately clear. The musician warped the song’s production to take on a washed-out sound, seemingly flowing in and out of consciousness. Distorted synths open the song and Balbuena’s vocals are decreased several octaves. The result of Parker’s remix is three-and-a-half minutes of pure bliss.
This isn’t the first time Parker and Balbuena have worked together. The duo previously linked to collaborate with Kanye West on his track “Violent Crimes,” which appeared on the rapper’s 2018 record Ye.
Parker’s remix follows his recently released fourth record, The Show Rush. In an interview with Uproxx alongside the album’s release, Parker said he wants to be more “fearless” with his music going forward: “It’s difficult to put into words, but I know exactly what I want to do. I want to continue the progression of being more fearless and bold. I want to make more music. One thing I know for sure is that I won’t take five years next time. I want to be more liberal with myself creatively because I’m so inspired these days by the idea of just being like, ‘F*ck it,’ and not being precious, and not overthinking things in the way that I probably did early on.”
Listen to Tame Impala’s “Guilty Conscience” remix above.
Modus Vivendi is out now via Getting Out Our Dreams. Get it here.
Two years ago, Breakfast Club personality DJ Envy reminded Migos members of a 2013 nightclub show they did for him for just $3,000. Quavo noted that he didn’t remember the show. Quality Control Music Co-Founder Pierre “Pee” Thomas clarified that the performance was an “early” occasion in which fellow founder Kevin “Coach K” Lee was getting the group booked for “promo.” Breakfast Club co-host Charlamagne jokingly replied, “so K told y’all it was for free but he took the $3,000.”
Everyone laughed, and the conversation meandered without explanation. But after the trio’s recent lawsuit alleging financial malpractice by their former lawyer — who is also a QC lawyer — that exchange isn’t so funny in hindsight. There’s trouble in paradise after the Migos’ suit and Cardi B distancing herself from QC, who once acted as her management. Apparently, Migos are just the latest act who didn’t realize they were in a bad deal until way after the ink was dry.
Variety reported last week that Migos filed a lawsuit accusing their attorney Damien Granderson of professional malpractice and unjust enrichment. They’re seeking “millions of dollars” in compensation from Granderson and his firm.
The complaint alleges that Granderson saw the then-teenagers as “easy targets,” and didn’t disclose that he represented their label QC, which was a “glaring conflict of interest.” The extensive lawsuit, filed by their new attorney Bryan Freedman, claims Granderson “abused his position of trust as Migos’ fiduciary from the moment he was retained as Migos’ lawyer,” and locked them into a contract amendment that prevented them “from ever being free of paying excessive compensation to QCM, from ever being signed to any other record label, and from ever obtaining negotiating leverage to secure reasonable terms in connection with the distribution of its musical recordings.”
Granderson helped the group negotiate its (now expired) 2014 distribution deal with 300 Entertainment, as well as an exit deal with 300 that allowed them to sign to Capitol Records in 2017. The lawsuit claims that Granderson withheld the full scope of the Capitol deal, showing Migos a contract that said one thing when the reality was that QC was receiving “far-above-industry-norm compensation” from their proceeds.
Days after the lawsuit, Cardi B, Offset’s wife, tweeted “I don’t have no managers. NONE AT ALL! My lawyer handle my business.” Cardi is signed to Atlantic Records, but signed to QC for management in 2018, when the label and her husband were on better terms.
Granderson, nor his firm, have replied to Migos’ accusations, but Pee called the claims “nonsense” on Instagram, adding that “it is unfortunate that the same people that we have worked hard for, provided opportunities for, and championed for are now alleging that we have participated in any kind of immoral or unfair business practices…especially while we are dealing with the death of [QC rapper Marlo],” who was shot and killed earlier this month. Pee noted, “I love my artists and I love my team. Everyone has their own lawyers,” but also said, “I understand in this business that you are not always going to end with the people you started with. I say that to say, I am not forcing anybody to be in business with us that has a problem and cannot communicate and does not want to work as a unit.”
It looks like QC may be set to go on without their onetime flagship act. It was the group’s initial run of high profile singles — leading up to the mammoth “Bad And Boujee” — that helped the label ascend from a local indie into the actualization of Billboard’s 2015 commendation as “the most important hip-hop label in America.” By 2018, their roster of Migos, Lil Yachty, City Girls, Lil Baby (with proximity to Cardi B through management) was one of the most powerful crews in the game. Pee bought Offset and Takeoff luxury vehicles for their birthdays. On the surface, everything was lovely, and it certainly looked like they were “family.” But per usual in rap, it may have all been under false pretense.
Almost every major rap imprint marketed themselves as a family — then artists on the label exposed financial practices that weren’t brotherly love. It’s hard to think of an iconic rap crew where no one ever had a financial gripe.
Numerous artists have accused Diddy of bad business on Bad Boy Records. All of the Hot Boyz (including Lil Wayne as a solo artist) fell out with Birdman over unpaid wages at Young Money/Cash Money. Beanie Sigel says former Roc-A-Fella co-CEO Dame Dash owes him money to this day. Few people know that Tupac came to a similar realization as Migos when he realized that his lawyer David Kenner was also the Death Row Records lawyer. He had an argument with Suge Knight about malpractice in the months before he died, and some people felt he was set to leave the label. The rap icon died with just $105,000 in his bank account despite grossing more than $60 million worth of records at Death Row. Death Row observers noted that Suge Knight would often give artists cars and other trinkets instead of actual checks. Snoop Dogg reflected to Arian Foster in 2018 that Suge “gave you what he felt you should have. We got a lot of money, but it may not have been what we were supposed to have.”
Artists boasting contractual harmony are sadly the exception to the rule of industry rule #4080 (“record company people are shady”). Since the days of the mob running the music industry, young Black artist’s talent and poverty were systemically exploited for unfair deals that promised access to glitz and glamour but no financial security. The unfair deals were bad enough, but a lot of artists didn’t even get what they were owed from them. Now, instead of doo-wop and jazz singers, there are hoards of young rap and R&B acts being exploited by execs every day, including Black people who can be just as predacious and deceptive as white label execs while feigning Black solidarity.
Migos’ claims harken to their QC mate Lil Yachty’s fogginess on his own contractual situation. In 2016, he divulged to The Fader that he didn’t know his publishing situation. Publishing allows an artist to earn income from licensing opportunities like TV, movies, and video games. He had an infamous dustup with Joe Budden a year later on Everyday Struggle, after it came out that he didn’t know whether he was in a 360 deal. Days later he said that he knew the details of his deal, but simply didn’t know the 360 term. Regardless, the moment was alarming. Coach K was a family friend of his. If QC couldn’t show the then-teenager the ropes, then perhaps actual strangers stand no chance.
And to be clear, no one knows what happened between Migos and QC except the parties involved in the lawsuit. But it’s not farfetched to believe that Migos, as three young, hungry artists, signed whatever was in front of them like so many of their peers. It’s not surprising that they respected and trusted Coach K and Pee to do right by them, and were too blinded by the trappings of fame to properly vet their lawyer. It also wouldn’t be surprising if they were yet another act who grossed millions and may never receive fair compensation due to deception.
Outsiders could simply fault naive artists for not knowing what they’re signing, or not having the right people read over their deal, but that’s a shortsighted reaction to this epidemic. It’s important to advocate for music business awareness, and artist unions. It’s more important to do the work necessary to uprooting the economic conditions that make people feel like a record deal is their only opportunity out of poverty or that they even need a major label. But the only way this cycle fundamentally changes for the better is for the industry to also be held accountable and challenged to change. We shouldn’t be fine with a business model where labels seek every penny they can get out of undereducated artists who are often in their teens or early 20s when signing. If that’s “just business” then that “business” needs to end.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Triple J’s Like A Version is akin to an Australian take on BBC Radio One Live Lounge, in that they also task artists with putting their own spin on somebody else’s song. The latest participant in the series of Gordi, who stepped up to the plate to take on Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.”
“Wrecking Ball” is a huge anthem and a tough track to take on, but Gordi delivered a strong showing. She kept the verses intimate and didn’t belt it out on the chorus as much as Cyrus does on her original. That, along with the more synth- and guitar-driven instrumentation, gave her rendition a more alternative feel.
In an interview accompanying the performance, Gordi drew parallels between her life and that of Cyrus’ famous Hannah Montana role, saying, “My friends use to point me out and call me ‘Hannah Montana’ because I was kind of leading this double life of being a musician and then also going through medical school. It’s a nod to Hannah Montana, covering Miley Cyrus.”
Meanwhile, Gordi has had a different pandemic experience than most musicians. She was working as a doctor as recently as this past January, and was prepared to re-enlist her medical services to help deal with the coronavirus. When she returned to Australia in March after touring, he signed up to help in a COVID clinic, but fortunately, her services didn’t end up being needed. She told Uproxx in a recent interview, “There was a two week period where I was like, ‘OK, I’m getting ready to go into this and go back to work.’ But then the numbers just went off a cliff in Australia and all my friends that are working in hospitals were like, ‘We have nothing to do, because not even the regular patients are coming in, let alone any COVID patients.’ I actually still haven’t set foot back in a hospital.”
Cole Bennett has directed some truly wild videos in his time as hip-hop’s go-to shooter for up-and-coming rappers, but his latest for Ski Mask The Slump God’s comeback single “Burn The Hoods” might be his most unhinged.
Rather than flex his jewelry, cars, clothes, house, and female companions, Ski Mask opts for a more political statement in “Burn The Hoods.” That makes sense, because look around. But Ski Mask, being Ski Mask, takes his politicization to the most radical extreme, ideating a crew of “Kluxbusters” (Ghostbusters, but for the Ku Klux Klan) and goes hunting for white supremacist scalps like Brad Pitt in Inglorious Basterds. Does this make Cole Bennett the Quentin Tarantino of rap music videos? Who knows, but I enjoyed this probably way more than I should have.
Ski Mask the Slump God’s had a relatively quiet couple of years since dropping his debut studio album Stokelely in 2018. However, it appears he hasn’t lost any of his hyperactive swagger since then; pairing it with this newfound political edge makes his comeback even more potent. While there’s no doubt he’ll be back to rapping about his usual comedic topics, for now, he may be capturing the surreal, semi-militant zeitgeist better than anyone else.
Watch Ski Mask The Slump God’s “Burn The Hoods” video above
Bridger Walker, the six-year-old boy who heroically shielded his little sister from an attacking dog, has already been praised by Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Spider-Man. Now, he can Star-Lord to the list of Avengers who are blown away by his brave actions.
In a video message posted to Instagram, Chris Pratt reached out to Walker and apologized for being the “last guy in the world to have seen your story.” The actor is currently filming Jurassic World: Dominion, one of the few films to resume production during the pandemic, but he felt compelled to take a moment and let Bridger know how inspired he was by his tale of courage. Pratt also encouraged his millions of Instagram followers to reflect on the last time they did something truly selfless and to think about the heroes in their own lives.
“I think we could all benefit from asking ourselves when was the last time we did something courageous,” Pratt wrote. “And who do we look up to? Who in our lives puts their life on the line in the name of safety? They are the true heroes.”
You can see Pratt’s message to Bridger Walker below:
A post shared by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on
If you’re not familiar with Bridger’s story, Pratt told folks to check out the link his bio, and true to his word, the actor links to the original Instagram post from Bridger’s aunt. The caption features the incredible story of the young boy’s bravery and his willingness to sacrifice his life for his little sister when a dog charged the two of them and attacked Bridger, leaving him with 90 stitches.
The now-viral story caught the attention of Marvel’s biggest names. So far, Bridger has an authentic Captain America shield coming his way from Chris Evans, an official invitation to join the Avengers from Chris Hemsworth, a visit to the set of Spider-Man 3 courtesy of Tom Holland, and a secret surprise en route from Robert Downey Jr., who also told the young hero to call him on his next birthday.
The Los Angeles Sparks started the 2019 season with so much excitement and were quickly pinned as potential challengers in a wide open title race. But on September 22, star player Candace Parker sat on the bench with her head on her chin dejectedly watching as her team got swept by the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA semifinals. Despite losing in the semifinals, the Sparks didn’t have a catastrophic season by any means — they finished third in the league standings with a 22-12 overall record and made the playoffs for the 19th time in 23 seasons. Injuries to players like Parker, a two-time MVP, Alana Beard, Maria Vadeeva and Alexis Jones certainly hampered the team along with the suspension of Riquna Williams. But other issues also followed the team around last season, with Williams’ suspension over an alleged act of domestic violence, an “unprofessional” culture and a lack of fight in important games that culminated with head coach Derek Fisher’s curious decision to bench Parker for all but 11 minutes of game three against the Sun.
This season, the Sparks are without Chiney Ogwumike and Kristi Toliver who opted out; to replace them, the team signed Reshanda Gray and Te’a Cooper. Seimone Augustus, who spent 14 years with the Minnesota Lynx, joined the Sparks in the offseason along with Kristine Anigwe and former Atlanta Dream players Brittney Sykes and Marie Gülich. This is Fisher’s second season in charge, and he has been working to integrate those new players and improve the team’s culture. With a healthy mix of veteran returners and new additions, the Sparks look strong going into the 2020 season and will once again expect be among the contenders.
WUBBLE ROSTER
Kristine Anigwe
Seimone Augustus
Te’a Cooper
Reshanda Gray
Chelsea Gray
Marie Gülich
Nneka Ogwumike
Candace Parker
Tierra Ruffin-Pratt
Brittney Sykes
Sydney Wiese
Riquna Williams
KEY PLAYERS TO WATCH
Candace Parker: Parker has been the cornerstone of the Sparks franchise for years, and is still expected to carry a decent amount of the load for this team despite this being her 12th season in the league. The star forward had an unlucky season last time out, after suffering a left hamstring injury in preseason and struggling to find her form in the games that followed. She finished the year with career-lows in points and rebounds per game with 11.2 and 6.4, respectively. That being said, last season’s struggles could potentially fuel her performance this summer and see her return to the heights she is capable of. Much of the Sparks’ title hopes rest on Parker’s ability to stay healthy this summer in Bradenton.
Nneka Ogwumike: The six-time All-Star is key to everything in Los Angeles, from leading the conversation in the locker room to putting up numbers on both ends of the floor. Last season, Ogwumike led the team in scoring with 16.1 points and 8.8 rebounds on 51% shooting from the field. When Ogwumike and Parker are at their best on the court together, there are very few defenses that can stop them. In 2018, Los Angeles had a plus-9.4 net rating when they were on the floor together compared to 1.4 overall. The Sparks will be counting on the veteran duo to bring some of that chemistry and tenacity to IMG Academy.
EXPECTATIONS
The team was forced to go big last year with its lineups, with 6’4 Parker, 6’2 Ogwumike, 5’11 Gray, 5’7 Williams and 5’11 Ruffin-Pratt garnering the most minutes. This year, all of those players return and Augustus is 6’0 so the team will likely look similar on the floor. Despite last season’s plethora of height, the Sparks under-performed in rebounding and blocks per game, finishing seventh and ninth in the league in those categories, respectively. Los Angeles will continue to rely on Gray to knock down three-pointers and help carry the scoring load for the team after her strong 2019 numbers. If the Sparks can stay fit throughout the season, they should have a good chance at challenging for the championship.
X-FACTOR
Chelsea Gray: Gray has steadily improved since entering the WNBA in 2014. Last season, the 27-year-old averaged 14.5 points and career-highs in rebounds (3.8) and assists (5.9) per game while starting every game for the third season in a row. She also shot 42% from the field and 38% from beyond the arc, earning her her third consecutive All-Star nod and a spot in the three-point contest. For her efforts, the point guard was named to the All-WNBA First Team for the first time in her career after finishing second in the league in assists and 13th in scoring. Gray provided a much-needed spark for Los Angeles last season, finding a balance between creating her own shot and finding her teammates, and the team will need that again this year.
BIGGEST ON-COURT QUESTION
Do the Sparks have enough depth? Granted, this is a shorter WNBA season with each team playing only 22 regular season games as opposed to the typical 34, so perhaps team depth will be a slightly overrated factor this year. However, a shorter season means that injuries can hurt teams even more and if Parker or Ogwumike go down ,for example, do the Sparks have enough talent to fill those shoes? Furthermore, the Sparks are one of the oldest teams in the league with an average age of 28 years and plenty of aging stars like the 34-year-old Parker and 36-year-old Augustus. It may be tough for some of the newer players on the team like rookie Te’a Cooper to adapt so quickly to the league, especially in such an unusual season.
Last week, Logic revealed that No Pressure, which was released today, would be his final album because he is retiring from music. He didn’t give a specific reason for walking away from rap, although he did note, “Now it’s time to be a great father.” Now, though, he has spoken more about his main reason for leaving hip-hop behind: He’s “over it.”
In a video interview with Billboard shortly before the release of No Pressure, Logic said:
“I just wanted to retire because I’m over it man. Not even in a negative way, I’m just over it. I love music and I’m gonna continue to make music on my own. I can’t not just make music. It’s a journal for me. It’s how I express myself. It’s how I heal, but with Logic, I’m stepping away. And the thing is, too, I’m not trying to make it this big show like, ‘Oh my God,’ because it’s not that deep. You either believe me or you don’t man. I don’t give a sh*t. I’m over here doing my thing.”
He also spoke about his perception in hip-hop, talking about how gate-keeping journalists made him feel bad:
“Those are the people that made me feel bad about myself. Those are the people that made me wanna kill myself at times. Those are the people who made me depressed and told me I’m not good enough, I’ll never be good enough, you don’t belong because I’m a white-passing corny [rapper] because I like sci-fi and all this other kind of sh*t, but that’s who I am.
I’d rather be perceived as corny or whatever the f*ck case may be than peddling and actually being ‘authentic’ to the life I grew up in: selling drugs, cooking crack, shooting guns, being around motherf*ckers — that’s not what I represented. So those same f*ck boys who say sh*t like that, they won’t even know that they’re talking about when you have people like the RZA singing my praise, Killer Mike, [and] I got Wu-Tang on a track. I sit back and I go, ‘Those are the people if anybody tries to say what they’re saying, it doesn’t make any sense.’
To be able to have a queen like Erykah Badu on speed dial and she shows me love is like, I can’t f*cking believe that. I can’t fathom that. She’s just the epitome of music, soul, and hip-hop. When you people like that, like real spitters and real MCs showing you love, it don’t matter what the writer or what the editor says because that writer wishes they can f*cking rap. But I understand that and I know that. That’s why I just shut the f*ck up.”
Just because Logic is moving over to Twitch doesn’t mean he’s totally done with music, though, as he said he wants to help rising rappers: “There’s some people on Twitch that like to do giveaways. I wanna make beats for up-and-coming rappers on the spot and give it to them for free, and if they take it, don’t charge them and don’t even take publishing.”
With the release of his sixth studio album No Pressure this week, Logic plans to officially conclude his career as a rapper. He ends his tenure in hip-hop with six studio albums and six mixtapes, a novel, and two Grammy nominations for his anti-suicide anthem “1-800-273-8255.” All told, he’s had a pretty impressive career — so why is he bowing out now, just as he’s reached the sort of success that many longer-tenured rappers are still striving for?
Before No Pressure’s release, Logic revealed an exclusive streaming deal with Twitch worth “seven figures.” For those unfamiliar, Twitch.tv is a website where viewers watch other users play video games. Because I am old enough to remember leaving a quarter on an arcade machine screen to save my place in line and the proceeding agonizing wait for my turn, this behavior confuses and upsets me, but to each their own.
While I certainly can’t begrudge Logic leaving the rap game behind to pursue his passion, watching him do so sets off an uncomfortable buzz of recognition in the back of my mind. Hip-hop has seen this story play out before and the conclusion it implies remains as concerning as ever, even with the slight twists Logic’s version brings to the narrative. Hip-hop outsiders continue to use hip-hop to build an audience and abandon the craft for more desirable pursuits as soon as they can.
We’ve seen it happen before with pop stars like Miley Cyrus. We’ve seen it happen with ostensible rappers like Lil Dicky, Post Malone, and Awkwafina. It shouldn’t be lost on any observer that these are non-Black performers who adopted the traits of hip-hop, a Black genre of music, to gain popularity or experiment with their craft then return to country crooning or swap rap for a far more lucrative career in other arenas such as TV and film.
And yes, I know Logic isn’t “technically” a non-Black artist; he reminds us all he’s biracial so much it’s been a meme for the last five years of his career. But he does fit the profile of a hip-hop outsider. It took him two albums to shake off most of the stigma that pursued him early on, that he was more a talented mimic of greater artists like J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar than a really good rapper in his own right.
Once he did, he still never seemed to garner the respect of the hip-hop establishment, despite many obvious bids to do so. He collaborated with Wu-Tang and Eminem, he brought rising stars like Joey Badass and YBN Cordae on tour with him, and he adopted ever more technical cadences in his attempts to prove his chops. It got him called the worst rapper to pick up a mic by Joe Budden — a sentiment many seem to agree with.
For whatever reason, Logic never seemed to fit into hip-hop’s status quo. Maybe it was his earnestness, or the Rubik’s cube gimmick, or his love for overly complex album concepts. Even so, he does leave behind a long list of projects that prove that at least he was willing to give hip-hop the old college try. Yet, his departure still leaves behind an aftertaste that feels too familiar to those of us who have called out the disposable treatment of this culture we love.
Take Nora Lum, aka Awkwafina. When she appeared in 2012 with her jokey rap debut “My Vag,” she rubbed plenty of critics the wrong way. It seemed more like she was doing a parody of a culture she was not clearly a part of rather than participating in an inside joke. Some assumed she was punching down with her “Blaccent” and old-school rapper mannerisms, rather than showing appreciation for the craft.
Her later career moves have certainly emphasized that early skepticism, as she pivoted from purveying pithy punchlines to delivering award-winning turns in films like The Farewell. Watching her on the promotion trail/victory lap for Crazy Rich Asians, there was little evidence of the hip-hop caricature persona she cultivated for her Yellow Ranger album. While we can’t assume someone else’s intentions, it certainly looks like she used Awkwafina to get her foot in the door before code switching right back to Nora to ensure her mainstream success.
Likewise, Post Malone has taken flak recently for his three-album transformation from “White Iverson,” complete with braids and gold teeth, to the country-fried pop star who delivered the world “Circles” and became the pitchman for Doritos. While there’s no hard rule that says rappers can’t roam around in cowboy hats and rodeo suits, Malone’s transformation sends a clear signal to his growing audience: He’s “safe” now.
To be clear, this is not an indictment of white or Asian rappers. It’s not meant to condemn every single rapper to that one lane for the rest of their lives. Obviously, artists should pursue avenues that interest them — maybe not running for President, though. But there is an obvious difference in how Black rappers creating Black music are perceived in the public eye and what kind of moves they’ll be allowed to make.
Lots of rappers steam on Twitch; in 2018, Stereogum profiled Danny Brown as one of the platform’s first superstars. Yet, there was no announcement of a seven-figure exclusive deal for him, or any of the many other rappers who stream games there. Again, I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. Maybe Twitch pursued other rappers and Logic was the first to say yes. Maybe Logic was the first rapper to pitch an exclusive deal with Twitch. Having a massive audience from his rap days certainly helped, in that case.
Having an existing audience probably also helped Lil Dicky when he pitched Dave to FX. I called Daveone of the best comedies on TV and it is. But you and I both know that the show would have had a different path if it were pitched by Big Sean or Lil Baby. The last hip-hop-oriented comedy produced by a rapper that I can remember is Daveed Diggs’ The Mayor, which was also excellent. That’s Daveed Diggs from Hamilton. Someone with serious chops and connections in theater and television. He (barely) got his show off the ground, and it was canceled before its first season had aired in its entirety.
Of course, FX also airs Donald Glover’s Atlanta. But to get his foot in the door, Glover had to be a multihyphenate genius who self-financed his feature film debut Mystery Team and had years and years of television work, from writing on SNL to appearing on Community. Lil Dicky walked in the door and told FX’s execs they’d be crazy to not pick up his show. He’s only put out one album. To his credit, he keeps hip-hop at the forefront of his show, which is all anyone can ask.
Dicky acknowledges the privilege he has and uses it to highlight real figures in rap such as guest stars on his show like Gunna, Trippie Redd, and Young Thug and co-stars Taco and GATA. The show constantly lampshades Dave’s ignorance and privilege, using him as a foil to highlight the genuine social issues that Dave is maybe a little too cocksure to speak to in his music on the show. The show’s self-awareness is its saving grace and that self-awareness could go a long way toward mitigating that nasty aftertaste I mentioned before.
Hip-hop is a culture that means a lot to a lot of people, but the folks who started it, who live in it, who breathe it in every day, and who are marked by it by society — for better or worse — can’t leave it, no matter what we do. Jay-Z will always be, first and foremost, a rapper in people’s minds, as will Snoop Dogg or Nas or 50 Cent or Drake or Kendrick Lamar. Even Will Smith, one of the biggest actors on the planet, is just as well known for the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song as he is for his last few movie roles.
So, whenever a hip-hop outsider switches careers, the message it sends is “hip-hop isn’t good enough” and that plays into all the problems of our society. But it also runs counter to what we know from evidence; hip-hop is the biggest genre in America — and maybe even the world. If the music and culture are good enough to use to build an audience, then the people who live in that culture should be good enough to get the same opportunities as outsiders who fake the flow to blow up.
Gunna and Young Thug cause a classic case of culture clash in their new video for “Dollaz On My Head,” from Gunna’s 2020 album Wunna. The deluxe version of Wunna released today, and to celebrate, the YSL Records team linked up to take over a mansion and turn their neighbors’ lives upside down.
The video opens as Gunna tees off at sunrise on the balcony of his massive mansion. After a drive goes awry and lands in the cake his new neighbors have brought over, his crew invites the awestruck WASPs in for an education in how nouveau-riche rappers live. There’s some typical confusion from both sides, but soon enough the white family has settled in and begun to enjoy the hedonistic abandon of their rapping next-door residents. Before you know it, dad’s getting high, mom’s lounging around with Wheezy, and the kids are bopping down the hallways to Mike Will’s thumping soundtrack.
Gunna’s lavish video lifestyle extended to real life recently as the Atlanta rapper turned 27. Young Thug and Roddy Ricch both chipped in for some extravagant gifts, which included both a new car and some expensive jewelry.
Watch Gunna’s “Dollaz On My Head” video featuring Young Thug above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The Washington Mystics will have to keep waiting for their championship parade. Because most of the 2019 championship team had to bolt overseas quickly after their title run last fall, the Mystics were supposed to celebrate down the streets of the nation’s capital in May. The world had other plans, however, and of course it was not just the Mystics’ parade that was impacted when everything shutdown.
Yet the Mystics more than maybe any other team in the WNBA will have to treat 2020 like a bit of a ghost season. They will be without arguably the league’s best player and 2019 MVP in Elena Delle Donne, who will sit out the season due to chronic Lyme disease posing a threat should she contract COVID-19 at the WNBA clean site in Bradenton, Fla. Also absent is Natasha Cloud, the breakout combo guard whose two-way ability was key for Washington in 2019, starting center LaToya Sanders, as well as Tina Charles, a former MVP and longtime New York Liberty star who the Mystics acquired late in the offseason. It leaves Washington’s roster pretty barren and their hopes of defending the title rather slim.
Emma Meesseman: There may not be a better value bet for WNBA MVP than Meesseman, the 2019 Finals MVP who was Washington’s ultimate matchup buster throughout a dominant season. When the Mystics put Meesseman, Delle Donne and Sanders on the floor together, their offensive versatility and floor spacing were too much for opposing teams to handle. Meesseman can score from anywhere on the court and is a genius without the ball. After years of stops and starts, it appears she and head coach Mike Thibault have a rapport that could spell a career season for the Belgian star as she takes on a leading role.
Essence Carson: After a calf injury took away most of Carson’s 2019, no team signed her during the league’s free agency period. It took until July, after the WNBA season schedule and format had already been announced, for the Mystics to add her to their depleted roster. At age 33, Carson is in the back nine of her career, but she is exactly the type of big wing player Thibault loves to deploy. Just two years ago, Carson shot 36 percent on over three three-point attempts per game, and if she can rediscover that form, she can help Washington. A useful veteran stopgap could keep Washington in the playoff mix and help them at least maintain the defensive versatility and floor-spacing that are integral to their identity.
EXPECTATIONS
Making the playoffs would be a win. Washington is similar to the San Antonio Spurs or the New England Patriots in terms of the way institutional knowledge, elite culture, and coaching will always lift them past the sum of the parts of their roster. And the Mystics certainly look better-suited for a playoff run than young squads like New York or Dallas. The Dream are depleted and rebuilding and Las Vegas is without two of its best players, so the pathway is there. Even without three starters from 2019 and a former MVP, the Mystics surprisingly are still a strong possibility to take one of the top eight spots in the league and return to the playoffs.
X-FACTOR
Kiara Leslie: An ACL tear prior to the 2019 WNBA Draft meant Leslie sat out all of 2019, failing to break in on a team that would eventually hoist a trophy. But like Carson (or better yet, Cloud and Atkins), Leslie looks like a prototypical Thibault wing. At 6-0 and 175 lbs., Leslie should have the size and strength to switch on defense and attack mismatches on the other end. Her scoring game will likely be a work in progress after she shot just 41 percent from the field as a junior at NC State, but translatable defense is exactly why Thibault made her a surprise first-round pick a year ago. One thing Mystics fans ought to be optimistic about is the developmental experience Leslie will have in Florida.
BIGGEST ON-COURT QUESTION
Who is the backup point guard? With Cloud out and veteran scorer Kristi Toliver off the team, the Mystics are in need of play-making. Mitchell is steady but at 35, tough to count on staying healthy and effective all year. I believe in Powers as a primary ball-handler more than Thibault seems to, but it’s a fact that she was better once she got to Washington and got to play off of Cloud and Toliver. The only other option is Peddy, an unproven second-year player who appeared for just 71 minutes total as a rookie. The only saving grace is that Peddy is 31, meaning she’s more experienced than most “sophomores.” Thibault’s offense will either see someone step up and take the reins or run through Meesseman in the post even more than usual.
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